Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Just Outside the Light ❯ Chapter 2

The wait wasn't too long, was it?

Disclaimer: I don't own it, but I do own about a hundred little cartoon doodles!

Author: Letta, of course!

Rating: Probably R.

Warnings: I lied last time when I said I'd give you a list of warnings.

Pairings: none so far

"speaking"

/thoughts/

Title: Just Outside the Light

The three accounted for members of the Reikei Tantei were trudging through a Makai forest. The only piece of information that could be dug up was that someone had seen a silver haired kitsune ambushed. It had been a costly tidbit, and Koenma had not been happy to pay it.

When a kaeru demon had shown up escorted to Koenma's office, no one was quite sure what to make of it. Then when he had sworn that he knew something of Kurama's disappearance, they had been more than eager to hear it. When the kaeru had named his price… Hiei had gone for his throat, threatening that if he didn't tell them immediately, heads would, more or less, roll. The demon had then pointed out that if he was dead, they'd know nothing.

In the end, Koenma had paid it, the kaeru named Kiri forest, and left. Hiei had grimaced because it was the largest forest in Makai, one that was equal in size to all of Brazil.

Now, here they were, searching for any sign of a red or silver haired Kurama. Yusuke kept glancing at Hiei, noting the hidden signs of worry. Hiei kept glaring at Yusuke for glancing at him. Kuwabara, walking behind the two …well, he was just being Kuwabara.

"Is there something wrong with my face, detective?" Hiei asked, annoyance evident in his tone.

"No."

"Then stop looking at me."

"Hey guys!" Kuwabara yelled, running up to the pair, "I sense something!" All three halted, and tensed themselves, feeling, listening, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

A shot of gray fired from the trees, aimed straight at Yusuke's throat.

~`~`~`~`~`

Kurama woke once more, no longer keeping score, to find himself not dead. This came as a mixture of shock and relief. Why he felt this way, he wasn't entirely sure.

"I see you're awake," a white blur said from somewhere to the right. Kurama blinked a few times, focusing his vision and noting that he could now see out of both eyes. That was an improvement.

The white blur turned out to be the demon from before, as he expected.

/Pretty./

He could feel his eyebrows scrunch down as he looked beyond her to note that he was no longer in the clearing, but in some sort of hut.

"Who are you," he asked, his voice slightly hoarse from disuse.

"Leiko. Who are you?"

He hesitated.

"Kurama."

He watched her arch a snowy white eyebrow, but she said nothing. Instead, she shoved a bowl of some sort of steaming liquid into his hands. Kurama stared down at it, distrustfully.

"Idiot. If I wanted to kill you, I would've done it already," she said, sitting down next to the bedding he was on.

"Why are you helping me? Don't you think that once I'm healed, I might kill you?" Better to get what was on his mind out in the open.

"It had crossed my mind."

"You didn't answer my first question," he pointed out. Leiko looked at him, green eyes lazily half closed.

"I noticed. I was more a spur of the moment thing. You see, I was hunting for my supper, and the smell of your blood was scaring away all the game. If I wanted my private hunting grounds to remain hunting grounds, you had to be removed. Besides, I wanted to know why you were on my property. Satisfied?"

"Your property?" he asked, this time being the one to arch an eyebrow.

"Yes, mine. I usually kill unwanted intruders, but someone seemed to already try that with you."

"I don't suppose you'd know who that someone was?" he asked, taking a tentative sip from the bowl, ears twitching at the walnutty taste.

"You mean you don't?" she countered, a look of surprise crossing her visage.

"I don't really remember anything… at all. Other than my name."

"So you have no clues as to who worked you over?"

"Only that it was a male."

"Sucks to be you," she said, standing and leaving the room.

~`~`~`~`~`

Alika looked at the demon seated across from her.

"You're sure he's dead?" she asked.

"Youko Kurama will never wake again. You have my word. Unfortunately, I also lost my partner."

"Oh, well that's good!" she said, smiling brightly. If there was one thing Krosoin demoness loved, it was good news like that. "I don't suppose you managed to get his power for me?"

"Uh, no. You never taught me how to do that," Yukio said, shifting somewhat uncomfortably. He wasn't entirely if she meant it was good news that Kurama was dead, or his partner.

"That's too bad. I guess you can't win `em all." She shifted her gaze to the fire separating them for a few seconds before flopping backwards onto the hay that made up her bed. "I'm tired."

"Aren't you going to teach me how to steal someone's power?" Yukio asked, confused.

"Yeah, sure. Goodnight."

Yukio blinked a few times before soft snores reached his ears. Sometimes it didn't pay enough to be this woman's personal assassin.

~`~`~`~`~`

Hiei flitted in front of Yusuke, making fifteen slashes with his sword before anyone could blink.

"You're getting sloppy, detective," he said, landing softly.

"I saw you draw your sword, so I didn't see the point in getting my hands dirty," Yusuke said. Behind them, Kuwabara had his spirit sword ready, slashing through the air at invisible enemies, challenging anyone to come out of hiding.

"So what was… that?" Yusuke asked, glancing at what remained of their attacker.

"A Makai bat. A stupid demon that feeds on the flesh of others."

"Hiei, can I ask you a question?" Yusuke began.

"You just did."

"Well, I'm going to ask you another one. We've been wandering for hours without finding a trace of Kurama. Isn't there an easier way to go about this? I mean, we don't even have anything to go on other than to look in this forest."

"What would you suggest, detective?" Hiei asked, eyeing Yusuke.

"Anything other than what we're doing. This isn't working!"

"Well we can't give up," Kuwabara said, butting in. By now he had put his spirit sword away and was no longer threatening the air.

"I suggest we keep walking until we think of something else," Hiei said, before flitting away. It was his way of saying the conversation was over.

"Hey, where'd that shrimp go?"

"Someplace where we can't see him," Yusuke muttered, "Well, you coming?" The two picked up their pace again, every once in awhile catching a glimpse of black in a tree only to blink and have it disappear.

The two humans began talking about fighting before switching over to insults. It wasn't long after that when Kuwabara inexplicably found himself in a headlock, courtesy of the great Urameshi.

Occasionally Hiei would reappear to report what lay ahead of them, which was usually nothing of considerable interest, but Yusuke had the nagging suspicion that it was when the fire youkai found himself the most worried about the kitsune that he would return. Once he had even caught an anxious look on Hiei's face, catching his eyes and holding them in a bit of a staring match before Hiei would flit away.

This only served to make Yusuke worry, because if Hiei was worried, than he certainly should be. In turn, Kuwabara sensed the tension in the air and seemed to catch the infectious anxiety himself.

It was probably because of this that they suddenly found themselves surrounded.

~`~`~`~`~`

"Koenma!" Botan called out, rushing into the junior lord's office. The fact that he was hidden behind a stack of paperwork did nothing to keep her from hastily blurting out what she had to say.

"One of the other fairy girls brought in a new arrival about two days ago who was killed in Kiri forest. Apparently he had been fighting a silver haired kitsune! After a little investigation on my part, I learned he was hired to kill Kurama, and I found out where exactly he was attacked!" she finished, breathlessly, waiting for a response.

A slight rustling from behind the stacks of papers produced the head of George.

"Actually, Koenma's on a bathroom break right now."

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A/N: How's that?

Thanks to Hiei-fireyoukia (Alika was borne because of her) and Deb (she likes fights, I like fights, there'll be some fights) for their suggestions!

Oh, and for the information of anyone who was wondering… Kiri means fog. I had a few other names I was toying with, but that one worked the best for my purposes. So, in Japanese (don't hold me to this) Fog Forest would be: Kiri no Hayashi, hayashi meaning forest.

Anyway, the suggestion box is still open.