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Dreams and Nightmares Part 4
by Korogi
Yo-mawari hobbled to his feet, ripping the barbed rose
from where it punctured his shoulder, sending a small spray of blood to
the office floor before he brought a hand up to stop it. He growled
to himself slightly, watching his brother seat himself firmly atop Mukuro's
desk with an air of uncivil superiority.
The green eyes narrowed and contorted into an evil smile...
Kurama was the devil himself, fingering the small, blue sphere that
hung loosely about his neck. "You're pathetic!" Kurama laughed,
producing another perfect rose from seemingly thin air. "Why won't
you fight me?"
"You know DAMN WELL why I won't fight you," Yo-mawari
spat, calling the new wound into silence.
Kurama tossed his head back and laughed, sending his beautiful,
alto voice rumbling throughout the office. Mukuro was no where to
be found... most like disappeared away to go plan her next moves, fiddling
with her mind-altering devices while Kurama did her dirty work.
"You're such a pathetic excuse for a brother, you know
that Yo-ma-san?"
The black eyes winced slightly, a lonely tear threatening
to make the plunge from his eye. "You're NOT my brother," he snarled
back. "Mukuro's just using you to get to Meijin. Once she has
him, she'll kill you as easy as that."
Kurama snorted and pushed himself off the desk.
"I don't think so... you see, she loves me. That's a concept you
could never understand."
"And betrayal is a concept YOU will never understand ...
Kurama." The black eyes focused solely on him, diverting Kurama's full
attention momentarily as a vanguard of the tiny shuriken shot through the
empty, tense space that filled the air between the twins.
Kurama leapt deftly into the air, not so much as displacing
a molecule of air, tossing off another rose. Through the guidance
of
Yo-mawari's mind, the shuriken split into an angry mod, like bees swarming
around a predator.
"Yurushite kudasai, kyodai-san," Yo-mawari whispered silently
to himself, watching Kurama swat the shuriken with an extension of the
Rose Whip. "Forgive me."
Hiei pounded a fist back to the ground, leaving a
small crater bruising the forest floor. The Kokuryuha burned under
the bandages on his right arm, threatening to release itself through his
anger if he didn't do something soon. Through the canopy above, Hiei
could just make out the smoldering remains of Mukuro's main office complex,
sending billowing towers of black smoke into the air, lost quickly in the
Makai wind.
He forced himself to his feet, trying to contain his anger
to the point where he could talk without screaming, wiping a hand across
his red and stinging cheeks. "Mukuro... " he hissed violently, shuddering
the air around him with his deep, demonic voice. "You've done this
... and now, my revenge will be the sweetest I've tasted in 2 centuries."
He amazed himself at the calmness that struck through
his voice, the razor-sharp katana glinting wildly in his hand as if it
was alive. "FUKUSHUU SHIMASHITA!!!!!"
Mukuro looked suddenly up from the tinkering she did, snatching
a long, menacing knife. Her blood chilled and the hair on the nape
of her neck stood on end. Her ears strained and her senses flared...
but she heard or felt nothing.
A bit cautiously, she lowered the deadly knife and laughed.
"You're spooking yourself, Mukuro," she consoled herself. "Take it
easy. Hiei wouldn't DARE burn the same building his lover and his
brother were in." She laughed quietly, listening to her own voice
roll through the back room, echoing about her.
The shuriken extracted itself in a gush of blood from Kurama's
chest bone, the small silver chain cracking, sending the blue sphere spiraling
to the floor to shatter in a spray of black smoke.
Kurama wheezed and sunk slowly to his knees, a hand cradling
his wounded chest. He stared blindly at the floor, clutching the
blood-soaked portion of his shirt tightly, gasping for what little breath
his chest allowed... "Oh gods, what have I done..."
A tight pair of arms wound around his shoulder and Yo-mawari's
black eyes slid into view, searching quickly through Kurama's green expanse.
Kurama met his eyes quickly, a thin string of crystal-clear tears beginning
to roll down the side of his face. "What have I DONE!!!" he screamed
to the black eyes, folding down on his chest as it protested violently.
Yo-mawari took his brother tightly into his arms, cradling
him like a baby, rocking him back and forth as the slim body began to release
muffled sobs into his shoulder. Kurama's body convulsed heavily
as he tried to wrap his arm around his brother, crying out as his chest
bone furiously beat him down in every attempt.
He tried to control his sobbing, his heart clearly pounding
out a pained and furious rhythm, beating at him from within his chest,
demanding some sort of consolidation before it pounded itself into oblivion.
"Hiei..." Kurama choked. "Hiei wa doko desu
ka?" The sentence came out in a hushed sob, Kurama's fingers gripping Yo-mawari's
shoulder, tearing at the scared tissue that was fighting to heal itself.
Yo-mawari took a deep, labored breath, fighting back his own
pain and emotions, holding his brother tighter. "He's ..."
The horizon outside the window of the office exploded
into a mass of flying trees and fire, raging out of control directly towards
the office builing at incredible speeds. With in the fire seethed
the Kokuryuha, devoring everything in its wake, smashing through
the tiny houses of Mukuro's employes ...
Yo-mawari gathered his brother painfully into his arms
and hoisted him to his feet, receiving a painful cry of refusal from both
his body and Kurama. He quickly pushed his pain to the back of his
mind, lifting his brother into his arms and darting down the hallway.
The building began to rumble and shake as he stumbled
quickly down the hall, mentally sending the shuriken before him to shatter
a window. Everything flowed and shifted around him like a gigantic
earth quake was pounding its way to the surface.
The building foundations began to crumble as the window
shattered into billions of razor shards before him, a sickening heat penetrating
every fiber of the structure...
And Yo-mawari leapt out the window... a good 25 stories
up, the canopy of the Makai forest just below him.
His figure bleached quickly to the much more agile youko
form, calling out to the trees, twisting them into a gigantic network of
limbs and leaves to help break the fall...
Mukuro was tossed back to the wall, scattering her contraptions
about the room as the heat hit her, furiously trying to melt her
alive. "Damn you Hiei!!!" she screamed, clutching for the dagger
before her...
... but the floor gave under her...
... the entire building gave under her, collapsing, imploding
in on itself like a deflating balloon, the Kokuryuha furiously biting and
gnashing at the falling debris.
Hiei forced the Black Dragon into submission, calling
it back remorsefully. The fire form howled and tossed about as it
was reeled in, scorching back to position on Hiei's right arm, winding
a menacing, black shape around his thin arm from his fist to his
shoulder.
Soot streaked his face as Hiei quickly fought for his
vision, his body threatening to shut down for hibernation after the Kokuryuha
drained him. The only thing that occupied his mind now was revenge...
and Mukuro would be the recipient of the fire youkai's anger.
"God damn it!" Mukuro spat violently, pulling a twisted
spear of metal from her arm, wincing as it ripped through her muscles,
igniting pain in a large gash of blood. "That little fire whelp is
gonna pay! He's gonna rebuild EVERYTHING by hand ... or I'll
make plenty sure..."
"You'll make sure ... what?"
The dark voice rolled silently in, calm and calculating,
freezing Mukuro solid like a dear caught in the headlights of a speeding
car. She eyed the rubble heap she had extracted herself from for
some sort of weapon ...
"Do you realize this is low, even for you?" it boomed
quietly.
Mukuro turned slightly. Hiei towered above her,
brandishing the Kokuryuha tattoo like the most deadliest of weapons that
it was. He seethed heavily, a heat arising from his body to singe
the woman where she sat.
"Well... uh, there you are!" she tried her best to smile
as she hoisted herself to her feet.
Hiei's hand flew and caught Mukuro across the chin, whipping
her head around... she lost her footing and tumbled back to the rubble
pile, landing on a stack of broken mortar blocks.
Hiei wasted no time and leapt forward, grabbing the stained
purple collar of her shirt and hauling her to her feet. "You will
FINALLY get what's coming to you!" he screamed in her face, grasping more
and more of the shirt collar, threatening to choke her where she stood.
"HIEI!!" she panicked, squeaking under his grip.
"Remember! You'd be DEAD if it weren't for me!!!"
"And how many people would be ALIVE if it wasn't for you???
You STOLE Kurama from me ... do you understand! The only person in
my life besides my sister that I would sacrifice my soul to save!
AND YOU STOLE HIM FROM ME!! He was mine .. MY Kurama!! MINE!!!"
Hiei shook Mukuro's neck violently, watching her head bobbel around like
a rag doll.
"You little fire bastard... I'll kill you with my
bare hands.."
"SHUT UP!! No longer will I follow you around, waiting
for your orders, running at your beckon-call!" he shook her again and pushed
her back, sending her careening down the rubble pile. "This is it,
Mukuro. Face me or die. Either way, it means your life!"
Hiei stood framed in a black cloud from the burning rubble,
the Kokuryuha violently glowing purple about his arm, releasing steams
of billowing violet energy. Hiei drew the katana ... the Kokuryuha
leapt to encircle the blade...
Yo-mawari nearly fell again as he stumbled through
the woods following the shuriken as they frantically tried to coax him
on. A large house shone in the distance, like a miniature castle,
glinting in the dim, Makai sun.
"We're almost there," Yo-mawari breathed into Kurama's
ear. The red head bobbed in his arms but did nothing more.
He was physically exhausted... they both were, as the healers house inched
slowly towards them.
"Where are we going?" Kurama groaned, on the brink
of slipping into unconsciousness, rolling his head up onto his brother's
shoulder.
"Anata no mei-chan .... Kuraihana... no uchi"
Kurama tried to raise his head as he was carried along
the dirt path. "Mei-chan?"
"Hai... that's what you called her before. Your
niece?"
"Kuronue's daughter... little Chibi-hana?"
"Hai."
Kuraihana hummed quietly to herself as she crushed a brew
of herbs, her thick, black wings cradling around her as she leaned over
the steaming pot. She tossed one of the five, long black braids back
over her shoulder as she added the herbs, smelling the sweet aroma as if
it was...
*POUND POUND POUND*
"Nani... who in the world could that be?"
Slowly, she rose to her feet, gently placing down her
herbs, swirling her clothing in large, black circles as she began across
the room, taking an instant sleeping potion into hand incase it was another
marauding Makai youkai.
She gently opened the door... to stare back at a perfect
figure all in black. Her breath caught in her throat as sudden flashes
of her father, Kuronue, came quickly back to existence... then her thin,
black eyes fell to the unconscious form the figure carried.
"OJI-SAN!!!" she screamed, rushing forward. "Yo-mawari-san,
what happened...."
Kurama barely fluttered an eyelid at her presence, his
lips trying to form the words to speak, but no sound escaped.
"Get him inside!" she ordered to the black figure, instantly
assuming her usual role of caretaker.
She flowed quickly through the house to a long futon-couch,
tossing pillows and such to the floor, motioning Kurama to be laid there.
She watched with slow fear, trying to hid her emotions as Kurama's red
head lightly sunk into a pillow, nodding off to one side.
"What in the name of wonder happened to him?" Kuraihana
tried to say without yelling, looking the stranger over. "And you
too! You both look like ... like CRAP! And why are YOU with
Oji-san? You seem to pop up alot when Kurama's around."
"Because..." he breathed, raising a hand to his shoulder,
wincing and falling back on his rear.. "Kurama's my brother."
Kuraihana paled quickly, whisping around to stare into
the large, black eyes. "Your... brother?"
Mukuro hit hard on the rubble, her head rebounding
as it struck a crossbeam, sending another spear of pain shooting through
her skull. She already held several gashes on her face and shoulders,
the purple clothing showing signs of fire damage and battle wounds.
Hiei hopped quickly down the rubble pile, a twinge of
a deadly smile crossing the side of his face. "I swear to Enma-Daioh...
if you survive, Mukuro, no one will recognize that twisted, sadistic face
of yours!"
Mukuro chuckled lightly, more to herself and rose to her feet,
wobbling about. Her vision was greatly blurred, her you-ki virtually
non-existent. "You won't kill me," she sneered.
"What makes you so sure? You've destroyed my dreams,
turned my waking moments into living nightmares..."
"And killing me's gonna take ALL of that away, right?"
Hiei smiled... really smiled, demonic evil rising quickly
into his face, almost turning it green as the Jagan glowed brilliant red.
"Killing you will end ALL my nightmares..."
Mukuro faltered back, trying to find ample footing, succeeding
in only faltering around. "You're nightmares will NEVER end!
You're cursed for all eternity. Everything you touch will fall to
pieces... wither and die!"
"SHUT UP!!" he screamed, brandishing the katana.
"I'm gonna cut that lying tongue of yours out!!!"
Mukuro snorted and stepped back a bit, trying to pool
what little you-ki she still had for an attack.
"This is the end, Mukuro. You've humiliated me...
betrayed me... broken my dreams... you think this is all so funny?"
"You won't kill me," she laughed.
"Wanna bet?" Hiei reeled back, the Kokuryuha exploding
from his arm and the katana. "Jaou Ensatsu... KOKURYUHA!!!!"
There was virtually no time to do anything as the Black
Dragon burst suddenly into existence, eating through absolutely everything
but Hiei's compact body. Trees, rubble and Mukuro's body became but
mere snacks for the ravenous appetit the fire dragon had, ripping through
everything, incinerating even the air around it as it began quickly on
its road to mass destruction.
Hiei grinned a fanged grin, listening to the sound of
wood splinter and mortar pop... this was much more satisfying than getting
his hands dirty...
He felt the aura of Mukuro's hatred being burnt from existence...
he straightened and demanded the Kokuryuha to return, holding his arm out,
beckoning it back to him.
The fierce, fire-eyes turned on him and snarled as it's
body was drawn back to the tattoo on his arm, encircling his limb, burning
back to silent watch, it's head perched on Hiei's fist.
The sudden loss of power nearly overtook Hiei, his small
body falling gently to his knees as he fought to catch his breath.
His head began to pound and old battle wounds vaguely throbbed back into
existence.
He quickly removed his bandanna and wrapped his wrist, covering
the head of the dragon... snarling as his eyes kept threatening to close
in on him.
Something sifted in the rubble pile... Mukuro was still
alive!!
Mixed emotions came quickly to his mind. He had
no strength to continue on... what little he had was diverted to keeping
his eyes open...
... but somehow, Hiei struggled to his feet and shuffled
through the rubble.
Mukuro's charred body lay barely moving under all
the destruction. She turned a single, bloodshot, violet eye to him.
"see... I told you you wouldn't kill me..."
Hiei snarled, ignoring the fatigue and thrust the katana
down, forcing it down into Mukuro's mouth. "I said I'd cut out that
lying tongue of yours..."
Her good eye became as large as a grapefruit and she struggled
to remove the katana from her mouth, flailing like a fish out of water.
"... but it's more satisfying to know you'll live a beaten
woman." he gently removed the katana, instead, smacking it over the side
of her face, leaving a long, gaping slash bleeding instantly. "Remember
this the next time you try to pull a stunt like that!" and with a flash
of black, Hiei was off.
A warm compress fell over his logged eyes as Kurama slowly
opened them back to the world above. A kind face smiled down on him,
dabbing at his wounds, black braids occasionally falling to patter onto
his chest. "Welcome back to the world of the living, Oji-san."
Kurama blinked a few times before he recognized the smiling
face. "Chibi-hana," he whispered, a smile crossing his perfect face.
"How... why am I here?"
Yo-mawari's black eyes popped into existence, smiling
uncontrollably, bending down to kiss his brother on the forehead.
"Do you realize how heavy you are??" he laughed.
Kuraihana flipped a black braid over her shoulder intentionally
swatting Yo-mawari with it. She forced back a smile as he yelped,
grumbling something under his breath. "Oji-san ... you have a visitor."
Kurama's green eyes widened with a shining green... he
struggled to sit up, but his breast bone beat down his attempts with a
jolt of sickening pain, sending him crashing back to the futon.
Yo-mawari reached out and took the young girls arm, receiving
a glare in return. "Come... let's leave them in peace."
"But it's MY house!" Kuraihana protested, being
nearly dragged out of the room.
Kurama caught his breath, his heart beginning to pound.
He turned his head, glancing about the room... but it was empty.
He was alone. He brought a hand to his face, whipping the damp cloth from
his face, tossing it across the room. "Hiei... are you here?"
Silence.
Kurama's heart began to fall, began to break. He
felt the familiar sting of tears begin to well up in his eyes, clouding
his vision over...
"Hai... I'm here."
Kurama gasped violently, bringing pain back into his chest.
He fought and struggled to sit up... instead, a commanding hand came down
gently on his chest, calling him into silence.
"Hiei!" Kurama sobbed, reaching a hand out.
The youkai allowed his face to be touched, caressed softly...
"Hiei... gomen nasai! It wasn't me... "
"Just rest," Hiei ordered, a quiet, unemotional facade
taking most of his face.
"It wasn't ME! ... wasn't me... it was... "
Hiei bent down and laid his head on Kurama's chest, reaching
a finger up to gently shoo away an escaping tear. "I know... and
Mukuro's already paid for her actions."
"Hiei... koi-bito... ai... ai shi..." Kurama sobbed.
"Shh... I know." Hiei crawled up on the futon-couch,
laying quietly beside Kurama. He leaned over the tall ningen, his
arms shaking under exhaustion and pressed his lips firmly to Kurama's,
slipping his tongue into his mouth.
Kurama returned, trying to raise his arms, to hold the
fire demon .. to hold HIS fire demon...
Hiei withdrew quickly, staring down into Kurama's living
green eyes... and then collapsed from exhaustion, falling lightly to rest
on Kurama's chest, his little eyes falling shut and sleep quickly overtaking
them.
Kurama tried to hold back his sobs, his bottom lip quivering
under the strain as he wrapped his arms as tightly as he could about Hiei,
refusing to let any part of the youkai escape him ever again. He
gathered him up onto his body, feeling the small weight lay comfortably
on his own body, all pain suddenly forgotten and ignored. He held
the most important thing in his life just inches from his heart... he pulled
Hiei up farther...
