Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Just Outside the Light ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

I got a vote for a Hiei/Kurama pairing. What do you say?

Disclaimer: I really don't own anything of value.

Author: Letta

Rating: Probably R.

Warnings: Violence, slight OOC, possibly AU- it's up to you.

Pairings: none so far, tell me if you want any!!!!!

"speaking"

/thoughts/

Title: Just Outside the Light

Yusuke ducked the fist as it shot overhead, burying itself in the plaster wall. Cautiously, he looked up, catching a glimpse of the cold, vacant eyes of the kitsune, arm outstretched, hand disappearing through the newly formed hole. He watched in a type of fascinated horror as Kurama looked down at him, smiling amiably, though his green eyes twisted it into something sinister.

"Kurama? Are you all right?"

The spirit detective barely managed to roll away from the response of the redhead's knee, which also succeeded in damaging the defenseless wall. Yusuke stood and began backing up, eyes flicking from the kitsune to the now cracked plaster of the innocent wall and back to the green ice.

"Care if I ask what's going on?!" Yusuke asked, taking a defensive stance.

"I'm going to kill you, Yusuke."

"Well, as long as you let me in on it."

Yusuke watched with a growing amount of distress as Kurama reached a hand into his red tresses to bring out a small, almond-shaped seed. Quickly, he looked around the apart, a frown creasing his features.

"Wait! If you're going to kill me, can you at least do it outside? If my mom has to clean my blood out of the furniture, she's going to flip out!"

The plea caused the kitsune to stop, an eyebrow elegantly raised above those twisted eyes. Slowly, his mouth turned upwards, politely quirked in amusement.

"I have been known to do requests."

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Hiei sprinted onto the battlegrounds, cloak still hanging on to the breeze it had been flung on, katana drawn. Before him, he saw the transformed youko Kurama, silver strands riding on the slight wind. The golden eyed demon was laughing as he toyed with the spirit detective, rose whip snapping harshly in the air as Yusuke scrambled to dodge.

Hiei narrowed his ruby eyes, growl rising up in his throat as he took the scene in. Whether he was angry that Kurama obviously wasn't back to `normal,' Yusuke was being attacked, or both, he couldn't tell.

He didn't, however, have time to dwell on that. Yusuke was losing, barely able to escape each lash. It wouldn't belong before the legendary youko thief grew tired of his game. Gritting his teeth, the jaganshi searched for an opening, sharp eyes searching out any possible break in the fluidity of the kitsune's movements.

In a blink, he was gone.

The youko suddenly halted his attack, giving the spirit detective a much needed breath. Hiei stood behind Kurama, silver hair gripped tightly in one hand, the other holding his katana against a vulnerable throat. The jaganshi could barely control his voice from being saturated with all the fury boiling beneath his surface, as ruby met gold.

"Drop the whip," Hiei growled.

The kitsune, surprisingly, complied, his deadliest weapon falling to the ground as elegant fingers loosened their hold. Kurama, however, was grinning madly.

~`~`~`~`~`

Kuwabara panted, his eyes glued to the sight of Hiei holding his sword to what could only be Kurama's neck. He quickened his already brutal pace plowing forward, hurrying to figure out what was going on when his foot caught on something and he tumbled forward, arms splayed out before him as he crashed to the ground.

He sucked in a breath as he looked over his shoulder to see what had tripped him up. He looked up at the wide eyes of the leader of the Reikei Tantei, who was seemingly in a stupor.

Yusuke shifted his eyes to the bulk of blue on the ground in front of him, one foot still hooked on his own leg, then back at the pair ahead.

"What's going on Urameshi?"

"Kurama's lost it. Hiei came and helped me out," Yusuke said distantly, nodding to the river of blood streaming down from a gash on his upper arm, opposite hand clenched protectively around the wound.

Kuwabara watched as the spirit detective's face became uncommonly serious as he pushed himself up from his seat on the ground, walking towards the demons. A moment later, the redhead followed suit. Cautiously, they stopped a few feet away, staring down at the maniacal kitsune, worry etched onto their features.

"Are you really going to kill me, Hiei?" the youko asked, a dangerous calm settled on his voice and features with just a hint of mocking.

"If I have to."

Kurama let out a sharp laugh as he jerked suddenly, satisfaction filling his eyes as the blade moved with him rather than against. The human duo immediately crouched defensively, needlessly.

Hiei turned the hilt of the katana so quickly the movement couldn't be followed. In less than a split second, the jaganshi had bludgeoned the kitsune on the head with the butt of the sword, face carefully neutral as the silver haired demon dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"Is he all right?" Kuwabara asked.

Before Hiei could offer up the start of another insult match, Yusuke intervened.

"Kuwabara, why don't you start carrying him back to Genkai's. We'll catch up in a minute, I just need to ask Hiei something," the spirit detective said with measured restraint.

Uncertainly, the redhead looked down at the inert kitsune, hesitating a moment before scooping him up and throwing him over his shoulders. Determinedly, he spun around and headed off, keeping a steady grip on his cargo, even if he was inwardly cringing at the thought of the youko suddenly springing back into action.

When the redhead was safely out of range, Yusuke turned to the jaganshi, a grin plastered stupidly on his face.

"What would you have done if he had called your bluff?"

"Care to find out what I do to morons who ask idiot questions?" Hiei threatened, flicking his katana to illustrate his point.

"Fine, fine!" Yusuke waved his arms in front of him innocently, before growing serious. "Do you have any idea why this happened?"

The slight hesitation was enough for Yusuke to press forward.

"Would it have anything to do with that welt on his head? Or that necklace Leiko found when he was attacked?"

~`~`~`~`~`

Kuwabara ran as soon as he was out of sight. As much as he didn't want to be alone with an insane kitsune, he also wanted to get said kitsune to help as soon as possible. Preferably before the silver haired demon woke up again.

He still didn't know what was going on. Yusuke hadn't told him why Kurama had attacked him.

Then Hiei looked like he was about to kill someone, though the feeling really didn't seem to be directed at Kurama. Despite whatever the jaganshi may say, Kuwabara knew that somewhere in that frozen black little heart, Hiei really didn't want to hurt any of them. /Even me. / The thought flickered through the redhead's mind as he begrudgingly admitted, to himself anyway, that he really didn't want the jaganshi hurt, either.

Despite all the sentimentalities floating around, Kurama had still felt the need to kill Yusuke. He knew that they had all experienced a strong urge to bring an untimely death to the spirit detective at one time or another, but until now, none of them had actually acted on it. At least not seriously, anyway. At any rate, none of them had ever succeeded.

By the time Kuwabara would come around again, he usually forgot his anger at Yusuke. He was hoping that when Kurama came to, he would be back to normal. Although, the thief had looked normal enough, a familiar calm exterior in place when he had shown. Yet, there was something about the calm that was positively eerie.

Up ahead, the temple loomed into view. With a final sprint, the redhead ushered forward.

Kuwabara charged into Genkai's temple, disturbing the psychic from her tea with Yukina as he carefully put Kurama's prone figure on the floor before hastily backing away. He looked up, startlement splaying across his face.

"I couldn't find anything," Leiko said, by way of explanation for her presence, annoyance coloring her tone before looking at the grounded kitsune. "What's wrong with him?"

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A/N: I'm not really sure what to say about this chapter. It was short.

Remember, I feed off of reviews. They are my sustenance, and without them, I will wither and die. Well, not really.