Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Disease ❯ Chapter 11

It's not been a month, and yet I'm updating! What a shocker. I need to finish this story so I can work on other ones, but it won't end with this one. Unfortunately, there's one more left. I was going to make it two, but I think five stories in one series is enough for me. I'm still working on the next one, but it's coming along. It just needs tweaking.

 

Serena SilverMoon: Thanks for the support. It always makes me happy to hear that someone likes the writing. Yup, it's the two new additions to Kurama's family that Hiei's threatening. Gotenmaru might have been Naraku's incarnation, but it's just a name I picked out of a hat. It's not the same guy; this new one's a moth demon, not a purple thing with sharp teeth. And thanks for sticking with me. It means a lot to me.

 

~*~

 

The man looked startled. “Who are you?” he demanded, putting himself between Hiei and the boy.

 

Hiei smirked. “That's not important,” he told the man. “What are you doing in this house?”

 

Before the man could answer, Kurama appeared in the doorway on the other side of the room. “Hiei!” he exclaimed. “This is my stepfather and his son. You don't need to threaten them.”

 

Comprehension dawned on him. This is his new family. Baka! You knew he had a new family; why didn't you put two and two together? Sheathing his katana, he stepped back. “My apologies,” he said, not taking his eyes away from the man and his son. “I didn't realize who you were.”

 

“That still doesn't explain who you are and what you're doing in my house,” the man said angrily.

 

“This is Hiei, my friend,” Kurama hurriedly explained to him. “He hasn't met you before, so he probably thought you were burglars or something along those lines. Hiei, this is my stepfather, Kazuya Hatanaka, and his son, Kokota.”

 

The man and Hiei stared at each other, neither willing to shake hands. However, that was when Shiori came in. “You're finally home,” she said, “and you met Hiei. His parents are out of town, so he'll be staying with us tonight.”

 

Kazuya was clearly not pleased with this, but left with Shiori anyway without saying anything. Kokota, on the other hand, became a chatterbox once his father left. “Hi, I'm Kokota. Where do you live? How come I haven't seen you around here before? What school do you go to…”

 

Seeing his friend back up nervously from the torrent of questions, Kurama stepped in. “Kokota, you're overwhelming him. He can't possibly answer all those questions.”

 

The boy stopped, looking sheepish. “Sorry, Hiei-san,” he said.

 

“It's late; you should probably be in bed right now,” Kurama told him. “Good-night, Kokota.”

 

“How come you're still up, then?” the younger boy demanded. “If you're still up, why can't I be?”

 

“Because I'm doing laundry,” Kurama answered. “Then Hiei and I will go to sleep.”

 

“Fine,” the younger boy sighed. Giving Hiei one last glance, he jogged up the stairs to what was presumably his room.

 

“Why don't you go back upstairs and try to get some sleep, Hiei,” Kurama suggested. “I need to finish the laundry, but I'll be up as soon as it's done, and I'll try not to wake you.”

 

“Hn. No thanks,” Hiei said. “I don't think I'd like to be up there with Kazuya likely to come and cut my throat. I'll stay with you.”

 

Kurama shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He went back into the laundry room while Hiei stayed in the kitchen, but close enough so he could reach Kurama if anything untoward happened, like the washer or dryer coming to life and attacking the unsuspecting fox. Sometime past 11:00 the dryer stopped, and Kurama came out with their clothes. “Here,” he said, covering a yawn while handing Hiei back his clothes. They made their way up the stairs, Kurama stumbling in the lead while Hiei walked sedately behind him. Upon arriving at their destination, Kurama hung his clothes in the closet and threw himself on the bed and was out before his head touched the pillow.

 

Hiei stared at him, nonplussed. That's never happened before. I guess he's been pushed harder than usual. Now that I think about it, we've all been pushed harder than usual. I hope things stay quiet around here for a while after we catch Gotenmaru. Sighing, he rolled his friend over and got him under his blankets. I'm getting too soft; if I'm not careful, I'll be spouting off how honorable men should act, like the baka. He sat down on his makeshift bed and looked at the blinds covering the window. I need to go home some time. They know why I haven't been there, but I'd rather not be yelled at for staying away for so long. With these thoughts in his head, he drifted to sleep…

 

Only to wake to someone attacking his mind again. Gotenmaru! Hiei mentally roared. You won't get away from me again! He wasn't as strong as he was earlier that day, so Hiei was able to block his attacks and exit the house through the window. Unfortunately, he woke Kurama while in the act of climbing out. “Hiei, what are you doing?” the groggy boy asked.

 

“It's Gotenmaru,” he answered tersely. When Kurama stared blankly at him, and not just because he didn't comprehend what he was saying, he added, “The demon from earlier.”

 

“Wait for me then,” Kurama sighed as he got up and staggered over to the window. “We can't afford to lose you.”

 

“Hn. If you can keep up, then you can stay; I won't wait for you.” Hiei was out the window before Kurama could say anything else to him. Contrary to what he said, he did wait for Kurama to climb out the window and get on the ground. “This way,” he ordered, dashing off in one direction, but made sure he was slow enough for Kurama to follow. They didn't run very far, which surprised Hiei. Apparently Gotenmaru moved closer than either of them had thought he would. They followed the energy signal to a graveyard, but neither of them could pinpoint where exactly it was coming from as it was foggy and dark. However, their target cut their searching short.

 

“Welcome to the graveyard,” Gotenmaru's voice floated out of the mist. “Very appropriate place to meet.”

 

“Indeed, as you are about to join its residents,” Kurama said coldly.

 

A rush of wind and the voice came from a new position. “Actually, it's the other way around,” the voice said from directly behind Kurama. The fox whirled around, and Hiei saw him freeze, his eyes staring blankly into nothing. Cursing under his breath, Hiei darted over and sliced right in front of the still redhead. Gotenmaru just laughed, still out of sight, and Kurama was still as unmoving as a statue. “You won't be able to help your friend,” the demon sneered from somewhere in the fog. “He'll be drained, but don't worry. You'll join him soon enough.”

 

“I think not,” Hiei snarled, uncovering his Jagan eye. He found the hooks that Gotenmaru had embedded in Kurama's mind and yanked them out. He could tell that it was painful for both parties, but if he was going to save Kurama, he had to move fast and not worry about pain. Gotenmaru didn't make things easy; as fast as Hiei removed his hooks, he'd put them back in. At the same time, Hiei searched for him and he hid himself among the tombstones and the mist. Hiei was at a disadvantage, though, since he wasn't willing to leave Kurama in his state. The fire demon scanned the area, but the fog blocked his senses. He heard a sound to his right, but there was nothing there. Turning back, he was prepared to continue his search when Gotenmaru appeared right in front of him.

 

“Good-bye,” he said to the startled Koorime. Before Hiei could recover, Gotenmaru slammed the flat of his blade against his skull and he knew no more.

 

When he woke up, he was surprised to find that he could wake up at all. He sat up quickly, but regretted it since his vision started swimming. Waiting for the sunspots to disappear, he took in his surroundings. They were still in the graveyard, so no one had found them yet. A short distance away Kurama lay, still comatose. He got away again. This isn't good. What is he up to? Why aren't we dead yet? Dreading what he would find, he searched his mind for hooks, but to his relief and confusion, there weren't any. This isn't right, he fumed internally. There should've been at least one hook…unless he couldn't break through my shields. That must be it. But what about Kurama? The poor fox was still out cold and didn't show any sign of waking up.

 

Wincing as the blow on his head made itself known to him, he slowly made his way to Kurama. “Wake up,” Hiei said loudly, nudging him. Kurama didn't move. Hiei repeated himself, more insistently this time, but with the same results. Thoroughly annoyed and short on patience because of lack of sleep, his head injury, and the pounding headache that was still building, he resorted to shouting in his ear and slapping him. This got a reaction. Kurama's eyes fluttered open and met Hiei's. “It's about time,” Hiei said hotly. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to wake you up?”

 

“Where are we?” Kurama asked sleepily.

 

“Still in the graveyard,” Hiei answered him. “What happened?”

 

“I don't know,” the fox said. “It felt like something was attacking my mind, but I couldn't fend it off.” He looked down at his hands and feet. “I don't feel terrible, except where you hit me.” Horror crossed his features. “Do you know what time it is?”

 

Hiei looked around. “No,” he said. “There aren't any clocks around here, and you didn't put on a watch.”

 

Kurama scrambled up, ignoring his injuries. “We have to get home,” he said urgently, making his way out of the cemetery.

 

“What's the rush?” Hiei queried, not happy about the pace.

 

“I have school today, and if I'm going to get there on time, I need to hurry. If it's late, then there won't be time to get to school and I'll just take the day off. However, we still need to get home or my mother will be worried.”

 

If only he'd be more considerate of my headache, the Koorime thought mournfully. At least he seems to be okay, and there don't seem to be any hooks in him either. Now that's strange. There should've been some in him at least. How long were we out? The sun is up, so it's been awhile. This makes no sense. Argh, it hurts too much to think. He went into a semiconscious state until Kurama stopped, and then he plowed right into him, causing them both to fall.

 

“What was that?” Kurama asked, not happy about being on the ground again, this time with a Hiei on top of him.

 

“Forgot to stop,” Hiei answered him. Haltingly, because moving too fast caused tremendous pain, the pair got on their feet again and walked the few yards to the front door of Kurama's home. Right before Kurama opened the door, it opened on its own accord to reveal Kazuya, who looked as startled to find them on the front porch as they were to find him on the opposite side of the door.

 

“Looks like you two have been through a tornado,” he said casually, eyeing the two of them. “What happened?”

 

“We went running, but I tripped, and Hiei ran into me. This was the end result,” Kurama lied. “What time is it?”

 

“Almost seven. If you hurry, you might be able to make it to school on time.”

 

“I'll need a shower before leaving. What about you, Hiei?”

 

“Hn.”

 

“We'll rush. Thank you.” They brushed past him and went to Kurama's room. Kurama made straight for the bathroom while Hiei just stripped and put on his usual black clothes. He did wait for Kurama to get out of the shower, though. The boy had forgotten to get extra clothes when he went to shower, so he searched through his drawers for his school uniform while holding a towel around his waist.

 

“I'm heading out,” he told Kurama curtly while the other was occupied with searching for his shirt.

 

“Not yet,” Kurama pleaded, finally finding the shirt. “You can leave once we leave the house, but not before. It will look suspicious,” he elaborated when Hiei was about to jump out the window anyway.

 

“Hn,” was the other demon's response, but he stayed anyway. They walked down and said good-bye to Shiori, who thoughtfully made a lunch for both her son and Hiei.

 

“I'll see you later, I suppose,” Kurama said when Hiei stopped a short ways from the house. “Don't go after the demon alone,” he warned his friend when he started walking away.

 

Hiei didn't answer him, just sped off, as was his way.

 

~*~