Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Draw in the Rain ❯ Chapter 1: Before the Storm ( Chapter 1 )

CHAPTER 1: Before the Storm

`What happened?'

Blinking bleary eyes, Keiko moved, letting out a low moan at the protesting motion of her body. She felt stiff and sore and cold and wondered what on earth had caused her to feel this way. But then her vision sharpened, took in the dark and dreary surroundings.

And she remembered.

She immediately scrabbled upwards from her prone position, sitting still where she was as her eyes flicked wildly around the room. They bounced around from the dirt packed floor littered with fragments of bone to the earthen walls revealed by the sliver of dim light streaming down from above. Then she froze, tensed, an instant of fear overtaking her when her darting gaze landed on an indistinct lump that she could barely discern hidden in the depths of shadows.

Slowly she crept forward, approaching that lump in a wary crouch. Though she was afraid, the flickering of concern and hope within her kept her steadfast on her course as she continued her journey until she could finally kneel beside that unmoving form. Hesitantly, she reached out a hand until she made contact and laid it upon something solid and radiating heat.

"Kurama-san?" she whispered uncertainly.

She gasped as the mound moved slightly with a low groan and an odd clinking sound. The noise drew her and she strained her eyes to peer through the dark, catching the dim reflection of light off of dull metal. Fear tightened in her belly, settling like a lead weight and made her mouth dry with worry as she whispered again more urgently.

"Kurama-san!"

He shot up so abruptly, he narrowly missed cracking his head against her chin. As it was, she felt the silky brush of hair tickle her skin for a fleeting moment when she sensed him settling back in a cacophony of metallic clinking.

Silence fell, the only sound in their confines was the in and out of their breathing. As the quiet between them lengthened, so did her uncertainty and concern. `After all, Kurama-san should have responded to me by now, shouldn't he? What if…what if this other person I'm trapped with isn't Kurama-san?'

"Kurama-san?" she ventured again, fearfully.

"Yes?"

Overwhelming relief immediately flooded through her. Though raspy and hoarse, there was no mistaking the distinct sound of his familiar voice.

And she was very, very glad that she wasn't trapped in this alone.

"Are you okay, Kurama-san?" she asked softly. "It's too dark for me to see you clearly, but I think that you've been…chained."

"Yes…I noticed that."

"Sorry," she winced at his tone. "I didn't mean to state the obvious."

"Don't apologize, please. None if this is your fault. If anyone's, it's mine."

"What do you mean?"

"If you hadn't been with me, then you would never have been drawn into this mess. And for that, I do apologize."

"You're acting like you did this deliberately when I know you didn't. The only ones who need to apologize are the ones that put us in this position in the first place."

"And the ones who did this were after me. You were with me, so they took you as well."

"If you're trying to get me to blame you, you're going to be in for a long wait."

"Oh?" His tone was amused.

"That's right. You weren't the one that knocked me out and threw me into a dank, dark…whatever this place is. So if you're looking for blame, I'm not the one who's going to be handing to you. Besides, you're feeling guilty enough on your own to make up for anything I might have to add."

A brief, startled pause. "How can you tell?"

"Just chalk it up to woman's intuition." She smiled, though she doubted he'd be able to see it in the dark. "Or maybe we've known each other long enough now for me to pick up on certain aspects of your personality."

"Which one?"

"Good question," she laughed. "I'd have to go with whichever one is with me right now."

"Ah, then that would have to be the normal me." There was another moment of silence that chased away the fleeting levity. "Youko's presence within me is very weak."

She straightened, worried. "What does that mean?"

"I've been drugged."

"What?!"

Her cry was horrified and she quickly scooted closer the best she could without being able to see what or where it was that she was moving towards. She stopped when she bumped into something that set off a series of dull clinking sounds. She reached out towards the sound, stopping when flesh met cold metal before continuing on, following each bump of chain links up until she touched something softer and warmer. Then she hesitated, afraid to touch further without knowing what else they might have done to him.

"It's alright," came his reassuring voice, as if reading her mind. "I'm not injured. Aside from being drugged, they didn't do anything else to me."

`Much,' he thought. Anger curled within him when he remembered how easily he'd been taken out, distracted as he'd been with Keiko's captors. He'd had little chance to put up a fight before they'd managed to inject the drug into him, knocking him out almost before he'd even been aware of what they'd done. It made him furious to realize how easily he'd been captured, but he tamped down on his rage. Keiko was already worried enough; he didn't want to add to it, even if the situation did look bleak.

"Do you know what they drugged you with?" Keiko asked, no less concerned. "It's not some sort of slow acting poison, is it?" Her voice went tight with fear. "Killing off Youko-san?"

"No." Despite the situation, a small smile curled his lips. "You've been watching too many murder mysteries."

"More like hanging around people who have a habit of attracting supernatural trouble."

"There is that, too," he commented, smile in his voice.

"So then, if it's not poison…what is it? And why did you say Youko-san's presence was weak?"

"I believe it's a type of depressant. And it's having an adverse effect on Youko."

"What kind of effect?"

"It's suppressing him."

She sucked in a breath.

"It's not destroying him," he told her hastily, reading her panic. "But it takes a certain amount of energy for this body to shift into the form of Youko, or vice versa. And it also takes energy to sustain the connection between us. The drug I was given appears to be suppressing that energy and I'm unable to connect with him as I normally could. It's as if there's a barrier between us that I can't cross and Youko is trapped on the other side."

"But he is still there?"

"Yes. And he will, no doubt, be very angry once he gets out." His lips quirked. "He doesn't like to be suppressed, especially against his will."

"No, I imagine not." Tense muscles relaxed. "But why would anyone go through the effort of drugging you with something like that?"

"I suspect it has to do with the chains."

"You were the only one who was chained. Why?"

"Most likely, they didn't see you as a threat. They were really only after me." Chains rattled and clanked. "Impressive."

"What is?"

"These chains. They're magically enhanced to suppress any sort of supernatural powers that interacts with it. I still have enough of my senses to detect that much at least."

"Double insurance then?" Keiko guessed. "Use the drug to suppress from inside any powers you have from your other form while the chains suppress from the outside in the event that the drug didn't work?"

"I believe you summed up the situation quite neatly. What I was given, it's a special mixture definitely not meant for normal humans."

"So it's a concoction adapted for your…unique case."

He laughed, a soft husky sound that sent delightful shivers across her skin. She stiffened, wondering what the heck was wrong with her to be so affected by a simple laugh when their lives were in such a dangerous situation. Obviously, she'd spent too much time with Yusuke if she was behaving in such a way and disregarding the danger to them both.

"You put an interesting spin on it," Kurama's voice stroked through the darkness. "But, yes, judging from the effects I feel on my body, this particular drug seems tailor made to fit my particular…case."

"Well, if you can't use other-worldly powers to get free, can't you just pick the lock?"

"No." Metallic clanking filled the darkness. "The chains are fastened to my wrists. To pick the lock, at least one of hands would have to have enough give to reach the other wrist. Or my mouth. But the way the chains are bolted into the walls doesn't leave me enough give to have either option open to me."

"Then how do we get you free?"

"Don't you mean `us'? You're just as trapped as I am, don't forget."

"I know but…you're in worse straits so we need to deal with you first."

"Admirable sentiment but it'll take a bit of thinking to pull that off."

"Since neither of us seems to be going anywhere at the moment, I'd say that we've got enough time on our hands to come up with something."

"You're holding up remarkably well given the situation we're in." He peered curiously in her direction. Even with his powers mostly suppressed, he still had enough to give him better eyesight than a normal human and he could just barely make out her features in the dimness. "Aren't you afraid?"

"Terrified," she immediately responded.

"You don't seem so."

"Oh, believe me, I am."

"And yet you seem at ease."

"For the most part. But I'd probably be a wreck under different circumstances."

"And what would those circumstances be?" he asked, curious.

"If I were alone." Her lips curved, a motion his eyes picked up in the darkness. "But I'm not. You're here with me so I don't feel as worried as I normally would be. I feel…safe."

A shock of warmth pulsed through him at her words. It was a mix of emotions: a jolt of happiness at her confidence in him, a streak pride that he could inspire such emotion from her in the first place, a touch of tenderness at the sentiment behind it, and a dash of…amusement.

"Even though I'm chained?" He rattled the chains for effect. "You still feel safe?"

"I've seen you face much worse things than this and come out on top. I'm sure you'll manage to find some way out of this too."

Overwhelmed by emotion, Kurama couldn't say anything. He'd never heard her utter such confidence about someone before unless it concerned Yusuke. The silence stretched on as he took the time to fully absorb the impact of her words.

"Kurama-san? Did I say something wrong? You're too quiet."

"I'm sorry." He collected himself. "I was just…surprised."

"Surprised? By what?"

"You're confidence in me. I've only heard you say such thing when it was about…"

"Yusuke," she finished, hushed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring him up."

"I know. But you don't have to worry. It's not your fault that we split up and he decided to remain in Makai. And now…now I think it's for the best."

"You do?"

"I love him," she said simply.

Chains clanked, but he remained silent.

"And I imagine," Keiko continued, "that a part of me always will. But when you love someone, you want what's best for him. Or her. And I've never seen Yusuke happier than when he found Makai and a purpose in life. Prior to that, he was always aimless, as if he were searching for something but didn't know what. But he's found that something now and it isn't me." A self-depreciating smile curled her lips. "I'll admit that I was terribly hurt and angry at the time, but if we had remained together then I think we'd have eventually broken up anyway."

"Really?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes. We're too different; a part of me has always felt that way though I didn't want to accept it at the time." She sighed. "We were friends first before we became anything else. I think part of us was too afraid to let go of each other when growing up threatened to eventually separate us so we clung together as a couple until something major happened to force our hand. I have good memories while it lasted but…truthfully, I'm much happier the way things are now than I was when we were struggling to remain together. The relationship between is as it should be, as it was in the beginning, with us as friends."

"No regrets?"

She thought about it then shook her head. "None."

Too caught up in her own thoughts, she missed the way his eyes changed at her confession, glittering green in the darkness as they focused intently upon her. If she had seen, she might have been afraid instead of resting so comfortably beside him.

Instead, she apologized.

"And I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I didn't have confidence in you." She sighed. "I don't remember if I ever said anything to anyone else, but I've always had faith in all of you: Yusuke, Hiei-san…and especially you."

"Especially?"

"Well," she chuckled, "out of everyone, you always seemed to be the most reliable."

"Ah." He smiled. "Then I suppose I had best live up to the good thoughts you have of me and find a way to escape."

"I'm all for that plan." Pause. "So…what are our options?"

"We could wait until the effects of the drugs wear off. But…"

"The chains."

"Yes. Even if I do regain the use of my powers, I still wouldn't be able to use them until the chains were off. Although I'm sure I'd somehow be able to break through the chains with force, it would be sure to come at a painful price."

"I don't like the idea of you in pain." She frowned. "Let's think of something else."

"I'm not eager to experience it myself, but it's an option to keep open for lack of anything else." He shook his head. "But I hope we'll be able to come up with something quicker. There's no telling how long the effects of the drug will last. And we might not have the time to wait for it to wear off."

"What do you mean?"

He gazed upwards towards the source of the only light streaming down in a dim ray. "It's going to rain."

"So? We'll just get a little wet."

"More than that if we drown."

"Eh?"

"Earlier, before we were attacked, I scented rain in the air. A heavy downpour. And considering the humidity and the weather forecast I caught this morning, the rain could last for days."

She swallowed hard, gazing fearfully above towards the light. "And we're underground."

"Yes. A hole in the ground. When the rain falls, the earth will be saturated and with nowhere else left to go, the water will come not only from above but also through the dirt walls around and below us. If we don't get out of here before that happens…"

His voice trailed off; he didn't need to say anything else. Keiko shuddered, unconsciously inching closer to Kurama until her body bumped into his. The contact was reassuring, reminding her that she wasn't alone and that she had a very intelligent supernatural force to be reckoned with as her companion who had faced much worse odds than this that he'd overcome.

And she knew that he wouldn't let her down.

"Then let's think of something before that happens." She ran ideas through her head. "I don't suppose yelling for help would do any good?"

"The chances that my enemies would go through such an elaborate set-up to kill me only to leave the possibility that some passing bystander might hear a cry for help is very slim."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I figured. But why something so involved? No offense, but if they really wanted you dead, wouldn't they have killed you when you were unconscious instead of risking the chance that you'd escape after coming to?"

"Many youkai thrive on pain and torture; the longer the death is drawn out, the greater the fear and the torturer's enjoyment."

She grimaced.

"And many," Kurama continued, "have large egos big enough that they think there's no possibility that someone might escape from their trap. Though I must admit this trap is fairly good. If I was the only one here, I might not be able to accomplish much in the ways of escape. It's a good thing I'm not alone."

Her eyes widened. "Wait a minute! You seem to be pinning an awful lot of hope on me being able to help get us out."

"It's not something I can do on my own, not like I am now."

"Feeling pressured here."

"Just chalk it up to having the same faith in your abilities as you seem to have in mine."

"Um, Kurama-san? Are you forgetting that your abilities encompass a lot more than mine do?"

"I haven't forgotten. But it's not raining yet and we need ideas on how to escape. Preferably, as quickly as possible. And I believe that you have more than enough intelligence to help me come up with something that will work."

"Well, when you sweet talk me like that, how can I refuse?"

Another soft laugh wound through the dark. "Somehow, you make being trapped very enjoyable."

"Thanks, I think. Now, let's see if I can make being un-trapped just as good." She looked up towards the light once again. "There's a grate covering the hole. It looks heavy so, even if I somehow managed to climb to the top, I doubt I'd have the strength needed to free up the opening enough to crawl through. And also, I have no idea where we are but I'm assuming we're in a forested area. I can hear the wind rustling though a lot of trees."

"I, also, feel we're in seclusion deep in a wooded area as well. Holes in the ground aren't dug this deep in the city."

"Exactly. And I wouldn't know anything about what to do in the middle of a forest. Without a guide, I'd be lost in a second. And even if I did manage to find someone to help, I doubt I'd be able to find my way back here to you."

"I agree. It's better to remain together. It's likely that the ones who put us here are waiting for the results. They're could be out there, waiting to finish off the kill if this plan isn't successful." He tensed. "And they'd swoop down and pick you off as soon as you made it out. If the chances of that weren't so high, I'd say to risk it so that at least you might be able to escape."

"No way!"

The forceful cry startled Kurama who looked back at Keiko in surprise. Perhaps she couldn't see his expression, but he certainly saw hers and the fierceness in her features stunned him.

"I am not leaving without you! So don't even think of coaxing me to leave you behind!"

"It's merely speculation. I believe it's more dangerous at the moment for you to be out there than in here, but otherwise-"

"No! There's no `otherwise.'"

"I'm only saying that if I'm not able to break free by the time-"

"No!"

"But-"

"No!"

There was an exasperated sigh. "Stop being stubborn and just hear me out."

"No." Her voice was quiet, but no less forceful. "I'm not leaving you behind. Even if there's not much that I can do, I absolutely refuse to abandon someone I care about behind when he's in danger. If you drown here, you're not going to be alone because I'm not going anywhere unless you're coming with me."

His lips parted.

"And not another word from you on the subject."

His mouth closed, lips compressing to a thin line.

"You said it yourself. I'm stubborn. I could argue the subject to death with you because I'm not going to back down from my stand on it. So unless you really want to die in the middle of nowhere with me, I suggest you back off and start putting your energy towards finding a way to get out of this mess."

Torn between frustration and amusement, he let amusement win. A smart person knew when to cut his losses when defeat was at hand and to try making the best out of a bad situation.

And no one had ever accused him of being stupid.

"Very well," Kurama conceded. "Then I imagine our first order of business is to figure out how to get me out of these chains. And since I don't have enough leeway to pick the locks…"

She absorbed his statement then blinked. "Oh, no." She shook her head. "No way!"

"There's few other options, especially since there's so little to work with around us."

"But I can't! I wouldn't even know where to begin to start!"

"Don't worry. I'll guide you through it."

"But I've never done it before!"

"There's a first time for everything. And no time to start like the present, especially when it's needed the most."

"But I can't even see enough to look at what I'm doing!"

"Perhaps not, but I can. I'll watch, tell you what to do. All you have to do is follow what I say."

"You're enjoying this too much," she accused. "You're sounding way too cheerful considering our predicament."

"Just finding some humor in the situation." He chuckled. "You're one of the last people I thought I'd be teaching thievery skills to."

Her lips twitched. "I can't say that it's on my priority list of things to learn either."

"Well, if there's ever a time when you wish to learn more, there's much I could teach you."

Keiko froze. If she didn't know better, she would have thought he meant to imply something else by that suggestive statement voiced in that low, smooth tone of his that was even more tantalizing when it was whispered through the darkness. But that couldn't be it. Not the cool, collected Kurama. Not towards her.

Obviously, her imagination was working overtime.

She pushed back the niggling sense of disappointment and the feathery memories of faded dreams and desires that had no place in reality. Instead, she turned her focus to other things, hoping to get over the awkward moment.

"Let's just start with the lock picking skills first." She looked around but her eyes could make nothing out. "Do you see my purse anywhere? Maybe there's something in there we could use to pick the lock."

"No. They must have taken it, perhaps thinking the same thing. I noticed that the tools I had concealed on my body were gone as well."

"Lock picking tools? On your body?"

"Centuries of habit are difficult to break."

"I guess so," she said faintly. Sometimes she forgot just how old the spirit existing within the human body was until she was reminded. Like now. "This may be cliché, but I have a hairpin. Will that work?"

"Considering our limited options, it'll have to do."

"But will that really work against modern locks?" she asked doubtfully. "Don't they use those little electronic cards or something instead of regular keys?"

"You're thinking too high-tech. This isn't sanctioned government espionage of the human variety. Much of the items from Makai are still basically primitive in form; most of the development being in the energy that enhances them into something more. The locks on these manacles are fairly old fashioned compared to modern human standards. If I hadn't been drugged and these chains weren't magically enhanced, I'd have no problems breaking free in a heartbeat."

"Some small relief, I suppose." She reached up, feeling around loose hair until she found one and pulled it out, sending the rest of her hair that had still been pinned up despite the majority of it having fallen free from the partial bun she'd had prior to her capture. She held up the wiry piece of metal. "Will this do?"

"Yes. But it needs to be modified to the proper shape."

"How? I don't have a clue on how to shape it. It's not something covered in classroom lessons."

"Don't worry," he chuckled. She really did make being captured kind of fun. If he weren't so averse to being imprisoned, he might have considered doing this more often. "I'll do it. Can you place it in one of my hands?"

"Okay."

A hand reached out through the darkness until coming into contact with cloth-covered flesh. Using touch as a guide, she smoothed a path along the cloth, letting the shape of what she was feeling form an image in her mind of just where it was that she was touching. Her hand rested on the flatness of his chest, felt the pulse of his heart, steady and reassuring. He was warm, and she blushed.

"Sorry."

"For what?"

"Feeling you up."

His laughter rang out, wrapping her in its warm texture. She shuddered as the sound rubbed over her, raising goose bumps in its wake. It was pleasant, addictive…and unsettling.

"Should I be insulted that the idea of my hitting on a guy is so funny?"

"It's not funny in the way you think, Keiko-chan. Don't forget, any hormone-riddled teenaged male would be more than happy to have the hands of a lovely lady on him. And if nothing else, this human body of mine does happen fall into that age category."

"Oh…well…"

At a loss for words, she could only wonder if intense blushing could induce heatstroke. If so, then she was in serious danger. Hoping to abandon the risqué subject, she cleared her throat.

"So which hand do you prefer to work with? Right or left?"

"I'm ambidextrous, so I'm good at many things with either hand." His lips curled upon noticing her discomfort at how suggestive the statement seemed, just as he'd intended it to. Deciding to take pity on her, he offered, "But I prefer the right hand."

"Okay."

She practically wilted in relief and latched onto the task with a desperation that was grossly disproportionate to the situation at hand. She was embarrassed with herself at how she reacted to his voice, his words, reading more into them than he probably intended.

Apparently, hormones of the male variety weren't the only things running amuck.

She went as quickly as she could, nervous about lingering in contact with him. Still, as her hand swept across his body, she couldn't help but note the lean length of him and the firmness of muscles beneath fragile cloth as her touch passed over him to her destination. It was with mixed feelings of disappointment and relief that she finally deposited the tiny bit of metal into his waiting hand.

"Thank you," Kurama murmured, curling fingers around the item, enjoying the brush of her flesh against his until she drew away.

`Soon,' he promised himself. `There will be much more than a simple touch.'

"I should be the one thanking you. You're the one who's going to get us out of this mess."

"Say that again when I actually do. Besides, we're going to be working together to get ourselves out of here. I can't remove these chains on my own." His eyes gleamed as his fingers worked the wire. "I'll have to remember to thank you properly when I'm free."

She shifted uneasily at his tone. Something about it… Just when she opened her mouth to respond, his triumphant voice beat her to it.

"Done."

She blinked. "Already?"

"I'd like to move our little rendezvous to somewhere less…romantic. Wouldn't you?"

She smiled at his wording. "Definitely a `yes' there from me."

She felt her way through the inky black until she came in contact with him again. Carefully, she plucked the worked wire from him, blushing again as her skin rasped against his. It was getting to be a bad habit and she really needed to find some way to break it before they broke free from the dimness of their prison and his effect on her became way too noticeable in the lighter atmosphere aboveground.

The last thing she wanted was to be asked why she was permanently red.

Fingering the object in her hand, she admired the new shape of what used to be her hairpin but was now a key to their freedom. Amazed, she gazed in his direction.

"In the dark…one-handed…how did you do this?"

"Past practice."

"Ah, of course. Silly me." She shook her head in amusement before growing serious once more. "But now…what do I do with this?"

"First off, you need to find the keyhole in the manacle."

"And how am I supposed to do that? I can't see."

"That's right. But you can feel. And a great thief's skills lie in the ability to see in the dark through touch."

"I'm not a thief."

"No, but I am." His tone dropped, low soothing. "Trust me."

"Alright." Determination settled upon her. "Let's do this."

"Good girl," he murmured approvingly. "Just relax, and let my words be your guide."

"Couldn't have asked for a better one," she quipped before she gave herself over and allowed herself to be guided.

She took a deep breath, released. One hand clamped on cold metal, brushing against the warm flesh it contained every so often as her fingers felt around for the slight indentation of the keyhole. Though her skin shivered at the intimate contact she tried to remain focused on her search. It didn't take as long as she thought it would, but that was the easy part.

Actually unlocking it…that was another story.

She managed to insert the makeshift lock pick into the proper location but successfully unlocking the imprisoning manacle was a lot more challenging. She did her best to follow his instructions, his words washing over her, wrapping around her like a warm cocoon. Still, no matter how comfortable his voice made her feel, how encouraging he was, she fumbled clumsily, feeling horribly inept at her fruitless attempts that yielded no results and made her even more frustrated with every continued failure.

But Kurama was patient. No matter how many times she botched his instructions, his voice remained soft and calm as he repeated his instructions over and over again, as many times as she needed until their perseverance was finally rewarded.

Click.

"I did it!" she exclaimed in excitement at the telltale noise. She prodded and the manacle fell away, dropping to the earth with a metallic clanging. Grasping his freed hand, she squeezed in her exuberance, her heart fluttering when he squeezed back. "I can't believe it! We did it!"

"So we did," he said in soft amusement. "All that's left is the other one. If I may?"

"Of course."

With some reluctance, she released the warmth of his hand to place their makeshift lock-picking tool in his waiting grasp. Seconds later, the other manacle tumbled to the ground.

"You know," Keiko commented, a bit irked. "That's kind of annoying."

"What is?"

"I spent an eon to do what you did in just a few moments."

"I've had more experience on my side," Kurama chuckled. "And I wouldn't have gotten to this point without your help first."

"Maybe. But given enough time, I'm sure you would have found a way out eventually." She sighed. "It would have gone quicker if I knew more about how to do things like that."

"If you'd like, I'd be happy to lend you some of my experience…in all manner of areas."

Before her mind could register shock at his words and suggestive tone, she found herself suddenly pressed up against another body. Her breath hitched at the heat he radiated as she felt strong arms wrap tightly around her, cradling her in his grasp. Peering through the darkness, her eyes caught the faint gleaming of emerald mixed with the beginnings of gold that flared through the darkness and threatened to singe her with his intensity as his husky voice washed over her, leaving tingles in its wake.

"I did promise to thank you properly for freeing me, didn't I?"