Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Gates ❯ Chapter 13: Gardens and a Beginning of Understanding ( Chapter 14 )

CHAP 13

Yusuke lay on his bed in his room at the Temple, staring into space, arms folded behind his head.
He couldn't stop thinking about the strange, elfin woman that had just been introduced into their group.
Those beautifully multicouloured eyes just kept popping up in his head.
What was it about her that was making her prey on his mind this way?
It could be because she was the newest member of the group that had become the 'Urameshi Team', and it could be because she was teaching he and the other guys to use power none of them thought possible.
But somehow that didn't seem right.
He was certain he definitely wasn't in love with her... he admitted to himself that it felt different. The only woman who'd ever been able to make him admit to love-type feelings had been Keiko, though neither of them had the courage to pursue their relationship any further than close friendship.
Karyuu was... different, in a way that he couldn't really place, and that was why she bothered him. She was easily the most confusing person he'd ever met, and he'd met a lot of weird people in his life, demon, god and Human alike.

He was so deep in thought that he didn't hear someone knocking on his on his door. He didn't even notice Botan walk into his room.

"Something is seriously wrong here... Yusuke actually looks like he's thinking hard..." Botan stared at the young Spirit Detective. "Perhaps he's sick..."
That needed an answer.
"Shut up Botan," Yusuke muttered, rolling onto his side to fix her with an unfriendly glare. "What're you doing in my room, anyways?"
"Koenma sent me to see if everything's okay... For a while, he couldn't get his communicator to work the day before... He seemed to think someone was blocking the signal and was worried that something might've happened..."
Yusuke scoweled and sat up, his irritability shifting into quiet worry.
"Yah... actually, there was..." He got to his feet, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Kuwabara was poisoned two days ago... Karyuu says it was one of the servants."
Botan's jaw dropped.
"Kuwabara? Is he okay?"
Yusuke nodded and sighed.
"Yah, he's fine... We got there in time... but it was kinda' close, you know?"
The Ferry Girl nodded, her expression worried.
"But a Servant... Why would they -"
"It's complicated," he muttered, waving a hand. "In short, there're a bunch of guys in the Council of Gaia... whoever the hell they are, and they're sort of pissed at her..."
"What do you mean, Yusuke?"
"It's some kind of political thing... Basicaly, the Council's trying to kill her, and us, because Karyuu's threatening their power by doing what she's supposed to be doing!"
Botan bit her lip, thinking and then pulled out her radio-compact and called-up the former toddeler.
"Koenma-sama?"
"What is it, Botan? I'm busy!"
"Well, Sir, I'm afraid there's a problem with Karyuu..."
A pause, and when the Prince responded, there was an odd note of mild concern in his voice that haddn't been there before.
"What's wrong?"
"There seems to be some kind of trouble with the Council of Gaia, and Kuwabara was poisoned -"
"Damn them!" Koemna groweled, and Yusuke saw over the Ferry-Girl's shoulder, and was surprised to find the ex-toddeler's angry face. "Is he alright?"
Botan seemed as startled as Yusuke was himself and it took her half-a-second to reply.
"He's fine, they got there in time..."
"Good..." Koenma slumped a little behind his desk on the tiny screen. "Is she alright?"
"Umm..." The Ferry-Girl glanced at Yusuke who shrugged and nodded. "Yes, she's alright... Why? Kuwabara was the one who -"
"Yes, yes, I know..." He sighed and shook his head. "Don't worry, Botan, it's an old problem... Karyuu knows what she's doing with those idiots. Anything else?"
"No..."
"Good, Koenma out."
Botan sighed as her Prince closed the link abruptly and she slipped the compact into her pocket again.
"Well... at least he asked if poor Kuwabara was okay..."
Yusuke scoffed and ran a hand through his dark hair.
"It's good to know he cares..." the Spirit Detective muttered. "And this problem with the Council's an old thing?"
She nodded, biting her lip.
"I guess so... Poor Kuwabara..."

"Yah... old Carrot-Top always manages to get into trouble... It's one of the only things he's really good at."
"Any clues on how he was poisoned?"
"Yah... Karyuu and the rest of us went out to get some groceries and we stopped to buy some candy. She bought a bag of chocolate almonds and then gave them to Kuwabara, 'cause she wasn't hungry..." his hand balled into a fist and he bared his teeth. "The old bat that sold it to her was a Servant... she poisoned the almonds when she sold them to Karyuu, and we didn't know until Kuwabara ate them... He was rolling around and stuff... All pale, like he was going to die any second..."
Botan convered her mouth with a finely manicured hand, pink eyes wide.
"Oh dear!"
Yusuke looked up and then shrugged ruefully, giving her a roguish smile.
"He wasn't hurt too bad though. Karyuu had some stuff with her that neutralized the poison, and then she made another Jewel-thing outta Kuwabara and then he was okay."
The blue-haired Ferry-Girl frowned a little and the two moved out into the main part of the Temple, making their way toward the livingroom where the others were gathered.
"That's terrible..."
The Spirit Detective paused and frowned a little at her.
"Hey, I just thought of something... Couldn't Koenma bring him back if we didn't get there in time to save him?"
Botan shook her head.
"No... The rules are different with things like that... If a Servant of Gaia kills a living being, it's taken as Gaia's will, and not even Emperor Enma will go against that... Gaia would be the only one who could bring Kuwabara back, and I'm afraid I've never heard of that happening before..." She said worriedly. "I'm so glad he's okay... I don't know what would've happened if we'd lost him..."
Yusuke didn't answer her, and in truth, he'd remained awake the entire night he'd spent at Kuwabara's house, propped up in a chair beside his sleeping friend, thinking that same thing.
This had to stop.
He didn't care how, but it had to stop.
'These jerk servants at the Council tried to kill Karyuu, and almost killed Kuwabara... Hell's going to break loose, and they try to kill the people try'n to help! How can they be so stupid?'
Yusuke and Botan made their way into the livingroom where their friends were chatting amiably.
"Hey, Botan!" Kuwabara called with a wave from where he was sitting on the couch beside Yukina. "When did you get here?"
"Just now," the blue-haired Ferry-Girl said with a wave. "How are you?"
He blinked once, the slight worry in her tone surprising him for a moment and then he grinned, looking mildly emarassedd.
"Heh, heh... You heard about that, huh?" She nodded and he shrugged. "Don't worry... I'm fine!"
"Yes, but you could have died, Kuwabara," Botan said worriedly. "Aren't you worried at all?"
The orange-haired warrior shook his head.
"Nah, not really... Karyuu's around, and she can kick anybody's butt, so if those Council jerks try anything again, we'll be ready!"
"Damn right we will," Yusuke said stoutly.
Keiko, un-noticed by the others, shifted a little in her seat and then looked away, returning her attention back to the cards in her hand.
Botan stared at him for a moment and then shook her head.
"Where's Karyuu?"
"I beleive she's up on the roof," Kurama said, glancing up at the ceiling from his book.
"Why?"
The Urameshi Team glanced at one another.
They knew why, of course.
Karyuu had sepperated herself from them for a few days, not really hiding, just distant, and they knew that she was taking the time alone to turn over her options, looking for a way to better their possiton as a group and her own role in that plan...
"Beats us," Yusuke lied with a shrug. "She likes the roof..."
*****
Hours later, at the time when the moon had set on it's first revolution of the Earth, Kurama sat awake looking thoughtfully up at the celing of the room he'd taken up at the Temple, tapping the end of his pencil on the pad of paper lieing on the little desk.
He'd spent the last two hours after his watch had ended thinking of the various herbs and plants he'd collected in secret over the time he'd spent in the Human Realm that might be of use there while he and the rest of the Urameshi Team were training under Karyuu's watchful eye.
'Things are proving more difficult than I thought,' he mused, leaning back in his chair with a frown. 'I know very little about Hell-Spawn, and from what I have heard, they very in size, weakness and intellegence almost as often as they do in species. I need more information if I'm to plan for contingencies like the one that happened to poor Kuwabara...'
Information...
Yes, that's what he needed, and Karyuu was the only one who could answer him...
He glanced at his watch on the table and considered it for a moment.
It was only two in the morning, and so Hiei would be handing over his watch to Kuwabara soon, leaving the last watch to Yusuke...
'I'll ask her tommorow...' He thought silently, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. 'All things considered, I can't afford to wait any longer for her to speak on her own about those monster's interest in Yusuke...'
But that of course, left him with the question of how to go about asking her...
It would be wrong to simply confront her with a demand for information, they'd done that far too often of late and he felt almost guilty questioning her after everything she had done for he and the Team already.
'But I have to know. This 'Quintessence' business is likely the cause of this attack as well as the ones from Hell's minions... I cannot afford to let this lie any longer.'
He sighed quietly and pushed himself back from the desk with a dull scrape and got to his feet, stretching a little of the stiffness from his back and shoulders. Karyuu had been training them hard and he was begining to feel the effects of the endless struggle with the Elements.
'Then again, if I slept more, I'd probably be in better shape,' he thought with a ruefull smile. 'Perhaps I can convince her to come with me when I go into town tomorrow for supplies...'
*****
The next morning, Kurama awoke with the others, roused as always by the soft voice of their elfin team-mate and made his way quickly to the dinning room where Karyuu was sitting, a pot of tea ready for he and the others.
"Good-morning, Kurama," she said with a smile, pouring him a cup of tea and handed it to him as he took a seat next to her. "Sleep well?"
The Kitsune accepted the offered cup of tea and smiled amiably.
"Yes, thank you..."
The two looked up as Yusuke shuffled into the room, his black hair sticking up at funny angels... and oddly enough, he was dripping wet; his clothes, hair and shoes were dark with water and he looked distinctly sour. He gave a breif morning grunt of hello and slouched into the room closely followed by Hiei and Kuwabara, both of whom were looking significantly better than their leader, being dry themselves and distinctly amused by their friend's decrepid appearance. In fact, even when dry, Yusuke never looked good in the morning... It wasn't as if he haddn't slept well, he just didn't officialy wake up until about eight-thirty, which was about three and a half hours from then.
Karyuu had noticed this oddity in the past, and had asked him once if he was feeling alright...
The elfin woman had watched him stagger unsteadily into the dining room, bash his shin on the low table on which his breakfast of Corn-Pops and cold milk awaited, hop around swearing for a while before dropping heavily onto a cushion, scoweling as he collapsed onto the cool wood of the table's polished surface with a tragic groan, face hidden by folded arms...
"Not a morning person, Yusuke?"
He lifted his head just enough to glare balefully at her over the top of his arms, brown eyes blury.
"Not a morning person dosen't even fucking begin to cover it," he grumbled darkly before burrying his face back within the safety of his folded arms...
Karyuu smiled a little, remembering the incedent and had to look away to avoid laughing at him as he ploped down on his customary cusion at the head of the table, farthest from the door, bringing with him the scent of fresh rain and wet pine-sap.
As expected, once seated, Yusuke assumed his customary morning possition, slumped forward over the table, face burried in his folded arms, virtually ignoring his team-mates as they took their seats around the table; Kuwabara on Yusuke's right, Hiei at Kurama's other side.
There was a breif moment of silence before Kuwabara leaned forward across the table, tapping Yusuke on the shoulder with one thick finger.
"Hey Urameshi," he said with an expression of mock thoughtfulness. "If you'd wake up earlier, man, you wouldn't have had to shower in your clothes..."
Yusuke narrowed his eyes at the taller man, raising is face off of the table to better face his orange-haired friend, who was now grinning at him.
"You know," the brown-haired Spirit Detective growled. "If I weren't feeling so crappy, I'd punch you right in the mouth..."
Kuwabara chuckeled and Karyuu poured her soggy friend a cup of staming tea from the pot sitting on the table.

"Bad night?" She asked, allowing the cup to glide across the table on a cusion of air until it set itself down on the wooden surface with a dull clink of glass.
He turned his attention to her slowly and then grudgingly accepted the cup of tea she had coasted to him over the length of the table. He and the others had become used to these little tricks, and in a short amount of time, they had become so used to them, they hardly noticed them anymore, even using some of them themselves as absently as Karyuu did as their training progressed and they became more familiar with the respective elements.

"Yah," the Spirit Detective muttered. "It decided to rain on me an hour or two before dawn... Stupid rain..."
Kurama chuckled quietly and reached for the milk.
"Wouldn't you be more comfortable if you went and changed into a dry set of clothes, Yusuke?"
"Why bother? I'm just going to have to change into my trunks and get wet again in a couple of minutes anyway."
"True enough I suppose..." The Kitsune paused and then frowned. "Oh, yes... I forgot to tell you. I need to go back into the city today to pick up some things I left in my house a while ago."
Karyuu frowned a little, though she remained silent.
Kurama knew the elfin woman was hesitant about allowing any of them outside the Temple grounds without her alongside, and he also knew that she didn't want to offend any of them by insisting she go along as a body-guard... Which worked perfectly with the plan he'd devised the night before.
"Would you accompany me, Karyuu?" He asked in the most casual, innocent voice he possessed. "I would like your oppinion on some of the plants I have growing in a small green-house that I really should check on."
Opaline eyes met emerald and for an instant, the thought that she might be suspicious, but his fears dissipated almost immediately as she smiled at him and nodded.
"Sure."
"Hey, if you're going into town, does that mean I can go back to bed?" Yusuke asked suddenly, seeming to brighten a little where he was sitting in soggy contemplatance of his tea.
Karyuu looked at him for a moment and then smiled a little.
"I guess so... I'd rather you were practicing or something, but -"
"Bed!" Yusuke said in an afirmative tone, cutting her off before she could finnish, and the others watched silently as he hoisted himeslf to his feet and slouched off, mumbeling, "Bed, bed, bed, bed, bed!"
Karyuu watched him go, one eyebrow raised as Kurama chuckeled and shook his head.
"I wonder about him sometimes," Karyuu muttered, watching as Hiei got to his feet before dissappearing outside without a word, most-likely to take up his customary place on the roof over Yukina's room to watch over his sleeping sister.
Both Yukina and Keiko (when she was at the Temple), had tried valiantly to get up at dawn to see their friends off, but after the first few months, they eventually gave up and simply slept until a more sane hour, rising to take care of the chores and various other tasks that needed doing around the compound, always ready with dinner for the five exausted team-mates when they returned from their training.
Kuwabara yawned widely, covering his mouth with one hand and Karyuu smiled at him, sipping at her tea.
"What are you going to do?" She asked and he shrugged, scratching at his head a little, a habbit Karyuu had noticed that cropped up when the tall warrior was sleepy. "Go back to bed?"
He shook his head and pushed himself to his feet.
"Nah... couldn't get back to sleep now, anyway," he mumbled with a sigh. "I guess I oughta practice... or somethin'..."
That was true...
Kuwabara had been laging behind in training with the Suidai... the Water Element, which was to be expected, (since he was bonded to the Fire Stone), and he recognised the need for additional practice.
In fact, he'd been spending a fair amount of time working alone in trying to keep up, Karyuu could feel him struggeling, the currents of the close energies wavering a little as he tried to gain control over it in secret, often working on small amounts of water no larger than a glass-full, when he beleived no one would notice. Karyuu decided silently to offer to help him in private as soon as she and Kurama returned.
"Alright, Big-Guy," she with a smile. "Just be careful, alright?"
He gave her a smile and with a wave, he turned and left, leaving Kurama and Karyuu alone to finnish their tea.
"He's having trouble, you know," the Kitsune said quietly. "With the Water Element..."
Karyuu nodded, taking anothers sip without looking at him.
"Yes, I know..."
"Is he strong enough to do this?" Kurama asked quietly and the elfin woman looked up at him sharply. "He's far from being the strongest of us... His heart is strong, but I'll admit he may not be able to..."
He broke off and made a vague sort of gesture that said plainly what he meant.
"Kuwabara will be fine," Karyuu said firmly. "He has a deceptively high degree of power already... he just hasn't learned to harness it properly yet... I'll be offering help when we get back."
Kurama nodded and after he finnished his tea, the two got to their feet they put on their coats and respective foot-wear and walked together along the length of the courtyard, moving through the cool morning air to the path that lead them to the bus-stop where they could board the bus that would take them to the house Kurama owned...
*****
An hour and fourty-five minutes later Kurama lead his elfin team-mate up the narrow stone pathway that lead to his front door and paused, rummaging in his pocket for his keys. She remained silent, opaline eyes traveling over the small, but imaculate front-yard, and the surprisingly healthy-looking rose-bushes.
He found the appropriate key and unlocked the door with a 'click'.
"Well, here we are," he said, pocketing his keys and pushing the door open, allowing Karyuu to enter ahead of him.
The interior of Kurama's home was exactly as she had thought it would be; clean and neat, yet stylish and accented with various scents she recognised from his clothing and from various herbs and flowers that grew nowhere in the Human Realm.
She looked around, absently pulling off her boots and setting them asside with Kurama's own shoes by the door.
"This is a nice place, Kurama."
The Kitsune smiled a little and took off his coat, hanging it in the closet before releiving Karyuu of her own heavy leather jacket.
"Thank you..."
"How long have you been living alone?"
"A year or so," he replied, leading the way into the brightly painted kitchen that lead the way out into the small, fenced-in garden that dominated the rear of his home. "I'm renting from a friend of my mother's..."
"How are you paying for this?" Karyuu asked, tracing a finger along the smooth surface of the polished wooden table with a fingertip. "I wasn't aware that you had a job..."
Kurama smiled, a little embarassed. "Well... I don't really, but I occasionally send in papers and articles to local magazienes and newspapers... They pay a small sum for anual little submitions, and I also regularily provide herbs to a little old man living in the city that pays quite well for certain herbs that are hard to find normaly in this Realm..."
Karyuu raised an eyebrow at him and he quickly moved to elaborate.
"Herbs of the healing variety, not..." He broke off, fishing for the right word and Karyuu provided it for him.
"Recreational?" Kurama nodded and she laughed, patting him on the arm. "Relax, will you?"
He laughed a little, running a hand through his unruley red hair, feeling an odd surge of guilt.
The Kitsune had intended to come here to check on his plants and retreive various valuable herbs, but he had brought Karyuu here, his team-mate, who trusted him, under false pretences, more out of a desire to sepperate her from the others and essentialy corner her in his home to get the answers he needed...
It was a dishonest kind of thing to do, and he felt badly at having to do something like this with a team-mate, who he was at least fairly certain was trying to help he and the others to the absolute best of her ability.
"So where are they?"
He blinked as he returned to the present and looked down to see Karyuu's bright opaline eyes looking up at him questioningly.
"Pardon me?"
"Where are the plants you wanted me to look at?"
"Oh... yes, here in the garden," he murmured, quickly moving to the door on the far end of the room, swinging open the screen door to admit the two outside.
As she followed him outside Karyuu's sencitive nose was immediately met with such a complicated array of scents that she was momentarily taken by surprise. It was very much like walking into a perfume store, who's entire selection was perfectly co-ordenated to complement itself.
Shrubs, herbs, bushes, and vines propigated themselves throughout this little inclosed space, and there were various little green-houses constructed in several partialy-hidden areas which housed the more delicate, 'exotic' sort of plants he presumeably wanted her help with. The plants he had growing in a greenhouse situated just outside the kitchen, nestled amidst normal, incrediably healthy plants, and Karyuu bent low, looking at a particularily healthy-looking Sakura sapling that was perhaps two or three years old, but had grown to the height of a tree that was about six or so years old, a soft smile on her lips as her opaline eyes trailed over the smooth dark bark and the rich green foliage sprouting from the slender branches.
"This is the happiest little garden I think I've ever seen," she murmured. "Every plant in here is singing..." Kurama's eyes went a little wide in surprise and he watched as she leaned forward a little and touched her ear to the trunk of the tree, eyes closed, listening intently. "There's something odd about them though... A level of conciousness that's normally beyond plants this young..." She paused and looked up at him suddenly, opaline eyes swirling with a miriad of greens, blues, browns and the colours of the bright blossoms of the many different plants surrounding her. "You've been feeding them your own energy..."
Kurama felt his cheeks heat just a little... an odd occurance for him, since he didn't normally blush, but meeting Karyuu's bright opaline eyes, he suddenly found himself feeling rather embarrassed at having her discover that the wonderfull sucess his garden was due in part to cheating.
"Well... yes, I have..." He said with an almost guilty smile. "For some of these plants, especially the ones from the Demon Realm, they need extra help to survive in this Realm."
She nodded and got to her feet, turning to face him.
"Of course they do. The soil of the Demon Realm is different from the ones found in the Human Realm, so the certain energies they require would have to be suplemented."
He nodded and looked away, directing her attention to a patch of herbs he had brought to that Realm in secret growing in one of the little green-houses he had built to accomodate them...
*****
Two hours later, Karyuu had answered all of her demon companion's questions and even provided him with some ideas and suggestions that would help him in the future.
And so they retreated indoors, where Kurama presented his elfin friend with the list he had composed the night before which listed all of the herbs he could think of that might be helpfull in some way. Ranging from healing herbs to almost instantaniously lethal poisons, the list clearly desplayed her gentle friend's extensive knowledge of plants in both the Human and Demon Realms.
'Impressive... I can understand why he was... and is so greatly feared in the Makai...'
She made a few additions to the list, and presented Kurama with the idea of building similar green-houses at the Temple, and raising a few of the most important plants there, so that there would be a continuous supply.
All in all, the Kitsune had enjoyed this exchange emencely, surprising himself with how... nice it was to be able to discuss his love of plants, botony and botonal chemestry with someone who really understood what he was saying, and not only that, was able to tell him things that he haddn't known before...
In fact, it had been so enjoyable, that he had almost forgotten why he had asked the opal-eyed Servant to accompany him in the first place.
"Well... before we head back," Kurama said as casually as he could, setting the bulging back-pack down beside the front door. "Would you like a cup of tea, Karyuu?"
She paused and then nodded, smiling in that strangely gentle way of her's.
"Sure, I'd love some."
He moved to the stove and picking up the steel kettle, filled it with water from the near-by sink and placed it on the burner before turning the propane on, lighting the burner with a light burst of Fire, and was rewarded immediately with a destinctive 'whoof'. The ever-polite Kitsune then retreived a package of sweet biscuts he located in a cubboard, (one of the few remaining groceries that remained in the house since he had cleaned out the majority of the food he had and brought it to the Temple months ago), and set them out on a plate before her as she sat politely watching him.
He took a seat near to her and offered her a biscut, which she accepted before he took one himself, and nibbled on it absently.
Normally, he didn't have trouble thinking of things to say, especially when he wanted to obtain information... But now, he was at a loss, unable to think of how to even begin questioning his elfin team-mate...
"So... what was it you wanted to ask me, Kurama?" Karyuu asked suddenly, with such casual ease that for a moment, he was thrown completely off guard.
"Wha... I mean..."
A knowing smile touched her lips and he looked away.
"You've been holding off on asking me something for a while now," the opal-eyed woman said in a coaxing tone. "And I think you origionaly brought me here to try and satisfy your curiosity without actually saying anything. Am I right?"
A few a moments passed before Kurama looked up to meet Karyuu's gaze.
"How do you do that?"

Karyuu's head cocked to the side, her expression puzzled.
"Do what?"

"You always seem to know what I'm thinking," he said, green eyes narrowing a little at her thoughtfully.

She laughed, and nibbled at the biscut he had given her.
"Call it friend's intuition."

Kurama scoffed.
"That sounds more like mother's intu... ition..." he broke off, emerald eyes going wide very suddenly. "Oh shit!"
The elfin woman raised an eyebrow at him.
"Tsk, tsk... Such language, Kurama..."
"I'm sorry," he said automaticaly as his brow furroughed in thought, missing the amused grin on his friend's face. "That's it, isn't it?"
She smiled at him and nodded.
"Mmm, hmmm... I'm close to Gaia and she knows everything... literaly... I can... feel things better than you can. I can't read your mind..." she smiled a little. "Alright, I could, but I'm not, and you would notice if I was because of the link we share."
"Then how..."
"It's just perception... I sence that you're nervous, and you weren't telling the entire truth when you asked me to come here today to help you with your plants, so I assumed you wanted to speak to me privately about something... Looks like I was right..."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kurama could hear his demon-half laughing at him.
He felt his cheeks heat just a little in embarassment and he shifted a little in his seat, the vague thought that he should be asking her the questions and not the other way around, passed through his mind before he shoved it aside.
'Karyuu is very intellegent, and it was foolish to beleive that she wouldn't notice my odd behaviour...' A slight, ruefull smile touched his lips. 'And I've been acting very strangely...'
Outside, the sky had begun to darken, and the scent of coming rain caught Karyuu's attention as an approaching shower made it's pressence known.
"Well? What is it you want to know?"
He raised his eyes and would have smiled guiltily if the seriousness of what his efforts at subterfuge (if however unsucessfull) had been intended to gain him.
The best course now was straight truth and honesty...
And hopefully, she would grant him the same.
"I know about the Quintessence," he said quietly, watching as Karyuu became very still for a moment, regarding him with her opaline eyes as he produced the folded peice of paper Kuwabara had printed out at the library weeks ago. "And I'd like to know why you weren't truthfull about it."
The elfin woman looked at him silently and then extended her hand, and he gave her the paper, which she unfolded and read quickly.
A long moment passed and she sighed, bowing her head a little, thinking before a low, tired chuckel escaped her.
"Sneaky Fox..."
"Actually, it was Kuwabara who found the information," the Kitsune said evenly. "He and Hiei found it several weeks ago..."
"You haven't shown this to Yusuke." It was more of a statement than a question and as she raised her head to look at him, he was mildly surprised to find confusion in her eyes. "Why?"
"We suspected that whatever reason you had for lieing before about what 'Quintessence' that Bone-Devil beast was searching for was a result of your attempts to protect us... specifically Yusuke. We were willing to wait for you to bring it out into the open on your own terms, but in light of recent events..." He left it hanging and she nodded, glancing down at the paper again. "You can understand why I need you to answer..."
Karyuu smiled a little and looked up, handing the paper back to him.
"I can understand it," she said quietly, her expression firm, and expression that seemed strange on her face. "But I can't -"
"Please, Karyuu," he said quietly. "This is important. I need to know why the Armies of Hell are hunting Yusuke. He's my team-mate, my leader and my friend. I owe him my life on several occasions, as well as the life of my mother. I will do everything in my power to protect him if I can, and to do that, I need to know what's happening."
The secretive measures Kurama had put into effect to corner her there were subtile, and well-done, and if it weren't for his sudden failing, he might have been able to catch her more off-guard. But now that his origional intentions were in the open, exposed so suddenly under Karyuu's sences, the Kitsune knew his chances at sucess had fallen to about ten-percent, and were failing rapidly.

The elfin Servant regarded him silently for a moment, her opaline eyes giving him the unsetteling impression that she was looking right through him and into his very soul, though he felt no intrusion on his mind at all.
Beats passed and then she got slowly to her feet and it was only then that Kurama realized that the kettle was boiling, as he watched her pick up the whisteling thing and set it on an unlit burner before turning off the blue flame with the twist of a knob.
"It's complicated..." she said after a moment of silence. "You aren't supposed to know yet, none of you are."
"Why?"
"There are some things... certain information, that Yusuke needs to find out on his own... or at least, neither you nor I are supposed to spill the beans. If he finds out too early, it could throw things for a cosmic loop, and then we're all screwed."
"I don't understand," Kurama said quietly, getting to his feet to retreive the small container of tea he had in the cubboard, spooning several table-spoons into a small tea-pot with the water Karyuu had poured into it seconds before. "How could knowing that the Bone-Devil, and more specificaly the Aremies of Hell, are after him be damaging? Wouldn't it be a wiser course of action to let Yusuke know, and allow him a chance to defend himself?"
The two team-mates moved back to the table as Kurama set the teapot down on the wooden surface, pouring each of them a cup of the staming green-tea he himself had made.
"That's one problem, Kurama. He can't defend himself, and I'm not strong enough to defend him on my own..." She shook her head and sighed. "But that's dosent matter. Whether he can defend himself or not is beside the point..."
"Then what is the point, Karyuu?" Kurama asked with a frown.
Honestly, he was having a great deal of difficulty trying to understand the elfin woman's reasoning, mainly because he still haddn't gained any signifigant information out of her.
A look of tired frustration touched her face, and he was striken for a moment at how... difficult this was for her...
'Clearly, she would rather tell me everything, and yet she remains silent... Why? What could be keeping her from divulging the infromation that could help us all to keep Yusuke and ourselves safe?'
"Look... All of you, Hiei, Kuwabara, Yusuke and you, are very special, even in the cosmic sense. But Yusuke... Yusuke's different... Unique, you could say."
Kurama smiled a little and nodded.
"Yes, I know. He has a way about him that's different from any other I've ever encountered... In this life or my old one."
She nodded, though he could tell that what he saw in Yusuke was only a glimpse of what her opaline eyes could see in their friend...
"He's important... Very important..." she murmured, siping at the tea in her hands. "There's a wealth of power residing in him that any force, especialy a military one, would identify as a tremendous asset, which is why Hell is so interested in him."
"That's reasonable," he murmured, sipping at his own tea. "But that fails to explain why Yusuke shouldn't be informed of his value. If anything, I would think it was all the more insentive to tell him as quickly as possible..." Opaline eyes met emerald, as Karyuu pleaded silently with him to let the matter drop, but the Kitsune would not be thrown off that easily. "Wouldn't it, Karyuu?" He persisted, and she sighed, looking down at the polished surface of his kitchen table.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because it's better that he didn't know that yet."
His eyes narrowed a little at her.
"Is it because you're afraid that Yusuke would betray us?"
Karyuu scoffed.
"No."
"Is Gaia afraid?"
She acutally laughed at that and shook her head, taking another long sip of his home-concocted tea.
"No. Gaia knows Yusuke's nature even better than you or I. Betrayal isn't a part of his nature, and never could be."
"Then what is it?"
"It's better that he didn't know, that's all."
"That's hardly an answer, Karyuu."
"I know."
This was the most frustrating thing he had been forced to endure for a long time, and it was all he could do not to throw up his hands in frustration.
But before he was able to formulate another angle of attack, Karyuu drained her cup and set it down on the table.
"We'd better go."
She got to her feet quickly and before he had rinsed out the teapot, the plate and the two cups they had used and set them in the drying rack, Karyuu had put on her boots and pulled on her heavy leather jacket, and was standing by the old hiking backpack he had gathered his herbs, medicines and various plants into that was sitting by the door.
Kurama came forward, still frowning as he tried to find another way to glean even a shred of usable information out of his team-mate as Karyuu looked up at him calmly, watching as he pulled on his shoes and retreived his jacket from the closet.
"Why do I have this persistant feeling that you aren't telling me everything that you could?" He asked finally, giving up all attempts at subterfuge and manipulation as he pulled on his coat over his sweater, freeing his long red hair with a flick of his wrist. "That you're leaving things out that you could tell me, that have nothing to do with Yusuke or your orders?"
She smiled at him primly, an expression made in an attempt to lighten the tension of frustration that had built up between the two team-mates.
"Because you're a pessimist my friend," she said arily, and laughed as his frown deepened and she moved to the door, but before she could open it, she felt his hand on her arm.
The elfin woman turned and looked up at him quizzicly, seeing something strange in her friend's emerald eyes.
"What aren't you telling me Karyuu?" He asked quietly. "What are you hiding?"
She looked at him for a long moment and he thought he saw a flicker of regret there.
"Look, Kurama... I know neither you, or Hiei, or Kuwabara are used to just following orders blindly, especially if they're from someone you've never met, given to you by someone you don't really know that well, but you have to understand... this isn't something I can just tell you. There are circumstances I -"
"Karyuu," he said in his quiet voice, pulling her toward him and away from the door, placing both hands on her shoulders, eyes questioning. "Can't you trust me enough to tell me anything? Even after all you've said today, you only ever told me things I already knew, because you knew that I had already guessed that much... You and I are team-mates and I've come to think of myself as a friend of yours over the last few months... Can't you trust me just a little?"
"Kurama, I -"
For a moment, he thought she might have given-in, but as she broke off suddenly, he became aware of a very faint, barely perceptiable whisper seeming to come from nowhere, like many voices speaking at once on the very edge of his hearing in a language he couldn't recognize or understand. Karyuu seemed to hear it as well, and she turned her head just a little, her right ear giving a slight twitch as she listened attentively.
After only a moment, she nodded silently and the whisper faded as quickly as it had come, leaving only the normal sounds of cars, wind and birds outside and the silence of his home.
'That was Gaia...' He thought with an inward start. 'The whisper was Gaia... I could almost hear Her...'
"I'm sorry, Kurama..." Karyuu said quietly. "I'm not allowed. Please, understand... It isn't a matter of trust... You just aren't allowed to know yet, that's all... You are my friend, and if this was anything else, beleive me, I'd probably let you in on it. But right now, I can't let any of you know... Not yet."
He looked at her searchingly and she felt the flutter of his mind trying to glean some information from her though his own telepathic talents which she firmly blocked. After several moments, he gave up, but his frown remained.
The red-haired demon knew it wasn't her fault; her loyalty to Gaia's command and her desire to keep he, Yusuke and the others safe was keeping her silent, but still, it was frustrating.
"Soon?"
"Eventually."
He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Eventually?"
She shrugged.
"It's the best I can do."
He sighed and let his hands fall away from her shoulders and stuffed them in the pockets of his trousers.
She gave him a pained look and turned and opened the door and stepped into the hall, backpack in hand, closely followed by the pensive fox-demon.
"It isn't personal, Kurama and it isn't because I don't trust you," the elfin woman said as he closed and locked the door behind him, hefting the duffelbag full of his mothers clothing and some small food items she had requested from her cubboards. "When I do tell you, you'll understand why."
His frown lightened very slightly as he realized at that moment that she wanted to tell he and the others what she had been hiding, but she felt she had to keep it from them... and he had a feeling that it was to protect them.
Kurama, smiled a little, though his eyes still betrayed his concern.
"Do you ever stop trying to protect us Karyuu?"
A single blink was the only indication of her surprise at his understanding before she winked at him and they continued down the street thought the gently blowing wind that promised the coming of rain.
"Well that is my job you know..." she siad with an airy smile.
He laughed and the two walked though the wet streets, heedless of the surprised and even grouchy looks of the normal, every-day humans around them who where huddeling in their coats, hiding from the cold rain that was fast approaching.