No Longer Running

(A/N: I would just like to take note that this story’s first draft was written on a used, brown KFC paper bag. Why? That detail just amuses me. Standard disclaimers apply.

Everyone plays the game, and the price is deceit. Simon says fight for your life: Don’t settle for defeat.

Simon says smile: Your mother is watching.

Simon says kill to survive.

Simon says the objective is to stay alive.

Perhaps, if he had realized that he was playing the game in the first place, then maybe he would have been able to save himself.

It was a fool’s fancy. Flighty. Fleeting.

After all, viridian sunsets and vermillion landscapes exist.

At least, in his mind.

What was he waiting for?
(The puppet master pulls the strings taut, and the limbs shatter and shake.)

Kurama purses his lips knowing what must be done to escape.

And he smiles.

Koenma’s voice was grim. Unusually grim. “This is a dangerous mission, and I want none of your sporadic and spontaneous testosterone-infused drives to prove yourself. Yes, I mean you, Yusuke. No more shenanigans,” he added, irritated, when Yusuke looked up from his thumb war with Kuwabara to glare at Koenma, clearly affronted.

Kuwabara raucously laughed –

“I meant you too, Kuwabara.”

- and immediately stopped, scowling.

Koenma sighed, as his left hand applied careful pressure to his forehead to make the pounding headache go away. Looking at his surroundings, he wondered how they were able to move around without getting bitten by some snake or stepping on fragments from the scattered mass of broken bottles. Yusuke’s apartment was hardly the place to conduct such a serious meeting, but he was not yet ready to go back to Reikai to face his father’s ire.

(Technically, King Enma had only accepted him back as an employee. Several ferry girls had already been sent to Koenma to inform him of current Reikai happenings. However, as a son, Koenma was hardly off the hook.)

“I don’t normally say this, but…” Koenma’s regal stare flickered from each waiting face of his Tantei. Yusuke’s boyish and reckless confidence. Kuwabara’s somber and honorable display of courage from the unknown. Hiei’s cool apathy about the whole situation. Kurama’s composed features, blank as a white-washed wall. “As much as possible, try to avoid fighting.”

“What?!”

“It’s not a matter of discussion, Yusuke.”

“I’m missing a week of school, and I don’t even get to kick demon-ass?”

“As if you’ve been showing up in school in the first place,” Kuwabara grumbled. “If your mom wasn’t tight with the yakuza, you would’ve been expelled years ago.”

“Eh.” Yusuke shrugged. “Good point.”

Kurama politely chuckled over the exchange.

“I know that stealth isn’t you expertise, Yusuke -”

“Damn right it isn’t.”

“Well excuse me for not sneaking around like some creepy pervert, Hiei.”

“-anyway,” Koenma’s voice was getting terse as he kept getting cut off before he could go on about the mission’s details. “You’ll just have to make an effort to be invisible.”

“Why can’t you just send Hiei or Kurama?”

“Because,” Koenma gritted his teeth, close to exploding. “They are not my detectives, you are, Yusuke. Helpful as they are,” Hiei snorted rudely, “they are still world-class criminals who are paying off their Reikai punishment through parole by working with you.”

“You don’t have to make it sound so horrible,” Yusuke said.

“It isn’t as bad as it sounds, Yusuke,” Kurama interjected playfully. “After all, a reason must exist as to why we choose to work with you rather than spend the rest of our uncommonly long demon lives in jail.”.
“I’m touched.”

“You should be. We’ve become quite taken with you. Although Hiei would never admit that even under pain of death.” Kurama smiled widely at Hiei, who flinched before looking away, pretending to be uninterested. Then, Kurama turned to Koenma. “Koenma, why don’t you tell as what our mission entails?”

Aah… back to business, Koenma rejoiced. If he was a lesser man, who stupidly disregarded a painful death by bloodsucking and flesh eating flora, he would have kissed Kurama right then and there out of gratitude.

Unfortunately, kissing Kurama was out of question, so he settled on debriefing the Tantei instead.

“Fuck…” Yusuke groaned as another branch snapped against his forehead. Three days after their mission briefing, Koenma arranged for a portal to open and sent his Tantei into an area in Makai just a couple of kilometers northeast from Yomi’s territory. The lush greenery was nowhere near peaceful and tranquil. In fact, it reminded Yusuke of why he was glad that Kurama was a friend and ally, not someone trying to take over the world. The canopy of thick, verdant leaves and briars hung overhead, twisting and curling like a fucking scene from the Little Shop of Horrors. The thick growth of the forest slowed down their progress, even though he tried his best to avoid and push aside the pesky obstructions. There were ropy vines dangling across his line of sight, and he could have sworn he felt one of them tried to worm its way in his ear.

How could he escape lethal attacks and not the harmless twaps of normally inanimate branches?

Yusuke realized something as he tried to dodge another descending branch from hitting his head:

He was the only one getting hit.

“Son of a fuck…”

Narrowing his eyes at his friends, he noticed Kuwabara struggling (poorly) to contain his laughter and Kurama and Hiei watching him with various degrees of amusement.

Assholes. All of them.

Kurama… Yusuke glared at his friend. Branches were about as harmless in Kurama’s hands as frying pans were in Keiko’s.

“Stop it, Foxboy,” he growled.

Blinking his eyes innocently, Kurama asked, “What exactly do I have to stop, Yusuke? What am I doing?”

“It’s not funny.”
“Yes, it is.” Hiei’s brusque commentary was devoid of any humor and left no room for argument.

Yusuke sighed.

“I hate you guys.”

“Are we there yet?” Kuwabara whined. The sweat the trickled down his back was an uncomfortable reminder of their humid and oven-like surroundings. He could swear he can feel his pompadour hairstyle deflating. The ochre glow of the sky refused to give out any clues about how much time had passed.

Patience already at its end, Yusuke turned around to slam his fist against Kuwabara’s damp mug.

There, he thought, dusting his hands together as Kuwabara laid sprawled on the forest floor, anger issues resolved.

“What the hell was that for, you crazy bastard? I’m going to pound your face in so hard, Genkai will feel sorry for you!” Kuwabara shouted through his mouthful of grass and dirt. Jumping to his feet, the taller teen cracked his shoulder in what he knew to be a threatening manner.

A rebellious light danced in Yusuke’s umber eyes. He smirked and bent his knees, lowering his center of gravity. “Just try it. I know I can fight better than a cat.” He waggled his fingers, a come-hither challenge.

“My, my… These boys are just feisty, aren’t they, Hiei?”

Hiei stared back at Kurama, red eyes clearly not amused.

As Kurama focused on Yusuke and Kuwabara, he tried to look as stern and matronly as possible. “Children, you will cease misbehaving this instant or so god help me I will turn this forest around.”

“Yes, Mother.”

(For a moment though, Yusuke pondered on whether Kurama actually had planned to turn the forest around if they didn’t stop. He was certainly capable of doing so.)

Kurama’s eyes softened. “See? Now isn’t that better? You know that Papa Hiei and I would both hate to send you precious treasures to your rooms without dinner. Isn’t that right, dearie?” he said gently.

Hiei’s growl of disbelief at Kurama’s audacity pushed both Yusuke and Kuwabara to collapse on their knees, cackling hysterically.

“Now look what you’ve done. Sweetie.” Hiei’s voice was flat, only injecting bitter venom into the nickname.

Kurama only smiled at him fondly. “Now that hearty laughter has brightened your day, shall we move on?”

“Whatever, Kurama. You honestly kill me.” Yusuke rubbed his hands over his eyes. “So what are we looking for again?”

“Yusuke,” Kurama sighed, exasperated. “Did you pay any attention at all to Koenma’s words?”

“No, you of all people know that I have the attention span of a fifth-grader.”

“Nonsense, Yusuke. You’re just as capable as any teenager boy whose mental capacities have been numbed by hours of lethargy and video games.”

“I’m not sure, but I think Kurama just insulted you, Urameshi. Maybe both of us.”

Hiei sighed. “Fools.” Peering at Kurama, he took note of the fox’s almost imperceptible, dangerous lack of restraint.

Feeling Hiei’s gaze upon him, Kurama offered another smile. It was really sweet how Hiei had always been the mother hen of the group, looking after them in his own… unique manner. He’d never be able to make Hiei admit that piece of truth though, as he knew the fire demon would rather gouge out his own Jagan before admitting his motherly instincts.

Hmmm… that was a nice picture. Hiei in a mother hen costume.

After a few more hours of waking, a looming castle predictably appeared before them, surrounded with vicious (yet petty) looking guards.

“Well, boys,” Kurama said, rather cheerfully. “We’ve found what we’re looking for.”

Yusuke inspected the heavily-armed demons not too far from them wistfully. “You sure I can’t just jump in and knock the living daylights out of them?”

Kurama shook his head. “It’s important that we do it quietly. Raising hell isn’t the way to go at it.”

“Why again?”

“Because this is Reikai territory. Technically.”

Yusuke was bemused. “Huh?”

“Really, Yusuke, surely the matters of underhanded politics are not new to you? These demons were apparently doing special services for Koenma’s father before they became dissatisfied and revolted, but not before stealing some very valuable and highly classified documents.”

Yusuke let out a low whistle. “Wow. That almost makes me wish that I listened during the briefing.”
Giving a conspiratory wink, Kurama continued. “Koenma wants everything done secretly because attacking the demon workers outright might enrage the oni workers in Reikai. They are, after all, demons working under Reikai as well. Koenma wouldn’t want another uprising.”

“Makes sense. Sorta.”

“What are the documents about?” Kuwabara butted in.

“Oh this and that,” answered Kurama airily. “Classified documents are always secret. I’ve been specifically instructed not to let my eyes slip inside those documents. We’re just hired hands doing our job after all. Although I can’t say that the temptation will be easy to ignore.”

“I’m kicking Koenma’s ass after this,” Yusuke grumbled.

“Save me a piece.”

“Why, Kuwabara, I didn’t know you felt that way.”

“Shut up”

“Anyway,” Kurama said,” since we’re, technically again, considered highly powerful and possibly dangerous demons by Reikai, we weren’t supposed to handle this delicate situation. Makes for bad press, you know. Still, Koenma only felt comfortable giving us this mission, instead of one of his father’s lackeys.”

“…”

“Whatever. I’m still kicking his ass.”

Hiei nodded towards Kurama. “Fox.”

“Hiei.” Kurama nodded back.

Not well-versed in Hiei’s and Kurama’s secret language, Yusuke cried out, “Wait! What’s going on?”

“Well, I doubt that you and Kuwabara are going to do a very good job infiltrating the castle, so Hiei and I will do that actual retrieval of the documents. His Jagan will help us find it, and my superior thieving skills will make it so that we can get away under everyone’s radar,” Kurama explained.

Hiei rolled his eyes.

“What the hell are we supposed to do then?” demanded Yusuke.

“Stay here and out of trouble in case something happens to us.”

Yusuke’s face was sour. There was no way he was getting any action tonight.

Perhaps it was the years of inaction that took toll on Kurama’s superior thieving skills, making them rusty, but whatever it was, it was the reason that the Tantei was running as quickly as they could with a sizable army of demons hot on their heels.

“I thought you said you were discreet! A lumbering sumo wrestler could’ve done a better job,” Yusuke hissed furiously, breathing ragged as they leaped over treetops and other obstacles to the best of their abilities.

Hiei glared at Kurama accusingly, but the red head only sprinted faster, a placid expression settling on his face. He didn’t know what pissed him off more: The fact that he knew Kurama had tripped the alarms on purpose or that they had to drag the clumsy, lumbering human oaf by the scruff of his neck because their demon speed far surpassed his.

“Why the fuck did you do that, Fox?”

“I hardly think this is the reason to discuss such trivial matters, Hiei.” The distracted yet irritatingly calm of his voice confused and infuriated Hiei. “Do be careful with Kuwabara’s head,” he added absentmindedly as the human shrieked when, when, in an impressive show of leg strength, Hiei bounded over their heads and stopped inches in front of the fox demon.

Unceremoniously, he dropped the oaf to the ground, who whimpered about his newfound fear of heights, speed, and short-tempered fire demons.

“I want answers. Now.”

Sighing, Kurama gracefully came to a full stop as well. “They’ll catch up soon you know,” he reminded gently, knowing that his warning would not be heeded by his bull-head companion.

“Guys! Are we trying to get killed here or something?!” Yusuke impatiently jogged in place, waiting for his friends to resolve their issues quickly. “How ‘bout sorting this out later when we don’t have uglies rampaging after us?”

Ignored, Yusuke silently bemoaned not having more respectful and accommodating teammates.

“Too late,” Kurama revealed almost cheerfully. “They’re here.”

Readying themselves in familiar fighting stances, the Tantei faced the horde of loud and aggressive demons descending upon them. They made sure to check their strength, remembering that their goal was to incapacitate, not kill.

Ki crackled and flashed between blurs of bodies. The slice of a whip sang. Bones crumbled like fine porcelain against the meaty thuds of hard knuckles against flesh. As the sharp tang of blood and burning flesh rose in the air, the dying moans remained absent.

Amidst the chaotic fighting, a lone demon stood apart, his aura emanating his position as a commander, not a lackey. The darkness of his face blended with the shadows as he focused on the red headed demon who had the documents hidden in his clothing.

The red head looked at him at the corner of his eyes, and his own flashed with understanding.

Hiei was not enjoying himself. It would have been so much easier to rip someone’s head off without caring how much of a mess it would make rather than tiptoeing around and settling for the weakest attacks he could muster.

“Aaaaaaaaaaargh!!”

Anticipating the ‘ambush’ (honestly, who yelled out during a sneak attack?), he ducked, dropped to his knees, tightened his grip on the hilt of his katana, and made a swiping motion, effectively slicing through the demon’s Achilles’ tendon.

Schniiick.

The fibrous muscles ripped when the demon tried to take another step forward.

As he turned around to see how his teammates were doing, he noticed another demon with mottled gray skin stealthily emerge from the darkness of the foliage, a glowing javelin in his scaly arm, who eyed the fox with interest.

Hiei reminded himself that the fox was completely capable of defending his infuriating self. The enemy had made his position known. There was no way the fox could miss that.

Without warning, the javelin sailed through the air like lightning and embedded itself into the redhead’s torso. Green eyes widened with surprise. A spray of blood stained the fox’s opponents.

In less than a second, everything was silent.

Hiei was…

Speechless.

He half-noticed Kuwabara screaming in alarm and Yusuke punching through the demon horde violently.

He half-noticed that the other demons had ceased attacking as Kurama’s… murderer held up a hand to signal that it was over.

Over?

It couldn’t have been –

Kurama was gurgling, possibly drowning in his own blood.

(And he couldn’t move his legs to help.)

Kurama was smiling, thanking the gray demon with his eyes.

(And he couldn’t open his mouth to ask why.)

Kurama was… slowly sinking to his knees and closing his eyes.

(And he couldn’t - )

“NO!!”

Yusuke’s cry woke him up. The detective leaped towards Kurama’s attacker with intent to kill.

Thinking quickly, he blocked Yusuke with his sword.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Yusuke hissed, his voice hoarse with emotion.

However, Hiei ignored him. He stared at Kurama’s fallen body, his fiery hair pooling around his face like a bloody wreath.

“You realize that what has transpired will be considered a scandal?” Hiei told the gray demon. He couldn’t push down the nagging feeling that Kurama’s death had greater meaning.

The gray demon nodded. “The death of one of Koenma’s detectives. I suppose that we have no choice but to let you go free with the Reikai documents. Never speak of this again. The political repercussions that will ensue will no doubt be messy and longwinded, and I want to avoid such an incident. What has transpired is nothing more than a misunderstanding.”

Hiei stared back coolly, gaze unwavering. He understood.

“We will leave you now.” Bowing, the demon army turned to leave the site.

“No fucking hell you don’t!” Yusuke struggled to get by Hiei. “You bastard! Don’t this you can just walk out on this. You- you-“ his voice broke. “Why Kurama?”

The commander paused and faced Yusuke, who saw sympathy without an ounce of guilt in those molten eyes.

“I understood your friend’s wishes. It would be cruel of me to ignore him.”

A gust of wind tore through the forest, and, a second later, the other demons disappeared, leaving the Tantei to themselves.

Shuddering, Yusuke drew his fisted hands close to his chest. His furious breaths were coming in short gasps.

The next thing Hiei realized was that the detective’s right fist was digging painfully into his face and that the sound of breaking bones came from his body.

“What don’t I understand?”

Keeping his eyes downcast, Hiei continued staring at the fallen fox.

“What don’t I understand?” the distraught detective repeated.

With his voice nothing higher than a whisper, Hiei answered. “The fox… expected it. I saw it. He knew it was coming. He let it happen.”

“Are you saying he wanted to get killed?!”

Unfazed by Yusuke’s outburst, Hiei knelt down next to Kurama’s body to retrieve the now-stained documents from Kurama. He frowned, realizing that the fair hands were starting to grow cold. Lips peppered with drops of blood curled into an odd smile that was indescribable: It was a sight that Hiei would never forget, and every time the fire demon would let his guard down in the future and close his eyes, he would remember that smile that was eerily beautiful and tragic. A shaky hand crept towards him, ushering him closer. He felt Kurama’s breathless words against his ears and could not help flinching.

“I have something… I need for you to do…”

“What is it?”

He decided not to show weakness, confusion, or contempt. He had not decided yet whether to despise the fox for his selfish actions or sympathize with him. He did not understand the inner workings of the youko’s mind.

“Hiei, please…” and the rest of his words died down to a whisper that only Hiei was allowed to hear. These were dying words, he realized, and the thought disturbed him.

When Kurama was done talking, he let his arm fall limply.

Hiei stood up slowly and walked away from Kurama. He felt the detective’s hand on his shoulder.

“What don’t I understand, Hiei?”

At first, Hiei said nothing, unsure of how to answer. Then he relented.

“He didn’t move away. He stood still. However…” Hiei’s eyes narrowed, and his next words were poisoned with rage. “…the entire affair stinks of Reikai politics. We’re going to talk to Koenma after – “

“After what?”

Makai was cold, silent, and brutal. No one listened to the tears falling unto the soaked earth or to the ragged breaths. No one heard the flame slowly flicker out, succumbing to nightfall. No one witnessed the agony of loss and confusion slowly tearing at each fighter. The air was still with anticipation.

Quietly, the three boys waited for their friend to die.

End.

(A/N: I need to apologize on the fact that this piece is unbetaed. I revised it myself. I feel that my weaknesses include action scenes and the unravelling of a plot so... I'm not really sure this one quite turned out. The tone's pretty different from the rest of the arc. I still hope that you enjoy it. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated.