Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Kurama no Kanojo ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Back on the slope of Mt. Hiei . . .

"Hiei, use your jagan and see if you can choose the fastest and easiest path up the mountain."

"Alright. If we continue on this path, it should get us there in no time."

"Good." `Wait for me, Sakura. I'm coming. And whoever kidnapped you will pay . . . with his life!'

Back to the foot of Mt. Hiei . . .

"Keiko, what're you doing here?" Yuusuke asked, surprised.

"I came to see if you're okay. Ara? Where are Kurama, Hiei, Yukina, and Sakura-san?"

"Sakura and Yukina were kidnapped. Kurama's really pissed off and is on his way up to the peak with Hiei."

"Oh. I hope Yukina and Sakura-san will be okay."

"Keiko, why don't you go home for now? It's really dangerous here. We could be attack at any time."

"He's right!" a voice shouted from the trees.

"Who's there?" Yuusuke shouted.

"Genbu of the Saint Beasts!"

"And Byakko of the Saint Beasts!"

"Damn! Looks like Sakura was right about the guy having a cloning machine."

"Kuwabara . . . I'll kill you this time! You will not get away with what happened last time!" Byakko roared and charged towards Kuwabara.

"Reiken!"

"Baka! Did you forget what happened last time, Kuwabara?" Yuusuke shouted.

"I still beat him anyway! Take this!" Kuwabara sliced at Byakko only to miss.

"Horizontal Boulder Explosion!"

"Botan, get Keiko out of here!" Yuusuke looked for the glowing red stone that Kurama destroyed when he fought the original.

"Right! Keiko-chan! Let's move!"

"I think not!" a third voice said.

"There's three of them?" Botan asked. "Hmm . . . I know!" She summoned her oar. "Keiko-chan, hop on!" Keiko got on behind Botan.

"You won't be getting away! Demonic Door Freeze Punch!" Botan and Keiko were frozen by the attack. "I am Seiryuu of the Saint Beasts. I will be taking these two girls with me. Genbu, Byakko! We're going back to our master! Go to the peak of Mt. Hiei if you want these two girls back. We'll be waiting for you."

"Tiger Fireball Attack!" Kuwabara and Yuusuke dodge the attack. The ball crashes into the ground and explodes, sending up a huge cloud of dust. When the dust cleared, Byakko, Seiryuu, and Genbu were nowhere to be seen.

"Urameshi, let's go! I will get those guys for messing with Yukina-san!" He looks around to see that Yuusuke was already ahead of him. "Wait up, Urameshi!"

Back to Kurama and Hiei . . .

"Kurama, wait a second. A think I see something off over there . . . no! It's Keiko and Botan. They've been frozen! And it's Byakko, Genbu, and Seiryuu who are carrying them."

"What?! What's Keiko doing anywhere near here? In any case, I guess we should be expecting Yuusuke and Kuwabara not too far behind."

"So you're saying we could clear the way for those two?"

"That's precisely what I'm saying. We don't know how many flunkies this guy has, but we can expect to see some old enemies. The more the better."

"True, but say that after you've won!" a voice said from the trees.

"Who's there?" shouted Kurama.

"You don't recognize me? It's Uraurashima, I've come to finish you like I was supposed to in the Ankoku Bujutsukai!"

"This'll be easy. Hiei, step aside. This one's mine."

"Oh? You seem to have overlooked someone!"

"Kuromomotarou? Hmph . . . have you come to get killed again?" asked Hiei.

"No, you're the one who's going to die this time!" Kuromomotarou crushes a Kibidango and inhales the stuff inside it, transforming him into the Monkey form.

"That again? Bah . . . give me a break! This should be more than sufficient. Jaoh Ensatsu Ken Rengokushyo!" Kuromomotarou goes flying back towards a tree, enveloped in flames. He comes to rest on the ground as a smoldering heap. Meanwhile, Uraurashima has trapped Kurama in his fishing- line net and opened the Anti-Tamatebako.

"You know, you really shouldn't have tried that again. I think your memory needs to be refreshed as well," Youko Kurama said.

"Don't be so confident. This is an even more concentrated form of the Past Life Seeds mist. The clock reversal is permanent this time!"

"Oh really? Then I better get rid of you, fast. Rose Whip!" Kurama charges towards Uraurashima and decapitates him in one stroke, cutting through the net as well. The mist disseminated, but Kurama did not transform back into Minamino Shuuichi. "Looks like he was right . . ."

"Kurama! You didn't transform back!" Hiei exclaimed as he walked over.

"I know. He said that the clock reversal is permanent. The concentration was quite high. Oh well, it's really no big deal. I'll find the antidote to this later. Right now, let's continue to climb the mountain."

Back to Yuusuke and Kuwabara . . .

"Kuwabara, are you sure this is the right way? There's way too much of this sharp thorny brush here!"

"Trust me, Urameshi! Walking through mazes is one of my specialties. Remember that I made it to the tree first in Genkai's disciple tournament! This way may be covered by thorny brush, but it is the way with the fewest enemies! We'll get there much faster this way."

"Kuwabara, quiet! I think I hear something up ahead!" The two peek around a tree. There, they see a group of youkai sitting around a fire. As Kuwabara shifted his position to see how many there were, he stepped on a twig and snapped it.

"Who's there?" one of the youkai shouted.

"My, my, my, and how many of you are there?" Yuusuke asked as he and Kuwabara stepped out from behind their respective trees.

"More than enough to take care of you two!"

"I think not! Reiken!" Kuwabara jumped into the fray, slicing and dicing youkai into pieces.

"I'll take you all out without breaking a sweat!" Yuusuke shouted as he jumped in as well, punching and knocking out youkai.

Several minutes later . . .

"Well, that takes care of those losers!" Kuwabara said as he continued onward. Yuusuke followed shortly after.

Back to Kurama and Hiei . . .

"How nice of him to give us a welcoming crew," Hiei said as he saw the massive hoard of youkai surrounding the entire base with his jagan.

"In that case, why don't we go right on ahead and meet them? It'd be rude of us not to," Kurama stated. He reached into his hair and pulled an innocuous looking blood red rose and walked out of the shadows. "Hi, we were wondering if you'd just let us through without a hassle. Perhaps you could lead us to your leader as well? We have a little business we'd like to settle with him."

"Oh my god, it's Youko Kurama! Run for your life!" one of the youkai shouted.

"It doesn't matter who it is, we can't let them through to the boss! Attack!" the leader shouted. All of the youkai rushed forward at his command.

"Oh, well, I guess we'll just have to fight our way though. Hiei, you with me?"

"Of course. Since when have I backed down from a fight?"

"Never, but I guess I already knew that. Let's take them all out! Rose Whip!" Kurama and Hiei rushed through the massive hoard of youkai and killed them all without even breaking a sweat. "Well, that was easy enough. I wonder where Yuusuke and Kuwabara-kun are. They should be here any minute now, especially since Kuwabara-kun should be able to lead Yuusuke away from most of the traps and youkai. Let's wait here for them."

Meanwhile, back in the enemy base . . .

"Curse that Uraurashima! I thought I told him not to use the Anti- Tamatebako unless he was absolutely sure he'd win! But, then again, what was I to expect from a bumbling idiot like him? All of you go and get into position. Our first group of guests have arrived."

"Yes, master," all the youkai in the shadows said.

"Hahahahaha! At this rate, Kurama and Hiei will be dead and my vengeance on behalf of all youkai will be complete!"

"You wish! Kurama won't die that easily! He'll kill every single one of your losers!" Sakura shouted.

"Yeah, and don't expect Hiei to go down easy either!" Botan agreed. Botan, Keiko, and Yukina had been put in the same cage as Sakura and were now closely watching the security televisions, hoping that they'd be rescued.

"And when Yuusuke gets here, you're gonna wish that you hadn't kidnapped us and put us in this cage!" Keiko added.

"Yes, and Kazuma-san will do the same!" Yukina agreed.

"Oh, really? When they see how I've improved their old opponents from the Ankoku Bujutsukai, they'll see that it's futile to fight against me! Absolutely futile!"

Back to Yuusuke and Kuwabara . . .

"Urameshi, what's this? It looks as though someone slaughtered a massive hoard of youkai here."

"Of course. It took you two long enough to get here."

"Kurama? What happened? And why are you transformed into Youko Kurama?"

"A little run-in with Uraurashima caused this. He used an extremely concentrated mist of Past Life Seeds on me, so now my clock is permanently set back. I can do something about this later. Right now, let's go in. I want to make the loser who kidnapped Sakura pay."

"But what about Keiko, Botan, and Yukina? Were they brought here as well? We were told to come here as well, but we're not sure if this is the right place," Yuusuke said.

"Don't worry, Yuusuke. This is the right place all right. I saw Seiryuu, Byakko, and Genbu head up this mountain way ahead of us a little while back with my jagan," Hiei replied.

"Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Kuwabara said.

"Anyone see a doorbell anywhere?" Yuusuke asked as he looked around for a way to open the door. Just then, the door opened all by itself to reveal a huge foyer with four separate staircases, each leading towards a different corridor.

"Welcome to my base! Ah, Kurama, nice to see that you're well. It's time we settled this, little brother, no? (General look of shock on all of the kidnapped girls and Hiei, Yuusuke, and Kuwabara's faces.) You've been an ignominy to our family as well as to all youkai. Since mother and father aren't alive to execute you, I will, that is, if you can get through to me. Each of you is to head down a hallway. All four lead straight to me. I will not ensure the safety within these hallways, since this is such a big base and I don't have enough money to hire enough security! I'll be waiting for you at the control room! If you don't make it . . . (four female voices scream in unison)"

"Damn that b******! I should've known it'd be him all along!" Youko Kurama cursed as he looked at each of the staircases. "Kuwabara-kun, choose the staircase that has the weakest youkai in it. Hiei, Yuusuke, and I can take care of whatever's in the other three."

"Okay. The one with the weakest youkai is the fourth one if you counted them from left to right. The toughest one is the first and second ones. Both have strong youki pouring of them. The third one seems to have medium strength youkai in it."

"I see . . . I'll take the first one; Hiei, you take the second; Yuusuke, you take the third; and Kuwabara-kun, you take the fourth. Whoever gets there first will keep my brother busy. Kuwabara-kun, no arguing about it. If you go down any of the others, you may get killed. That wouldn't help any of us, including Yukina. Everyone got that? Good luck and let's go!" All four of them went up their assigned staircases.

Back to the control room . . .

"I thought you looked familiar. I thought you'd died a long time ago," Sakura said as she glared at him.

"Oh, but I haven't kicked the bucket yet. Once my little brother's dead, I'll make you mine, and there's nothing you can do about it. As for the rest of you, I think I'll just make you all my slaves."

"Koenma-sama wouldn't stand for that!" Botan shouted.

"Oh, so you're one of the Guides to the Reikai. I think I'll just hold you for ransom. Oh, what shall I ask Koenma for? The Ningenkai, the freedom of all of the imprisoned youkai?"

"Keep on dreaming, loser! Kurama, Hiei, Yuusuke, and Kuwabara will make it here! They won't lose to the scum you've put in those hallways!" Botan replied.

Chiriko smirks. "Oh yes they will. You just watch these TVs and see . . ."

Back to Kurama . . .

Hm . . . so far it's been nothing but a really long walk. I felt some really strong youki pouring out of this corridor, but so far, nothing. Wait a minute, what's that up ahead? Kurama cautiously walked through a doorway and into a darkened room. The door instantly shut behind him to enshroud him in complete darkness. Better be careful, Kurama. It wouldn't hurt if you brought out the Rose Whip . . .

"Welcome to my room, Minamino Shuuichi-kun. Or better yet, Youko Kurama. This time, I won't just kill you; I'll kill your mother as well. Yes, your mother's being followed again. And this time, you can watch her die while you breathe your last breath."

Meanwhile, back to Hiei . . .

Where is this tunnel leading? I must make that b****** pay for kidnapping Yukina! No one, absolutely no one gets away with kidnapping my younger half-sister. Wait a minute, better be careful, Hiei. There's someone ahead of you. Better get ready to fight him . . .

"Hello, Hiei. Nice to see that you're alive and well. You won't be after I'm through with you! I've been wanting a rematch ever since you killed me in the Ankoku Bujutsukai!" a voice said as Hiei entered a room.

Meanwhile, back to Yuusuke . . .

So far, all this has been is one long walk! What does Kurama's brother intend to do? Walk us to death? At this rate, I'll be a hundred years old before I reach the end! A doorway with dragons sculpted into it? Could it be . . . Seiryuu?

"Welcome to my room, Urameshi Yuusuke. I, Seiryuu, master of ice, shall be the one to kill you!"

Meanwhile, back to Kuwabara . . .

I must rescue Yukina-san! I must rescue Yukina-san! I will never forgive myself if I don't! Now, then, who's that up ahead? Kuwabara runs into a room and finds someone standing in front of him.

"Kuwabara Kazuma. Your life will be mine! I, Miyuki, the first of the Sankishu, will kill you!"

"You wish, you cross-dressing b****! Reiken!"

"I thought you didn't fight girls!"

"Yeah, but as I recall, Urameshi figured out you're a guy! So, it still doesn't matter! I, Kuwabara Kazuma, shall defeat you in the name of Yukina- san!"

Meanwhile, back in the control room . . .

"Well, they're quite persistent, but I don't think they'll be defeating these guys. I made sure to upgrade them when I cloned them."

"Don't be so sure! Kurama won't lose! You'll be begging him to spare you when he gets here! You can bet your life on that!" Sakura shouted from the cage.

"Oh really? Why don't we keep watching then?"

Back to Kurama . . .

"Rose Whip! You never fight fair, do you, Roto?"

"Of course not! What's the point in fighting fair when you can cause more trouble by fighting unfairly?" Roto replies as he makes his Kamaitachi appear on his right hand. He takes a huge swipe at Youko Kurama, who hops back and received a shallow cut to the abdomen. Youko Kurama then whipped the Rose Whip towards Roto, who blocks with the Kamaitachi. "Oh, and by the way, I think you already know this, all I have to do is to press the button before your mother dies."

"Oh, I already knew that. That's why I planted a shimaneki seed on you the minute I heard your voice."

"That can't be! There is no way you could have done that! You're bluffing!"

"There is one way you can confirm that, but if I did, you wouldn't live."

"What the . . . why can't I move?"

"Do you need me to explain this to you again?"

"Please, don't kill me!" Kurama walks up to Roto and snatches the controller from his hands, destroying it as he squeezed it.

"I don't think so. Actually, that was just some paralysis pollen that I dispersed when I walked in. So, now I find myself at a crossroad. Should I let you go? Or should I decapitate you and give you a quick, clean death? Or do I just let the pollen paralyze all of your muscles until you suffocate because your diaphragm will be paralyzed in another five minutes?"

"Or you could just give me the antidote!" By now, the paralysis had spread to his legs, and Roto was lying on his back.

"I think not. I think I'll just let you die by the pollen. There's no point in trying to fight it; it'll only make it worse. But, if you insist, I guess I could be generous and let you die in your sleep . . ."

"Yes, please, I'll do anything, just make it painless!"

"Forget it. I think a painful death is fitting for you; after all, this is the second time and if you can't figure it out that you're no match for me, then that's your problem. Besides, I can't let anyone live after threatening my mother." With that, Kurama walks out of the room to leave Roto lying on the ground to suffocate to death. As Kurama reached the door, Roto's mouth started to gasp for air like a fish out of the water. A few moments later, he was dead.

Back to Hiei . . .

"Oh, well, now who are you?"

"Nani?! Am I that insignificant to you, you short little pipsqueak?"

"Of course. Now, remind me again, who are you?"

"I am the mighty Makintarou! You killed me before I could even show you what I'm capable of! You shall die now for that offense against me!"

"Oh, so you were that baka from team Urashima? Well, I guess I'll just kill you again!" Hiei suddenly disappeared and cuts Makintarou in half before he could even react. He reappears at the exact same point.

"Oh, and what was that supposed to do?" Makintarou asked.

"You'll see." Just at that moment, blood spews from all around the cut as the top half of Makintarou falls to the ground. "Hmph . . . that takes care of him. I wonder who's next . . ."

Back to Yuusuke . . .

"Ahh . . . Seiryuu . . . I remember you. You were the one Hiei killed in a series of about sixteen cuts, no?"

"Grrr . . . Yes. I was hoping to fight Hiei, but I guess you'll have to do! Demonic Door Freeze Punch!" Yuusuke easily dodged the attack and returned several punches of his own before leaping back.

"Feh . . . what a pathetic attack. Take this instead! Reigun!" The reigun hit Seiryuu, who was still recovering from Yuusuke's punches.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Seiryuu shouted as he was blasted to pieces.

"That was easy enough. Now, to save Keiko and Botan!"

Back to Kuwabara . . .

"In the name of Yukina-san? Where do you get your lines, Z-Grade movies? In any case, I'm gonna kill you for what your friend did to me!" Miyuki charges forward and pulls his fist back to punch Kuwabara. Kuwabara easily dodges under the attack and makes an attempt to gut Miyuki. However, Miyuki had guessed that Kuwabara would try something like that and kicked Kuwabara hard in the guts to spring backwards to land in front of him. "Give up, and I'll give you a quick, clean death."

"Forget it! Yukina-san is counting on me to go rescue her! I'd never give up as long as you're holding her prisoner! Besides, all of my friends would never forgive me if I just gave up! Take this!" Kuwabara charges with his Reiken held back. Miyuki dodged the first few attacks, but was not prepared when Kuwabara suddenly punched with his free hand. Miyuki goes flying back to hit the wall, where he slides to the ground, unconscious.

Back to Kurama . . .

Now then, let's see who is in Room No. 2 . . . Kurama calmly walks in, prepared for anything. The room was filled with a thick fog.

"Kurama . . . how nice to see you again. You know, I've always thought that you cared more about Sakura than me. I guess I was right."

"Kuronue, no, it can't be you. There is no way you could be wearing your pendant when the chain broke while we were escaping from the Makai Palace. Besides, you have always known how I've felt about Sakura. I told you that there is no competition between you and Sakura. Sakura was my girlfriend, but when it comes to being just friends, you were just as important to me as Sakura was. So, I have no qualms against fighting you. You're not the real Kuronue at all. You're just a nameless chameleon who takes on the shape of others to take advantage of your opponents. Besides, the real Kuronue would have been glad to see that I was alive and well. Only a fake would try to kill me."

"Oh, really? In that case, let's just forget the formalities!" The fake Kuronue disappears into the mist to attack Kurama by surprise. Kurama, on the other hand, only stands still and kept his senses extra sensitive to pinpoint the fake's position.

"So, there you are," Kurama said as he turned around and flicked his whip in that direction. He pulls on the whip to find that it was wrapped around the fake's waist. The fake Kuronue had returned to his 'true' form and was now wincing in pain as the thorns of the whip dug into his skin. Kurama suddenly jerked the whip towards himself, cutting the fake in half. Blood dripped off of the thorns of the whip as it went through the fake's waist.

"How . . . did you . . . know where . . . I was?"

"It was simple. You attacked me from behind the last time we fought. It was only natural that you chose to attack from the same angle. Kuronue died a long time ago, but he sacrificed his life so that I could live. I guess some people and youkai just can't understand that." With a flick of his silvery hair, Kurama turned around and walked out of the room.

Back to Hiei . . .

Hmm? A smokescreen? Who is in here anyway? Hiei walked into the room to find himself unable to see more than two feet in front of him.

"Hahahaha . . . It took me long enough to recover from the Ankoku Bujutsukai. I was hoping I'd get to finish what I started there when I was fighting Kurama. I guess I won't get the chance to. But you'll be good enough."

"Bakuken. I remember you. You were the b****** who insisted on beating up Kurama even though he was unable to fight back. I'm sorry, but as Kurama's friend, I cannot let you live for what you did," Hiei said as he pulled the bandanna off of his forehead to reveal his jagan. He opens it and sees that there are ten Bakukens surrounding him. "Creative, making more than one clone of a person to fight me. But that won't help you at all. I'll just have to kill all ten of you."

"There is no way you could have seen through my smokescreen! No matter . . . I'll just kill you anyway!" All ten Bakukens rushed forward to attack Hiei. Hiei simply took out his sword and sliced through all ten Bakukens as they approached him. "How did you . . .?" all ten asked as they died.

"That is for me to know and you to never find out, unless you get cloned again."

Back to Yuusuke . . .

What the-? Yo-yos? But how? Yuusuke entered the room to find eight yo- yos zooming towards him. He dodged all eight with ease. "Who's there?"

"Oh, just me," Rinku said.

"Rinku? What're you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Chuu?"

"No, not at all. The real Rinku is off somewhere. I'm just his greatly improved duplicate. My goal is to exceed the real Rinku and then kill him. I will then continue to live his life. However, in order to do so, I must kill you first!" Rinku sent his yo-yos towards Yuusuke. Yuusuke simply rushes forward and jumps around the yo-yos to land behind Rinku. Yuusuke punches Rinku, who goes flying back towards the wall. Rinku manages to right himself and bounces off the wall to attack Yuusuke with his yo-yos again.

"Oh no, you don't! Those yo-yos aren't going to touch me! Reigun!" Yuusuke's reigun crashes into the yo-yos, sending up a huge cloud of dust as the floor gets destroyed in the process. Three yo-yos appear from the cloud of dust to wrap around Yuusuke's neck.

"And now, you die, Urameshi Yuusuke."

"Forget it!" Yuusuke pulls on the strings of the yo-yos, surprising Rinku. Rinku goes flying towards Yuusuke. "Reikodan!" The strings break as Rinku gets flung into the wall and slides down to the floor, unconscious. A bloody dent and trail indicated where Rinku had hit the wall and slid.

Back to Kuwabara . . .

How much longer is this hallway going to be? I want to get to the end of this tunnel right now! I must rescue Yukina-san! Ara? Another room? Uh- oh, more youkai. Better get ready, Kuwabara. Kuwabara enters the room to find it filled with youkai. "Get out of my way!"

"Never! Die!" All of the youkai charge towards Kuwabara in a group attack.

"You wish! Reiken!" Kuwabara rushes into the youkai's group attack, slicing and dicing youkai into pieces as he went. Some of the youkai dodged his sword, but most ended up getting slashed into pieces. After a while, they started to retreat and run out of the other side of the room. "Get back here, you losers!" Kuwabara shouted as he chased after them. He had to carefully skirt the pools of blood as he chased them, since he'd killed most of them.

Back to the control room . . .

"Damn it! This is what I get for not making them powerful enough! But, then again, they did do their job. Now, little brother, let's see you pass the final test. If you do, you'll get to fight me . . . again."

"What's he talking about, Sakura?" asked Botan.

"A thousand years ago, Kurama got into a fight with his brother about what to do with their parent's dead bodies. His parents had been killed by a rival group of youkai. Kurama wanted to bury their bodies, but his older brother didn't want to. The two of them ended up fighting each other over it. Kurama won, and he went to bury his parents in a bamboo forest. I remember all of it like yesterday. I went with him to bury his parents. It wasn't like Kurama was really upset over it, he was just doing it out of respect for them."

"I see . . . so is that another reason why he's after Kurama?" asked Keiko.

"Probably. Knowing him, he won't give up until Kurama's dead. Of course, that isn't the only reason. As he said earlier, he views Kurama as a disgrace for cooperating with Urameshi-san and Kuwabara-san. That's the other reason."

"How acute of you to figure out all of this, Sakura. However, you may as well say sayonara to my little brother. He won't win this next one. I made sure of it."

Back to Kurama . . .

Hm . . . there's a very strong person in the next room. I can't even see the door to it and I'm already feeling the person's ki. This isn't good. Better get out the Rose Whip, Kurama. You don't know who's in there . . . Kurama thought as the door to the next room appeared. Nani?! There's more than one person in there? This can't be good. Whoever it is, he's powerful . . .

~To be continued~

Kurama no Miko2003: Ooooh cliffhanger! Okay peoples, read `n review! Or just read. Either way, READ!!! And I'll post another chapter.