Adult-FanFiction.org : YuYu Hakusho

Paperwork
By : Artemick
Category: Yuyu Hakusho > General
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Chapter List
- 2
- 3
*

Night fell. Kurama ate dinner with his mother and began to work on a publication.

He was bent over his citations when Hiei leapt in from the tree outside. "Got it."

Kurama stood. "Join me for a walk?"

"I love a good show."

Kurama smiled and led him through bent reality, out to the net into spirit world and down through the dimensions.

*

In the space between, in the void, were the Hounti guards. The two women were throwing glass rings in some kind of gambling. Seeing the two small demons advance, they stood. There was a tremor of energy as they lifted their weapons, brightly painted boomerangs with sharpened edges.

Kurama moved to hold Hiei back. "Priests, we greet you. We ask to enter to your dimension. We bring a warning to whoever handles your guests and alliances."

"You haven't paid."

Kurama shifted.

Hiei looked up at him. "Right, fox. Remember you wallet?"

"I have plants from my world that my help your people. They hold water. My payment is the seeds." Kurama held out his hand. "Hiei, give me your cloak."

Hiei reached across his chest to the fastening and handed the cloak over. Kurama wrapped his right hand in it and dropped a seed on it with his left. A bulbous spined cactus grew. "A barrel cactus. The low surface area reduces moisture loss. It stores water in the center. In places where they grow wild, you can drink from them to survive."

The priests came closer. Kurama urged the cactus into blooming. Yellow flowers twisted from their buds.

One set her weapon onto the ground and leaned over it, swiping the ground with her tail in satisfaction. "A good gift. Life."

"There is fruit as well," Kurama said. "But it is bitter."

"We like bitter," the more reticent one said, tempted.

"This payment is more enough," the other replied. "After all, I assume you are no king -- it would be wrong to demand something unsuited."

"I offer what I have. Careful. The plant defends itself," he warned her off touching the spines. Collapsing its life in reverse down to a seed, he returned Hiei's cloak. "I'd be glad to show you how to begin cultivation."

"We are a farming people. Your skill would be understood and valued."

Kurama took their hands in his, and they passed through the gate.

Hiei muttered, "Great, more plant hippies."

"We're ecologists, Hiei…"

"I feel high just listening to you."

*

They fell through the dimensional gate gently, landing on dead grass. Kurama grimaced. Everything stunk – of slaughter, of burnt meat, of excrement. Under it, the reek of the SDF soldiers.

"Good job," Kurama said. The tree nearby was exactly as he had seen. "This is the place Koenma showed me."

Hiei looked around. "Feathers and bones here. Bird and Hounti. Your friends are lazy hunters if they took them from the road."

Kurama shut his eyes. Inhaling, he began walking outward in an angle. He paced a spiral around the intersection until he was sure. "They went north."

"How do you know that's north?"

"I…it feels north. I don’t know -- this dimension still has a magnetic field. Look, it's this way. Trust me, I'm an animal." Kurama started walking.

"I like this," Hiei said. "You. As a demon. Embracing your strength. You should show your mother."

"Humans want loyalty, not power, in their relationships."

Hiei laughed at him and fell into step. "Weak creatures are wise."

*

The Hounti were not nocturnal precisely. They were on a quarter schedule, sleeping during the hottest part of the day and the darkest part of night. The between hours of dim light they worked, though often under porches and netting. So as Kurama stood in audience with three of the Hounti leaders, the settlement was quiet. Hiei sulked, dozing against the wall, unable to understand the language. The three leaders sat draped in beads, watching.

Kurama grew a row of seven blooming cacti as tall as men, replanting each from the previous.

The priest offered him another small glass of water. "That is well done. Who are these people you are afraid of?"

"They come seeking power and offering an alliance. I worked with them before. It was harrowing. I was assaulted repeatedly. They intended to kill me to keep it secret, and when they could not, they destroyed evidence it happened." He turned to look in the direction of the gate.

"So they are treacherous."

"They are messengers. I am not warning you against the state they serve or the deal they offer; I don't know enough about it or you to say whether it is of benefit."

"But you warn us against them."

"I suspect they have killed one Hounti near the gate, and her mount. There were bones at their camp. I warn, while they are guests, watch them closely. They take their pleasure regardless of the pain it causes. They love one another, but no one outside their team is taken into that love."

"That is your experience?"

Kurama leaned over, heart racing. He felt Shun-jun's hands on him, shoving him into the fire. "Yes."

"They carry an alliance for us?" An acolyte asked.

Kurama shrugged. "I don't know what they offer. That was our last mission to the Marrin."

"The Marrin. You are the forest bringer?"

Kurama saw recognition in their eyes.

"You look exactly as the one they describe, and your powers – "

"Please. I should not be here."

The priest stared at her compatriots. "This is a selfless warning."

"No. It is not. I intend to meet this team in the desert."

The eldest, the diplomat, interrupted the leader. "You should not seek revenge, but change."

Kurama nodded. "I agree. But I seek both, one through the other."

"Will you truly achieve that with murder?"

"They humiliated me in private. So their punishment will be private. They will be erased. It will not be public. It will not involve your people or upset them." He hesitated. "I should tell you my thoughts on the offer."

"Please," said the leader.

"I think the spirit realm wishes to control your gate. If that is their goal, it may be dangerous to refuse. I cannot think why they would send an army to negotiate with a region that is in open correspondence with other dimensions."

"Perhaps they only wish to use the gate."

"I am often told I plan unnecessarily for the worst." Kurama stood.

"Are you leaving? Please sleep."

"With your permission, I would like to go meet them. That may mean that no offer is brought to you, unless I die. The delay before the next team is sent could be weeks. Is that permissible?"

The elder sighed, but did not bar him. The leader said, "Assault here is punished severely. We cannot allow it on our land. Nor can we afford to offend another world. So it would be convenient if this offer to be overrun never reaches us. Should they have killed a tribeswoman and her mount, it would be convenient if the murderers were already punished."

"Spirit world may think it is war," the acolyte pointed out.

"Let them," the leader said. "How dare they send such an envoy? They could have sent this one, with such a gift. Their judgment is warped."

"The desert claims foreigners every day. There is no risk," said the elder. "Forest bringer. You grew trees and brought heat to a land of winter. Now you grow water and shade to a desert. We will spread these through the rocks and wilderness. Everywhere we plant them, you may travel."

*

Hiei yawned as they slid down ropes hanging from the priests' encampment, which was built into and atop tall cliffs. They hit the ground. Hiei stretched, ignoring the attention of the Hounti in the tent market around them. "That took forever. What'd they say?"

"They like the cacti."

"No."

"They don't mind if we kill the SDF, as long as there's no fuss. And they heard about the Marrin."

"Spies. Hey – "

Kurama raced off and let Hiei catch up, glee writ over his face. "Be ready."

*

"Is that the city?" Shun-jun asked.

Zel squinted forward and nodded. She stepped over one of the red stinking fruits growing in the cracked earth. "This is a flood pattern in the soil. Water's near. We should move in case there's monsoons."

"I hope." Cerene flapped her arms under her linen cloak. "I'm so burnt. The sun's coming right through this sheet."

Zel was turning, watching that pale cloth flap around Cerene's sweating hands. There was the sound of ground shift, a slow gulp of space in the earth -- dirt falling, rocks clicking on one another.

"Don't move!" Shun-jun pointed, unsheathing his blade. "There."

An arc of earth heaved toward the sky.

"What the hell!" Wolf shouted, leaping away.

There was another. There was a creature underneath the ground, pushing it up.

Wolf swallowed, his voice coming back shrill. "A giant fucking snake."

"Worms." Shun-jun bent. "Run!"

Zel let the others pass her, looking back for Harker -– speed was never his strength. His face was squinted with the frustration of a child on a playground as he paused, going around gaps the others leaped.

Behind him, a dark smoke colored limb reached out of the dirt. In the wrong place, eyes opened on it. The tip opened into flat teeth and it ducked down. Zel paused, peering. It seemed to be sucking up the red fruits like a mad thing, dashing at them.

"Come on, Hark!" Zel shouted. "Stay away from the red on the ground."

All around them, smoky long creatures were coming out of the ground to eat the fruit.

Shun-jun was already putting it together. He shouted, "We have to get away from this field."

Wolf, far ahead, had moved out left. He called, "This is safe. There's nothing here!"

Zel waved on to Harker, who caught up. Together they ran toward the other three, who were safe in the middle of a patch of land without the red fruit or disturbance of the creatures. They were surrounded, but the smoky things were far.

Zel and he walked to the middle. Harker threw himself down, panting. Wolf and Cerene leapt on him, laughing and pinching him. "You old man! You lump, you got here!"

"We thought you were snake food."

Zel crouched, chuckling. "Shun-jun, let's take a breather."

"Who is that?"

Zel glanced over. There was a small figure at the other edge of the cleared space. She stood, opening her mouth to call. The figure bent and touched the ground.

There was a crackling sound. The ground plummeted from under their feet. The whole area dropped like a broken elevator floor. Zel saw the walls of earth shoot up around her. She threw her wires up. Shun-jun, Cerene, and Wolf leapt out, dark against the sky.

Zel climbed up the side. She could see too clearly a layer of retracted roots several feet thick, with ten feet of mud above it. They seemed to be moving.

Zel swallowed, pulling herself out on the crumbling crust. Harker was shouting up from the hole. It was leagues deep; he looked like a marble down below.

"I know who that was," Zel said.

"Help," Harker was shouting.

"I don't see him." Shun-jun scanned the horizon. "Quick. Get Harker out. We'll need him if they refuse to let us through the gate."

Zel cast a wire down. "What about the fox?"

"Hark won't want to miss that fox either."

It took nearly all of her wire to reach the bottom, but Harker ran to the side and grabbed it.

"Put the loop around your body," Zel called to him. She let out another few feet.

Shun-jun snapped, "Not that much! Save enough to fight if – "

Far down below, halfway to Harker, a flood of roots reached out and closed the hole, crashing into each other. They knotted and settled into a white earthstained cap. Wolf screamed out to Harker, but there was no answer.

"He's still here," Shun-jun said, searching. "Zel. Be ready."

"I didn't…get it out," Zel said. Without the wire acting as channel, her electricity was erratic and uncontrolled; she could hit herself or her allies.

"Who are you talking about? Who's here?" Wolf asked.

"Cut it. Use your zap, melt it."

"It's resistant. That's why I use it, because it won't melt even under all full strength."

"I can cut it loose," Cerene offered. "Maybe Harker is too scared to let it go."

"He'd dead," Shun-jun said. He looked back. "Yes, go cut Zel's wire loose."

Cerene leapt down onto the roots. She went to the wire, but then stopped. She stumbled and fell over.

"What? C-curious. Cerene! Come back." Wolf whined.

Zel looked up at Shun-jun. "If I let go, I'll be useless. But we can run for the gate."

"Through these worms? What makes you think we can make it?"

There was a crack like a whip popping. Wolf gargled and was gone. A root had laced up from the side, lashed around his throat, and dragged him down. He was hacking at it with his blade, knocking off chunks – but he cut through and fell all the way down to Cerene. Before he hit, the second wall closed – the section of moving roots Zel had seen as she climbed, which held up the false ground that had collapse. As the roots closed, the land boiled underneath them, and the wire was pulled through her hands. Zel made a decision to sacrifice hope of Harker making it out alive and tried to send electrical force through to burn the roots, but there was no effect – her power dispersed into the ground.

She stood, unarmed. Sighing, Zel reached for the utility knife on her belt and shrugged at Shun-jun. "Clever."

Shun-jun looked around. "We can kill these worms. It's an inconvenience, not the danger he thinks."

Zel was too willing, but before the two of them – the only team left - dodged into the field of smoky creatures, there was a glitter in the air. Both of them stopped, paranoid.

"That stuff's blowing toward us," Zel said.

Shun-jun backed up. "Poison?"

"If it sinks, we can hide on the far side, and it will go into the pit. Or if we see it is lighter than air, we can risk jumping down."

"Brilliant. Okay. That fox bastard. Go."

The mist came closer. But it also blew up behind them. It was sentient, guided.

Shun-jun took off his robe, covering his mouth and nose. "Damn. We should have run."

Zel crouched, folding her robe over her face. "All I can think…is to go in a random direction and hope he didn't plan for it. But I don't believe there is one."

Shun-jun took out his blade. "I'm going to skin that wretched bitch."

"If we had let him be, Cerene and Wolf and Harker would be alive."

"Walk on your own then, if you don't like how I lead."

Zel looked at the snakes. They were frightening, but their teeth were flat, and they were eating the fruits – grazing, as sheep.

"I will," she said, backing up from him. "You have my loyalty and love, captain, but not against this enemy."

"You indulged."

"Yes. I did. Cerene didn't."

"She didn't stop us. You think he hears you? That this is a good enough apology, for you to turn on me now? If he is listening, he knows you only side with power."

Zel hesistated, not wanting to abandon him with that feeling. "Captain, it's not like that – "

"And you want to leave so you can flee, knowing he will hunt me first."

"Don't take it out on me. He's shown he can kill all of us."

"Well, don't get soft cause you pity the kit."

"He was a murderer. Is a murderer. And if he finds me I will fight." Zel announced, keeping her eyes locked on the captain's.

"I will send him after you if you run."

Zel watched. The mist sunk into the pit and closed around them.

Shun-jun covered his mouth.

Zel inhaled. The tiny spores covered her hands and came over her tongue on her breath. "Forget it."

*

Shun-jun tried to cover her mouth, but she got up, stumbling, and began giggling. She breathed enough that her eyes ceased to focus. Pointing at the snakes, feeding from the heights of telephone poles with their great necks, she laughed, and she wandered out into them.

"Come on," Zel said brightly. "Let's go home. See our family. Come on. Down to the gate."

Shun-jun hesitated. But after a moment, he could not see her for the mist, and any force would bring breath into his lungs. She was lost.

"Remember me?"

Shun-jun turned.

The fox was there, in a cloak the color of mud.

He pulled off the hood and let the cloak slide off his shoulders. His bright hair was braided back. His green eyes were stained with kohl. He wore the clothes of the Hounti priests.

He lifted a hand and the glittering spores between them crumpled and fell like ash, a thin dust covering the ground, a greasy shadow.

Shun-jun smiled and held out his blade. "I defeated you at your best. I was faster, smarter, more powerful. What are you now? Far less."

"Wiser."

Shun-jun turned the blade. "I am going to cut you down and have you, on the ground, with this blade at your throat. But I suppose that's what you came back for."

The fox stood still. "You were always stronger. Your teams were more brutal, both times. The only reason I survived at all the first time was because one who loved me sacrificed her life."

Shun-jun thought of Zel leaving and snarled, "I kept these people alive for years. I didn't need to demand their lives."

"The elder was right. This is hard. Because you do care for each other. You aren't completely cold. You chose to do what you did."

"As you did."

"I'm not judging you. It isn't my place. But it would be wrong of me to let you go free and commit the same atrocities to others weaker than I, when I can stop you. I have an obligation. That is not revenge. I understand that now."

"So you're kind? You're just?"

"I'm – I'm strong enough to say this. To put you here. Make you listen. That's all."

Shun-jun snarled. "I'm going to enjoy this. I might not even kill you at the end. I hate when my foxes go stiff. I like warm skin."

"This isn't flirtation, Shun-jun. I told you I would kill you for what you did to me." Kurama uncoiled his whip. "I'm going to."

"I remember that. I remember everything. I remember the feel of you twisting around me – "

"Be quiet." Kurama shut his eyes a moment and opened them again. "I just wanted you to know why I'm doing this."

"Cause you want to lose? So you can feel me inside – "

"I'm not saying another word to you."

Shun-jun released the crystalline energy he stored in his body, letting the ki spread until his muscles were liquid. He rolled his fingers tighter on the grip of his knife. He wanted this little animal in front of him put down. He was going to get a hold of that fox's neck and push him into the warm dirt. And when he was finished, if the fox didn't submit, didn't admit how weak he was, Shun-jun find ways.

Kurama brought his fist up before his mouth. Opening his fingers, he pursed his lips. His eyelashes lowered. Shun-jun threw up a barrier, in time for a thousand petals to slice into it. While he could hold it at that strength, he charged. Kurama was a ranged fighter – he wasn't strong up close. Shun-jun had to crowd him.

The ground bucked beneath him – the fox's green eyes were on him. Roots, Shun-jun thought, but he kept dodging forward and sliced in. Kurama twisted his body, the arc expanding through the whip. It curled and clashed into his blade like a viper, darting and pulling back and striking again.

The ground trapped Shun-jun's leg as he drove Kurama backwards. The fox was having to keep up the petals, pull down the spores, and contain the blows of the captain's blade and dodge his grip - but in that moment that Shun-jun paused to evaluate the danger to his leg, the bitch managed to curve the whip in such a way that it wrapped around Shun-jun's knife arm.

Shun-jun tossed the knife to the other hand and struck down. Even as Kurama pulled back, trying to sever his hand, Shun-jun focused his energy into the edge of the blade. He cut through the whip.

Kurama's chest pumped in and out, realizing it. His eyes darted and he lifted his hand.

Shun-jun was flicking his hand at the ground to shake off the vine – but it lengthened like a snake – twisted, grew, and shot down in the soil. Pulling him with it, the vine spread over his shoulder and across his back.

"NO," Shun-jun roared, tearing his leg loose. He could feel the weakness of the vine, unconnected and at such a distance from Kurama. It was alive, but only as powerful as a plant – vibrant but not a weapon. Not like his blade. He cut it from the soil, drawing his second sword, and levered his foot from the mess of root tendrils in the ground.

The whip struck at his throat. Shun-jun blocked, shouted and threw his sword. Kurama dodged, throwing up a shield of leaves and twisting away – but the blade was fast – it pierced the shield, including his forearm, and lodged in Kurama's chest, just by his shoulder. Not deep. Enough to pain him.

Enough to frighten him.

Shun-jun freed himself as Kurama drew out the blade. Shun-jun dropped his energy from it, taking the strength from the edge so it couldn't be used against him. Kurama sensed it and let it fall. Roots grew over it and swallowed it into the ground

Shun-jun took two throwing knives out. "Feeling sentimental, fox? Come get me."

Kurama drew breath slowly, his hand over the wound, sprouting a bandage of moss to staunch the blood.

"Good hit. Did I get a lung?"

True to word, Kurama did not answer, but his face betrayed his pain. Shun-jun changed his stance, advancing. Kurama retreated a few paces, lifting the whip. Then he ran forward.

Shun-jun blocked the curving edge of the whip. The flow, its connectedness, limited its movement and was easy to predict – perhaps not to all Kurama's enemies, but certainly to Shun-jun, who had hunted and fought so many animal spirits. Shun-jun beat the whip off, wrapped it around his arm, then stomped down, pinning it.

Kurama palm's slammed into his sternum and nose. The fox had let go of the whip, changed his motion and attacked when the captain had expected to trip him up.

Shun-jun snorted out the blood, scrambling to his feet. Kurama was leaping onto him; he kicked the fox, catching him loosely across the face and throat, and he rolled away, running.

Kurama snagged his foot with the whip. But taking his cue from the fox, Shun-jun accepted the hit and leapt back, swinging the sword down. It struck Kurama's raised forearm, driving through his block toward his head, and cracked into his scalp. Kurama skidded backwards, rolled, and came up on his knees. He stumbled onto his feet, taking a few steps sideways. Blood was pouring from his head and his arm was, if not broken, incapacitated.

Shun-jun opened his arms. "You could have just called. Said you missed me. I'd have come. Filled you up."

Kurama blinked. Blood soaked his neck and sunk into his collar. There was a small drop coming from his nostril that he wiped away.

"You're not stronger than me. Did you think you were?"

Kurama blinked again and took up a guard stance.

"Are you crying? Poor baby. Come on, sweetie, let me wipe away the tears. I always manage to break you down, don't I? How cruel. Such a pretty face. Magnificent bitch."

Kurama edged back as he advanced, lip trembling. But his eyes narrowed suddenly. He set his feet. He drew in the rose whip to a simple bloom. Wiping his neck, he smeared the blood roughly over the petals. Then he snapped out the whip.

Shun-jun felt for its energy. He could see the change: the whip shed red petals as it snapped open; the thorns were purple and glistened. The air was filled with a sharp floral scent. But there was no energy; it was invisible.

Kurama charged. Shun-jun threw the knives. One clanged off the whip – the other, the fox dodged and caught between his fingers. Shun-jun backed up, lifting the sword before him to block the snap of the whip.

There was a chime of shearing metal, and the bloodied whip cut through the blade. Chunks of silvery razor flew to the side an instant before the thorns of the whip sawed through Shun-jun's eye.

Shun-jun raised his arms, screaming as the whip scraped down his jaw. It snapped behind him, ripping over his back, and pulling deeply through his ribs. He tried to draw breath and felt ice-cold air inside his side as the whip passed.

He ducked out of the loop, crouching.

Kurama's knee collided with his chin.

Shun-jun was flung on his back, but he turned and ran, scrambling up and turning, throwing the rest of the knives.

The fox was gone. Shun-jun tracked him to the side, surprising him and catching him in the calf with a short throw. Kurama stopped and spun, kicking at his face. Shun-jun threw up his hands to block – but Kurama went low, hands on the ground, and kicked out his legs.

Shun-jun fell and the fox was on him, inside his guard. The delicate face was a mask of blood now. Shun-jun tried to strike him with the broken blade, but Kurama caught his arm and the vines tied up his arm, pulling the blade against his own throat.

Shun-jun grinned, panting. He choked out the words, "I thought you needed distance to be any good."

"I prefer it," Kurama muttered. "Unlike you, I don't like to be this close to the kill. I don't have to see beings fight and suffer, that's not the point."

"Ah. So. I thought you weren't talking to me?"

Kurama's lip curled. "You're already dead."

The fox was trembling. He was crying, but more than that, he was blinking as if his eyes were unfocused. He was losing blood.

Shun-jun felt a quirk of a smile. He dipped his voice in sincerity. "I'm sorry."

Kurama stopped, his chest heaving. He snarled, "No, you're not."

Shun-jun grinned. He bucked up, knocking Kurama forward just enough to jack-knife and get his leg up and around Kurama's throat to pull him off. The fox bent sideways to lose it, sitting back to keep the pin, but he'd already lost Shun-jun's other arm. The SDF captain took the last throwing knife and stabbed in, rolling, his weight behind it. Even though the fox flinched, Shun-jun drove the knife deep into his side, through his liver, into his stomach.

Kurama screamed. His eyes squeezed shut, then opened wide; his lip hung open, teeth bared.

Shun-jun leaned up, twisting.

The fox's face changed then. There was a sharp pain and pop – he had reached down and was breaking back Shun-jun's fingers. The captain barely felt it, but the fox peeled his hand off the knife handle, slid it out of his own side.

Kurama grabbed Shun-jun's hair, pulled him down, and shoved the blade between his ribs and into his heart.

*

The beat of the organ around the blade made the metal quiver inside Kurama's palm. He let go and the handle hung in the man's chest, tilting with his last breath.

Shun-jun's eyes were screwed into Kurama's. His last sight. He smiled and Kurama shivered; it was a smile of possession, and Kurama was afraid, wondering if he had not lost somehow.

"I wanted you like this," Shun-jun's breath creaked.

Kurama looked at him. "How?"

"I'll have you. You think…but I'll find you. Always." The pain hit him and he shut his eyes. His nostrils flared and he grit his teeth with quickening breath. "I want you dead."

Kurama pulled the knife out.

Blood followed it, dark and rich with oxygen that would never reach.

Shun-jun cursed at him, but his breath lightened and stopped.

Kurama flung the knife down. He shoved away from the corpse and stood, but the pain was too intense. He fell to his knees, grasping his side. Instantly, he dropped the spores surrounding the area, the energy growing the red fruit, the layers of living roots; he drew his energy back into his stomach and knit it together, stopping the acid, closing the intestines. The pain lessened.

He lay down, hearing the great beasts of the plains roaring inside the soil.

A shadow fell on his face.

"Are we done here?"

Kurama smiled. "And were you bored?"

"No." Hiei knelt. "I can't carry you. I mean, I don't want to. Your legs are long, and it would probably be annoying."

Kurama tossed his hair back. "I'm fine. Wait a moment."

There was a strange crunch. He looked up to see Hiei with his sword sunk in Shun-jun's body.

Hiei looked back. "You didn't want him for something?"

"Making sure your blade's sharp enough?"

"I wanted to make sure he's dead. Some…freaks have restorative powers." Hiei eyed the hand Kurama held over his stomach.

*

Zel uncurled, sane, waking from the dream. She saw two figures terribly close in front of her. She reached for her wires, but she was unarmed.

"Don't be afraid," the red fox said. The small red eyed one only stared. The fox held up a hand. "I didn't kill the others. I'd like to tell you why."

Zel wrapped her arms around her body. "What was that?"

"Hallucinogen. Local variety."

"The…others?"

"There's a level of evil in my past that deserved, at the very least, punishment if not direct retribution. Here's my reasoning. You and they were, perhaps, not evil but only opportunistic, coerced by it. Perhaps I don't deserve to judge."

The other figure rolled his eyes, sitting down and resting his head in his hand.

"Perhap you did earn the right to judge," Zel said. "Like doesn't necessarily have to be met with like."

The fox looked at her, then ducked his head, frowning. "Thank you."

"You're in rights to kill us." Zel slapped the dirt from her hands. "I wouldn't generally let you, fair or not. But I won't argue the point and, if it isn't soon to say, thank you for the mercy."

"Thank you."

She lifted her brow, shrugging.

"Out of all of them, you are the least cruel and most empathtic. So here's my offer. You suffered a disorienting natural event in the wilderness. Shun-jun was lost. You will accept promotion to captain. With the power of that promotion you will keep such a cruel thing from ever happening within your sight again."

"Done," she said. "Would anyway. That isn't my sort of thing. Really isn't."

"You offer that quickly."

"I…I know it doesn't mean much, you armed and me not. But that's not really my way, and I don't begrudge you for Shun's blood. He took enough of your kind. Maybe I did, maybe you took mine…but you and I seem to have understanding. I know you didn't crush me when you could have, out of hope I was decent."

"You remind me of a dear friend. Someone who sees a lot of grey. Someone I owe my life to, and my family's." The fox shifted, rising. "I hope you'll run the team differently. Bring the SDF some honor."

"I'll do good. SDF can screw right off," Zel said. She felt she was in a weird limbo, a space of surreal honesty. There was no control, so there was no reason to lie.

"There's a lot you can do. Like not killing on the road. Promise me that; you won't hunt."

She thought about that, and realized he'd probably meant the meat they'd hunted. She winced. "I see that. Yeah."

The fox straightened, nodding. "Don't speak of this to anyone, obviously."

"Ha. Sure. Maybe you and I might work together sometime."

"I'm giving the others their lives," the fox said sharply. "But I don't forgive them, I don't want to see them, and I'm not promising I won't kill them if you cross my path. So keep them out of my way."

"Yeah. I'm sorry," Zel said. She wasn't sure how real this image before her was. But she apologized anyway. "I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

"Thanks."

"I mean for not stopping it. I could have, I didn't. We both know it. I'm sorry."

"Show me. You've got your team to prove it. When you're captain, you can prevent such things."

He offered her something. An orange and black flower, rank with mellow perfume. Inhaling, Zel's eyes shut.

Later, Zel woke in the sand, dehydrated with her ears ringing. The demons were gone.

She found herself standing in the round depression by her wires. She looked down. For one instant, she blamed her teammates for what happened. She wanted badly to keep walking. Leave them. Live her life in this quiet place.

But she had done the same as they had, and the fox had forgiven her.

She'd also promised him.

She threw herself down and began scooping the earth aside.

*

Kurama sat in the chair, his hands in his trouser pockets, looking at the paintings on the wall.

"I know it was you."

Kurama lifted his brows, pulling up his shoulders. "Those feeding frenzies are common in the Hounti region. It can cause sink holes. It's no one's fault. Zel performed admirably."

"Did she?"

"I'm sure. She seems like Urameshi. Someone with a grey history and admirable adaptability. High performance with a little investment."

"Like you."

Kurama stood. "If there's no evidence of the violence or impropriety on cross-dimensional assignments, I suppose there's nothing to discuss. After all, you can't prove anything. If I recall."

"I queued up your tapes after you left. I know you went there."

"No, we both know the same single thing. That nothing can be proved."

"You don't think it's a problem, that I know you're a murderer?"

"No. Because you know why."

The prince tapped his desk. After a moment, he flicked his finger at his office door. "You may go."

*

The Makai wasteland had a red sky. The Saint Beast’s castle dangled on the horizon. Trailer trash demons had put money in the hands of an architect with a meth hobby.

Kurama leaned back against the tree trunk above the rendevouz, watching the gate for the detective. He turned to Hiei. "Why would you want to see that, without the Chapter White tape along with it? You could go insane."

"You don't think you'd be on there?"

Kurama scoffed. "Of course not. My crimes were all in the demon realm."

"I meant the other thing, with the Marrin. Human SDF assaulting a human consultant."

"Oh." Kurama looked back at the sky. "I suppose in the scope of all human evil, it doesn't count for much."

Hiei unsheathed his sword, examining the edge. "I suppose."

"Kind of you."

"Hmm?"

"To think to look for evidence of it on the Chapter Black tape. It's very kind."

Hiei's eyes flicked down at the grass. "I found nothing, so there's no reason to talk about it."

"You're an immeasurable ally. I'm grateful beyond what my heart can say or you can accept."

Hiei hid his face in his arms, until Kurama took his book up and began reading.

"Next time you confront the SDF, you should hire someone. You were nearly outmatched."

"Don't insult me because I said something nice."

"Revenge should be frozen."

Kurama covered his face with the book for a moment, then put it down and turned a page. "Served cold."

"It's less trouble not to involve yourself again."

"Again?"

"In another stomach wound."

Kurama snorted, chuckling as he stretched. His eyes shut in a grin, pushing all his curls over his face. He punched his fists into the air. "I appreciate the concern."

"What the hell are we doing here?" Hiei muttered, shutting one eye. "He's not coming. We could fight the Saint Beast and be back before he gets the courage to come down here."

"It'll be healthy. Human demon cooperation on a single team. We need more interspecies understanding. Otherwise you end up…hunting everyone." Kurama clasped his shins, leaning back until his arms were straight. He twisted, hanging off the branch and moaning cheerfully. "I haven't felt this good in years."

"You have a crush on this human."

Kurama took off his loafers and socks, and leapt up into the higher branches, leaning out into the wind. He'd forgotten how well his feet moved without shoes. All the small muscles of his ankles and the arches of his feet were twining together like a deer. He crouched, feeling the bark on the balls of his feet, under his bare toes. The tree was old, nearly old enough to be learning new words, but it still spoke the old language and like all living things understood cyclic energy trades.

Kurama lay along the branch, one knee bent, hands clasped back over his head. He looked out over the wasteland to the castle. For the first time in years, no government hunted him, no mercenary. He had an ally, a mother, a few friends. He had work, purpose, challenge – a job. A forest around him. A hope of Zel changing the SDF and a surety that the man in his nightmares was gone forever. He'd never felt so safe in his life.
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Paperwork	By : Artemick Category: Yuyu Hakusho > General Views: 1697 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho and earn no money writing about it.

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