Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Kitsunebi ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Yuu Yuu Hakusho nor do I make any money from this piece of fan fiction.

 

Reader Warnings: Shounen-ai (AKA Slash, M/M), lime, pairings: Hiei x Kurama, Yomi x Kurama, Yuusuke x Keiko, Kuwabara x Yukina

 

AN: Don't worry, we'll get back to the action soon enough. I know several of you have expressed an interest in seeing Yomi get his comeuppance. I assure you, it's coming. I only hope that when we get to it, you guys will like it. In the meantime, a little more exposition: just think of it as the calm before the storm.

 

Kitsunebi

Chapter 8

 

The rest of the day went by smoothly, once Yuusuke and Kuwabara had learned that Kurama was once more in the realm of the conscious, it was almost impossible to keep the two away from his room. And of course, such good news was impossible to keep from Botan, who had called in once an hour throughout the prior day, so it did not take long for her to show up at the temple, along with a message from Koenma wishing Kurama well. So, with a note of mild annoyance on Hiei's part and appreciative smiles on Kurama's part, they were now seated in the room - except for Hiei, who was standing by the wall - figuring out what their next move should be.

 

“I know what your question is,” Kurama starts, preempting the others, “but first, I owe Botan an apology.” Catching Botan's look of confusion, he continues. “I am aware that I may have attacked you a few days ago while I was in my fox form. I did not mean to harm you, but given my state of mind, I saw almost everything as a potential threat. While it is not much of an excuse, please know that you have my most sincere apologies.”

 

The other three men in the room inwardly groaned with relief and exasperation. They knew that Kurama must be well on his way to recovery if he could give such an eloquent and wordy apology. Hiei, though, could not resist sending the snarky comment that had bubbled up in his mind as he heard the fox apologize. And you wonder why you get courted by humans of both genders.

 

“Oh!” the ferry girl exclaims, mildly embarrassed at the lengthy apology, “Don't worry about it. I healed myself; it's all better.”

 

“Now then, back to business,” the fox says, “I know you want to know what happened. To be honest, I remember very little of it myself. But let me start from the beginning.

 

“About two and a half weeks ago, Yomi sent me a messenger with a message sphere. In it, he was asking me to return to Gandara to be his advisor once more; that, now the Makai Tournament has proven - as he had suspected - to be an unreliable means of choosing a new leader, he was going to do it himself. And that he needed my help for it. My first reaction was, of course, to turn him down. But then he proceeded to threaten my human family, even mentioning that he knew of where they were and could most certainly kill them even though Koenma had granted them protection. He even went so far as to introduce himself to my mother earlier that evening while I was out, just to prove a point. I had no choice but to go and see Yomi, intending to tell him that enough was enough and that if it came to blows between us, so be it. It would not have been the first time that had happened.

 

“When I arrived, though, Yomi had decidedly different plans in mind, insisting that we eat before we got to the meat of the discussion. I was a bit distracted, expecting him to ambush me; he even made a show of eating and drinking everything first just to prove it was not poisoned. What I had not counted on, though, was that he had gone so far as to build up a physical tolerance to Sleeping Angel pollen to get me. I did not know it was in my food before it was too late. But by then, I was far too deep in the influence of the pollen to keep myself from collapsing.

 

“When I came to, I was weak; Sleeping Angel pollen weakens the victim first by making them sleepy, but it compounds its effect by also draining the target of their ki.” Here Kurama pauses, not wanting to voice what came next. Taking a deep breath, he continues, unable to keep his bitterness, his hatred, from his voice. “That was when Yomi put that accursed necklace on me. It bent me to his will, and no matter how hard I tried to resist, my body just went along.”

 

As though to signify that was all there was to say, Kurama looks up, eyes betraying none of his emotion. “I guess I should thank you, Hiei for cutting that damned thing off of me. Who knows what would have happened otherwise?”

 

The words hung in the air as silence fills the room. After a few moments, Yukina enters the room, but from the stiff manner she was standing, all four men knew something was wrong. A long blade agonizingly extends over her throat from a hand belonging to an unknown visitor, and as she looks down at it, there was no mistaking the fear in her eyes.

 

“Who are you, and what do you want?” Hiei growls, already crouched into an offensive position, ready to launch himself and the perpetrator.

 

“I have a message for you from my master. He says that you are to return his,” here, the messenger stops maximum effect, “betrothed to him, or he will start a war for supremacy in the Makai. A war that he will most certainly-” The messenger was suddenly cut off as his arm fell limp to his side. Hiei wastes no time in snatching Yukina away as the body fell dead to the ground, revealing a characteristic yellow beam. Emerald and chocolate eyes trace the beam back to Kuwabara, who had taken advantage of the messenger's inability to see to quietly manipulate his Reiken around the room.

 

Kurama's eyes contained traces of gold as they coldly narrow. “Clearly, it is time I put an end to this farce.”

 

“Fox, you're not going there alone,” Hiei starts.

 

“It is my business and mine alone,” Kurama's voice was cold as ever, and left no room for argument. “None of you have anything to do with the grudge between him and me. Therefore, none of you have any say in the matter.”

 

“You forget, Kurama,” Yuusuke good naturedly says, “that I am now ruler to a quarter of the Makai, and Hiei heir to another quarter. I'd say we have plenty of say in the matter.”

 

Botan, who had remained silent, speaks up, “Let me go talk to Koenma about transportation, get you guys in closer to the castle.” With that, the ferry girl opens a portal for herself and disappears.

 

“After what happened last time, I'm not letting you go back in there alone,” Kuwabara answers, fully expecting the fox to concede.

 

Kurama, though, was not happy with this turn of events, and his already frayed nerves from knowing what he had almost done, and having that truth be revealed in such a manner, made him snap. “Just because I made one small mistake the last time I paid Yomi a visit does not mean I need babysitters for the next one!” he shouts, eyes flickering between emerald and gold. Realizing what he had just done, Kurama stands, walking towards the door. In a far softer and more neutral, but still tense voice, he says, “I need some air,” and leaves the room.

 

Yuusuke and Kuwabara move to chase after the fox, but Hiei flits in the doorway, blocking them. “Leave him be. Just give him a moment. He needs time.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Kurama regretted the words that came out of his mouth mere milliseconds afterward. He recognized that his friends were simply concerned for his wellbeing and wished nothing more than to back him up on what could potentially be a fatal encounter with Yomi. As the fox wanders further and further away from the temple, memories began to surface, ones that he thought he had long buried in his heart, along with the brutal coldness that Youko Kurama was known for. Yomi. Back when they first met, Youko Kurama struck fear in no being's heart. They were just a ragtag group of thieves itching to make it big, to become famous, feared, and renowned. Between Yomi's fighting abilities and Kurama's talent for breaking seals and picking locks, they were well on their way.

 

They were inseparable then. Best of friends, some would say. Lovers? The interest was most certainly there, Yomi had tried more than a few times to get the fox into bed with him, but Kurama was hesitant to turn his “business” partner into something more. But one night, Yomi had finally had enough, and confessed his feelings for the fox. And Youko Kurama, being the cold, calculating bastard that he was, solidly turned down the goat youkai, even as he made plans to go to the nearest brothel and rent a few companions for the night.

 

It was that confession that finally drove them apart. Yomi, in an earnest effort to gain the fox's love and admiration, was already leaning towards recklessness in the heists prior. And after that fateful confession, he became downright suicidal, as though he no longer cared whether he lived or died. It was at that point that Kurama closed his heart to the goat youkai forever. Enough was enough, and all that was left was for the fox to kill Yomi.

 

But no matter how hard he contemplated, how hard he tried, how hard he steeled his heart to be frozen and cold to Yomi, he found that he could not kill Yomi himself. Not after their decades of working together. Not after their friendship, even though it had dissolved into an uneasy truce in the few years after Yomi's confession and Kurama's firm rejection. So, Kurama did the next best thing: he would hire an assassin to do it for him. That way, he would not have to look into Yomi's eyes as he lay dying. He could avoid having the blood of a friend on his hands.

 

And when Yomi failed to return a few nights later, Kurama could only stare off across the valley from the cliff side entrance of their hideout, wondering if he had made the right decision to spurn the goat youkai's advances to begin with.

 

To be continued . . .