That Which Comes Between Two Mountains

by Mayushii

All copyright materials are property of their respective owners.

A/N: I posted this story a long time ago under a different title, but I deleted it because I wasn't completely satisfied with it. Since then it has been floating around on my computer(s), undergoing various edits and alterations over the years. I'm still not entirely sure it's done, but I just want to get it off my comp already. -_-; Please note that this is based on both the manga and the anime, so character designs and personalities may not precisely match either one. I also fudged around with the canon as I saw fit.

Warning: This story contains one nonexplicit male/male pairing, Kurama+Hiei. There is absolutely nothing physical going on between them in this installment of the series, so you are free to ignore the romantic intent and write it off as a "really close friendship" if you so choose. Just please be aware that relationships tend to progress to new levels the longer you stick with them, and it will be harder to ignore such developments in future installments.

Youko Kurama, Wielder of Plants

Yusuke had only been a Spirit Detective for a couple of days, but he was already starting to hate the job.

Could you really blame him, though? Since accepting his new position as defender of the human world, Yusuke had been subject to two of the worst beatings of his life. He had been pounded, stomped, tossed around like a rag doll, and nearly eaten damn it. Now, as he limped up a crowded sidewalk with the aid of a knobbly walking stick, he looked like the risen dead that he was.

And Yusuke was beginning to wonder if he would have been better off staying dead. At least then he wouldn't be in Koenma's debt, stuck doing this detective work as payment for his revival. Detective work. Right. More like slave labor, he thought darkly. Frowning, Yusuke shoved one hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out the first of the three Spirit World treasures he'd been ordered to recover. I can't believe I went through all that just to get this thing back…

The artifact he held was as big as a softball, though Yusuke never could have mistaken it for one. In fact, it was hard to compare it to anything made by human hands. The Gakidama was green and glowing like radioactive waste, and it probably would have been a shapeless blob if not for the black metal framework that kept it in the form of a sphere. Yusuke had almost died trying to reclaim this soul-stealing orb, and Gouki was supposed to be the weakest of the three youkai thieves. Somewhere in Tokyo, there were two more treasures for him to track down. There was just no way he could complete the mission.

A group of teenagers standing outside a store gawked at Yusuke as he approached, and his annoyance suddenly reached boiling point.

"Stop staring at me, dammit! Don't you kids have a curfew or something?" Yusuke yelled. The startled teens whirled around and stared at the clothes in the store's display window. Yusuke glowered at them for a few more seconds before his anger simmered down, leaving him even weaker than he'd been before.

Who am I kidding? I probably couldn't even beat them up. Yusuke replaced the Gakidama in his trousers for safekeeping and made up his mind to go home. There was no reason to push himself any farther tonight. He could start looking for Kurama and Hiei tomorrow…

A loud beeping sound pierced through the weary fog of Yusuke's consciousness. He glanced down at his wrist, checking the glowing red face of the Youkai Compass. There was a youkai less than a hundred meters away. Yusuke stared in horror as the reading steadily began to decrease.

It was coming closer.

Was the youkai looking for him? Maybe it wouldn't attack in the middle of a crowded street, but Yusuke was in no shape to tangle with it. He could barely walk straight, much less run, and he doubted he could secure a hiding place in his condition.

When the Youkai Compass read two meters, the crowd seemed to part. Yusuke narrowed his eyes at the person who stood before him.

There… It's Kurama.

A shiver ran down Yusuke's spine when he met the youkai's eyes. They were sharp and intensely green, and Yusuke could see something very old and otherworldly lurking behind them. Those eyes looked even odder coupled with an androgynous human face. Now that Yusuke thought about it, the whole picture was mostly gender neutral. Kurama's school uniform fit his body strangely, offering no noticeable hints of masculine lines or womanly curves, and his long, flowing, wine-red hair looked more feminine than anything. If Yusuke didn't know Kurama was a guy, his first guess would have been pretty girl in serious need of a Wonderbra. (Tasteless? Ha! Yusuke didn't know the meaning of the word.)

Yusuke tensed and waited for an attack. A fine brow arched over one of Kurama's eyes.

"Good evening, Detective. I see you've been making friends with Gouki," Kurama observed. Yusuke held back a glare as the youkai's eyes surveyed his bruised face, his ragged clothes, and his walking stick. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Yusuke answered tersely. Kurama considered him for another moment before giving a short nod, as if he approved of what he saw.

"You beat him. If you hadn't, you would be dead." Kurama tipped his head questioningly. "Isn't that right?"

"Yeah, I beat him." Yusuke felt the cold, shaking sense of dread seeping out of his body, replaced instead with confusion and curiosity. Kurama continued to look at him with a sort of mild interest, as if he expected Yusuke to carry on a conversation with him. Did youkai always make small talk with people they intended to kill? Yusuke furrowed his brow and said, "Look, if you're going to kill me, you should probably be doing that right now instead of asking me about my day."

Kurama looked mildly amused. "Ah, but I'm not going to kill you."

"What do you want, then? You didn't run into me by accident," Yusuke pointed out.

"Right again. I did seek you out." Kurama tipped his head languidly. A few strands of hair slipped from behind his ear, and Yusuke couldn't stop himself from tracking the movement. Damn, he was paranoid. It was just hair. It wasn't like Kurama had drawn a weapon… "I wanted to ask a favor."

Yusuke jerked his head up and snapped back to the youkai's eyes.

"And what sort of favor would that be?" he asked.

"Just time. Three days, to be precise. After that, I will return the Ankokukyo."

Yusuke shut his eyes as Botan held her hand over his face, bathing him in what looked and felt like concentrated sunlight. Healing energy poured into scrapes and bruises, filling the wounds before fading and leaving his skin its normal, healthy color. When Botan moved her hand away from his face and started work on his bare chest instead, Yusuke reopened his eyes.

"I'm just saying he doesn't seem that bad," Yusuke said for the fifth time.

"Of course he doesn't! He probably has you under some kind of youkai spell," Botan said with a dismissive tone in her voice. The light around her hand pulsed brighter when she held it over a large bruise on her patient's shoulder. Yusuke grunted as the energy went from warm to burning, and she quickly reined herself in. "As for this favor he's asking, it has to be a trick. I mean, think about this. You know that the full moon is in three days, don't you?"

"Yeah. So what?" Yusuke asked, his brow creasing.

Botan stood up and tossed her light blue ponytail in a show of annoyance.

"Yusuke, you sure can be dense sometimes," she said reprovingly. "The night of the full moon is when the powers of the Ankokukyo reach their peak. When that happens, the mirror reflects the strongest desire of anyone who looks into it. It will then grant that desire as long as the user offers something in return. I don't know what the price is, but it's obvious that Kurama wants to use the next three days to find out."

"Why did he come to me, then?" Yusuke asked dubiously. "It's not like I could have stopped him. He could have killed me at any time, so why didn't he?"

Botan put her hands on her hips. "I don't know, but he might have thought you were worth more to him alive—"

"Just listen. When I was talking with Kurama, I kept getting this weird vibe. It felt…" Yusuke stared at the ceiling, trying to remember exactly what he had sensed when Kurama first appeared to him. He was sure the youkai was dangerous, but Kurama had not been trying to intimidate him. If anything, he had been…sympathetic. Kind, even. "He has this aura around him, you know?"

"No, I don't know," Botan said tartly.

"I just—I kept feeling like he was—" Yusuke fumbled for words, not entirely sure what he wanted to say. He finally sighed and said, "Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I want to give him the three days."

"You're being stupid!" Botan huffed. "His partner nearly killed you and now you're giving him a chance to—"

"They aren't partners anymore. When I found them in the forest yesterday, they were having some kind of argument. I don't know why, but Kurama told the other two he was leaving." Yusuke tried to recall how Kurama had looked at him. There had been no evil in his eyes… "He looks sad, Botan. Maybe he's having second thoughts."

Botan folded her arms over her chest, looking deeply perturbed. She was saved the trouble of replying when Yusuke's mother suddenly barged into the room.

"Yusuke! I've made us some dinner!" Atsuko announced. She offered a friendly smile to Botan, not seeing the aggravated look on her son's face. "Will you be eating with us, Botan? We have plenty of food!"

"Oh yes, that sounds great!" Botan laughed, effortlessly falling into her cheery human world persona.

Yusuke quickly sat up and swiveled around to glare at his mother.

"Can't you knock, Mom? We're having a serious discussion here!" he complained.

"Hey! What kind of conversation can't be held around your own mother?" Atsuko snarled, grabbing her son by his upper arm and hauling him off the bed. "What are you doing in here anyway, lying in bed half-naked with a girl in the room? Don't you have any sense of modesty?"

"What?" Yusuke blinked, looked down at his bare chest, and suddenly realized how the whole situation must look. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief. At least she didn't see Botan using her healing powers. Now that would have been hard to explain…

A few days later, Yusuke wandered through the courtyard of Sarayashiki High. Sulking, he kicked a stone out of his path and ignored the way his classmates scattered when they saw him coming. His reputation as the most dangerous delinquent in school was respected by everyone, but it had its downsides. Keiko and Kuwabara were the only ones brave enough to talk to him. There was some wide-eyed little nerd following him around today, though…

The boy timidly cleared his throat. "Urameshi?"

"This better be good, or your face is meeting pavement," Yusuke said nonchalantly as he turned around. The kid let out a terrified squeak.

"Th-there's somebody at the front gate who wants to see you!"

"What…?" Yusuke blinked in confusion.

A few minutes later, when Yusuke reached the front gates, he found his visitor standing in the shadow of a naked oak tree. Kurama had his hands buried in the pockets of his school uniform, and the rays of sunlight that passed through the tree's branches shone brightly on his silken hair and creamy skin. Several girls in the courtyard were whispering behind their hands to each other, looking at Kurama with obvious interest.

"Kurama!" Yusuke yelped in surprise.

"Good afternoon," Kurama greeted, dipping his head in an informal bow. He offered a sly smile as Yusuke walked toward him, not missing the looks of outrage and disappointment on the schoolgirls' faces. "I don't suppose you would mind getting out of class early? I'd like to talk with you for a while."

Yusuke smirked. Getting him out of school? That was definitely a few points in the guy's favor.

Needless to say, Yusuke was surprised when Kurama brought him to the Kamiya Kouen. It was a botanical park owned by a nearby college, and Yusuke had never been past the front gate, barred by the fee. Kurama was happy to pay for both of them, though. Yusuke couldn't help feeling embarrassed when the youkai handed his money over to the man in the tollbooth.

"Um, you don't have to pay for me," he mumbled, watching as the man in the booth gave Kurama two tickets.

"It's only fair, since I'm the one who asked you to come," Kurama reassured him. He handed one ticket over to Yusuke and tucked the other into his own pocket. "Don't worry, the fee is worth it."

They passed through the large doors, and Yusuke felt his breath catch in his throat. He wasn't exactly a nature freak, but…

Wow. Is this what a real park looks like? It was hard to believe that Sarayashiki's public park was supposed to compare. This place had so many trees and shrubs and flowerbeds that Yusuke was sure it would feel more like a garden come spring. There was a green pond with a bridge arching across it, benches for resting, and a concrete walkway that diverged into footpaths through the grass. Trees stretched their bare branches over the walkway, but Yusuke couldn't even try to identify them, especially since they had no leaves.

As they started down the walkway, Yusuke glanced at Kurama. The youkai had clasped his hands behind his back, and his expression was almost regretful as he looked up at the barren trees.

"It's a pity we couldn't have come here in the spring. These trees are gorgeous in full bloom," Kurama said. Yusuke blinked and turned his eyes toward the trees hanging over the path. He looked back to Kurama and watched as the youkai lost himself in thought. "This world has so many beautiful, wonderful plants. I wish I could have seen them all…" Kurama's eyes flicked over to his puzzled companion. He tipped his head down and shook his head with a rueful smile. "Sorry. Just a little self-reflection."

Yusuke stopped to stare at the youkai. Kurama paused and looked over his shoulder at Yusuke.

"I hope I'm not boring you…?" Kurama asked uncertainly.

"Uh, no," Yusuke said hastily. Not boring, more like confusing. You don't act like a youkai at all… "Can I ask you something? How did you get mixed up in all this?"

"You wouldn't want to hear it," the youkai sighed.

"Sure I would," Yusuke insisted. Kurama looked a bit pleased at this.

"Then you should sit down." He motioned to the playground. "It's a long story."

A few minutes later, the two of them were sitting on the flat metal seats of the swing set. They were a little uncomfortable, since the swings were made to carry toddlers instead of teenagers, but they didn't mind. Kurama leaned forward so his hair flowed over his shoulders.

"To be honest, I knew Hiei long before the three treasures came into the picture," Kurama began. "I met him a year ago, when we became entangled with a youkai called Yatsude—nicknamed the Butcher. This youkai was a monster even by our standards. Most of us consider it distasteful to eat humans—"

"What?" Yusuke blurted out. Kurama arched an eyebrow.

"Is it really so surprising? The Spirit World has laws against youkai eating humans, but many of us wouldn't do it even if we were allowed. Food that can talk back to you just doesn't appeal to most of us." Yusuke stared in shock at this news (why didn't Botan mention that?), and Kurama shook his head with a bemused look. "Anyway, Yatsude wasn't like 'most of us.' He kidnapped humans and youkai alike, tore them apart and ate them while they were still alive. In this way he absorbed their spirit energy and became stronger."

"Sounds like a nice guy," Yusuke said. Sounds like Gouki. Kurama nodded.

"I learned about Yatsude after a few of my classmates went missing. He was particularly fond of teenage girls, you see," Kurama explained. "When I found out that Yatsude was in town, I knew I had to do something. I couldn't just let a man-eating youkai claim my home as his hunting ground. But things didn't go according to plan…"

An enormous clawed foot stomped down on the ground, crushing the flower of a white rose under its weight.

"Is that all you can do? I expected more. Oh well, I guess it's time to end this…"

Kurama attempted to push himself up from where he lay on the dirt- and blood-covered floor. He moaned, a thin line of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and gasped wetly when a large hand tugged him up by his hair. Fear flooded him as he stared into a large, grinning mouth filled with wicked-looking fangs.

"Always liked having my food come to me," Yatsude leered.

Not wanting to see his own death, Kurama closed his eyes. Then there was a crack of displaced air and something warm and wet splashed over his face. He opened his eyes warily, watching as the top half of Yatsude's head fell away. Standing behind the decapitated monster was a small, spiky-haired youkai with a bloody katana in his hand. He was dressed in a long black coat and a white scarf stained dark red on one side. Judging from the sweat leaking down his face and the way he panted, the blood on his scarf was probably his own.

"H-ha… Looks like the Butcher's been butchered." The little youkai swayed and barely managed to stay on his feet. He blinked, trying to focus his fading vision, and then frowned in confusion when he saw the blood-spattered face of Yatsude's attempted victim. "And just who the hell are you?"

"Even if it was an accident, Hiei did save me. Not only did he keep me from being eaten, he put an end to Yatsude's murders. I was in his debt." Kurama smiled bleakly. "So I took him home, treated his wounds and let him stay until he'd recovered his strength. That's how Hiei and I became partners. I didn't meet Gouki until Hiei found him a few months ago, and…well…" Kurama wrinkled his nose. "We didn't like the arrangement, but we needed his help. Gouki was the only youkai we could find that had actually been inside the Gates of Judgment—imprisoned there for previous crimes. In retrospect, he was more trouble than he was worth… And with the Gakidama exerting influence over him he was even worse."

"What influence?" Yusuke interrupted.

"Its will. The strain the treasures put on the mind and spirit," Kurama answered. He looked a bit perplexed, as if he had expected Yusuke to know this. "Holding more than one of the treasures at a time has been known to break the psyche altogether. Surely your contacts in the Spirit World warned you about this?"

Yusuke opened his mouth, not sure what he was going to say. Perhaps he would tell Kurama that Botan had never mentioned anything about the treasures having negative effects on the user, or maybe he would ask why they would want the treasures in the first place if they were so dangerous.

"Kyoko! It's time to go home!"

Kurama turned to watch as a little pigtailed girl ran across the grass in front of them. Realizing that the conversation wasn't going anywhere, Yusuke followed the youkai's gaze and observed as the little girl ran up to her father and pouted at him.

"Daddy, I can't find any flowers for Mommy!"

"Kyo, it's January. Flowers don't usually grow around this time." The man dropped down to his knees so he could look his daughter in the face. "We can buy her a nice bouquet at the florist's."

"But I wanna pick them myself," the girl sniffed, looking close to tears. "Can't I look a little longer?"

The man softened at the sight of his unhappy daughter and checked his watch.

"Ten minutes, Kyoko. Then we need to leave, or we'll be late to the party."

Yusuke and Kurama watched in silence as Kyoko toddled off toward the wooded area of the park. The girl's father looked at his watch again and shook his head, knowing perfectly well that she wouldn't find the kind of flowers she wanted.

Kurama hummed thoughtfully, slipping onto his feet and walking away from the swing sets. Yusuke observed warily as the youkai crouched down in the grass and pressed one hand to the earth. An aura suddenly blossomed around Kurama's hand—really blossomed. Yusuke was shocked by how different Kurama's energy was from his own or Botan's spirit energy. It appeared as deep pink light, but particles were constantly escaping, fluttering around like tiny petals on the wind only to be drawn back in before they could be lost. Yusuke was so intrigued by this flowering energy that it took a moment to register when the light spread from Kurama's hand and shot in the direction of the trees.

A cry sounded somewhere in the woods. Yusuke jumped off his swing and was about to pounce on Kurama's kneeling form when happy laughter followed the cry. Confused, Yusuke looked toward the woods and watched in astonishment as Kyoko marched purposefully out from the trees. In her tiny arms was a bundle of wild lilies, their dewy petals glistening in the sunshine.

Kyoko's father was just as startled by the girl's discovery as Yusuke, but he hid it much better.

"Those flowers are very pretty, Kyoko. Where did you find them?"

"They were over there, near that tree. There was a whole bunch of them!"

"Funny, I didn't think lilies grew this time of year," the father said to himself. He shrugged and took his daughter's hand. "Well, I'm sure your mother will love them."

"I hope so!" Kyoko giggled.

As the father and his child walked down the path, Yusuke turned his bewildered eyes on Kurama. The youkai had risen to full height and now stood with his arms folded delicately over his thin chest. Kurama tucked some hair behind his ear and looked at the ground with a lackluster smile.

"I wouldn't have hurt her, Detective. I just thought you might like to see my power. I use my energy to manipulate plants." Kurama glanced over his shoulder at Yusuke. "I know it may not sound very useful, but you would be surprised at how versatile such a talent is. So many poisonous, dangerous plants exist in the three worlds…yet they can be used to heal and bring happiness, too. I doubt I would have survived as long as I did if I didn't have this kind of power."

Kurama glanced toward the sky, eyes narrowing.

"It will be night soon. Time is running out," he murmured to himself. He bit his lip, looking slightly worried. "There… There is one more thing I want to show you before I return the Ankokukyo. Is that all right with you?"

Yusuke hesitated for a moment, and then he nodded mutely. If nothing else, he was getting some insight into the youkai…