Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Fluff Forevermore ❯ The Hospital Wing ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

DISCLAIMER: Methinks I owns nothin' `t all `cept f' maybe tha' fine young fella there! points at Kou

Harry Potter lay awake for a long time that night after everyone else had fallen asleep, thinking about the four new people who had dropped into his, Hermione's and Ron's lives that morning, and about what a major impact their presence may have on the Wizarding world.

When Dumbledore had first called the three of them into his office a week ago, Harry, for one, had been unsure about the sudden appearance of four demons (he hadn't known that only one of them was a full-blood demon then) especially since he had never known demons even existed.

Flashback

“Good day, Harry, Ron, Hermione,” Dumbledore said as the three walked into his office, looking rather apprehensive.

“Hello, Professor,” Harry said.

“Are we in trouble?” Ron blurted out.

“Ron!” Hermione said, exasperated. “I'm sorry, Professor,” she added quickly.

Dumbledore smiled. “No, no, quite all right. I suspect it isquite a mystery, the reason you have been called here. You are notin trouble—which is a mystery unto itself, might I add. I merely wanted to inform you of a recent…development, if you will.”

“Development on what?” Harry asked curiously.

Dumbledore made a motion with his hand. “Why don't you sit down?” When Harry, Ron and Hermione were seated comfortably, he continued. “I received a letter this morning…”

“From who?” Ron asked.

“Whom, Ronald. And if you let me continue, I will explain,” Dumbledore said, smiling. “The letter was from a man named Lord Koenma.”

“Lord?” Harry said.

“Yes. Lord,” Dumbledore repeated.

“He must be a high-ranking guy…whoever and wherever he is.”

“Yes, he is. He is a prince.”

“A what?” Ron said loudly. Hermione couldn't help leaning forward a bit in her chair, eager to catch Dumbledore's next words.

“A prince. Prince of the Reikai.”

“The what!” Harry asked.

“Reikai. Spirit World,” Dumbledore said.

“Spirit…World?” Hermione asked faintly.

Dumbledore looked puzzled at her wonder. “Yes…”

“Then it does exist…” Hermione breathed.

Even Dumbledore looked surprised, and Ron said loudly, “You knowwhat he's talking about!”

“Yes, I do,” she said. “Kind of. I ran across it in…”

“A book,” Harry finished.

Dumbledore smiled again. “Well, for the ones who don't know, the Reikai is something like what we'd call Heaven. Koenma is the prince of the Reikai.”

“But why'd he write to you?” Ron asked. Hermione smacked his arm and told him not to interrupt, and he glared at her.

Dumbledore, ignoring the exchange, answered Ron's question. “He needed my help. It seems that Lord Voldemort…” Ron squeaked, and Dumbledore hid a smile. “Lord Voldemort captured a member of his Reikai Tentei almost three months ago…”

“His what?”

“Reikai Tentei. His detective team. Sort of his…police force, I guess you could say. One of them was captured three months ago, and he spent five weeks as a torture victim for Voldemort.”

Hermione gasped. “That's awfulWhy?”

Dumbledore shook his head gravely. “I do not know. Only the victim and his closest friend know that. Lord Koenma only found out that Voldemort was behind it recently, and now he has requested that his Reikai Tentei come hereas enrolled students, to catch Voldemort.”

“Why here?” Harry asked.

Dumbledore studied him for a moment, and then said softly, “I think you already know the answer to that one, Harry.”

Harry looked a bit uncomfortable. “Yes, I suppose so…but, sir, why tell just us?”

“Because these four are the most powerful group to grace the three worlds in a thousand years. They are demons.”

The result to this statement was rather explosive. Ron gave a shout of surprise, Harry nearly fell out of his chair in shock, and Hermione squealed. All three of them said simultaneously, “Demons!”

Dumbledore couldn't suppress a smile. “Yes. Demons. But you need not worry; they will not hurt anyone here. They want to catch one person, and one person only: Lord Voldemort. And they need your cooperation to do it.”

“Ours? Why?” Ron asked.

“Keep them close at hand. Be their friends. Show them around and help them settle here. They need to stay close to you, Harry, since you will be their…well, not bait, exactly…but you'll be the one Voldemort comes after first when he is ready. You can think of them as…bodyguards, if you will.”

“These demons…what are they like?” Hermione asked excitedly.

“I do not know,” Dumbledore replied. “I have never met a demon.”

“You don't seem to surprised about all this, if you don't mind my saying so, Professor,” Ron, who was still thoroughly shocked at the idea of four demons coming to Hogwarts, said.

Dumbledore nodded. “I wassurprised when I first got the letter, but not because I doubted the existence of demons; I have always believed in them. I was surprised by the contents of the letter. Four demons, at my school! Well, it is far too much of an opportunity to pass up, and I would like to go along with Lord Koenma's plan, but I needed the assent of you three first, since you will be the ones that will have to spend so much time with them.”

“Absolutely!” Hermione said at once. “Demons must be fascinating!”

Harry grinned. “I'm with her. Can't be any worse than meeting Lucius Malfoy.”

“And you, Ron?” Dumbledore asked.

“I'm in favor,” Ron said quickly, though he a bit doubtful. “Are you surethey aren't dangerous, though?”

“Quite,” Dumbledore replied. “I will send the letter right away then. And one more thing.”

“What?” Harry asked.

“None of the students are to know that the four are demons. It is against Reikai law for humans to know that it and the Demon World exist, and Koenma is breaking that law even by sending this request to me. They will be masquerading as foreign exchange students from Japan—which is where they really do live, currently. The only ones allowed to have this information are the other teachers, you three, and I. Tell no one else. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry, Ron and Hermione said instantly.

“Very well. You may return to class,” Dumbledore said, already shuffling through piles of parchment, looking for a blank piece. He gave a cry of triumph that made Harry smile as they left the office.

End flashback

And now, five days later, Harry was still trying to get used to the idea of demons' existence, even though they were right there in his dormitory. They seemed nice enough, and he trusted Professor Dumbledore completely, but it all seemed so weird! If Albus Dumbledore, said to be the greatest wizard in the known world, couldn't defeat Voldemort, then what gave him so much confidence in these four, who didn't look older than eighteen and definitely not strong enough to beat Voldemort? They didn't even know any magic!

His last thought before he turned over and went to sleep was, But Dumbledore says they can beat him…once and for all…

Kurama sat up suddenly, grabbing blindly at the figure next to his bed. His chest was tight with panic, and his breath was harsh as he fought to push the person back while kicking the covers away.

The person he now had by the throat struggled violently, and a crash echoed through the dormitory, waking everyone.

Lamps clicked on, nearly blinding Kurama with their intensity. Once he could see, he yanked his hand back from his “attacker” in horror.

Seamus Finnegan glared at him, rubbing his neck. “What's wrong with you? I just wanted some water!” He pointed to the jug on the floor under the window next to Kurama's bed. On the windowsill, Hiei sat, watching Kurama intently. He hadn't even moved during the struggle. When Kurama looked at him, he quickly turned to stare out the window, as if ignoring the scene, though he was obviously listening. Kurama looked at him sadly and then turned to the angry Seamus.

“I'm so sorry,” he apologized. “I thought…I was having a nightmare, and…” As he said this, the details of the dream began flashing through his mind, causing panic to well up inside him again. “When I woke up and you were right there…I'm sorry.”

“Must've been one hel of a dream,” Seamus complained. “That hurt, man!”

“I'm sorry,” Kurama repeated. “To all of you. What time is it?”

“Four AM,” Harry answered. “We can still catch a few hours of sleep.”

Grumbling, Seamus when back to his bed. The lights were turned off, and the room fell silent again, except for the soft footsteps of Harry. Under the pretense of getting a drink of water, he whispered to Kurama, “Was it about Voldemort?”

“Yeah,” Kurama replied, wiping his hand over his forehead, which was covered in a fine sheen of sweat from when he was caught in the throes of his nightmare.

Harry rested a hand on his shoulder in a compassionate gesture. He knew all too well the nightmares one could get from being in the presence of Lord Voldemort for even a few minutes, and he couldn't even imagine the terror of being locked in his fortress—wherever it was—for over a month. “Will you be all right?”

Kurama nodded. “I'll be fine.”

But he was lying. As Harry moved back to his bed, he settled back against his pillow, eyes wide open, his injured arm throbbing as if it had just been broken. The details of his dream were fading quickly now, leaving a feeling of stark terror in their wake.

He glanced at Hiei. The Jaganshi was still awake, as well, staring at the ceiling and ignoring the fox's attempt to catch his eye. He was still angry, then. Or, if not angry, hurt.

Who could blame him?

Still, Kurama missed his koi's warmth in the bed next to him. Missed having Hiei in his arms when he woke up. It had always been his favorite way to wake. He'd always felt so close to his mate in those moments…like nothing could tear them apart. But now, even though Hiei was barely three feet from his bed, it felt as if he was back in Japan.

He had to resolve things, now.

“Hiei?”

“Go to sleep, Kurama,” Hiei said without looking at him. “No one will try to get at you with all these people around.”

Kurama felt a lump rise in his throat. “Won't you listen to anything I have to say?”

“I don't need to. You've made things clear. I can handle it. Now go to sleep.”

Hiei almost physically hurt as he watched Kurama turn away from him. But he knew that if Kurama had finished his accusation, he wouldn't have been able to hold back the waves of guilt that he'd been consciously setting aside. When Kurama had been telling him firmly that it wasn't his fault, it had been fine. But now that he knew how Kurama really felt, the shame was killing him.

Maybe he should talk to Kurama…but would that do any good at all? Or would it just end with Hiei feeling worse about himself and Kurama angrier with him?

Or, maybe, talking would solve whatever problem they'd had for the last couple of days.

“I'm sorry,” Hiei said quietly.

No answer. Kurama was already asleep. He wasn't faking, so Hiei couldn't tell him his feelings, pretending to think he really was sleeping. Heaving a sigh that seemed to originate somewhere around his feet, Hiei leaned back against the wall to wait for dawn.

Hiei was still wide awake when everyone else started to get up three hours later. Harry was the first to wake, and he went around the room, shaking everyone out of bed. He hesitated to approach Kurama, but then he stepped up to the bed and shook his shoulder.

Kurama groaned and turned over, opening bleary green eyes. “Mm…what?” he mumbled. “What time is it?”

“Seven-thirty,” Harry replied. “Breakfast is in fifteen minutes, and then your first day of classes. But I'm supposed to take you to the hospital wing first, so after breakfast we'll go there.”

Kurama nodded. “You go on ahead. I'll catch up.”

Harry looked doubtful. “You don't know your way around.”

“Then go down to the common room with everyone else. I'll be there in a minute,” Kurama said. He wanted to get Harry out of the room so he could talk to Hiei, and see whether he'd imagined last night's apology or not. (He'd only been half-asleep. Hiei had been wrong.)

Harry shrugged. “All right, me and Hiei'll go down and wait for everyone else.

Kurama started to protest, but before he could figure out exactly what to say, Harry had dragged Hiei out of the room, and Kurama was along, and quite unhappy.

“Good morning, Kurama!” Hermione said as Kurama joined her, Harry, Ron and the others in the common room ten minutes later. He could tell from her too-bright voice that Harry and Ron had told her of the happenings from the night before. But he chose to set aside embarrassment and said lightly, “Good morning. Shall we?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Don't be so polite! You sound like an old man! Come on, all of you! I'm hungry!” She grabbed Ron by the arm, and he allowed himself to be dragged away, amid many protests.

Harry shook his heads, smiling. “Those two…c'mon, guys, let's go.”

Kurama tried to drop back beside Hiei as the group made their way down to eat, but whenever he started to lag behind, Harry would grab him by the arm and tell him to hurry up, and call for Hiei to do the same. Each time he did this, Hermione would glare at him for some reason, and Harry would give her a baffled look. Kurama finally gave up, but he wasn't happy about it.

The four were led to the large double doors they had seen at the entrance to the school the day before. “This is my favorite part of the whole school,” Harry said, throwing open the doors. Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei stared at the sight.

The single room was massive. It was lit by thousands of candles floating in their air, illuminating five long tables. Four of the tables were arranged lengthwise, and crowded with chattering students. The last one was set against the back wall, facing the table, and at that table sat the teachers.

“We're at that table,” Harry said, pointing.

“Hey, Harry!”

Harry smiled as a young woman with hair as red as Ron's got up from the table and came over to them. “Morning,” he said, kissing her quickly. “I'd like you to meet Hogwart's guests, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei. Guys, this is Ginny, my girlfriend and Ron's sister.”

All of them except Hiei greeted her courteously, but the Jaganshi just grunted and walked past her and sat down. Ginny looked confused, but she then took on a rather determined look, and marched back to the table.

“Uh-oh,” Harry said. “I think she's gonna…yep, she did,” he finished as Ginny sat down next to Hiei. “She's gonna chat him into mindless, soulless insanity as punishment.” He smiled fondly.

“I hope she has medical insurance,” Yusuke said wryly.

Ron laughed and said, “Yeah, like she'd need it.” His face slowly grew serious when none of the Tentei smiled. “L-ley's go sit down…um, Ginny, he can't speak English, so that's kinda useless,” Ron said as he went over to sit next to the two of them.

“Hey, Harry, who're your friends?” another voice from the table asked.

“Morning to you, too, Colin,” Harry said. “I'm sure Dumbledore will explain it, but their names are Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara.”

“Sounds foreign,” Colin said to Yusuke. “Are you foreign?”

Yusuke opened his mouth to answer, but just then, Dumbledore stood and waved his hand for silence. Everyone looked puzzled, and the reason for this was explained as soon as Dumbledore spoke. “It is true that announcements are usually saved for dinner. However, there is something I must tell you all, and I realized that I had forgotten to do it last night, in my many, many excursions.” The students laughed appreciatively, and Dumbledore smiled. “We have four new students in our midst as of yesterday morn. They are from a wizarding school in Japan, visiting for a rather lengthy amount of time. It is my expectation that all of you will grant our guests courtesy and respect, and make them happy and comfortable for the time they are away from home. Welcome, Kurama, Hiei, Yusuke, and Kuwabara.”

The four Japanese “wizards” suddenly became the center of much discomforting attention, and were forced to down their food at an alarming rate and escape to the hospital wing with Harry, while Ron and Hermione went to class.

“Madam Pomfrey!” Harry called into the large room as he and the others finally arrived at it after walking up many staircases and down many corridors. “Madam Pomfrey, are you here? Madam Pomfrey?”

“Yes, yes, don't fly off the handle, boy!” an irritable, faint voice said from beyond a door at the other end of the room. A moment later, a woman came through it. “Oh. Mr. Potter. What ails you now?”

“Oh, it's…” Harry began.

“Broken arm again? Sprained ankle, bruised knee, concussion?”

“It's not…” Harry tried to tell her. But it was in vain; she plowed on through her list of injuries as if talking to the wall.

“Today isn't even Quidditch, honestly…”

“Madam Pomfrey, it's not me!” Harry bellowed finally.

The woman took a step back and spluttered indignantly, “Well, you needn't shout so…you could have just said that in the first place…who is it, then?”

Kurama stepped forward. “Me, if you please, ma'am.”

Madam Pomfrey looked him over with her lips pursed. “You are one of the demons, then?”

“Yes…sort of,” Kurama replied. Harry's eyes flicked to him in faint puzzlement.

“You're too thin.”

“Er…excuse me?” Kurama asked.

“You're too thin,” the nurse repeated. “And pale. Are you ill?”

“Um…no, ma'am.”

“You look ill.”

“I'm not, ma'am.”

“Then what is wrong, that made you come up to see me?”

“Er…” Kurama lifted his arm, just a little, and bit back a gasp, as pain raced down his arm like it did every time he moved it. Why isn't it healing yet? “My…arm…”

“Oh. Of course. Silly me. Come, come, sit,” Madam Pomfrey said, taking his good arm and making him sit on one of the beds. “Take off the sling,” she said. Moving gingerly, Kurama complied.

“Does it make you tired?” he asked as she shooed the others away.

Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows. “To heal your arm, you mean?” He nodded. “No, no, of course not. Why should it?” She sounded so incredulous that Kurama merely gave a one-shouldered shrug and fell silent.

Madam Pomfrey took out one of those odd sticks everyone had around here. Kurama tensed. “W-what are you going to do with that?”

“I'm going to use it on you,” she said, as if it were obvious. She pointed the thing at him, and suddenly, Kurama wasn't in the hospital wing anymore. He was in a dark, damp, filthy dungeon, with a man, cloaked and hooded, standing menacingly in front of him, pointing a small stick at him, immobilizing him, blinding him with pain, laughing coldly and humorlessly as he prepared to give the kitsune the ultimate torture…

“Kurama!”

The single, panicked word brought Kurama slowly back to the present, and he panicked when he felt the hands pinning him to the bed. He thrashed and tried to break free, his chest constricting in panic, his breath catching in his throat. The hands held fast, though, even though whoever it was gave a pained groan as one of Kurama's kicks connected, and Kurama grew more and more terrified by the second.

“Detective, you'll only frighten him more! Get off.”

The weight disappeared, and Kurama scrambled back and hit the headboard of the bed, pressing himself against him in his fight.

“Kurama…Kurama, calm down. It's all right. “Shh, shh…” The voice was deep and soothing, calming Kurama far more effectively than anything else. He felt himself relax, and his vision cleared.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Harry, and Madam Pomfrey all stood over him, looking concerned. Kurama tried to sit up, and groaned. Fire raced from his left shoulder to the tips of his fingers.

“W-what happened?” he panted.

Harry was the one who answered. “Madam Pomfrey pointed her wand at you, and you went…kind of crazy. You started convulsing and thrashing around, yelling like someone was killing you.”

“What happened, Kurama?” Kuwabara asked.

“Just…just a flashback,” Kurama said vaguely. “I'm sorry…I'm fine now. Really,” he insisted at their skeptical looks.

“Are you sure?” Hiei asked.

Kurama met his gaze for the first time in days, and managed a small smile. “Hai,” he said quietly. Hiei looked away pointedly. Kurama's jaw tightened. He understood that Hiei had been hurt, but enough was enough!

Madam Pomfrey broke the awkward silence. “Now, then, if you really are fine, then we should get on with it and get you boys to class.” She pulled her little stick out again, and this time, Kurama didn't panic when she pointed it at him, though he did flinch. She muttered something, a small beam of light flew out of the want and hit Kurama's arm, and…

A vase across the room exploded as the beam bounced off Kurama and hit it. Everyone jumped a foot, and Madam Pomfrey cried out.

“What the hel?” Hiei demanded.

Madam Pomfrey ignored him. She looked shaken. “How did your arm break, boy?”

“I…I don't know,” Kurama said quietly.

“How can you not know?” Madam Pomfrey snapped.

“I just don't.”

“”Are you quite sure?”

“Yes.”

Madam Pomfrey sighed. “I've never gotten that reaction before, from anybody…except one person, who died scarcely an hour after the attempt.”

It took a moment for her words to sink in, but when they did, a horrible feeling grew in the pit of Kurama's stomach. He heard someone give a strangled gasp, but he wasn't sure whom. “A-are you saying I'm going to…”

“Oh, no, no, no, of course not! I'm simply saying that I can't heal your wound.” Kurama thought he heard a sigh of relief, and this time he was sure it had come from Hiei. “Whatever that horrible man did to your arm has made it unhealable by magic. It will have to heal on its own. I'm so sorry.”

Kurama shook his head as he settled his arm back into its sling, wincing. “It isn't your fault,” he said simply. “I've dealt with worse.”

Madam Pomfrey muttered to herself as they left. “What brave words from a teenaged boy who looks thoroughly feminine…”

Okay, let's recap: Kurama and Hiei are idiots and are prolonging this spat unnecessarily. slaps both of them over the head Morons…

Reviewers' comments:

darkspirals: First of all, thanks for the review. Second of all, let me correct your objections: I know my line breaks aren't working on FanFiction, but they work on MediaMiner, which is the main site I post on, anyway, even though most of my reviews come from FanFiction. Thirdly, I know very well that Yusuke isn't full-blooded human, which is why he said “sort of.” But the whole Mazo-kou deal has yet to be explained. It will be soon, if you're patient, along with everyone else's pasts. Fourthly, it actually does make sense for Hiei to be the only non-English speaking one, because Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama all learned English in school—it's one of the major Japanese courses—and Hiei has never been to school. And fifthly, yes, it was too good to last. Hiei and Kurama are idiots, no?

YokoYoukai: I know! KURAMA IS A MORON! And unfortunately, they don't get “found out” until the end…that's all I'm gonna say…but you'll be waiting for a while…sorry…stares at flame thrower Okay, it's time for me to run again! calls over shoulder THANKS FOR THE REVIEW!

StormAZ: Thanks for the review! Yep, Hermione sure enjoys the motherly role she has decided to play…and the “scholarly” role, too…I agree! Updates are a GREAT thing!

“Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels.” -Faith Whittlesey