Kurama turned over, realized he was still alive, and opened his eyes.
Yusuke was sitting next to him, looking relieved that Kurama was
awake. There was a bandage over the small cut on his cheek. Hiei sat
crosslegged on the floor not two feet away,
watching Kurama. Kurama's gaze flickered involuntarily over the bandages he
wore on his arm, the dark purple bruise on his throat. He'd somehow either
repaired his shirt or found a new one in the storage closet, but Kurama
remembered seeing the blood from the slash across his chest.
"Don't say anything," Yusuke told him before he could open his mouth.
"It's not your fault."
"I wish I could be sure of that," Kurama said.
He tried to get up, but a sudden twist of pain in his chest made him
gasp. Yusuke asked, worried, "Are you all right?"
"I..." It hurt to breathe. Kurama closed his eyes, pressing his hand
against his chest. When the pain faded, he opened his eyes again. "I'm all
right."
Hiei held out a rock. "Here," he said. "I found this by the stream
where you fell in. Does it mean anything to you?"
Kurama took it, staring at the spots of blood on the stone. He tried
again to remember what had happened in the forest. He was running - a sudden
noise, shock and pain - "A gunshot--" he started, but broke off.
"What?"
"I...don't know. I can't remember." Kurama rubbed absently at his
chest, over his heart. Hiei's eyes narrowed as he looked at Kurama, making his
own conclusions. But he didn't say anything.
Kurama felt sleep threatening to sneak up on him again. He rubbed his
eyes tiredly. "I just slept," he complained.
"For about two hours," Yusuke retorted. "After staying awake for two
_days_. Go back to sleep. I don't think you'll attack us again."
Kurama thought, taking stock of his physical condition. He had to
admit it was unlikely. Even if he did try and attack them again, he was so weak
they could take him down easily. Surrendering to the inevitable, he curled up
in the blankets and fell asleep instantly, reassured by Yusuke's and Hiei's
presence.
"You didn't tell him," Yusuke said quietly when he was sure that
Kurama was asleep.
"I didn't know the whole story." Hiei looked at the rock. "I think I
do, now."
"What do you mean?"
"That shadow thing couldn't possibly hold a gun." He remembered that
Yusuke couldn't see it and elaborated, "It's a shapeless mass."
"So? I still don't get it."
"The shadow is a parasite. It needs to get into the body somehow.
Somebody shot Kurama and then set the shadow on him."
"But there wasn't any wound," Yusuke protested.
"The parasite needs to keep its host body alive, doesn't it?" Hiei
challenged. "It repaired the damage so that it could feed off of Kurama's life
force later."
"Damn." Yusuke looked at Kurama. "So there's probably more than one of
these shadow things, isn't there?"
"I know there are. They tried to sneak up on me earlier, when I was in
the forest following Kurama's trail."
"And somebody's controlling them."
"Or working with them," Hiei said. "We still don't know how
intelligent these things are."
"So what do we do? We've got to tell him."
"I will," Hiei said. "As soon as he wakes up."
Yusuke looked around. "I wonder where Kuwabara went," he said. "I
haven't seen him for a couple of hours."
Hiei shrugged, unconcerned. "He'll be back in time for dinner," he
said. "Speaking of which, isn't it time to start cooking?"
Yusuke looked at his watch and shrugged. "I guess so. It's your turn."
"Not a chance," Hiei said. "I'm no cook. You'd better cook dinner
again. Besides, what you came up with was edible, unlike Kuwabara's attempt to
make something vaguely resembling food."
Yusuke seemed torn between amusement and annoyance. Finally amusement
won out, and he shook his head and headed for the kitchen.
Hiei sat perfectly still on the floor for a few minutes. Then,
glancing around to make sure
no one was watching, he reached forward and brushed an errant curl of Kurama's
hair out of his eyes. Kurama sighed in his sleep, and Hiei smiled softly before
quickly replacing his normal impassive expression.
"Hey, Kuwabara," Yusuke said as Kuwabara came into the kitchen.
"Where've you been?"
"I went into the forest to try and find out where the shadow things
were coming from," Kuwabara said, then added sourly, "But I didn't find
anything."
"You _WHAT_?!" Yusuke yelled. "You _idiot_! What the hell did you
think you were doing?! Do you want to get one of those things inside you, too?"
"I didn't see you doing anything!" Kuwabara yelled back. "Are you just
going to sit here in this house and let Kurama die? Are we just going to stay
here the rest of our lives?"
Hiei suddenly opened the door of the bedroom and yelled at both of
them, "Shut up, you idiots! Kurama finally gets to sleep, and you two have to
start arguing at the top of your lungs! I'd swear you two don't have half a
brain between you!" Fuming, he slammed the door shut.
Kurama watched as Hiei sat back down on the floor, still angry
although he was making an effort to smother it. Kurama still felt exhausted,
completely drained. He tried to think of something to say that would improve
his friend's mood, but his own depression was too intense to allow any humor.
Especially when the evidence of what he'd done was right in front of his eyes.
He turned his head away. "I almost killed you," he said, hating
himself.
"It wasn't you," Hiei said flatly.
"That's easy for you to say!" Kurama returned, being
uncharacteristically hostile toward Hiei. He realized that even as he finished
speaking. "You don't wake up to find you've almost killed your best friends."
He stopped himself just as he was about to add on, _And even if you
did, would you care?_ He was shocked that he could even _think_ of saying that.
<What's wrong with me?!> He buried his face in the blankets and shivered. <I'm
going crazy!>
"No, it's easy for me to say because I already know what's
responsible," Hiei said.
Kurama looked at him. "You do?"
Hiei nodded. "I saw it with my Jagan. It looks like a...kind of a
shadow thing. It's inside your body."
Kurama stared at him, then looked reflexively down, touching his
chest. The ice around his heart seemed to have receded...he felt warmer. It
must have been Yusuke's Rei blast that did it. He looked back up at Hiei.
"There's something you're not telling me," he challenged.
Hiei looked uncomfortable. "I..."
Kurama guessed it. The dreams - he'd known, on some subconscious
level, what was going on. He just hadn't figured it out until now. "I'm dying.
This thing is going to take control of my body for good."
Hiei looked away.
Kurama tried to push himself up, but he was so weak that he collapsed
immediately. He cursed and tried again. This time he managed to sit up.
Hiei looked at him. "Yusuke's Rei gun hurts the thing, obviously. But
it's bonded to you. We can't kill it without killing you, too."
Kurama looked at him steadily, and Hiei broke the eye contact first.
"I won't do it, Kurama," he said. "I won't kill you."
"You have to," Kurama said.
"I can't."
"Please!" Kurama cried. "I can't live like this! And if I'm going to
die anyway - do it _now_, before I hurt any of you any more!"
Hiei hesitated, but he was trapped by Kurama's desperate gaze. "Shit,"
he said finally, and reached for his sword.
Then he started and let go of it as Yusuke's voice came from the other
room. "Hey! Time for dinner!"
Kurama looked at Hiei. Hiei hesitated, then looked away. "I'm sorry,"
he said, so quietly he could barely be heard. Then he stood up and quickly
walked from the room.
Kurama remained where he was for a long moment, slumped forward. Then
he made himself get up and walk into the kitchen.
* * *