A/N: I made a typo when I started chapter 19, and because I didn't notice, it massively altered some of Yusuke's dialogue – so basically the top elder's name is meaningless. It was Tsurara, but I accidentally typed Tsubara, and some of what's coming up depends on the "bara" part staying in there, so… Yeah…
Chapter 18: Thoroughly Nefarious
"Are you okay?"
"Leave me alone."
"No, look, just be serious for a minute. There's nobody else around to hear, and I'm being really serious here: are you okay?"
"Of course I'm okay!"
"Because, you know, if you want to admit to me that I was right about you turning into a girl, that's cool."
Hiei narrowed his eyes at Yusuke, who was looking away from him, pretending to be nonchalant about the whole affair.
"I'm not turning into a girl, Yusuke," Hiei said firmly. "I swear that to you. I am definitely not turning into a girl."
"Okay, but if you're not fit to fight, you should let us know," Yusuke replied. "Because if we take you out when we get to Dardani and you can't handle yourself, you'd be more of a liability than anything else."
"I don't want to be liability to anyone," Hiei said.
"I know you don't. And, you know, you can be an invincible tough guy with Kurama and Kuwabara and all the frost wenches, but just be straight with me: are you fit to come with us to Dardani?"
"I have to find Rui. Nobody knows where she is, and I can't rest until I know that she's safe."
"Right… Who's Rui?"
"She was my… She was… She… She was my mother's best friend."
"Right."
Yusuke nodded and patted Hiei on the shoulder forcefully enough to make him stumble around a little.
"Kurama maybe doesn't understand what you're thinking, and Kuwabara maybe doesn't want to understand what you're thinking, but I think I understand you," he said.
"I don't think that you do," Hiei muttered.
"I think I do," Yusuke insisted. "My mom wasn't exactly the perfect mom, and she had some pretty weird friends, but I'd still fight to defend them if I had to."
Hiei thinned his features as he met Yusuke's eyes.
"Wasn't?" he asked.
"What?" Yusuke echoed.
"Why did you use the past tense? Your mother's still alive, isn't she?"
"Probably, I dunno, I haven't seen her in a real long time."
Hiei sighed and turned his head from Yusuke.
"Look, I'm just trying to say, I know how it feels to have a dead-beat mom who didn't really want or need a son complicating her life," Yusuke said. "But she's still my mom, and if somebody was trying to sell off her sisters and friends like slaves, I'd be pretty pissed off too."
"Thank you, Yusuke."
"No, don't be sarcastic! I'm trying to be really honest with you here, and you're being a jerk!"
"No, Yusuke, I mean it. Thank you."
Hiei turned to face Yusuke again and nodded at him solemnly.
"Okay, well, cool," Yusuke muttered. "And uh, you know, I know that this isn't really any of my business either, but you should probably just step back and let Kurama have Botan. I mean, she's not really your type anyway, right?"
"Probably not."
"What?"
"No. Yes. Wait… What?"
Yusuke's eyebrows flickered back and forth between a confused frown and an amused arch.
"It's about time you finally cleaned yourself up," Hiei said sternly.
"Nice cover," Yusuke replied. "That little comment changed the topic of conversation away from how seriously messed up in the head you are right now, but that blush on your face isn't fading any time fast, which sort of makes your little swerve a wasted effort…"
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
"I could cook my breakfast on your face! You're blushing, don't try to deny it, Hime!"
"Get off of me!"
Hiei slapped back Yusuke's hands as the mazoku tried to touch his face.
"Hey, you guys?" Kuwabara called over to them. "Kurama says to tell you we have to leave the tank here, where it's hidden, and go the rest of the way on foot."
"Thank you Kuwabara," Hiei said, causing Kuwabara's face to twist in surprise.
"Yeah, thanks for saving Hime from having to admit that he likes Botan!" Yusuke called over to Kuwabara.
"…I hate this mission so much…" Kuwabara grumbled, walking off and leaving Hiei and Yusuke alone again.
"Well, you heard what the boss said," Yusuke said, elbowing Hiei roughly in the ribs. "We're walking the rest of the way into the city."
"I thought you were the boss," Hiei replied. "And since we are walking, outdoors, perhaps you should put some clothes on."
"Right."
Yusuke pulled off the towel that had been loosely folded around his hips and lifted it over his head, rubbing his hair dry with it. After several seconds of vigorous shaking he lowered the towel down, hooking it around his neck, his eyes moving to the point where Hiei had been standing.
"Hiei?" he said, looking about himself. "Hiei!"
Yusuke took a step forward, intent on locating where Hiei had vanished to so quickly, his toes stubbing against a boot. He looked down to see why there was a boot on the floor, smiling in spite of himself at what he saw.
"Stop messing around, Hiei!" he said, rolling his eyes.
Hiei was lying at Yusuke's feet in a position that made it look as though he had literally collapsed on the spot, his eyes closed and his face paler than ever.
"Come on, you know you're not funny!" Yusuke added, poking at Hiei's ribs with his toes. "Hiei. Hiei! Hiei?"
When Hiei still did not stir, Yusuke squatted down by his head and tried poking at his closed eyes.
"Hey Hiei, if you don't stop this crap, I'm gonna shave off one of your eyebrows," he warned the fire demon. "And you're gonna look really, really stupid."
Yusuke flicked his fingers at Hiei's nose a few times, but still got no response, and so he stood up, turned around and headed towards the bathroom, grinning darkly at he went.
"Are you gonna answer that?" Shizuru asked, nodding at the communication mirror chirping urgently on the table.
"No, it's Lord Koenma again," Botan replied.
"He must be worried about you, Botan," Keiko said. "And we are too. If Koenma says it's not safe for you to be here, then I don't really think that you should be here."
"I can handle myself," Botan insisted.
"It's not really you we're worried about," Shizuru said, ignoring the confused look Keiko gave her. "We're worried about ourselves. If you're here and the sick demons decide to come here looking for you, who knows what damage they might do looking for you or how many humans they might kill in the process."
Botan paused, looking thoughtful for a moment.
"And we're not really sure that living here and talking to yourself is the safest thing for you to be doing right now," Keiko added.
"Or the sanest thing for you to be doing right now," Shizuru said.
"Demons don't approach this temple," Botan pointed out.
"Usually," Shizuru said. "But with no Puu and with Yusuke, Kurama and my brother gone from here, demons might feel safe to come up here."
"I have a mission to complete," Botan said.
"You do?" Keiko asked. "So Koenma did send you here?"
"No, he tried to stop me coming here, actually," Botan casually replied. "I came here to try to help the boys, but since I've arrived here, I've been following Hiei's instructions."
Keiko began looking about the room, only stopping when Shizuru tugged sharply at her sleeve and shook her head.
"Botan, I'm only gonna tell you this one more time: Hiei is not here," she said firmly.
"No, he's not," Botan replied, screwing up her face. "Obviously he's not!"
"But you said you were following his instructions?" Keiko said quietly.
"In my mind," Botan replied, tapping a finger against the side of her head.
Shizuru and Keiko exchanged concerned and cynical looks, but Botan remained oblivious to their scepticism, continuing her task of lightly shading a piece of paper with a pencil.
"Well we can see that you're busy, and we wouldn't want to distract you from your mission," Shizuru said, standing up and pushing Keiko to follow her lead.
"But we can't leave her here alone!" Keiko whispered urgently.
"See you later, Botan!" Shizuru said, steering Keiko away from the table and pushing her out of the room ahead of herself.
"Yes, I'll catch up with you girls after I finish my mission," Botan called after them, her eyes never lifting from the page she was shading.
"Why are we leaving her here?" Keiko asked as Shizuru continued pushing her towards the front door.
"Because she's clearly snapped, and she's not listening to reason," Shizuru replied.
"But what if something terrible happens to her?" Keiko said, staggering slightly as she exited the temple.
"Don't worry about that, I have a plan," Shizuru replied.
"Which is…?"
"This."
Shizuru pulled Botan's communication mirror from her pocket.
"Should you have taken that?" Keiko asked.
"Well Botan's not exactly using it, is she?" Shizuru replied, rolling her eyes. "She's not calling Yusuke or the others because she knows they would be mad at her for leaving spirit world, and she isn't taking calls from her boss, so really she doesn't need it right now."
Keiko watched Shizuru step down to the lawn and walk on without her.
"Do you even know how that thing works?" she muttered, more thinking the question out loud than asking it of Shizuru, who was already well out of earshot.
Kuwabara turned to Yusuke, who shrugged and turned to Kurama.
"I wasn't expecting this," Kurama admitted.
"Tsubara is here," Hiei said quietly. "I knew they could never contain her."
The others turned to him expectantly, but he kept his eyes forwards, watching the flashes of light and wincing appropriately at the thunderclaps resounding around them every time a blast of fire-wind met the icy tornadoes by the edge of the city.
"Who's Tsubara?" Yusuke asked.
"The supreme elder of the ice village," Hiei replied. "She's the oldest ice maiden alive, but she's also the most powerful, the most skilled and the most knowledgeable. Enki may have managed to force Tsubara and some of the other ice maidens into this area, but she won't let anyone near her. She will fight until she dies, and by then she will be no use to the sick anyway, so she still wins."
"You're a real ray of sunshine, Hime," Yusuke muttered.
"He's probably still mad that you tried to shave off his eyebrow," Kuwabara whispered.
"I didn't try to shave off his eyebrow!" Yusuke whispered back.
"You were hovering over my face with a razor in your hand and a mischievous gleam in your eye," Hiei growled.
"You just woke up at the wrong moment," Yusuke said.
"And you were still naked," Hiei added.
"Hey it's not my fault you're too stubborn to get yourself cured," Yusuke said. "Maybe if you hadn't been such a distant son of a bitch, Botan might have cured you too, and then you wouldn't be fainting for no reason!"
"I didn't faint!"
"Of course not. You just closed your eyes and fell down real fast."
"You're the leader of this team, shouldn't you be formulating a plan for how to approach the city?"
"Kurama's better at the plan formulating work than me. And besides, I haven't told Kurama and Kuwabara the best part about your little swooning episode back there."
"I didn't faint!"
"I changed my mind about shaving his eyebrow and decided that, since he was pretty well out of it, I'd shave one of his legs instead."
Hiei's face dropped, and he turned to fully face Yusuke.
"So get this: I pushed up the leg of his pants, and you'll never believe what I saw," Yusuke continued.
"I don't want to know any more," Kuwabara said.
"Hime's legs are already shaved."
Kurama and Kuwabara turned sharply to Hiei, who seemed to be frozen where he stood, his eyes unblinking and his expression set into one of near-neutrality but with a faint hint of terror evident by the edges of his features.
"You… Shave your legs?" Kuwabara asked him.
"I can prove it," Yusuke said. "Kurama, you hold his arms and I'll take off his pants–"
"No!" Hiei yelped, leaping back a step and putting out a bandaged hand to halt Yusuke's advance.
"Deny it all you want, I know what I saw," Yusuke said, smiling smugly.
"I thought only girls shaved their legs," Kuwabara muttered.
"You never shaved your legs before, Hiei," Kurama pointed out. "Yusuke, is this some sort of joke?"
"Hold his arms and I'll prove it to you," Yusuke replied.
"No, you don't have to do that!" Hiei hurriedly said, his voice suddenly high and slightly scratchy. "I can explain everything!"
"You can explain it?" Yusuke echoed. "Gees, I wish I had a camera for this little gold nugget of entertainment…"
"It's a trick," Hiei said through a sigh. "It's just a trick. I read about it in a book Botan lent me from spirit world, and I know it was wrong to try it, and I know it was even worse to lie to you all about it, but I didn't act without just motivation, and if you're willing to give me the chance to, I'd like to explain myself."
Yusuke rolled his eyes.
"Bullshit, Hime," he groaned.
"Excuse me?" Hiei echoed, his voice still soft and light.
"A book Botan lent you from spirit world?" Yusuke said. "Yeah right! More like a dumb girls' magazine Botan left lying around Genkai's place. Admit it: you read that article about how some guys shave off all their body hair because it's easier to see their muscles if there isn't any hair in the way, right?"
Hiei slowly titled his head to one side, his eyes changing shape and size.
"Wait a minute, that doesn't make any sense either…" Kuwabara said. "If Hiei read about shaving his legs in an article in a girls' magazine, how did you know about it, Urameshi? Unless you read that article too…?"
"Keiko was reading it out loud," Yusuke casually replied.
"Would that be the same girls' magazine you take to the bathroom with you every time we spend a night at Genkai's temple?" Kurama asked.
"Just for something to read when I need to take a dump!" Yusuke replied, a hint of irritation creeping into his tone.
"So you do read girls' magazines?" Kuwabara said.
"Only when… Just…" Yusuke began.
"Just to get tips on how to pluck the unsightly excess hairs from your eyebrows?" Hiei asked.
"What?" Yusuke echoed.
"Oh my God!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "I knew there was something different about your face, Urameshi!"
"I don't reshape my eyebrows," Yusuke replied.
"Yet you knew "reshape" was the correct term for it, rather than just "pluck"?" Kurama asked.
"No, it's not like that!" Yusuke said.
"Keiko does it for you because you think it hurts too much to do it yourself," Hiei added.
"Okay how the hell do you know about that?" Yusuke snapped. "Do you just sit around in trees and watch us all with your over-sized extra eye all day? Why don't you get a hobby or something, you pint-sized prick!"
Yusuke ground his teeth and clenched his fists, turning his attention back to the city below them. From their vantage point on a hillside, they were overlooking Dardani, where there was clearly an epic struggle ensuing between the residents of the city and a small group of ice maidens, who had contained themselves behind a wall of icy blizzards, making them appear as nothing more than shadows through a grey-white haze.
"They really don't look like they need rescuing," Yusuke concluded, turning back to the others.
He growled as he found them all sniggering behind their hands, apparently still amused at learning about his little secret.
"Hey!" he snapped.
"We can't leave them here," Hiei said, being the first to come to his senses. "They'll die of exhaustion, if nothing else."
"If they want to die of exhaustion, wouldn't it make more sense for them to die of exhaustion from helping people?" Yusuke pointed out.
"How would you rather die, Yusuke?" Hiei asked, his face suddenly deadly serious. "Would you rather die as an abused slave serving people who had only ever tried to bring you harm, or would you rather die fighting for the freedom of your own soul and the souls of all your friends and family?"
"Fair point," Yusuke conceded. "And I won't ever mention your leg-shaving again if you don't ever talk about my eyebrows again, deal?"
"Certainly," Hiei replied.
"Good. So what now?"
Kurama cleared his throat and nudged Kuwabara to encourage him to stop laughing.
"Since the women there seem to have themselves isolated and protected from the residents of the city, I think our best approach is to take our transport directly to them," Kurama suggested. "We would need some assistance from the women on board to coax those fighting to join us, but hopefully that won't be too much of an issue."
"What if it is an issue?" Kuwabara asked. "What if old lady Tsubara refuses to leave?"
"Then we leave her where she is," Kurama replied. "By now Enki will surely know what we have done, and since he was blindly in favour of using the ice maidens' powers at any costs, we shouldn't assume that he will show us any mercy."
"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked.
"I mean he will deploy every available resource at his disposal to hunt us down and reclaim our refugee passengers," Kurama replied. "We don't have time to waste, either here or in spirit world: it's been seven days since we first met with Koenma, and back then his best guess was that the invasion in spirit world could reach the orchard within seven days. If the SDF have been unsuccessful in stopping the spread of influence the demons have, I believe they will have already taken the orchard – and the fact that Botan is still being detained in spirit world is proof enough that the SDF have yet to vanquish the invaders entirely."
"Botan is in living world," Hiei said quietly.
"What?" Yusuke echoed.
"She called you while you were taking a shower," Hiei said, producing Yusuke's spirit world communication device from his pocket. "She's in living world."
"Damn it, gimme that!" Yusuke snapped, snatching the device from Hiei.
"Let me speak to Botan," Kurama said, starting towards Yusuke.
"I'm not calling her, I'm calling that idiot Koenma!" Yusuke replied.
"Good evening to you too, Yusuke. And to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"
Yusuke looked down at the communicator, seeing Koenma's displeased face looking back at him.
"Oh I'm just calling to say thanks for the heads up!" Yusuke sarcastically answered him.
"How nice for you," Koenma replied. "And let me take this opportunity to thank you for leading one of my ferry girls astray!"
"You're welcome!"
Yusuke watched Koenma's angry, round baby face for a long time before his mind began replaying the conversation they had just shared.
"Wait, what?" he said.
"Botan escaped spirit world yesterday," Koenma replied. "Under the delusion that you needed her help. Living world is not yet a safe place for her to be, because you haven't sorted out the problem in demon world yet – you know, the problem Botan has gone to a dangerous place to try to help you fix?"
"I didn't ask Botan to do anything," Yusuke pointed out. "Maybe you should have put her on a shorter leash! And hey, the problem here in demon world is really complicated! What's the matter in spirit world? Haven't your merry men in tights fought off Fabio yet?"
"What the… Oh, you mean the SDF and the… Well, not exactly."
"Ha! I knew it!"
"We've slowed their progression, but fighting them has become more complicated."
"Hey, we offered to stay in spirit world and fight them for you, remember?"
"Yes, I know, and had I known then how things would have developed, I would have accepted your offer. We thought the weapons were the worst of our problems. Unfortunately we were wrong."
"That… Doesn't sound so good…"
"It's complicated Yusuke, but it would be a lot less complicated if I could put my ferry girls back to work, so if you could hurry along with the problem you have in demon world…"
"Yeah, we're almost done here, and we're coming to spirit world to help out as soon as we can."
"I'd appreciate that, Yusuke."
Yusuke nodded and snapped the communicator shut.
"You heard what the brat said," he told the others. "We need to end this now."
"Except, we're not ending anything," Kurama pointed out. "We're just aggravating the problem by removing the solution."
Yusuke glanced back and forth between Kurama and Hiei.
"Damn it…" he muttered.
"Let's not stand around arguing about this," Hiei said.
Yusuke nodded and all four turned and started back towards their vehicle.
"So this Tsubara chick, is she as loopy as that first weird old lady we picked up?" Yusuke asked Hiei as they walked.
"Tsubara is ruthlessly intelligent," Hiei replied. "Though the other elder you are referring to is her daughter."
"Oh great, just what we need," Yusuke moaned. "A mother and daughter double-act singing loony tunes all the way back to Arbeinia…"
"Hiei, you'll have to drive us down there," Kurama said, hoping to keep the team focused on their next task. "I'll need to talk with the ice maidens to arrange for some of them to move out onto the landing pad to greet Tsubara and her associates."
"You're a better driver than I am," Hiei replied. "You should drive. Let me talk to the ice maidens."
"I don't think that's a wise idea Hiei, they clearly trust you least of all."
"I coordinated them into rebelling against their captors at Enki's temple, I think I can talk them into this."
Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara all stopped abruptly and turned to Hiei, who simply continued past them and started up the ladder leading to the driver's door of the tank.
"Hey, uh, how did you manage to convince those ice maidens to do what you wanted them to do?" Yusuke called up to him. "I thought they were all terrified of you?"
"Maybe they started trusting him more since he started shaving his legs," Kuwabara muttered.
"Hiei, are you sure about this?" Kurama said, climbing up after his friend.
"Absolutely," Hiei said before disappearing inside the vehicle.
Yusuke shrugged and leapt up after Kurama, followed closely by Kuwabara. Once they were all inside Kuwabara closed the door securely and Kurama quickly sat down at the controls, starting up the engine and pulling out of their concealed parking space. At first the journey was as smooth as they had come to expect it to be in the enormous tanker they were now using, but as they neared the conflict, the metallic body of the tank began to creak and groan against the strain of advancing through the icy gales blasting out from the city, and the occasional bang of a large boulder bouncing off the bodywork reminded them just how powerful the storm they were approaching was.
"I sent Puu back up the hill and told him to wait until we have rescued the ice maidens before following after us," Hiei said.
"Good idea Hiei, one of those flying rocks might have killed him," Yusuke said. "Hiei… Hiei!"
Yusuke jumped around, finding Hiei standing behind him looking unreasonably calm.
"I thought you were organising the search and retrieve part of this mission?" Yusuke said.
"I asked grandma to coordinate it for me," Hiei replied.
"Was that a good idea?" Yusuke asked. "I don't think that old lady knows how to coordinate her own false teeth into her mouth, can she really be trusted to talk down a gang of angry ice maidens?"
"Tsubara is her mother," Hiei reminded him. "When Tsubara sees that her daughter is amongst our number, she will join us without question. If anyone else approached her, she would probably attack them."
"You mean if any of us approached her she would probably attack," Kuwabara said.
"No, I mean if anyone else approached her, she would probably attack," Hiei flatly replied. "At the height of her anger, Tsubara does not differentiate between friend and foe. Anyone who gets in her way is a target for her wrath."
"Nice," Yusuke muttered. "You know, you're not so unlike your people as you think, Hiei. They blast down anyone who gets in their way and you use your dragon no matter who might get gobbled up by it!"
"That's true," Hiei replied.
Yusuke frowned curiously, silently wondering why Hiei was not arguing the point with him – or at least suitably irate at being told he was just like the ice maidens – but Hiei was instead watching the chaotic scene ahead of them as they approached it, apparently unaffected by Yusuke's last remark.
Kurama was gradually pressing his foot further and further down on the accelerator, but the tank was losing speed regardless, the force of the storms ahead of them starting to overcome the power of the engine driving them towards it. He knew it was imperative to get as close as possible to make it easier for the ice maidens to board, but it was beginning to seem as though the closest he would be able to get would still be a few hundred yards away from his intended goal. He pushed until the groaning and creaking around them became constant, at which point he realised he would have to turn and reverse the remainder of the way, as it would be too risky to turn the broadside of the vehicle into the gales at any closer range.
"Hiei, is there any way you can communicate with any of them telepathically to tell them to cease their assualt?" he asked as he began to steer the vehicle around in an arc.
He had planned to turn on the spot, but the winds were so strong he did not want to risk stopping to shift gears more than once, as the vehicle was likely to be shunted back and possibly get stuck in the ground.
"Tsubara won't talk to me," Hiei replied.
"What about Rui?" Kurama suggested.
"What about Rui?" Hiei asked.
"Can't you contact her? From your earlier sense of urgency to recover her, I inferred that you had some sort of bond with her. Can't you contact her and explain to her that we are approaching to lend our assistance, but we need her and her friends to stop generating these winds to allow us to get closer to them?"
"I can't."
"Hiei, this is desperate. I don't know how close I can get."
Hiei nodded and hurried towards the back of the cabin, slid open the door and ran off out of sight.
"Yusuke, I need to ask a dangerous favour of you," Kurama said once Hiei was out of earshot.
"I volunteer Kuwabara for the job," Yusuke offered.
"Hey!" Kuwabara protested.
"It has to be you, Yusuke," Kurama replied. "I need you to climb up to the upper deck. There are a few bedrooms up there and one of them should have an exit out the back of the vehicle. I need you to go up there, open the door and check that everything goes smoothly. These winds are deadly, you can't go out just yet, but as soon as they start to subside, open the door and oversee the ice maidens boarding. Kuwabara, I need you at the front window on the upper deck and signal to Yusuke when it's safe for him to open the door, and to alert me if anything goes awry."
"What if everything goes okay?" Yusuke asked.
"Hiei should give us the signal when we are ready to leave," Kurama replied. "He knows how many women we're waiting for, he will know when to give the all-clear."
Yusuke nodded and he and Kuwabara hurried off to take their positions. With the vehicle turned fully, Kurama adjusted the side mirrors to give him the best possible view and then began trying to back up towards the plateau the ice maidens were standing atop and defending with everything they had. The vehicle creaked and groaned, the wheels slipped against the ground and the engine whined in complaint, but the large tank began to slowly creep backwards. It was a gamble regardless: going too close too soon meant risking a sudden blast of wind flipping the tank over, but not getting close enough soon enough meant the ice maidens would have to stop their assault prematurely and they would be vulnerable as they boarded.
And Kurama was still not really sure that he agreed with what he was doing. He wondered if Hiei even appreciated the risks his friends were taking to save his people: there was a very realistic chance that they could all be tried for treason for defying a law passed by demon world's ruler, not to mention the fact that countless sick would die, the ice maidens – if caught – would be treated even worse than they had been the first time around, and all the while spirit world was descending further into chaos because of the time they were wasting preventing the virus from being suitably contained. Kurama was not even sure he understood why Hiei cared so much. Although he knew that Hiei perhaps secretly cared about the ice maidens more than he would ever dare admit to, Kurama had never suspected that Hiei would care more about the ice maidens than he did about himself, Yusuke or Kurama.
Kurama wanted to know why Hiei was fighting so determinedly for his people who had rejected him so callously, but he already knew that he would never be able to ask his friend about it – Hiei had never been the type to discuss his feelings, or even to admit to having any feelings in the first place.
And, just as frustratingly, Kurama was beginning to suspect that there was something going on between Hiei and Botan. He had no real proof for his suspicions, but catching Hiei secretly talking to her earlier had done little to ease his concerns. He had never expected to find himself pursuing the same lover as Hiei, and he decided that, once their work in demon world was done, he would make his feelings known to Hiei during their journey to spirit world.
A particularly loud groan ran the length of the vehicle and Kurama realised that, although he might be able to edge a little further back, trying to do so would be far too dangerous. He waited, holding his foot down slightly to keep the vehicle in place against the wind that was trying to push it away again, and, much to his relief, he did not stay that way long, the creaking and straining of metal around him fading and the vehicle starting to slowly edge back again despite no extra effort on his part: Hiei must have managed to reach Rui.
As the winds died down further Kurama flattened the pedal to the floor, racing back towards the plateau. In one mirror he saw Puu flying towards his destination, which came as a relief, as it saved him having to attempt to park flat against the raised ground the ice maidens were holding. He stopped as close to his goal as he could get and watched in the mirrors as Puu swooped down towards the group of women gathered there, flinching involuntarily when one of them held up a hand and something invisible punched Puu in the chest, his wings, legs and long neck flailing about aimlessly before he fell from the sky.
Puu landed out of Kurama's line of sight, but he could see that the ice maidens did not need the bird's help, managing to somehow leap onto the back of the tank themselves. There were more women than Kurama had expected there to be, but he supposed that, by the simple fact that they had held off their captors for several days and with tremendous force, it only made sense that there would be a large group of them. Puu eventually rose up again flying up out of Kurama's line of sight, a thud above his head shortly afterwards telling Kurama that the spirit beast had wisely chosen to avoid landing on the landing bay where the ice maidens were still boarding. Kurama counted seventeen bodies leaping onto the vehicle before he heard Hiei and Kuwabara shouting at him to go, and he did not hesitate to take off, silently surprised that their escape had been so simple.
"I think that's everyone," Hiei said as he returned to the cabin.
"Good, because we don't have time to hunt down any stragglers," Kurama flatly replied.
"It's wonderful, I thought we would never manage to find everyone again!" Hiei gushed, a little too enthusiastically for Kurama's liking.
"Hey, Kurama!" Kuwabara bellowed as he came thundering into the cabin. "You need to go faster!"
"I'm going as fast as I can, Kuwabara," Kurama patiently replied.
"Hey! Fox boy! Put your foot down!" Yusuke yelled from somewhere back in the bowels of the tank.
"I'm going as fast as I can," Kurama repeated.
"This isn't a Sunday drive, granddad!" Yusuke said as he tore into the cabin. "We've got company!"
Kurama glanced at one side mirror, expecting to see some angry demons rising up over the plateau and running after them, and, because his glance at the mirror was so brief, at first he did not even see what Yusuke had been referring to.
"I thought it would have been much worse than that," he concluded. "Relax, they may be moving fast now, but they can't keep up with us over a long distance."
"Guess again," Yusuke said flatly, tapping a finger at the side window between them and the mirror.
Kurama looked again and felt his entire body tense in a way it had not done since facing Shigure in the demon world tournament: there was an entire fleet of armed military motorcycles chasing after them, and most of them were adorned with missile launchers on either side of the riders' legs.
"Can they hurt us?" Kuwabara asked. "This tank is pretty bulletproof and rocket-proof, right?"
"Is everyone inside?" Kurama asked. "If there are any ice maidens still out there, they are as good as dead."
"Puu's still out there," Hiei pointed out.
"Puu can fly, he can evade and hide from any attacks launched in his direction," Kurama replied. "We have more need to worry about ourselves."
"What if the ice maidens made a barrier around us?" Kuwabara asked.
"That's unlikely to stop weapons like those," Kurama replied.
"Can anything stop weapons like those?" Yusuke asked.
"Not really," Kurama answered. "The biggest problem is that there are weak spots on the vehicle, and if any one is hit, we risk being forced to stop and evacuate. And we wouldn't stand a chance on foot."
"We could fly away with Puu," Yusuke suggested.
"And leave all the ice maidens behind?" Kuwabara asked.
"Oh yeah, right, good point," Yusuke said.
"Isn't there like a super-powered shield on this thing?" Kuwabara asked Kurama
"Don't be stupid, Kuwabara!" Yusuke snapped.
"He's right, we do have the option of activating full-body shielding," Kurama said.
"Then do it!" Yusuke demanded.
"I can give you two good reasons why I shouldn't," Kurama replied. "First of all, they are not guaranteed to protect us indefinitely from attack, they would wear down under a constant bombardment, and secondly activating them drains power and will slow us down. We have a much better chance of escaping if we can keep moving. If we have to stop for any reason, we may have to make a very difficult decision."
"I'm not leaving anyone behind," Hiei said.
"Nobody's getting left behind!" Yusuke said. "And we're not stopping. I could probably take most of them out from the top deck."
Yusuke held up his right index finger and started to walk away, only stopping when Kurama called after him.
"Those are bombs," Kurama reminded him. "You risk detonating them, and the combined explosion would either incinerate us, launch us into the air, or create a crater we could fall into – and this vehicle is too big and too heavy to climb out of a hole."
"And you can't make this thing go any faster?" Kuwabara asked.
"I'm going as fast as I can," Kurama firmly replied.
Yusuke and Kuwabara moved to either side of the cabin, each watching in one of the side mirrors as the demons on bikes drew closer.
"I wonder why they weren't firing rockets at the ice maidens?" Kuwabara mused.
"They wouldn't have been able to get close for the winds, and those weapons lose a lot of their power over distance," Kurama replied.
"Incoming!" Yusuke warned.
He quickly grabbed at a bar on the side wall of the cabin to steady himself in anticipation of the impact, Kuwabara and Hiei following his lead. An instant later a slight rumble passed along one side of the vehicle, accompanied by a muted bang.
"That wasn't so bad," Kuwabara said.
"That's because they missed," Yusuke said.
Another bang resounded to one side of them, dirt spraying up above the height of their vehicle, a few small stones clinking against the roof above their heads.
"Their aim sucks!" Yusuke concluded.
"They're not firing to kill," Kurama pointed out. "Our passengers are no use to them dead. They're trying to disable us. Their goal is to force us to stop, reclaim our passengers and then blow up the vehicle with us still inside it."
Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei exchanged worried looks before all almost staggering into each other as another bang sounded, this time emanating from beneath the back of the vehicle, the detonation making the whole vehicle shudder and sway slightly. Once Kurama had managed to stabilise them, a sickening squeaking and grinding noise began from the point near the back of the vehicle where the detonation had occurred.
"What's that?" Kuwabara asked.
"That would be the rear wheel axle," Kurama replied.
"That sounds bad," Yusuke said.
"It is," Kurama said, his voice calmer than seemed appropriate. "This vehicle is controlled by rear wheel steering. Even the slightest dent or deviation back there hinders steering."
Another bang sounded at the back by one side of the vehicle, narrowly missing direct contact.
"They're trying to disable the steering, the bastards know!" Yusuke complained.
He threw open the side window and stuck his head outside, looking back at the swarm of motorcycles behind them. They seemed to be moving in a strange pattern, some lining up across the width of the back of the vehicle and others moving out the way to come up along the side of the vehicle. Although he could not see the other side of the vehicle, Yusuke already knew that their pursuers were trying to flank them and box them in. He leaned further out of the window, squinting against the glare of the fires still burning in the city behind them, his eyes trying to pick out an unarmed motorcycle. He was planning to shoot out any unarmed riders, in the hope of scattering or deterring the others, but they had shifted their formation to conceal the riders who had already fired their weapons – apparently this were no ordinary motorcycle gang, he thought dryly.
And, for a brief and horrible moment, the idea occurred to Yusuke that their pursuers were in fact disciplined military officers, sent there by Enki to recover the ice maidens at all costs.
Before the thought could really develop either way in Yusuke's mind, he suddenly felt something pulling at his shirt, dragging him back inside. He started to argue that he was fine but his words were shortly drowned out by an almighty explosion at the opposite side of the driver's cabin that rocked the whole vehicle. The force of the impact threw Yusuke further out the window, his weight hanging in the balance, the sight of a yellow-toothed, grinning biker waiting expectantly below him making him curse: but, by luck, he managed to throw his weight back inside, falling back against something that moaned in complaint.
"Thanks Hiei," he said as he stood up.
He reached down and grabbed Hiei's shirt, dragging him up to his feet again. He looked a little deflated, but Yusuke did not have time to mock him for it, as he noticed the way Kuwabara was staring, transfixed, at the opposite side window of the cabin. The missile had hit the vehicle just above the side window, a slight curve in the roof above them showing where it had detonated and warped the bodywork, and apparently the force of the explosion had travelled down slightly, leaving a hairline crack in the window by Kuwabara. The crack was slowly growing in length and other, smaller cracks were branching off of the main split.
"Get away from the window!" Yusuke shouted at Kuwabara.
Kuwabara turned from the window an instant before the glass collapsed behind him, most of it flying inwards in lethal shards. Yusuke quickly shut the window he had been leaning out of to stop the flow-through of air having two open windows had been causing, before crossing the cabin and peering cautiously out of the jagged remains of the other side window. When he saw a scraggly, long-limbed demon hanging onto the ladder leading up to the driver's door brandishing an axe, Yusuke acted on instinct and took aim to shoot him off. In one smooth sequence, the demon chopped his axe into the side of the vehicle and Yusuke shot him in the head, sending him tumbling to the ground. Despite the fact that the demon became caught under the wheels of the tank, he looked worryingly pleased with himself, and Yusuke soon saw why: the axe, still embedded in the side of the vehicle, had punctured something, a viscous green liquid dripping down the sides of the blade.
"Uh, the green stuff that's kept in the side of the tank," Yusuke began, turning to face the others. "What do we need it for, exactly?"
"We need it to live," Hiei flatly replied, touching a bandaged finger to a large dial in front of Kurama.
Yusuke and Kuwabara leaned closer to the console, watching as the needle on the dial began to slowly move to the left, towards a red bar that ended with a symbol for empty.
"Not the fuel tank," Yusuke said, looking around the others in the hope that one of them would agree with him.
"Why did you shoot at the fuel tank?" Kuwabara cried. "You could have blown us all up!"
"It wasn't the fuel tank," Yusuke insisted. "Right Kurama?"
"Wrong Yusuke, it was the fuel tank," Kurama replied. "Did you shoot a hole in it?"
"No, there's an axe stuck in it!" Yusuke said. "I'll climb down and pull it out."
"No!" Hiei said, grabbing at Yusuke's shirt to stop him. "It you pull out the blade, the hole you leave behind will be bigger and the fuel will leak out faster! The axe has to stay in place because right now it will be acting like a plug!"
"Right…" Yusuke said, his eyes moving back to the shifting dial. "So we switch to auxiliary power now, right?"
"We can try," Kurama said.
"We actually have auxiliary power?" Yusuke asked, glancing back and forth between Kurama and Hiei in surprise.
"Yes, we can run the vehicle on the battery alone," Kurama replied. "But the battery needs daylight to generate enough power to keep us moving."
All four looked out the front windscreen at the horizon ahead of them and the ball of light hanging ominously low in the sky.
"It will be dark within the hour," Kurama added. "If we can't out-run them in that time, we will have to get out and fight them as best we can – which is not as reasonable an option as it sounds, as we have no way of stopping that number of bodies from infiltrating the vehicle once it stops. If we were on our own, we probably could fend them off, but keeping them away from the ice maidens will be virtually impossible."
Next Chapter: Has lots of drama! Running low on fuel, things don't look too good for the team, but help comes from an unexpected source to even the odds. George makes a discovery in spirit world, Botan takes a desperate step in her bid to follow Hiei's instructions, Hiei has a very difficult confrontation with Kurama and a very emotional confrontation with Mizore, but it's Yusuke to the rescue with the best idea evar™…. Chapter 19 – Turpentine Nocturnal