-------- Standard disclaimers as seen in part one of this fic, apply here also. As do the warnings. ------- Maybe you can survive without a tissue ... maybe not.YOMATSU HIRA-SAKAI, THE BOUNDS OF NIGHT:
PART 9
"What in the HELL happened to you guys!!" Keiko shrieked at the four char-stained men piled in a heap on Kurama. They sat in the middle of Karyn's bed on top of the piles of magazines the girls were looking through, nearly pushing Keiko of the bed and onto the floor below. Four? FOUR??? "Where's the little guy?" Karyn asked, bending over the pile of youth magazines. Keiko reached over and bonked Yusuke on the head. "You guys were out terrorizing Makai again, weren't you?" Yusuke didn't move. Upon closer inspection, she saw Kurama was out cold, being held up by the group. "What happened?" she whispered silently, leaning over to place a hand on Yusuke's shoulder. Yusuke meant her with a sob, turning from Kurama to wrap his arms around her neck, burying his face in her breasts. She turned red and tensed to hit him ... until she felt his body convulse and shake as he cried. Yukina picked her way over and bent down to Kuwabara, dusting off his shirt and hair. "Hiei-san wa doko desu ka?" she whispered. Koenma blinked from existence, taken back to Reikai as Kuwabara laid Kurama on the bed before them all, turning a tear-streaked face to Yukina. "He's ... dead ... Hiei's dead." ------Epilogue
----- Not more than two human days had passed since everyone escaped Yomatsu Hara-Sakai and made it back to Japan ... two days since the tragic death of Hiei. The group was not in the least the same ... especially Kurama who had secluded himself in the Shinjuku park once he got back. Worried family and friends tried to locate him, but he would easily slip from view to hide in another area of the park out of sight, and hopefully out of mind. He hadn't slept .. hadn't eaten... and not one member of the group had been to school or work... Everyone turned their worries to Kurama who had been contemplating suicide ever since he woke up in Manhattan. He was growing weaker and paler every time Yusuke could get close enough to check on him, before the man would disappear again. Back in Reikai, Koenma leaned elbows heavily on the desk. The paperwork was tremendous ... and keeping in touch with Botan checking the recent spirit crossings was taking up the largest chunk of his time ... the balance spent mourning and healing his own physical and psychological wounds. Across the spacious office, interupting him from his mood, the door creaked open and George poked his head in. "Go away," Koenma growled, refusing to raise the little head from his desk. "Um .. boss ... " "I said ... go away!" "There's something you need to see out here!" "George, before I rip those horns off the side of your head ... " "You're not gonna believe it!" Koenma looked up straightly from the desk. "Nani?" George smiled. "Come see." Koenma made it to the door in a heart-beat, flinging his small body out of the office and into the room beyond. An aura of heat hit him first, nearly knocking him over onto his rear. He brought his arms up before him and stumbled forward, feeling his way through the office beyond. He looked around his arms as his body quickly became used to the heat ... and about swallowed his own tongue, choking himself in the process. Standing slightly taller that the office desks stood a figure all in perfect black, a white bandanna wrapped tightly around the small forehead. Koenma stuttered, reaching a hand out through the heat. He brought it forward and touched a small hand, drawing back as it singed his own chubby fingers. The figure smiled ... a more deadly smile than an inviting smile, reveling ivory fangs. "Miss me?" "HIEI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Koenma screamed (you know I couldn't kill him off!! *sniff, wipes tear*) Hiei crossed his arms over his chest, watching as Koenma made an absolute fool out of himself. "BUT!!! You're DEAD!!!!" he screamed. Hiei threw him a glance. "Dead?" "Yeah! Back in Yomatsu ... you died!" "No I didn't." "YES YOU DID!!" "NO I DIDN'T!!!" he yelled down to the shrimp who was bounding all over the office "I had to follow Yo-mawari into Yoru no Kuni to defeat him," Hiei tried to explain. "And I've got some interresting news ... " Koenma ran forward, throwing his arms around Hiei's waist. Hiei contorted his face down to the little, chubby thing and reached down, trying to pry the chibi from his waist. Koenma raised his head suddenly. "News?" "The man . .. Yo-mawari ... is Kurama's ... " "Kurama!! You've got to go to Kurama!" "Eh ... Why?" he asked, startled at the intteruption. "ACK!!" Koenma yelled, crashing to the floor. "Idiot! He thinks you're dead!! And if you don't hurry ... soon HE'LL be dead too!" Kurama sat completely alone in the middle of a line of bushes in the park at Shinjuku. He had found an out of the way place and sat concealed there, watching the couples pass by him. Married people with children strolled happily along, holding hands .. hugging ... kissing ... just before his view. They looked so happy, so car free .. like he used to be. Newly weds hung on each other ... His eyes glinted gold as he glared off at a lovey couple. Without warning, a tree branch over the couple suddenly snapped, crashing down onto them, killing them instantly. The entire park flew immediately into panic, Kurama smiled evilly, watching parkers struggling to hoist the large limb off the couple. "Wasn't that a bit drastic?" a deep voice floated in. Kurama cringed .. it sounded too much like Hiei's voice. If this was someone's idea of a sick joke... He tuned searing gold eyes to another couple ... "And you complain about my violence ... at least I don't kill people when I'm pissed. I take it out on roadways and water fountains." Kurama ground his teeth together. "Bastard ningen," he whispered, drawing a bush limb into a dagger. He took it in his hand, leapt to his feet, snarling much in the likeness of Hiei ... ... and was tackled flat back into the depth of the bush, landing in a curling pile of dust. His back landed roughly on a tree root and he cringed, closing his eyes. He slit a hand under his back and cringed. Pain shot through his back, easily dying as he grasped the living dagger ... drawing it back ... opening his eyes ... "AHH!!!" he screamed over ambulance sirens. He gasped and stared at the clear, red eyes and fangs smiling playfully down to him. He choked and wheezed, mouth flopping open like a fish out of water, reaching his hands out before him. "You really though I was dead?" the figure added with a crooked smile. "H ... Hi ... Hi ... Hiei ... ?" he asked feebly, reaching out to take the small face in his hands. He startled when his hands grapped the warm and very much ALIVE flesh of he boy's face. The eyes glinted in response, reaching down as Hiei bent down over Kurama's chest and laid his teeth carefully into Kurama's neck. "You little bastard!!!" he cried, wrapping his arms around Hiei and squeezing with all the strength he could. Kurama burst at the seems, digging his nails into the hot flesh of Hiei's shoulders. "Ugh .. Ku...ra...ma..." "Bastard!!" he sobbed, squeezing tighter. "Do you have any idea what you put me through?" He thrust the boy up and out of his grip, glaring at Hiei smiling back at him. "Do you have ANY idea ... " "Don't ya just hate me?" he smiled, winking a red eye at him. "YES!!" Hiei's smile faded instantly, his heart sinking, not realizing what Kurama really meant ... Kurama reached back up and took the boy into this arms, tears streaming down his face. "Don't you ever ... EVER ... E V E R!!! do that to me again!! You hear me??!!!" Hiei's vision clouded, feeling his eyes become wet. "I'm sorry... " he said, his deep voice cracking. "Sorry? SORRY!?!" Kurama sobbed, rocking the boy in his arms. "Sorry's never going to make up for the hell you put me through, Hiei!" Hiei let himself be cradled like an infant, trying to fight back his emotions. So much had happened in the past few days ... he discovered so much of himself and learned the true meaning of love. Kurama began to forgive the blunders, thankful to everything alive that he had Hiei back in his arms where he belonged. He vowed to never let him go again ... to never let him go on another foolish ego-trip to save his hind-end. A tear escaped Hiei's eye, turning instantly hard and black, met quickly with the back of his hand. "How can I make it up to you?" he asked silently. "I'll do anything." Kurama suddenly stopped crying, the playfulness springing to life in the handsome face. All anger and hurt suddenly left his body and was forgotten, his wet face lit up with a wide smile. He stroked the small back lovingly, running through demands in his mind. "Anything?" he asked coyly, smiling widely. "Anything." Hiei wrapped his arms around Kurama's neck and squeezed, burying his face down into the red hair and holding his breath to keep from crying. "Well ... " Kurama began, with an even wider smile, that foxy playfullness invading his mind, running it wild with desires ... But THAT'S another story!!! TAH DAH!!! The end! *rubs wrists* Ouch! That took some serious computer time, not to mention info-scouting! *salutes the computer hard drive* Thanks to my editors for putting up with me and my evil sense of writing various hanging points. Comments? Questions? Random maimings? I can take 'em all!! Like I said, It's my first YYH, and I threw everything I had into it! (c) 1997 by Jiminy Cricket Presses. If you copy or reproduce this in anyway without my express, written consent, prepare to feel the wrath of Genshi no Korogi! I didn't spend all this time staring at the computer for nuthin', ya know!!!