Chapter 9
As I touched the horizon
It just felt like I'd die soon...
--a-ha, "Out of Blue Comes Green"
The night breeze blew softly, ruffling Kurama's hair. He pushed it
back, out of his eyes, and looked out at the meadow, not really seeing it. In
the house behind him, Kuwabara and Yusuke were sleeping, and he didn't want to
disturb them with his thoughts. The thoughts disturbed _him_ enough, without
worrying them.
He wondered why the shadows weren't affecting Kuwabara the same way
they were affecting him, and decided that it was probably because Kuwabara was
human, and he was not. Where they made him weaker, they made Kuwabara stronger.
Kuwabara's psychic talents had never worked better since the shadow had
attached itself to him, while Kurama felt himself slowly fading away as he got
colder and colder.
And then - _it_ would come, and take his powers and body, when he was
completely gone.
He didn't know if it _could_ be killed, now. Before, he'd thought that
destroying his body might destroy the shadow, too, but that didn't seem likely
anymore. Not since Hiei's sword had failed to kill him. So...now what?
"Kurama." He looked up as a voice quietly said his name from next to
him. Hiei sat down as Kurama pulled his blankets tighter around himself,
wishing that he weren't so cold.
"Hiei," Kurama said quietly, looking at him for a second before
letting his eyes wander front again. He sighed, pulling his knees to his chest
and resting his head on them. "What do I do now, Hiei?" he asked. "You were the
one person I could count on to kill me when it _needed_ to be done, and
apparently you can't. I don't know if Yusuke can..."
"You're underestimating him," Hiei said. "He can do what he has to."
"I hope so," Kurama said quietly. "Dying...dying's hard enough, but if
I don't die soon...if he doesn't kill me...my soul won't exist anymore. I'll
die permanently, and never come back."
Hiei didn't reply. He didn't have to.
They sat there for a few minutes. "Kurama," Hiei said suddenly.
"Believe it or not, I'm glad I couldn't kill you. Not because it'll prolong
what you're going through, but because it means there's at least a chance to
find another way."
"I know," Kurama answered. "I haven't been friends with you for all
these years without knowing that you actually _do_ care, somewhere inside."
Suddenly, the ice in his chest contracted painfully, and Kurama braced himself
on one arm as it became hard to breathe again.
"Kurama!" Hiei said, helping to steady him as an expression of extreme
pain crossed his face.
"It's...okay..." Kurama said between clenched teeth, his free hand
over his heart, trying to apply enough pressure to it that the pain would go
away. "Can you see what it's doing?"
Hiei closed his eyes and used his Jagan to look inside Kurama's body,
at the blot surrounding his heart. "It's growing again," he said quietly.
"I thought I was over growing pains for this body..." Kurama said,
closing his eyes and _willing_ the pain to go away. Slowly, it did, but a new
wave of cold replaced it, chilling him even deeper than before. He shivered,
even as his body relaxed somewhat. "Damn..." he said softly, opening his eyes.
"On second thought, maybe I wish you _had_ died," Hiei said, letting
go of Kurama. "It would have been easier on you."
"Don't worry; it'll be over soon enough," Kurama said, and immediately
wished he hadn't.
"What am I going to do without you, Kurama?" Hiei asked quietly.
"You're going to keep on going, because it's what you do best," Kurama
answered. He paused, then added, "And because if you don't, I'll come back to
haunt you."
Hiei gave him a wry look.
"Besides," Kurama continued, more seriously. "I believe in destiny.
We'll meet again, in another lifetime, all of us."
"I don't believe in destiny," Hiei said.
"So, what? Are you going to follow me in lovers' suicide, then?"
Kurama asked.
"Look, you stupid youko--" Hiei started angrily, before he heard
Kurama's soft chuckle and realized that he'd walked right into his trap of
words, reacting to the bait.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Kurama apologized. "But it
was too easy."
Hiei glowered at him.
"Besides, you're not my type, even if I were that way," Kurama said.
"Cute, but too short."
"I'm going to--" Hiei started, but couldn't find a suitable threat.
"Kill me?" Kurama asked, the smile sliding from his face. "I think
we've already established that you can't." He sighed.
"You're not tired tonight?" Hiei asked, looking at him.
"No, I'm not," Kurama replied. "My body's gotten more used to going
without sleep. I think I will go inside, though. I'm freezing, and maybe it'll
be warmer in there."
"You should have been born a fire spirit," Hiei said, just before
vanishing. "We never get cold."
"I don't know; I kind of like being a fox spirit," Kurama commented to
himself. He stood up and wrapped the blankets around him like a cape. "Good
night, Hiei," he called softly to the roof before going into the house.
"Hn," was Hiei's only response. Kurama smiled and closed the door
behind him.
He walked down the hallway, stopping to open the door to Kuwabara's
room, where he was sleeping peacefully, even if he was snoring quite loudly.
Kurama smiled and closed the door, moving on to the room he and Yusuke shared.
As he closed the door behind him and sat down against the wall, watching Yusuke
quietly turn over in his sleep, he wondered if Yusuke would really be able to
kill him. Kill the thing within him.
Then he remembered the burning power of Yusuke's Rei gun, pressing him
against the wall, hurting him, hurting the thing inside him. He hadn't known
that he could feel that much pain. Even his first death hadn't been that
agonizing. He'd felt like every atom of his being was being torn apart, and
_that_ Rei gun hadn't even been at Yusuke's full power. The next time they
fought - the next time he slept, if he lasted that long, would be their last.
It had to be. For both the sake of his friends' lives, and for his own soul.
Hiei was right; Yusuke _did_ have the strength to kill him. "I just
hope it won't be too hard on you afterwards," he said softly, looking at the
sleeping boy. "I'm sorry that you have to be the one, that I can't end this
myself. I'm so sorry, Yusuke."
The sun rose, the light spreading slowly across the forest. Kurama
stood at the open door, leaning on the doorframe and staring off into the
distance. The dawn looked very similar to the sunrise that he'd seen a few days
before. The light touched the top of the forest, but couldn't seem to penetrate
any deeper than that. It was like oil floating on water - the two repelled each
other.
Kurama thought of the nest of shadows living in the forest, and
shuddered. Hiei had said that Yusuke had destroyed most of them, but they
couldn't be sure how many were left. Kurama wondered - was it really that easy
to kill them all?
Suddenly the shadow within him, not liking the direction of his
thoughts, showed its dipleasure again with a painful squeeze. Kurama pressed
his hand to his chest, imagining Karasu laughing at him. He snarled and thought
deliberately, <You don't like my thoughts, then get out of my head. It was
_your_ bright idea to share my mind in the first place, which I think only
proves your lack of intelligence whether you're borrowing mine or not...>
The shadow seemed to writhe inside him, furious. Kurama gasped as his
knees buckled and he half-fell, sliding down the wall. He huddled in the corner
of the doorframe, waging a silent war with the thing inside him.
Slowly he got up, shivering with cold. He'd managed to fight the
shadow back, at least to the point where it didn't seem to be such a constant
presence in his head. But now he was colder than ever, so cold he felt as
though ice would form on his skin. He walked unsteadily through the door and
crumpled in the grass, lying in the sunlight in the hope that some of its
warmth would soak into him.
He lay there for an hour, shivering. The sunlight warmed the ground
all around him, but there was a freezing barrier all around him that wouldn't
let any of the heat in. He heard a slight noise from the roof.
Hiei frowned, watching Kurama shiver. It was as hot as a summer
morning could get, but none of that heat seemed to be reaching him. He wondered
if it was a physical or psychological chill.
Briefly, he vanished and appeared next to Kurama. Kurama sat up and
looked up at him, unable to stop shaking. "Hiei," he managed to say.
Hiei pressed the back of his hand against Kurama's forehead, and
quickly drew it away. "You're _freezing_."
"What was your first clue?" Kurama asked, trying to smile.
"Don't joke; you don't have that much energy left," Hiei told him.
"That shadow's draining you to repair itself. It's a wonder you've managed to
survive this long."
Hiei stepped back, considering. "I wonder..." he said to himself,
thinking. He looked back at Kurama. "Give me your hand," he said.
Looking puzzled, Kurama did as he was asked and extended a hand towards
Hiei.
Hiei sat down and placed his hands above and below Kurama's, hoping
that this would work. He closed his eyes, feeling how cold Kurama's skin was,
in comparison to his. Icy, almost. Then he reached inside himself, for the fire
that was always there.
It wasn't all a weapon, though that was what he ususally used it for.
Some of it was just heat, natural warmth. It was why he was never bothered by
cold or sleeping out in the open. And now - it was going to prolong Kurama's
life, if he could manage it right.
Kuwabara opened the door of the house and stepped out, followed by
Yusuke. They stopped when they saw Hiei and Kurama sitting together.
"Hey, what're they doing?" Kuwabara asked.
"Shhh!" Yusuke said, seeing Hiei gather his fire aura into a definite
purpose. He had an idea of what Hiei might be trying, and if he was right, and
if it worked - if it worked, then they would have a little more time.
Kuwabara looked at him, then shrugged, and looked back at the two.
Hiei concentrated, sending his energy down his arms, into Kurama's
body. It was fire energy, raw warmth that Kurama badly needed to survive.
Kurama closed his eyes as he felt the energy tracing through his arm,
and from there into the rest of his body. It stayed away from the block of ice
that was at his heart, however, as if it knew it couldn't melt it. It felt odd,
being so warm. Little tingles of pain were going through his body, like it had
been asleep, and was now waking up. He could feel Hiei pushing more energy into
him, and wondered if he was going to keep enough for himself.
Hiei trembled with the effort, energy lines crackling all across his
body as he tried to give more heat to Kurama. He could regenerate it quickly
enough, so it didn't matter if he spent all of it. But the last of his power
didn't seem to want to leave.
"That's enough, Hiei," Kurama said, opening his eyes. Hiei sighed and
let his hands drop, breathing hard.
"Feel better?" he asked Kurama, opening his eyes.
"Yeah," Kurama said, nodding. "I didn't even remember what being this
warm felt like."
"Good," Hiei said, getting up and walking away.
"Hiei..." Kurama said.
"What?" Hiei turned around.
"Thank you," Kurama said quietly, his voice conveying most of the
sentiments that made their odd friendship work.
Hiei paused, thinking. "You're welcome," he replied. He turned away,
then vanished.
Kurama wondered where he'd gone to, then decided that it didn't
matter. Hiei knew he was grateful for the extra time he'd just been given; that
was enough. At least for now. If he survived this, Kurama would find a way to
pay him back.
"Hey," Yusuke said, he and Kuwabara walking up to Kurama. "He just do
what I think he did?"
"Yeah," Kurama replied, smiling slightly. "I get to live for another
few days, at least. Until this thing sucks away the heat. Or until you have to
kill me."
"Well, that's something, anyway," Yusuke said, feeling a little less
cheerful after Kurama's reminder of his promise to him. He shrugged it off.
<He's just being honest with himself and the rest of us, what else did you
expect?> he asked himself, annoyed for some reason.
"Wonder where that jerk went off to?" Kuwabara asked, looking around.
"If he wasn't like that all the time, I'd think that the shadows had gotten to
him, too."
Yusuke's eyes narrowed in fury at that reminder, and he glared at the
forest beyond them. Kurama looked at him, then back at Kuwabara.
"We need a plan," he said.
Kuwabara gave him a puzzled look.
Hiei flitted through the forest, moving from branch to branch at a
speed that defied the movement of the eye. He needed to be away from the
others, to think. Finally, he reached an exceptionally tall tree, and stood at
the top of it. With a clear view of all sides, as well as of the tree below
him, he felt secure from the shadows.
He sighed, and settled on the uppermost branch. It wasn't that he
didn't trust the forest - he just didn't trust it out of his sight.
"Wonder where Hiei went," Yusuke commented.
"Somewhere," Kurama answered. "Don't worry - he'll be back."
"Yeah, but when?"
"In time," Kurama answered vaguely.
"In time for what?" Yusuke demanded.
Kurama shrugged. "Whatever."
Yusuke glared at him. "Can't you be more specific?"
"Why?" Kurama asked. "Hiei'll come back when he's ready to, and we'll
do our planning then. It's not like it'll make a big difference."
"You're not worried that the shadows'll get him at all, are you?"
"Him?" Kurama laughed. "You're kidding, right?"
Yusuke thought about it for a second, then began to grin. "Yeah, I
guess so," he answered.
Hiei ran over their options in his mind. It was possible that Kurama
could come up with a couple he'd missed, but it wasn't likely.
Option one - they could try to find the door out of here. Their
possible results would be success or failure. Things would be complicated by
the fact that Kurama was still fading fast, and the possible implications were
that Kuwabara and Kurama would escape to the Ningenkai with the shadows inside
of them. The results, as Hiei calculated them, were not favorable.
Option two - they could attempt to find a way of destroying the
shadows and/or removing them from the two. The possible results were success,
failure, and the deaths of Kurama and Kuwabara. The problems were the extreme
level of difficulty, and the still-present time limitation. The results were
still not favorable.
Option three - attempt to find the being who had brought them here,
who might be the one who had shot Kurama, or who might know more than they did
at present. The possible results: again, success or failure. Hiei considered
the complications, and decided that besides the facts that they had no idea
where to look and their time limitation, the enemy would be an unknown factor.
But the possible implications of actual success were that it might lead to
resolutions of both options one and two. The results, in his mind, were the
most favorable of all the options.
Hiei nodded to himself and dropped from the tree, moving back towards
the house.
Kuwabara looked out the window, at the forest. It didn't frighten him
the way it did Kurama, and he didn't hate it as much as Hiei and Yusuke did. He
_knew_ that they hated it, now. He could sense it without even trying. He
smiled as he thought of that. He liked being able to do this. He could tell
where they all were, without even trying, and if he wanted to, he could read
their minds without them ever knowing. But - he didn't want to. He knew they
trusted him, the same way he trusted them, and he didn't want to break that
trust.
"Kuwabara." He turned around. It was Hiei.
"Hm?" he asked.
Hiei looked at him for a second. "Why don't you tell the rest of us
what you know."
"Can't," Kuwabara said. Hiei started to say something, but Kuwabara
cut him off. "Look, I can't vocalize it. It's just all this information in my
head. I think the only way I can pass it on is to do it telepathically, and I
won't do that unless you all want me to. I may be an idiot, but I'm not
_totally_ stupid."
"Kuwabara," Kurama said, walking carefully into the room, Yusuke right
behind him. "You have to tell them. I already know most of it, but they're
going through this with us."
Kuwabara looked at Kurama. He didn't look too good, and it was partly
his fault. His mind reached out to Kurama's without thinking about it, and he
barely caught himself before touching. Kurama smiled softly as he sat down
against the wall, letting him know it was all right. He sighed, and let his
mind touch after all. Kurama looked directly at him as their minds...
interfaced. It was the only possible word to describe the transfer of
information going on between them. He saw, in Kurama's ordered mind, the
reasons Hiei and Urameshi needed to know what they already did. It was all
perfectly rational, and he couldn't find a single fault in Kurama's logic, even
while borrowing on Kurama's capacity for strategy.
He sighed, mentally giving his assent. Then he paused and looked
deeper into Kurama's mind and body. <Shit,> he thought, looking up to meet
Kurama's eyes. Kurama looked at him evenly.
"All right," Yusuke said, sitting down. "If the only way you can give
us this information is to put it into our heads, do it."
"I don't want that idiot messing around in my mind," Hiei said,
sitting down next to Kurama.
"Do you want to win or not?" Yusuke asked him.
Hiei glared at him, about to say something, when Kurama's hand touched
his shoulder. He looked at Kurama, seeing something in his eyes that made him
change his mind. "All right," he said sourly, looking at Kuwabara. "Do it."
Kuwabara looked around at the three of them, suddenly unsure if he
could do this after all. He sighed, pushing his fingers through his hair.
"Okay," he told them. "Here goes."
Yusuke closed his eyes as he felt something touch his mind. It was
Kuwabara, he knew, but it felt off. It wasn't _just_ Kuwabara. It had to be
that shadow thing inside of him. <You're not a telepath, Yusuke,> he heard
someone say. <Don't strain yourself.>
Kurama? he guessed. He felt a smile back, and knew he was right.
<Just hold on,> Kurama thought to him. <Kuwabara's mind will be kind
of rough to go into, and that's what you have to do. I'll try to keep between
you and the worst of it.>
<Will you be okay?> he asked.
<Kurama will be fine,> Hiei told him abruptly. <You're the one who's
never dealt with telepathy before.>
<So what do I do?> he asked them.
<Here,> Kurama said.
Suddenly Yusuke found himself floating in a silver void. He looked
down at himself and saw that his body was all there. Then Kurama and Hiei
appeared on either side of him, and he looked up.
<Where are we?> he asked.
<This is just a representation,> Kurama answered. <Nothing's changed
except how you're perceiving it. It's easier to deal with telepathy, a lot of
the time, if there's something that the mind can "see.">
<So where's Kuwabara?> he asked.
<We're _in_ his mind,> Hiei explained impatiently. <We have to wait
for him to connect with us.>
<What happens when he does?> Yusuke asked.
<This,> Kurama thought, as a huge blast of energy came at them. Yusuke
tried to move out of the way, but found that he couldn't. He started struggling
against the thing that held him.
<Don't fight it, Yusuke,> Hiei thought. <It's only Kuwabara. He won't
hurt you.>
<Hold on!> Kurama warned them. Yusuke turned his head to look at
Kurama, and saw the light hit him. He gasped in shock as Kurama _changed_.
This was beyond his shape-shifting to a youko. The person who was his friend
became a net, stretching out his form like the vines of a plant, growing and
shifting into some shape that Yusuke didn't know was possible. The light slowly
began to filter through his shape, as Kurama let it. And as it hit Yusuke, he
slowly began to understand.
The shadows weren't completely intelligent, but they did have a
purpose. Or, at least, an intent. Like any trapped and hungry animal, they
wanted out of their cage, and they wanted food. They wanted to hunt, and anyone
here was legal prey. They knew that the one who had brought the four here
didn't care what they did, and that once they had the ones who were receptive
to them, there would be a way to escape to the Ningenkai. To a place where
there were _lots_ more to hunt and eat. They liked that.
There was some more, too, but it didn't make any sense to Yusuke. He
wondered if it did to Kuwabara and Kurama.
<It does,> Kurama said, his shape twisting until he was his familiar,
red-headed self again. <But it's mostly instincts, and things like that.
Nothing really useful.>
<So there is a way out of here, then,> Hiei said. <But we still don't
know what it is.>
<Hey, it exists,> Kuwabara said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
<We should be able to find it.>
<Hey, we're in your mind, aren't we?> Yusuke asked. <I thought you
couldn't appear here.>
<Beats me,> Kuwabara said, shrugging. <Couldn't before, while I was
trying to give you all that stuff, but I can now.>
<Can we get out of here?> Hiei demanded.
<Huh?> Kuwabara asked. <Sure.> Suddenly, a doorway opened.
Yusuke stepped through it, and found himself back in his own body.
<Whoa...> he thought, trying to orient himself during a brief second of vertigo.
"So, now that we all know all of this, what do we do with it?" Hiei
asked.
"Try to figure out what to do next," Kurama answered. He paused, then
continued softly, "But Kuwabara doesn't quite have all of it. When they're in a
host body, they're more intelligent than when they're not."
"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked.
"In my dream..." Kurama said slowly. "After Hiei tried to kill me... I
met the shadow inside of me. It's borrowing on my mind."
"Shit," Yusuke said, thinking furiously. "If it's in contact with the
others..."
"It's not," Kuwabara said, shaking his head. "They can't communicate
with each other except when they're in _really_ close contact with each other..."
"Or telepathic?" Yusuke asked, looking directly at Kuwabara. Kuwabara
paled.
"I don't think that we have much to worry about," Hiei interjected.
"Kuwabara's the only one who's telepathic, and his mind is nothing to brag
about borrowing on."
"This isn't helping us solve anything," Kurama pointed out before
Kuwabara could respond to Hiei's insult. "We should try to formulate a plan."
"Right." Yusuke looked at Kuwabara. "Hey, you okay?" he asked,
concerned.
"My head hurts," Kuwabara complained, rubbing at it.
Hiei and Kurama looked at each other, and smiled, though in two
completely different fashions. "You just had three people in your head,
Kuwabara," Kurama explained. "You _should_ feel stretched."
"How do you know, Kurama?" Kuwabara asked, lying down on the floor,
still massaging his head. "You're not a telepath. I _know_ that, now."
"I've known enough telepaths that I've picked up a little bit."
"You wouldn't happen to know how to get rid of this headache, would
you?" Kuwabara asked plaintively.
"Try asprin, idiot," Hiei said, getting up and leaving.