Disclaimer – "Yu Yu Hakusho" and all known related characters do not belong to me. I get no monetary benefit from this. My benefit is the enjoyment of dealing with beloved characters.
"What Goes Around . . . "
by DragonDancer5150
Chapter 22 – End of the Line
Low chuckling met their ears as they broke the surface. They had indeed come up into one corner of another cave of sorts, barely more than a large space in the solid bedrock hollowed out by eons of eroding water movement. From what little he knew of geology from school, Kurama suspected that this watery entrance was the only way in or out of this cave. That was not a good thing. The ground was relatively smooth but uneven. The walls to either side stood roughly thirty feet apart and ran a length of some fifty to sixty. The low, guttural chuckling came from somewhere near the far end of the cave.
Kuwabara's Spirit Sword illuminated a monstrosity that took the best of an eclectic assortment of creatures in an impressive blending of power, speed, and lethality. Orange eyes gleamed at them from the head of a predatory reptile, not unlike a tyrannosaurus rex, thick eye ridges sweeping out from its brow to form forward-curving horns like a ram. Long, muscular legs supported a barrel-shaped chest like that of a draft horse and high, thin hips reminiscent of a greyhound. Sharp, curving talons tipped each toe. A prehensile tail swished back and forth, flicking around the hind legs in anticipation, a small scorpion's stinger on its tip. Rough, gray-brown armor covered it, a leathery hide that appeared to be something between an insect's exoskeleton and a rhinoceros' skin. The beast stood some ten to fifteen feet at the shoulder and perhaps twenty feet long plus tail, which was at least equal to its body length. The scent of blood in the air from minor cuts around the narrow forepaws was the only evidence of the lost tentacles from the previous form.
Yusuke leaned over to Kuwabara, wrinkling his nose at the sight. "Hey, r-remember those d-demonic d-dog-things from that m-movie you talked about e-earlier, with g-good ol' Mr. S-stay-Puft? I th-think we j-just found their b-big b-b-brother."
"Y-yeah," Kuwabara frowned.
The foursome pulled themselves cautiously from the water and into the cave, Hiei and Kurama stepping ahead of the other two. The low laughter grew a little louder, echoing hollowly in the cave, before dying off. A guttural, completely inhuman voice growled at them. "You have done well, my pets. I never expected that you would make it this far, especially with two humans in tow. My labyrinth was not built with such soft, squishy beings in mind. Have you been enjoying yourself, 'Little Fire-Eyes'?" Bokuma murmured, taunting Hiei with the nickname Dog had given him. "It's been so long since we played last."
Kurama glanced down at Hiei and saw the memories of unspoken horrors playing behind his ruby eyes. Hiei scowled deeply, refusing to meet Kurama's gaze.
"Hey, u-ugly!" Yusuke called. The great head shifted slightly, cocking an amused eye at the upstart human. "I h-hope you've s-said your final p-prayers, b-buddy, 'cuz K-koenma's about to j-judge your sorry s-spirit ass!"
Kurama shook his head inwardly, cringing slightly for his friend's sake. What was meant to be a threat sounded rather comical in the hypothermic stuttering.
"Y-yeah!" Kuwabara rejoined. "You th-think you're so b-bad, pushing p-people around a-and hurtin' 'em an' s-stuff. It's t-time for a t-taste of your own m-medicine, you b-big b-bully!" Kuwabara drew back his sword and began to charge, Yusuke by his side with a Reiki-glowing fist, but the crack of something across their path stopped them both in their tracks. "Woah! Hey, K-kurama, watch where you th-throw that thing!"
"Kurama - ?" Yusuke stopped at the terrible look in Kurama's hard green eyes.
Kurama recoiled his Rose Whip, speaking slowly to force the chattering out of his voice. He ignored the reason he knew that it proved easier than he feared. "Yusuke, Kuwabara - thank you both . . . for your help thus far. Hiei and I . . . could not have gotten here . . . without you. However, I am afraid . . . that I must insist. This . . . this fight is mine."
"Ours."
Kurama turned to Hiei, meeting a fury and outrage equal to his own. He had hoped to spare Hiei but had known, really, that his friend would not be denied. He nodded. "Ours."
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Yusuke stared at the two for a long moment. He knew how badly injured they both were. Each swayed ever so slightly where he stood. It would be a miracle if they even survived this fight, let alone won it. Still, he could not deny the determination and anger in their eyes.
"A f-fight among men," Kuwabara breathed beside him, likely unconscious of the fact that he, too, was not shivering as violently as before. "We c-can't interfere, Urameshi . . . even if it k-kills 'em." He stood glaring, and Yusuke knew him well enough to read his face: he almost hated himself in that moment for his honor code which might cost the two their lives, but he would stay out no matter what.
Yusuke nodded slowly, then gave them a thumbs-up gesture with a wink. "Like K-koenma said, give this bastard his d-due, you guys."
Both youkai nodded grimly before turning their full attentions to the adversary. They stepped forward, shifting apart to widen their defense - Kurama to the right and Hiei to the left, sword drawn.
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Hiei scowled as Bokuma laughed again, a terrible sound in the voice of this monster. "Oh, yes, I will most definitely be getting my due, human. Do you have any idea how long Hiei and I worked together? Oh, I love that scowl on your face, Little Fire-Eyes. I have so missed it. You are a strong one, probably the strongest I've ever had the pleasure of trying to break. You never did. Perhaps in time . . . but, ah well. Too bad it has to end today. You will die and you, my dear Red Rabbit, will be back where you were always meant to be . . . in my Pit, forever."
"K-kurama," Yusuke growled, "what the h-hell's this guy t-talking about?"
Bokuma advanced slowly, holding Kurama's gaze with his own eerie orange orbs. "If you think I got personal before, that's nothing compared to the depths I will plunge once you are back where you belong. In time, you will come to appreciate our moments together . . . even beg for them."
Hiei felt his heart skip a beat in revulsion, his breath hitching in his throat. Very early this morning, when Hiei had been bathing his friend, cleaning wounds and checking all over for injuries, he had come across evidence of deeper abuses he had hoped he read incorrectly, sickened by the very thought of it. He had put it out of his mind, telling himself that there was no way to know for certain, that for all his friend - his brother - had been through, he had not suffered that. Needing a reason to continue to disbelieve, Hiei looked to Kurama for confirmation that Bokuma's promises were nothing more than empty threats.
Kurama stared at Bokuma, his visage a hard mask but his face ashen, the deep horror in his eyes robbing Hiei of the last of his doubt. Kurama's voice, when he found it, was a broken but determined gasp. "Never!"
Hiei had been furious before but a blinding rage overcame him just then with the confirmation. "Bastard! No one so dishonors those I run with!" he snarled.
-HIEI!-
Kurama's voice shot across Hiei's mind like a whipcrack, interrupting his enraged charge. He had never heard Kurama raise his voice like that, even mentally. -What!- he snapped before he could catch himself, shocked into inaction by the sharp command in Kurama's tone.
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Kurama hesitated a moment. The deepening effects of the hypothermia had led to less shivering but, in return, had stolen his mental and emotional control as a reactive fury had washed through him before he could properly manage it. He put a stranglehold on those dark passions before stating calmly, both to Hiei and to himself, -Do not allow Bokuma to goad you. We must be very cautious and very smart about how we do this. You know as well as I do that we cannot take him on in a direct assault even together, not as we are. We must work together in a concerted effort, coordinate our attacks very specifically.-
As much as the smaller youkai hated it, Kurama sensed through the mindlink that Hiei had to admit to himself Kurama was right . . . again. -You sound like you have a plan?-
-I have. We will remove his senses one at a time, starting with his sight and perhaps his sense of smell. Shift his attention to yourself, far to our left. You do not have to get too close. Just keep him occupied. Try to stay on that side of him and be extra careful of your footing.-
-Understood.-
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Hiei only caught a vague sense of Kurama's intent but he trusted his partner without question. Whatever Kurama was planning, Hiei would not let him down. He would make sure to do his part.
Kurama began to glow softly with Yoki. -Now!-
Hiei charged, darting straight in before dodging widely to the left and back in, successfully avoiding a strike from Bokuma's claw even as the potted foot nearly slid out from underneath him. Out of the corner of his eye, Hiei noted Kurama drop to one knee, planting the palm of his hand firmly to the ground. Hiei braced with his balance on his potted foot and leaped, bouncing further up off of the wide shoulder to land on the back of the monster's neck. Reversing his sword in his grip, he made a jab at the eye further from Kurama, keeping Bokuma's attention away from his partner as instructed.
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Kurama knelt with one hand down, channeling his Yoki throughout the slime that coated his skin and clothing from the lake. At his mental command, the slime grew rapidly across the ground toward Bokuma from the right, creating a slick carpet by which he planned to unsettle his enemy's footing. The carpet extended only to the inner edges of Bokuma's far claws, allowing Hiei relative freedom of movement on the other side. That accomplished, Kurama sat back on his heel. With his motor and cognitive functions as deeply affected as they were, he could not afford to get into direct melee combat, forced to leave that part to Hiei.
He willed his Rose Whip to coil up his arm, freeing his hand to reach into his pocket, his left hand going to the damaged rose still stowed under his hair. From his pocket, he pulled the blood beetle venom sac and the collection of needles from the lava tube. He frowned as Hiei leaped from Bokuma's back, stumbling as he landed. The pot messed up his footing and his balance was off from pain and exhaustion. There was nothing Kurama could do for him but what he was already. He set the sac on his thigh braced up against his hip and stuck the needles into his pant leg at an angle for easy access. In his other hand, the damaged rose lengthened and corkscrewed tightly, coiling into a hollow tube of sorts. Putting the makeshift blowgun to his lips, he punctured a few needles into the sac, coating the tips with venom, dropped them into the other end of the tube, aimed, and blew. The breath of a normal human might not be able to propel the substitute darts without some kind of feathering on the back ends to catch the air, but Kurama was not a normal human. It took him two tries to get the angle of his aim right but the third attempt landed a few needles successfully into Bokuma's left eye as the beast feigned a bite at Hiei, only to attack in earnest with the swipe of his claw.
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Sword braced before him, Hiei tried to dodge with a leap back but he was not fast enough. The talons ripped across his bad shoulder and into his bound arm, the motion picking up his slight body and tossing it like a rag doll back towards Kurama. Hiei landed up across the backs of his shoulders, skidding headfirst for several feet before friction slowed him to a stop. He lay for just a moment, fighting for control as the knife wound and raw whipfire screamed through his mind along with the pain from the new claw gashes. He had felt the curved talons catch on the two bones in his forearm and feared that they may have severed one or both bones in several pieces. He guessed that only the binding was left to hold his arm to his body. He refused to look down to verify, not wanting to know the true extent of the damage just yet.
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Kurama managed one more shot of his blowgun as Bokuma turned with the follow-through of his attack, blocking out the agony shrieking through his concentration from his wounded partner. Bokuma seemed to ignore the swelling in his eye and now one side of his snout as he turned his attention on the former thief.
Bokuma paused to brush the needles from his flesh. "As much as I appreciate the love kisses you have been blowing my way, I'm afraid I still get to punish you for the minor inconvenience." Lightning-fast, Bokuma leaped halfway across the cave, slipping on the slime before his claws tore deep into the soft stone for traction, and skidded around with a lash of his tail.
Kurama leaped, even knowing his stiffened muscles would not carry him clear of the tail. It caught him just above the knee, flipping him over it. He twisted in mid-air, attempting an acrobatic tumble to land on his feet but his weary, frozen body simply could not react quickly enough. Like Hiei, he found himself on his back, breath blasted from his lungs by the impact and his own whipfire agony, further sensitized by the hypothermia. He could only pray he blocked his pain from Hiei fast enough to spare his friend some of the backlash.
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Hiei had managed to roll his way upright, crouched back on the pot with his sword braced before him, frowning as he vaguely watched Kurama go down. He was breathing hard and his vision was even more blurred than before, head pounding as he fought to ignore a distracting nausea, his stomach threatening to rebel.
Bokuma chortled again as Kurama worked himself painfully to his knees, willing his Rose Whip back down into his grip as the blowgun shifted into something like a rosewood parrying dagger. "Come, come. Are you even trying? Heh, heh - obviously, my little rabbit-fox, you want to come back."
"No!" Hiei snarled, far more sickened by the images and sensations that flicked through his mind from Kurama than by his own concussion. Losing himself to a protective fury that flashed through him once again, he shoved to his feet, sword still reversed in his grip. He dove at Bokuma, ducking in under the slashing claw to get right up between his foreleg and his head. Once again finding a tenuous balance on the potted foot, he leaped with his free leg, angling his sword outward from himself to slash up along Bokuma's jaw. Howling in pain, Bokuma retaliated with an upward swipe meant to gut the fiesty little pest. Hiei pulled his knees in, catching the claws with his lower legs. The defense spared his vital organs but sacrificed his limbs as the talons dug deeply into the flesh even as Hiei was sent flying back once more, this time to land in the water near Yusuke and Kuwabara. He thought he heard the crack of a whip before the water closed over his head.
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