Crimson Tourniquet

By: Minuiko

Ack, long time no update. Sorry. And Zeila E, no, Kuwabara's not married to Yukina, he's engaged, and Hiei -really- doesn't like that xD. By the way, whatever's bothering Kuwabara's going to be revealed in this chapter.

Chapter Three: April 2, 1862

"That. Was pathetic." Hiei spat. "Of all of you, only three passed, and only one of you did a halfway decent job of it. Two miles should take less than ten minutes, sit-ups two, push-ups two, and pull-ups one. That's fifteen minutes, for your information. Some of you passed the time limit. Pathetic," Hiei repeated.

Yuusuke was the one who'd done a "halfway decent job." He'd run the two miles in around seventeen minutes— he was used to walking to town from his farm (they were separated by at least five miles apart) so he was pretty much used to it, but what Hiei was asking for, less than ten— that was crazy. His hundred sit-ups were done in three minutes, and he took a two-minute break. After that, he did the fifty push-ups (he never like push-ups), cursing Hiei's mother and father and wishing they'd never met or married to have Hiei— is he legitimate or not? —, but he did them anyway, and he'd had maybe thirty minutes left to do the pull-ups. It wasn't hard, really. But the other people were struggling, particularly Shishi, who'd probably never lifted a finger to help in the household before, and Uraurishima, who looked like he could afford to skip the dinner time pudding once in a while.

Kuwabara and Chuu had finished as well, well after Yuusuke had, obviously, but they'd finished. Rinku, with his short legs, took particularly long on the run and he couldn't complete the pull-ups with his weak arms and he'd eventually given up. Hiei didn't pick on him, though; the one he reserved his speech for was Suzuka and Shishiwakamaru. His voice was quiet but dangerous. "Can you tell me what the standards are for this kind of exercise, Cadet Shinzenbi, Cadet Utsukushii?"

Shishi was still breathing hard, saying angrily, "We only made it a few minutes out of the hour, it doesn't—"

"Who's your commanding officer, boy? Tell me, who is your commanding officer?" His voice was dangerously low; a wrong answer could result in death.

Shishi's eyes flickered at Hiei for a moment before he muttered sullenly, "You. First Lieutenant Jaganshi."

"That's right, boy. Now, Cadet, when your commanding officer asks you a question, do you make excuses or do you answer him?" It was perfectly rhetorical, but Hiei seemed determined to nail that fact into Shishi's head. He was the same age as Shishi but had an aura around him that just commanded respect for years of experience that everyone else did not have, and he got it.

"I answer him. Sir."

"So you're not so dense after all," Hiei said.

"Thank you, sir." Shishi was biting his lip but he forced this out in a pseudo polite voice.

"Now, the standards for the exercise, if you've been paying attention at all?"

"Ten minutes for two miles, two each for a hundred sit-ups and push-ups, and one for ten pull-ups."

Hiei smirked with a "I'm glad you were listening, Cadet," and turned his attention onto the rest of them. "Alright, I lied when I said that your training begins here. It really begins next week; this week we are merely seeing how much work we have ahead of us. Starting next week, when you don't finish your rounds, you stay after for extra practice until you can do things in a timely manner. We will be introducing new training techniques every day, until you have mastered the most modern warring techniques. Today we will be testing your physical capabilities. Tomorrow, we test your aim in shooting and your knowledge of weapons. By the end of the week, we will have tested every category of warfare, including artillery, small arms, edged weapons, survival techniques, first aid, and of course, strength and endurance of both the body and mind, which included how quickly you react to unexpected situations and in what manner you do so."

"And after that," he added, "we will place you into groups based on your knowledge, skills, and the amount of practice you need. We have a tentative two months until we're needed by the country, and I expect –every- one of you to be proficient in every area of war. Do you hear me?"

"SIR, YES, SIR."

"Thirty minute recess. Report back here at eight. We will see your knowledge of different exercises from then until eleven. Eleven to twelve is your lunch break, but remember, we'll be reducing it by a minute each day until it's about fifteen minutes (including the time you need to cook), because you need to get used to all kinds of extremes in war. After that is Kurama's turn. He will tell you what you will be doing."

Pause. "Dismissed."

Well, that wasn't so bad, Yuusuke thought. It wasn't nearly as horrible as he thought it would be, but then again, Hiei did say they were only testing the first week, which implied that he was letting them all off easy. Yuusuke grinned impishly, and put an arm around Hiei's shoulder, saying dramatically, "And after the longest speech our noble midget first lieutenant has ever made—"

Hiei growled, "Shut up. It was a requirement from the authorities that I explain everything."

Yuusuke said, "Oh? Then why didn't you have Kurama explain everything then?"

Kurama explained softly, "This is Hiei's area of expertise. He's more… physically attuned to battle than I am, so he's more fit to explain it."

"Meaning he has no authority in the matter," Hiei drawled.

"I suppose so," Kurama laughed.

"Hey, Hiei, your accent…" Yuusuke said, noticing that there was a strange quality in the way he spoke. He couldn't quite place the accent, but it sounded familiar…

"What accent?" Hiei said, tensing up.

"Nothing… just for a moment, it sounded… never mind, forget it."

He noticed that Kurama's smile looked rather plastic, and Hiei had a lack of one altogether. Maybe it was a touchy subject for them? There were a lot of things he didn't know about them, but it seemed rude to ask now. He tried to change the subject. "Oh, hey, uh, what's up? With Kuwabara, I mean. He was all quiet yesterday."

"Quiet?" Kurama said, amused. "Maybe you should ask him. Wouldn't it be better to find out directly from him rather than to get several misguided conjectures from us?"

Hiei was silent, and Yuusuke wasn't so dense as to not get the hint: he was dismissed. "Um, right. I'll try to find him. See you at eight."

"What do you think, Hiei…?" Kurama said.

"What do I think what?" Not that I don't know.

"Are you going to tell him?" About your past, I mean. " He's a friend, he has a right to know."

"I've known him for less than two days. Friend? Don't make me laugh. I've known you since forever and I still don't think of you as friend." I don't! Stop laughing, Kurama.

Kurama smiled, forgiving the remark. I don't need a confirmation from you of whether I am or am not a friend. We've always been together, and we always will. That's enough for me.

Hiei flinched at the unconditional devotion he saw in those green eyes. The fact that they could read each other's minds before they said anything gave him a feeling of intimacy that scared him, but what could he do about it? This was Kurama. Kurama was the one thing he couldn't get rid of, even had he wanted to.

"Are you going to tell him about Kuwabara, then?"

"Hn." He'll find out himself. Kuwabara sucks at keeping secrets. Unless Urameshi's actually stupid enough not to figure it out.

Kurama laughed. Funny thing. I thought you didn't pay attention to him?

Hiei growled. Shut up. I have to pay attention to my squad members, don't I, rich boy?

Kurama beamed. Sure. Oh, what a nuisance.

Hiei's left eyebrow arched. What?

Nothing, just reminiscing. If it weren't for 'that,' I could be calling you that, too, Master Hiei.

Ah, yes. And Kurama was the only person who could call him that, and remind him of 'that' (technically, he hadn't said it aloud, but their technique had been perfected so flawlessly that they could even convey titles (Master) and general ideas such as love, hate, life, all through their expressions.) without dying a slow and painful death. He preferred not to think about his past. Kurama constantly said that to accept the past was the first step towards healing, but forgetting it was so much easier. Besides, for the present, he was "First-lieutenant Jaganshi." Everything else didn't matter.

Don't bring 'that' up. You know how I feel about it.

Yes, I know. I'm just warning you…

"It's inevitable," Kurama said aloud. "It's going to be brought up sooner or later. Just be prepared to answer him when he ask, because he is going to ask."

I know that, too, moron.

Oh? Are you going to tell him the truth then?

Who knows. "Let's go."

"Yo, Kuwabara. Kuwabara!"

Kuwabara's gaze was fixed on a tall, slender squad six member with honey-colored hair tucked into his cap and large hazel eyes who was laughing with the rest of his teammates and leisurely smoking a cigarette. Yuusuke smirked. Kuwabara was sweating; he was either love-struck or extremely nervous for some other reason. "Hey, Kuwabara, I didn't know you were into that!"

Kuwabara yelped, just noticing him for the first time. "What? I'm into what?"

"You got the hots for that guy? Well, I'm straight, so I don't know, but if I were gay, he'd be downright sexy. Like he would be a total babe, if he was a girl. He looks kinda like Kurama, don't you think? The long, silky hair, those large come-hither eyes, that slender form?"

Yuusuke coughed. Maybe he was pushing it. He almost sounded like he was into men by the way he was carrying on. Kuwabara, meanwhile, had turned a faint shade of puce. "W-wha— what? What're you doing on about, man? Don't tell me you're… a fag?"

"Nah, but you certainly seem to be."

"Excuse me? With who? Under what accusations?" He seemed to be getting hysterical. Yuusuke snickered helplessly.

"With that guy in sixth squad." Yuusuke pointed in his direction.

Kuwabara's eyes bulged. "THAT GUY? Are you nuts, man?"

The guy with the honey-colored hair finally noticed them, and walked over with quick steps, asking with a husky, between-deep-and-high voice, "What seems to be the problem here? Kazuma?"

Holy shit, he's even calling Kuwabara by his first name! What's going on between the two of them?

"S-say, Shizuru, whaddyou say you let me work this one out and you go back to your table? It's nothing important."

"Well, it's disturbing our break. Whatever it is, Kazu, just get it over with somewhere else and stop stalking me. I'll be fine."

He took a drag of his cigarette and sauntered off. Yuusuke grinned widely. "Kazu? Stalking? I don't believe it. It's a regular remake of beauty and the beast!"

"Urameshi, that's my older brother!"

Yuusuke was taken aback. "…What?"

"He's my freaking brother! What is it with you?"

"… Well, then why were you getting all hot and worked up when you saw him with the other guys?"

"Because! Because I didn't expect him to make it through his first day, that's all! Can't a guy even take care of his brother without his stupid teammates butting in?"

Yuusuke frowned. "That doesn't make sense. Why would you need to take care of your older brother, and why wouldn't you expect him to make it through his first day? And why don't I see any family resemblance in you two? He is clearly a pretty boy, while you—"

"Don't even finish that sentence," Hiei interrupted, just arriving on the spot. "We could hear you from a hundred meters away."

"Yes, he was counting," Kurama put in brightly. "And I noticed, Yuusuke, that you have an uncanny knack for mislabeling siblings as lovers. It'll get you in trouble someday."

"Oh yeah," Yuusuke laughed. "Sorry 'bout that whole Yukina thing, Hiei. My bad."

"Whatever," Hiei said shortly. "It's eight a.m."

"Oh, yeah! Um, see you guys there. I gotta use the can."

"And why didn't you before? You get demerit points for every time you're not prompt," Kurama said.

"I'll be there!"

As Yuusuke ran off, Kuwabara sighed and said, "Thanks guys. I owe you one."

"It's not a light secret to keep. Of course, for someone like Yuusuke… he's observant, all right, he just somehow comes to the wrong conclusions about things, which cut you a lucky break. Your sister would be pissed if you revealed her secret this early in the game."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks."

"No problem," Kurama said. "Now let's get to practice."

.:Tsuzuku:.

A/N: It may have seemed a little boring, but things are not what they seem… or maybe they are. I'm in a D. Grayman/FMA/Death Note obsession right now, and YYH just seems a little… distant to me now. I may not even get anywhere with this story. Just a warning. I have a total of six (I think) unfinished stories total… and I'm planning on starting another one, but as a gift fic for a friend, so I'll definitely have to finish that one.

Haha, Shizuru is disguised as a guy in the army, and Yuusuke was too dense to notice. x3 I guess Kurama's femininity is good for something.

Review!