Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Well Too Deep ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Ko-Krama and Tikia Thundaren have correctly answered the question of the Middle Ages plague (that being the Bubonic Plague more commonly known as Black Death). Now connect the words "Black Death" with the story and you've got yourself a free one-shot, character, banner, or something of the sort from me.

Chapter rating: PG

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A Well Too Deep: Chapter 5

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"Don't you dare die for me, I'm not worth it. I am nothing…" were the last words Kurama had the strength to form.

The secret plea behind the words was cold electricity through Hiei's veins. Caught off guard, he froze unable to go on. The cry held the pain of weary despair, of a will too tired to continue. Hiei could taste the dry desolation, feel its deadly, numbing poison eating away at his insides, pinching his heart and making it difficult for him to breathe. But the anxiety was worse. The anxiety one feels when they cannot stand their self. His skin absolutely crawled with the feeling of his mind trapped within its worthless confines. Self-pity didn't begin to express - it was self-loathing greater and truer than Hiei had ever felt.

Hiei heard a keening whine and it took him a moment to realize it was himself. If his fox was going to die it wasn't going to be with this hatred infecting his spirit. The guilt would easily overwhelm Hiei if he just let things be. He could no more abandon Kurama now than he could leave Yukina in the hands of Tarukane.

Hiei ran back, ignoring the screaming of his shattered jagan, ignoring his survival instinct's urgent message to flee away from the approaching army rather than towards it. He dropped to the ground at his fox's side, pausing afraid to touch him. Instead he put his hands flat on the ground and leaned over Kurama's face and chest.

"Kurama! Kurama open your eyes!" Hiei threw all caution to the wind, "You're not nothing, you're my everything! I will die for you because I don't know if I can live without you! Don't you dare die on me!"

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Somewhere within his fading self, Kurama could feel Hiei return. He nearly cried out in frustration, `Why won't he listen to me? Why did he return?' Kurama vaguely noted that Hiei was screaming, pleading with him, commanding him to survive.

"Where's the Youko now?" Hiei was trying another tactic. He knew Kurama could hear him, somehow. "`Youko returns they cry,' didn't you say that? Well where is he?"

Kurama cringed from the onslaught. No matter how he tried, he couldn't ignore Hiei's words. And word-by-word Kurama was being dragged back to awareness, exactly where he didn't want to be.

"Fine! If you're that determined to hate your humanity then I'll say the words you don't want me to say! I'll prove to you that it doesn't matter, that I don't care! If you don't open your eyes I'll ruin myself for you. Your death will not be on my hands!"

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Kurama could've wept with anger. He knew Hiei would do it for him and Hiei knew that Kurama would never let him.

Now that he wanted to, opening his eyes was nearly impossible. His body was too drained to respond to his will. The muscle beneath his pale skin wriggled and contorted with the strain. But Kurama had to try. He would not allow Hiei to voice his love and forever scar his demon soul. To say he loved a human…even the gods would shun him.

The strain of Kurama's effort drew a fox-like groan from his parched throat.

Hiei's heart and mind fluttered at the sound. It was a sign for hope. "Fight it Kurama. Contain the pendant so I can carry you." Hiei was no longer yelling, but his voice still held a note of urgency. The stag spirit was, in its mad rampage, ravaging the Plague army and holding those not yet destroyed at bay. Their hoarse mindless screams tore through the air at seeming random. And one could not tell whether they were of pain or anger. But Hiei didn't know how much longer this minor streak of luck would last.

Kurama ceased attempting to move and turned his mind inward. He would have to trust Hiei to watch over his body, as he was no longer aware of it. Kurama concentrated all of his spirit energy to encase the pendant around his neck. It could now only drain from and affect this ball of energy. As long as Kurama didn't run out of spirit and life energy, he would live through this.

Hiei let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding when the silver glow faded from Kurama's body. He reached out and scooped the redhead into his arms. The remaining chill leftover from the pendant's power was still palpable on his skin, making the hair on the back of Hiei's neck rise. And a shiver once racked his body.

Hiei rose to his feet and began to run in the direction of the River Styx.

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Yusuke could feel its closeness. The distinctly lighter Reikai air was beginning to tickle his sweat soaked and dirty skin. A lonely yellow-tinted light shone in the distance, rocking smoothly back and forth. Yusuke increased his pace, knowing he was almost out of Morana's territory. The frigid evil of Morana eased ever so gradually and the horrifying whispers of her army became forgotten white noise. Instead the almost-imagined sound of ghostly waters lapping against the shore could soon be heard. The transparent blue River Styx was flowing swiftly past the rotting shoreline. The white of the ghosts and souls that composed much of the river's mass cringed away from the riverbank's caress as they drifted past.

When he was close enough to be visible in the lamp's swaying light, he saw it, their ticket out of this dead Hell. It was no more than a small raft with a shallow draw. The wooden planks held together by thin white threads. The lamppost was at the boat's stern protruding inward just slightly. At its narrow bow was a raised bench whose seat extended a little ways over board to both the port and starboard sides. Botan sat anxiously upon this ledge unable to leave the small wooden boat lest it vanish downriver faster than Hiei could ever manage. She was yelling at Yusuke and franticly waving her arms above her head.

"Yusuke! Hurry Yusuke, right here!"

"Botan, take Kuwabara. I've got to go back for Hiei and Kurama," Yusuke's voice was tired but determined.

"Alright, but be careful and quick. I don't know how long I'll be able to stay. Oh! And take this!"

Yusuke was already running back, but he turned around long enough to catch what she'd thrown to him, a wide beam flashlight.

"Feed it some of your spirit energy! Only you'll be able to see its light!" Botan yelled after him.

With a humor not fit for the moment, Yusuke noted how she had given this to him after the mission was almost complete.

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"Hiei! Kurama!"

"Yusuke?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there!"

In moments Hiei felt Yusuke before him.

"Hiei! Let me take Kurama. Here, feed the flashlight some of your spirit energy." The weight of Kurama's body was suddenly being pulled from Hiei's arms. He instinctively struggled against Yusuke before relinquishing his hold on the kitsune. Grabbing the heavy metal tube and doing as Yusuke had instructed instead. Yusuke sped forward into the beam, Hiei followed.

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"Oh no! Kurama!" Botan screamed when she saw the battered boy in Yusuke's arms. Yusuke urgently jumped into the small boat causing it to rock precariously from side to side. Hiei was already inside to assist Yusuke with Kurama.

"Later, just get us out of here!" yelled Yusuke.

Botan startled but complied. The oar draped across her lap was not her usual flying oar. It was stained a dark brown color that appeared almost grey under the light of the lamppost and had a great weight to it that was more than just physical. She picked it up and with the grace of once possessed by age, lowered it smoothly into the water. The movement dislodged the spell that had held the boat still. Botan withdrew the oar and again laid it across her lap after the one stroke. The current was all that was needed move them now.

"Look!" Yusuke turned to see Hiei pointing to the plane they were leaving behind. The view was fading into grey in their wake, but both could clearly see that the sky was lightening and the stag was slowly vanishing with the growing light, an silent menace no more. The wriggling black mass that was the army tried to follow the path of the boat. They poured into the river only to find that it didn't support their kind; the surface of the river opened and swallowed them whole. Then the scene was gone completely, replaced by swirling grey mists, and the window between the worlds was closed.

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