Three things: 1) I know it's been a long while since I last updated and I apologize. 2) I know this chapter is kind of weird and possibly a bit confusing and I apologize. 3) The reason for a lack of updates was that I got caught up in a poem I was writing (it was actually a FanFiction too; you should check it out. It's called 'Lonesome Kisses'). 4) I do not own any characters. 5) This is the first chapter I have posted that I did not have the next (or more) chapter completely written. It's a sad day. 6) What that means for you guys: updates will probably coming more on a fortnightly basis rather than a weekly basis. Sorry. Now here is that chapter; sorry I left you dangling with that horrible cliff-hanger.
When Kiyoshi, Kasumi, Akiko, and Takeshi spun around, Kiyoshi came very close to dropping his communicator. Because he found himself facing, with very little room to maneuver, a menacing plant that had been transformed into a deadly weapon. Takeshi was in a similar predicament. Kasumi faced an orb of aura much more powerful than her own that had erupted suddenly, distorting the muted feel of aura in the room beforehand. They all froze.
Akiko, on the other hand, grinned slightly upon facing a sword pointed directly at her eyes. But as she made to push it away, the tip of the sword jumped with astonishing speed. Before Akiko could respond, it had returned to its original position, leaving bloody scratches all over her body. "Each of those marks represents a point that would have killed you, left you at the mercy of your adversary, or left you to bleed to death in minutes," the person she was facing admonished. The grin slid off her face to be replaced by a fiery glare.
Koenma's response was summed up in the two words he uttered: "Oh, god."
"Good to see you, Koenma. It's been awhile." Yusuke grinned at the device held loosely in Kiyoshi's hand.
"Yet, somehow, after that last disaster, it is far too soon." Kurama's words weren't loud, but both Yusuke and Koenma flinched backward at the obvious implication in them. Then Kurama asked Kiyoshi, "Can I borrow that a moment?"
Kiyoshi complied, his eyes wide as he handed Kurama the device in his hand. Kurama took it, looked at Koenma, and said, "Goodbye," before snapping it shut, ignoring Koenma's protests. He then turned to the teenagers in front of him and said, "Give me all your electronic devices. Now." His plants had receded a bit, allowing more room to move, and they quickly produced three phones, a digital camera, and three more communicators.
Kurama removed the batteries from the phones and the camera before handing them back. Then he picked up the communicators. What he did next made Hiei chuckle, while the team looked on in horror. One by one, he hurled them against the stone wall of the cave to shatter into countless pieces. When he had only one left he said calmly, "I will keep this one."
Hiei sheathed his sword, and Yusuke's finger dimmed before going out completely. "Come on, you guys." Yusuke said, "We need to talk to you. It'll be more comfortable back here."
"We?" Hiei questioned skeptically.
"Fine. Me and Kurama."
Kasumi and the others followed Yusuke, no longer sure if talking to these three—who obviously had no aversion to violence—was actually a good idea. They were sure they still wanted to talk to them. And they were equally sure that running from these three hostile demons at this point would be incredibly and undeniably stupid. But that didn't mean doing whatever they asked was a good idea.
Kasumi followed the two taller men, watching them, trying to figure out their position. Were they truly prepared to kill her team, or was that merely a show to intimidate Koenma? She had a bit more trouble observing the shortest, as he was walking behind everyone else.
She had deduced what she could about the three men but it didn't make her feel any more confident. All she could say with any certainty was who was who, but it was a small comfort. For she knew that the one who destroyed the communicators, the tall, silver-haired, fox-like creature, had to be Kurama. And that in itself was disturbing; she had always heard that, of the three, Kurama was the most level-headed. And that appeared to be true. It had shown in his complete calm in his confrontation with Koenma. But to Kasumi, that represented too easy an acceptance of the very violence she had hoped his sobriety could help avert.
Similarly, her hopes that her grandfather would be willing to work with them had been dashed. He, too, had threatened their lives. But when faced with that terrible, overwhelming power, her first reaction had not been fear, but awe. Such power was astounding perhaps, but the sense of looking into your own eyes, placed in someone else, stunned her. For she had his eyes and his intensity, and she knew that if she were to achieve the transformation, her eyes might look like that a century from now. And it filled her with wonder, the sense of looking into the eyes of her future in a body from her own ancestry, long before she was born. And, after all that, she was awed by the simple fact that very, very few people ever received the opportunity to meet a grandparent from eight generations before.
As for the last demon, the one who had put Akiko in a foul mood… even Kasumi could feel a threatening aura emanating from him. Even from that she would have surmised that this was Hiei. But something in the way he had spoken to Akiko was strange. It wasn't hateful and condescending and malicious, as she had always heard him described. He had been warning her not to make the same mistake again. Akiko wouldn't see it that way but it had seemed to Kasumi that, in his own way, the demon was trying to show the ice maiden that he cared.
Kasumi glanced back at Hiei to find him glaring daggers at her, as if he could hear her thoughts and didn't like what he was hearing. She found it unnerving to say the least.
"Hey you guys, watch this!" Yusuke called, jolting Kasumi out of her reverie. He then proceed to kick a blank stretch of wall in several places before placing a hand on the wall and releasing a small amount of aura into it. He glanced back at the four newcomers, completely at ease. "Tribute, if you will," he said as the wall split in two and formed a doorway.
"I still don't understand why you find it so fascinating," Kurama muttered.
"And I still don't understand why you installed the stupid thing in the first place," Hiei responded, "It's not fascinating; it's a pain in the butt."
Kurama grinned showing pointed teeth and, ignoring Hiei's last comment, said, "Most thieves suffer from paranoia. I am no exception. My case was nothing short of extreme." Hiei snorted and shook his head. Yusuke plopped down on one of the couches in the living space. Kurama then seemed to remember his purpose, "Sit down."
They did as they were asked, more because they were too afraid to disobey a direct order than because they actually wanted to sit down. Sitting down made them feel far too vulnerable. Kiyoshi's eyes were glued to Kurama, as Kasumi's were to Yusuke. And if looks could kill, Hiei would have dropped dead on the spot due to the intensity of Akiko's glare. But the three they faced didn't bat an eyelash. Kurama and Hiei sat down in chairs on the opposite side of the room from the team.
After a long moment of silence, Kurama finally spoke. "You four are impressive. Before you no one has gotten into one of my hideouts. Of course, you did have the advantage of knowing exactly where this one is, but that's beside the point. Now tell me, why have you come here?"
In the silence they all glanced at Kiyoshi. He sighed before answering. But by the time he spoke, he had overcome his shock and regained his normal, quiet confidence. "You seem to know more about me than anyone else. And I need to know the extent of my abilities as a copycat, where my power comes from, and how to control that power. Right now, I can't. And I end up hurting or almost hurting someone I'm close to."
Kurama looked at him thoughtfully, "We've been monitoring you, though. And you seem to have one of the most astounding amounts of control I've ever seen."
"Controlling the plants, maybe," Kiyoshi's answer was fiery with his emotion, "But not the aura I release when I get angry. It's like they listen to my subconscious whims rather than my conscious decisions…"
"I know what that's like," Kurama muttered under his breath. "And you?" He suddenly turned to Kasumi.
"I wish to learn from Yusuke." She answered.
Kurama nodded, "And you?"
"I'm not going to be left out of something this exciting," Takeshi responded as if it were obvious.
Kurama paused and Yusuke filled the silence as he shook his head, "Exactly like Kuwabara."
Finally Kurama faced Akiko, "And you? What is your purpose here?"
"My reasons are none of your concern."
In a matter of seconds, her limbs had been bound by plants invisible only moments before. Kurama hadn't lifted a finger. He now blinked across the room at her and laced his fingers together just below his chin and said, "I think you'll find that it is my concern. This is my den; one of my favorites, in fact. That makes you a strange demon intruding in a fox's home. Strike one. Your actions as Koenma's employee may threaten my life, my freedom, or both. Strike two. Finally, that is the second time you've foolishly attempted to exert authority over your superiors, for we are your superiors. Strike three. Is there any reason I shouldn't kill you now?" Once again that calm when discussing violence frightened Kasumi. And it seemed to make Akiko change her mind as well.
Swallowing her pride she said, "I need to speak with Hiei. My life may depend upon it."
"Your life may also depend on not speaking to him, as doing so might kill you." Yusuke muttered. Kurama hit him on the back of the head.
Then Kurama said, "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" His vines then released their hold on Akiko, leaving her to nurse her wounded pride.
Botan watched Koenma. She had learned long ago that when he was worried like this, there was nothing she could do to help him. So she generally just stood by and waited for him to tell her what to do. She heard him groan, "No. This is my worst-case scenario. Has this reached crisis level yet?" She heard a fist slam onto a desk and wondered how much more abuse the poor old piece of furniture could take. Then, "No. I could declare it as such but when Dad found out, there'd be hell to pay. And it would achieve nothing when going up against the wits and abilities of Kurama, Yusuke, and Hiei."
For what felt like the millionth time, Botan offered assistance she knew she couldn't give, "Is there anything I can do, sir?"
"No… someone destroyed two of the communicators. The trackers for Akiko and Kasumi disappeared. I can still follow Takeshi's and Kiyoshi's to within one kilometer of their position but that's not much help since Kurama obviously knows they're being tracked."
"Why'd he need to destroy them? Wouldn't turning them off have sufficed?" Botan asked.
"Well, even when they're off, they emit a single signal once every thirty six hours. All four of their devices were synchronized and I just received the signal from Kiyoshi's and Takeshi's. Kurama probably took that possibility into account and destroyed them. I just don't understand why he only obliterated to of them. And Kiyoshi's confuses me. I got his signal, but when I called him, I didn't hear the typical buzzing indicating it had been turned off. Just… nothing, like Akiko's and Kasumi's. Takeshi's buzzed. Botan, I can honestly say for the first time that I have absolutely no idea what is going on.
Having questioned them about their motives, Kurama crossed the room to a desk which, upon closer inspection, had intricate carvings portraying the great flood of Roman mythology. It was one of Kurama's favorite pieces; how desperately humans clung to the hope that there was something more. They didn't care if it was a wrathful god, so long as they didn't simply disappear. The mahogany desk was beautiful, and rich in details. It was back her because, as far as Kurama had been concerned, there was no one worthy of such a piece. And if no one was worthy, then he would be the one to use it. That had been his thought process several centuries before, at least. Now he used it for no reason other than the fact that he appreciated the craftsmanship.
He sat down and pried the back off of the last communicator. He found underworld technology fascinating. It was relatively simple in comparison to demon or even human technology. Yet somehow, it did a much better job at utilizing the surrounding energy. This device could be recharged solely on the aura a non-gifted human emitted unintentionally. Amazing. But no time for that. "I'm taking the GPS out." Kurama told the boy who had approached silently to watch.
Kiyoshi nodded. "It's the black cube about three millimeters left of the power center." Kurama looked up, slightly surprised. In explanation Kiyoshi said, "After we killed Mizuko, while we waited for Akiko to wake up, I took mine out. I kept it with me, but thought it would be advantageous to be able to get rid of it at a moment's notice. With that, he dropped a small chip onto Kurama's desk and walked back to his teammates.
A small grin crossed Kurama's face. This boy was intelligent. And, better yet, he would undoubtedly be a thorn in Koenma's side because of it. But the strangest thing was the pain in the boy's voice when he spoke of killing Mizuko.