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The Fate We Have Chosen

Chapter 4

Half-a-recess

The following morning Yusuke awoke to the stabbing sound of birds singing and early sunlight gently drilling into his eyes even though he had shut them immediately upon discovery of his hangover. He groaned and rolled over stiffly. He could not remember the last time he had gotten a hangover from being drunk. So unlike him. He would never try Chu's suggestion of drink again.

"He's finally awake," Hiei's voice drifted in from above.

"Wha' happened?" Yusuke asked, daring to sit up and rubbing his temples in an attempt to relieve the pounding in his head.

He felt Kurama place a warm cup in his hands. "You became very drunk last night, you may remember, and then you became sick. We feared you may have gotten poisoned from consumption."

Yusuke sniffed the drink and then held it away from him, snorting as if trying to rid his nostrils of the scent, but Kurama pushed the cup back towards him. "What is this, Kurama?" he coughed. "It smells like ass! There better be magic healing plants in here!"

"The tea is for your stomach, a remedy of my own invention," Kurama answered, then with a bit of amusement he continued, "I spiked it with ordinary aspirin. I'm a plant master, not a magician."

There was a pause as a heavy air set over them while Yusuke sipped his tea. Kurama's mention of a magician reminded them all of why they were here in the first place as well as the chance they had missed last night on getting a lead. Yusuke looked to Kuwabara who was obviously in deep meditation, searching as far as he could without straining the tether to his human body for something he may be able to use to help.

Yusuke heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry, guys," he said mournfully. "I really didn't mean to get drunk and screw things up last night. I must be really stupid."

To Yusuke's surprise, Hiei huffed, but his words were something akin to kind. "I should have warned you, detective," he said, referring to the drinks Yusuke ordered. "I thought you knew."

"You really didn't have that many," Kurama supported. "Perhaps your lack of exposure to the Makai brand's ingredients caused such an effect."

There was silence for a moment. Already Yusuke's headache was beginning to recede aided by the aspirin and excelled by Kurama's tea leaves.

"So what do we do now?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama looked at Hiei. "Hiei claims there is another place he knows of not terribly far from here that may provide answers."

"It's where everyone goes to follow a rumor," Hiei said.

"You think we can catch wind of something this rare there?" Yusuke wondered aloud.

Hiei shrugged. "It's the same place where I heard of Shigure."

"Shigure?" Yusuke echoed, though he looked to Kurama.

Kurama merely smirked and tapped the front of his forehead. The Jagan implant.

The fox took the empty cup from Yusuke, rinsed it, and packed it away. "We really must be going now. It's getting late."

They looked to Kuwabara, who simply breathed deeply and opened his eyes. "I heard ya," he said, locating his pack and flinging it over his shoulder.

They nodded, and Hiei began to lead the way.

000

Hiei's idea of "not far", they decided after a while, was a little skewed. So far the company had crossed several different types of terrain, and the sun had crossed well past midday, which is a long time in the Makai where the days are significantly longer. They only had to stop a few times to rest and eat. Kuwabara's body was still not accustomed to the change, but he refused to rest more than absolutely necessary. The others secretly worried for his condition, and Yusuke even called a break, claiming his headache had returned with a vengeance, just to keep the psychic from overworking himself. Of course, during their brief stops, Kuwabara busied himself with searching the Makai's energies and fated strings in ethereal form. It was very concerning indeed.

They passed out of the cold that the glacier had left behind even though it had returned to its lofty place in the sky. They ran through dense forestry, some of which had such thick underbrush, Kurama had to persuade the plants to make a path for them. The forest soon turned to boggy swampland where they hopped from one muddy landmass to another, Kuwabara nearly losing a shoe when his foot went under. Soon, the trees began to thin into what appeared to be an ancient forest of evergreens. The tree trunks towered above them and blocked enough sunlight that very few shrubs grew on the forest floor.

They stopped to take another break. The sun was sinking startlingly low in the sky again at this point. A whole day had gone by without them reaching the village Hiei had spoken of.

"We are very close," Hiei told them.

"You said that five hours ago!" Yusuke said, sitting on the ground with a huff.

"I believe we can make it easily before nightfall," he clarified.

"The colonized populations are spread very thin here," Kurama explained. "Personally, I am surprised that we have nearly reached our destination. I had assumed that we could expect to arrive there tomorrow morning."

"We have to get there before nightfall," Hiei said. "Or at least out of these woods."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow, and Kuwabara opened his eyes, re-entering from his meditation.

"Yeah, I can feel it," Kuwabara said looking to the tops of the trees as if he could see something invisible. "I get a funny feeling from his place. There are threads I have never seen before… I…" He met their eyes. "I think we are going in the right direction."

Hiei smirked. "I thought these woods were strange enough."

Kurama frowned. He had been listening to plant life all day, as he so often did. Plants had interesting things to tell each other. They saw and heard everything that happened around them, but very few beings knew how to communicate with the plant life to ask a flower if it has seen anything unusual. The trees here whispered and then shushed each other at the newcomer's approach. Kurama had not wanted to alarm his comrades, but much of any whispering that he caught was that of malicious intent. This was not a common muttering among plants, much less something as patient and wise as a tree. The forest was either very distrustful, or it was protecting something.

Leave! They are trampling intruders!

Axe-wielders and bark-breakers!

Shhhhhhh! Do not speak! They may hear!

Kill them!

Quiet!

Kill them! Let our roots drink their blood!

Feast! Feast! Feast!

Shhhhhh! My sisters! Patience! The sun sets!

Kurama stood, only slightly more abruptly than he had intended. "If everyone is recovered, we should head onward if we are to make it before dark."

The others agreed and they continued their pace. A trickle of sweat dribbled down the side of Kurama's face as he continued to shift his gaze around. The trees hissed after them as they passed, unbeknownst to everyone except the fox. Perhaps he should warn them… But there was still at least an hour before dark, which seemed to be what the trees were waiting for. Hiei had provided time to be out of the forest by nightfall.

Kuwabara tripped on a tree root, but regained his footing. The path was getting darker by the minute. This wasn't right. They should still have plenty of light left in the sky. The sun had been high enough only a moment ago…

"Stop!" Kurama shouted, and everyone obeyed in confusion.

"The trees! Look!" he pointed, wide-eyed.

The groaning around them, barely perceptible before, had picked up. The trees were closing in, shading the sun further from the forest floor. Soon, they would been completely plunged into darkness.

"What's going on?" Yusuke asked, charging his spiritual energy.

"I don't know!" Kurama said, putting his hand to the ground and sending out his energy. "I can't control their movements!"

Hiei pulled out his sword, and Kuwabara released the Reiken. Kurama stood and pulled a rose from his hair.

"Spirit Gun!" Yusuke shouted, releasing the ball of energy at something the others had not seen creeping up behind them.

"What? What was it?" Kuwabara asked, closing in his back to the circle they had formed.

"I couldn't tell what they were, but there were a lot of 'em!" Yusuke said back, charging his energy into his fists.

All of a sudden it seemed they were surrounded, for out of the darkness loomed a growing amount of creatures. They were grotesque and knotted, their heads malformed, and their bark-shelled bodies misshaped. Hollow, pitted eyes glared hungrily, and they smiled with pearly teeth that appeared to be human, grinning in the dark. The trees continued to close in.

"Heh, the vermin have infested this place," Hiei sneered.

Kurama furrowed his brow. "Plant Nymphs," he said lowly.

Hiei started it all, tired of sitting around. He lunged at a nearby creature that was as large as Gouki, leaving a trail of ten creatures whose limbs had been hewn from their trunks. Kurama had managed a similar effect with his rose whip, though his range was far greater, and he had a tendency to behead his opponents. Yusuke picked off the nymphs that got too close with his fists, leaving a circle of destruction which the other nymphs had to climb over thereafter. Kuwabara cut widely with his reiken, raking large groups of creatures aside where they fell, severed.

They were making good progress, it seemed. Or, at least it had seemed that way before the nymphs began to rise once again. Their pieces grew back together again, or limbs reformed before they stood again to fight. Some of the creatures even formed together by accident to create a few nymphs far larger than the others. The team tried to knock their opponents into tinier pieces to prevent reformation, but to no avail. If anything, it made the problem worse, creating more of the large creatures while the smaller ones continued to gather. The team was soon thoroughly separated in the confusion, and the creatures were now close enough to grab and bite at their prey.

Hiei, having finally had enough of the nonsense, gathered his energy around him and sent out a whirlwind of fire through the ranks. The creatures screeched in the flames and ran amok, setting their own comrades on fire.

"Hey, good work, Hiei!" Yusuke whooped, punching a nearby nymph into nothing.

However the celebration was short lived. While some nymphs turned to ash, others who had survived the flames began to reform and seemed to screech in horror at their fallen brothers. Kurama heard their words.

Him! The tree eater!

Break his bones!

Devour his flesh, daughters mine!

Bring me the salamander's head!

"Hiei, no! Look out!" Kurama shouted, but it was too late.

The nymphs had heard the commands and stopped their other tasks in favor of tackling Hiei. Soon he was swarmed in a mass of bark and bodies, the creatures having grabbed and restrained him. Flames shot from within the writhing pile, but there were enough bodies that the sparks could no longer breathe.

Kurama turned to Yusuke and Kuwabara, shouting, "The nymph mother! We must find the nymph mother!"

Yusuke and Kuwabara had no idea why he was shouting so loudly, for as the voices raged all around Kurama in a deafening roar, the other two detectives could only hear rustling and the occasional screech.

Shrugging to each other, they shouted back, "How to we find the nymph mother?"

"Follow them!" Kurama instructed, running after the migrating nymph herd.

As they followed the herd, they tore at the bodies, attempting to reach Hiei, who resided somewhere in the middle of it all. However, the masses were too huge, and the plant creatures moved onward as if they had a greater purpose than fighting (Yusuke scoffed). They would have feared more for Hiei's life if they could not plainly hear his muffled curses and the screeches of the nymphs that he burned in attempts to free himself. It appeared that perhaps although the Dragon of the Darkness Flame would have helped his case greatly, the nymphs had hold of his limbs so that he found it impossible to unwrap the ward. Curse the thing for being so securely in place in this moment!

Soon darkness had completely descended upon them, night having finally arrived. With the trees shielding any further light, the forest was plunged into pitch blackness. The three standing warriors were continuing along guided only by sounds and screeches of the tromping creatures. The only sources of sight were the faint light of Kuwabara's reiken and the occasional flash of light from Yusuke's energy or Hiei's fit of rage. They began to wonder if the creatures were not actually wandering around in circles when at long last the herd came to a stop.

Yess…

Bring him here, my darlings!

Bring him to me that I may feast!

"She's going to eat Hiei!" Kurama declared to the others, lunging blindly for the nymphs again, to dig Hiei out.

Feed, mother, feed!

"Kurama! Where's the nymph mother?" Yusuke shouted in what he deemed to be Kurama's general direction.

"No time! She'll eat him before I find her in the dark!" Kurama shouted back. The herd was so huge now with new and old nymphs altogether that they could no longer ascertain which direction the mass was actually moving.

"Damnit!" Hiei shouted from somewhere.

Obviously not the direction Kurama had thought. The fox took in a deep breath of frustration and actually dove on top of the pile, swimming through it almost. He grabbed a foot to move it from his path.

"Get off me!" he heard Hiei shout before he was kicked in the face by the foot.

"Agh! Hiei, it's me!" Kurama said, holding his bloody nose with one hand, and hanging onto his friend with the other.

"How did you—"

"Not important," Kurama interrupted. "We must find a way out now!"

"You don't know a way out?" Hiei asked incredulously.

Kurama glared in his direction although he was fairly certain Hiei wouldn't see it and said in a sharp tone, "You should count yourself lucky that it's me making this up as I go!"

Hiei was about to retort when from behind him came a yawning creak. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end at the sound and warm breath fanned strongly from behind him. All of a sudden, his limbs were released and he was tipped backward into the breathing thing. With a yelp he quickly grabbed at where Kurama had been, successfully snatching a firm hold of the fox's hair. Kurama, too was now being yanked backward by Hiei's weight and the nymph's shoving. He barely had time to grab onto the lumpy head of the nymph nearest to him to keep them both from falling into the darkness.

"Oh, god damnit!" Hiei snarled, unable to right himself with all of the nymph's shoving and pushing in their attempts to knock him into the nymph mother's mouth.

"Shotgun!" Yusuke's voice rang out.

The entire forest was momentarily filled with a brilliant light, and the nymph mother screamed. Slowly, the nymph children released their grasps, wilting and crumpling to the ground. Everyone took a deep breath as the tree branches retreated to their original positions, letting in the bright light of the full moon. Behind Hiei and Kurama stood the remains of the nymph mother. She appeared to be no more than a massive head at least thirty feet in diameter rooted to the ground, her mouth stretching wide, opening up into the earth like a passageway to Hell's wonderland.

"That was incredible, Yusuke," Kurama panted, standing up and dusting himself off. He rubbed his head where he had been almost certain Hiei had pulled out his hair. "How did you find it?"

"I heard Hiei yell once, and I thought I knew where she was, since you said something about her 'eating' and all. I was sure when you guys yelled again," Yusuke shrugged, miming the blast again with his hand.

They regrouped, crunching towards each other over the bodies of the fallen nymph children.

"Do you always guess when you shoot?" Hiei huffed, noticing the proximity between his previous position and the nymph mother's hollowed heart.

"It's the shotgun!" Yusuke retorted. "It shoots up pretty much everything in a general direction, so I don't have to worry about aiming too much."

Kurama chuckled. "Yusuke, your luck is nothing short of genius. Wouldn't you agree, Kuwabara?"

There was silence.

The team cast around for their friend in panic. They had just gotten out of one crisis. Were they already encountering another?

Kurama turned and suddenly felt something cold and blade-like at his throat. How unlike him to be so distracted. From the silence, his other comrades must have been in the same predicament.

"You lost your human, it seems," a voice said from the shadows.

000

So I realized that I made Yusuke seem like a senseless jerk in the last chapter. That is not what I think of him at all! I just couldn't make finding a warlock that easy. And, I had to find some way to create this scene. Not to be conceited, but I am pretty darn proud of my "Nymph Mother" idea. :3 I sat here at chuckled to myself quietly with a hand on my chin for a long time of scheming before I put it into action. Nevertheless, I hoped you enjoyed it!

Nymphs: Typically fabled to be nature-based female spirits who are beautiful and love to sing and dance. I changed that here, now didn't I? Kurama shall explain in the next chapter.

I also wanted to establish that Hiei is not all-powerful. He can be kidnapped by nymphs. Kurama is a plant master, but he is not a magician, and he cannot control everything. He is not all-knowing. Yusuke is carefree, but he is loyal to his friends. He is a good fighter, and he knows how to deal with a serious situation. Kuwabara is... gone?