Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Game ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

I sat on Kurama's windowsill, watching him. He was sitting at a desk in one corner of his room, writing something. Every once in a while he would flip the pages of a book that was sitting to his right.

He was leaning on his left elbow as he wrote, his long red hair sliding over his shoulders to pool on the desk. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the scene.

I could tell that he knew I was there, and he knew I was watching him. He seemed to enjoy the fact that I liked looking at him. Vain youko.

"Hn," I finally said, announcing my presence. "What the hell are you doing?"

He looked up, green eyes weary and shining. "Homework," he answered, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear and leaning back in his seat to regard me.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, smiling.

I looked away. He really shouldn't ask me questions like that. "Gouki has proven his incompetence. He was of no use in finding any information, so I'm going to have to take care of it myself."

Kurama stood up and walked to his closet. He began pulling clothes out.

"Does that mean you're going to have to make a trip to Makai?" he asked, his back to me.

"Yes."

He began unbuttoning his shirt. I was becoming very uncomfortable.

"Do you want me to come with you? I haven't been to Makai in a while, sixteen years to be exact, but you should have someone with you to watch your back."

I snorted. "There isn't a youko in all of the three worlds that I would trust at my back."

Kurama grinned and pulled off his shirt, revealing a lean and muscled chest. I held my breath.

"That's probably for the best," he said, smiling a smile that left no doubt as to what he was. How did he manage to fool all these humans? It was so obvious that he was no ningen.

"Still," he said as he pulled a t-shirt over his head. "I would like to see Makai again. See if anything's changed. Do they still talk about me?"

I nearly laughed. "Everyone thinks you're dead."

He sighed. "That's the way I wanted it, but it's still embarrassing. Youko Kurama is not so easy to get rid of."

"I'll remember that," I said, then added, "Meet me in the clearing after your ningen school tomorrow."

I was in the middle of training when Kurama stopped by. I had lured a few demons out of the Makai and to the clearing so that I could use them for… practice. As I think back, I know that I probably should have warned Kurama.

I stood in the center of the clearing as the demons circled around me. There were six of them, some exotic type of demon that I was mostly unfamiliar with. I had picked them purposely so that I would be unaware of their various abilities, and would be forced to get used to fighting opponents that I knew nothing about.

They were large, and would have appeared to be human if not for the trail of spikes that started at their foreheads, then led down their backs to end in a long, dangerous looking tail. They also had spikes trailing down their arms. Those were the ones to watch out for, I was sure, because they could be swung like a sword. The tails would most likely prove to be equally dangerous as well.

One of the demons lunged at me, arms out with the spikes pointed toward me. In a move too fast for the youkai to follow, I ducked, allowing him to sail over me. As he did, I slashed upward with my katana, catching his leg and bringing him down in a trail of blood. He lay on the ground, moaning, and I finished him quickly.

The five remaining demons were now watching me warily, a new measure of respect in their eyes. They had underestimated me by assuming that my strength was equal to my size. They would not make that same mistake again.

They began circling again, and I realized that they fought as a pack, which meant they had a leader. If I could figure out who the leader was, and kill him, the others would be defenseless.

I watched as they circled, and in the split second before the next two attacked, I saw as their eyes glanced toward another one of the demons, the largest. He gave a barely perceptible nod, and then they attacked.

I smiled. There he was.

The two came at me at once, and I dodged the spikes of one while landing a low downward kick to the other, hearing the satisfying crack as his knees broke. He howled, and I thrust my katana into his stomach, then wrenched it out and twisted it around, feeling it connect with the other demon that had come up behind me to avenge his companion.

Three down.

The remaining three once again circled, always trying to get at my back. I was too quick, and kept my eyes on the largest one. The leader.

This time I didn't wait for them to attack. I had a strategy now.

I lunged toward the leader, and he blocked my katana with his spikes. His tail swung around at my legs, but I leaped into the air above it, and it swung harmlessly past. While I was in the air, I kicked out, high enough to catch the demon in the jaw. He clutched his jaw and glared at me, stunned, but not out.

I landed back on the ground in a crouch, and swung my leg out in a horizontal arc, sweeping his feet out from under him. He hit the ground hard, and in an instant I was back on my feet. In seconds, his head was no longer connected to his body.

I turned to look at the remaining two demons. They were staring at me in disbelief. I frowned. This had been too easy.

With a flick of my wrist I sent my katana flying, and it lodged itself in a nearby tree. I would fight these two without a weapon.

One of the demons ran at me, spikes flying and anger evident in his eyes. But his movements were wild and unplanned. It was just as I'd thought. Without their leader, they were unable to coordinate their attacks.

He swung his arm, hoping to catch me with the thick spike on his wrist. I blocked it with my own arm, avoiding his spikes and connecting with the vulnerable part of his wrist. I felt the bone break from the jarring impact. I was far stronger than these demons. It was almost sad.

The demon didn't seem to notice the pain. A split second after I blocked his wrist blade, he swung around with his tail. He twisted his body, putting more strength behind the swing. It would have worked beautifully if I'd been unable to dodge, but unfortunately for him, I did. And swinging around the way he had, while it did give his tail strike more force, left his vulnerable back to me. I kicked him in the small of his back, and heard his spine break.

Before I even had time to look for the other demon, I heard a pained sound from behind me. I turned to find Kurama, with his back to me as he faced the other demon, which had just thrust a dagger into Kurama's thigh. A dagger that had been meant for me.

I hadn't even known Kurama was there.

I couldn't see the look on Kurama's face, but I could practically feel the hate in the glare that I knew he was directing at the demon. The smile that had been on the creature's face faltered as Kurama stopped shielding his youki and the demon realized that this was no mere human he was facing.

Kurama wrenched the sword from his thigh, not even making the smallest sound of pain.

Suddenly, the tree behind the youkai came to life, and the thick bark surrounded the poor creature. Its entire body was engulfed in the wood, except for its head and torso. Kurama calmly strode forward, then plunged the knife into the demon's chest.

I stared, mouth hanging open. When Kurama turned around, the usual youko playful look was still in his eyes.

"That was fun," he said. "But you almost got yourself killed."

I realized what he meant. That demon had meant to stab me in the back, and I'd only been saved because Kurama had taken the blow for me. I had gotten too wrapped up in my fight with the other youkai, and had forgotten about the remaining one.

Kurama suddenly sat down on the ground, injured leg bent so that he could examine it. His white pants were now soaked with his own blood. He tore the hole the dagger had made in his pants bigger, so that he could get a better look at the wound without having to remove his pants altogether.

"…Why?" I asked hesitantly as Kurama summoned a large Makai flower, then cracked open the stem and poured a thick liquid out of it and onto his wound.

Kurama kept his attention on his work as he said, "This flower has healing properties. It won't completely heal the wound, but it will make it a lot easier to deal with, and it should stop the bleeding."

"Not that," I snapped. I didn't understand this youko. In all of my hundreds of years of life, I had never met anyone that would risk their life for me as Kurama just had. Why would he do that?

I made up my mind as I quickly yanked the white cloth off of my Jagan and stepped purposefully forward. My Jagan opened, spilling forth a deep purple glow, and Kurama's gaze snapped upward as he felt the rise in my youki.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his eyes wide as he stared at my third eye.

"I'm going to ask you some questions," I answered. "And I want you to answer them truthfully. If you don't, you will die."

He nodded, uncharacteristically serious.

I allowed my Jagan to push into his mind just a little bit. I held up a slight wall, blocking out his thoughts and memories. I only needed to be able to sense whether or not he was telling the truth. I didn't want to violate his mind completely.

But even though I only entered into a tiny corner of Kurama's mind, I was nearly lost at the vastness I felt. This creature was ancient! And even as I tried to block his thoughts and memories, I was still overwhelmed by a deep feeling of… sadness. And loneliness. I had expected a playful, almost primitive mind. Instead, I found that not only was he incredibly intelligent but, more than anything, he was lonely.

As I finally overcame my astonishment at what I found inside Kurama's head, I remembered my purpose for entering that realm in the first place.

"What are you trying to do to me?" I asked sternly.

I felt genuine confusion radiating from his mind as he said, "I'm not trying to do anything to you."

He was telling the truth.

"Fine," I said. "Then… why are you treating me this way? As if we're… friends. I can sense that you're looking for something. What do you hope to find in me?"

His beautiful green eyes watched me intensely as he answered, "Good."

I snorted as I closed my Jagan and replaced the white band, though I didn't let on as to how much his answer had affected me. "Good?" I asked. "Well, feel free to look, but you won't find any."

He shrugged, then stood back up, suddenly ready to get down to business. "Well, now that you've had a near death experience and gotten the opportunity to poke around in my head, would you mind telling me why you asked me to come here?"

I nodded as I walked over to the tree that still bore my katana. I wrenched the blade free, and slid it back into its sheath.

"You said earlier you wanted to accompany me to Makai. I seem to remember you mentioning something about watching my back?"

A faint smile crossed his sly lips.

"Is the offer still open?" I asked, carefully not looking at him.

He raised an eyebrow, and my breath caught in my throat at his beauty. Every expression he made, every subtle change in his attitude, made me want to jump him. Actually, every single thing he did made me want to jump him. Damn it, Hiei, get a hold of yourself!

"I thought you said there wasn't a youko in all three worlds that you'd trust at your back," he said, his voice mocking.

"There isn't," I answered. "But I might just settle for a half youko, half human."

He seemed to like that response, and said, "I assume you have some sort of informant in Makai?"

I nodded. "I know of a demon that claims to have worked with an oni that spent time serving Keonma in the Rekai palace. The demon has agreed to tell me what he knows, for a price, of course."

"You have money?" Kurama asked, seeming surprised.

I smiled. "Of course. I am a thief, after all. Still, if I don't have enough, there are thousands of rumors floating around Makai of Youko Kurama's infamous lair, which contains too many priceless treasures and artifacts to imagine. I'm sure you wouldn't mind… sharing."

Kurama gave me another sly smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about."