Chapter 15

Doctor Kurama

Her head was spinning; laying on her back, the flourescent lights were blinding her. She heard voices around her but could not see who; she didn't even have the strength to move her arms, much less her ehad.

"I have her, Koenma!"

"Ogres, get her on a stretcher!"

Gabi felt four arms lift her from Botan's grasp and lay her down on a bed.

"How long has she been like this, Botan?"

"She's been infected since the day they were in the castle, according to Chu."

Several cursewords were heard before the second voice continued, "She's immune to treatement now. If I had been able to find her with my viewscreen…. But she made me promise never to do that. We'll just have to hope for the best and pray she pulls through."

Yusuke tapped his foot at his desk, unable to concentrate on his work. The seat next to him, Gabi's chair, was empty. He knew she was not in good condition to start with, and he feared she had gotten worse and been unable to get back to class. It was almost time to go home and he had seen neither hide nor hair of her since lunch. He twiddled his thumbs to keep from looking at his watch again. The bell rang to go home and he shot out of the room and down the hall. He accidentally tripped himself and other people on his way to Kurama's last period class. The redhead had not even lifted his backpack to his shoulder when Yusuke plowed into him. "Have you seen Gabi yet?" he asked. Kurama shook his head as Kuwabara knocked Yusuke down. "You guys see Gabi yet? She didn't come back from lunch." The carrot top said, dodging a smack in the head from Yusuke. They exited the school and began walking along the street together.

The detective pulled out the communication mirror, set it to audio-only, and held it to his ear disguised as a cell phone. Botan's voice sounded in the earpiece after a few rings, "Hello?"

"Botan! Where is Gabi?"

"She's here in Reikai, in the palace hospital."

"Why? What's wrong with her?"

"She caught a bug in Makai, and she's being taken care of here."

"What kind of bug? How bad is it that she has to be taken to Reikai."

"…"

"Botan!" his tone became testy.

"It's difficult to say, Yusuke; Gabi is a ningen with a yokai disease."

"Make a portal; we'll be right there." Yusuke slammed the mirror shut and stuffed it into his pocket.

"What's the word?" Kuwabara asked, checking his pace to match Yusuke's increasing speed.

"Gabi's sick; she's in a Reikai hospital. C'mon!" he broke into a run and headed for the park. The others followed and they came to shining portal just to the left on the other side of the entrance. It was inconspicuous and out of the way, releasing energy so they could find it. One by one they dove through and examined their surroundings.

Botan was standing in front of the three young men; wringing her hands in her pink kimono. The circular portal behind them vanished and the ferry girl led them to a room with a large window on one wall to see in through. Though the lights were dimmed, they could easily make out the shapes of a bed and the blonde lying in it. Circular electrodes were stuck to her face and neck with wires leading away and hooked up to a machine that tracked her heart rate. The green line on the monitor bounced rhythmically, drawing jagged shapes that faded again. They watched her sleep silently until Kurama spoke.

"What is her condition?"

"The healers say she is stable now, but the road ahead will be rough. She has the Makai Malaise." His eyes became saucers as he stared at her in shock.

"You can't be serious!" Botan nodded sadly, "Its true."

Kurama eyed the door; Botan saw this and added, "She's reached the point-of-no-return; she's contagious. You'll have to be vaccinated and wait twenty-four hours before you can go in with her. The servants, healers, Koenma, and myself have been immunized years ago."

"And what exactly does this do? Is it like the chicken pox? Will she get covered in little red dots?" Kuwabara asked.

"Not quite. It causes delirious fever and hallucinations. If the fever won't kill her, her own nightmares might scare her to death.."

"…What are the odds she will survive this?" Kurama asked, turning back to his blonde friend in slumber. Botan sighed, closing her eyes. "Not at all what they should be. In her weakened physical state, her body is trying to heal itself and fight off the disease, not to mention the hospital is short of space and man-power due to an epidemic."

Yusuke turned away from the window after watching his friends speak, "Well, we have to help her in some way! We owe her a lot since she saved our butts by accidentally releasing the Dragon."

"Plus, we were giving her a hard time at lunch today." Kuwabara said and stared at his shoes sheepishly.

"There's practically nothing we can do right now Yusuke." Botan said sadly, turning away.

"I will take her." The three companions turned to the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Kuwabara, Botan and Yusuke gaped at the towering form of Youko Kurama.

"You?" Botan managed to force out one word of question. Youko nodded, "I am a practiced healer to rival any doctor here; and in this form, I am immune to this sickness. I live alone, so no one else is at risk to it; I can give her the care she needs that cannot be spared for her here. There is no reason why I could not care for her my self."

Yusuke eyed the fox warily, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes," and he added quietly to himself, "I owe her that much." He recalled again the day at the beach in the cave, mentally shivering in shame; though she had forgiven him, he still felt awkward about it.. The tiny ruler of Reikai popped up, hovering in midair in front of the resident kitsune.

"I know what you plan to do, Kurama; and there are two flaws to your plan you might want to take care of. I fully support your reasons for doing this and I'd like to help as much as I can."

"Every little bit helps, Koenma."

"The first flaw is that you cannot stay in this form forever. You will have to change back into Suichi to maintain your ningen life, and you need a vaccination to do that without catching the Malaise a second time."

"Easily remedied. And the second flaw?" he crossed his arms expectantly.

"The Ningenkai winter holidays are days away, and no doubt your human mother or others may wish to visit, as well as Gabi's guardian wishing to know where she is."

"What do you suggest we do?"

"For starters, wards can be placed up around your home to keep the environment sterile so no after effects may spread to any others who visit you in the future. As for giving your mother and Gabi's foster father an excuse, I cannot help you formulate a believable tale."

"Don't worry about that part. Being part of the Tantei has made me a good enough liar." He said, turning back to the window, putting is palm on the glass. 'I'll take good care of you, Gabi,' he vowed silently, 'I swear.'

Gabi woke from her nap to see a silver youko sitting next to her bed. "Youko?" she blinked. "Ohayo, hime," he answered, "Do you know where you are?"

"…a room?" she looked like a five year old.

"A hospital; you are very sick."

"Koenma said that; what kind of cold do I have? Do you know?"

"Its very serious; the Makai Malaise." She sat up with some difficulty and leaned over the rail on the bed to whisper, "Am I going to die?" for the first time in hundreds of years, he wanted to squirm under another person's gaze. He couldn't tell her the truth and say, 'yes you will most likeley die here.' He couldn't bring himself to lie to her either, so he settled for shaking his head.

"You have to be looked after with professional care, though. Koenma and I have discussed this and we see it as two choices; to stay here in Reikai, or to return to Ningenkai."

"I think I should go back to Ningenkai,"

"Know that if you go back to Ningenkai, you would have to lodge with me. I can take care of you better than they can here, but if you're not comfortable with that, I completely understand."

She held her blanket up to her chest and stared at her knees in thought. "Will the others be able to come and see me?"

"After a period of twenty-four hours, yes, they can come see you."

"Well, what are we waiting for, Christmas? Achoo!" she sneezed into her blanket, "Bless me." Youko plucked the electrodes from her face and turned off the machinary connected to it. "Close your eyes now." He said, helping her stand from the bed, "you may feel very weak and incredibly dizzy, so don't look around." She was still wearing her school uniform. She ended up falling on the floor anyway. He picked her up and carried her to a portal Botan had placed within the room. They paused as Yusuke and Kuwabara waved from the window. Gabi smiled and flashed a thumbs up, relaxing a bit. Youko stepped through and was in his own home. The portal faded and Gabi peeked one eye open. "This room, it looks familiar." She mused.

"It should, its my room."

"Oh, I see, it just turned upside down for a moment. Ack! There it goes again! If I had a pair of 3-D glasses on, I'd be one step away from being stoned."

"What?"

"Dónde está la marmalada?" she said with very wide eyes and dialated pupils. "Ay, me duele la cabeza; zorro, ayuda me por favor!" she whimpered, holding her head in pain.

"You need rest before you try something stupid in addition to talking nonsense." He muttered, flattening his ears against his skull.

"Pog mo hoín, todd!"

"Stay here, I will make a tea that will help you to sleep; its better if you sleep rather than be awake with this illness." He walked out of the room and left her sitting on the bed. Alone.

Twenty four hours later…

Yusuke walked casualy down the street with his hands in his pockets as usual. He was on hs way to help Kurama if he needed it. The familiar house appeared and he turned onto the walk. A thorny branch shot out from the bushes lining the walk and scratched his ankle deeply. "OW! Hey, I'm here by Kurama's request!" the tendril recoiled and Yusuke opened the unlocked front door.

"Youko? Is everything…?" Yusuke noticed the girl clinging to the support beam in the ceiling like a squirrel, "okay?"

"FRUIT OF THE EARTH!" Gabi cried, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Youko was balanced on the back of the couch, trying to reach her; he fell when Yusuke opened the door.

"Gabi! Get down from there!" Yusuke said.

"No! The kitty will get me!"

"Kitty? What the…? Youko, change back into Suichi; Gabi doesn't remember meeting you." he closed the door and walked under the support beam.

"It hasn't been twenty four hours yet, I can't change without risking infection!"

"Kitty!" Gabi wailed and fell from the beam.

"Gabi!"

"Youko!"

"Yusuke!"

"KITTY!" Youko caught her; she shrieked and scrambled away, hiding behind the curtains, even though they did not reach past the windowsill.

"Yusuke, please help me restrain her!" Youko said, "I can't catch her, and my plants won't go anywhere near her!"

"You grab her hands, I can get her feet… wasn't she hiding behind the curtains just a minute ago?" he gestured to the open window; a breeze blew in, making the curtain flutter in a telltale way. "Oh shit…"

WAH! a strange turn of events indeed. I'm not updating again until i get at least twenty reviewes.I need some feedback in order to determine what needs to be fixed or left alone; however, i won't read flames. there's a warning on the sumary, 'Don't like it don't read it!'