Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Just Outside the Light ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

Notes: Computer viruses and people viruses suck. Don't get them. If I'm not sick, the computer is! Grrr…. Oh, and if you go to school, quit- it's bad. The dumbest thing I ever did? Take College Algebra and College Writing. THAT'S stupidity for you. However, Christmas is over, and my relatives have left, so I have some time for now.

Oh, and I'm trying to wrap this up quick for those very reasons, so I think the next chapter should be the last.

Disclaimer: YYH was created by the talented Mr. Togashi… who I think is married to the lady who created Sailor Moon.

Author: Letta

Rating: Probably R.

Warnings: Violence, slight OOC, slight yaoi, possibly AU- it's up to you, a loosely strung together `plot,' a little goofy in some parts- redundancy or confusion

Pairings: Hiei/Kurama

"speaking"

/thoughts/

Title: Just Outside the Light

Yusuke gulped in the frigid air, vaguely wondering why it was so cold. It was a welcome shock to his system, though, stumbling his thoughts elsewhere. The chill hit his lungs with a bite, the crispness of the air bringing him back to himself.

He hated this.

He hated all of this.

Whoever was responsible would die a slow and painful death, he would personally see to that.

Once more aware of his surroundings, he noticed the psychic stamping out a cigarette as she watched him with a hint of amusement.

"I want to just hit someone!" he yelled, not necessarily to his company.

"So? You always want to hit someone."

"Yeah, but this time, I really want them to suffer. Isn't there anything you can do?"

"Not unless they come knocking on my door, which I don't expect to happen anytime soon."

Yusuke looked at the psychic helplessly. He would be the first to admit he wasn't one for strategies. He always made things up as he went along and hoped it all worked out. That was how he had defeated Hiei, after all.

However, his mentor could offer him no help.

~`~`~`~`~`

Alika chewed her thumbnail thoughtfully. She was looking at Yukio in a rather considering manner, which was making the hired hand nervous. Abruptly, she stood up from her perch on the ground, grinning triumphantly. A mighty mental battle had been weighing her down.

"I'm bored!" she announced.

"What's your point?" Yukio asked, doing his best to brush her off.

"We're going after Kurama ourselves! Right now!" She started on her way when the assassin grabbed the hem of her shirt, keeping her in place.

Alika turned around to look at him quizzically.

"Why?"

"I said `I'm bored.' Do I have to spell it out for you?" she demanded, as if talking to an idiot. Yukio was more than surprised that she could possibly use a condescending tone on anyone.

"I guess I fail to see the connection."

Alika let out a breath of frustration, grabbing her shirt from his hand and heading off again. Dutifully, Yukio followed her.

~`~`~`~`~`

Hiei stared into the face of the silver-haired captive, nearly breathless. In front of him was the demon all of Makai had once lusted over. Hiei had to keep himself from smirking as he realized he had one of the most beautiful and sought after creatures to have ever existed right in front of him… tied up in front of him. At his mercy, really.

He always preferred those around him at his nonexistent mercy. It made dealing with them so much easier.

However, he had to forcefully shove his mind away from such thoughts to deal with the matter at hand: inspecting the kitsune.

Another flood of inappropriate thoughts rampaged through his mind, and again he made himself focus.

Cautiously, he let his right hand trail up to Kurama's afflicted temple, fingers lightly tracing around the area before he leaned in for a closer look.

"Can't keep your hands off me?"

Hiei froze, heart beating wildly in his chest. He could feel the youko press to him, despite the kitsune's limited movement. The warmth of the other body lapped against his, and he jerked away more suddenly than he had wanted to.

He looked at the captive coldly, regarding the annoyingly pretty smirking face.

"What's your game, Kurama?"

"You mean you don't want me?" the youko feigned his innocence.

"If you think I'm going to let you go, then you are sadly mistaken."

Somehow, the creature before the jaganshi managed to look indignant at this accusation. Hiei knew better than to believe such an act. He may be young as far as Makai was concerned, but he had also seen more than most demons had. As he considered, it evened out.

"Hiei, don't fool yourself."

"Into what?" the jaganshi asked, eyes narrowed.

"Into pretending you don't want me."

"I'm not pretending anything. It's the idiot with the red hair and green eyes that I want. Not an insane kitsune."

"You were the one who always called me a `crazy fox.' Or are you speaking of someone else entirely?" Kurama nearly growled, surprising the koorime. However, that was soon replaced by the surprise of the kitsune nuzzling his shoulder before a he became aware that Kurama had decided to run his tongue along his neck. He shivered, hands fisting on the kitsune's clothing. If he was a weaker being, he would have allowed it to continue, but his better judgment deemed that he should push away the amorous creature.

Hiei released the cloth between his fingers as he turned and left the room, eyes holding onto a wary gleam.

More than once he nearly ran back.

~`~`~`~`~`

Alika looked up, hand shielding her eyes from the sun resting calmly behind the temple. Yukio was behind her, wishing he was somewhere else. He had imagined a better life for himself. He could have been one of Makai's premier assassins with his own god-sent cook. Of course, he realized, it was still possible. He could kill Alika, one way or another, and then convince her cook to work for him.

It was a happy thought, but he sadly recognized how unlikely that was.

"That's a lot of steps," Alika said, letting out a low whistle. With a cheerful cry she hopped on the first one, then the second. Yukio watched her go up. She was on her eight step when she hopped and missed, falling backwards. She tumbled down and landed on her face.

"Welcome back. How was your trip?"

"Mmrgrmmph."

Ignoring her, Yukio started the climb, opting for a more traditional way of scaling stairs. It wasn't long before the quick pads of feet racing up behind him brought about the appearance of Alika.

The made it to the top in silence….

….to be met by three members of the Reikei Tantei, and one psychic.

"Who are you?" a dark haired human boy in jeans demanded, upset for one reason or another.

"I'm Inishimori Alika, who are you?"

"Urameshi Yusuke."

"So, are you one of Kurama's friends?" she asked.

"What do you know about Kurama?" a short demon growled.

"I'll take that as a `yes.' Then, why aren't you dead, yet?"

"Are you the one who shoved that link in his head?" Yusuke asked.

Alika blinked.

"No, that was Yukio," she said, aiming her thumb behind her at the assassin, who looked for all the world like he hated his job.

Without another word, the short demon lunged, sword aimed at Yukio's heart. The assassin dodged, but soon found himself in a dangerous game of hopscotch.

"What's going on….?" Leiko trailed off, eyes landing on the newly arrived demons from her spot in a doorway. She sniffed the air, eyes narrowing.

"Who are you?" Alika asked.

"I recognize his scent," she said, finger pointed at Yukio as sidestepped Hiei to bring down his elbow in the small back, but finding his target gone. "He's one of the bastards who invaded my territory!"

"Yeah, he was sent by her," Yusuke said, gesturing to Alika, who shrugged.

"You! You are going down!" Leiko yelled, diving a Alika and tackling her, both of them going over the edge of the top step.

The three noncombatants ran to peer down, seeing the two demonesses still rolling.

"Well, she went down all right!" Yusuke laughed.

A flash of black in front of their view brought their attention back to Hiei's skirmish, which had suddenly turned to a standstill as the two opponents stared at each other, each trying desperately to catch their breath as they struggled to seem as though they weren't.

"How do you remove the link?" Hiei demanded, voicing sounding surprisingly even.

"You need the necklace it came from."

Hiei produced the chain in an instant, nearly letting it dangle from his fingers.

"Hold the jewel to the injury and the link will dissolve," Yukio said.

Before anyone could blink, Hiei was gone.

~`~`~`~`~`

Leiko and Alika came to a jarring halt as they smacked against a statue. Alika stumbled to her feet, hand pressed against her spinning head as she woozily tried to balance. This was not possible as a crazed cat demon decided to ignore any dizziness that may have plagued her as she laced her claws through the other demon's back.

Alika fell to her knees, disoriented as a pair of white-clad legs gently tapped the ground a ways in front of her before deciding to charge at her at an alarming speed. Gashes across her shoulder told her that she should have tried to dodge that one.

As quickly as she was able, Alika spun around, jumping to her feet as she took a defensive stance. If she remembered correctly, cat demons were a bunch of little psychos.

Mostly crazy.

They were also obsessively clean.

When they weren't killing, that is.

If she wasn't mistaken, they also liked having their tummies rubbed…… no, that was real cats.

"What are you staring at?"

Alika was snapped out of her kitty reveries to find Leiko looking at her strangely.

"What?"

"You were just staring off into space! I'm trying to kill you, you know."

"Oh," Alika rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "yeah, I guess I kind of forgot."

"Well, it's really distracting when the person you're trying to kill is looking at some trees right in the middle of a fight."

"Sorry."

"You'd better be," Leiko said, putting her hands on her hips.

"So……"

"So…?"

"Come here often?" Alika asked.

"Actually it's only my second time here, wait… shouldn't we be fighting?"

Almost before she could finish, a happy little fist slammed into her pretty little face. Her once pretty little face.

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A/N: Yay! I'm back, at least for this story! Sorry it got a little strange towards the end, here. As my brother would say, "It's not so much funny as it is weird."

*Oh, and to all you Rurouni Kenshin fans who have an interest in the history of it, go see "The Last Samurai." For the most part, it's pretty accurate. Our favorite redheaded samurai doesn't exactly make an appearance, but it's a fairly good depiction of Japan at the time, with lots of cultural references. Albeit, it's mine and my father's personal opinion that Mr. Tom Cruise can't act, it's still good. Sorry to all you Tom Cruise fans.

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Sorry, got carried away with the ending notes.