The usual disclaimers apply: Only Yo-ma and the obvious character of Murasaki are mine! All others are property of Togashi-san ... I'm making no money off this ... so please don't sue me!
Kurama lay just on the brink of asleep and awake, the morning sun slipping over the open sill to play gently across his face, caressing his soft, pale skin. He laid like the perfect figure he was, set amidst the blinding white of the sheets that laid criss-crossing his partially naked body. His head was halloed in a ring of his red hair, sprawled out in intricate patterns over the pillow, fluttering and shifting slightly in the morning breeze.
He sighed in his delirious state, not wanting to open his eyes to check the time ... not wanting to unwrap himself from his loose cocoon of white ... not wanting to rise from the comfortable, sprawled position. He could smell the bakery down the street always from his apartment baking fresh bread ... it made his mouth water just thinking about how the hot bread would taste, how it would feel grasped loosely in his hand. His stomach rumbled it's thoughts too, emphasizing the fact that it still hadn't been fed yet.
Kurama thought as his mind slowly began to wake up; thought about how attached he had grown to this Ningenkai and it's hustle and bustle of people. He thought about his human mother ... wondered how she was doing back at the house. Perhaps he would give her a visit.
The unmistakable twinge of you-ki fluttered in on him, but was quickly silenced ... so quickly that he couldn't tell if it really WAS Hiei or just a figment of his imagination. Needless to say, he hoped the former, content to wait happily, still appearing to be fully asleep until his lover came for a visit..
In a matter of minutes, something blocked the light from the window, relieving his face from the beating show of brilliance from the morning sun. He fought back a smile, failing miserably: opting to turn over with his back to the window to hide the smile. He had hoped Hiei would come visiting. His lover had been spending alot of time with Yo-mawari ... not that Kurama minded, but he was beginning to feel a bit left out, and wanted dearly to spend an entire day just entwined with the little youkai's naked body, whether they made love or not.
A soft finger traced over Kurama's ear lobe, drawing that smile that so eagerly tried to make itself known before, bursting into view, stunning and full. "Ohayo gozaimasu ... " Kurama said softly, the sleep still evident in his voice. He listened intently to the air, only now noticing that he didn't detect Hiei's normal out-put of ki ... not that it surprised him ... sometimes Hiei could expertly block even that through the use of his Jagan ... perhaps he was trying to be secretive this morning. The very though made his mind race with idea's.
The finger moved from Kurama's earlobe down to trace the curve of his jawbone ... but something was different about that finger ... a trail followed ... a fingernail???? Hiei didn't have fingernails.
A sudden hand cupped his bottom jaw and gave a forceful tug, pulling Kurama straight out of bed, sending him flying across the room. With cat-like reflexes, Kurama was barely able to up-right himself before he crashed to the wall, knocking his head back roughly against the brick stonework of his room.
Pain coursed down from the base of his neck to his shoulders and around to his chest as he saw a barrage of black and yellow spots explode into his vision, quickly beginning to overtake his mind, blocking out all thought and hope of movement. Frantically he tried to do something ... to yell out, to grab a hold of the small cactus that sat by is bed ... but instead opted to dump a portion of his ki into the wood flooring, writing his own message in the apartment ... before the blackness overtook his vision and he collapsed.
***
Thump!
The hard, rubber stamper pounded mercilessly onto the document, declaring in red ink that it had been reviewed and approved for submission. Easily it was closed and laid gently on a pile in the corner of little Koenma's desk. Quickly and without pausing, he took another one up and opened it, his squint, little eyes darting quickly over the frilled characters. He checked the name ... the date of death ... the possibility, if any, that the spirit had grounds for reconciliation ... and it was pulverized with the rubber stamper and set to the 'completed' pile.
Koenma loved his work, as monotonous as it sounded; stuck behind a desk all day, stamping files and running reports, trying to keep a line to Botan open. She herself had be working overtime and it showed. When they had met to discuss workings, she looked so utterly worn out like she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep in three days ... true, he worried about her, though he wasn't quite sure why ...
Thump!
... and another file graced the pile.
A hard knock came to the office door, startling him momentarily out of his thoughts ... " Come in, George," his rough little voice spoke to the door, a good 10 feet from the desk. He stamped another file quickly, adding it neatly to the finished stack and looked up to see George carrying a pile of more of the manilla folders, towering in a leaning pile over his head.
The blue monster shuffled in, expertly balancing the folders as he felt his way to the desk, dodging the trash can and a stray printer. With a great heave he plopped them down on the cluttered oak surface, sending a staple gun toppling into the trash can in its wake. "Heh heh ... Whoops ... sorry boss!" he chuckled, quickly fishing the stapler from the trash. He looked the desk over... every square in was covered in files and folders and papers and stuff ... he tested out positions with the stapler, trying to tuck it between some stacks of files, trying to nestle it under a wad of crumpled papers.
Koenma sighed and stuck his little hand out, leaning up over the desk, snatching the stapler. He quickly sat back and stowed it in a drawer, receiving an embarrassed chuckle from the monster. "Well, boss ... there's one more pile ... and that should be it for a while ... well, until we update!"
Koenma held back a groan and opened another file. "It's never going to end! These humans keep dropping like flies. I don't see how the Ningenkai can loose so many humans a day and still have ungreatfully huge cities like Tokyo over flowing it's boarders ...."
"They breed too much," George stated easily. He got the unexpected from the toddler ... a slight chuckle. He stood straight up from his normally hunched position, but said nothing. Instead he turned out of the office and into the hall, shutting the door behind him.
Koenma raised the rubber stamper and pounded it into the document, neatly tucking it back into its folder ... climbing up on his chair to reach the top of the 'completed' pile. As he did, he heard he office door swing open and crash into the wall ... that was quick! "Just put those on the floor George," he said, not bothering to look up as he settled back into the large, plush chair and grabbed another folder.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure move behind his desk ... George very rarely chanced to overstep his boundaries in Koenma's office; he knew how much the toddler values his space and privacy. Strange behavior fro the monster ... but just out of curiosity, he glanced a look ...
Immediately he stood up on the huge chair ... facing him was a tall, young woman. She stood straight and tall, dressed neatly in a flowing, dark blue dress that seemed to shimmer and turn in the lights. Her hair fell almost down to her knees in long, purple waves, highlighting bright yellow eyes and a set of pointed, cat-like ears.
Koenma looked her over quickly. "Excuse me, this is my private office. I don't have an appointment with anyone scheduled for another 4 hours."
The young woman smiled, lowering her head slightly. "Gomen nasai for the intrusion, but ... "
With a speed like a gale-force wind, she reached forward and grabbed the toddler by the collar of his shirt, pulling him clean through a pile of files and folders atop his desk, setting the room alive in a flurry of documents. Koenma had little time to react, able to get his little hands on a letter opener as he was yanked from the desk. With the skills and quickness of a cat he swung the letter-knife low ... landing it right to her rib cage ... and a sudden, overwhelming pain shot through his abdomen ... encasing his entire, infant body in an aching pain he couldn't believe ... so intense that it nearly knocked him out cold on the spot.
Gasping, he looked down ... the letter-knife laid firmly implanted in the young woman's rib cage ... but it was he who was bleeding ... it was he who had his small rib cage utterly ravaged by some unseen fore... His mind was quickly running cold and blank as he felt the warm blood seep down through his clothes and begin to run down his legs. He lost all control of his body and fell limp in the young woman's grasp as the world around him began to grow dark ...
***
George kicked the place where the door to Koenma's office should have been... but was surprised when his foot sailed right through the air, nearly sending him toppling, papers and all. He thought a minute ... Koenma-joshi must have left the door open for him. "Here's the last of 'em boss. Where do ya want them?" he announced his presence as he stumbled into the room blindly from under the stack of files.
George stood obediently in the middle of the office, face pressed to the back side of the file-tower he carried and waited patiently for a response ... and waited. "Uh. boss? Boss!!" George peaked out from behind the folders gently, taking care not to topple them.
The large desk that had been so neatly piled above the little guys head not more then two minutes ago sat in shambles. White papers still fluttered down from the air, laying a coating around the now-disorderly desk and floor like a fresh coat of snow. The office was in sheer chaos.
George nervously looked around. How incredibly unlike Koenma to up-and-leave .. especially destroying the stacks of files like that ...
He set the pile down where he stood and crossed the room ... a large pool of blood had collected on the edge of the desk ... had splattered on the files .. on the walls ... he gasped harshly, nearly tripping himself as he reached out quickly for the phone, yanking it nearly out of the jack in the wall. "Yeah. Get me Botan. Tell her it's an emergency!!"
.
When matters get worse...
Keiko reached over and muddled Yusuke's hair, drawing an almost instant reaction ... Yusuke snapped out of his daydreaming, whirling to swat Keiko's hand from his perfectly kept head of hair, putting immediate order back to it with his other.
Keiko laughed lightly, leaning roughly over onto his shoulder, nearly sending him tumbling to the grass where they sat, tucked neatly under an oak tree. They had gone for an early morning jaunt in the park, walking slowly through the city's central park, watching the sunrise sprinkle various hews of colored specs on the clear, calm lake. For the first time in a while they had truly been alone to talk to one another, to again realize just how much they felt for each other and valued the companionship of the other.
Yusuke grinned like a fool and reached over, wrapping an arm around Keiko's shoulders, drawing her near. He loved the light scent of her perfume .. it drove him wild, though he couldn't put a finger on just exactly why. It smelled like gentle flowers flowing in a breeze after a rainstorm ... so light and fragrant, so feminine.
Keiko sighed against his chest and raised a hand to the buttons of his school uniform, tucking a finger through one of the vacant loops up by his neck. She fiddled with it for a while before moving a light finger down to pop the next one in sequence from it's hole, slipping her hand up to rub his exposed neck.
The skin on the back of his neck crawled, a sensation that he rather enjoyed as she nestled in closer to him, reaching up to lay a light kiss on his chin. Maybe today would be the day they would ...
"URAMESHI-SAN!!!!!!"
"WAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Yusuke screamed aloud, bolting up from his position where he has say leaned against the tree, holding on to Keiko tightly, fearing she'd fly from his grasp. Botan charged up the green landscape of the park, running at mach-speed, dragging her oar behind her.
"... shit ..." Yusuke whispered harshly under his breath, rubbing a hand up and down Keiko's back soothingly. What a way to ruin a perfectly good start to a perfectly good day ... and mood.
He watched with obvious annoyance as Botan continued, panting for all she was worth, closing the distance between them with surprising quickness. It wasn't much like her to scream from half a county away like that ... he wondered what had happened. Scenario after scenario running through his mind ... getting worse and worse as he thought them up ...
"Urameshi-san!! Urameshi-san!!" she panted as she rounded over the hill, dropping the oar immediately and leaning down on her knees. Yusuke picked himself off the ground, gently placing Keiko aside and went to Botan. He took her shoulders and helped her over to the tree, setting her down in front of Keiko before sliding down to sit facing her.
She sat choking and wheezing, furiously trying to catch her breath. She sputtered something, each sentence becoming just a bit more comprehendible, though still bordering on being undecipherable ...
"Calm down, Botan! Tell me what's wrong!"
Botan continued to huff as Keiko reached out and massaged her shoulder. She seemed to start to calm, but would suddenly be over taken by a sudden burst of violent gasps ... and something sparkled down her cheek ... she was crying.
Yusuke took her suddenly by the shoulders and shook her. "Botan! What the hell' s wrong! Tell me!!"
She raised her head slowly, drying her face with the sleeve of her kimono. "Ko ... Koenma ... he ..." she took a big sputtering gasp. "There was blood all over his office and ... " she fell into another fit of violent gasps. "HE'S GONE!!"
***
Hiei flew through the treetop to land perfectly in the widow sill, perching like a cat expertly in the frame of the window. Behind him, the morning sun beat fiercely on his black clothing, forcing him to descend from the sill to take refuge in the cool shadows of the room.
He landed neatly by the bed ... it sat in it's usual, un-made fashion .. Kurama must already be up. With easy calmness, he glanced quickly to the bathroom ... but the door was open and the room was bare.
"Hn ... stupid kitsune doesn't even wait for me!" he smirked, tossing a white lock of hair from his sight. He looked about the room a bit ... the sheets that normally were tossed in a neat pile on the bed were strung about he room, like Kurama had bolted up out of bed ad made a dash for ... the wall??
Hiei opened his mind ... he could definitely sense Kurama's you-ki ... it was coming from the floor just under the wall ... odd.
He lifted his little body easily from the shadow underneath the window and crossed the room with subtle ease, placing himself over the floor section radiating ki like a hot iron. What? Was he hiding under the floor boards? "Hn..." he bent down and laid a hand on the floor boards ...
... instant pain ran through his mind ... he felt the light-weight feeling as Kurama had been thrown easily across the room ... felt the painless jolt run through his own body as Kurama's body pounded into the wall before crumbling to the floor at this very location, dumping a sort of SOS into the wood of the floor .... and a glimpse of purple hair hovering over him...
Hiei was to his feet and out the window in the blink of an eye ...
***
Black ...
Kurama's head felt like a wrecking ball had just mistook his scull as a decrepit building, smashing it to oblivion before it realized it's folly and quit, leaving him on the brink of brain damage. He felt terrible ... nauseated ... cold. He had a severe concussion ... nothing he couldn't live through.
Carefully he blinked his eyes, raising a heavy hand to his forehead. His vision cleared slightly, now instead of the blackness, images in black and white came to him in blurred, out of focused shapes. From what he gathered, he was sitting on a bed ... in the middle of a large room, littered with multicolored things he couldn't hope to make out. He felt the distinct glow of rei-ki beside him ...
There was a body lying next to him, long and slender ... he shuddered at the though that it could have been his attacker ... but .. he recognized that ki.
"Koenma-san?"
The body stirred slightly and moaned.
Carefully, Kurama turned, wincing as every bone in his back and chest screamed in protest, forcing him to lay back down .. but with an undying determination, he pushed his body on. He fought the overwhelming agony his body had felt when it slammed into that wall, scooting his battered body over to the figure lying beside him. He stretched a hand out blindly, laying it gently on the body ... it was Koenma ... in his ningen form.
With the lightest touch he could muster, he ran a hand over Koenma's body ... and came across a damp part of his shirt. He managed to lean over the body and get in close enough to see ... it was blood.
Kurama quickly laid a healing hand tightly over the wound, feeling Koenma jerk suddenly under him ... where in the hell where they ... and more importantly, WHO had brought them here???
... to be continued
(c) July 1997 Jiminy Cricket Presses