Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Ties That Bind ❯ Ending the Search ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 5
Ending the Search

Yomi listens carefully from his office, why he bothered to put in a window is beyond him. The lightening outside crackles with ferocity but he pays little mind, that's just how things are in this part of Makai. Shura stirs restlessly beside him, the boy can't seem to stand still for longer than a few minutes but tries so hard to be like his father, so he waits impatiently for his father to speak or move.

His discomfort is noted and ignored.

There are whispers that had reached Yomi's ears. Whispers of a blood soaked man moving toward Gandara as fast as he could, stopping only to ask the direction of Yomi. He shouldn't be worried about the man, probably a low-class looking for a fight. He should be concentrating all his efforts on finding Kurama, his second in command, his oldest friend.

Something about this man bothers him though. Surely everyone knows who he is by now? Surely everyone would know where to find him after Enki had taken control? Why was this man so out of the loop? Maybe a hundred years ago, there might have been parts of the makai where his name hadn't spread... but surely not now. Something wasn't right about this, he could taste it.

His next thought wrenches a sigh from him, Shura looking up expectantly. Usually he would ask Kurama's thoughts. His old friend rarely failed to point out a key detail Yomi had missed, or open a point of view not considered; even in the times Kurama did not have an immediate answer, there would be one in only a short amount of time. Things had not been running as smoothly in Kurama's absence. Even Yomi's own judgment is clouded by worry for his friend.

Shura releases his own sigh at looks out the window again, Yomi desperately wishes he could see the look in his sons eyes. The boy has grown a great deal since his loss at the tournament. Shura has grown to respect his old friend, going so far as to carefully study each of Kurama's masks. This was only after Shura was told who his father strove to be like... learned his calm from. Though skeptical at first, it had only taken a few more encounters with the kitsune for Shura to realize it to be true. This is the source of Yomi's perceived weakness now; his son has taken to wearing Kurama's masks and Yomi can rarely tell what the boy is thinking anymore. He knows Shura worries as he does, is restless to fight like himself, and can't bear to stand still much longer, but no more than that. Perhaps it was time to ask Shura's advice...

Perhaps not.

The labored breathing that rushes erupts on the edge of his hearing is quickly approaching at a dead run. Yomi is out of time to consider his options. He turns and calls to both Shura and Youda.

"Let this intruder into the main chamber. I am curious as to his business with me." He hears Shura's surprised gasp.

"But father..." Yomi cuts him off.

"I have not but time right now. His energy is not so great. It will be a more amusing interlude in our search for Kurama. Perhaps you wish to join me." Shura remains quiet. "No? Fine, resume starring out the window then, it makes no difference." Yomi was sure that would bring a fire to his son, but the boy just did as he was told, perhaps the kitsune's abduction had affected him more than Yomi had noticed. He would put more thought to it later.

The ex-lord walks down the halls he knows by heart slowly, taking his time and tracking the man's progress. He hears the short exchange between the man and Youda, hears Youda lead the man to the main chamber, even smirks as Youda deigns to take the man's energy level. It isn't until Yomi enters the room, 5 minutes after the others that he notices what bothered him about the man's aura.

It is repressed. He's stronger than he appears. He reeks of blood, it is strong enough to make his nose twitch; blood, grime, and dirt. Caked so thick on him that flakes off as he moves... a second skin.

Yomi is about to take action when he speaks. "Are you Yomi?" The voice is exhausted, but shouldn't be with the pent up power supply. A power limiter then. Why?

"What business have you with me?" The man smiles, Yomi can hears the muscles twitch, can hear the skin pull tight, and what he can only assume is dried blood crinkle.

"I have greetings for you, from your favorite silver haired Kitsune. Said just like that." Yomi can heart his heart beat once. It must have shown on his face, because the man continued.

"It is strange though, giving you regards from a silver haired kitsune... when the words themselves came from the lips of a red-headed human." Yomi knows the man realizes that the one giving him the information was indeed kitsune, he knows that the man is trying to prove that he had indeed been sent by the man Yomi was thinking of. He has to be sure though. He cuts off Youda's sharp inquisition with just a few questions of his own.

"Why? Why give me this information? What are you after?" The man shakes his head and teeters on his feet a bit.

"Don't worry about it. Paid in full already by that damn red-head I've known for less than a month. How he managed to do in a month what I've been trying to do for years is still beyond me, he got me out of that hell hole. All he asked in return was that I find a man named Yomi and lead him back there. I am sorry to say that I don't have the strength to do it in person right now but I can tell you the way. Even a day of rest on my part might take too long. His body was crumbling fast and that little spiky haired spit-fire with him wasn't doing so hot either." Yomi asked just one more question.

"Where?"

The man smiles, more caked on blood and dirt flaking off.

***
In the garden below, that boy, Urameshi, and Shiori are under that tree again. He knows Shiori takes comfort in the boy's presence, so he doesn't make a fuss, Shiori is a good woman anyway. Behind him, the other one, Kuwabara, is regaling his son with tales of his step son's exploits. Kazuya still doesn't know what to make of it all.

He'd known from the first time he'd met Suuichi... Kurama... whatever his name was, that those eyes did not belong to a 13 year old boy. Shori had warned him that Suuichi was a little different, acted older than his age, but that had not prepared him. He doesn't think anything could have prepared him for his first encounter with his future son-in-law. Polite and quiet spoken like his mother, and despite the femininity the boy displayed, Kazuya couldn't find anything he didn't like about Suuichi. The young man always seemed perfect. Perfect manners, perfect grades, perfect work ethic, perfect family ties... Suuichi always knew what to do and say. Kazuya had been thrilled, what more perfect example could there be for his own son?

Yet here they are, in the middle of a dessert, in another plane of existence, Kazuya using his stepson's cell phone to stay in contact with his company, so that they could continue searching for Suuichi. Or is it Kurama? A fox demon, a thief, a deceiver; could they really be talking about the same young man he has known for years? Could all of those dangerous missions have occurred without anyone knowing? They made it sound as though Suuichi had been injured badly on several occasions. Why were there no mysterious injuries? No bloodied clothes?

Then Kazuya remembers, remembers a time when Suuichi hadn't called. Shiori was out of her mind with worry. She called Kazuya, crying her eyes out; he'd come over at once, leaving his own son with his nanny. The young man had come home close to 3 in the morning soaked in blood, Shiori nearly feinted at the sight of him, he looked surprised to see her. Indeed, Shiori was supposed to be gone for the weekend but had come home early. He quickly apologized for not calling, he said there had been an accident on his way home from school and he'd stopped to administer first-aid, afterward being grilled at the hospital by police and doctors. He hadn't meant to be out so late. No, it wasn't his blood. Sorry to scare them. He was going to change and take a bath. Yes, a reheated dinner sounded lovely, thank you.

They had never checked to see if his story was true. Why should they?

Kazuya had been proud of the boy, stopping to help others in need like that. Such a perfect example of model citizenship.

How much of that blood had really been his? What sort of fight had he been in? How had he managed to come up with that story so quick? How had he hid his injuries? How?

How many times has Suuichi lied to them?

No, not Suuichi. Kurama. Kurama the fox demon, the thief, the deceiver.

So what is the truth? Where is this enigma, his stepson?

***
God this kid is hyper. How can he be so happy when his brother is missing?

Kuwabara sighed mentally and continued to tell Kurama's kid brother about the time they'd broken into Maze castle. The kid was staring at him in wide eyed wonder.

"He really split it in half with his whip!? The guy just crumbled huh!? Man, Suuichi is never this cool at home! It's always study or work..."

Kuwabara went back to his thoughts, words just rolling off his tongue and to the ears of the excited preteen. Only Suu-chan seemed interested in hearing the details of Kurama's work with the team. His mother only wanted him found, and his step-father hadn't said much of anything since they'd told him. Kuwabara had a feeling he wasn't taking the revelation well.

"Sixteen cuts!? You couldn't see any of them!? Wow! Hiei is so cool." Kuwabara felt his natural defenses rise, ones that hadn't risen for quite some time. A month to be exact. It is oddly comforting.

"The shrimp isn't so great! He's got this nasty attitude! I don't know how Kurama can stand to be around him! He glares and insults anyone who talks to him!" Kuwabara saw recognition light up in the boy's eyes, and Hatanaka turned around sharply. The boys face lights up in excitement.

"Hiei is short right!? At first he looks like a little kid!? His hair stands up straight and he has red eyes? He jumps through trees and moves really fast!?" Kuwabara nodded, wondering how the boy knows that.

"Uh here, I think I have a picture of him. Yeah! Kurama convinced him, had to hold him still though." Kuwabara pulls his only picture of Hiei out of his wallet and hands it to Suu-chan, Hatanaka looking over his shoulder, both of them look surprised. Kurama looks good, smiling and looking like his caring self, hands placed gently on Hiei's shoulders to hold him in place. The shrimp had crossed his arms and glared. Kurama insists he loves the picture anyway, it wouldn't be Hiei without the attitude. Kuwabara figures Kurama is right, after all, he usually is.

Suu-chan starts to talk excitedly, catching Kuwabara's attention. "So his name is Hiei huh!? All Suuichi ever said was that he's a friend that shows up from time to time to visit. The only time I ever went up to Suuichi's room to see him he glared at me with those red eyes for a minute and jumped out the window into the cherry tree. That was the only time I can remember Suuichi getting mad at me. He said it wasn't nice to go into other people's room's without their permission, and even less polite to intrude on a guest. He really just didn't want us to meet Hiei huh?"

"Uh... I guess." Hiei visits Kurama?

Hatanaka speaks up. "I always wondered why the first aid kit disappears every time that boy visits."

Kuwabara grins. "Yeah, the shrimp gets in a lot of fights. Before he took over as Mukuro's heir I don't think he really had a home, so it makes sense that he went to Kurama to treat his injuries. Those guys knew each other a while before Urameshi or I met um."

The man narrows his eyes. "Is that so?"

"Uh, yeah. Hiei's the one that asked Kurama to help him break into the reikai vault, 'course Kurama only did it to help his Mom out. I think Kurama felt bad about betraying Hiei though."

"You mean, when Suuichi took the hit Yusuke right? When Hiei had the sword of darkness and was trying to take over the human world!?" Damn hyper kid's eyes are as big as saucers.

"Yeah. Or at least, I can't think of any other reason Kurama would tie himself to the shrimp." Kuwabara scratched his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Reikai was gonna let Kurama off without a punishment. I mean, he didn't hurt anyone, he only did it to help his Mom, and he even helped Urameshi catch Hiei. But Hiei had planned to take over the Ningenkai. They were going to let Kurama go and execute Hiei but Kurama stopped um. He said that he and Hiei were partners and should share the punishment. Botan and Koenma thought he'd lost it but Koenma really didn't have a choice. The were re-evaluating the sentence when the trouble with the four saint beasts came up. Kurama convinced Koenma that they'd be better put to use helping me an' Urameshi than rotting in a jail cell. So they came up with the idea of paroling them with the note that if Hiei screwed up then Kurama would share the punishment. So really, Kurama saved Hiei's ass. He's kept a pretty close eye on Hiei too. Like I said, I think he felt guilty."

Kuwabara feels a strange change in the man's aura, he can't place it though. "So Suuichi has been in this mess... because he saved his mother and protected a friend."

Kuwabara got chills at Hatanaka's use of the word friend. Suu-chan laughs.

"Boy that sounds like Suuichi, maybe all this isn't so off..."

"Yes. Perhaps Kurama and Suuichi aren't so different at all. But merely separated by lies to protect his family from others."

Both Suu-chan and Kuwabara stared at Hatanaka, not really understanding what he said.

***
Yusuke's head snaps up as he moves the sleeping Shiori from his shoulder to the tree behind them. A strong aura was coming toward Tourin at a high speed. It was coming from the direction of Gandara.

What the hell is Yomi sending me a message for?

Then it clicks.

Have they found Kurama and Hiei?
_____________________________________________________________ _________________________

A/N: No rescue yet. Lol. Sorry this took a while. I'll try to get another up tomorrow err... today.

Please review!

Makai - demon world
Reikai - spirit world
Ningenkai - human world
Kitsune - spirit fox

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho nor any of its characters. They belong to Yoshihiro Togashi. The plot and original characters of this fic, are however, mine.