She watched him from the bed, smiling to herself without reason.
He had a routine for dressing and bathing, kept up from years of living alone among the forests of fools. He wiped his face clean with his hands, splashing water onto his pale skin with a small yawn. His hair, so staunch and stiff, needed no help being tamed or combed. Hiei did not care for appearances anyway.
Hiei's body, unclothed, was beautiful to her. Not in the way that art or music was beautiful to some... but in the way that massive machinery was. In the way that a killer storm, or a wild ocean beating washing cities into the sea was.
He would look over his pants for holes or tears. If he found any he would stitch them up with meager sewing methods. Content, he would pull them on and buckle all four white belts from bottom to top. Always from bottom to top.
Then came his shirt.
Finally his tunic and scarf.
It was around this time that he would look over his shoulder and see her smiling at him.
Normally he might say something spiteful. But tonight in her dreams, there would be no cruel words.
"I'm scared." Mukuro heard herself whisper. "For you. For us."
"Don't be scared." Hiei smiled, coming to sit on the edge of their bed, "We are together when we battle. No matter what kind of fight it is. No?"
"...Yes..." Mukuro agreed, and there was spark of faint hope inside of her. "But how do we beat this?"
"This fucking surgery Hiei."
Hiei smiled again, placing his hand over her own.
"One day at a time. One hour at a time. One minute at a time." Hiei spoke decidedly. "Till all the minutes, hours, and days run dry. Till all the pain is gone. I will rely upon you in my physical pain... but I will also support you when your heart feels weak."
Mukuro sat up in bed, so that their faces were close...
"What happens next?" She whispered.
"You wake up." Hiei explained, "And it begins."
"What begins?"
"Hell."
"AUUGH!"
Mukuro snapped awake, her eyes flying open as her heart pounded with renewed vigor. She scrambled to her feet, her chest heaving and her pupils dilated as she took entire scene in.
Blood. Was everywhere. Utterly everywhere.
Hiei was thrashing upon the table, suddenly somehow awake and feeling the pain in a semi sober haze! Shigure was hunched over, soaking with crimson red as tentacles from the plant began to shoot back up into the ceiling. The light was knocked over, the IV drip fell with a clatter to the floor!
"Hiei!" Mukuro screamed, bursting forward on wobbly legs, but even as she did Shigure whipped around.
Blood. Guts.
On his hands.
Mukuro froze, a wave of vomit almost spilling from her. She gazed on unseeing, without a shred of understanding. How could someone have so much blood?
"STAY BACK!" Shigure shouted angrily "STAY AGAINST THE WALL!"
Mukuro fell onto her backside, her breath coming in rattling gasps.
Blood... so much blood!
Shigure was turned around once more, one hand tight on Hiei's torso. Mukuro could not see Hiei's face, Mukuro could not tell how the surgery had gone or if disaster had struck! Hiei's screams were endless, shredding at the chords in his throat as his feet kicked out. Mukuro wanted to put her fingers over her ears but she couldn't, she simply couldn't!
Her face screwed up, but still her eyes could not close! She couldn't look away even as every fiber in her body begged her to. Begged her to end the suffering they now had to endure.
"Stay still you little fucker!" Shigure grumbled, seemingly unshaken from the screams and blood. Hiei still kicked out, his screams going on and on!
Shigure let out an irritated huff, letting go of Hiei's torso to grab the dangling leather straps that hung at different spots below the table. Shigure's hands were quick as a snake's strike, wrapping Hiei up even as Hiei thrashed and howled!
As Shigure bent over, Mukuro caught a glance of Hiei's face.
She wished she hadn't.
Blood utterly covered the normally calm features, so that it appeared as if his entire face had been dumped in a can of red paint. Yet there, upon Hiei's forehead, glaring and roving about like a wild animal, was the new jagan! Mukuro was flabbergasted, unable to accept what she was seeing- for the entire sight was something out of a hellish nightmare. She couldn't wake up, she couldn't pinch herself and stop the screams.
It had been a success... but it the battle was far from over.
Without warning, Hiei's screams stopped, and in the silence Mukuro felt more fear than before. Nervous, she looked up to find that Shigure had injected a thick purplish dye into the IV bag that was now coursing through Hiei's open veins like a river.
"There." Shigure huffed, irritable. "A rather sordid success, don't you think? Now comes the hard part. Would you like to help?"
Mukuro said nothing, still too quelled from the horrific sight of Hiei's brain splayed open like a book to find words. Still, she somehow found the meager strength to rise to her feet.
She slowly stumbled forward, much too small in her oversized surgical suit.
As she came around Shigure's right, inch by inch Hiei's body was revealed.
From the waist down, he was normal save for the fact that he was strapped down. His boots, his pants, his four white belts- Mukuro knew these things. Mukuro was comfortable with these things. But from the waist up, the sight was a foreign one that shook her to the core.
A strange dark yellow dye had dripped down from Hiei's chest onto his stomach so that foul smelling stains were present near his naval. All across his upper chest, needles connected to multi colored tubes were wrapping left and right. They connected to bags, which connected to other bags- all of it a massive maze of chemicals meant to keep Hiei alive as his brain attempted to cope with the trauma of a jagan implant. Surgical tape kept all the needles flat, to ensure no breakage or injury, so that Hiei looked like a plague victim covered in white and dark yellow. Hiei's face was covered in blood, some dried and some still pooled near his two normal eyes still wet. Fresh pulp around the new perimeter of the jagan was hot and swollen, dark purple and pulsing with a constant outflow of blood. The jagan did not look happy per say, taking everything in which such roving madness that Mukuro wondered if it was sound.
They eye focused on her, staring intently into her soul. She could feel the mental intrusion- not harsh nor predatorily. Simply... curious. Confused, even.
"Nurse." Shigure attempted to joke. "You wanted to stay and help? I need your help now." Shigure did not move to lift the metal plate covering his face, and Mukuro watched as he peeled the thick yellow surgical gloves off his multi scarred hands to snap on a fresh white pair. Hot steamy towelettes were patiently waiting on the sterile supply tray, and Shigure handed her one as he took another. "Wipe up his forehead, don't touch the jagan. Clean up his whole face if you can. Then we'll wrap the jagan and lower Hiei down through the floor."
"Down?" Mukuro asked, confused. "How?"
"Look at your feet!" Shigure offered, taking his steaming towelette and beginning to wipe the left side of Hiei's face. "This whole table is on a rigging. I can lower it right down into the apartment while the patient recovers. You didn't think I'd keep him up here, did you? God no, it's much too risky. He has to stay in a sterile environment while his brain heals. I'm telling you, the hard part is ahead of us not behind! Are you going to wipe his face or not?"
Mukuro was so entranced by staring at the floor where a dark rectangular line encircled the table that she'd forgotten to clean Hiei's face. With a start, she came around to the Hiei's right side, fearful of touching the bloodied flesh beneath her.
A tube came out of Hiei's mouth, taped down to the side of his face by surgical holdings, and Mukuro watched as the thick purplish liquid kept him under and calm. How had he managed to scream around that tube?
She touched his face, and blood came up on her rag.
"Come on, damnit, where's your spine of steel?" Shigure demanded, halfway through cleaning his side of Hiei's face. "You practically bathe in blood any other day! Get it together or get out!"
Somewhere, in the back of Mukuro's mind, she would have lashed out at such an insult with physical force. But she was so numb from the sight beneath her that she could not summon the energy nor anger necessary to commit the deed. Instead she simply stared at Hiei's face... so marred... so very marred- was it even a face anymore? Would it ever grin? Ever laugh again?
"Mukuro!"
Her head snapped up; her nerves were so fried that even the smallest noise made her start. Shigure was staring at her, looking worried beneath his mask.
"It's going to be alright." Shigure assured her, his voice forceful but steady, "If you can't handle this then you need to leave now. It doesn't make you weak to be shaken by this sight. It makes you normal."
Mukuro blinked.
"I can handle it." She finally managed to blurt out.
She began to wipe the blood up, taking shaky breaths as the red smeared thinner and thinner. Folding the towel to a clean side, she wiped some more till she could finally see Hiei's actual skin beneath. The hot toweled was warm and drew a pink tinge to the white surface.
The towel was bloodied now, useless for cleaning, and she gave it back to Shigure who handed her a fresh one. Methodically, they cleaned Hiei's face till Mukuro finally reached the area around the jagan.
Once again, her nerves caught up with her. Dare she touch the broken flesh?
"You can clean it, it's okay." Shigure assured her, "See that flap of skin at the top? It's his new eyelid. Just be careful when you go near that... it's thin. Easy to break."
Shigure began to apply a dark yellow ointment onto Hiei's cleaned face, and Mukuro grimaced at the smell.
"What is that?" She demanded. "It smells like piss."
"Iodine. Keeps away infection." Shigure explained. "One of the very few inventions that has found its way from demon world to human world. You know most medical remedies are demonic in nature?" Shigure rambled, but Mukuro did not respond. Instead she cleaned in slow circular motions around the jagan. At the touch, the jagan's bright purple pupil immediately roved up to Mukuro's face. Once again, Mukuro felt the strange mental sensation of being searched amid the confusion.
"... It's looking at me." Mukuro murmured, pausing in her cleaning to stare at the jagan. They were locked in a war of eyes now, neither one breaking the stare.
"If it angers you, tell him to back off." Shigure waved it off without much thought. "It's just Hiei's brain, trying to figure out what's up and down. It shouldn't take him near as long since he's been through this process before. Does it bother you?"
"...No." Mukuro shook her head, not breaking her concentrated gaze with the jagan.
She did not know what the consequences would be of contacting the jagan at such a fresh stage. She pondered on asking Shigure, but she'd never asked a man for permission before and she'd be damned if she started now.
She pursed her lips, focusing her mind into a line of thought as the jagan continued to stare.
Hiei... can you hear me?
There was no reply.
"If you're going to try and communicate, don't bother." Shigure shot down, and Mukuro scowled. "He's too drugged to respond. He can hear us but he has no idea what we're saying."
"You take him for a dunce?" Mukuro snapped, "Just because he's... hooked up?" She gestured at all the tubes, "Then you're the fool."
"Oh really?" Shigure sneered, accepting her challenge. Leaning over Hiei's face, Shigure raised his voice to a near shout. "Hey Hiei! You miserable midget! You fatherless bastard! How embarrassing is it to know that your girlfriend is taller than you?"
Mukuro's face flushed in a rage. Though Hiei could not defend himself, she could! With the firm meaty side of her open hand, she slapped Shigure clean upside the head so that he gasped and stumbled back in pain. Holding his swollen ear, Shigure gave her an angry look as he gingerly rubbed his swollen flesh.
"Fuck it, Mukuro, I was joking!" Shigure snapped. "Am I not allowed to joke in my own fucking house?!"
"I don't care where we are!" Mukuro snapped right back, seething amid the stressful situation, "You're a goddamn doctor, now act like it! His life is at stake and I won't have you risking it because you want to tell a joke! You're not even funny, you're just an ass!"
Shigure sneered silently, pulling off his now soiled gloves and snapping on a fresh pair so that a pile of ruined latex was beginning to build at his feet.
"Fine." He grumbled, "Just trying to lighten the mood. He can't hear you, so don't try. Get out of the way." Shigure brushed her cleaning aside so that she scoffed angrily.
"Oh so now you're not going to let me do anything? Because you're a selfish arrogant-"
"This process is extremely important, and you are not a licensed surgeon." Shigure cut her off, his tone cold. "Cleaning is easy... wrapping is not."
He finished off a final square inch of skin, laying the ruined towelettes aside to take up a large thick roll of soft white gauze. Upon its surface, Shigure sprayed a clear gooey substance so that the very end of the roll was dripping. With gentle precision, he began to lower the end of the roll of gauze till it was right on top of the jagan. The iris swiveled to stare, looking haughty and angry as Shigure finally covered it up. Unbuckling Hiei's forehead from the operating table, he silently gestured for Mukuro to lift Hiei's head up. She did so, standing at the base of the operating table and gently raising Hiei's head so that Shigure could begin to wrap. He did so methodically with a steady smooth rhythm. Blood still flowed in a light trickle from around the perimeter of the jagan, but he gauze soon covered everything up till nothing could be seen but a faint red tinge amid the white. When Shigure was finally finished, Hiei's jagan was gone from sight and he looked relatively normal. Mukuro lowered his head gently back down to the table, tenderly stroking his tufty locks of ebony hair.
Shigure unclasped all the leather straps holding Hiei into place, sighing with clear exhaustion as he untied his operating dress and shrugged it off onto the floor. Fully exposed now, Shigure finally lifted up the metal plate covering his face, taking it off to place it inside the sterile sink. He fetched a large white sheet from inside an enormous metal cupboard, opening it wide and folding it in half once more to make a long rectangle. He cast it over Hiei's feet absent mindedley, fetching another operating table from the side of the room that was covered with a thick white padding. This table was different than the first, looking much more like a bed with a slanted head placement and rails on either side. Mukuro noted that a long metal pole sticking out from the top was a clear placement for the IV bag. He rolled it right up alongside the soiled operating table so that Hiei could almost slide over on his own. Almost.
"The easiest way to do this is with cloth." Shigure explained, tossing Mukuro the opposite end of the white fabric. "I'll roll him onto his side, you slide your end other. You'll roll him onto his other side, I'll do the same. Then we can pick him up via the cloth and move him onto the bed. Think you can do it?"
"Obviously." She snapped, still irritable.
The process was barbarically simple, and as soon as Hiei was resting comfortably atop the thin sheet, Mukuro and Shigure took heavy fistfuls of the remaining fabric.
"On three. One, two, three-!"
Hiei was hardly a heavy burden, and they lifted him up and over without much trouble. As soon as Hiei was safely on the bed, Shigure pulled the thin sheet out from under him, casting it onto the floor as well. Now it was only a matter of moving bags from one pole to another so that the operating table was soon bare of all life. Shigure shoved the whole thing aside, and it rolled away with a great clatter across the tiled floor. Hiei's new bed was then rolled right atop the large rectangle platform, and so they were ready for descent.
"Much to do, much to do..." Shigure talked idly to himself, cleaning off the sterile supply tray so that many things fell to the floor. Mukuro grimaced at the disgusting pile up.
"Is this what you call clean? You're like a pig in a sty." Mukuro snapped. Shigure did not pay her any mind, rolling the supply table over to a large counter full of vials and gauze rolls. As wiped the entire table down with a sterile cloth, he began to pile up several bottles that varied in color and size. Mukuro looked down at Hiei to see that he was shivering violently, and immediately sought a blanket to cover him. Shigure caught her searching the cupboards and shook his head.
"Those are only for surgery. If you want something like a quilt, I've got plenty downstairs." Shigure assured her. "Wait until we lower him down."
"Well hurry up!" Mukuro demanded, "He's shivering."
Shigure did not answer her once again, taking his sweet time as he finally managed to stock his supply tray which he rolled back over to Hiei's side. Clearing the area of any debris, Shigure made sure that the outline of the platform was unclustered of post operational towelettes or sheets.
"Stay here. I'm going to lower you down. Don't let the tray spill." Shigure ordered, locking the wheels of Hiei's rolling bed and leaving them both for the stairwell. Mukuro watched him go, feeling bitter and irritated.
Now she was alone with Hiei, who was silent and pale.
"... He says you can't hear me. He's an idiot." Mukuro whispered, tenderly stroking Hiei's cheek. It was an action that she'd never do upon waking, but now in the silence and secrecy she was able to reveal her gentler side. "I know you can hear me. You were in my dream... I know you did that on purpose. You were with me... to prepare me. To tell me that you'd need me. I heard you." Mukuro's voice was solemn. "I'll do my best. But don't go and turn into some crybaby just because you've had surgery. I don't run with weaklings. You're not a child, you're a man. Act like it."
Underneath the gauze, a soft purple light could be seen. Even now, the jagan was looking at her.
Thunk!
Mukuro gasped, grabbing tight onto Hiei's bed as the floor beneath her suddenly gave way about an inch. With the sound of metallic gears whirring to life, she watched in awe as the floor began to drop down into a black abyss below. She bent down to glimpse into the chamber just beneath the operating room to see that it was rather small and cramped, not to mention dark. It was also much more warm. Shigure was holding onto a large wired box, pressing a red button as he watched with mundane interest. Mukuro grabbed the clattering supply tray before it could fall, her other hand tight upon the rail of Hiei's bed. Soon enough, the lift ended it's short run, and Mukuro gingerly stepped off the tiled hold into the new room which was full of home like furniture. Shigure rolled the supply tray out of the way, unlocking the wheels of Hiei's rolling bed to move him right off the lift.
"And up we go." Shigure spoke with finality in his tone lifting the rectangular hold back up, now empty of it's cargo. As soon as the lift was all the way in its starting position, it blended seamlessly into the ceiling and plunged them all into darkness.
"This is where he'll stay when he recovers. It's where they all stay."
Shigure turned on a small lamp atop a bedside drawer and soft light illuminated the cozy scene. Hiei's rolling bed slid snugly into place between two drawers so that he was surrounded on all sides by cozy chairs, bureaus, mirrors, and even a writing desk which looked like it hadn't been used in ages. Shigure lifted the supply tray up off it's rolling cart to set it atop the spare bedside drawer.
"There's a blanket in the wardrobe." Shigure spoke in a gruff voice. "If you want it."
Mukuro did want it, badly, and so she fetched it to find that it was a large patchwork quilt that was so faded it no longer had distinguishable color. She cast it over Hiei, hoping to warm him up, and reached underneath to pull off his boots. She cast them aside underneath the mobile bed, watching as Shigure snapped on yet another pair of fresh gloves (how many had he gone through by now) and extracted a long metallic holder from the supply tray.
"What is that?" Mukuro asked, slightly uneasy at the sight of such a sharp and painful looking object.
"Got to get the tube out." Shigure answered shortly, and even as he spoke he plunged the metal length down Hiei's throat-!
Mukuro gasped, looking away and clapping a hand over her mouth at the same time. Shigure wasted no time and took no prisoners. Mukuro commended him on that, but in the case of Hiei's health she was already shaken up enough. Normally blood and gore was nothing to her, if anything it was rather charming and delightful. But when the blood was Hiei's and the gore caused him pain... everything changed.
It was easy to wield the sword and slice the enemy.
The same was not true of the friend.
... of the lover.
"Queasy?" Shigure sneered, "That's almost funny, Mukuro. I thought you liked blood."
"... Not when it's his." She finally spoke. Shigure did not answer, but she could sense the mood had shifted from a sneer to understanding.
When she looked back around, the tube poking out of Hiei's throat was gone. Instead, A thin plastic tube was wrapped from ear to ear, trafficking oxygen directly into Hiei's sharp nose. The tube itself was now inside a white plastic bag which Shigure promptly chucked into a tiny trash can, pulling off his gloves and casting them onto the floor as well.
"Would you quit it?!" Mukuro finally demanded, disgusted, "You're like a pig, the way you cast shit around. If he's supposed to heal, he needs to be somewhere clean! I thought doctors picked up after themselves."
Shigure cast her a heavy lidded gaze full of sarcastic irritation. He finally bent down with a great huff, picking up the discarded gloves and throwing them promptly into the trash can.
"Happy?" He sneered.
"Only when you die." Mukuro quipped back.
"Eager to kill me, Mukuro? I'm surprised." Shigure rolled his eyes, "Since I just saved Hiei's life, I'd have thought you would be happy to keep me around."
"Do something useful or get out." Mukuro snapped, pointing to the door behind her which lead back into the kitchen and living room. Shigure shrugged, nonplussed, and he left promptly.
"Don't expect him to wake for a good while." Shigure warned, "And when he does... it won't be sunshine and roses."
"I do not care for either." Mukuro's tone was haughty. How dare he presume that she would be so naive as to expect full results upon Hiei's waking? She might not be a doctor but she wasn't a moron. "So get out."
"Suit yourself." Shigure finally conceded, and he closed the door behind him as he went plunging the room back into a quiet stillness.
Mukuro stared at the door for a while before turning back to stare at Hiei.
He was deathly still and pale, covered in bandages draped with iodine and tape. Long gone was the image of a courageous and powerful hearted man draped in black. In the place of what was known was something foreign and frightening: Hiei... weak and vulnerable to attack.
If any number of enemy demons knew, Hiei would be dead before the night fell. Mukuro would have to be his physical voice and presence till he once again had the ability to voice it himself. She would do so willingly, but not gladly.
She had not realized how much she needed him till he was beyond her reach, locked in an internal struggle of healing and trauma.
She sat down in a lazy chair beside Hiei's bed, curling her legs up and rubbing the scarred side of her face.
"... and now we wait." she spoke aloud to herself, settling into the stillness like a monk into prayer. "... now we wait."
Yusuke had never considered himself rich, but after two weeks of working the ramen stand with Keiko and Mr. Yukimora, he was now in the possession of a great deal of money.
"I'm rich, bitch!" Yusuke cackled, perched atop a rickety stool as Keiko wiped the already clean counters with methodical care. It was near dawn, and all their customers were long since fled except for a man sitting atop his rolling suitcase eating a bowl full of hot ramen. He toasted Yusuke with a toothless grin even as Keiko set him a dirty look.
"Yusuke." Keiko whispered heatedly, "No cursing in front of customers."
"I don't give a shit what he thinks!" Yusuke laughed, toasting the old man back, "He knows that! He likes it, look, he's grinning! Come on you wrinkled bastard give me another toast! Here's to money!"
The old man just laughed, nodding happily and finishing the rest of his soup by drinking straight from the bowl. Finished, he toasted Keiko and Yusuke with the empty cup and placed it atop the counter which Keiko took with a polite bow.
"Thank you for your patronage." Keiko repeated the old familiar line. The old man, happy to give more, even fished another handful of yen and placed it in the already overstuff mason jar which was flowing with money.
"Come back anytime, you gremlin! Go chase those skirts in foreign lands! Have a good plane ride!"
The man left, rolling his fat suitcase along with idle speed so that he soon vanished into the soggy mist that was rolling in from the near shore. Birds were beginning to chirp, and Yusuke let out an enormous yawn as he rubbed his eyes.
"Keiko I'm so tired I couldn't grab your butt if I tried." Yusuke admitted. Keiko snorted at this, instead skirting around the counter and closing up shop with a change of signs and a click of the fluorescent neon lights. Only their shop light was on now, and she locked the door behind her as she began to clean tables and booths.
"Count the money!" Keiko urged, "Let's see how much we got!"
"All we need is about 12,000 more yen!" Yusuke urged, looking very hopeful as he poured the contents onto the counter behind the bar. "Come on baby, hit me with your best shot!"
He began to count, falling into giddy silence as Keiko collected glasses, plates, napkins, chopsticks, sake cups, and spare change that had fallen about.
"Oh Yusuke..." Keiko sighed, shaking her head, "I'm so worried about Yukina. Have you seen how pale she's getting lately? She looks simply awful. I wonder if her health is waning. Maybe it's got something to do with Hiei. I'll bet that's it." Keiko did not look pleased, "I hope that we hear back from Kurama soon. Surely he's found out something by now. Yusuke?" Keiko spoke up, for her normally chatty fiance had fallen into grave silence.
"Yusuke, what's wrong?" Keiko asked, "Did we not get enough?"
"... 239,400." Yusuke finally blurted out.
"What?" Keiko was utterly lost.
"Keiko... we got 239,400 yen." Yusuke looked up in awe. "We've got... we've got double, triple what we need! We- we have enough!"
Keiko's doe brown eyes were wide with shock and delight. She even dropped a few plates as her hands flew to her mouth.
"We can get married?!" Keiko cried out, joy filling her heart like a bright sun.
"We can get married!" Yusuke crowed, a rooster in his own right as he bolted from behind the bar and scooped Keiko up into his arms, "We can get married!"
"I'm getting married!" Keiko shrieked, "I'm getting married!"
They hugged each other for a very long time, too wrapped up in their elation to notice a misty figure approaching through the shadows of early morning. Yet even as they kissed passionately, wrapping their hands about one another, a foul oder permeated the aid and caused them to step back.
"...Did you...?" Keiko asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously, "You wouldn't- you wouldn't actually pass gas while kissing me would you?"
Yusuke balked, taken aback, "What do you take me for an animal? But I get what you're saying... something's rank. And I don't think it's either of us."
Yusuke sniffed, looking about to find the source.
What he saw, stopped his hormonal brain in its tracks.
"FUCKIN' HELL!" Yusuke screeched, letting go of Keiko and pointing out of the shop, "Kurama!"
"Kurama?!" Keiko looked around in shock, but all was made clear as Kurama himself finally cut through the last of the fog and revealed himself to the two old friends.
He looked wretched. Utterly wretched.
Twigs and leaves were sticking out of his unkempt mane of red hair that now looked closer to brown. He was utterly covered in mud, and smelt like an animal. Yusuke didn't know whether to laugh or cry, fearful of what the sight meant for the spirit team.
"Kurama, are you-" Yusuke stifled a laugh, "Are you okay?"
"Quite well, thank you Yusuke." Kurama coughed, shrugging off his ruined jacket and throwing it over his shoulder with grave dignity, "I heard your elation and thought I'd come calling. Forgive my appearance... I have only just gotten back."
"From Spirit World?" Yusuke demanded, "What, Koenma make his palace out of mud?"
"From Demon World." Kurama corrected, and Yusuke fell silent with understanding.
"Demon World." Yusuke repeated.
"Indeed." Kurama nodded.
"...You do remember we agreed on Spirit World right?"
Kurama was not impressed, and rubbed the dirtied bridge of his nose in irritation.
"Yusuke, I remember things from ten thousand years ago, would you kindly give my intellect for faith?"
"Just saying man!" Yusuke threw up his hands in defense, "I didn't exactly recall us talking about Demon World!"
"I went on a whim. A very good whim, actually. I now know the full and bitter truth, and I wish to share it with you." Kurama explained.
"What do you mean, Kurama?" Keiko asked, starting to get nervous. "How do you know the full truth? Do you mean about Shimo? What did you find about him?"
"First of all, Keiko, I'd like to make one thing to you and Yusuke extremely clear." Kurama paused to cough, pulling a few leaves out of his hair with ruined dignity.
"Shimo is not a man." Kurama started. Yusuke waited with baited breath, and the seconds felt like hours as Kurama pulled out a few more leaves.
"Shimo... is a doll."
"Alright now explain to me what the fuck is going on."
It had been a long and brutal walk back to Yusuke and Keiko's shared apartment. Kurama had refused to give details until he was able to change into fresh clothes and take a bath. Yusuke couldn't blame him, but after hammering his stoic friend with a thousand unanswered questions he was starting to get a little agitated.
Yusuke sat on the toilet with the lid closed, smoking a cigarette with the window open so as to not alert Keiko who was making the three of them breakfast in the kitchen. Kurama was in the shower, attempting to scrub out two weeks worth of demon world from his body by using every flowery smelling soap that Keiko possessed in her 'artillery'.
"I've already told you. Shimo is a doll."
"Yeah but you haven't told me how!" Yusuke demanded, "Or why! Damnit Kurama, this is killing me!"
"Incorrect." Kurama chided him, "the nicotine in your lungs is killing you. I am merely testing your patience."
"Well shit, that's as good killing me!" Yusuke snarled, squatting in an awkward stance to throw his half finished cigarette into the toilet before flushing it. This was opportune for just as Yusuke sprayed an odor neutralizer into the air, a rapt knock came at the door.
"Damn!" Yusuke hissed, opening the door with a cheesy smile.
Keiko stood in her flannel pajamas, braless with a blackhead strip over her nose. She wore wooly socks for comfort and bore a tray loaded with delicious food.
She scowled.
"You were smoking." Keiko assumed.
"Yeah." Yusuke didn't even try to lie, simply hanging his head.
"Kurama's making you be patient." Keiko added conclusively.
"And he's horrid at it." Kurama chuckled from the shower, and so Keiko scooted into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
"I brought you breakfast!" Keiko chirped, setting down the tray of food on the pathetically small sink counter. Thus was the pit falls of living in a cramped one bedroom apartment; still... they couldn't be happier. Giving Yusuke a kiss and squirming at the taste of smoke upon her lips, Keiko passed a small bowl filled with rice balls into the shower. Kurama, hidden by the shower curtain, was slightly startled by the ghostly female hand coming through the hot steam- he took the bowl gratefully and stuffed a few rice balls into his mouth, eating and bathing at the same time. He was famished for human food.
"Are you going to tell us now?" Yusuke demanded as Keiko perched herself atop his knee and began to drink miso soup right from the bowl. Yusuke grabbed sausage after sausage (an American treat he adored), shoving them at an alarming rate into his mouth.
"Thank you for the food, Keiko. I was very hungry." Kurama began, but upon hearing Yusuke's groan of anger he immediately turned into story form. "I'll be happy to tell you all now, Yusuke."
"Fuckin, finally!"
"Yusuke!"
"Sorry, but he does this all the time, you know I'm not patient!"
"I traveled to Spirit World and was greeted warmly by our good friends Botan and Koenma." Kurama began loudly, overriding Yusuke's whine of protest. "They were rather shocked to see me after such a long time, but when I explained the situation they understood at once."
"So what are they up to? It's been ages since we've seen the pair of them. They shackin up? " Yusuke asked through a mouthful of sausage.
"Koenma's doing just fine as king of Spirit World." Kurama chuckled, eating another rice ball as he washed the dirt out of his hair, "He's not moved from his original office, though. I suppose he enjoys the familiarity of it all. Still, he's just and fair... a fine example of a ruler. Botan still keeps a firm eye on him though. She's no longer the guardian of the river Styx. I believe she's moved up in rank. She also wears her hair differently now-"
"Okay, okay, enough with the jabbering, now what did they say about Shimo?"
Kurama paused, stepping directly under the faucet to get all the soap off his face. When he emerged, he began once more, "We replayed the scene where Hiei first met Shimo on Koenma's TV... quite a lot went on in front of our eyes. Shimo and Hiei spoke to one another when Hiei had him pinned against the wall. Hiei demanded to know how Shimo knew the things he knew. Shimo's response was to ask Hiei what he feared when Hiei looked at him."
"So that's why he threw him to the ground." Yusuke nodded. "Makes sense."
"In that moment, when Hiei attempted to pursue Shimo's mind with the jagan, another interaction occurred but it was not on a level that I initially understood. By using Koenma's TV, we listened to the underlay... the volume that usually can only detect ghosts."
"Don't tell me it was a ghost."
"Not entirely." Kurama scrubbed his face hard with an apricot soap, "It was a memory. A memory of a woman screaming."
"A woman screaming?" Keiko piped up, very confused indeed, "What on earth for? And how?"
"It wasn't clear to me at first... until I did a bit of digging." Kurama finally washed off his face, turning off the water and reaching a hand out of the shower to grab a towel without revealing himself. "Botan, George, and I looked up every file we could... We tried names like Shimo, Hiei, Yukina, the Hyouga... you name it we pulled it. Little results came forward. When we tried Spirit Worlds computer bank, Shimo and Hiei had no files underneath their name. The Hyouga had many files, and of course Yukina was also present... but Shimo and Hiei were not to be found. We tried hard copies of the files, still nothing."
"How odd!" Keiko murmured, "Maybe someone swiped them?"
"We thought that at first, and so I decided to do a bit more digging into Hiei and Yukina's background looking for enemies. Tarukane has been dead for a long time, so Yukina was clean. Frankly, Hiei's files were null to the point. But I saw a link on Yukina's file for her mother. A woman named Hina."
"Hina..." Yusuke repeated the name. "So... Hiei's mother is named Hina."
"Exactly." Kurama tied the towel around his waist, covering himself well before drawing back the curtain and wringing out his hair. "Keiko, thank you so much for allowing me to shower. I must confess I do not enjoy being filthy."
"It's no problem." Keiko smiled, taking the empty bowls and stacking them back up on her tray. "I'll go put these in the sink. Why don't we take this to the living room? I'll leave you to dress." Keiko left, closing the door with her foot as she did.
"Here." Yusuke thrust some of his own clothes at Kurama, "Till you can get your own."
"Much obliged." Kurama grunted, unfolding the frayed jeans and dressing as quickly as he could. Yusuke didn't bat an eyelash, having worked with Kurama and seen him naked plenty of times before. As Kuwabara had said once in the Dark Tournament locker rooms, "If you've got anything I haven't seen before I'll be the first to tell you!"
"So Yukina and Hiei's mother's name is Hina..." Keiko paused, "I wonder where she could be?"
"I'm afraid Hina passed away some time ago." Kurama sighed.
They sat upon Keiko and Yusuke's worn out couch, drinking hot green tea to cope with the cold weather outside. In one of Yusuke's old sweatshirts and a wooly pair of socks, Kurama was extremely relaxed and felt like he might fall asleep at any moment. Still, he knew that before he napped he would need to explain everything to Yusuke and Keiko.
Yusuke was sprawled out across the couch with his feet in Kurama's lap. Keiko sat adjacent to them in a lazy boy chair full of holes, curled and and quiet.
"That's so sad..." Keiko murmured, "I hope it was peaceful."
"Well, that's the thing. George found Hina's file. It had been swiped of it's contents save for a note that simply read 'died a foolish martyr'."
"The fuck does that mean?" Yusuke grumbled. "Who the hell writes something like that?"
"An enemy." Kurama agreed, "And it got me wondering... if Shimo was telling the truth about being from the Hyouga, combined with the fact that Hiei and Yukina were born in the Hyouga... what if the enemy was also from the Hyouga?"
"And what if they were in league with Shimo." Yusuke added.
"Precisely." Kurama agreed, "So I decided to do a bit more digging. Of course, I would have gone for ages had I not been contacted by Mukuro."
"Mukuro, where have I heard that name before..." Keiko wondered aloud, "I swear I know that name!"
"Hiei's girl." Yusuke answered shortly, "She's one of the most powerful demons that I know though, so don't go thinking she wears skirts and perfume like you do."
"What, can't power and beauty coincide?" Keiko grumbled, narrowing her eyes, "Women don't have to choose between pampering themselves and being strong Yusuke. They can do both."
"I agree with you, Keiko." Kurama smiled, " But I'm afraid that Mukuro is not exactly... feminine in her approach."
"I bet Hiei wouldn't like a girl like that anyways." Keiko gave a small sigh with defeat. "He's so.. well... Hiei."
"Mukuro sounded very upset." Kurama continued on after a hesitant pause, "She demanded that I come to Shigure's hut in demon world as quickly as I could. She said that Hiei needed help."
"Help? When the hell has Hiei ever asked for help?" Yusuke demanded, "Sounds suspicious to me already."
"I did as she bade, leaving a note for Botan and Koenma. I took a portal to demon world that was conveniently close to Shigure's hut... it's in the southern plains, right outside of the lower most edge of the Forest of Fools. You remember where Sensui fought us on the Plateau of the Beheaded?"
"Hard to forget?"
"Well essentially if you turned south and walked until your legs fell off you'd be in the area." Kurama gave a quirky smile at this, "I found Shigure and Mukuro just as I suspected... and Hiei too."
"Well?" Yusuke demanded after a lengthy pause from Kurama. Kurama shook his head.
"... It's bad." Kurama admitted quietly. "Hiei's bad."
Yusuke sat up straight, his brown eyes hard and full of a wary nervous glow.
"What do you mean. Bad." Yusuke's tone turned serious. "Do I need to be making a trip to demon world?"
"Hiei's jagan is dead."
"Dead?" Keiko gasped, visibly horrified. Yusuke winced, as if experiencing the physical pain Hiei no doubt had felt. "But how?"
"Shimo." Kurama explained with pursed lips, "Shimo reflected one of Hiei's most important memories, confusing the jagan and crippling it. It was a very painful and slow death... and Hiei has suffered grievously. Shigure is going to operate. I suspect by now he already has and Hiei is recovering at his hut."
"Damn." Yusuke whispered, sitting all the way up and putting his feet on the floor. "... Damn, damn, damn!"
Yusuke stood up, beginning to pace back and forth.
"Who the fuck does this Shimo bastard think he is?" Yusuke foamed, furious, "Fucking with my friends! I'll break his neck!"
"I share your sentiment." Kurama agreed, "But I urge you to let me finish. There is more to my story."
"I don't want to hear it! I already know what I need to!" Yusuke snapped, snatching the keys to his motorcycle and heading for the door, "I won't stand by while some stupid prick tries to work off members of my team!"
Kurama flicked his finger and a large ficus by the door suddenly sprouted a demonic like tentacle that grabbed Yusuke tight by the arm.
"Kurama!" Keiko and Yusuke cried in unison.
"Please don't kill my plant, I've been trying for ages to get it to grow." Keiko urged, stressed. Yusuke was affronted.
"Let me go damnit!" Yusuke snapped, struggling with the plant.
"Not until you have heard the rest."
"Damnit, I don't need to hear the rest!"
"Then I cannot let you go."
"Kurama you're a fucking dick!" Yusuke snarled.
"I may be." Kurama paused, "But when a friend urges me to listen, I listen."
Yusuke paused, and in the halting struggle the plant tentacle slowly receded back into the ficus. Yusuke gave Kurama a menacing look.
"... So what else is there." Yusuke growled, his patience extremely thin.
"After talking with Mukuro and Shigure, I discovered the final link to Shimo's true identity." Kurama explained. "Hiei is the only male to have ever been born in the Hyouga, and because of his birth he was cast out from the all female society. His mother and sister were outcasted... but the elders of the community still damned Hiei and considered him the bringer of the apocalypse." Kurama paused, "Yusuke... Shimo is not a person. Shimo is not even alive. He is a doll, animated only by the magic of the koorime elders. His sole mission is to destroy Hiei; the elders know now that Hiei is alive, after having escaped his near death in infancy. Do not think that attacking Shimo will be easy. He will undoubtably be barred from physical duress. We will have to plot. To plan... Hiei will recover at Shigure's. When he returns, it is my hope that Mukuro will come with him. If she does, she will be an extremely valuable asset in destroying Shimo."
"... So we've gotta wait, is that what you're telling me?" Yusuke finished with a dry voice.
"Yes." Kurama nodded, looking somber.
Yusuke deflated, all the anger and energy leaving him in a rush.
"... How are we going to tell Yukina... and Kazuma." Keiko asked, sounding just as sad as Yusuke and Kurama looked. "They both think that Shimo is Yukina's brother. They'll be heartbroken-"
knock knock knock!
All three fell silent at once, and Yusuke (nearest to the door) glanced at the front step with wary distaste.
"...Shit." Yusuke grumbled putting down his keys with a huff, "If that's the fuckin land lady, I payed rent a week ago!" He opened the door with an irritated scowl.
Kazuma Kuwabara stood upon the front step looking miserable and exhausted.
"...Got a minute?" Kuwabara asked. "I've got stuff on my mind, there's something I want to talk to you about."
Hearing Kuwabara's voice, Kurama and Keiko immediately came into the hallway. Upon seeing his other friends, Kuwabara seemed relatively surprised.
Yusuke turned around, catching Kurama's eyes.
No more lies... they seemed to say.
"...Yeah," Yusuke turned back around, giving Kuwabara a grim smile. "I think... we need to talk to you... too..."