Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Torn Apart ❯ Growing Pains ( Chapter 11 )

Torn Apart by: Sakura

A/N Okay, I lied. This is not gonna be an alternate ending fic. I wanted to, I really did, but with school and all, I just won't have much time for this fic; and I have a bunch of new ones lined up anyway.

~*~*~*~*~

As night fell upon the Makai, the tensed feeling Hiei had been experiencing since morning begun to swell rapidly. Raizen and Kuyo had devised a plan in order to kill off Yusuke and his team. What they hadn't told Hiei was that he was also on the list to be killed.

"Assassinate them and leave no evidence behind," that's what they told him. The only evidence of their demise would be Hiei's living, breathing body.

"It's beginning to rain," Hiei said bluntly.

Raizen smirked, rubbing his clawed hands together. He seemed to be enjoying this a little too much. "Great. The water falling onto the hot rocks of my territory will create thick smog that will give you some cover."

"Cover from what?" Hiei asked quietly.

"Cover from Yusuke, of course," Kuyo said. "Think like a ninja, Hiei. Make their deaths inaudible and quick."

"I'd prefer not having to kill them at all. How will this all benefit me?"

"Hiei, Hiei; surely we can't be talking about the same people. Yusuke's been nothing but a nuisance to you since the very beginning, you've said so yourself," Raizen explained. "Why, if it weren't for my troublesome son, you'd be seeing out of both your eyes."

Raizen knew he had struck a nerve. He watched almost amusedly as Hiei fingered the small scar around his blinded eye. Hiei looked somewhat frustrated that he couldn't see his own hand when it was two centimeters from his iris. The youkai removed his hand, and stared at Raizen coldheartedly; he was more looking through Raizen than at him.

"Fear not, young one. Soon, Yusuke and his friends will no longer be a burden to you...."

~*~*~*~*~

"Yusuke, don't you think it's about time we continued to look for Hiei? Though he didn't say it directly, I know he was planning on coming to the Makai to aid us in this mission."

"I'd like to believe you, Kurama, but I truthfully want nothing more to do with him.... It's not like we need him here anyway," Yusuke said, looking at the unconscious form of the youkai they had been sent to take care of.

"I mean, think about it. The guy's practically locked up in the temple all day, and he never bothers to help us take care of these guys. So to me, Hiei's no longer our friend."

"How can you say that, Urameshi? Sure, Hiei can be an ass sometimes, but you can't just go back on a friendship; at least not like that."

"That's something coming from you, Kuwabara. And I know you'll agree with me when I say that this all started because of Hiei. He was the one being an ass; he was the one who got himself injured, and then blamed me because of it; and let's not forget that he's also the who's been made Raizen's puppet. He killed so many people!"

Kurama sighed, sitting himself on a tall boulder. He ran his fingers through his hair and stared at the ground. He knew the tension between them was fierce, but he couldn't allow Yusuke to go about it wrongly.

"But Raizen was making Hiei kill all those humans..., and you know that Yusuke." Kurama now seemed to be staring daggers at Yusuke; he looked like the fearsome Youko.

"Look, can we not talk about Hiei for two seconds? I'm gettin' soaked here!"

Yep, that was Kuwabara. He too could feel the tension in the air, and making a comment such as he had, would temporarily end their discussion. And it did. It seemed, by the look on Yusuke's face, that he was eternally grateful for Kuwabara's interjection.

Kurama gave a smile; he knew what Kuwabara had done (whether the ningen knew it or not). He was just thankful for the interruption.

~*~*~*~*~

"What did you do to me?"

"Now, now. I was sitting here watching you sleep. You wouldn't want to be tired when your friends came over, now would you?

"And where's Kuyo?"

"Your father left some time ago, Hiei. You know how sluggish a change in weather can make you."

Raizen was right- the reason Hiei had fallen asleep was because the heavy downpour of rain had made him feel very listless; as was the fate of fire demons. Hiei felt embarrassed because he had fallen asleep in Raizen's presence, but that was merely the least of his worries. He had asked Raizen what he had done because he now had a throbbing headache. It was unusual for him to feel such pain, especially since he thought he was becoming immune to Raizen's mind tricks.

"What's wrong with you?" Raizen asked bitterly.

Hiei turned to him, his face now contorted with pain. He let out a small whimper, and felt himself begin to sway. Through squinted eyes, he could see Raizen watching him fearfully, and then turned his head in the opposite direction. Raizen had undoubtedly seen or heard something, but all that Hiei was hearing was the deep drumming ringing in his head.

"Hiei!

The sound echoed in head, an unfamiliar voice.

~*~*~*~*~

"Where are you going? Raizen's fortress's this way!"

"I know that."

"Then what--?"

"I need to stop by an old friend's"

Yusuke frowned. What was Kurama up to this time? It was he who convinced Yusuke to aid in Hiei's rescue, and now he was going to meet an old friend? As they continued to run, Kurama turned to see Yusuke and Kuwabara staring at him. He smiled and ushered them into what appeared to be a thick field.

"Here it is," Kurama said after a while.

They stood in the center of a small village. The village looked old and run-down. Most of the huts were mostly burned, or filled with drafty holes.

"What is this place?" Yusuke asked, looking around the village.

"This is where I grew up as a child.... As a kitsune cub," Kurama corrected. "It sure has changed since I left."

"What did you expect after the war? After you left, I had to rebuild the village alone."

Kurama turned around to face a young kitsune (about half his age) with black, shoulder-length hair, and lovely cobalt eyes. She held a giant scythe in her right hand. The she-fox leaned her weapon against a nearby village hut, crossed her now-free arms, and casually walked up to Kurama and his companions.

"It's been a while, Kurama," she smirked.

Kurama stared, bewildered, at the kitsune in front of him. "Yukita-chan?"

"I told you, it's Seika. Just Seika." The girl unfolded her arms. "I never cared much for formalities, Kurama."

"Why do you look so surprised to see her, Kurama? This is the friend you came looking for isn't it?" Kuwabara looked from fox to fox, as if trying to find something hidden.

Seika's black ears perked up. "What, you came looking for me, Kurama?" Her innocent face then hardened into a deep scowl. "What for? You said yourself that you would never need me for anything. Why should this time be any different?"

There was an awkward silence that followed, which was broken by Kurama's deafening laughter. Seika's ears flattened against her head, as she found nothing less funny. Kurama covered his mouth with a hand to try to be polite, but he was finding it difficult to stifle his laughter.

After a few moments, he said, "I'm sorry, Yukita-chan. I've been under a lot of stress these past few months...it just felt good to hear your good humor again."

"But I wasn't-"

"Now listen, it would mean the world to me if you could help me with a favor. My good friend Hiei has been taken prisoner by Raizen," Seika's eyes widened, "and we could really use your stealth skills to infiltrate the castle."

Without a moment's hesitation, Seika answered, "Of course, Kurama. I'll do anything to hurt that bastard Raizen." Aside, Yusuke winced. "I'll have to call Haku."

Uhh-excuse me, who's Haku?" Kurama asked.

"My husband!"

~*~*~*~*~

"So, that Seika girl, she's a friend of yours?"

"That's right; we grew up together. She was a lot younger when we met....I'm more than twice her age," Kurama smiled.

Kuwabara frowned, "How's that? She looked only 16."

"You're forgetting that I was reborn as a human. I'm about 15 years younger than I should be."

"And what about in demon years? Surely you're older than 32?" Yusuke asked.

"Kitsunes don't think too much in demonic years. We like to deal with ningen years, because their small and make us feel younger." Seika smiled as she entered the hut. With her, she brought a husky fellow, with long white hair, the strangest purple eyes with tints of green, and tall, pointed ears like a water imp.

"I'm guessing you're Haku?" Kurama asked, politely.

"You'd be right," Haku said gruffly. "So, you've gotta be Kurama?"

"That's right," Kurama said, standing up to shake hands. "I'm sorry, I can't keep this to myself any longer: Yukita-chan, when on earth did you get married?"

Seika smiled reminiscently. "Right after we were attacked, and you left, I ran into a group of dirty bandits. They saw great potential in me"-she smirked, blusteringly-"from when you used to train me. They then promised to train me, as long as I married Yomiko's son (he's the bandit leader) when I was of age. The night I turned 105, Haku and I wed."

"So, it's been that long then?" Kurama said, looking down.

"Okay, I know you guys are having a great time reminiscing and all, but shouldn't we be worried about the matter at hand? We need a battle strategy!"

"Oh, that's a good one coming from you, Kuwabara," Yusuke said, grinning.

"But he is right; I'm sorry."

Kurama sat down again, leaning himself against a wall of the hut. They needed to decide on a plan, a way to rescue Hiei from Raizen without getting into any trouble along the way.

~*~*~*~*~

He was lying on cold, hard stone; that much he could tell. His head throbbed worse than ever, and his body felt as though he had beaten himself up 100 times. Hiei opened his eyes, and groggily tried to sit up.

It was then, that he realized that he was tied down by many wires connected to machines. He recognized one to be an oxygen tank. He shuddered; the thought made him sick to think that he had been hooked up to so many contraptions. He tensed as he heard footsteps nearing the big, metal door beside him. It slid open.

In walked a panic-stricken Kuyo; he was sweating a lot, and it made his black, shaggy hair stick to his face and neck. He was panting a great deal too. In all, he looked worse than Hiei felt.

When he walked in and noticed Hiei sitting up, he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Oh, you're alive. I was...worried."

Hiei scowled, "Bull, you weren't worried a bit."

At this, Kuyo smirked. "You truly are your father's son," he said proudly.

Hiei did not agree with his statement, but he was much too tired to put up a front. Instead, he decided to change the subject.

"Damn, you look like shit," he said malevolently. "Maybe you really were worried about my well-being."

"Heh, don't flatter yourself, kid."

"Whatever." Hiei tried to sneer, but winced, and decided to ask what was on his mind. "D'you mind telling me why I'm hooked up to all these machines?"

Kuyo let out a few chuckles, before regaining his cool. "You had an allergic reaction to Lord Raizen's telepathy."

~*~*~*~*~

A/N Can you believe it's been six months since the last time I updated this blasted catastrophe? Well, six months and three days, but who's counting?

Anyway, as you noticed, a new character has been added to the already long list of characters for this fic. Okay, I lied...two characters were added. These lovely people were thought up by my adoring fan, Lady Vaoh. She rocks. Her characters were so much fun to make. She simply just gave me a synopsis of A LOT of her characters, and I made them my own; I gave them a personality. How fun!

Y'know, I really need to make up my mind about what to do with this story. I keep saying the last chapter is coming, yet...it never does. It just goes on, and on, and on, etc. But someday, the final chapter will arrive, and I will be sad when that happens.

Okay, I'm boring you, so go on, and leave the poor author alone to live in her shoe. Peace out, you guys! Happy [insert holiday choice here]!!