Kaku Ren Bo

"You want to draw her out?" Hiei asks.

"I want to take all the attention on me, so you guys can attack her from far." Kurama corrects. "I want you to use the Dragon on her while I keep her distracted. If I feed you my energy as well, we should be able to kill her and only destroy one house."

There's a very long pause. Hiei begins cursing colorfully. Kurama just waits for him to wind down. Kuwabara looks at him. "Kurama, that would kill you."

"Most likely not." Kurama corrects. "You know the connection Hiei and I share. The Dragon recognizes that connection. It doesn't hurt me."

"We've never tested that theory." Hiei reminds him.

"We don't have a choice."

"This. Sucks." Yusuke bites out.

Hiei gave Yusuke a look. "Wanna trade places with me? I'm the one who has to fire my most powerful weapon at my brother."

Yusuke shook his head. "No way. I wouldn't be able to do it."

"I'm not sure I can." Hiei admitted. Kurama gave him a hard look.

"You have to. It's our only chance of getting out of here alive."

Hiei gritted his teeth and nodded once. "I don't like it fox. If we get out of this, don't make me do it again."

Kurama gave him a slight smile. "Trust me, I'm not fond of the idea either."

Yusuke glanced at Kuwabara, who was frowning. "What?"

"What if the girl survives?" Kuwabara asked quietly. "I mean, she survived the dragon the first go-round and Kurama's plant."

Kurama makes a face.  "He has a point."

"See?  There's a flaw in your plan after all."

"You just don't want to do it."

"No.  No I do not."

Kuwabara pinches the bridge of his nose.  "Will you guys please tell me what happens if she survives?"

Hiei and Kurama exchanged a long look. Kurama finally spoke. "I don't know."

Kuwabara eyed them suspiciously. "Are you guys sure we should do this? I know, me being the voice of reason is weird, but I feel like I have to ask. We have to be able to come up with something better?"

Hiei gave him a wry look. "Yes, go ahead and try to convince the second most stubborn person on our team what a bad idea this is. Good luck with that."

"The sarcasm wasn't necessary, shrimp!"

"I won't have a problem killing you!" 

Kurama smacked them both on the back of the head. "Focus!"

Hiei snorts.  "Yes, dear."

"Hiei, do not make me hurt you.  You know I can."

For a moment, Yusuke just looked at the two of them.  "I think I'm mildly terrified." he said dryly.  "Kurama, come on.  Let's just think about this a bit more."

Kurama flinched.  "We don't have very long.  She keeps this up, I won't be able to help Hiei control the dragon."

Yusuke gave him a small smile. "If worse comes to worse, I'll just channel my energy to you, and from you to Hiei. Lord only knows I have enough to spare."

Hiei looked around. "We don't have much time. She's close."

Kurama looked over at Hiei. "How close?"

"Any closer, and she's on top of us." Hiei said. "If we're going to move, it's gotta be now."

Kurama smiles at Hiei.  Wish me luck, Hiei.

How about, wish you don't get your damned self killed?

That's luck.  Kurama rose from his crouch and ran, darting out in front of the girl.  "Ready or not." he said softly.  "Here I come."

Yusuke and Kuwabara exchanged looks.  "That sounds a thousand times creepier when Kurama says it." Kuwabara said.

"Fox, I hate this. I hope you know that." Hiei muttered, waiting for Kurama to get into position.

"I know. You can punch me for it later."


"I will, too." Hiei tensed up, waiting for the quiet whistle that would signify that Kurama was in position.

Yusuke tapped his shoulder. "There's the whistle. Let's get this over with."

Hiei, Yusuke, and Kuwabara quietly got into position behind the girl, the bindings on Hiei's arm already loose. Kurama nodded slightly, and Hiei drew back and let the dragon loose. 

The Dragon tore up the road and slammed into the girl, propelling her into one of the houses nearby. The dragon went back for a second pass, making sure to avoid hitting Kurama.

Kurama stood there in the middle of the inferno.  The dragon made sure to take a wide enough path to avoid hitting him, but the girl was not so lucky.  She got creamed twice.

He reached out to Hiei, letting all barriers drop.  Hiei understood, and allowed his energy to funnel into Kurama.  Yusuke and Kuwabara watched as Kurama  unleashed a flaming plant, the same blood-sucker he used on Karasu.

"I hope that's effective." Yusuke said.

"If it's not, I'm leaving.  She can have the city." Kuwabara muttered.

Hiei gave Yusuke and Kurama a droll look. "And that's twice in one mission I agree with the oaf. This has to stop. It's making me uncomfortable." with that, he walked over and wrapped an arm around Kurama's waist. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Did you direct it to miss me?" Kurama asked, looking over at the house. 

"Yeah - I wasn't sure it would work, either." Hiei said as Yusuke walked over and started poking through the remains of the house. "Find anything?"

"No, not yet - no body or anything."

"If the plant did its job, there won't be a body." Kurama said darkly.  "Nothing should remain but ashes."

"Then I think it worked." Yusuke said.  "What next?"

Kurama leaned into Hiei.  Both demons seemed pretty tired.  "To Genkai's." Hiei said.  "It's safe there."

Kuwabara nodded.  "What about your family?"

"They'll stay there until we can find a body." Kurama said quietly.

Hiei swayed slightly. "Can we go before I fall over?"

Kuwabara steadied him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm just tired. I need sleep - a lot of it. So does Kurama." He looked over at Yusuke. "Detective, can you carry Kurama? I'd do it myself, but at this point, I'd drop him."

Kurama gave him a faintly irritated look. "I'm fine." 

Hiei snorted. "Right. Between the two of us, we barely have enough energy to fill a teaspoon. Let the Detective help you."

"Only if you let Kuwabara help you." Kurama shot back.

Hiei stiffened briefly before sighing.  "Oh hell."  He let Kuwabara swing him up over his shoulder.  "Don't drop me, please."

Yusuke shook his head.  "No way I can carry Kurama like that."

"You are not carrying - " Kurama suddenly collapsed.  Hiei sniggered.

"Now you can."

"Did you do that?" Yusuke lifted the unconscious fox and carried him as best as he could.  Hiei shook his head.

"No need.  We're both worn out."

Shiori rushed out to meet them as soon as they were in eyesight. Kuwabara had shifted Hiei to his back so the apparition could actually breathe without a shoulder digging into his stomach. Her eyes flicked back and forth between all of them. "Are you okay?"

Yusuke nodded, stifling a yawn. "Yeah, we're just really tired. Hiei and Kurama went and wore themselves out again. Nothing to worry about."

Shiori nodded. She gave Kuwabara a faint smile. "I can take Hiei from here. I'm mostly certain he won't kill me."

Kuwabara chuckled. "Nah. I don't think he'd appreciate it too much. Besides, it's not like he's heavy or anything."

"As long as you're sure." Shiori turned to lead them back up to Genkai's temple. "Oh. One more thing. Genkai told Kato about you guys. He's not taking it well."

Kuwabara blinked at her.  "Why would Genkai do something like that?"

"Because she needed to, and I refused to." Shiori said dryly.  "He was sort of giving her a headache."

Yusuke grins.  "Then let's just keep him away from Kurama until we have the chance to update him on new circumstances."

Shiori shrugged. "Honestly, I love my new husband, but if he were to try and mess with Kurama now, I would let him."

Yusuke's eybrows shot up. "You would?"

"Yes. Kurama wouldn't kill him, just scare him." Shiori sighed heavily. "It doesn't help that Kato and Kurama have a bit of a rocky relationship anyway. Kato doesn't really like Kurama."

Kuwabara shrugged. Then it's his loss." he said simply, following Shiori up the steps.

Yusuke frowns and adjusts his grip on Kurama. "So, why would you marry someone who doesn't like your son?" he asks. Shiori chuckles and shakes her head.

"They got along well until Kato found out that Suiichi takes up much of my attention." she says. "Once he realized that he will always take second place to my son, he got rather - upset. This was after our wedding."

"Ah. That explains everything."

Shiori led the way into the temple, giving Genkai a smile as she sat back down. Yusuke and Kuwabara set Hiei and Kurama down on the mats provided before sitting down against the wall. Yusuke gave Genkai a grin.

"Hey, Grandma."

"Hello, brat." Genkai shot back. "What did these two do now?" she asked, motioning to the sleeping demons.

Kuwabara snorted. "Let me put it this way - when Kurama suggests a plan that has both Hiei and I agreeing, it's not a good one. We went with it anyway, but we didn't like it."

Genkai nodded. "And the plan was?"

Yusuke shook his head. "Kurama wanted to distract the demon girl thing, and have Hiei blast both her and him with the Darkness dragon."

Genkai blinked. "There would have been no guarantee that Kurama would have survived."

Kuwabara nodded. "That's what we said. A lot."

"And Hiei agreed to do this anyway?"

"Well, Kurama wouldn't give him much of a choice." Yusuke admitted. "Besides, we couldn't think of anything else on the fly."

"Well, crap. They'll be out of it for a while."

Kuwabara blinked. "Define how long."

"Well, nothing short of a demon attack is gonna wake them, maybe not even that." Genkai points out. "On the plus side, not even your big mouth is gonna wake em."

Yusuke's eyebrows shot up. "My big mouth? Grandma, you've got a bigger one than I do - it has to make up for the fact you're so tiny!"

"Kid, don't make me mop my temple with you. I've been meaning to do some deep cleaning, and your face'll fit into a few tight corners." Genkai shot back.

Kuwabara and Shiori watched the shouting match get louder as Yusuke and Genkai bickered back and forth. Hiei sat up and leveled a stare at Yusuke.

"Detective. Shut up. Or I'll gut you."

Yusuke grinned. "And you said my big mouth wouldn't -"

Hiei promptly punched him in the face. Then he laid back down, scooted over so his back was pressed against Kurama's, and went back to sleep.

Shiori's shoulder shook with silent laughter. Even Kuwabara had to shove his fist in his mouth to keep from making a noise.

Genkai laughed outright as Yusuke blinked a couple of times. "I may have lied. Your big mouth exceeded even my expectations."

Yusuke swiped his hand under his nose and sighed when it came away bloody. "I should have been able to dodge that."

Genkai gave him an evil grin. "If you think your reflexes are getting slow, I can always take you out back and train you. As a matter of fact, that's an excellent idea."

Shiori smiles. "By all means, go train him. I'll be sure to film it so Kurama won't miss a single thing."

"That sounds like an excellent idea." Genkai says with a devilsh grin. "I knew I liked you for a reason."

Shiori takes a small bow. "I have learned from the best - namely Hiei. Kurama claimes he's much too kind-hearted for such thoughts."

Yusuke grins. "Kurama lies."

"Of course he does."

Genkai stood and grabbed Yusuke by the arm. "C'mon, kiddo. I wasn't kidding when I said training would do you good."

"Hey! Grandma, I don't need it! I'm doing just fine on my own!" Yususke's voice faded as Genkai dragged him away.

Kuwabara grinned and stretched out by the door. "Man, never tell Urameshi I said this, but I'm really glad that I got eliminated when she first tried finding a student. I'm not sure I could keep up with her."

Shiori laughed. "I won't tell him, but I think he already knows."

"Yeah, probably. Yusuke likes to pretend he's dumb, but he's smarter than he lets on."

There was a quiet snort from Hiei. "Sometimes."

Shiori looked over. "Are you awake, Hiei?"

"Yes." He sat up and rubbed an eye. "I can't sleep - I keep having nightmares." he admitted quietly. His gaze flicked to Kurama, and he allowed a wry grin to cross his face. "But on the bright side, Kurama's too wiped to dream at all. I've checked."

Shiori narrows her eyes at him. "Or are you just taking his nightmares from him?"

Hiei just blinks. Kuwabara grins. "She's got you pegged, Hiei."

"It frightens me that you even know to ask that." Hiei mutters. "Okay, fine, I admit to nothing."

"Which, in turn, is admitting to everything." Shiori points out. "I'm glad you love him enough to take care of him."

Kuwabara grins. Hiei pinches his nose. "Oh dear lord, you just gave the fool ammunition."