Disclaimer: Gumballs gumballs gumballs! -ahem- Please send donations of twenty-five cents each to the authoress as she has found herself simply incapable of writing without the creative surge given off by gumballs.

Notes: Um…none at the moment. We'll see if that changes! Well…actually…if you're reading this…then…er…I guess it didn't…and won't…er…Oh, blah.

Ha, a big thanks to KyoHana, the fifth reviewer and KittyLuv, who made sure that SOMEONE was going to review before the night was out. Your determination is...funny! Here you go.

-o-o-o-

Memories of the Lost

Chapter 9

Memories Forbidden (Part II)

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Koenma was half way down the Hall of Judgment, ordering his workers around as fast as he could shoot off commands, summoning the SDF as he did, when he suddenly froze. All movement stopped around him, the soldiers heading towards the large doors halting at the sudden lack of orders flying from his mouth.

"Sir?" the SDF had arrived, their captain at his elbow (fast buggers) Koenma slowly turned to look at him, a most blank look on his face.

That was what was wrong with that oni in his office. He had finally figured it out and, as his instinct had told him, it was quite obvious. Amidst the wet clothes, the slightly ruffled look about him, the single thing had been as obvious as night and day, yet went unnoticed in the rush.

Hedrick had had a fingerprint burned into his forehead.

Koenma's amber eyes opened wide in horror as he immediately drew to conclusions. He spun on his heel and he took off at a dead run back the other way, shouting new orders out over his shoulder as he went.

-o-o-o-

Hiei and Yusuke rounded the corner at a pace fast enough to blur beneath the human eye. Yusuke was in the lead, but just barely and only because he was on the inside of the corner when they turned. And, for that very second, Hiei was glad he was slightly behind the detective as Yusuke ran headlong into Koenma.

The two lovers crashed with a loud, resounding smack and both went flying backwards, each falling to the floor with another thud. Yusuke swore vividly as he rubbed his skull. He should have been (and was within seconds) more worried about Koenma as his own skull was thicker than rock (as proven in the Dark Tournament)

"Are you alright?" he asked as he ran gently fingers on Koenma's forehead, brushing back his beloved's bangs as the junior lord swore just as vividly as the teen had.

Koenma, however, pushed back his forming headache. "Don't worry about me, Kurama's in danger! The guard- Syunsuke attacking the palace- it was a distraction! Syunsuke is already in the palace right now!"

Hiei's red eyes opened wider than Koenma had ever seen them and he was gone with a single loud curse. Yusuke, who's own brown eyes widened right behind the fire demon, helped Koenma up before his lover all but shoved him in the direction Kuwabara had taken, following after Hiei.

"Go!" Koenma shouted out and Yusuke nodded, taking off at a near blur pace after his two teammates. Koenma sagged against the wall, Botan gripping his arm gently as he did. She watched in the direction the tentai had disappeared as her boss rubbed his forehead.

-o-o-o-

Hiei burst through the fox's door. Literally through the door, cracking it into three separate pieces, not including the thousands of splinters that littered the floor. His katana was already unsheathed and gripped in knuckle-white hands as he took in the site before him.

Syunsuke stood before the bed, a long and slender hand pressed against the pale flesh of Kurama's face. The fox was sitting on the bed, having half risen when he realized that the demon before him was certainly not a healer. His eyes were wide but clouded over with a foggy white and his mouth was partially open in a silent scream. Two hands, white knuckled with the struggle, gripped Syunsuke's wrist, attempting to pull the bone-chilling hand away from his skin.

"Let him go, Syunsuke!" Kuwabara was the first to find his voice, stumbling almost head over heels into the room after tripping over the fragments of door. Hiei sidestepped the orange-haired teen, who promptly fell on his face right where the fire demon had been standing, an ample threat indeed. Yusuke charged in over his body, causing more swearing and grumbling to echo around the room.

Syunsuke sneered at them before he grabbed Kurama's wrist and pried it off his own arm. He used it to spin around to the tentai, taking the fox's limp body with him and releasing to send Kurama flying towards them. Yusuke and Hiei both caught the fox, taken to the floor with him in a pile of limps and "oofs"

The fire demon, revenge for the fox winning over concern for the fox, stood immediately back up to face the blue robed demon, but found no one. The room was empty but for Kuwabara climbing to his feet and starting towards the window. Hiei growled and started after the teen.

"He jumped out the window," Kuwabara stated as he stuck his head out the window to look down. Hiei did the same, climbing slightly on the bed. Not worrying about being so close to the idiot, he glanced up at the climbing Reikai walls before looking back down.

Neither saw anything but the rain pouring down around them, already lightening with the demon's sudden disappearance.

"He's gone," Kuwabara whispered in anger and Hiei swore as he pulled his head back inside, turning his attention instead to the fox lying in Yusuke's arms. The teen looked up as Hiei drew near.

"He's out again," the raven-haired detective reported, holding Kurama's upper body against his own. "And Syunsuke took more memory."

-o-o-o-

Bright green eyes blinked open to a pounding headache. Pain filled those eyes as he tried to fight it back, gaining nothing but more pain and he groaned, raising a hand to his temple as he closed his eyes. He was not happy with how heavy his limbs felt and he paused to consider what exactly he had done the night before.

The lashes of pain that arced across the back of his eyes like a whip was certainly not from a hangover, though he had known some pretty wicked ones in his days. And the heaviness of his limbs (all four of them as he was now finding) was not unlike the results after a long fight…but there was no ache to his muscles, nor any pull to his skin as there would be were he wounded at all.

A light frown crossed his delicate features. His awareness was definitely off, also. His hearing seemed dull and distant, as if blocked by cloth. That was unlike anything he'd ever experienced outside of a serious hangover. And so, bracing himself for another lash of pain, he opened his green eyes.

And saw ceiling through slightly fuzzy, blurry eyes. He tried repeatedly to blink away the odd blurriness in his eyes but found that it went nowhere. He could easily see the ceiling (of wherever he was) clearly, but he could no longer perceive it like he used to be able to.

Not only were it his ears that had dulled, but his eyes seemed to have suffered the same fate.

"What the he-" Kurama froze at the sound of his own voice. It was thick and…lighter, filled with a tone heavier than his normally cold voice and it sounded rooted to the ground in a way he could not understand. It was his voice…but several octaves higher and less airy and natural.

It was no longer in tune with the trees but rather with his body.

Kurama bolted up from his lying position, no longer taking heed of whatever was wrong with him, for he feared that whatever was wrong with him was what he feared, and so had no reason to fear doing worse than what was wrong with him.

And that hardly made any sense to him.

He looked down at his lap. White sheets pooled around him, a heavy comforter folded at his feet. And…speaking of feet…why did his seem closer to his body? Was he SHORTER!

Kurama went to pull off the covers and stopped once more. His hand…his hand that had went to pull of the sheets…well…well…it wasn't HIS hand!

The fox flexed his fingers, watching the hand through his dimmed vision as it did the same. Green eyes widened. Where were his claws? Where was his beautiful, milky white skin?

He raised the hand closer to his face, staring at it in absolute horror.

"What the hell is going on!" That was not the wisest thing he could have done, as movement to his left caused him to jump from the bed, crouching on it's squishy surface and backing towards the corner, a hand tucked in his hair.

And his hair! He could not take the time to look at it as the movement of several people alerted him to the company in his room, but the silkiness! The soft touch of every strand, the color of liquid silver, was gone. His hair felt rough under his new skin and each strand tangled with the other, so unlike his natural foxy locks that he almost never had to brush to keep untangled.

But his worry over his pride and joy could wait. Before him were seven individuals, all spaced out through a room that was smaller in size than his den, which had been meant to house the complete living quarters of two people comfortably.

A young boy (who he immediately identified as a demon, though he was unsure of the race) was sitting in a chair next to his bed, just raising his head from the covers he had fallen asleep upon. His hair, jet black in the dim light with dark, navy blue tips (though Kurama had a feeling they weren't so dark in normal light) and an odd star-shaped burst in the center (this looked a dim blue, or possibly white) His crimson eyes regarded the fox in worried surprise, though he could see concern in those blood-red depths.

Odd, for a demon who he had never met to show concern over him. It…for a reason he could not explain, as it would normally disgust him…brought him comfort in the darkness where he, at the moment, had no light.

To this demon's left was a raven-haired boy (definitely demon, but he could feel human traces of energy (odd that he could not smell the boy's human scent)) who could not have yet reached his human prime. This one had been asleep against the bed he was now crouched on. His chocolate brown eyes, still sleepy yet alert, stared at the fox in worry and concern.

Just as the other had…

Standing beside this half-breed, and gently holding his hand (as was noticed with a brief second glance) was a tall, dark haired man. His hair, though it looked dark brown, was most likely a lighter color in the sunlight. Beneath drooping bangs was an odd tattoo of the letters "J" and "r." He held about him, without the look of one who is high-ranked, a superiority that stressed respect and acknowledgement.

The fox briefly wondered if this amber-eyed man was royalty.

By the far wall, two people had laid asleep, leaning against the wall, and were now rising to their feet. One was tall, almost as tall as he was (had been? The world did seem a bit bigger now… Had he really shrunk!) and had orange hair that sort of stuck out over his forehead and dropped a few bangs (about a centimeter, the fox noticed with amusement.) His beady eyes were regarding the fox in surprise.

Beside him was a shorter (much shorter!) teal haired girl (once more immediately recognized as a demon, this one obviously a Koorime (interesting; they never leave their island. What the hell was she doing here?)) Her stature reminded him greatly of the first boy he had seen, as did her crimson eyes. Perhaps they were of relation. That might help if he needed a hostage or leverage to escape, should they prove hostile towards him (though, by their concerned looks (which were creeping him out) he might not need that information.) She was smiling softly, though it seemed almost sad with concern (great, another one.)

Against the other wall (and standing beside his only means of escape, should he need it) were the last two. The first was an old hag that didn't come up to his waist. Her faded, light hair appeared pink and she stared through amazingly wise, brown eyes.

Beside her was a young girl who couldn't be out of her ningen teen years, but her dress belied her age. Her light pink kimono (which oddly found a way of matching with her bright blue hair) was one of olden days and, through knowledge he had possessed for years, he knew it was the garb of a ferry girl. And despite the short, teal-haired girl who was also wearing a kimono, hers was different in a manner that only one knowledgeable of the change would notice. It was just in the way she wore it. But, beside the dress, and the occupation, and the comparison (and the this, and the that…Che) it was her eyes that caught his attention. They were bright fucking pink! Who the hell has pink eyes?

But, in his present condition, that really wasn't what he needed to be focusing on. He slowly pulled his hand out of his hair (oh Inari, what had happened to his hair?) with a blood red rose having sparked life spontaneously as he drew away from the last strands of crimson.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, still in his crouch against the bed, near to touching the corner wall. He held the rose out to the side, prepared to strike down anyone who drew near.

It was the short, black haired, unidentified demon that stepped forward.

-o-o-o-

Hiei had woken from the shout and immediately cursed himself. How could he have fallen asleep with Kurama out like that, and likely to wake without knowing where he was (or possibly who he was, as he feared was happening now.)

Kurama had moved into a low crouch, his body small and almost constricted to refrain the amount of weak points open to enemies. He was pressed closer to the walls in order to maintain a two-point vantage, and not have to worry about attacks from behind. He was, however, backing himself into a corner and Hiei could he see his discomfort at such a thought.

The fox was scrutinizing each in the room slowly, yet rapidly for what he would prefer. Hiei felt shivers go down his back as those cold, green eyes turned on him. He had only seen such hard eyes during rare battles and never directed at himself. It sent a wave of apprehension through his body and he found himself wishing for those beautiful green eyes to once more be merry and kind.

He found himself immediately disliking the new Kurama before him.

"Who the hell are you?" The voice was cold and harsh, demanding without any leave for who he was demanding. Hiei didn't like it. He just didn't like it. He thought that the usage of that voice, normally so soft-spoken and kind, was not for such coldness.

It once more sent shivers down his spine and he soon found himself very much longing for the old Kurama.

But, as no one else seemed about to step forward, and since he wasn't sure anyone but Koenma and Genkai had figured out who was talking to them (respectively speaking in time, as it was obviously Kurama who was talking,) he stepped forward.

Those eyes were once more on him and he fought to keep his own gaze locked on the green orbs; orbs that he knew the owner thought were gold.

He took two steps forward before the small, almost unnoticeable twitch of a rose stopped him and he stood, on the very edge of the head of the bed, with his hands loosely at his sides, but held to show that he would not draw the sword he had at his waist.

Kurama's narrowed eyes prompted him to speak quickly and answer the fox's question before he should find himself dodging the sharp end of a whip. Slowly opening his mouth, he looked deep into those green eyes.

"My name is Hiei. And you…you are Youko Kurama, right?"

-o-o-o-

Chapter 9

End

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Okay, again my apologies for a shorter chapter than normal. These two are short (more for suspense…bum bum bum!) but the rest should be back to normal length.

Also, I'm sorry that there wasn't too much action in this chapter, I still hope it was good enough for your standards.

Hope you enjoyed!

Please Review.