Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ YYH DS 7:Trust ❯ One-Shot

HieiWannabe: This one takes place in Maze Castle, while the stairs are collapsing under Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei.

Wynne: HW doesn't own YYH, and she still isn't writing anything that deserves a warning. I'm getting bored with this routine.

HieiWannabe: Hey! Don't say you're bored with anything having to do with my stories! That's bad luck!

Wynne: Oops, sorry. *whispers* Please don't erase my character, please don't erase my character...

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YYH Deleted Scenes Part 7

Trust

A violent tremor shook the castle, causing the crumbling staircase to drop several pieces of broken tile into the black abyss below. As the shaking grew worse, the three boys standing on the stairs flung their arms out to keep their balance.

Kuwabara looked behind himself as the bottom stair broke away, joining other rocks as they fell from the cracking walls beside him. To his horror, the tremors had broken the section of staircase that he, Kurama, and Hiei stood on away from the tower wall. Clearly, their temporary haven was quickly becoming a death trap.

The orange haired human turned his head back to the front. Ahead, he should have seen the stairs curving to the left as they climbed Suzaku's tower, but instead there was only empty space. Only two or three steps remained in front of him and his allies; they had had to halt when the steps fell away before them with hardly any warning.

Kuwabara looked up, trying to measure the distance to the next section of staircase with his eyes. "Hn," he grunted, unconsciously imitating his short rival. 'That's at least six meters. There's no way we'll make it,' he thought, a small prickle of fear rising in the back of his mind.

Trying to keep the panic from his voice, the boy addressed his partners. "Hey, how are we supposed to get to Urameshi now?"

Kurama pursed his lips, unable to think of a plan. Behind him, Hiei spoke up. "Kurama, can your Rose Whip reach the next section of stairs?"

The reincarnated youko ran a hand through his ruby tresses and extracted a small seed. Pouring his ki into it, Kurama quickly grew the seed out into a long, green whip. As the other two looked on, Kurama kept growing it out, coiling the whip as he did so. Once he had a suitably long vine, the redhead nodded at his friend.

"Alright," said Hiei, pulling out his sword. Mostly for the human's benefit, he continued, "Wrap the whip around the hilt, then swing up to the ledge." That said, the fire demon threw his sword up, burying it deep into the stone step above them.

Kurama twirled his whip and released it, successfully lassoing the sword-hilt. Turning to his friends, he quipped, "Needless to say, hold on tight."

As another tremor shook the tower, Kuwabara glanced dubiously at the slender vine. "U-u-uh," he stammered, "Are you guys sure we can reach that ledge this way? It's pretty far up."

He had been expecting a cutting remark about his wavering courage, but instead the two demons turned tense faces up to the far stairs. Their lack of confidence only made the burly teenager even more nervous.

Hiei grunted softly in thought. After a moment, he suggested, "Alright. You two swing up. If it looks like you won't make it, I'll give you a boost."

'Wow, I never thought I'd see Hiei so concerned about me!' Kuwabara thought. 'I wonder if it's partly because Urameshi asked him to take care of us while he fought the last guy?' Feeling a little silly, he wrapped his arms around Kurama's neck, then paused. "Hey, how are you gonna make it up, then?"

The koorime boy smirked at the ningen. "I don't need any help."

Growling, Kuwabara shook his head and muttered, "Hasn't changed a bit."

Kurama smiled at the short exchange as he tugged on the whip, making sure it could support the two's weight. Satisfied, he asked Kuwabara, "Ready?" At his fellow redhead's nod, the fox backed up a step, then sprung off the steps as hard as he could.

The two boys swung so fast they barely noticed the far wall's rapid approach. With twin grunts, they caught themselves with their feet braced against the stone, then kicked off as hard as they could.

They swung back, passing a little to Hiei's left. With his demonic sight, the dark youkai quickly assessed their speed and trajectory, and saw that they would not swing high enough to land on the higher steps. So, as they reached the zenith of their swing, Hiei jumped up and pushed them even higher.

Kurama and Kuwabara felt the small hands on their backs as they began to lose speed, about two meters away from their destination. The resulting push caused them to tumble over and fall down to the steps just beneath them. Kuwabara, who was unused to such moves, staggered a bit and caught himself just before he could fall off the edge.

After recovering, Kurama snapped the whip, loosening it from the sword and causing it to coil up. As he returned it to its seed state and replaced it in his hair, the han-youko looked around. Seeing that only Kuwabara stood on the upper ledge with him, he looked over the edge. Hiei was not on the lower staircase, either.

Kurama felt a pang of alarm shoot through him, and his eyes widened as the tragic possibilities ran through his mind. Seeing the other's worried look, Kuwabara asked, "Hey, the shrimp made it, didn't he? I mean, he said he could jump this high." His voice trailed off as Kurama failed to reply.

However, another voice answered his question. "Hn. Touching, but hardly necessary."

The two worried companions whipped around at the disdainful sound. Kurama smiled warmly when his eyes landed on his little friend, sighing very softly in relief. Kuwabara, on the other hand, crossed his arms and looked away, grumbling, "Should've known I wouldn't be that lucky."

Hiei smirked and moved to collect his weapon. Bending down, he leaned forward to grasp the hilt and pull it from the stone step. The smirk vanished when he realized that his arm was too short to give him a good leverage, and he began tugging on the hilt without success. After several tries, Hiei gave a mighty heave, only to have his fingers slip from the sword, painfully scraping across the pommel. The fire apparition caught himself as he toppled close to the edge, and pulled his throbbing hand in toward his chest. Hiei glared at the weapon, at a loss as to how he could retrieve it.

Kuwabara noticed his rival's difficulty, and grabbed Hiei's shoulder. Moving the small youkai out of the way, the human puffed out his chest and proclaimed, "Step aside, shorty!" Bending down to grasp the reluctant blade, Kuwabara used his greater height to provide him with better leverage, and easily removed the katana.

Turning around, the teen presented Hiei with the sword and a smile, and bragged, "See, this is why this team needs a *real* man!"

Hiei, cheeks burning at being so easily upstaged by a human, snatched the sword from Kuwabara and muttered, "Baka."

Rather than getting angry, Kuwabara grinned even broader at the insult. Placing his hands on his hips, he nodded his head and said, "Yeah, yeah. I'll beat you up for that later. Right now, let's go find Urameshi!"

Kurama, who had raised a hand to his lips to stifle his chuckles at the amusing exchange, lowered his hand and nodded at Kuwabara. Hiei sheathed his sword and turned his head to the side to hide his slight smile, then grunted his assent.

With a thumbs-up at his teammates, Kuwabara turned and began running up the remaining stairs, with Kurama and Hiei following close behind.

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Thanks to my beta, Tikia Thundaren