What followed Yukina's late warning was nothing short of slaughter.
Mukuro had no time for fines or powering up. She had no moment to prepare, count, calculate, or decipher. She was left with the bare essentials of demon world, the bread and butter of life among thieves and vagabonds: Kill. Kill them all.
The thieves were plentiful but Mukuro was enraged. She leapt forward even as they crashed upon her, and with her mouth open she tore into their flesh like fresh meat. Their screams pierced the air, shrill and weak as she tore off limbs, broke through bones, bathed in blood, and let out howls all her own. She was drenched in red, covered in their lives final essence, and as her enemies began to fall she grew even more empowered.
A spray of red shot Yukina across the breast and face, painting her like a macabre painting. She gagged as blood entered her mouth! Mukuro tore at the biggest thief, climbing up his front like a monkey and biting right into the front of his neck as the thug tried to club her over the head. More blood sprayed through the air, and as the giant fell to the ground the entire cave quaked under the force. The mountain moaned above them, but Mukuro didn't stop, gorging and tearing at flesh till it dangled from her mouth in red ropy strands.
"Charming."
Mukuro's eyes shot up, expecting to find another attacker. A Yoko in white, with long silvery hair-! Mukuro snarled, leaping forward with her claws soaked in blood!
The Yoko was fast, dodging out of the way but catching her by the back of the neck so that she was thrown to the wall! There, pinned against the hard rock, a sudden foray of plants and vines sprouted seemingly from no where and began to entwine around her arms and legs binding them tight! Mukuro broke through the thick vegetation, reaching out and scratching the Yoko across the face so that he hissed in pain! In those few seconds, amber eyes flashed emerald green-
A very familiar emerald green.
Mukuro paused for a split second, staring agog at the Yoko's face... Could it be? Could it possibly be?
"... Kurama?" Mukuro muttered through a mouth full of blood,
The Yoko reached up with a free land, touching his cheek which bled only slightly. He licked his reddened fingertips, and smiled callously.
"... Surprised, Mukuro?" Kurama paused, pulling back so that the plants entwining Mukuro's legs and arms were freed. "Why should you be... when you left in the dead of night on a hopeless mission. Did you think we'd let you get far with the girl?" Kurama nodded to Yukina. Yukina shivered, rubbing at her breasts and neck where the blood had stained her flesh and clothes.
"How did you find us?" Yukina asked. "And so quickly?"
"Simple." Kurama cracked his neck, a methodical demon move, and looked upon the mass of torn bodies on the floor of the cave, "Genkai told us you'd left along with Hiei. We knew that Hiei would return to the Hyouga... and the only way to the Hyouga is through the Mountains of Misery, and up the Cliff of Insanity. Along with myself, Yusuke and Kuwabara have come to pursue Hiei... and hopefully stop him before he reaches the Hyouga. Our speed can only be accredited to Pu."
Mukuro frowned, taken aback.
"Come again?" Mukuro snapped. "Your speed is accredited to... shit?"
Yoko snorted, rubbing his brow with disdain. Even Yukina let out a tiny laugh.
"Yusuke has a spirit animal." Yoko sneered, "Who is name Pu. A phoenix of great worth that flew us to mountains."
"A spirit animal." Mukuro snorted, "What else does this kid have? I'm curious."
"A rather testy attitude given that Hiei bolted without a word." Yoko's lip curled at this, "I confess, I too have much to say to my... colleague."
"Don't be angry at him, Kurama. He's only doing what he thinks is right." Yukina urged, attempting to step through the pile of bodies. She tripped on a loose arm, falling into the dirt and blood with a cry of disdain.
Before Mukuro or Yoko could move to pull her out, the noise of two approaching men sent them into wary tension. Mukuro put her fists up, but paused as she recognized the energy coming from one of the men rounding the mountain path. She sensed the Mazoku, and lowered her fists at once.
So it seemed Kurama had not told a falsehood. The others were here... and with a phoenix of all creatures.
As the shadows grew smaller on the cave wall, the two finally appeared at its mouth. Yusuke, with hair now down to his knees, and Kuwabara sweating and pale.
"Alas. Caught." Mukuro sneered.
"Yukina!" Kuwabara shrieked, horrified to find his love in the middle of a pile of corpses. Without missing a beat, he strode forward through the sludge of blood and limbs, plucking her up and carrying her in his arms back to the mouth of the cave where he set her back down on her feet. "What were you thinking? Why didn't you come get me before you left? Are you alright? Are you hurt?
"I'm so sorry, Kazuma, I had to make a fast decision!" Yukina was distressed, chewing at her lip as she looked up to into Kuwabara's dark slanted eyes. "Hiei gained ground every second that I didn't move... and Mukuro was going too! Mukuro kept me safe!"
"Safe?! You were in a pile of bodies just now!" Kuwabara cried, pointing to the macabre slaughter. "You call that safe?!"
"What would you rather I didn't kill them?" Mukuro snapped, exiting the cave into the cool night air, and pulling off her shirt. Bare chested, she wiped her face free of blood and hocked a ball of bloodied spit. She had to clear her nasal passages and throat of blood or it would drive her mad. The pheromones in blood could be many things to demons: tracking scents, power stimulants, war paint, bond breakers and formers... yet they could also be a high without end. Mukuro blew her nose again, desperate to get all the blood out of her system. Grabbing a fist full of dirt, she threw it all over her face to dry up what remained.
Over her shoulder, the conversation was still continuing.
"-Hiei can't have gotten too far, right?" Kuwabara demanded, "We can still stop him while there's time."
"You fuckin' kidding me?" Yusuke balked, "Hiei's faster than all three of us combined. Hell, you've seen how quick he can move. Remember that time he slashed someone seventeen times and you didn't see shit?"
"Hey!" Kuwabara flushed, embarrassed by the slant. "I saw flashes!"
"I was lost after ten." Kurama offered, his Yoko voice oddly gentle. Yusuke shrugged his shoulders, looking up at the menacing summit of the mountain.
"Nah, if you guys ask me, the son of a bitch is gonna beat us all to the top." Yusuke murmured, "Unless we go non stop. Maybe... maybe then. We might get there at the same time."
"We could appeal to his better nature." Kurama added.
"You're full of shit." Mukuro shot this down, rising up to her feet and turning around. She still went without a top, and Kuwabara turned beet red as he saw her naked flesh. The scars lacing across her chest were so severe, he thought he could see heart palpitations through the sunken skin. "Hiei has no better nature. He has one nature. The nature to survive regardless the obstacles or sacrifices... He cannot be appealed to or reasoned with. You have nothing which you can offer him to sate his hunger for revenge. He will have it, mark my words." Mukuro pointed her finger, and it was with such strange authority that Yusuke felt the entire world bend to its whim. "Hiei will kill the ice elders... and I will help him."
"Doing so would upset the order of the Hyouga and send the glacier crashing to the ground!" Kurama warned. "The elders are infused with sacred magic which keeps the glacier floating in balance. With their deaths, the glacier will fall and kill us all!"
"Wait, wait, wait." Kuwabara threw up his hands, confused, "Lemme get this straight. The glacier... floats?"
"Yes, Kazuma." Yukina nodded, "Over ten thousand kilometers in the sky. The atmosphere usually conceals it... once you get past the sulfuric layer that keeps the sky red and the ground warm, you enter a very cold white layer where the Hyouga exists. No ice maiden may dare leave the island or be outcasted forever by the community. That's why my mother was tortured. They thought she'd left the island and found a man... which resulted in my brother being born."
"Say no more." Kuwabara flushed again. Between seeing Mukuro's breasts and hearing about the oddities of Hiei's birth Kuwabara thought he might loose his stomach again.
"But there's more you need to hear!" Yukina urged. "My mother never left the island because the snow blocked the passage through the Hyouga's mountain range! You have to go through that range in order to reach the slope to demon world... and even then... you have to jump." Yukina flushed, looking down at the ground with sudden change of attitude.
"Jump?" Yusuke spoke up warily. "What do you mean... jump."
Yukina shivered.
The others waited.
"Long ago... it is said that there were two demonesses of great power that dominated the land. One was made of fire, the other of ice. The one of fire was a woman of force, full of power and authority. She was intuitive, imaginative, and had great insight into the hearts of all demons. She was law. She was rule... she was the most feared woman in this land... of it is said that on the day of death she comes to judge demons. If she finds weakness and wickedness in their hearts... she consumes them. She is... monstrous... but balance." Yukina sighed, reaching up to touch her breast exactly where her hiroseke stone once lay. "The other demoness was just as powerful and just as dominating... but in different ways. She was apathetic and detached from the evils of demons. It is said that none could stir a reaction from her save from the demoness of fire. That the emotion invoked by the demoness of fire was so swift and so... unbelievably destructive that apathy was best. That it was better for her not to feel. For feeling meant pain and destruction. The demoness of ice was wise and deciding. Her memory of demon world was so vast that nothing escaped her eye. She was psychic... but dark. From her womb, came nothing but death. She had seen too much of it to live life as normal demons do. Some feared her more than the demoness of fire. All that looked into her eyes saw despair... and evil. The demoness of fire saw the evil in men... but the demoness of ice saw men... in evil..." Yukina glanced up again, and found that her audience was captivated. Even Kurama, masterful of so many tales, was listening raptly.
"They were lovers." Yukina continued on, "and their partnership was everlasting. Eternal. Yet the demoness of ice grew more and more emotionally vacant, to where she could not be reached at all. The blood in her veins froze, and her heart failed to beat. Enraged and broken hearted, the demoness of fire tried desperately to spark inspiration into the heart of her fallen lover... but to no avail. Taking the frozen heart, the demoness lifted her lover high above the fiery clouds into an astral domain where snow reigned supreme. She encased her lover there... and created the Hyouga as her lovers final sanctuary. As a parting lament, the demoness left a sacred black flame in the heart of the Hyouga and encased the heart of her fallen lover in its protective hold. When she left, she made a portal... and that portal is what you have to jump through in order to leave the Hyouga."
Yukina lowered her eyes once more. "You may think it a story... but it is the myth of creation that our race holds as law. We are the descendants of the ice demoness... We cannot feel, we cannot love, we cannot begin to try." Yukina broke off, shaking her head with clear bitterness. "For if we do... we... well..." Yukina paused, confusion entering her voice. She looked around at her friends. At the man who adored her and treasured her above all others. At the men who'd saved her life time and time again. At the woman who'd fearlessly devoted herself to her brother regardless the consequences.
"Well what." Yusuke offered. "You're here. You're in love. I don't see you destroying anything. Plan on blowing up anytime soon?"
Yukina suppressed a tiny chuckle.
"No." She admitted, smiling despite herself. "I confess the end of the story was always blurry. Just a warning never to love. Ever." Yukina added for emphasis. "My mother never left the Hyouga. She never found the way to leave the Hyouga. I found the way." Yukina smiled proudly. "It took me over fifty years... but I found the way through the mountains. The portal is real. That's how I got to demon world. That's how I was able to get back to Rui the second time. The other side of the portal is at the very top of this mountain, and that's where Hiei's jagan is leading him. I'm almost certain. Rui swore that Hiei came to her many many years ago, looking for our mother. The only way he could have gotten up was through that portal. So he must know how to get through!"
"Wait... hold on..." Kuwabara paused, stroking his chin, "What about the heart in the black flame? Is that part true?"
Yukina pursed her lips, unsure of how to explain the theory within her heart.
"... There is... a thought." Yukina murmured.
"A thought." Kurama repeated dryly, "You mean to say a theory, or another story."
"No, it's a fact." Yukina corrected. "It just... is a highly hated fact."
Kurama was intrigued, and cross his muscled arms across his hardened chest.
"Go on." Kurama drawled.
Yukina sighed, her eyes upon Kazuma as she spoke, "The heart... it's the reason the Hyouga floats. That's what I believe. The elders say that they contain the power, but I don't think that's right. I think the heart is the reason the Hyouga stays in the sky. Maidens are told in their youth to never stray into the labyrinth of the mountain or risk death. But I crossed that mountain a hundred times, a million times!" Yukina added, "And I never found death. My mother did the same... and Rui said- says-" Yukina corrected herself, "That one time, my mother and her found... a black flame."
"In the mountains." Kurama added, "Near the portal?"
"No, on the other side." Yukina admitted, "The portal is opposite the black flame. There might be some hidden meaning behind that, but I don't know what it is. You see, what's really interesting is that nine months after she met that black flame... she gave birth to me... and my brother."
"Aha." Kurama muttered, his jaw open and swaying back and forth as he mulled over this interesting thought. "... And you say that your mother never left the Hyouga. You're certain of this?"
"Very certain. If she had, she would have told Rui. Rui and my mother were very close, inseparable-"
"Lovers?"
"I- um..." Yukina flushed bright pink, and fanned at her face as if suddenly hot, "I've never asked."
"But Rui would have known." Kurama continued on, "Hina would have told her."
"Rui says my mother never left the village. Nothing was out of the usual, save for the black flame. They never found it again! I think it... came to my mother." Yukina offered. "That it sought her out. Because she was smart, and she didn't believe the elders."
"To the intelligent comes strife. To the ignorant comes life." Kurama quoted sagely. "So this flame could have resulted in an abnormal pregnancy. Perhaps Hiei is not as detached from the koorime race as we have been led to believe."
"Maybe he's like... the descendant of that fiery demoness!" Kuwabara offered. "Cause that flame was made by her, right?"
"Let's not confuse fact with fiction." Kurama warned. "I have heard tell of a portal on the top of these mountains. If that is where Hiei is traveling to, then that is where we must go."
"Tonight, though?" Kuwabara yawned. "I gotta say, I'm pooped man."
"Why don't we camp in the cav-... oh." Yukina muttered, pursing her lips at the bloody massacre inside her once comfortable den. "Perhaps not."
"Who needs a smelly old cave when you got a smell old bird! Pu!" Yusuke called out, cupping his hands around his mouth. A strange ethereal cry pierced the air, and the hairs on the back of Mukuro's neck stood up at the sound of whooshing air. She looked to the sky, unsure of what she'd see, and as a form of a magnificent bird emerged in the dark red sky Mukuro felt her mouth fall open.
It was just as the Yoko had said, a phoenix. Imperial cobalt blue, with a neck like a swan and a black beak as sharp as it's foot long talons, the great beast beat its wings ferociously till it came to rest on the cave ledge. It shook its head, ruffling its long feathers and clicking its beak contentedly.
"Hey, you cheese puff." Yusuke reached out, touching the bird soothingly. Pu trilled, oddly happy to see the Mazoku. Could it be that he was, indeed, a spirit animal?
"... A spirit animal." Mukuro muttered, slightly wary of approaching further.
"Yeah, he's a good one." Yusuke was proud, stroking Pu's elongated cheek and grinning. "He got us as far as you'd traveled in less than a day. Not bad eh? With him we can ride right to the top of the mountain."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Mukuro demanded, "Let us go now!"
"Hell no!" Yusuke snapped, "I get we're on a time crunch, but he's flown all the way from human world. He needs to take a nap. Give him ten, and he'll be good as new... you're not dragging my bird around."
"Damn you humans!" Mukuro cursed, rubbing the bridge of her nose angrily, "And your laziness!"
"Chill out lady, and put your shirt back on." Yusuke added with a grin. Mukuro threw him a dirty look.
Hiei stood before the Cliff of Insanity, his neck craned as he looked to the summit (for now out of sight).
He had climbed this peak once before... and it had been one of the most challenging tasks of his life.
Shigure's jagan implant had drained him significantly, but it had also provided him with vital clues to his success. Things so often hidden from the eyes were clear as day to the jagan, and hot pulsating white energy at the summit of the cliff told Hiei that a portal was near. He would take that portal straight to the Hyouga mountains. From there, he knew his way back to the koorime castle.
But first, the cliff.
Hiei spared a moment to crack his neck and rub his shoulder joints which ached from the strain of his journey. He'd pushed himself to the point of breaking, spurred on only by the bone marrow he'd managed to eat... and his task had only just now reached its hardest point. If he could just make it up this cliff... He could avenge his mother and sister.
They were well worth the climb.
He was no fool. He'd felt the encroaching energies of his companions and teammates since the dawn of the last morning. Mukuro and Yukina had been first, his jagan practically sending out warning bells demanding him to pay attention. They'd come together, no doubt on his tail since the hour that he'd left... they would reach him soon if he didn't push himself through this one last stroke. Then, late in the afternoon as the blood red sun set, Hiei had suddenly felt the energies of his teammates. It seemed that chasers were now being chased as well, and Hiei had heard the telltale cry of the spirit animal Pu. If Yusuke was on the phoenix, Hiei would have to move even faster. No doubt the former detective had come to chide Hiei with his talk of morals and principles.
The arrogant shit. He ought to have killed the brat while he'd had the chance.
"...Fuck me..." Hiei groaned softly, letting his head rest against the cliff of insanity. It was a sheer 90 degree angle drop, with nothing to hold onto for support. It was seven thousand meters to the top, the highest mountain in the entirety of demon world. Countless others had attempted to ascend its summit. Almost all had failed. The precious few who did manage to get up had to deal with getting down even after they managed to climb the mountain.
A large stream cut through the eaten rock of the cliff's summit, crashing over into a massive waterfall some three miles away. It had been in this stream that Hiei had landed as an infant. The waterfall had carried him a good twenty miles away from the summit... and he'd landed in the arms of a band of thieves. He'd climb adjacent to the waterfall, using the eaten rock for its excellent ledges. The slippery rock boded death, but it was the only way to the top. The drier faces of the cliff were flat, and offered no finger holds for eager climbers.
Hiei looked up again at the waterfall, the roar of the pounding waves deafening him.
"... Fuck it." Hiei shrugged, rolling his eyes at his own stale mate. If climbing is what it took, then goddamnit he'd do it.
Grabbing onto the cliff wall, Hiei cracked his neck one final time, and began his final ascent.
A low fire crackled, despite Mukuro's snarls to the contrary, and the group rested peacefully around her. Pu had become their fortress, wrapping his entire body around them so that they were encased and insulated in his downy feathers. It was rather nice, Mukuro had to admit, and as she stared into the depths of the fire she could not help but feel... slightly... comfortable.
Slightly.
Gold flickered in the dark, and she knew that Yoko Kurama was still up despite his teammates being passed out around him. Yukina and Kuwabara lay side by side, spooning like bedded mates next to Pu's mighty flanks. The Mazoku himself was cradled by Pu's neck, snoozing softly.
Or so it seemed. He could be awake and simply saying nothing.
"... Ice elders. Hidden portals... ancient tales and hearts encased in black fire. All for the sake of a few lies. What madness have we flung ourselves into." Yoko Kurama muttered, his deep baritone voice like silk upon the air. Mukuro did not take her eyes off of the fire, suppressing a tiny yawn.
"Madness, you call it. I consider it quite normal. This... bullshit." Mukuro gestured vaguely, "I go through it every day to keep him with me. To keep him safe."
"You seem content to be drug around."
"I indulge your ridiculous fantasies, nothing more. I could easily leave." Mukuro warned. "I do not stay for this little clusterfuck of a group. I stay for him."
"Why."
Mukuro tilted her head, frowning into the glare of the tiny fire.
"... Because I cannot leave." Mukuro whispered. "I cannot go back to being alone. I cannot. I will not." She added bitterly. "I would rather live one life chasing him than live a thousand without him."
Yoko shook his head at this, as if unimpressed.
"Love is for weak."
"We are all weak." Mukuro warned. "Do not delude yourself into thinking you are unstoppable. That's the first step to death."
Yoko smiled at this, and seemed to recall a memory as he stroked his pointed chin.
"You know, I think you may be right. As I recall I was entirely full of myself back when I was youthful."
"You're entirely full of yourself now." Mukuro added in jest. "You haven't changed a bit."
Yoko chuckled.
"And you, Mukuro? Are you too proud to see your doom?"
"I've already seen it." Mukuro admitted, and she cracked her fingers with idle boredom even as she thought of Hiei's face.
"Where."
"His eyes." Mukuro's voice turned very soft, so much so that Kurama had to strain to hear.
"Oh yes. We've all seen doom there." Kurama agreed. "Long ago, before he held an allegiance to Yusuke, he was a terror to come across. He slaughtered without distinction between enemies and those who got in his way. Blood trained him... like a cloak trailing along the ground."
"I don't mean his prowess. I'm well aware of his vicious streak." Mukuro snapped. "... I mean his kindness which is far worse."
"Ah." Kurama paused, repositioning himself to where he felt more comfortable, "Yes. Yes, I understand you perfectly now. I knew eyes like those once."
"Yoko Kurama... in love?" Mukuro sneered, "Careful or you'll ruin your reputation."
"Nothing left to ruin. I'm a shadow in history now." Kurama's smile turned bitter, and Mukuro waited for him to continue on. He hesitated.
"He could always make me laugh." Kurama admitted, "He was extremely smart. I often required him on my most extreme heists. He was a puzzle solver... a code breaker. He intrigued me constantly."
"Another Yoko?" Mukuro asked, for she knew that most bandits worked in packs like family.
"No. No, he was actually a rather rare demon. A sorcerer." Kurama murmured. "Much like your Kirin."
"What was his name?" Mukuro asked.
For a long while, Kurama was silent, staring into the fire morosely.
"...Kuronue." Kurama murmured. "His name was Kuronue."
"What happened to him." Mukuro asked, slightly wary of the answer.
"A heist went wrong. He was speared repeatedly by bamboo spikes. He used his last energy to save me and push me out of the way. I tried to go back for him, to free him, but by the time I managed to make my way through the thicket... it was too late." Kurama closed his eyes.
Suddenly, in spite of herself, Mukuro felt slightly sorry for the older Yoko. They were about the same age, no doubt... they'd seen more than their fair share of sorrow and pain.
"... Did you avenge him." Mukuro asked. Kurama sneered.
"I slaughtered every last man, woman, and child." Kurama growled. "... But when I was finished, there was one more left. A man from spirit world... a member of the squad. The whole thing had been a ploy. A trap. Kuronue's death, and my supposed revenge. All of it... a trap from spirit world. Clearly I was a threat." Kurama paused, his tone growing darker still. "I was killed. And I fled to human world."
"Revenge often goes wrong. Perhaps that's why I'm really here... to make sure that nothing happens to him."
"Perhaps I was too emotionally invested. Revenge goes better when the murderer is not the victim." Kurama murmured, "Take Hiei for example, and your little potted plant."
"It's not little, the bastard was a fat pig." Mukuro corrected quickly, "And I agree."
"Do you intend to be the one to kill the ice elder then? You have the ability. You are an S-class." Kurama proposed. Mukuro thought it over, wondering what exactly the elder's had up their sleeves. Were they as powerful as some believed, or were they really a bunch of old biddies hidden away in a castle? Would it really take her true power to match and best the elders?
Still, better her than Hiei.
Hiei would be going in blind.
"Perhaps." Mukuro finally answered. "I'll know by the time we get there."
They were silent for a long time, staring into the slowly dwindling fire and watching the horizon for signs of movement. Mukuro's earlier slaughter had scared off a good bit of the bandit population. It might be that the rest of their journey would go without complication. Even if they were intruded upon, the vagabonds would come face to face with an S class, three A classes, and an ice maiden with a chilly disposition.
Mukuro looked up to the sky, to the summit of the Cliff of Insanity which was only fifty miles or so away. Pu could carry them there easily within an hour.
"... Tomorrow we'll meet the summit." Mukuro murmured. "And then... we'll take the portal. As soon as light first rises."
"As soon as light first rises." Kurama agreed, echoing Mukuro's words.
They sat.
They waited.
From beyond the mountain, past the sea, in a land where pain and fear did not exist... the sun slowly began to rise.