Black Chimera
Chapter 3: Never Go Gently
by Cricket

   Like a stealthy, red shadow, Kurama lead Hiei and Yo-mawari easily
through the watch systems set up to protect the Makai Treasure House:
Just as easy as he had remembered it all. A simple system of trip wires
and alarms had still remained after all these years, guarded liddlessly at
the main gates, something any amateur thief could have easily broken
through.  Those primary systems posed absolutely no problem to
Kurama's expertise, enjoying more the thrill of the hunt for riches
outside of his Youko body than what his possible mission here was.
   It was like a long-lost fantasy perhaps.  Kurama felt some sort of
wordless pleasure as cleverly  lead them through, chuckling at what
Shiori-san would say to him if he found out he was purposely breaking
into a dungeon.  Dear, innocent, angelic little Minamino Shuuichi
leading his own group of thieves and would-be assassins in  the
stronghold of one of the many enemies.  Quite exciting!
   Directly behind him, Youko Yo-mawari darted from shadow to
shadow, the surprisingly glimmering body molding perfectly to the
dimness where he had  spent the majority of his life.  Playfully, the fox
form would flick about, practically unseen by his other two
companions, occasionally leaping forward to pull his brother's hair or
ruffle his clothing, keeping up a continuous play as the small group
infiltrated the Treasure House.  Kurama didn't seem to mind much,
swatting back playfully, occasionally turning to tease back in the whole
thrill of things.
   And bringing up the rear, Hiei grumbled and smirked at the brother's
before him, playing and pestering each other, seemingly making light of
the moment and situations that could easily be the death of them all. 
Every ounce of Hiei's fighting conscious had told him to take back to
his own feet and get the hell out of there.  Death awaited them at each
corner, forcing them to duck to shadows and doorways every few feet,
impeding a quick progress which would lead to a quick retreat.  They
were getting no where!
   Around them all, bare and cold stone walls twisted and turned, a
huge labyrinth of identical corridors and tall hallways.  Kurama seemed
to know where he was going, he seemed to have had the fortress
mapped out completely in his head as he lead them. But to Hiei, every
place seemed dreadfully the same, his way being quickly lost after
about 10 minutes of their infiltration.
   Ahead, Kurama pulled the youko pestering him back to the wall,
playful smacking him in the chest with a snort.  The two completely
different forms contrasted at every vantage, breaking every and all
connection that the two could have ever been of the same blood.  Ears
and flowing silver hair challenged soft, peach skin and red hair, each
mocking the other silently by the simple act of standing abreast.
   Kurama leaned around the Youko and waved Hiei up, wincing as Yo-
mawari took a wild lock of red hair and tugged roughly, reeling
Kurama back to the wall.  The human body hit roughly, an immediate
reaction springing to jerk on one of the Youko's ears...
   "You two," Hiei growled a warning.  "If you don't behave..."
   "We're splitting up," Kurama announced quietly, cutting off the low,
gruff voice before Hiei could continue.  Kurama up-righted himself,
shoulder to shoulder with the taller form of the Youko Yo-mawari
beside him, listening carefully to the demon sentries pass beyond the
corner of their hiding spot.  "I'm going alone."
   "You're what!" Yo-mawari and Hiei hissed together, both turning
glaring eyes back to him.
   "Don't argue," Kurama whispered back without meeting the glares,
peeking around the corner.  "There is a method to this.  'Wari-kun: you
and I can link - unfortunately, I can't link that easily with Hiei - so you'll
have to stick next to him. Be my eyes and ears, so to speak."
   "But Kurama-kun..."
   "Shh!" Kurama ordered, pressing a finger to his lips and clunking his
forehead to Yo-mawari's.  They both winced slightly, chuckling again
to each other before Hiei's rough grunt ordered them to behave.  "Now,
the entrance to the dungeon is just across the way here..." he pointed to
an oak door guarded by two large and fierce looking kaibutsu.
   "Any special way you want them taken out?" Hiei asked with a sly
grin, the razor-sharp katana making itself know.
   "Yeah, quietly and as clean as possible!  There's only two of them."
   "No problem!"
   Hiei flashed in a rat of black wind, leaving a wake or displaced air to
ruffle the silver and red manes of the two brothers he left behind. For a
short, silent instant, there was absolutely no sign of the youkai, save for
the softly hidden glimmer of his you-ki, dancing on the edge of both the
brother's minds.  It only took a few seconds to seek out and follow that
you-ki, tracing a zig-zag path to land perched atop a rafter directly over
the two guards.
   The little youkai, dressed in a shadowed black, molded perfectly into
the open ceiling beams above, calling two of the shuriken on Yo-
mawari's shoulder out to trace the same zig-zag path, one whizzing
unnoticed up to Hiei, another one hopping down to the floor silently.

   The larger of the two kaibutsu yawned, shifting in position before the
door to the Treasure House dungeons.  It had been a long day... way to
long for his standards.  He needed a rest before he collapsed on the
spot, up since all hours of the morning.  It had been like that alot
around here lately: forced to rise early in the morning to guard and
patrol the corridors until late at night, lucky if either of the two guards
could squeeze in 5 hours of sleep a night.
   The other guard smacked him hard in the chest as he yawned again,
grumbling to him in a wordless warning.
   With a smirk, the kaibutsu yawned again, defying his counterpart....
until he heard a tiny tinkle gently roll into the stone hallway, like small
metal fragments falling on the cold stone floors.  It was a could he had
never heard before, perfect rhythmic tinkers coming down a connecting
hall out of sight, heading straight for them.
    The guards readied their weapons just in time to see a small, black
object, no bigger than a rat blink into view, rolling around the corner to
lay a path directly before them.  It was a dark metallic color, not black,
not brown... not really any describable color.  Just dark.  As it rolled, it
glimmered, shifting directions to begin down the corridor past the two
guards, rolling atop 8 viciously pointed projections.  A ninja throwing
star: a shuriken.
   The two guards watched curiously as the little weapon seemed to
have a mind of it's own, rolling right past them with the rhythmic
tinkering as the vicious prongs met with the stone floor.  It navigated
up and over the uneven flooring to the end of the hall, pausing, shifting
directions and rolling off around the corner and out of sight.
   "Nani?" one of the guards grumbled, bringing out what looked like a
miniature reaping scythe.  "Hmph... I'll check it out," he finished, his
deep and sonorous voice almost shaking the surrounding foundations
to their death.
   The other watched as his partner hobbled off down the hall... and
then he noticed a similar object navigate it's way down the wall just
past his shoulder like a giant spider.  The guard jumped as if it really
was a big spider, watching the identical little weapon veer off around
another corner.  So he followed.

   "I don't believe it," Yo-mawari whispered in Kurama's ear, his chin
resting on his brother's shoulder as he watched the other guard leave
his post to follow the other shuriken.  "I do believe these kaibutsu are
quite dim!"
   Kurama elbowed him in the side, watching his brother's chin topple
from his shoulder to stumble back to his own feet.  Beyond, they saw
Hiei leap to the floor to land in a small, unmoving crouch, the black
cloak making him look like a small, black rock.  The red eyes scanned
the hall quickly, swinging back and forth, little ears tuned to every
sound around him.
   In one quick, fluid movement, the youkai's swift hand jammed the tip
of the katana into the lock of the door, easily springing it, pushing it
open all in one sweep.  All too easy.  With a curt smile, he glanced to
the brothers, silently ordering them to enter the dungeon, a big 'After
you,' sweep as he gestured into the dim stone stairwell beyond.
   Kurama and Yo-mawari, each mirroring the other despite the oddly
contrasting forms, each crossed the hall, one after another and
disappeared into the dungeon, quietly closing the door behind them....
seconds before both guards came back after having lost sight of the tiny
little 8-pronged stars.

   "This is where we split," Kurama spoke silently, wrinkling his nose at
the smell of the musty dungeons, reaching the bottom of the long,
winding flight of stairs.  "They don't keep many guards down here, but
still, clean up every mess you make!  It only takes one to sound of that
blasted alarm of theirs." 
   Yo-mawari stood firmly to attention, springing a finger to his
forehead to toss off a mock salute, receiving a prompt shove from
Kurama.  "I'm serious here," Kurama said flatly, every hint of the
playful fox gone from the green eyes that flickered in the torch light. 
"Be careful.  There's only one way out of this dungeon... and that's the
way we came.  If we spring the alarms, the first thing they do is block
off the dungeons.  Got it?"

   A dungeon guard hobbled along, humming a dark and off-pitch tune
to himself, stumbling through the notes.  Before him, he carried a tray,
on it a bowl of water and half of a loaf of bread.  "Yo, din-din there,
fairy-man,"  he snickered, stopping at a particular cell in the nearly
vacant dungeons.  He bent down and shoved the tray through a special
opening under the bars, pushing it up and into the surprisingly dark cell,
despite the torches that blazed just over his shoulder.  "Eat up now. 
Wouldn't wanna spoil that figure of yours, now would we?"
   In the darkness of the cell a set of piercing blue eyes opened slowly,
fixing on the guard with an undying lust for blood, searching the fat
figure out like a wolf stalking an injured animal.  They belonged to a
battered face, the eyes deeply sunken in and ringed in sickly red and
black circles from years of starvation and malnutrition.  Though,
however terrible their surroundings, the eyes had a luster and shine that
rivaled every jewel that sat in the treasure house vault, completely out
of place in the milky grey of the bruised skin.
     The creature was thin and bony, a living skeleton as he sat on a
straw bed in the shadows, tucked off in a corner of the cell where the
shadows laid the heaviest.  He wasn't shackled, perhaps the large scars
running along his shins and calves told why, instead, his keepers
choosing to beat him on regular intervals, told so on the grey and pink
scars that ran over and over his incredibly frail body.
   The guard couldn't help but shudder slightly, backing up from the
cell, tugging on his shirt collar as the eyes glared him down,
disembodied in the blackness.  "Well then," the guard cleared his throat
and gathered back his courage, trying to lengthen his portly figure to
intimidate the prisoner.  "Now there, be a good little boy for me. 
Remember what happened last time?"
   "Go to hell," the prisoner seethed, a fiery anger ragged in a dry throat
that seemed to hold every deadly technique deep within.
  "Touchy touch.  You would think after all these years you would have
at least died!  You are so damn annoying, you know that."
   "Why thank you, I'm glad to see my mission is being fulfilled then."
   "Kisama... you just delight in making everyone miserable around you
now don't you?  Why, of all the things to do, must you insist on being
so DIFFICULT!"
   "It's my code, old man," the raspy voice spoke back, adjusting his
frail body on the straw, pulling the thin, bony leg out of the light and
into the shadows, hiding all evidence that a man sat behind those
electric eyes.  "Never go gently."
   "You little bastard.. I am sick to bloody death of you!!  Of all
things..." the guard whipped out a set of keys and opened the cell door.
"I am gonna teach you once and for all to shut that disrespectful mouth
of yours!!  You seem to forget that YOUR the prisoner and I'M the
keeper."
   "Go ahead and try," the deep blue eyes growled.  "See how far you
get before I lay another gash out of that ragged ear of yours.
   The guard hobbled in, taking out a length of hard leather from his
belt, winding it one around his hand for support.  "You... if you won't
die on your own you'll die by my hand!!"  He raised the whip... the
prisoner closed his eyes...
   The crack of a whip echoed through the cell, the prisoner's body
jerking at the noise... but there was no pain.  The numbing, burning
pain that usually followed that dreaded sound was not there.  Oddly, it
just wasn't there.
    Cautiously he opened an eye.  The guard stood poised to strike
above him, though looking a bit surprised, eyes wide and glazed as if
the life had just been ripped from them... and in a sickening,
undescribable sound, his head bobbled to one side, toppling off his
shoulders to land in a crunch of bones and a splatter of blood on the
floor of the cell.
   "Ah shit, now I'm gonna get blamed for this one," the prisoner
grumbled.  "Idiot.. cut his own head off.  Hmph, what a moron."
   The body slid limply down to the floor... but another replaced it, the
sleek shadow clearly not kaibutsu.  In fact, the body looked vaguely
human, tall and thin, almost beautiful in the silhouette it created around
the torch light.
  "Wha'd ya want? If you're gonna kill me, then do it already."
  The figure shifted forward through the shadows, a long, barbed whip
curling up to the figure's hand to dissipate into a perfect rose,  watching
the blue eyes slide shut in anticipation.  But instead, a pair of warm
hands grasped his cheeks, cradling them in their touch, the sudden feel
of contact sending a shuddering gasp through the prisoner's body.  
  He opened his deadly blue eyes to larger, shadowed ones, sparkling in
the dim light to reveal sudden flashed of green color.  They seemed to
look him over, darting back and forth between his own blue eyes,
searching out something.  
   The prisoner caught his breath, gathering himself back up, returning
his surprise to replace it with the snarling attitude that fit them too well. 
"Who the hell are you?" Quick  fingers went to the new figures neck,
squeezing.  "Talk quick or I'll kill you!"
    The figure choked a bit, the grip doing nothing more than laboring
his breathing, calming him back to the position he was before, the warm
hands still cradling the prisoner's cheeks. 
   One of the warm hands shifted, reaching  up to push a mat of black
hair from the prisoner's forehead, a shimmer coming to one of the large
eyes to spill into a silver trail down the shadowed cheek.  The prisoner
released the grip slightly, hands still at the figure's throat, staring
curiously back at the unfamiliar figure that sat before him.
   "Masaka..." the figure whispered, a soft and gently voice that caught
the prisoner and threw him for a loop. There was a vague masculinity in
that soft voice, assuring in a single word that no hard would come to
the owner of the deep blue eyes.   "Can't be you... Kuronue?"
   What! Snarling, the prisoner leapt to his feet and managed to fling the
figure a good four feet across the cell before he toppled back down to
the ground.  Like a lame, vicious Makai demon, he pulled himself
across the floor to the figure, taking up a hand full of silken red hair
and yanking the figure to sit up.  "Tell me now how you know my
name!  Tell me before I kill you!!!" he hissed quietly, shaking the
handful of red hair with a deadly force.
   "Kuronue..." a pair of large green, feline eyes slid open, wincing as
his captured mane of hair was violently shaken.  "Kuronue.. it's me! 
Kurama!!"
   "Nani... LIAR!!!"  The fingers went back to the redhead's throat, this
time with a vice-like grip.  "Liar!"
   Kurama chocked and pried at the fingers, gaining little leeway under
the immense strength the almost skeleton-like figure suddenly
possessed.
   "You bastard!  Kurama's dead!  Died along time ago.  How DARE
you..."
   "But.. I'm not... dead..."  The redhead struggled to catch what little
semblance of a breath he could, thrashing under the deadly grip ... and
the human features suddenly bleached and blinked in the darkness, the
human body fading out to be replaced with a taller, perfect Youko man,
still struggling under the enormous grip the frail prisoner suddenly had.
   The blue eyes widened, the grip loosening slightly but still encircling
the Youko's thin throat.  Youko Kurama loosened the rest of the
fingers with great difficulty, panting and gasping for air, leaning
forward over his knees to cough the feeling back into his lungs.
   "No... they told me... they showed me.  You're not Kurama,
Kurama's dead."
   "I hardly think I'm dead, Kuro." Kurama raised his head to find the
face of his once dear and loyal friend a horribly twisted face he could
barely recognize through all the bruises and scars.  He was like a ghost
with large, blue eyes, the skin about them colored red and black from
the poor nutrition and abuse e had suffered through the years.  Scars
and bruises riddled his thin face, moving down to thrash over almost
every part of his body,  making him into a grotesque  monster that he
had seen in old horror movies.  "Oh gods, Kuronue.  What have they
done to you!"  The Youko reached out and took the face  in his hands
again, another trail of silvered tears flowing down his cheeks.  "Those
BASTARDS!" he screamed... Kuronue shot a hand forward to cover
his mouth.
   "Shh, they'll hear you!!"  He looked the Youko straight in the face,
realization dawning on him suddenly.  Kurama WAS sitting before him,
the Youko he had once known and thought killed by the same group of
ruthless monsters that imprisoned him here.  "I don't believe it.  It is
you Kurama... it is YOU!"
   Kurama leaned forward and gently laid his head down on a thin
shoulder, wanting to hug the friend he had thought he lost, but feared
crushing him under his weight.
  And Kuronue chuckled.
  Youko Kurama drew back and looked him straight in the face, a
mixture of surprise, shock and what-not.  "Kurama, do you have any
idea the agony I went through when I thought you were dead?"
   "Yes, I do.  And worse.  You wouldn't believe how you've haunted
me!  Hell, one of Yakumo's men even took your form and tried to kill
me little more than a few months ago.  In a sense, he almost did!"  
    One of Kurama's ears twitched suddenly, breaking the small reunion
that had tried to begin, catching a faint voice of another guard.  "I have
to get you out of here now!  Can you walk?"
   "No.  All the injuries, all the beatings.  They haven't healed right. 
Kurama, this is ridiculous.  Did you hope to save me by coming here?"
   "Yes, of course!"
   "Idiot, my time's come and gone."
   "Fine.  You talk like the worlds going to end, in the meantime, I'm
carrying you."
   "Like hell you are, Kurama!"
   "Watch me!"  Kurama hoisted the man up into his arms and rose
swiftly to his feet, surprised at the light weight Kuronue's body held,
even lighter than Hiei's little body.

   On the other side of the dungeon, a swift hand quickly caught Hiei
and reeled him back, pulling him into a dim shadow.  The golden eyes
of the  youko servant who accompanied him stared off, concentrating
on a far corner of the dungeon  as he received mental messages. 
"Kyoudai-kun's found him!  I don't believe it!" Yo-mawari smiled,
trying to process the overwhelming wave of emotions that threatened
to drown his mind on the spot.  "Come on, Meijin-san. he wants us to
get the hell out of here!"

    Youko Kurama slid easily around a corner, bundle and all...
   ... the same time Youko Yo-mawari and Hiei rounded their corner
and met up.
   Yo-mawari was poised to congratulate his brother, all smiles, until he
saw the horribly frail skeleton-figure of a man cradled like a baby in
Kurama's arms.   He was thin beyond belief, his skin grey and lifeless,
hanging off the bones below.  He had no muscle structure whatsoever
that he could see, just a hideous shell, like a starved frog drying in the
sun.
   Kuronue suddenly shot blue eyes to Yo-mawari...
   Yo-mawari stumbled back, sudden memories of Kuraihana's brilliant
and iridescent deep blue eyes popping back into clear focus through all
those times he had caught himself staring into them.  He knew from the
little he had been allowed to know, the Kuronue was Kuraihana's
biological father, the two being almost completely alike as a father and
daughter could be.  And those eyes told it all.
   Kuronue frowned at the new Youko and looked back and forth
between him and Kurama's streaming silver lines, watching the two
Youko's smile and wink back and forth at each other as if in silent
conversation.  "Nani... kore wa..."
    "I'll explain later," Kurama urged, gesturing to the stairs leading from
the dungeon with a brilliant flip of his hair.  "Do you think those guards
will fall for your shurikens one more time, 'Wari-kun?"
   "Looks like we'll find out," and Hiei was up the steps before anyone
could blink, disappearing around the first twirl of the staircase into the
darkness beyond.

   The guard scratched his head as the shuriken rolled by again, but he
didn't move.  Instead he watched and listened to it, feet never moving
from their position before the large, oak door. The other guard just
shrugged and returned to yawning.
   "So, you wanna play that way?" a deep voice growled through the
door behind them... seconds before it flung open.  The door flung with
surprising swiftness as all three infiltrators behind it gave it a good,
hard kick, sending the two guards flying to bash into the opposite wall. 
Instantly they fell from consciousness, slumping to bulky, awkward
piles on the floor.
   Hiei appeared in the doorway first, the small frame dwarfed more
than usual as the door swung back, stopped in a violent shutter at the
youkai's outstretched hand.  Red eyes darted along the hallway,
confirming that it was now deserted of seeking eyes, curling a finger
over his shoulder to motion everyone on.  "Come on!  The way this hall
was patrolled earlier, it won't take long for those two to be
discovered!"
   Yo-mawari darted out first, calling the shuriken back to his shoulder,
his very presence blazing a trail before him over the stonework, a small
network of tiny, red-glowing seedlings springing into existence.  It was
a trail he had laid following Kurama into the Treasure House incase
they got separated or Kurama couldn't lead.  They lit before him as he
ran, leading the others on, the small lights disappearing directly behind
them, the seedlings shimmering to dissolve in the air.
     The menacingly long katana poised laid and ready for anything in
Yo-mawari's grip, swinging great, metallic arcs through the air as he
followed the red lights through the patchwork of shadows and noon-
day light.
    Kurama came next, darting as quickly behind his twin, the light and
frail figure of Kuronue draped in his arms.  The thin figure hardly
bobbled under Kurama's smooth stride, one arm draped up over the
Youko's shoulder.  Occasionally he would grumble in disgust, snarling
to Kurama to put him down, Kuronue half embarrassed at the fact he
had to be carried to his freedom.
   Followed at a safe distance, the Jagan on his forehead glowing eerie
shades of green, Hiei ran with a swift stride, keeping exact pace with
the Youko before him.  The third eye, in a sense, was watching their
back, flashing images of the hall behind them as they ran, keeping
watch incase someone tried to ambush their retreat.
   "This is so humiliating," Kuronue groaned, adjusting his grip on
Kurama's neck as he ran.. more like floated through the halls of the
Treasure House.
   "I could put you back in the cell."
   "Ha ha," he groaned, sarcastically.  "I don't know which would be
worse."
   "Just keep quiet and quit complaining," Kurama ordered in a low
whisper.  "You can nag and whine all you want once we get the hell
out of here."
   Kuronue frowned and wrinkled his nose at Kurama, once again
bringing his sarcasm back into full bloom.  "Yes, mother," he snorted.
   The group burst around a corner like a burst damn, racing along only
to come face to face with a group of 8 kaibutsu.  The 8 were startled
heavily by the sudden presence of the three, recognizing youko's
immediately.  One lunged for a switch on the wall, nearly ripping it off
its stand to send a loud, wailing siren into existence.
   The eight barely had any more  time to think as Yo-mawari's and
shuriken battalion made quick work of them, the three sliding to a halt
as the mass of green and blue blood suddenly plastered every square
inch of the floor and walls around the eight... only to have another
swarm  come up the other side of the hall.
   "INTRUDERS!!"
   "Here we go," Kurama whispered, cursing lowly under his breath.
   "Yeah," Kuronue scoffed.  "Just like old times, ne?"
   "Quiet you."
    Lead by Yo-mawari's amazing sense of direction, he lead them all off
the path they had entered, circling through the Treasure house.  Hiei
soon became disoriented again, launching half the shuriken battalion
behind them to the swarming heard of kaibutsu that moaned into the
hall behind them.  For all he knew, they could be going in circles.
   But, much to his surprise, they soon slid into the main hall they had
entered, finding a large group of demons and monsters awaiting them.
    "Ahh, I see they've finally beefed their security," Kurama mused.
   "You're enjoying this, aren't you!!" Kuronue gnashed his mouth,
snarling more to himself than the Youko's odd fascination with this
escape.
   Kurama shifted him to one arm, reaching to his hair to pull a hand full
of seeds, expertly balancing Kuronue's gently weight.  They glowed and
odd yellow, a deadly you-ki swirling around them... a plant Kuronue
had not felt in a long time.  He watched as Kurama  tossed them easily
before him, sending them shooting like small fragments of shrapnel,
some contacting the leather flesh of the demons, others imbedding into
the walls and floor.
   Around him, Hiei leapt with am almost undetachable presence,
darting after the seeds, katana blazing.  Among the frothing enemies the
seeds didn't hit, Hiei went to work, quickly slicing at anything and
everything that was unfamiliar to him.  Odd-colored blood flew in all
directions, resulting from the combined efforts... and as suddenly as
Hiei and the shuriken's had laid into the humongous hord, they darted
away to safety.
   In a huge explosion, the seeds Kurama had flung sprouted in a dusty
blaze of you-ki... the Shokuyu Shokubatsus'', snarling into existence,
hungry for blood no matter what kind.  A clear path to the large doors
behind the plants was blazed, Yo-mawari and Kurama turning the
plants full attention and towards the kaibutsu who tried both to flee and
attack the escaping trio at the same time.
   "Ok, we have under a minute before the entire fleet is released!" 
Kurama announces as they all sprung out into the bamboo forest
beyond, an all-too familiar path Kurama had etched in morning into his
deep, centuries-old memory.
   "That doesn't leave much room for a plan, fox!"
   "Just head for the cliff."
   "The cliff??" Hiei and Kuronue echoed around the Youko.
   "Just trust me..."
    KABOOM!!!
    It was an unfamiliar explosion to all ears, Kurama daring a glance
behind past Hiei to see the  doors to the Treasure House blast open in a
powerful explosion, shattering the Shokuyu Shokubatsu that had eaten
nearly a quarter of the hord.  What was left of that band, joined with
nearly every other fight-worth soul the Treasure House could employ,
swarmed out of the doors like a living flood, following quickly.
   "They're early!" Kurama and Kuronue doubled.  
   "Looks like they finally wised up," Kuronue said silently, more to
himself, looking around and past Kurama's shoulder.
   Before them, the bamboo forest was making way for them all to pass
unheeded, bending a clear path through, heading straight for the cliffs
that loomed just beyond...
   And then the bamboo spears began to fly.
   Kurama cringed inwardly and stepped up his pace.  He felt Kuronue
tighten his grip on his neck, shuddering harshly, burying his face down
into the crick of his neck as more and more of the deadly spears began
to whiz by them.  "Don't worry, I've got you this time," Kurama
whispered carefully to his burden, gather the light frame up further into
his arms.
   Hiei fell back and brought up the rear again, urging Kurama on,
pushing at the Youko's back as he ran behind, pulling out the double-
edged katana.   The Jagan glowed furiously, Hiei darting left and right
from the straight path to shred the bamboo spears that threatened to
come too close to his beloved fox, his companion and his twin.  Not a
difficult job...
   They flew past the cell that once held Kuronue for the sacrifice, the
ragged and unhealthy body beginning to shake roughly.  Kurama
tightened his grip... he could see their destination:  The cliff.  A sheer
drop, nearly half a mile straight down to the Makai Forest below.   
   "Kurama, you're crazy," Kuronue shuddered.  "I can't fly... not in my
condition."
   "I'm gonna be the one doing the flying."
   "Baka.. you don't have wings!"
   "So I improvise!"
    Closer and closer, the sound of Hiei's hacking becoming  less and
less fierce as the cliff loomed, calling them forward.  Kurama
remembered the last cliff he had come in contact with, the cliff in
Yomatsu that Kuwabara had pushed them all off in an odd vision,
wondering why ever on the world... or HOWEVER such a suicidal
action ended up saving all their lives.  And yet, here they were again:
another cliff, another life-saving jump.
   " 'Wari-kun!  Can you get Hiei?" Youko Kurama snapped himself to,
preparing for what was to come next.
   "Sure thing!"  Kurama watched the twin break formation and nab up
Hiei, firmly grabbing him as the cliff loomed nearer...
  "Kurama, you're insane!" he head Kuronue yell one last time.
   And they jumped...
   Nothing but the calm blue, uninhibited air surrounded them, the
greenery of the Makai forest suddenly forming the floor blow them, a
half-mile drop.
   Kuronue pressed his eyes shut tight, waiting for the inevitable
stomach-wrenching drop and the sound of their bodies breaking
through the trees... but instead, he heard nothing.  In fact, he felt like he
was flying!
  Kuronue chanced a peak.  They WERE flying! Or gliding at least. 
The terrain below gently flowed underneath them, a rolling scenery, a
dream-scape.
   That was it, a dream!  Kuronue groaned and tried to will himself to
wake up.  All a dream, but it couldn't have been.  It was too real, too
vivid... or he just wanted it to be real.
     As he looked about him for the normal indications of a dream scape,
he noticed a vine gently encircling his waist, writhing past him to
encircle Kurama's waist.  As he followed it, he noticed it attached to a
pair of plant-like gliding wings, fluttering above them, catching the
updrafts from the forest below to glide them along.
     Beside them, Hiei and Yo-mawari floated to keep stride with Youko
Kurama, the same pair of plant-like wings firmly anchored around his
shoulders and waist.
   Maybe it wasn't a dream.
   He hoped it wasn't a dream.  Kuronue was free.  For the first time
in... he couldn't remember how long, he was free again.   Whether it
was the years of torment or the heart-pounding escape, Kuronue's mind
fuzzed over with sleep, bogging down his senses as he struggled to stay
awake to watch the display under him.  Where could they have been
going?
   His eye lids slid shut, refusing to open again.  Sleep overtook his
weak body, collapsing his systems as he laid his head over on Kurama's
shoulder.
   And his world faded to an oddly comforting black, wrapping around
him, lulling him off to sleep, the light fingers of the wind running
through the matted mass of black hair, sending him off to sleep.

(c) September 1997 by Jiminy Cricket Presses