The Sea Prince
Chapter 12
Yo, long time no see . Sorry I'm late...again...but there's nothing new with that haha-it's not funny --U
Sorry about that, I got into a slump for about a week after I came back, and then there is no excuse. However, I did take a day to finally know where the story is going to go from here hurray! So here's another chapter, it appearently is about 23 pages acording to micro soft word, so it's a big one. I'm also sorry, but I havn't edited it as much as the other's, but I hope it's still ok. Remember to tell me if I didn't do a good job or if I didn't.
So my final note for now is; I hope u enjoy this, and my trip went well. I had lot's of fun .
Kurama just stared into the violet eyes which had an unknown emotion in them. He had seen that look many times before but never understood its meaning. It was something terrifying though, that made him petrified in those cold, grey, scaly arms. However the expression suddenly changed, and nothing but concern filled the eyes of the sea demon.
"Are you all right young prince? Did that person scare you?" Kurama slightly blushed at the other's voice. Although it was deep and seducing, it only expressed kindness and concern for his well fair. Kurama suddenly felt guilty for staring.
"Yes…" Kurama swam out of the sea demon's grasp and turned to face him; "I'm sorry for staring, it was rude of me; please forgive my insolence." Kurama said and he bowed to Karasu who looked shocked.
'No one has ever apologized to me before… he's so polite; I love him more by the second,' Karasu thought as he watched Kurama. An evil smirk crossed his face as he swam towards Kurama, yet his mask kept it hidden from view. 'He's also my type, so young and cute… he's much more beautiful up close; it makes me want to ravish him right on the spot. But I have to contain my self for now. If I act too quickly my plan will be ruined and so will everything I worked so hard for. Besides, if I wait just a little longer he will be more depressed then ever, making him far more ripe then he is now.'
"It's alright young prince, my appearance is quite… unusual, and so everyone jumps at first." Karasu explained while smiling kindly down at Kurama as he lifted the boy's chin. 'Just beautiful…'
"I see, I'm sorry about that... but I think that your form is actually quite interesting. I especially love your tale; it's really different, like that a great white." Kurama said thinking out loud. He smiled and Karasu twitched. Being compared to a great white was a huge compliment in the ocean.
'…Containing myself might be harder then I first thought…'
"May I ask though… what was that… person out there?" Kurama asked; he couldn't help but flitch slightly. That creature seemed to be warning him about Karasu; was the sea demon the one who did that to him? Gaining information about the sea demon would be important, considering he still was not sure what he was getting into.
"Ah, that person; do not worry about him. Like we are about to do, we made a very interesting deal and he did not do what he needed, so I won. He would not be so badly wounded if he didn't keep getting in the way. So he is not worth your worries; besides, we're here to discuss your problems with me, not mine."
"…May I ask… what was the deal he made with you?" Kurama asked cautiously. He saw a dark look return to Karasu's eyes before they returned to normal.
"I'm sorry that is confidential. However, I will say that he did try to find someone but failed. I merely helped him out. For all that person knows the person he was looking for could be dead, he was a fool for even trying."
'He's ruthless and cruel… and he seems to try to understand more of the situation then the person he sells the deal too… seems like a regular pushy sales man only with a cooler form. I should be careful when dealing with him.' "I see…"
'Clever little thing, he's trying to figure me out. Well, let's get to the fun part, reeling the fish in.' Karasu thought sinisterly.
Kuwabara and Youko were slowly swimming through one of the tunnels in the lair. Kuwabara was slightly trembling but still went forward. When it came to his friends Kuwabara Kazuma never ran away. Youko on the other hand was examining his surroundings. He remembered the stone statues at the beginning, and knew those people were not there to make a deal with Karasu. The way he could tell was because they all had a weapon of some kind that was either hidden or out, as if they were ready to fight. Apparently, they must've tried to defeat the sea demon and failed.
'So not only is this demon sly he's also very powerful. I will have to be careful when I deal with him.' Youko thought to himself as he and Kuwabara swam through one of the tunnels of the cave. There were many, but Youko trusted Kuwabara's instinct. For some reason, the carp had a very strong 6 sense, and finding correct tunnels to avoid traps was one of his specialties…or so Kurama told him. There was another way of tracking too, and Youko was using it there.
The tears of the merpeople were highly scented, and since Kurama had just cried, he esily tracked with Youko's unique nose. With Youko's nose and Kuwabara's sixth sense combined, they were hot on Kurama's trail.
"Hey Youko, you're old, do you know anything about this Karasu that's worth knowing?" Kuwabara asked the older being, who twitched at the word 'old.'
"Why you sun of a- HOW DARE YOU CALL ME OLD!" Youko yelled and he clamped down his claws hard on Kuwabara's tail, making the young carp scream and swim much faster through the tunnel. "JUST BECAUSE I'M OVER A THOUSAND YEARS OLD, IT DOESN'T MEAN I'M OLD! AS A YO-" Youko suddenly shut up but Kuwabara didn't notice the slip due to the pain. "NEVER MIND, JUST KEEP SWIMMING!"
"OOOOOWW!" Kuwabara yelled as swam faster then a motor boat. He highly regretted his choice on calling the crab old. 'Note to self, never call a crab old, while he's riding on your back.'
It took ten minutes, but eventually Youko calmed down enough to let Kuwabara go. Kuwabara just sulked in the top part of the tunnel, while nuzzling his 'poor tail' continuously.
"Oh shut up you pathetic carp, we need to find Shu-chan." Youko said annoyed.
"WHO'S FAULT IS THIS! All I wanted to know was if you knew anything about Karasu, and then you freak out and cut my fin… I think it might be bleeding…" Kuwabara said pouting. He hated to bleed; it always attracted bigger and stronger predators then him, and the last thing he needed at the moment was a orca swooping in and making him dinner.
"It will heal in a while, so don't worry. It's not as if anything will want to come after you right now, not since we're so close to Karasu." Kuwabara could only nod. "…I do know Karasu though, or a least some details of his past. I also had the pleasure of talking to him while he was still sane; or at least when acted like he was." Youko commented and Kuwabara lit up.
"Really, well tell me already; I won't stay young forever." Kuwabara yelled happily and Youko covered the carp's mouth.
"Don't yell you idiot; we're in enemy ter-" Youko could not continue his sentence as he and Kuwabara went around a corner. Kuwabara looked confused as he looked at Youko's golden eyes open in shock. Curiously, the carp looked ahead and his jaw dropped and his eyes popped out as he yelled out in shock (anime fish, he can do that ), "WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE!"
Youko could not answer. The two had just come face to face with the brown seaweed like creatures. They all turned to the 2 intruders and started moaning, and trying to warn them to stay away all at once, so it was impossible to understand what they were saying. Suddenly one shot out at Kuwabara who yelled, and turned and hit it away with his tail. Another went at Youko and wrapped around his claw, but the old crab reacted and cut it with his claw. Kuwabara and Youko swam back as more came out and continuously attacked them.
As the creatures attacked, they kept moaning, telling the 2 intruders to run. They had tried to stop the one before, but he was too fast and they could not stop him time. They had regretted that deeply, but they would not miss a second time; their worst fear was if someone else became like them, or worse…
"DAMN IT! LEAVE US BE, WE HAVE TO SAVE OUR FRIEND!" Kuwabara yelled but the poor creatures didn't listen and one shot out and head butted him in the face. Kuwabara got knocked back and Youko quickly retreated into his shell as one did the same to him. They landed at the mouth of the tunnel and they watched horrifyingly as the things suddenly jumped out across to another on the opposite side, and made a wall out their 'bodies.'
Youko and Kuwabara slammed against the wall a few times, but the things never let go. They were sure that they were protecting the crab and carp, so much that they would make sure not let them anywhere near Karasu; the sea demon which forced them into their hideous forms.
"FUCK! Now what are we gonna do Youko?" Kuwabara heaved as he hit himself against the walls. Youko tried once more before giving up.
"We can't go all the way back that's for sure; it would take too long to get to Shuichi." Youko said angrily. Kuwabara cursed loudly again and tried to go through the wall, while Youko scratched the edge of his shell, a sign that he was thinking. After a while, Kuwabara stopped slamming himself upon the wall of seaweed, and just slid against it and started to tremble. He was so close to losing his best fiend, and there was nothing he could do; for a moment he just felt so weak and useless. There was a deep silence, that the not even the seaweed could interrupt, as Youko thought of a plan and Kuwabara thought back on Kurama, and how he regretted telling the Sea king.
Finally, the silence was interrupted by a sigh, and Youko put his claw down and shrugged. "I guess it can't be helped, Shuichi is in trouble…" Youko said and Kuwabara opened his eyes in shock and turned to Youko. "This conversation is confidential, only you, I and Shuichi can talk about it; once he learns after I tell him of course." Youko said and he smirked at Kuwabara from under his shell.
"W-What do you mean by that." Kuwabara yelled at the crab that merely looked up to the ceiling.
"You obviously know of my situation with the king, that he cursed me to keep control right? Well Kuwabara-san, I'll tell you something even more juicy then that." This perturbed Kuwabara, a secret so great he couldn't tell anyone. Such a secret was dangerous, and he couldn't forget the secret that he accidentally let out that caused this entire ordeal for them.
"I won't take no for an answer carp!" Youko said and turned his piercing gold eyes at him. "Now listen, Karasu is worse then he seems, and the name sea demon is not only a title. Along time ago, he was a real demon; literally!" Kuwabara's jaw dropped and Youko smirked, and his claw started to glow a strange reddish color, and Kuwabara could hardly believe his eyes.
"N-no WAY IS TH-TH-THAT-"
"Yomi has changed only 2 demons into merpeople because they found out about their under water civilization. One was Karasu, and the other-" Youko thrust his hand up and a powerful blast of youkai went through the roof, creating a hole just big enough for Kuwabara and Youko; "is self explainable!" Kuwabara's mouth hanged open like the fish he was. He just stared at the crab and he couldn't believe his eyes, the person was a real live demon.
'Now I have a real reason for staying away from his bad side,' Kuwabara thought as he stared at the small hole Youko made.
Karasu and Kurama turned to the exit. For a moment, both of them felt a large amount of youkai. 'What was that…?' Kurama thought and he saw Karasu glare at the door.
'So they're going to try and stop me huh? Well to bad for them, but today I will get Kurama.' Karasu thought then before he looked at the Toguro brothers strait into the eyes and contacted them. 'Slow those 2 down and don't let them pass you until I have Shuichi. If they come here too early, then the plan shall be ruined.' The Toguro brothers nodded and left through some holes in the skeleton like structure to head Kuwabara and Youko off.
"I'm sorry about that young prince." Karasu said and Kurama jumped a little but Karasu ignored that. "There are many object hidden with in this place were I hold objects which I use for my spells and many other forms of magic. I even have bottles which hold essences of youkai, which I hang on to for certain occasions." Too prove he wasn't completely lying, he swam over to a cupboard in the corner of the room and opened it, revealing many bottles of glowing things. Reaching in, he took out a bottle that was glowing red, and was definitely leaking some youkai which Kurama could sense. "However, sometimes I lock the youkai away too strongly or it reacts to something that is powerful around it, and it grows too strong for the containment and explodes. As you sensed, that was one of the stronger ones I had."
Kurama nodded and relaxed slightly. "I understand, sorry for jumping over something so simple. But may I ask how you got the youkai in the first place." Kurama asked curiously and Karasu laughed and put the bottle back in the cupboard. "That's a story for different day; now let's work on your own predicament." Karasu said. He then swam over and gently and rubbed Kurama's head a little, Kurama adverted his eyes from the Sea Demon's and Karasu saw a glint of sadness in them. 'How beautiful…' (He likes thinking that)
"Now," Karasu began again and he let go of Shuichi's head and sat down on a chair and eyed Shuichi sternly, showing his business look. "Tell me if I have all the details, young prince. You enjoy collecting human, and demon objects, but that is something the old king hates the most. His wife abuses you whenever she can, and there is a small rumor that she has been hurting you for a long time, is that correct?"
Kurama lowered his eyes and sat down across from Karasu in his own chair. They were normal human chairs, but neither of them seemed to mind. Then slowly, Kurama nodded.
"I see, and I'm guessing the reason for the shirt is too hide the wounds which she, herself caused."
"Yes Karasu-san." Kurama answered and Karasu's eyes widened. It had been so long since someone had addressed him in such a polite term.
"I see, and your friends have betrayed you, have they not. It's sad when the people we trust betray us so horribly."
"Um-no! Youko has never betrayed me, and Kuwabara, now that I look back, probably didn-" Kurama stopped and gasped in shock when Karasu slowly swam over, and hugged the prince.
"It's okay, little one. You should not defend someone who hurt you so badly. After all, who else would have given your secrets away and lead an all powerful king to your haven. It must hurt you so much, knowing that thing does not deserve your forgiveness. But we mustn't forget the crab of course." Kurama's eyes open in surprise and he pushed Karasu slightly away so he could look up at the sea demons face.
"What do you mean? Youko has never done anything-"
"Exactly, he has done nothing! He has a very keen sense of smell, so he always knew when you were hurt, he also knows you inside out Shuichi!" Kurama twitched at the nickname, only Youko called him that. "So why has he done nothing?" Karasu spat out the word with venom, and Kurama started shaking.
"Please…stop-"
"Why has he never done anything to help you?"
"SHUT UP! You don't know Youko, he always has something planned and-and…"
"You care for him like a brother right?" Kurama looked up, shocked, but slowly he nodded.
"I wonder if I told you, that he doesn't feel the same; that he may in fact hate you." Kurama could not even fight back, he just stared as the taller man hovered over him, his grey skin, and long hair just waves around him, and he felt like going into a corner; as if the world was shrinking around him. Karasu was terrifying, and he couldn't even do anything. "Thank about it; before you came along he was the king of thieves, with no rival who could challenge him. Then, someone related to you, your own father, took that all away from him, and forced him to babysit his youngest child. Not only that, but he forces him away from his own god like body, into a pitiful crab. Why would he care for anything like you?"
Karasu's hard eyes kept Kurama from moving, and his last sentence, felt as if he slashed him with his claws, right across his stomach. He couldn't do anything, and he couldn't deny anything which Karasu had said. It was all true! Or that's what his fragile brain was telling him at the moment. The truth was, Kurama was already so mentally damaged from earlier, with the fight with Yomi and the swim through Karasu's lair, he could not rationalize the situation like he usually could. It also didn't help that Karasu looked terrifying as a shark, which just hovered in front of its prey, trying to figure out just which way to eat it.
"However…there is one person who may be able to save you, and love you." Karasu the calmed down and sat in the opposite chair again, but his words were what caught the prince's attention and calmed him down slightly again. He was still scared, but the mentioning of someone loving him gave him hope, and comforted him. He was about to ask who, when the sea demon continued. "That of course, is the person you treasure over everyone else, but just met recently… Hiei-sama!" Kurama clenched his fists, and a look of determination was in his eyes.
"Are you saying…that you know of a way that can make us together? Is that even possible? And would Hiei go along with this willingly?" Kurama asked and he arose from his chair and accidentally knocked it over with his fin, but he paid no heed.
"That would depend on you, little one, and how far you would go for him. And that's the question I must ask you; how far would you go to be with him?" Karasu asked, and he stared at the prince with interest from his chair and from behind his mask, a smile was forming. Kurama stayed quiet for a moment and lowered his eyes to think.
'For you Hiei…I would… I would-'
"For Hiei, I would risk my life to save him, and for his love I would go as far as he wanted me to. I would never pressure him though; it's Hiei's choice and his emotions, I would only do my best. For him I would do almost anything to gain his trust and his heart, and then treasure him for all eternity, if he trusts me with it. I would never hurt him!" Kurama vowed, and all fear seemed to vanish from his eyes.
'Amazing, just by thinking of that demon has erased all fear e held earlier; Now for the last question.' Karasu thought, making sure he had all the cards.
"I see, and now I'll ask my final question; how far would you go to keep him safe?" Karasu asked and that strange glint in his eye returned.
"I would forfeit my life." Kurama answered, without any hesitation this time.
Karasu smirked from behind his mask which became a grin which he did not hide from his eyes. 'Perfect!'
"Very well, Kurama I will tell you how you can become human, and the price for such a wish." Karasu said and Kurama's eyes widened in shock and stopped swimming.
Youko and Kuwabara were swimming right above the tunnel, about 2 feet above the ground. It would have been pitch black if Youko had not been using a type of sea anemone which did not sting him. This was because he had grown it himself using his youkai, from a small broken off piece from another which died long ago no less. Though using that much energy was tiring, he still moved on, mainly by holding onto Kuwabara's fin as the carp swam.
"So are we nearly there yet carp? I'm getting bored of your company, and would prefer Shuichi's. So move faster so we can save him already!" Youko said and he clenched his claw a little tighter making the carp yelp before yelling back.
"SHUT UP! I'm doing the best I can, I also have to concentrate on Kurama's energy too you know. Not that you can't track any more you useless youkai, do you even have enough youkai left to bust a hole through the roof so we can get to him?" Another snap at his tail made him scream and swim faster for a moment before calmed down again.
"Don't mess with me Kuwabara! It may not look like much, but I'm actually speeding up the process to change me back into my merman form again. But to do this I have to use my Youkai to push away Yomi's water power which is still lingering. Right now I could transform partly, but it would be pretty weird. It'd be like a cross between my crab form and my merform. The reason why I must change is because I found out during many experiments, that my youkai is stronger while I'm a merman, and thus we'd have a stronger chance of saving Shu-chan. Understand idiot?" Youko finished and Kuwabara nodded somewhat as he kept swimming.
"I think, but would it be enough to challenge Karasu? I mean, he does seem pretty strong." Youko nodded in agreement.
"It's true, he is probably more powerful then I will be at the moment, but I have a plan for that. Don't worry, the biggest trouble will be getting there, saving Shuichi shouldn't be as hard." Youko assured his companion, and Kuwabara nodded and grinned.
"YEAH, LET'S GO SAVE KURAMA!" He yelled and Youko's eye twitched and he snapped his fin again before telling the carp to shut up. Neither saw the two eels that swam near them, until the decided to make their presence known. The older one snickered easily before suddenly charging out of the shadows and at Kuwabara. Luckily, Youko quickly smelled him, and looked behind and saw the eels that had it gaping jaws open to attack Kuwabara. Acting quickly like a reflex, the crab snapped really hard on Kuwabara's fin and threw the anemone which he was holding, right at the eel, who quickly charged up to avoid the shocking plant and hovered over the 2, where his brother was.
Kuwabara ignored the pain in his fin, knowing that Youko had to do it to make swim fast enough to avoid the now noticed eel. "WHAT THE HELL; electric eels?" He said confused, and Youko noticed that they were the 2 that had escorted Kurama earlier.
'I knew they are up to no good.' Youko thought angrily.
Just then the eels started to swim above them; circling them like vultures as the oldest and smaller brother started speaking. "Well, well little brother, look what we have here; a carp and a crab that's trying to disturb our master's hard work." The older eel said as he swam above Kuwabara and Youko. The 2 glared at the eels that swam above them.
"So what if we are? We want to help out our friend is that a crime?" Kuwabara asked, and for once he wasn't showing any fear as the 2 eels continued to circle them from above.
"Yes of course it is. That boy is good business to the sea demon, so unfortunately for you, we won't let you help him." The older said, and the younger, who was surprisingly bigger then his older brother, just nodded. "So unfortunately, you must- DIE!" and the younger swept down, as Youko and Kuwabara got ready to fight.
'This might take a time which we do not have. Damn it, you thought of everything Karasu!' Youko thought as he dodged the first attack. The older however came from behind him, and would have clamped his jaws down on the crab, if Kuwabara had not tackled the eel in time.
The elder eel glared at the carp who hit him. Kuwabara however, did not back down. He could never run away when a friend needed him, even if he had to put his life on the line he would never run away. Kuwabara then glared and charged at the electric eel again, he wasn't nearly as fast as Youko or Kurama, but he was much faster then any other carp in the ocean, which caught the eel by surprise as he was barely able to dodge the first attack. 'This could be an interesting fight after all.'
Kurama stopped swimming in shock, and Karasu quickly got a chair for him, before he collapsed on the ground.
"Human? What? How?" Kurama said in shock, his mind was racing a hundred miles a second, trying to comprehend what Karasu had just informed him.
"Calm down young one, it's not as hard to believe as you think it is." Karasu said calmly. Kurama just gave him a look and Karasu sighed, he didn't really like explanations but for someone as smart as Kurama they would be needed. After all, if he just went a head and did it like he did with the normal 'customers' then Kurama would be too suspicious of him. He had been spying on he prince for a very long time, and knew how he reacted to things such as this.
"Kurama-san, dark arts is one of the most feared things, because it requires a price to use it. However, when used correctly it can do many unimaginable things; such as turning you into a human or transforming gubbies to sharks. ('which I have yet to try', Karasu thought gloomily.) However so many people have become afraid of the dark arts, that it has become forbidden, even feared. That is the reason for my…current appearance." Karasu gritted out. He felt animosity burning in his chest, resenting what the king had done to him. He knew the anger showed on his face as he remembered the trail from many years ago, because Kurama's eyes had gotten larger and he felt a slight tremble from his glare. Suddenly Karasu turned on the prince and slammed his clawed fist into one on the walls, causing it to crack and break slightly. Karasu relaxed again, and he felt the fury leave his body and he turned back to the prince, who did not move, or flinch. In fact, he looked very calm, as if he was not even afraid. There was a long period of silence, in which neither of them spoke
"I…see." Kurama said calmly. "I heard it was Yomi who had changed your form, but I never understood why. You must feel great resentment towards him…and me." Kurama finished and he glanced away for a moment before looking back at the demon. "So why do you wish to help me, a son of your enemy?" Kurama asked cautiously. After observing the man's behavior, he could not understand the logic behind such a merman. Yes to Kurama he was just another merman, not a monster which everyone else saw.
Kurama still remembered what he saw as he traveled through the squid of course, but Kurama knew there was a reason for it. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind. 'This deal! That must be the price of going against Karasu…or'- Kurama thought back on what Karasu said about that thing behind the clam. 'Losing…' Karasu waved a hand in front of the prince's face. He had been so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't even hear what Karasu had said.
"Silly prince, going off to your own would while I speak. I'm not that boring hope." Karasu said with a smile. Kurama couldn't see it of course but he saw it through Karasu's eyes. Kurama only stuttered and tried to mutter apologies while he blushed in embarrassment, but Karasu held up a clawed hand and stopped him. "It's all right Kurama; I don't mind repeating one more time, so long as you listen this time." A smirk played over the sea demon's face, which could be seen in his eyes. "As I said, I have my own reasons for helping you, most of them are because it angers the sea king greatly, and there is nothing better then upsetting those you hate. As for you, I don't mind you, especially since you compared me to a shark of great superiority." Karasu said with pride and Kurama felt a sweat drop appear behind his head.
'He's just like Youko!' Kurama thought.
"Now Kurama Shuichi Minamino, let's finally get to the details of are agreement." Karasu said with a smirk. Smiling, he led the boy to a different room; one holding many ingredients and possessions that the young prince had never seen. There were fish in bottles that had come from the bottom of the ocean, cabinets filled with different kinds of liquids, that seemed to be trying to escape, glass balls that had human world animals and insects, and meat and other parts of bodies from who knows what, hanging on hooks. In the middles of the dark room there was a basin that had a dark stand, with oysters and dark symbols carved into it, and had a dark, purple black mixture floating around it. If they were on land Kurama would have sworn it looked like a liquid of some kind.
Karasu smiled as Kurama observed around the room, and led him over to the basin. Calmly, he made it so that Kurama and he were on opposite sides of it; the purple substance illuminated so Kurama's face turned purple due to the light. Kurama looked as if he wanted to touch it but Karasu warned him against it. "Touching creations from darkness can bring forth unwanted side affects." Kurama nodded and kept his hands by his side. It was jut so interesting, that he wanted to see how it felt.
Karasu plucked a hair from his had and slowly, by the end, lowered the hair, root first into the substance, which rippled as the hair entered. Much to Kurama's surprise, Karasu let go of the hair and with a flash of light, the 'liquid' like substances turned golden yellow, with a bright glowing white ball above it, which lit up the entire room. Kurama blinked and squinted at first, there had not been such bright lights in a while, so it took him a while to get use to it.
When Kurama eyes adjusted to the light, he finally saw a shape in the water and his eyes widened. It was his bodiy's outline!
"I find using visual images helps customers understand the deals they're getting into." Karasu explained calmly. "Now, let me make this clear, I can make you a human for 7 days, that's one week in land walker terms. During which time, you are going to try and get the young prince to fall in love with you." As Karasu explained, the Kurama in the glowing ball changed from a merman to a human, and was walking calmly. "Now to prove his love, Hiei will have to kiss you-and not just any kiss!" Kurama looked confused at the quick note Karasu gave him.
"This kiss has to show that he loves you back, a kiss of true love one might say." Karasu said. "If he does kiss you, you'll stay a human forever, if not, well then-" Suddenly, the picture of Kurama turned back to a merman, and chains enveloped his body making the prince jump. "You'll be mine! Your body, mind; everything will become mine, and you'll be mine to do what I say." Karasu said darkly, and he turned to look at prince whose eyes were wide with shock. Then as if Karasu had an after thought, he added, "And if you kiss him it doesn't count; even if he returns it!" Karasu said and Kurama pouted.
"That's a bit unfair isn't it?" Kurama asked. Sadly, Kurama thought back on his family. Jin and he had always got along so well, and Touya and he use to always enjoy a good intelligent conversation. He always enjoyed sparing with his brothers, and had even managed to defeat Shura and Risho a couple of times, and almost always defeated Shishi. But still… even if he always fought with the purple haired man, they were still family, and Kurama did have a few good times with his elder brother.
"If I do this… I'll be leaving behind my family, and all my friends, won't I?" Kurama asked the sea demon in a low voice and Karasu smirked.
"It's true, but does it matter now?" Kurama flinched and thought about it. He had been collecting human objects, a weird enough act as it was, and then he fell in love with a demon. He had no regret about that in his heart; his mother told him that if it was for love, then everything would eventually work out. However, loving any kind of land walker was looked upon as disgusting, and repulsive. When his friends and brothers hear about it, and he knew they would, then they were sure to be disgusted in him as well. In the end; he would be dead to them.
"No, you're right," Kurama answered the sea demon.
"Good, because now we must discuss the price of such a wish!" Karasu said and Kurama gulped in nervousness. He had left all his money in his bag, which was currently on his bed in the castle and there was no way he could get it now. Also, anything which he could have traded was now destroyed, thanks to Yomi's wrath. Noticing the look Kurama on Kurama's face, Karasu laughed and swatted his grey hand in the air. "Calm down Kurama-kun, I'm not asking for any material possession. I have no use for those things anyway-no! What I want is something far more valuable and personal from you." Karasu said and he leaned upon a shelf, the light from the ball showed his every move. "Kurama, what I want, is your voice!"
Youko was hit into a rock, Kuwabara soon showed up beside him. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Youko looked at the 2 eels, one was laughing in total glee, no doubt enjoying himself at their expense, while the other remained expressionless. Kuwabara suddenly glared up at the 2, part of his forehead was cut, and he had bruises and dirt all over his scales (can fish bruise? O well!). There was no doubt about one thing, they were losing. Coughing, Kuwabara turned to the silver crab.
"Damn these guys are tough, do you have any idea how to get to them? I swear, the big one gets stronger by the moment, and the other can dodge anything. It's almost like they're not actually eels!" Kuwabara gritted out and Youko laughed.
"I'm also finding it hard to believe they are of the ocean, but I can't think of anything else at the moment." Youko explained and he looked at his claw. For a moment he saw his fingers outlined on his claw before looking back at the battle field. 'Just a bit longer…' He thought and he snapped his claw shut. 'Yomi has slowed my transformation back into a merman, however, even if I can transform half way that would do for now. I just need another 5 minutes or so, then I'll have enough Youkai; until then Shuichi please wait for me. Don't rush ahead!' Youko thought.
"Hey, you're the smart one; do you have a strategy or something to defeat these guys? Anyway you're a youkai, can't you do any freaky tricks?" Kuwabara asked, getting anxious. He gulped when Youko turned to him, giving him a frightening stare, that almost said, 'I'm working on it infidel so don't bug me!'
"Don't worry Kuwa-baka! I do have a plan all set up, but it's just not ready yet. However, let's switch eels." Youko smirked and pointed to the thicker one. "You fight with brute strength, making it impossible for you to win against the eldest, while if you fight the other, you may be able to match him. I on the other hand, am superior to you in head games, and observation. Trust me, if we switch, we won't be hurt as much." Youko explained.
"As much" Kuwabara gasped out but he sighed? He couldn't think of anything better, so he had no choice but to go with the crazy old fox's (Youko told him what he was earlier.) idea.
"Are you done speaking yet?" the older asked with a crackle. "Because we are ready to kill you now," with that the eldest charged and Youko jumped up and nicked the eel with his claw, while Kuwabara actually charged the younger eel before it went for any of them, especially Youko. 'Don't worry Kurama, the great Kazuma Kuwabara is coming for you.'
The Toguro smirked, he was looking for a challenge and the carp seemed to provide one. If all went well, then he would have a fun fight.
"Pardon," Kurama asked confused? He did not quite understand what Karasu had meant. 'Voice' could mean many things, such as his voice box, or maybe he was told not to speak.
Karasu shook his head; he really hated explaining things, especially to people as smart as Kurama. It could make them realize his plots, make them reconsider, or worse of all, reveal his true personality. If that happened then his plan defiantly would fail. "Your voice, that pretty little thing you speak and sing with. That is the price I need in order to fulfill our deal, and your wish. Every other organ will be fine, even your voice box will stay in one piece, I'll just take what's inside it." Karasu explained. He would also need that voice for special tactical purposes.
"How can I speak to anyone without a voice? Getting Hiei to open up would be hard enough, but making me do it without talking and with such a short time limit is impossible! Can I at least have a month?" Kurama asked, trying to be reasonable. From the start he knew a week was too short, but if he had a month, then he could at least become a friend to Hiei. How he could make Hiei comfortable with him in a week. It seemed impossible. And the worse of it, judging by the letters Hiei had sent him; he was extremely antisocial as well.
"Your voice is only worth one week as it is, I can't change that!" Karasu said. He wasn't lying, to use dark magic the user had to always make a sacrifice. The more you sacrificed, the more you got. Karasu was just happy that in this case, he was the one who got the best out of this deal.
"What is the cost of a month?" Kurama asked and Karasu smirked.
"One quarter of your soul," he answered and Kurama gasped. They both knew that he couldn't give anything that would equal that amount, and that he would need all he could to get along on the land. With a sigh Kurama's shoulders slumped, and he looked at Karasu pleadingly. "Is there anything else I could possibly get for help?" He asked and Karasu shook his head.
"Do not distress young prince. I know this will be extremely difficult, but I have a feeling you can succeed. Just use that pretty face of yours, and never underestimate body language. After all, they may be your only tools in that world, since you no longer as welcomed in this one." Kurama twitched at that and Karasu smiled. Swimming over he put his hand on Shuichi's shoulder and asked him the question which many others had accepted. "Do agree with these terms, little prince? Do we have a deal?"
As he extended his hand, he saw Kurama grab it quickly, and he shook once. Karasu was surprised at first, he thought the prince would more hesitant. Hoever, when he looked up at Kurama's face, he saw the determination in Kurama's eyes and the smirk that matched.
"We have a deal, and I will not lose!" Kurama said and Karasu smirked as well.
'You're mine…' With that, their hands glowed quickly signaling the agreement and Karasu let go. "The timer starts when the sun rises tomorrow morning; so we should prepare you now." With that Karasu quickly let go of the prince's hand and swam right past him. He was so fast that Kurama could barely see him and was thrown back a bit as the tides he caused were so hard. When Kurama opened his eyes, he saw Karasu on the other side of the room, grabbing some thing from the cabinet before throwing them into the basin. The bubble, which once was the source of light in the room, exploded when the first thing entered, but it didn't became dark. The explosions were usually different colors, and happened so often that the room kept switching colors, and the room suddenly turned yellow when Karasu swam to the basin (which had a blue shining fog from the last explosion) and threw in a little orb, which contained one blue butterfly which contained youkai. The next explosion was huge, which created a large, thick, yellow fog, so Kurama couldn't even see the basin anymore and which would not go away. Suddenly, Karasu swam out of the fog while chanting something, when he was done the fog changed green, and he turned to Kurama and pointed out at him and said one word; "Sing!"
Kurama jumped and he couldn't think of a song. He tried but the fog and Karasu's eyes (which had turned red) terrified him too much and his voice got caught in his throat. He tried but he couldn't even utter a sound under the sea demon's terrifying gaze.
"I SAID SING!" Karasu yelled and Kurama flinched and tried to think of something, anything. Suddenly a thought ran through his head. Where Hiei was resting on his lap while his tale barely touched the water, and Hiei's cute and deep breaths were the only thing he heard as he slept. Hearing the song he sang then, Kurama opened his mouth, and let the words fly out.
"In the moonlight I felt your heart,
Quiver like a bow sting's pulse-"
Karasu yelled for him to continue as he thrust his hands through the smoke and into the boiling liquids. When he brought his hand out of the basin, it was glowing green, and steam was coming from under his scales.
"In the moon's pale light
You looked at me;
Nobody knows your heart."
Karasu lifted his hand and his eyes stared at Kurama, the prince kept trying to sing, no matter if his voice was shaking. Suddenly the demon disappeared and when Kurama was about to look around he stopped. He couldn't move his mouth, he couldn't do anything; Karasu had thrust the green hand into his throat, and he was sure he felt a bones break. The only thing that kept him up was the hand that was in his throat.
Youko slashed the older Toguro's eye with his claw, making the thing jump away and swim up to where his brother was. Kuwabara however, did not do as well as the Youko. He had cuts all over him, and was just slammed down into the ground. As he slowly looked up and tried to swim up just a little his black eye was shown and Youko swam over to him and grabbed his fin lightly.
"You should slow down Kuwabara, you don't have a hard shell like I do." Youko said concerned but Kuwabara just shook his head. "No… way, I have to save Kurama. If…I don't I can never look at myself in a …mirror again." He said between coughing and at the end, he started coughing so violently that he even coughed up some blood. Youko glared up at the eel brothers above of him, and he felt an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time; disgust and complete hatred. He could even say the 'damned Sea King' had more respect then the eels as he looked at them.
"Okay that's it, you can push me around and slow me down from my goals, but no one, under any circumstances, messes with Shuichi and Kuwabara. For one thing; Kuwabara is my punching bag, and Shuichi's been picked on enough. Let me tell you now, scum, that you have pissed off the wrong crab!" With that he released a huge amount of youkai so his entire body was wrapped in it and he grew at a quick pace. But something was completely different, he did not grow back his tail, but instead 6 legs grew in its place, and his smooth skin was replaced with a ruff shell like material, which also covered his arms and part of his head. His hair grew out like normal, but while one arm was covered in the crusty shell like material, the other did not transform into a hand, but instead stayed a claw.
Kuwabara quivered at the sight of the new form and he swallowed his spit. He knew at once that this was the form Youko nicknamed 'half way' by his half human shaped top. What amazed Kuwabara most was that Youko's usual fox ears were still the same, while everything else seemed to change. 'It must be some kind of trade mark from his demon form that refuses to go.' Kuwabara reasoned. He looked up at the Toguro brothers and noticed that they were also afraid of this new form that Youko showed. Or at least shocked, but he could see that Youko take advantage of that and he jumped, due to his new, and powerful legs, his jump was very fast, and he used his clawed arm to cut through the elder, and his hand to punch the younger into the rocks.
The elders head was hanging on and inch of skin, while the youngest gasped. But when he tried to squirm of the rock, a clawed hand went through the rock and held him in place. The Younger looked up at the glaring yellow eyes and he smiled, 'He would be fun to fight for real with,' he thought.
Youko clenched his fingers together and felt that his nail were much sharper then usual. Getting ready, the ex-demon aimed the razor sharp nails at the brother's brain. He was just about to end the eel's life when a flash of powerful energy erupted from behind him. Turning around he saw many lights being surrounded by darkness, just a short swim away. He heard a chuckle and he turned to the Toguro and yelled at him angrily. "What's so funny?"
"Those lights and darkness mean the deal has been done and is now over with. By the time you get there, it will be too late; you can't save him any more." The younger Toguro explained and Youko's eyes opened and he took his claw out of the rock. Swearing loudly, he swam in the direction of the darkness, Kuwabara following close behind. When they were out of sight the youngest eel swam up to his brother. "You can stop acting now, he's gone."
The elder Toguro's head nodded and tentacle like fibers came from his neck and pulled it back together. Cracking his neck a little, he turned to his brother. "I hate it when that happens, I always feel numb after pulling myself together." He wined and Toguro (younger) shrugged.
"Better then dying though," the youngest said, making the oldest nod in response.
"Yes it is, but I hate Karasu's end of the deal he made us take in order to make our bodies like this."
"We get stronger bodies, but become his spies; yes it is not quite what I wanted but that's fine, so long as I don't age." With that the younger swam off, soon followed by his oldest brother.
Kurama gasped when the sea demon removed his hand, he felt some blood seep out, but for some strange feeling he went numb. At first he thought he was just about to die, when he felt his bone meant at a quick pace and his skin healed as well. Suddenly the skin mended completely and he slumped over and felt Karasu catch him. As he looked up, he noticed something in his now grey hands, looking up; he noticed it was a black sheet of paper roled up.
"Kurama, this is the deal we have made, but before anything else can be done I need your signature. That way you can safely hand your voice over to me, and it clearly states that if the container which I use breaks, then you can have it back. I found that fair." He then opened the piece of paper, and Kurama tried to read what his hazy mind could understand. Seeing what Karasu said was true and everything else in the deal was the same he already agreed, he silently grabbed the pen that was right above it and wrote down his signature. At first, it was just purple ink like the rest of the writing, but then his hand suddenly got cut, as if by an invisible knife, and cover the entire sheet in red. Kurama watched silently, too tired to be amazed as the blood was absorbed by the writing, dying the letters red in turn. Suddenly he looked to the basin, which started making red smoke form, and he saw a little gold light, which kept making some sound, but as the smoke raised, the sound got louder, and Kurama soon realized that that was his voice, singing the rest of the song as it headed to Karasu, who had moved away from him already.
"-beautiful and haunting but cold
like the blade of a knife so sharp so sweet
nobody knows your heart
All of your sorrow, grief and pain
locked away in the forest of the night
Your secret heart belongs to the world
of the things that sigh in the dark
of the things that cry in the dark."
The last note died away when the voice entered a small shell, which Karasu wore on his ear like an earring. When it entered, Karasu turned to the Basin and seemed to throw something in the basin, which exploded and 2 giant hands came out and quickly headed to Kurama. Kurama flinched and crossed his arms in front of his head, as if too block an attack. The arms just grabbed his arms and tail, and created a bubble around him, with no water at all in there.
It did not stop there though; Kurama saw a cloud of darkness start coming from the bottom where his fin was and start enveloping him. Kurama tried to slide back from it, now afraid, but his back touched the end of the bubble. He tried slamming his fists on it, but it wouldn't break, and soon the smoke covered him too his chest and was going up his arms. With a final silent scream, it covered his head stopping him from seeing anything.
There was silence were all Kurama could hear was his own silent gasps of breath. Then without warning a sudden pain hit him, starting with his fin he felt as if it were being torn in 2. He tried to scream but nothing came out his mouth since voice was already gone. However in his head he could still hear himself. He felt his arms burning, his lungs tightening, his gills forcefully being taken from his sides. The scales on his arms were changing into light hairs, somewhere in the distance he heard his shirt tearing off but was in too much pain to care, and he felt something new at the bottom of his waist. Everything hurt, from his hands to the bottom of where his tail was supposed to be. Kurama felt his throat hurt, even though he could no longer speak, and with such pain he almost felt like dying. The only thing that kept him alive was that tiny voice that softly called out in his mind. 'Hi…ie!'
After a while, he could no longer feel pain, only a numb sensation where he could barely keep his eyes open. He saw the black smoke leave his face and the bubble seemed to open and water started to fill. 'I guess…I lived but… I don't think I can breathe, anymore.' He suddenly thought as his body fell from the bubble and slowly floated to the ground. 'Strange…It looks like the thing where I lived in since I was a child will kill me. And… I haven't even seen Hiei yet. What irony,' were his final thoughts as the darkness claimed him.
Karasu was smiling, his eyes had changed from soothing violet, too a burning red as he laughed crazily. He swam over he looked at the naked prince with his new grown legs. "So this is how you look, my how lovely u are." He said and he lifted him by the arm, 'perfection!'
Karasu wanted to ravish the prince's body, to use it until he died, but fortunately for the prince, that plan would be foiled.
Karasu stopped suddenly and looked up to the roof were a large amount of youkai gathered all of a sudden. Swearing, loudly he grabbed the prince, and pulled him out of the way before the ceiling broke, breaking many dark ingredients and the basin in its progress. Karasu glared up at the hole, but his eyes widened in shock as he saw the shelled monster form of Youko.
Youko glared at him, his eyes fixed on the hand he was holding.
"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH SHUICHI?" He yelled in rage; each word echoed through the chambers of the lair. With speed fuelled by utter rage, the Youko jumped at Karasu, punching him straight in the face, and sending him flying back into another room, where he and Kurama had talked just a while before. Youko was seething so much, that he couldn't look away until he heard Kuwabara call out and he turned and saw the beaten up carp trying to pull the prince up to the surface. Youko stared at the legs that dangled from the prince, but one more helpless call got him out of the trance and he quickly swam over and put one of Kurama's arms around him and started swimming up as fast as he could.
As they went higher and faster through the water, Youko transferred as much youkai as he could to his lower part, and quickly, his legs merged into one, and his cracked, shelled skin soon changed back into the smooth and lovely pale skin he once had. With his fin grown back, he and Kuwabara finally broke the surface of the water at a much quicker rate.
Even though they were above water, Youko quickly noticed that Shuichi still wasn't breathing. Quickly he started pushing his stomach, and breathing into his mouth. On the third try of his make shift CPR, Shuichi finally coughed up the water which was stuck in his throat, and slump against Youko, breathing heavily. Youko sighed in relief and held the boy close to him.
"Thank goodness…Shuichi." He said and Kuwabara also sighed. Then as if just noticing something, Kuwabara's eyes opened wide and he choked out.
"Y-Youko, you have cuts all over you're body! A-and you just kissed Kurama! What-" He couldn't continue because Youko was not paying any attention to him, and instead was looking at his arms back and tail, and sure enough, there was blood. He sighed and turned to Kuwabara.
"Yes it appears I am slightly injured, we may have to look at that later. It's a side affect to going into my other form. As you know it hurt just changing from one form to the other, so staying in the middle for so long is excruciatingly painful. As for the… kiss with Shuichi-kun it was known as CPR, and is a practiced human thing. It helps someone breathe when they get water and such stuck in their throat. I admit I did skip a few step though." Youko said with a slight laugh. With that the fox started to swim away and Kuwabara looked confused before he followed.
"Hey, where you going," the carp asked in confusion? Youko merely pulled Shuichi's arm up a little mores o the prince's head was further away from the water.
"Somewhere dry; land walkers can't survive in water for so long, so Shuichi needs to get to a safe, dry place and soon. The best place would be Alaric; it's only a 2 hour swim from here." Youko said and Kuwabara sighed and he looked up at the night sky.
"I guess it's another sleepless night while we carry someone…" He muttered and he swam over and put one of Kurama's arms over himself and then they swam together to swam Alaric.
Karasu coughed as he picked himself up. He had bruises covering his body, and now his dark magic room was destroyed. "Well, I guess it's for the best. After all if I killed Kurama right there, what good would my plan be?" He asked himself as he rubbed his sore head. He was still disappointed of course, but at the moment he knew he would just have to wait. "Anyway, no matter how this ends, I get the prince in the end." He said with a snicker, but he stopped when he heard a hoarse chuckle from the other room. Walking over to the shell door, he pulled it down and swam over to the base of the tunnel, where the disturbing creature was chuckling to itself; its head seemed to heal from before. "So you can still laugh no matter what I do to your body. Strange, I was sure you would be broken after 10 years of torture." The creature stopped laughing, but held a smirk on his scared face.
"Our deal continues on, even though you defeated me along time ago." It said and it turned its head to face Karasu. "If I was to ever meet the person I couldn't find, you would release me, without any harm ever again. And I just heard him. what could you have done to make my love so angry?" The thing asked pleasantly through its hoarse voice. "This Shuichi must be important to my love, I hope to meet him… tell him how nice it is that the foolish idiot moved on after me." He said and Karasu growled and grabbed the thing's tangled, long, black hair and hissed out words of venom.
"He won't even recognize you and this 'Shuichi,'" he mocked the nickname Youko called him, "will lose! The only way you'll see him is when I torture him in front of you!" He hissed out but the scarred being still smirked at him.
"He has the legendary match maker on his side!" It said to Karasu, making the shark like merman glare. "The legendary Youko Kurama; trust me Karasu. This case has a good possibility of being your first big lost." It said only to be struck in the head and into the wall.
"I never lose, Kuronue, mark my word!" Karasu hissed and he thrust his sharpened nails through the broken bodied demon. "Never!" was the last thing he whispered in his pointy ear before Kuronue cried out in pain.
Youko huffed as he lay Shuichi down on the beach. He had to drag him out far enough so the tides did not drag him back into the ocean, but fortunately for the 3, the tide seemed to be going out since the sun was just starting to rise. Youko sighed and rubbed his forehead a little. This is a troublesome predicament we've got ourselves in. Deals with Karasu; what were you thinking Shuichi?' He thought sadly.
He hadn't been looking at Shuichi, for the fact that the prince was completely naked, and he didn't want to be a pervert. For that reason, he sent Kuwabara to go look for something to cover the prince. Though he had no problem with seeing the prince naked (he had been with Kurama since he was a child, and sometimes bathed him) he knew the prince would. Looking down at the young prince, Youko couldn't help but smile as he moved a hair out of his face. 'Your sleeping face is so beautiful Shuichi, I'm happy I'm the only one who gets to enjoy it right now.'
He stopped smiling when he noticed something on his neck. Moving more hair aside, he saw a scratch, right below the dip in his neck, and on his bone. Rubbing it a little, he glared at the scratch. "This wasn't there before he visited Karasu." He said. He heard panting and quickly turned to the source of the noise, tensing at the sound at intruder; he clenched his hand as if ready to fight. However he relaxed a second later when he saw a giant orange fish carrying some sort of white fabric behind him.
"I see you found something after a thousand years." Youko said with a smirk and Kuwabara glared and stopped near the shallow water. He hated when Youko bugged him like that.
"Shut up, anyway I got what you wanted. This should cover Kurama nicely." Kuwabara said and Youko crawled over, wetted his gills, and looked over the fabric.
"This looks like an old fashioned sail from somewhere. It's dirty, and has oysters and other living things on it. In other words, this is gross." Youko said distastefully. Kuwabara glared at the silver haired merman.
'You incredibly picky person,' Kuwabara thought. 'Kurama's butt naked and he still criticized me about finding something to cover him! It even covers his damned legs!' Kuwabara thought angrily. He had never liked humans, and now seeing legs on Kurama was just disgusting to him. 'His scales on his arms were even removed.' His thoughts stopped when he heard a ripping sound. He looked up to see Youko tearing off the worst parts of the sail.
Youko looked satisfied, as he threw the rest of the fragments over his shoulder and put the cleanest part of the sail over Kurama. It was enough to cover his masculine organs, but a lot of his legs still showed. Shrugging at this, he kept eyeing the scratch on his neck, and ran his hand over it. 'It's almost as if something dark has been forced in there to stop it from healing. But what could you have given him Shuichi?'
Kuwabara glared suspiciously at Youko. "What exactly are you doing?" He asked, noticing the older being's hand. Youko looked at him with raised brows.
"There seems to be something in Shuichi's throat, and I want to know what it is." Youko said with a slight glare. Kuwabara glared back at him and Youko grabbed a shell that was right near his hand and threw it at the giant carp. "Get your mind out of the air and back into the sea, I wouldn't do that to Shuichi while he was unconscious." He yelled indignantly at Kuwabara who massaged his head.
"Alright, didn't have to yell." Kuwabara hissed in pain. But Youko was looking at Kurama's neck again. Kuwabara was curious what he was looking at so he asked.
"I don't know. There's a scratch here with something inside, but I don't know what it is. I'm also worried that this may have something to do with the price he paid." Youko answered and Kuwabara's eyebrows (You know the answer; anime fish!) knit in confusion.
"What do you mean by price?" He asked and Youko was about to explain, when his ears perked up a second time. "Someone's coming! Listen Kuwabara, I can't explain everything right now, but when I have the chance I'll tell both of you. In the mean time; I'm staying with Shuichi, I'll be in my crab form so I shouldn't be noticed. Now shoo, before someone turns you into their dinner." He said and Kuwabara nodded and swam back into deeper water. He jumped though when he heard a voice in his head. 'And don't tell Yomi ANYTHING! I'll hunt you down and eat you if you do anything rash.'
'How many times do I have to tell you to stop that?' Kuwabara yelled back. He would never get use to Youko entering his head. But he did understand the message, and would obey it for now. He thought the best way to do it was to stay away from the sea king. 'The best way to do that is to stay away from Atlora for a while. Maybe I'll just stay here for a while; there aren't so many fish around these parts anyway.' With that resolved Kuwabara went behind a rock and looked up, seeing who approached.
Hiei had the worse luck. Or at least that's what he thought at the moment as the loud mouth prince, Yusuke Urameshi, walked beside him. They were heading to the beach where he had met Kurama, together.
Hiei hated this; he intended to go alone to see if there were any notes left by the red head, but now the raven head had been noticing his disappearance's, and came to investigate yesterday night. Unfortunately, Hiei had a nightmare that resolved all around Kurama, where in the end he called out his name, and was therefore now with Yusuke. Let's take a peak at happened that night.
: FLASH BACK:
Hiei turned in his sleep, the demon was having a horrible dream, or that's what it seemed to Yusuke who stood right at his door.
The young prince stared at the fire demon and slowly, and as quietly as he could, walked towards him. 'That's strange; the little bugger usually wakes up by now.' Yusuke thought confused. As he walked closer, he saw something that caught his interest even more. On the small table beside the fire demon's bed, was a bunch of paper, that didn't look like any sort of bill or paper work. Tip toeing, Yusuke had his rat face on, as he walked to the table (to those who read the manga, you should know the rat face ).
Hiei twitched again in his dream.
'He was running down a tunnel. It was an unusual one where strange things crawled up the walls, and brown things moved; Hiei hardly noticed this as he kept running. Suddenly, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and Hiei ran even faster. When the fire demon finally got there, he looked around, trying to find out where he was. But his head froze when he saw someone chained to the wall.'
'Walking toward the person, his eyes became wider as he saw the red hair cascade down the body, with blood flowing around it, almost blending in with the crimson. Long bangs hid the person's face but Hiei knew who the person was.'
"Kura…ma," Hiei asked quietly? The person slowly turned their head towards him and then raised their head, showing the green orbs. But Hiei jumped at the sight at them. They were not the same lively, caring eyes that gazed down at him on the beach, but rather eyes that lost their light; dead eyes. But they hardened, and became the fiercest glare he ever saw, and stepped he back.'
'Hi...ie.'
'Kurama then stared yelling at him, accusing him of doing the torture that happened to him, that said it was all his fault. But soon his voice started leaving, and he couldn't say anything. Nothing came out of his throat, but he was still yelling, still glaring, and still expressing his hatred as much as he could. And Hiei saw his expression through Kurama's eyes; he Hiei Jaganshi, was afraid!'
'Hiei then reached out his hand and tried running to him, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reach him he couldn't even get near him, as if he was running on one spot. With one last cry he tried to call for him'
"KURAMA!" Hiei yelled and his eyes shot open and he sat strait up in his bed, his hand reached out in front of him.
"Yo, nice to see you're awake." A voice called to him once he had a few deep breaths, and Hiei instantly looked from where the voice came. Standing in his room, holding his letters, was Yusuke Urameshi. With a glare Hiei barked at him. "Get out!"
Yusuke smirked and held up the letters and smiled as he handed them to Hiei, who snatched them quickly. "God dammit Hiei, you should have told me that he was real. If you showed me this then of course I would have believed you. Who ever this guy is he sure has nice hand writing."
"Get out." Hiei ordered again, his glare becoming fiercer by the moment.
"Man, your new boyfriend sure gives you hard clues."
Hiei snapped and jumped at Yusuke, tackling him to the ground. Yusuke yelped and punched Hiei in the face and kicked him off, but Hiei soon came back and started hitting him with the fastest punches Yusuke had ever seen, so Yusuke had a hard time blocking and hitting back. But Hiei started yelling at him in anger. "THIS IS MY BUISNESS DETECTIVE! I NEVER MEANT TO TELL YOU, ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE ME THE FIRST TIME. IF YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE ME THE FIRST TIME THEN WHY WOULD YOU BELIEVE ME LATER?!" Hiei yelled frustrated and he landed one good punch right in Yusuke's face that sent the detective flying.
"Dammit Hiei… I'LL TELL YOU WHY, BECAUSE THEN I COULD HAVE HELPED YOU WITH THIS!" Yusuke then charged forward and elbowed Hiei's arm so hard that it made it bleed, but Hiei just kept blocking and yelled back.
"WHY WOULD I NEED YOUR HELP? YOU'RE SO STUPID THAT I DON'T THINK YOU ACTUALLY EVOLVED FROM THE APES THAT YOU ONCE WERE!" Hiei countered only to get hit in the jaw and he landed on the bed, where Yusuke pinned him down by his wrists.
"Because Hiei, his guy is a tricky bastard who gives you questions a scientist would blow his mind over. Let's face it you need my help, even if it's not as much as you want." Yusuke said to the struggling fire demon under him. Eventually Hiei just stopped and went lax under his grip, and looked up to the smiling prince above him.
"Why do you want to help me? What's in this for you anyway?" Hiei asked gruffly and Yusuke looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Nothing really, but I want to see him. This guy seems interesting, isn't that why you keep mailing to him back?" Yusuke said and Hiei said nothing, nor showed any emotion.
"...If I agreed to this…will you keep this information to yourself?" Hiei asked and Yusuke blinked to himself and nodded. "You blink too much detective."
"Well, maybe ya… but sure Hiei, I won't tell anyone anything…as long as you show me where you get the letters." Yusuke said with a smirk making Hiei glared.
"Did I ever tell you how much I despise you detective?" Hiei said. And Yusuke smiled with a nod. "Fine then…by the way Yusuke. What happens when you touch fire?" Hiei asked with his evil smirk.
"Um…you get burned, why-OUCH!" Yusuke took his hands off the fire demon's wrists when they suddenly got enclosed in fire and Hiei took that chance to kick Yusuke off of him, and role away. Yusuke glared as he sat back up and he blew on his hands. "Okay, I get it. You don't like to be touched, but do we have a deal?"
Hiei stayed silent for a while his face completely void of any emotion. After a while of Yusuke and him staring at each other, Hiei gave a small nod and Yusuke jumped and yelled with joy making the fire demon feel a sweat drop behind his head. "Thanks Hiei, don't worry your secret's safe with me- AND TOMARROW WE MEET KURAMA!" Yusuke yelled with joy.
"He never shows up personally, if there is anything, he'll leave a note. That is all." Hiei said, now cursing his decision as Yusuke talked to him happily. "And he is not my boyfriend!" Yusuke laughed at that.
"Alright whatever you say Hiei. I'm just happy you have sound proof walls, or else Mukuro would kill us for being so loud at night." Yusuke said looking around at the mess they made. Chairs were tipped over or destroyed, glass was broken for the picture frames and almost everything was thrown into the walls from the energy they gave off. "The maids might have a heart attack when they see this." Yusuke muttered.
"Hn." Hiei said and Yusuke laughed even harder.
: END OF FLASH BACK:
After glaring at the detective for a while, he suddenly stopped when he heard Pu and he held out his arm and the penguin like bird landed on it. "Any sign of him?" Hiei asked ruffly, and the spirit beast shook his head and Hiei sighed.
"Wait, Pu knew about this and I didn't? You jerk Hiei, way to choose favorites!" Yusuke almost yelled and he glared.
"He brought me 2 of the letters I have while I was doing paper work, and there was a strand of red hair that belonged to Kurama in his feet. I knew then that he not only knows of Kurama, but has come into contact with him. I've recently been using him to try and locate Kurama, despite our deal that we wait until I guess 3 times." Hiei explained and Yusuke's eyes widened in realization. Hiei had been treating Pu with more respect then usual. He even isulted him less.
"Guess he like you more then me…is it weird that I'm getting jealous of part of me?" Yusuke said talking to the spirit beast. Yusuke had hatched the egg himself with his own soul energy, so it was official that the blue penguin was his true self…apparently. Yusuke still had trouble believing that he was a penguin on the inside that kept shouting 'Pu'… Well at least he had his bad mouth.
Pu took off again and flew ahead of them to the beach he often met Kurama at when the boy had a letter. Pu really enjoyed him because he played with his ears and always spoke kindly to him. It was nice change from his human self Yusuke, and his hot headed fire demon friend. Especially since he didn't baby him like the girls at the castle did.
Flying around a giant rock, Pu's eyes widened in surprise when he saw not just one, but 2 people on the beach where Kurama usually met him. Pu's eyes widened even more when he saw that the person's tail suddenly became legs, and he hurried off to get Yusuke and Hiei.
Hiei and Yusuke stopped walking when they saw Pu fly as fast as it could, while squawking in emergency. Hiei and Yusuke hurried over to it, but instead of waiting for them to ask him 'what's wrong', he lead them while making lots of noise, the other 2 followed behind him.
Hiei tried thinking about what could have gotten the bird all riled up, when he realized where they were going and it hit him. 'KURAMA!' With a burst of speed which Yusuke barely saw him, he ran ahead of Pu, Yusuke following behind.
Pu however stopped on top of the giant rock instead of going around it, and before Hiei got there, saw the silver haired man from earlier, change forms from a merman to a crab quickly, and hide in a small ripple of the cloth that surrounded the boy's waist, that seemed to stick together.
Hiei showed up no longer then 2 seconds later, and stopped in shock at the giant rock, completely frozen. Yusuke showed up a few seconds later, and his jaw dropped as well.
"I…thought we were supposed to get a letter." Yusuke said in shock, and Hiei flitted over to the red haired man. He looked him over and he gasped in surprise.
The red headed boy was breathing quickly, and there was a slight flush on his face, turning him over, he saw many deep scratches and cut marks into his back. He also noticed the scratch marks that were on the sternum and Clavicle bones. (Breast bone and collar bone.)
Yusuke also started looking him over. "He seems to be alive, and these wounds don't seem too recent… what do you think happened to him?" Yusuke asked and Hiei didn't seem to be showing much emotion. But inside he kept thinking one thing.
'He looks just like him, is this Kurama?'
"Hey Hiei!" Snapping out of his trance, Hiei looked at Yusuke.
"No idea what happened, and you're right, every cut except the one on his color bone seems a few days old. However this person has been in the ocean for a few hours now, so he should seek some medical attention."
A small moment of silence passed before a ruffling of clothing happened and Hiei looked at Yusuke who took off his jacket and made the red head sit up a liitleand put the jacket on his shoulders. "Just thinking that he looks cold." Yusuke muttered and Hiei nodded. Yusuke was just about to lift him up bridal style, but when he touched his legs, Kurama tensed up in his arms and jolted his head back in his sleep, making Yusuke let go and Hiei flit over to the other side of his legs. Kurama opened his mouth to utter a small cry, but only air came out.
"I…think he's a mute." Yusuke muttered and Hiei let a breath out.
'I guess it's not as likely to be him as I thought.' Hiei thought and inwardly sighed. While on the outside, his stone like expression remained.
Hiei gently poked Kurama's legs again, and the boy flinched and tried to move his legs away, but stopped again with gasp of pain. "His legs are very cramped; they should be loosened before we carry him." Hiei decided and he looked at Yusuke. "I'm not a doctor, nor am I skilled with muscles, my knowledge on this area is of healing is very limited. Go get Genkai and Yukina; they should know what to do since we can't move him right now." Yusuke nodded and got up and started running. When he was gone, Pu flew down and walked over to the redhead.
"Pu" it cued and the boy's head turned to looked over, and Hiei looked in amazement as the boy's eyes opened for a moment. They barely opened at all, but they looked over at Pu for a moment and a smile formed on his face, and Pu scooted over warily, before the boy's eyes put their attention on Hiei.
'This is a nice dream…I get to see you again here, and Pu too. I wonder if I lived. if your eyes are real, then I might…be …okay." Kurama thought as he looked into Hiei's eyes, only to fall back asleep. He was tired and numb everywhere.
"They're…green." Hiei muttered when Kurama fell back in unconsciousness and Pu was cueing happily. "Very green; I never saw eyes like that before." Hiei muttered in awe. As the rays of the sun made Kurama's hair shine, Hiei couldn't help but think. 'Who are you? Are you really him?'
Yaaay, it's done. I also provided fan servace to The HieiXYusuke, and the KarasuXKurama fans. To those of you who guessed right from the last chapter, congratulations. Have a cookie gives u cookies and for the rest of u; u can all suckers...no wait, lolipops .
So another chapter is over and done with, I hope u all liked it. I'm sorry if I got people out of character, it was wrong of me. Hiei seems a bit out of it, I should work on making him anti-social. Apart from that, I'm ok with my work. I hope u all liked it. Please review.
And special thanks too Piedad Carrillo, and Tearless(), for reminding me to update. They gelped with my slump. Well that's all, see u all later, and if u havn't voted for the second question on my profile, please do so. thanks.