Chapter Eight: A rat crawls in

For hours, Kurama sat there, watching Hiei. A figure wrapped in a black cloak with a white scarf, the face above with unchanging features, the spiky black hair and white star not stirring even in a breeze. Kurama was watching a shell, not his friend Hiei. Without personality, the small body seemed… not fragile – it couldn’t be with those muscles, hinted at though covered under the cloak – but… static, fixed and set. An emotionless statue. That if hit just right, could break into a hundred rock pieces. But he’s not: Hiei is not a statue of stone – and certainly not emotionless! Hiei’s quickfire temper had always been one of his main characteristics. And now Kurama knew that his other emotions could be just as powerful. The memory of those red eyes burning bright as Hiei’s hands stroked through Kurama’s hair, across his face, over his lips… Kurama raised his hand to his lips. That last kiss… ‘The Kurama ruby is more desired.’ Yes. Definitely, Hiei had other fires to match his temper. And the rather interesting characteristic of fire was how it could light others. And Makai fire burned where ordinary fire wouldn’t – and didn’t always consume. Kurama chuckled wryly. He’d set out to steal Hiei, but it rather looked like Hiei would end up stealing him. The solitary Yoko. Famous for his lovers, never for his loves. Captured by this one rather small fire demon. Who is also a jagan-bearer, and part dragon.

Part dragon. Kurama chewed thoughtfully on a fingernail. Technically, that shouldn’t even be possible; dragons were a class outside demon, spirit, or human. They were otherworld, living in all three worlds, but belonging to none. And as for cross-breeding… Well, Kurama had heard rumors, there were always rumors. Most of them were started by demons who wanted to be known as something more than they were. But Hiei… Hiei hadn’t wanted to tell him even that much, which meant that it was probably true. Hiei hadn’t wanted to tell, yet Hiei did, because Kurama had asked. Hiei loves me. The demon who had very nearly discredited and worse than killed the heir to the Spirit World. Who had nearly killed Yusuke – who hadn’t killed Yusuke. Kurama wondered a little at the end of that particular fight. It was true enough that Yusuke had outmaneuvered Hiei, with that reflected rei gun at the end. But… why the heck had Hiei attacked only with fists and speed, at the end? Kurama shivered at the memory of Yusuke’s last power-up. After Kurama had intercepted the sword, both he and Hiei had been intensely startled by the amount of power the boy had generated. The rei fire burned bright behind those very human eyes and Yusuke had suddenly become a power to contend with. ‘Yusuke has not yet reached his limits,’ Hiei had said. And Hiei, Kurama reflected, was an expert at judging limits. Look at the extensive notes on the demons that Hiei had gathered in but a single day. Hiei could judge others at a glance. Yet, even with Yusuke’s rei so powerful at the end of that fight… Hiei had fought nowhere near his own limits. Yes, Kurama had blinded Hiei’s jagan, but even so, Hiei had other powers. His demon fire, for one, which Hiei had not used. Hiei spared my life. Hiei spared Yusuke’s soul… and his life? Why? 

Why, why, why? That was the predominating question with Hiei. Kurama didn’t understand the demon. He didn’t fit any of Kurama’s patterns. Even now, when Kurama could have the demon at a word, when the demon loved him so obviously and completely, still Hiei said, ‘don’t bind me or I will leave.’ But isn’t love a binding in itself? Though… Kurama almost understood what Hiei meant on that one. Hiei was a wild animal that loved Kurama, first from a distance, then with Kurama’s kindness he finally came closer. But he was not a household cat that Kurama could take into his house and domesticate. Hiei would be the wild creature that would come to Kurama when he wanted to, and leave when he wanted to. And sometimes, perhaps, would come when Kurama called. Still loving – if he never loved, he would never have come near in the first place – but not tamed. Hiei would break before he would be tamed. Some animals were happy to have a permanent secure home, where they could always be loved and share that love. Some animals died when caged, or broke loose, never to be seen again. 

Out of the various scenarios, Kurama, pack animal that he was, would have preferred the co-habitation one. I always thought that when I finally picked a mate it would be one for life. One that would live with me and be with me. One that I could raise my children with. One that I could spend my days, my nights, my mornings, my life with, and she’d be happy to have it so and would expect the same of me. But it seemed Kurama was having less choice in this matter than he’d ever thought. He couldn’t refuse Hiei’s love and didn’t want to. Watching Hiei’s regard for him and his efforts to adapt to Kurama’s habits, Kurama knew that he was growing to love the demon – probably Kurama already did and just didn’t know it yet. But his life… Kurama’s life was going to be nothing like his expectations. The one who loved him would always be coming and going, never staying for the domestic bliss that Kurama wanted. Instead he would have a love of fire, brightly burning but always flickering, wild and exciting, astounding for having what no others did, more precious than either the silver or ruby, more precious than life itself. Loving Hiei would be a more intense emotion than Kurama had ever experienced before. And, at times, a damn unsettling one. If Kurama accepted this love, he would have love on an intensity that staggered the mind. And would have days and nights of lonely waits. He would have to keep his grip light, and leave the routes open in his territory for his wandering mate. His mate wouldn’t share his life, wouldn’t be involved in every aspect of it and plan the future together. His mate would live his life beside him, loving him, watching him, but letting Kurama make his own decisions and expecting the same in return. And if Kurama wanted children, he’d have to do something damn creative to get them; he wondered what Hiei thought of children. Beyond all the issues and expectations, one thing was very certain – it would always be interesting, to love Hiei.

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Kurama was getting stiff, sitting there, watching Hiei’s motionless body. With a yawn, Kurama stood up and stretched and then started exercising, since it didn’t look like he was going anywhere for the rest of the day. In order to keep his suppleness, he had to never lose it and so he trained every day. It was also a good thinking time. As he practiced his dance, Kurama contemplated his future on a more immediate basis. He was a thief. A damn good one – the best. But somehow he’d been drafted into this stupid thankless tasking of subduing Spirit World criminals. Kurama was a good fighter – you needed to be in order to survive among demons – and he had his plant controlling techniques; he could make plants do anything he wanted, make them into anything he wanted. The plants were a very effective weapon and defense. Usually. Hiei had burned his vines… as if they were nothing special. Admittedly, that was Hiei, one of the most powerful demons Kurama had ever met. But Kurama had fought more demons in the last week then he had in the last decade, and with the additional tasking of working with Yusuke, he probably would be fighting even stronger ones – potentially up to Hiei’s power level. Kurama grimaced. He liked a good dance, but this tasking of Koenma’s… Kurama rather thought he was going to be doing a lot more fighting than he liked. 

In the days he’d been without Hiei, Kurama had left off the dance because he was tired and heart-sick and depressed and bored. His dances were a thing of beauty, to draw out and show off his skill, but what was the point when there was no one watching? And there were so many demons to get through. A dance on each of them would be time-consuming and wasteful. So finally, Kurama had just been using his most direct method – use the plants to kill the demon. It wasn’t a dance: It was brutally efficient and not very tidy or pretty. Hiei’s fights were too damn quick to be a dance, but when he slowed down… Kurama could watch him move. Yet Hiei still didn’t waste energy or time on an opponent. Quick and efficient. Regarding the end result, Hiei’s fights were about on the same level as Kurama’s plants were as far as tidy and pretty went. But somehow, Hiei’s fights… Kurama felt like they could almost be a dance with a bit more guidance. Yet Hiei’s comments on his dance were valid for the most part – if something attacked while he was involved… then Kurama would have simply broken off the dance and used his plants. A dance would not be appropriate then, but the use of plants would have been… cheating in a way. Though Kurama loved his plants, they were a tactic that in a fight had little beauty and no grace. The fox’s heart rebelled at the thought of using them on a regular basis. But could Kurama find a compromise between his dance and his plants? He would need to, that much was obvious. Hiei was a demon of many talents and fighting skills, Yusuke had a rei gun in addition to his fighting skills. Kurama… Kurama was a thief that was being drafted as a fighter.

Kurama’s dance involved the weave of patterns to wear the opponent out and then strike when the moment was right. Beyond the pattern… it was simply a judicious use of rei strength in the end. Concentrate the power on the fist or an object and hit the opponent where his rei was weak. Obvious limitation to that method was the measure of rei. And the time-factor in wearing out the opponent. If Kurama was in a hurry, for whatever reason, he could not use his dance. Or multiple opponents. His dance was designed upon move and counter-move, anticipating and drawing out responses. In a large fight… that would not be possible. 

His plants… His plants were direct – use a blood-sucker or a vine-wrapper or a sword-fern, make it grow, and watch the demon die. But there were three limitations on them. The first was that Kurama had to have the plants. He carried a lot of seeds with him, and usually replenished after the fight – that is, harvested new seeds from the plant – and even without his seeds there were almost always natural plants around him that he could use. Yet Kurama could imagine scenarios where he could run low on seeds, fighting the sort of odds that Koenma seemed to like putting Yusuke against. The second limitation was the limits of Kurama’s rei; it took power to make the plants grow and shape them. The third limitation was one Hiei had proved when he burned the vines – not all demons would be susceptible to Kurama’s plants.

Kurama needed another option. An option that would make efficient use of his rei, focus his dance, and be an effective fighting force. He needed to be an asset to Yusuke, and a partner for Hiei. Right now, his and Hiei’s methods were too different for them to effectively work together. With a sigh, Kurama stopped his dance and went back to the fire. He looked across at Hiei’s motionless body. Two days? Hiei – are you okay there… wherever you are? After watching him for a long minute, Kurama went to catch lunch.

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Morning Glory. Cherry. Bamboo. Ivy. Lotus. … … …

Stranglevine. Bloodsucker. Swordfern. Bonecrusher. Mindwarper. … … …

Moonflower. Spiritease. Reibond. Dampfog. … … …

Seeds from Japan, seeds from the Demon World, and seeds from the Spirit World. Kurama spread the seeds out before him and studied them. His eye lit upon one particular seed from the Spirit World and his mouth twitched. He glanced at Hiei and his smile became more predatory. Soon, Hiei… Soon we’ll get to use this plant. But… recreational plants weren’t what he was looking for right now. Kurama smoothed the grin off his face and went back to looking for weapons. His Demon World plants were all very deadly in their full plant forms. What I need is an adaptation… Kurama picked up one of the swordferns and grew it out into a single deadly length of sharp jagged near-steel. He waved it around in his hand a few times and then grinned and let it shrink back to a seed. I have never learned the use of a sword. Hiei could teach him… but then Kurama would be student, not partner. So…

Hours later, Kurama was still experimenting. He had settled his focus mostly on types of whips since plants he grew could also be directionally controlled by his rei. That way, his lack of experience with the whip as a weapon was countered. As he gained in experience, he would use his rei less for the control of the whip, leaving his power available for fighting in other ways. Very well. He’d decided on a whip for his weapon. But a plant? That was harder. The strangleweed was always trying to strangle, he had to fight with it to keep it straight. Morning Glories vines were good and strong… but more useful as a binding tool. Ivy tended to cling. A reed just wasn’t flexible enough. There must be a plant here… Kurama sighed and kept trying.

"Oh, so…" 

The voice was rich and deep and… Kurama slowly turned his head.

"I thought I’d felt a couple of ghosts poking around the edges of my territory. I wondered when nobody showed to challenge me. So I came looking." A tall man in a business suit walked out between the trees and squatted next to the green fire, poking a curious finger at it. He looked very out of place.

Kurama’s heart clenched but he made sure he showed no sign of it. Carefully, he walked forward. "Suziji, I presume."

"Oh yes…" The man looked up, "your spell wards." He pulled out a sword from behind him and tossed it to the ground in front of Kurama. "Very well done. But not good enough." He rose from the fire, strode to one side and looked down, "A shell. A top class demon out of his body. How careless of him." There was a thoughtful expression on his face, "I wonder what I can do with a demon slave…?" He smiled, a nasty looking thing, "I’m sure I can think of something."

"You will not touch him," Kurama stated calmly, only a hint of a growl in his throat.

"What can a simple kitsune do?" Amusement was clear in the rich tones as he reached down to Hiei.

Kurama narrowed his eyes. Vines whipped out and around Hiei’s body, enveloping it and hiding it. The vines grew until there was nothing to see but greenness for twenty feet around. The suited man had to step quickly back to avoid being covered himself.

He looked with new interest towards Kurama, "A plant controller. Very rare among kitsune. I would estimate… a four tail, perhaps?"

He’s not as good as Hiei, at judging others. Kurama smiled coldly, "Will you dance with me, little Rat?"

The suited man, immaculate in dress and hair and bearing, snarled fiercely, "You will die for that, kitsune!"

Kurama raised an eyebrow, "Oh ho – sensitive, are we? But why? So a rat is a smelly, dirty, garbage-scrounging, plague-carrying—"

Shredded business clothes went flying across the glade as the demon assumed its true form in a burst of rei, its growl filling the air.

Grimly, Kurama shifted his stance and prepared to meet the attack. This demon… This was one that Hiei had told Kurama in no uncertain terms was his alone. And Kurama had not argued with Hiei at the time. Now, however, they would see. Kurama did not let his gaze falter from the large fanged animal-demon. But his thoughts went briefly to a body hidden in his vines. Hiei… I will not fail you, Hiei.

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Hours later, both combatants paused for breath, eyeing each other warily. The rat was not underestimating Kurama anymore. And while Kurama would normally be happy at being taken for his worth, this dance he wished he still had the slim advantage of an opponent’s miscalculation for he had no other advantages. His dance, his beautiful flowing maneuvering dance, was used now only to keep him the barest inch in front of death, not by design. He was losing this battle. He tried to keep the realization from showing, but the rat knew it too. The rat wasn’t immediately rushing in for the kill because the earlier portion of the battle had shown it caution. And it could wait until Kurama was worn down – Kurama was near to that point now. Bleeding from multiple wounds across his body, his new shirt in rags, his plants shredded around him… I will not, I cannot, fail. Kurama reached up to his hair and brought out another bonecrusher. The rat tensed, wary now of Kurama’s seeds. Kurama waited until an opportunity came. The fight went on.

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Kurama was out of seeds. He was gasping, breath coming shallowly in his crushed and bleeding lungs. His only satisfaction was that the rat was also in pretty bad shape, limping, only one good arm, one good eye… The rat would be easy pickings for whoever came after Kurama.

Once more. Kurama refused to let the rat win. He pulled more energy from within him. And he reached up to his hair in an automatic gesture. There were no more seeds… but he found a rose. A rose against a rat. Kurama smiled and brought it out.

"Do you wished that placed on your grave? Sorry – don’t plan on burying you. I will enjoy sucking the marrow from your cracked bones, kitsune."

Kurama’s hand tightened around the stem of the rose and he felt a sudden sharp pain. Backing off from the fight for a moment, he risked a glance down. And saw the long sharp thorns on the lengthy stem. It wasn’t that way before… ‘The rose is yours now.’ A whip… Kurama glanced back at the fox and waited… When the moment was right, Kurama sent the last of his rei into the rose, picturing what he needed from it, feeling the connectiveness with this plant that was his and was now his weapon.

"Rose Whip!" The words instinctively came out of Kurama as he flicked the rose into a length stronger than steel, flexible and responsive to his every thought, with massive thorns sharper than a razor. The whip flicked through the air and bisected the rat before the demon’s eyes had a chance to widen.

Kurama stood there a moment. Then, as the tail and lower half of the body started to twitch, he decided to be cautious and he flicked his whip out again and again until the demon was in chunks smaller than a stir-fry.

He collapsed to his knees under the sudden cessation of adrenaline and rei. But Kurama forced himself to get up and staggered back to the camp. The fight had roamed through much of the surrounding area, ending up primarily in the rat’s territory. When Kurama got to the camp, he sent a weary thought out to his vines and they pulled back far enough for him to make his way to Hiei’s body. He curled up beside it and let the vines rustle back to cover them both. Then he fell into an exhausted healing sleep, one hand still gripping the rose whip tightly.

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Hours later, or maybe it was days – it was impossible to tell – Kurama awoke as Hiei’s body limply fell from the sitting position he had been in. Kurama reached out and gathered the cloaked body in his arms, stroking the black hair off Hiei’s forehead. None of it was spikily up now, all strands hanging loose and limp. Hiei’s breath was staggered and shallow. His body was cold. Kurama felt Hiei swallow, then he heard his name spoken with such a weak and pain-filled voice that it made his heart pound with fear.

"Kurama? Kurama – it’s done. Kurama…"

With a thought, Kurama had his vine plants pull back enough to let diffused light through so he could see his friend. Hiei’s face was pale and lined with pain. His eyes were closed. With evident tiredness, Hiei reached one hand up to tangle limply in Kurama’s hair. Kurama stroked Hiei gently, "I’m here, Hiei. I’m here. That’s good that you got it done. Now rest. Rest, my precious treasure. Rest. I’m here. I’m not letting you go. Rest." After a long moment, Hiei’s body relaxed and his breathing smoothed out. The pain lines, however, didn’t go away. Hiei… Kurama settled down while still holding Hiei. He curled up around his friend’s body and then drifted back into his own healing sleep. Above them, the vines rustled and closed up again.