Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Love and Hate ❯ Kidnapped ( Chapter 4 )

Love and Hate- Chapter 4: "Kidnapped"

By Matoko Shizaki

Disclaimer: FUNimation owns YYH.

Notes: The last two paragraphs of the last chapter had me feeling so happy! Man, I love happy endings like that… but it never lasts long… ::devilish look::

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Yukina woke up hearing a pinging at her window in the guest bedroom. Looking closer, she realized it was tiny rocks bouncing off of the windowpane. She got up and opened the window. "Hello? Is anyone there?" There was no answer. "Hiei, is that you?" She stuck her head out the window and squinted in the moonlight.

A scream rang out in night and Kuwabara sat up straight in bed. "Yukina!" He raced out the bedroom, forgeting to close his door and ran down the hall to the guest room where Yukina was staying. His feet pounded on the wooden floor and his heart beat faster as the scream faded off into the night. Kuwabara threw open the door to Yukina's room and stopped.

The night was silent again. The window was open, it's blue curtains flapping in the breeze. Yukina's mat was shredded and her pillow was thrown to the other side of the room. Sheets lay thrown around the room but the only thing left on the windowsill was one of Yukina's slippers and a videotape. "Damn it!" Kuwabara cried pounding his fist against the wall. "Yukina!" Then he realized the portal still open from the demon's escape. Grabbing a pair of clothes, some left over snacks in his room, and some other things, Kuwabara loaded his backpack and took off out the window and disappeared into the portal right before it closed.

Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei stood in Koenma's office in front of the screen. One of Koenma's ogres put the tape in and Koenma lay back in his chair. The picture flickered and then came on showing a demon, his face and skin brown and scarred. "Hello Hiei. Remember me?" the demon said with a laugh. Hiei grunted and continued to observe. "I have taken your precious sister, Yukina. If you ever want to see her again, come to the abandoned Maze Castle in Makai. We exchange her life… for yours…" The video went off and Koenma shook his head sadly. "Did Kuwabara go after her?" he asked. Yusuke didn't reply, he just handed Koenma the note:

On it there was a chibi picture of Kuwabara (obviously from one of his personalized notepads). Koenma read it out loud so everyone could hear:

"Dear Urameshi,

Someone from Makai has kidnapped Yukina. I've gone after her, following the trail of the demon that took her. I don't need your help with this so just stay home!

~Kuwabara"

Yusuke frowned. "Man, even when he really does need help he's stubborn about it." "So what do we do?" Kurama asked. "The only thing there is to do." Yusuke said gazing at the letter Koenma had handed back to him. "Go after the two."

Shizuru lit her cigarette and sighed. "That moron brother of mine. What an idiot. It's 2 AM and I hear a scream. Then Kazuma starts yelling, runs down the hall and then stops. Next thing I know, I hear something fall out of a tree or a window and land in a bush. Then that thing (clearly Kazuma) screams `SHIT!' and then disappears…What a night…"

Kuwabara stumbled along, his eyes turned to the ground following the footprints left in the sandy earth by Yukina's kidnapper. "Damn, I wish this thing was slower." He muttered rolling the sleeves up on his striped sweatshirt. Sweat rolled down his brow dripping off his chin every few minutes. The sun was hot and Kuwabara still hadn't found refuge from the desert like area in Makai. "Damn, I must be close to the River Styx by now!" Kuwabara continued to grumble to himself as the sun dipped closer to the west.

Yukina woke only to find herself in a huge chamber. The floor was scorched, the pillars were broken, and the ceiling seemed to be ripped off by some very powerful source. Remembering the night before, the Koorime maiden struggled to move forward but found she couldn't. Her arms and legs were chained to a half crumbled pillar. Whoever had put her there wanted her to stay nearby. "Help! Someone!" Yukina cried helplessly while tearing away at her bindings. "It's no use wasting that beautiful voice of yours on crying for help. No one can hear you," The demon stepped out from the shadows menacingly. "But me…" Yukina's heart beat faster, recognizing the horrifying, crackling voice. "You! You're the one who murdered the other Koorimes!" Yukina yelled, her face turning hot. The demon slid his clawed finger under Yukina's chin delicately. "It's nice to see you again too my dear." When Yukina pulled forward trying to bite him, he pulled away. "I guess we haven't been formally introduced yet. I am Zurui, leader of the Head Demon Clan here in the spirit world." He made a quick bow and then turned to the maiden.

"Why are you doing this?" Yukina sighed giving up on pulling free from the pillar. "Why? WHY?!" Zurui cried trashing about. With one quick slash of his claws, the pillar next to Yukina crumbled to dust. Zurui seemed satisfied when Yukina let out a fearful yelp. "Your brother, Hiei. Centuries ago my clan lived by the Demon Palace. The demon king at the time, Karasu, was a close friend of our family. I, as the protector of the royal treasury, was important to the king since I guarded the Bara of Bansei (translates to the Rose of Eternity). Karasu depended on it to keep him alive forever but something went wrong. Your brother was what went wrong…

"He came to our capital searching, searching for something. Whether it was originally the Bara of Bansei or a person, I can't tell. That night, he crept stealth-fully into the palace, slaughtered the king and everyone inside, and then left with the Bara. Needless to say, in his escape it was destroyed. My clan was then banished to the outskirts of the demon world being blamed for the horrific event." The demon leader turned to Yukina. "And that is where you come in." Yukina shuddered at his tone of voice. "You are like a ransom. We trade your life for Hiei's." Yukina's eyes widened in fear. "No! Hiei and Kuwabara won't let you do this! They'll…" Yukina was interrupted by Zurui's immense cackle. "So, that's what you call that pathetic human: Kuwabara!" He continued to laugh while motioning to a mirror behind him. The mirror's reflection swayed and then a picture of Kuwabara struggling along in the desert appeared. Yukina gasped. "He came after me!" she thought, impressed. "Well then, we'll have to take care of him then won't we…" Zurui said with an evil smile.

The teleport Botan created finally opened into the desert near the Styx. "This is about where Kuwabara is according to tracking we have on his rei-ki." Botan exclaimed hover a foot off the ground on her oar. "What kind of idiot rushes off into battle?" Yusuke asked the others. Hiei grunted. "More than one idiot. And you would've done the same had Keiko's life been on the line." The fire demon frowned and walked ahead of Yusuke against the blazing sun. "Look, Hiei, I know how you feel about Yukina being dragged into this but we need to work together on this one." Kurama explained to his best friend. "Ya, I don't think there's much hope in trusting Kuwabara with this one." Yusuke added jamming his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "No, believe it or not detective," Hiei said turned around with a strange smile. "I trust Kuwabara to take care of my sister. He'd never let any harm come to her and we all know that." The group fell silent and trudged onward towards Maze Castle.

Horror filled Yukina's eyes as Zurui turned to the mirror. He put his hands together and began muttering something that Yukina could not hear. "Stop, what are you doing?" she cried pulling away from the pillar. The chains dug painfully into her skin but she kept going. Zurui stopped and the chamber fell silent. "And now my dear," he exclaimed with glee. "You will have the pleasure of watching your beloved human die." Yukina pulled even harder at her bonds while one notion played in her mind: "Kuwabara's is in great danger!"

Kuwabara checked his compass. To his angst, the compass point was spinning endlessly around, not landing on any direction. "Damn!" Kuwabara shoved the worthless tool back into his pocket and looked onto the horizon. Looming ahead was a grove of trees and a small oasis. With his thirst and fatigue finally getting the best of him, Kuwabara raced through the dunes towards the oasis.

The cool water felt good as it splashed up onto his face and trickled down his sweatshirt. Kuwabara sat in the shade, drinking water and resting, until he had the strangest feeling. "This place is creepy… There's a bad feeling coming from this oasis." Kuwabara got up to be on his way when something heavy tackled him from behind and knocked him to the ground face first. Kuwabara sat up, his temper rising. "What the hell?" he cried wiping the blood from his lip. Right there in the shade stood a demon, his eyes bright red and his skin brown and rough. Instead of hands he had blades and on each foot were five clawed toes. "Damn, so you wanna fight do ya?" Kuwabara growled as he stood up. The demon roared and scraped its feet in the dust. "Spirit Sword!" In the center of Kuwabara palm, rei-ki began gathering, building itself into a long, defused sword. He sprang forward at the demon, slicing it in half with one shot.

Yukina smiled gratefully as she watched her admirer defeat the beast. "Yes!" she cried joyfully. But Zurui didn't seem discouraged. "Surely you don't think that's the end of my trickery do you young ice maiden? The fun is just beginning…" Yukina cringed but never took her eyes off of the mirror.

Dust brushed off of Kuwabara's hands as he patted them together. "See why you should never mess with the great Kazuma Kuwabara?" Kuwabara laughed as he continued the search for Yukina. In the shadows, the two halves of the demon twitched and formed two brand new demons. Kuwabara turned around only to be slashed across the chest by one of the demon's dangerous blades. "What, but I killed you little freaks!" Kuwabara yelled standing up and clutching his wounded stomach. The demons squawked and attacked again before Kuwabara could summon his spirit sword. Kuwabara fell to his knees, his once white and green sweatshirt turning red with blood. "Damn!" Kuwabara staggered to his knees and then smirked. "Well if I can't cut you suckers up, I'll have to blow you up!" Concentrating hard on the two approaching demons, Kuwabara gathered all on his remaining spirit energy into one big blast. "I'll see you in hell!" he cried as he released the energy. The light spread over the demons and Kuwabara until neither could be seen.

Yusuke noticed something in the distance. "Hey, it's an explosion!" he yelled pointing at the light. "That must be Kuwabara." Kurama gasped. Yusuke and the others took of running up and down the dunes with Botan following in their wake on her oar.

Yukina watched as the smoke from Kuwabara's attack cleared. Her hero lay on the ground, lifeless, and the demons in pieces. Tears filled her eyes and then fell to the floor as tear gems. "Oh dear, I'm sorry! Did you really love that human?" Zurui broke out laughing, his cackle filling the chamber.

It was nightfall when Kuwabara finally awoke. Yusuke and the others had set up a camp and in front of Kuwabara was a blazing fire. "Well, that wasn't the smartest move to make now was it?" Kuwabara recognized the taunting voice. He turned his head to the side, frowning. "I thought I told you not to follow me Urameshi." Kuwabara snorted. Yusuke sat down next to his friend. "Look, you would've died if we hadn't come along." Kuwabara's lip quivered, hating to admit the truth. "Now just let me help you…this once." Yusuke produced his hand from his pocket and Kuwabara smiled. "Alright, just this once Urameshi." Kuwabara clasped Yusuke's hand. From the other side of the fire, Botan sighed watching the adorable moment. "Ah, they really do have a tomodachigai (true friendship)."

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Notes: Wasn't that cute?! Well, I hope you liked it. This is dedicated to my friend, Dukegirly5, who enjoyed all the other chapters and has been patiently waiting for this one. Oh and, please, someone review!