Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny of Loneliness ❯ You give me a heart attack... ( Chapter 2 )

Destiny of loneliness.

Kal Kally

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho and its characters don't belong to me.

 Warning: Shounen ai. If you can't handle it, don't read.

 Pairing: Kurama/Hiei 

Summary: Being born a creature of loneliness didn't mean that Hiei couldn't feel love and affection. But when Fate stole Kurama away from him, he must choose between accepting his Fate and fighting against it.

Chapter 1: You give me a heart attack…

"So what?" Hiei demanded. "Why can't you finish off that damn youkai yourself?" They were all in Yusuke's room. Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Kurama were sitting on the floor while Hiei was leaning against the wall, arms folded.

"It's not that I can't get rid of an A-class youkai. It's just that I can't find him." Yusuke explained.

"That's why he needs your help, Hiei." Kurama added, his eyes darting around. He was trying his best not to show his discomfort. Dirty clothes, comic books and leftovers were everywhere. But it seemed that no one else paid attention to the state of the room.

"Then get it over with." Hiei said. "Tell me whom I need to find."

Yusuke scratched his head. "There comes the problem. Koenma only told me that an A-class youkai got to Ningenkai last night with a bad purpose. But those information had been gathered from rumors. He didn't know who that youkai was. So here, we don't know about his power, his appearance, practically nothing about him."

"Only that he's an A-class youkai." Kuwabara said sourly. "It would have been less annoying if he's an extremely powerful one. Now, it's plainly ridiculous."

Hiei didn't know what he should do, to laugh at the joke or to cry in frustration, but he never laughed at any joke, and he surely wouldn't cry. So his expression didn't change. "Then how am I supposed to find him?"

"Maybe you should try to see if there's any A-class youkai in the city, Hiei." Yusuke suggested.

"But Yusuke," Kurama said. "If that youkai uses wards, some powerful ones on his power, even Hiei's Jagan won't be able to detect his youki level."

"Damn. I've never thought of it."

"And we can't just walk around asking everyone we meet if he is a youkai or not."

Yusuke stood up and looked at his friends. "Instead of sitting here doing nothing, maybe we should separate and search for the youkai."

"But if none of us knows anything about him, how can we search for him?" Kuwabara protested.

"Moron."

"What? What did you just say you little shrimp?" Hiei's words made Kuwabara look up angrily and snap.

"Oh no, you guys don't start a fight now." Kurama tried to calm both of his friends down. "We just search for a youkai with unusual behavior, all right? Meanwhile, Hiei would search with his Jagan. Even if it's a small chance, we should try it."

"Fine with me." Hiei said and flickered out of the room through the window, decided that he would find the youkai in his own way.

He heard Yusuke say behind him. "He'll never change." The Koorime snorted. `Stupid ningen. Why must I change?' The next words got his attention and he halted. "I can't understand how you stand him, Kurama." It was Kuwabara's voice. He landed on a tree rather far from Yusuke's house and took his headband off, hoping to catch that conversation.

His eyes closed as the Jagan opened, sending its power towards the place where his friends were staying. He felt a little guilty to spy on his friends like this, but as a certain question came back, he ignored his guilt.

`…friend, just like you and Kuwabara.' Kurama said.

`Is it?' Yusuke said. `The way you care for him makes me think of something more intimate than just friendship.'

`Maybe.' Hiei couldn't see it, but he could sense Kurama's warm smile.

`Maybe?' Kuwabara asked. `You must know what Hiei is to you, right?'

Kurama's aura had become subdued as if he was sad. `I know, but the important thing is not that, but what I am to him.'

His eyes snapped open. Hiei stared at the empty air for a moment as if he was frozen, then he slowly tied back the headband over his Jagan. That question came again. He had a nagging feeling that its answer was very important, but he didn't know how to find it.

Suddenly searching for the youkai became very interesting. He needed something to occupy his thought. A quick glance at the direction of Yusuke's house, then he was gone in a blur of blue and white, the colors of the clothes Kurama had given him.

* * *

It was getting dark and Hiei still didn't get any closer to the mysterious youkai. He had been traveling along the roofs of buildings all day, stopped whenever he arrived at a new location and scanned the area with his Jagan, but it was no use.

Hiei blinked. The sight of Yusuke's house greeting him didn't make him feel any better. He had returned to where he had started. He hid among the branches and put on his guard as he heard someone's footsteps grow nearer.

Kurama's youki became transparent even before he came into view. Hiei relaxed and landed beside the youko. "You didn't find anything either?"

"No." Kurama replied shortly, didn't seem surprised at Hiei's sudden appearance.

"Why don't we just wait for that youkai to act first?"

Kurama stopped walking and turned to him. "Because then it would be too late. People might have been hurt. Something might have been destroyed."

"Then let it be destroyed. Whatever he destroys won't be much since his power isn't really that high."

"High enough to create a mess in Ningenkai. Besides, if he wanted to hide, he wouldn't act first."

Suddenly, Hiei felt a sharp sense of danger. He jumped to his left just in time to dodge several black crystal shards with sharp ends coming at his way. From the corner of his eyes, Kurama too had evaded, and some black shards embedded into the wall he had been standing near.

"Who?" Kurama cried and dashed his eyes around. The only answer was silence, as the street was empty. He jumped out of the way of another black crystal shard and turned his head to find the place the crystal had come from. The next moment, he ran to that direction, summoning his Rosewhip on the way.

Hiei also lunged to that direction, but he halted and swirled around as he heard a noise coming from behind them. His sword sliced at one crystal shard and cut it into two halves right before it could touch Kurama's back. "They aren't coming from there." Hiei warned Kurama, who didn't have the chance to reply as crystal shards started attacking them one by one from all directions.

They dodged and blocked the attacks easily, but were unable to detect their enemy's youki. Hiei saw a movement on his left side and threw a fireball at it. The fireball hit something and exploded into thousands of tiny fire sparks. They quickly died down, revealing an unharmed youkai.

The youkai had fair blue skin. His pointed ears and long hair gave him a rather delicate feature. More like an elf, Hiei thought, looked at his strange clothes and realized the youkai was indeed female. "You must have very sharp sense to track down where I was hiding." She clapped.

"Who are you?" Kurama asked. The last attack had torn a long gash on his sleeve. "Why did you attack us?"

The youkai smiled coldly. "You traitors. Youkai like you, who betray Makai to make friends with human and serve Reikai, have no right to exist."

"But peace has been made between the two worlds." Kurama said, confused.

"There will never be peace!" She roared. Hundreds of crystal shards formed in the air and attacked them from all directions. Those shards met the sword and the rosewhip, bounced back, then disappeared. "Besides, all you Reikai detectives will be obstacles on my way to get what I want. I must get rid of you at all cost."

"And how are you going to do that?" A new comer's voice came from the other end of the street. Night had come. All the light was coming from the glow on Yusuke's fingertip and a few street lamps that remained untouched after the rain of crystal shards. It was then did Kurama and Hiei realize that both sides of the street led to darkness. The youkai had separated this part of the street by walls of darkness, possibly not to let this fight be intruded by normal human.

"Eliminating you, of course." The youkai answered. Even if she did notice that Kurama and Hiei both got away from her, she didn't show it, just maintaining a sickly sweet smile.

"With that power of yours? Nah, I don't think so." Yusuke raised his hand and pointed his finger at the youkai. The blue-white light had become painful to look at.

The youkai didn't move an inch. "Believe or not, none of you can touch me."

Yusuke fired.

At the same time, on the youkai's hand appeared a crystal shield. The bolt of blue-white energy slammed into it, and instantly faded.

"What the--" Yusuke cried in disbelief. From behind him, Kuwabara leapt up into the air and brandished his Reiki sword at the youkai. She quickly held the dark shield up. Once met the black surface, Kuwabara's sword also disappeared.

"So that's how you two could get pass my barriers." The youkai licked her lips. "I see. Great power."

"Damn." Hiei exclaimed as he saw the confused look on his two friends' faces. The Jagan glowed dimly under the headband as he realized their opponent's youki had slightly risen up.

"This is not good." Kurama said beside him.

"Definitely not."

Kuwabara had summoned the Rei sword again. "Don't!" Hiei and Kurama both cried out at the same time. "Idiot." Hiei yelled at his friend. "Use your head to think. She's absorbing your power."

"What? Who are you calling idiot?" Kuwabara snapped, but he did lower his blade.

"The little Koorime is right." The youkai said smugly. "Reikai detectives, I want your powers."

"Then we'll defeat you without youki or reiki or whatsoever." Hiei growled and attacked her with his sword. He hit her arm once, leaving a red gash on her skin. He lashed out for another strike, but this time his sword met the shield. Hiei felt some force pulled at his sword and was startled as his youki was suck into the shield through the sword. He jerked his hand away from the blade and jumped back. The sword was completely sucked into the shield.

The youkai laughed. "See, even if you use only martial art, I can still drain you to the last bit of your ki and feed those delicious powers to myself."

"We will see." Yusuke screamed and lunged forwards. The fight resumed.

The youkai's ki didn't match any of the Reikai Detectives' at first, but she was as quick as Hiei, if not quicker. As the fight went on, her ki built up little by little while Hiei and his friends' powers were drained slowly. Even as they attacked all at once, they couldn't get past her black ki shield.

Another shard barely missed Hiei as he jumped away from the tree trunk he had just landed on. He heard Kurama's cry as some more shards were coming at his way and one stabbed to his already wounded shoulder. A painful gasp escaped his throat as he immediately flung himself backwards to evade the next attack.

"We can never hit her like this." Hiei snarled and pulled the shard out of his flesh forcefully. He tossed his headband aside. His Jagan opened. The bandages on his arm seethed and smoked.

"Hiei, you can't do that!" Both Kurama and Yusuke cried.

"Why not?" Hiei growled, getting rid of the last ward on his power. A red glow covered his Jagan.

"It's pointless. She'll just absorb your power!" Kuwabara cried from the other side.

"Ensatsu Kokuryuha!!!" Hiei screamed, ignoring his friends' warnings. A huge whirlwind of black fire exploded from him. It shaped into the form of a furious dragon. It snarled at the startled youkai and lunged towards her.

She dodged, but the fire dragon followed her as if it was a living creature. She gritted her teeth in anger and used her black shield to block the massive fire youki. The Dragon's head was sucked into the shield.

Hiei felt the pull instantly, but he resisted it and put more energy into his Dragon. From the look of it, he knew his enemy was not able to pull away also. He managed to keep both of them locked in that state, small sparks of fire and black energy crackling around them like a field of electricity. "Yusuke! Use your Reigun!" Hiei screamed at his friend, though his eyes never left the female youkai. Distraction would be a fatal mistake at the moment.

For the first time, fear appeared on the youkai's face. She tried to jerk her shield away from the raging dragon, but couldn't succeed. Not very far from her, the dark-haired boy was now pointing his finger at her. The power concentrated around his fingertip made her shudder.

"No!" The youkai cried and frantically jerked one hand out of the shield. Her power was not strong enough to create two shields at once, but at least, she could do something to destroy the owner of the ki dragon and get herself away from it. Energy built up on her free hand very fast, and then was suddenly released. At the same time, Yusuke fired his Reigun.

Hiei saw dark bolts blast towards him, but he too was stuck to the link created by his dragon and the black shield. Someone pushed him violently to his side, sending him crashing to the ground. The sudden force and movement cut off Hiei's hold on the dragon and it was completely sucked into the dark surface of the shield.

Screams filled the air together with the smell of burning flesh. It was obvious that the female youkai couldn't absorb Yusuke's power without her shield. Hiei's eyes left the female youkai to look at his side in disbelief. She was hit by Yusuke's blinding power, but her dark bolts had not missed their target. Each zigzagged across another, creating a web of dark energy contracting around Kurama's body.

Blood was trickling down Kurama's chin from the wound on his lower lip where he had bitten himself. It must be really hurting him, Hiei thought in a somewhat dazed state of mind. Soon, the energy web cut through Kurama's clothes and into his skin, creating blossoms of crimson stains on his clothes. Hiei sprang up and reached out for his friend, ignoring how dizzy he was after maintaining the dragon for so long. From a corner of his eyes, he saw that Yusuke was also running to them.

However, none of them could reach Kurama in time. Yusuke swirled back in alert as the female youkai let out an enraged howl. Trapped in the enormous Reiki, she couldn't hold on to her shield, and it vanished. Her eyes rose up at him in hatred, and with a snarl, her youki burst. Black power and blinding-white light conflicted for a few seconds; cracks of energy seemed to burn the air. Finally, both faded. The youkai was left alone, still alive, but worn out.

His sword had been sucked into the shield earlier, so Hiei summoned his youki sword, grimacing a little that he was indeed mimicking Kuwabara's technique. But if their enemy regained her strength and recreated that damn shield, they wouldn't have a chance to win this battle. Before he could attack, some kind of mist suddenly filled the air, blocking his view. The mist faded quickly, but when it disappeared, together with the dark ki barriers around them, the female youkai had gone.

Hiei blinked, and then turned back as he heard Kuwabara cry out Kurama's name, only to stare at the empty space where Kurama had just been. He blinked again, this time with tiny, but growing panic. The youkai had taken Kurama with her.

"What happened? Why did he disappear?" Yusuke asked, running to Hiei.

Hiei didn't bother to answer; instead, he focused in sending the power of his Jagan out to all directions. He swayed on his feet and nearly fell if not for a hand clamping down on the upper of his arm, supporting him. `Oh the humiliation.' Hiei thought as he realized that hand was Kuwabara's. He didn't say anything though as he sensed two strong ki moving out of the city very fast.

"This way." Hiei said simply and pushed himself away from Kuwabara's hand. He leapt up onto a tree trunk and started to follow the two moving ki.

"What the…" Kuwabara looked confused, but as Yusuke had already run after Hiei, realization dawn on him and he too began to run.

It can't be wrong, Hiei thought. One aura was black, while the other was glowing with a faint green light. What made him worry was that Kurama's aura was getting weaker and weaker, almost as if…

Hiei shook his head in frustration. What was he thinking? Of course that youkai would try to absorb Kurama's youki to replace her own. He tried to make his legs run faster, realizing that he was still moving at a speed that allowed humans like Kuwabara to see him. It wasn't because he wanted his companion to be able to catch up with him. It really wasn't, but every muscle in his body was screaming for a proper rest, and he was still struggling to stay awake.

"She is feeding on him."

Hiei glanced at Yusuke. He didn't expect that statement. "You sense it?" He asked.

"Only a little. One doesn't need a Jagan to sense the ki of someone as powerful as Kurama."

"I don't sense anything." That confession from Kuwabara normally would have made Hiei smirk, but at that moment, worry had become so strong that Hiei was surprised to find himself scared. Scared of what, he was not sure… Of not being able to get to Kurama in time, of losing him, of losing the chance to tell Kurama that he… he what?

The youkai and Kurama's auras were moving too fast. If those two continued to move like that, Hiei knew he could never catch up with them. Worry was now blended with panic as he realized Kurama's youki was fading.

"Dammit." He heard Yusuke cry somewhere behind him.

"What's that, Yusuke?" Kuwabara asked, puzzled.

However, Yusuke didn't answer, only snarled and his speed boosted. Yusuke knew it, Hiei thought. He couldn't help being surprised at his ability to stay this calm even though all he wanted to do now was screaming until his throat was raw and sore. Kurama's ki had faded to almost nothingness.

Suddenly Hiei halted. Behind him, he heard Kuwabara curse as he bumped into Yusuke's back. The green aura in only a second had changed from a fading glow into a brilliant one. Not only that, Kurama's ki was rocketing. Hiei had never seen Kurama's power get this strong even when he was in his youko form.

"What's the matter with both of you?" Kuwabara asked.

"What's that Hiei?" Yusuke cried.

"How am I supposed to know?" Hiei replied with a question, hating the fear and panic in his voice but couldn't help it.

It left as abruptly as it came. Hiei nearly died with a heart attack when the enormous youki vanished. Both Kurama and the youkai's auras had disappeared, gone with no signs left.

"No! I refuse to believe it!" Yusuke screamed into the night sky. A human, probably coming home late after his human work, passed him a startled look, but Yusuke had already raced to the place where the two youki had vanished. Hiei followed Yusuke, knowing he didn't want to believe it either, but still dreaded of what he would see. Kuwabara proved to be an idiot as usual. He kept asking what had happened, thus made Hiei want nothing more than just to snap his neck.

Even though the unspoken fear must have made them run faster than they had ever had, they still arrived at that place only after about ten minutes. It was a small, abandoned yard surrounded by high buildings. Hiei jumped down from a tree outside and ran in, followed closely by Yusuke and Kuwabara.

Hiei halted abruptly as the sight that greeted him craved deep into his shocked mind. Never had he expected to see a scene like this. Vaguely, he heard someone's voice behind him and… footsteps? But his mind seemed fogged, made him not able to think clearly.

The scent of roses filled the air, sweet and seductive. It was almost the same type Hiei always found at Kurama's room. However, something was wrong, very wrong here, for the smell had never been this intense. He felt himself swaying on his feet a little, nearly drown in the strong fragrance and his own dizziness.

Slowly, his vision became focused. The female youkai was sitting on the ground, back leaning against a short tree, the only tree in the yard. Her face was vacant, her eyes were wide but empty. She looked peaceful, all hostility and malice were lost in the moment of eternal rest. Hiei knew it, as there was no aura surrounding her. Touching his sense was only a dreadful sensation of death.

Scattering around were thousands of roses. They were mostly in bad shape as if they had just been crushed in a cruel fist. There was no blood, but crimson petals were bleeding into the night, and somehow, into his very soul as well. Hiei bent down and picked up a rose near his feet, one of the few roses that remained the shape of flowers. A shudder ran through his body and his hand felt numb. On the rose, Kurama's youki was still lingering, not much, only faintly, and fading.

He didn't need to see himself to know that all colors had drained from his face. He staggered a few steps backwards from the sight, even though his eyes were still glued on it. "This can't be happening." The words escaped from his mouth sounded like spoken by a stranger.

Hiei felt a touch on his shoulder. "Hiei, what's going on here?" A familiar voice asked him.

He turned his head back and was surprised to see Yusuke and Kuwabara there. "Yusuke…? What are you doing here?"

"What are you talking about?" Yusuke sounded panicked. Hiei groaned as someone shook him hard and shouted into his ears. "Get a hold of yourself, little shrimp!"

"Don't shout." He whispered. His body fell forward. If it hadn't been for Yusuke's supporting arms, he would have crumbled to the ground. "My head hurts."

"Hiei, if you want…" Hiei winced, the rest of Yusuke's words were morphing into roars in his ears. Black dots were dancing in front of him, then expanded and merged with each other. Hiei tried to clear his vision, but in the end, the light was sucked into darkness and left the world before his eyes plain black.

TBC...