Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Coming Clean ❯ Opening Up-Wounds and Hearts ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: This story was written by me, mhmartini, for enjoyment purposes only. All characters taken from a show/series/book/etc. are property of their respective creators; I am only borrowing them. Original characters are mine. The storyline is mine. I am making no money from this endeavor. The only �profit� involved is the joy of writing and the reviews of my readers. No copyright infringement is intended.

Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Hentai | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.16.2004 | Updated On: 06.03.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 1.3K | Status: Completed

By the time Kurama's stepfather and stepbrother returned from their trip, he had recovered enough of his strength and healed enough to appear perfectly normal. Shiori had suggested that they wait for a more opportune time to tell their new family about Kurama's little secret. Their lives were just getting back to normal when a knock was heard at the front door.

Shiori answered the door to find a very punk looking teenage boy leaning rudely against the doorframe. "Can I help you?" she inquired politely.

"Yeah. I'm looking for Kura....ah...Shuuichi, is he here?" The boy responded. Shiori recognized the slip and knew this was obviously someone from her son's secret life. Her last experience with demons had left a sour taste in her mouth concerning the circles in which Kurama traveled, and she was not quite sure how to answer when a voice at her side saved her the trouble.

"Yusuke. How nice to see you. Mother, this is Yusuke Urameshi, a friend of mine. Yusuke, this is my mother. What brings you here?" Kurama asked in his soft voice.

"Oh nothing, just wanted to chat," Yusuke replied with a quick sideways glance at Shiori.

"I see. Mother, I will be back inside in just a moment," Kurama excused himself and stepped outside with Yusuke. Shiori just looked at this stranger again and went back into the house with a sudden sense of dread.

"Yusuke, what is going on?" Kurama asked in a soft voice when he was certain his mother was out of earshot.

"Heard you and Hiei got in a fight last week." The spirit detective started. "Haven't seen Shorty since, but I'm sure Koenma or Botan would have told me if something had happened to him. Anyway, the demons you guys went up against, Spirit World Intelligence got some information on them. Turns out, they weren't working on their own. There's someone pulling their strings."

"As interesting as that is, Yusuke, why are you here telling me? Doesn't Koenma usually send Botan with this type of news?" the fox asked tiredly.

"Yeah, but it seems our demon buddies have been having some fun around town. The Toddler's up to his pacifier in paperwork and Botan has been hauling souls to Spirit World around the clock. They want us to find the leader and stop him." Kurama sighed. At least the week of rest he had gotten had helped restore his energy somewhat. Most of his minor wounds were healed. "So I'll meet you at Grandma's temple in an hour, okay?" Yusuke asked, clapping Kurama's shoulder good naturedly as he walked away. He had already turned, and so he missed the look of pain on the fox spirit's face as the red head clutched his shoulder. The deep stab wound there had not yet healed completely, and it seemed every move Kurama made irritated it. He would just have to be careful, he decided.

When Kurama reentered the house Shiori looked at him expectedly. Seeing that the rest of the family was in the kitchen Kurama said softly "I have to go out, Mother. I will be back later." Shiori looked as if she was about to beg him to stay, but she simply drew a deep breath and hugged her son.

"Be careful, Shuuichi." she whispered as she let go and watched him walk out the door.

The four members of the spirit detective group met at Genkai's temple at sunset. Three had been summoned; one had been resting in a tree when the others arrived. Upon seeing the others approach, Hiei had been ready to flit away into the forest, but Yusuke stopped him with the lure of information about their attacker and a chance for revenge. Eager to destroy someone who sought to hurt him (and the fox he admitted silently to himself) Hiei gave a bored "Hn." and fell into step with the others. Inside the temple they waited for Botan to arrive with their assignment.

When the blue haired ferry girl arrived they were all taken aback by her appearance. The normally chipper and bright apparition looked tired and worn. Instead of a cheerful greeting Botan launched right into the mission. "The demons running loose are all being controlled by a much more powerful demon," she explained. "We are not sure why he has sent his troops into the city, but they are claiming lives everywhere! This has to stop before it's too late!" 'And before I go insane from overwork and lack of sleep!' she added silently to herself. After giving a brief description of each of the six demons currently running amuck in Tokyo, Botan bid a hasty farewell and returned to her duties as grim reaper. The detectives were told to stick together on this one. The demons were very low level, but something was augmenting their powers and making them very dangerous. Koenma wanted his detective team in one piece when this was over, so he left strict orders: Keep together and watch each other's backs!

"Spirit Gun!" a loud, male voice reverberated off the nearby buildings. The last of the troublesome demons fell to the ground, quickly dissolving into a scattered cloud of ash. The spirit detective team had been lucky. The demons had scared away any potential witnesses long ago, so they were free to use their skills without fear of discovery.

"Well, I guess that pretty much wraps it up," Yusuke said.

Kuwabara nodded and stated proudly, "Yes, I, Kazuma Kuwabara, defender of..." What exactly he was defender of was never determined as Yusuke hit his best friend (although he would never admit that openly) on the back of the head.

"Whatever, Mr. Defender. Let's get outta here before the cops arrive. With my luck they'll think I was the one on the killing spree!" The team started to split up, each going his own way home. Yusuke stopped, eyeing his one friend with concern. "You okay there, Kurama?"

"Hm? Oh, yes Yusuke, just fine," The fox replied tiredly, holding his right shoulder gingerly. Swinging around the rose whip had really hurt. It was easy enough to block the discomfort as he killed two of the six opponents, but now that the battle was over the pain was claiming his full attention.

"D'ya want me to walk you home?" Yusuke offered.

"Don't be silly. I can find my own way. Good night, Yusuke," Kurama replied as he turned to walk home. Yusuke just shrugged and walked off in the other direction, heading towards the arcade.

Kurama walked slowly. His shoulder throbbed intensely and he felt like his body was made of lead. He was so tired he didn't feel the approaching ki. He was almost home when he heard a familiar scream. His head jerked up and he ran forward to see what caused the cry. To his horror he saw three demons rampaging around his neighborhood, practically on his front lawn. Most of the neighbors had fled in terror, but two figures could still be seen running down the street. Kurama's stomach clenched into a knot as he recognized his mother trying to help an elderly woman who lived down the block escape the demonic nightmare. One of the attackers, a gargantuan orange demon with spikes all over his hands and face, noticed the fleeing humans and raised a hand to crush them as they ran. Shiori looked over her shoulder just in time to see the horned hand coming directly at her. She pushed the old woman out of the way of the oncoming attack and braced herself to be crushed.

Instead of feeling the weight of the hand flatten her and the spikes drive through her body, she felt a swift movement of air and heard a familiar voice call out "Rose whip!" Shiori raised her eyes to see her son standing between her and her tormentor. She sat up from the ground and watched in awe as Kurama moved swiftly between the beasts, using his thorny whip to sever appendages. Glancing at the old woman lying on the ground nearby, Shiori saw that she had fainted from the near-death experience; then Shiori turned her full attention to the battle before her.

Kurama's whip appeared to dance as he gracefully maneuvered between the monsters. He hit his opponents lightly at first, mostly defending himself and making them angry. When he angered them beyond rational thought (which is not too far for a stupid, low class demon) they would rush him blindly, and he would finish them off with a flick of his wrist. One demon head had already rolled down the street. The second demon to fall was terribly strong, much more so than he should have been. Kurama recalled Botan explaining that somehow the lower level demons had grown substantially in power. Kurama stepped back to reassess his opponent. In that moment of hesitation the demon launched itself forward, hurtling towards Kurama with the full force of its body. Normally the agile fox would simply have sidestepped the attack and let the aggressor pass by harmlessly, but he knew Shiori was on the ground behind him. He braced himself to stop the oncoming demon, and raised his whip to deliver the finishing blow.

The demon was dead before its body ever hit Kurama, but the force of the attack drove the corpse right into the tired youko. With his arm extended after the lethal blow he had delivered, the point of contact when the demon remains hit him was the last place he needed to be hit: his right shoulder. Kurama gasped and dropped to one knee, holding his shoulder with his left hand. The last demon, the orange, horned leader, approached him much more slowly than the others.

Hiei had felt his friend's ki flare to battle levels, and was off in a heartbeat, flitting through trees and across rooftops to aid the fox. He knew Kurama was hiding his true condition, and the hiyoukai silently cursed himself for letting the youko out of his sight. The battle was close to Kurama's home, clear across town. The speeding youkai hoped he could make it in time, and pushed himself to a speed he never knew he could achieve.

Shiori knew her son's injury had not yet healed. She saw him fall to one knee as the orange demon approached him slowly. A red stain began to slowly seep through Kurama's shirt, as his newly reopened wound began to trickle blood. With the pain lancing down his arm Kurama could barely grasp his whip, much less use it. The approaching monster realized this and began to leer at his prey. Reaching out his spiky hand with a speed that seemed impossible due to his tremendous size he grabbed the back of Kurama's shirt and lifted the red head so his feet dangled about two inches off the ground. The rose whip slipped from his fingers and fell to the street, nothing more than a beautiful flower.

"It seems someone is hurt. Poor little boy," the monster jeered, his rancid breath nearly choking his captive. "I'll make it better." A huge orange hand slammed into Kurama's upper right chest, aggravating the wound even more. The hand returned, striking him full in the chest, and an audible crack announced the breaking of several ribs. The fox spirit tried to draw a breath, but his entire torso felt like it was engulfed in flames. The hand returned again to pound the wound anew. Kurama could not count the number of times the demon slammed his palm into the sore flesh. Vaguely he realized that the orange creature was using his palm to strike, not the spikes across the back of his hands and knuckles. The beast was enjoying the slow torture of his victim.

"Stop it! I won't let you torture my son!" screamed a voice from behind the dangling youko. Shiori lurched forward. She had no idea what she was going to do, but she could not sit by and watch her child being tormented so. The offending apparition halted his ferocious attacks to look at the human woman before him.

"You want me to end this? Alright, I will end it," he said with a cruel smile. Before Shiori had a chance to digest his words the sadist balled his fist and slammed it into Kurama's chest and shoulder. The longest spike, over the monster's middle knuckle struck right where the previous wound was and pierced through the startled kitsune's upper right chest completely, protruding from his back, slick with his blood. The other, smaller spikes stabbed into his chest and arm. Kurama tried to scream, but a bubble of blood erupted from his mouth instead. The monster grinned evilly as he prepared to draw the spikes down across the fox's torso, to effectively cut him in two. Before he could move, however, his eyes grew wide and round. The very beginning of a startled look was upon his face when his head fell backwards off his body to land at the feet of the sword-wielding half-koorime behind him. The whole orange body tilted backwards and collapsed, drawing the long spike out of Kurama's body. The kitsune crumbled to the ground, unconscious before his mother or his friend could reach his side.

"Shuuichi!" Shiori wailed, gathering her bleeding son into her arms. Hiei quickly assessed to youko's condition. It didn't take more than a glance to realize that without immediate attention the redhead would be dead in minutes. Hiei ripped off his cloak, pushing the material over the wounds through Kurama's chest in an attempt to staunch the rapid flow of blood. He knew his own healing powers were limited. Yukina was still in ice world, and Botan was unreachable. He dismissed the thought of taking the kitsune to Genkai's temple, as Genkai, herself, was away. That left only one alternative.

The fire demon turned to the sobbing human beside him and fixed her with a commanding stare. "Call for your human healers," he said. Shiori stared at him blankly, clearly in a panic. "Go, use that thing you hold to your face and call for a healer, now! Do you want him to die?" The concept of her son's death finally shook Shiori into action, and she ran into her house to call for an ambulance.

Hiei hated leaving his fox's health in the hands of stupid ningen, but he had no choice. Even as he watched, he saw his fox's face growing paler and paler as the blood continued to pour from his torn body. Hiei realized with a start that he had just thought of Kurama as "his fox" twice. Pushing that thought to the back of his mind he looked up as Shiori rushed back towards them, towels and blankets in her hands. They could hear the approaching sirens. The hiyoukai looked from the figure lying limp in his arms to the woman beside him. "He was attacked by a gang. They injured him and ran off. Do not mention the demons, or the ningen authorities will start asking unpleasant questions," he directed in an even tone.

Shiori looked at him, confused. "But, the bodies...." Hiei shifted Kurama's form gently into Shiori's grasp and rose to his feet. In his right hand he formed a ball of black flame. One by one he sent the flames to each of the three demon carcasses littering the street. In a matter of seconds all that remained were a few piles of ashes that were rapidly blowing away in the gentle breeze.

"What bodies?" He asked coldly.

The ride to the human hospital in the cramped ambulance was definitely one of the worst experiences of Hiei's life. If he had had his way he would have sped along the rooftops and arrived at the hospital long before the stupid ningen contraption. But here he was, inside a metal beast, speeding along as humans did stupid human healer things to his best friend. As the paramedics were loading Kurama into the ambulance Hiei had been ready to jump off when he felt a gentle, tentative touch on his arm. He turned to find Shiori looking at him, a helpless, lost, pleading look in her eyes. She looked very much like a lost child. "Come..." That one word from her, along with his misgivings about leaving the youko in the care of these idiots convinced him that he should accompany them to this "hospital" thing.

The waiting room at the hospital was almost as bad as the ride there. The first thing that happened was that the stupid ningen healers whisked his fox away and forbid him to follow. Shiori was likewise forbidden, and sat disconsolately in an uncomfortable looking chair, awaiting news. Hiei looked around at the other occupants of the waiting room. If he had disliked humans in general, he despised them when they were sick. Babies cried, children whined, and the whole room smelled of illness and death. He wondered how anyone could get well in an atmosphere like this. He stood in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest as he waited for news of his friend.

Shiori observed the demon before her with trepidation. She knew him to be cold and unfeeling, and knew he hated humans. But when she was alone, faced with the possibility of losing her only son she had asked this little being to come with her. She had expected a look of loathing, and a simple 'Hn.', but instead a look of...concern?...sympathy?...fear? had crossed the apparition's face, and he had agreed to accompany her. Shiori got the impression that there was much more to this small creature than he let the world see; more than the cold facade and monosyllable replies he tossed at those around him. Swallowing her fear she attempted something she never dreamed she would: a conversation with a fire youkai.

"Hiei?" He heard her soft voice call his name as he stood in the cramped waiting room. He turned to face the source of the inquiry. "Tell me something about Shuuichi that I don't know yet," she asked of him.

"Kurama's past is not mine to tell," he replied abruptly and turned away quickly. He did not want to look at the tear-streaked face in front of him. It reminded him of his fox, and threatened to bring the emotions that he was so carefully hiding to the surface.

Shiori was determined not to give up. If she had to sit there for much longer without something to distract her from her son's unknown condition, she was sure she would go insane. "Then tell me something about yourself." The small hiyoukai was shocked by her persistence. He turned to look at her.

"I am half fire demon, half ice demon," he answered, and then fell silent. After a few moments, Shiori realized that was all the answer she was going to get. Undaunted, she pressed on.

"How did you meet Shuuichi?" Hiei sighed and began to humor the pathetic woman beside him. As he described his and Kurama's first meeting, he found the words coming easier. The normally silent apparition told Shiori the whole story of how they had met. The conversation continued, and for possibly the first time in his life, Hiei almost enjoyed talking to someone. Although the time still passed inexorably slowly, his conversation with Shiori took away some of his worry over his wounded friend.

After several hours, which seemed much longer to those waiting, a doctor finally approached the two. "Excuse me, you came in with Shuuichi Minamino, correct?" she asked Shiori. The distraught mother jumped to her feet.

"Yes, he is my son. How is he?" She asked fearfully.

"Please, come with me, we can talk in the office." The doctor took Shiori's arm and started to lead her to an office shared by all of the emergency room doctors. Hiei began to follow, but the doctor stopped abruptly. "The boy should wait out here," she said looking at him. The fire demon was about to give a rude retort when Shiori's gentle voice cut him off.

"Hiei is older than he appears, and is a very close friend of Shuuichi's. He's coming along," she stated in a tone that clearly left no room for argument. The doctor glanced at her, back to the diminutive demon, and sighed. She led the way to the office without a word, but did nothing else to prevent Hiei from following.

In the small office the doctor closed the door and gestured to the chairs in front of the desk. "Please, have a seat," the doctor began. Shiori sat nervously, but Hiei remained on his feet. "This is not an easy thing to tell a parent, so I will be blunt and to the point. Your son is still alive, but barely. He has been gravely injured. He has numerous broken ribs and multiple lacerations. There is a penetrating stab wound clear through his right shoulder that nearly claimed his life. We have given him several transfusions, and the bleeding has finally stopped. We bound his ribs to let them heal, but he is having difficulty breathing on his own. If he worsens we will have to put him on a respirator. Finally, he has lapsed into a coma, and we do not know when, or if he will awaken."

At this news Shiori nearly fell out of her chair. If it weren't for Hiei's superhuman reflexes she certainly would have been on the floor. Hiei caught her as she slumped sideways and guided her gently back into a sitting position. The small demon was surprised at his own actions. He had acted without thinking to help this ningen.

"May I...may we see him?" Shiori asked, barely above a whisper.

"Yes," the doctor replied. "He has been moved to room upstairs in our critical care unit. The nurse will take you there." The doctor gestured to a young woman standing just inside the door. The nurse led them down winding hallways filled with the stench of death and into a tiny little box-like room. As the door slid shut behind him Hiei suddenly felt a wave of panic flood through him. Fighting the desire to incinerate the entire building, and perhaps even the whole block, he drew a breath and tried to calm himself. When the box-room felt like it began moving he nearly jumped out of his skin. A gentle hand on his shoulder distracted him from his rising anxiety.

"It's an elevator, Hiei, we'll be out of here in a moment," Shiori whispered so only he could hear her. Surprisingly enough, her voice did calm the fire demon, and the rest of the ride in the elevator was completed without flames.

The nurse led them out of the elevator and down the hall. She stopped at a doorway and motioned the two to enter. Hiei paused at the threshold. The hospital was much different here than down in the waiting room. Here, the sickly smell was replaced by the harsh odor of disinfectants. The constant din was replaced by an anxious quiet, broken only by the hum of many strange machines. Hiei sniffed. He smelled the unmistakable scent of the fox in the room. He entered slowly, unsure what to expect.

The room was brightly lit. Unlike some of the rooms they had passed on their way, this one held only one bed and many strange ningen contraptions. Kurama lay on the bed amidst the many machines and wires. He had been changed into a loose type of gown that all of the patients seemed to wear. There were tubes stuck into his arms and more tubes running under his nose. Wires were attached to his chest and monitors flickered around him. There was a little clip sticking onto his finger that lead to yet another monitor. The blood had been cleaned off him, but Hiei could still smell it. The fox's face was as white as the sheets upon which he lay, and he was perfectly still except for the erratic rise and fall of his chest and he tried to breathe. The doctor had not been exaggerating when she had described his difficulty in breathing; he looked like he may stop breathing altogether at any moment. The part that disturbed Hiei the most was the peaceful look his fox had. It was a peace Hiei had seen often, in death. For the first time that he could remember Hiei was truly scared. He shrank back against the wall and stared at the youko before him.

Shiori looked at the nurse with a question in her eyes. The nurse nodded and brought two chairs from the wall over next to the bed. Shiori sank into one and gently took Kurama's hand. "Shuuichi? It's mother. I'm right here, son. I won't leave you. Please come back to me," she whispered brokenly. The nurse pointed out a button on the bed that they could press if they needed anything, and slipped quietly out of the room. Shiori sat holding her son's hand. She wondered at how limp and heavy his arm felt, and at its cold temperature. She was so absorbed in this it took her a few minutes to realize the chair next to her was still empty. She looked up towards the fire demon in the room with her to invite him to sit next to her, but her words died on her lips.

The small figure was pressed back against the wall, his eyes opened wide, staring at Kurama's form with an expression of sheer terror. Shiori was startled to see this from him. She had seen him slay her son's attacker without even blinking. He had taken control when Kurama had slumped to the ground, bleeding, in the street. She knew from her son's tales that the demon world, and most demons, were so shrouded in death that taking lives became routine, and the death of an acquaintance was practically a daily occurrence. Yet here before her Hiei, a hardened, cold demon was reduced to a trembling child by the sight of his friend's condition. In that moment, Shiori realized that this apparition did care for her son, perhaps more than he was able to admit, even to himself.