Dead Ends
Koenma looked decidedly more relaxed when Kuwabara and Dai entered his office, despite the late hour. He stood up from his chair in teenager form and looked between them cordially.
"I assume there weren't any problems?" he said, specifically passing Dai a pointed look.
"Why, Koenma-sama," Dai began sagely, smiling in a bright manner. "I am always on my best behavior."
"Of course you are," Koenma retorted blandly.
Kuwabara yawned. "Do you think we could get started? It's just I'm dead tired…"
"Yes," Dai turned in his direction. Her face looked pale in the fluorescent light of the office, but her hands were steady when she took his shoulders and steered him back a couple of steps, angling him precisely. She did the same with Koenma. Finally, she moved back from the both of them about a metre and a half, and shut her eyes.
Kuwabara didn't feel anything. There was no spectacular light show, just a faint breeze against his face. Koenma sighed shortly next to him at about the same moment, and Dai let her eyes open again. They were blue.
"Excellent," Koenma walked back to his desk in a much better mood than when he had left it, and sunk into his chair. "You can leave, Kuwabara. Dai, you stay."
"Okay," Kuwabara nodded to him and waved awkwardly at the dragon. "Um, bye."
Dai watched him walk out, then went to the ajar door and gently closed it. Her hand sat on the knob as she stood there for a little while, her back to Koenma. Her head tilted to one side; she swallowed visibly.
"I don't want to stay in Reikai tonight," she began softly.
Koenma scoffed. "You're lucky I let you leave at all, even with Kuwabara."
"I've been here for weeks," Dai insisted gently, turning. "Today was the first time I've been home in a month-,"
"I'm not arguing on this," Koenma snapped. "You're staying. Now get down to the Hospital Center."
Dai blinked. Her expression resembled that of a kicked puppy. Large, blue eyes widened and became wet with unshed tears; her mouth pressed together gently in a sad little line, and her shoulders slumped.
She sniffled.
Koenma groaned. "You stop that-,"
"Just one night?" Dai begged. "I'll come back tomorrow morning, really…and Kakei will make sure I get here…Koenma-sama…please…?"
"You think that act is going to get you somewhere but it's not working!" Koenma exclaimed. "I won't budge on my decision even if you start balling your stupid little crocodile tears and for Enma's sake, you're a grown woman so you need to give it up right now because it's not making the slight – slightest – slightest-," The teen's voice dwindled as she continued to stand there, sniffling and rubbing at her eyes.
He swiveled his chair around abruptly, crossed his arms, and huffed. "…fine."
"Perfect," Dai sighed serenely, act dropped, and twirled around to face the door. "See you tomorrow, Koenma-sama. Before noon, I promise!"
Humming, the black-haired woman hopped out the door.
Koenma proceeded to grumble to himself for the next hour.
A demon sat, motionless, to witness the first rays of dawn.
He shut his pale eyes against the sun that filtered over his face gently, illuminating the white-blonde of his short hair. He was wearing a long robe much like those worn by monks. The youkai sat at the base of a tree, his head tilted back against the bark as though to bask in the pale sunlight. Both legs were drawn against his chest.
The dawn's light glimmered off patches of white scales marring the youkai's skin.
His peace was interrupted, as a male dog demon appeared next to him. "King," the inuyoukai bowed deeply. "The target is on the move."
Disturbed from his thoughts, the blonde youkai sat up and gazed at his underling through heavy-lidded eyes. "Oh?" he said softly.
The inuyoukai nodded. "I saw it with my own eyes."
"How fortunate." The blonde raked his fingers gently across the ashes on the ground. "What was she doing?"
"Bathing, King-sama. She then proceeded northwards."
The blonde youkai was silent for a moment. Slowly, he stood, his thin, frail-looking body towering over the other man. Slowly, he blinked, and his head tilted to one side. "Bathing, you say."
The inuyoukai nodded obediently. "Hai, King-sama."
The blonde circled around him. "My dear boy," he sighed gently, pressing a hand on the youkai's shoulder.
Blood began to seep from the floor. The dog demon hissed, doubling over as the blonde let him go and watched, idly, while his company toppled to the ground.
"Respect her." The blonde continued calmly. "Women are not to be fawned."
Disregarding the dying man, the blonde walked past. He moved through the dead trees silently while removing a small, silver bell from his robes.
"We will release you from your mortal confines," he said calmly. "And you will surely impress me, my lady."
He rang the bell gently.
Kurama walked into his dorm that afternoon only to find it occupied.
"Yo, Kurama," Yusuke greeted, munching loudly on a bag of chips in the middle of Kurama's once-pristine bed. Kuwabara sat near the closet, having evidently found the stash of fan-girl gifts that had accumulated over the past month and was happily helping himself to the homemade chocolates. Hiei seemed to be the only one not causing any sort of disruption to his room and merely sat, back flat against the wall, on the carpet under the window.
Kurama shut the door behind him and closed his eyes briefly. "May I ask as to the occasion?"
"We were bored," Yusuke and Kuwabara said as one.
"Fascinating. Do keep in mind this room will be returned to its original cleanliness before you leave."
"Aw, come on," Yusuke put his hands up. "At least this way, your place looks a little lived in for once – I mean, come on, your bookcase is sorted by author alphabetically! Who has time for that?!"
"I do, apparently."
Yusuke merely rolled his eyes. "Back me up here, Kuwabara."
"Eh? What?"
"You're useless," Yusuke moaned as he threw a handful of chips at the orange-haired man. Kuwabara ducked.
"Hey! Watch what you're doing, Urameshi!"
Kurama merely sighed. He'd only made it halfway to his desk when a portal opened in the far corner of his room near Hiei, and Botan entered on her oar.
"Boys," she began quickly. Her eyes were wide and she looked slightly troubled. "Boys, I need your help on two fronts, here, and I need it fast."
"Why?" Yusuke straightened up slightly and set his bag of chips aside. "What's wrong?"
"I – I – I need someone at the border because he keeps killing everyone else we send in, and there's no use talking to him in this form because it just isn't getting through to him, and pretty soon he's going to go on a rampage if-,"
"Who are you talking about, Botan?" Kurama asked.
Botan fidgeted on her oar. "Kakei," she said, glancing away nervously when Kurama's green eyes darkened. "He's – he's going haywire and no one can talk any sense into him-,"
"What's wrong with him?" Kuwabara asked, surprised. Kakei seemed like a very in-control kind of guy. "Is he sick? Did he get cursed or something?"
"N-no," Botan bit her lip, fidgeting even more. "It's…Dai." She looked in Kurama's direction, and then Hiei's, to see that both of them had the same unreadable expressions.
"We can't…we can't find her."
Kakei looked like a wolf stalking along his cage. He was huge; the size to a two-story house, nearly, spitting and growling with every step he took, pacing back and forth along the thing line of trees separating north from south Makai. With every step he took the trees shook and groaned, some of their roots ripping from the ground – on the south side ashes continued to sweep upwards in an angry flurry.
Kurama and Kuwabara, who had been designated the path of getting the future Lord of the North under control, watched from a safe distance.
"Were there any children in the house when you came yesterday, Kuwabara?" Kurama asked quietly. His eyes didn't leave Kakei.
"Just one kid named Raito," Kuwabara replied.
"…Raito…" Kurama glanced at him sideways. "Please go to the manor and see if you can find him. I can control Kakei."
"Good, because I definitely couldn't," Kuwabara laughed nervously and turned around. Kurama looked back at the large, restless fox as the orange-top departed. Kakei's long claws raked at the ground and left wide, ugly scars in the earth. He snarled and growled as he paced back and forth, back and forth, like the line of trees he walked along were the bars of his prison.
"Doing this will get you nowhere."
Kakei turned and snarled, baring his fangs at the redhead, who looked unintimidated despite the great, looming creature advancing on him. "Are you planning to attack me? That will neither impress Dai nor bring us any closer to locating her. You are wasting time."
Kakei replied by snapping and turning away sharply, continuing to pace, to growl. "She's gone. She was supposed to stay put."
"She's not a child," Kurama answered quietly. "She can take care of herself. We only need to find her."
"Don't tell me that," the kitsune spat venomously. "You don't know. Your actions have taken their toll."
Kurama studied him carefully. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly.
Another snarl.
Kurama's Communicator buzzed. He opened it. "What is it, Yusuke?"
"How apt do you think whichever twin you have with you would be at finding Dai's scent? Hiei says there's too much ash and burnt wood around here to tell anything."
Kurama glanced at Kakei, who was now crouching low to the ground, his sharp snarls grounding into one constant, dark growl. He was facing southwards.
"It won't work. Kakei's anxiety is driving him to incoherence; the only way to rectify that is to find Dai, but he wouldn't be able to focus long enough to track her."
"Okay, well then – do you have any other ingenious ideas because we're at a dead end here."
Kurama nodded slightly. "Stay where you are. We'll come to you."
"Whatever you say, fox boy."
Kurama watched Yusuke flicker off from the screen before he contacted Kuwabara. "Do you have Raito?"
"What? Oh, yeah. He's here. What's the deal with Kakei?"
"He'll have to stay here. I'll meet you on your way; we're going to join the others."
"Alrighty."
Closing the Communicator, the redhead cast one last look over his shoulder at the large kitsune behind him before sighing slightly and walking in the opposite direction. He walked for only about five minutes before coming across his orange-haired teammate and the young, regal-looking yet somehow childish Raito. Upon seeing Kurama, the bright-eyed boy bowed deeply.
"Youko-sama," he said politely. "Do you know where kaa-san is?"
"Asked me the same thing," Kuwabara put in.
"I was hoping you could help," Kurama replied. "Can you feel her?"
Raito frowned. He glanced around him in confusion, as though expecting Dai to pop out from behind a tree. "I…" finally, he settled on looking at the ground. "I can't, Youko-sama…she…lately…"
"Has she been acting strangely?" Kurama prodded gently, studying her with his almond-shaped eyes, not pressing, never pressing, and to all appearances not anxious in the least – only curious.
But Raito turned his head sharply away from the imploring gaze. "I shouldn't say," he murmured softly. "But I can't feel her anymore."
"That is not a problem," Kurama assured him when the boy's expression grew heavy with distress. "There is more than one way to find her. We'll go meet the others and continue from there."
Kuwabara nodded as Kurama stood and turned leftwards. Raito watched him for a moment, as though bracing himself, before he dashed forward and tailed close behind the taller redhead. When Kuwabara caught up, he saw that Raito was staring almost sheepishly at the ground, a blush dusted over his nose. He looked less the image of a dignified child and more like a sheepish youngling. He followed Kurama like a lost puppy; and maybe, Kuwabara thought, that wasn't too far from the truth. Raito's caretaker had disappeared, Kakei was nowhere in sight, and Kurama was the next most familiar person close by.
Ten minutes later (Kuwabara realized they had circled around the area Kakei was in) Yusuke and Hiei emerged from the bushes, Yusuke with his eyebrows raised appraisingly. "So, fox boy? Who's this kid? What's your big plan?"
"This is Raito. A blood relative of Dai." Kurama's hand found its way to the crown of Raito's head. The boy blushed again, looking flustered.
"Yeah, and how's he gonna help us?" Yusuke bent down and eyed the boy critically. Raito glanced away quickly and, laying eyes on the red-eyed youkai standing outside the social circle, immediately ran to him. Hiei narrowed eyes at Raito as he placed himself behind the other demon, but did nothing else.
"Raito," Kurama began patiently. "Call for Dai-san, please."
Raito's eyes widened. He teetered uncertainly behind Hiei for a moment before turning around to face the dead forestry. "Kaa-san!"
Raito's youthful voice echoed throughout the forest. A flock of white birds were startled from their perch and took flight through the sky. Raito wandered a few steps further from the group.
A long moment passed, and there was no sound.
There was a distraught note to Raito's voice this time. "Kaa-san!"
Raito looked around, searching, his eyes carefully scanning over every inch of the forest before him.
The earth began to shake.
Loose ashes from the burnt forestry fluttered to the ground. A light wind began to pick up. For one quiet, frozen moment, nothing else happened.
Then Kurama grabbed Raito's shoulder with alarming speed and force the boy backwards just instants before a sleek, fast something flew into their clearing, moving so quickly that when the wind caught up with it it was almost jarring in its strength. With its movement, blood splattered across the trees, the grass, and across the jacket of the one standing closest – Kurama. But that was nothing as within the same moment he was thoroughly drenched in the substance when a humanoid figure ran straight into him with such force it knocked him backwards.
He knew the others had been knocked back with the force of the wind. Kurama took a brief second to gain his bearings before turning his attention to the dead weight on his body. He could feel breathing, harsh breathing against his neck. Long hair tickling his throat. Half of a body, somewhere from the torso down, was thrown over his while the rest of the body was thrown over one side of his shoulder.
The smell of blood was everywhere.
"Dai?" Kurama murmured. His hand rose automatically to where her head was. As he cradled it, he could feel the dampness of both water and more blood. He sat up slowly, aware her body was unresponsive, disturbed by her harsh pants.
She shuddered and swallowed. Kurama could feel Raito's presence approaching. "Kaa-san?" he whispered.
"She needs to get to Reikai, Raito," Kurama explained in a ridiculously patient tone, standing and turning a blind eye to the shudder of pain rippling through her with the movement She was so small in his arms; so…unlike Dai. "She can't speak right now."
"What the hell happened?" Yusuke demanded. Even while Kurama stood holding her, blood was steadily creating a puddle at his feet.
Kurama merely shook his head. He neither knew nor cared at the moment; there was a priority at hand. "Hiei, a portal."
Kurama shut his eyes as he heard the telltale sign of the portal opening, relieved that heat was no longer forcing itself against his skin –
The redhead almost dropped his burden in surprise.
She'd stopped breathing.
TBC.
R and R. (and no I do not mean rest and relaxation.)