Kamusta! :)


Here's part 14 of my sis' fanfic!
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Fourteen.

        Black fire swallowed Hiei.  It rose up from within and consumed him,
down to the core.
        It alarmed Kurama.  The youko’s uncompromising dread overwhelmed
even the fear he felt for his sanjiyan captor.  He could see Hiei slowly
losing himself – for Kurama’s sake, for his own, for the sake of survival –
to powers he could barely control.  Kurama had seen it all happen before.
        No, no Hiei, he tried calling out.  Not yet.  Not while I can – 
        -- what?  What could he do while inside a cage?
        There was one thing, and it occurred to him at just the right
moment.  While inside the cage, he could pretend that the cage was not at
all there.  He could pretend that the rose had not disintegrated when he
threw it at the empty spot just above Hiei’s left shoulder, that it truly
did leave his hand, that it truly did find its mark.  He could think he was
being forced to make everything up himself, as Yakoru had made him fear so
much within his mazes.  He could convince himself that he could, in fact,
fight the nightmare for the final time, and win.
        And then it occurred to him to reach out…
        His hand did not disappear or burn as it passed the "barrier".
There was a tingling sensation which grew worse, but there was little more.
Kurama stepped through the "barrier" unscathed.
        Upon seeing his "cage" rent to pieces, Yakoru let out an infuriated
wail.
Hiei, too, turned to Kurama, but with eyes that could not see beyond the
black fire.          That was, until Kurama called his name.  Then all
delusions seemed to fall away.  Recognition spread gradually across Hiei’s face.
        Hiei stared at the charring fingers of his right hand as if through
a dream.
Kurama spoke slowly; "I will not let you take me again!"
And he charged.
        Yakoru fell back from this new, heated onslaught.  From afar, Hiei
thought, Kurama looked glorious, unconquerable, a cloak and dagger both set
to kill.
        Two large swords of young leaf appeared in his fists.  These slashed
swiftly, mercilessly, at the places once resistant to the youki blade.  Hiei
understood: while he struck with the Ensatsu Ken, Yakoru was deluding him,
making him think he never missed, when not one of his strokes ever truly
even grazed the solid youkai armor.  On the other hand, the shocked Yakoru’s
phantasm for the vengeful youko was weak; each of Kurama’s strokes hit flesh.
        And when Yakoru tried to ward his assailant off with force bolts and
lightning from the jagan itself, the thing of grace merely leapt into the
air and there eluded every blow, with a weightlessness that made the tedious
task seem like dancing.  Despite himself, Hiei stared.  Few others, indeed,
could match the prowess of his friend.
        But his steps were not incalculable.  A second’s breath passed, and
suddenly the youko was struck down, scraped badly across the right shoulder,
near the heart.  The bolt of heat combined with a previous wounding made the
pain almost intolerable.  Kurama doubled up, stunned for a second.
        A second was all Hiei needed to release one raging Black Dragon.

        The Dragon swayed violently on its way to the flustered sanjiyan.
Hiei was not at all surprised to see that it missed Yakoru entirely, that it
had to turn for a second attempt – and miss again.  It had become wild while
he locked it within himself for as long as he could.  Besides this, the
delusions still affected him.  With his third eye wide open, he was
especially susceptible…
        Kurama, though – Kurama had the will to resist the illusions.  Hiei
needed his help, and tried to call for it, not knowing that he never needed
to ask.
        With Kurama’s psychokinetic guidance, the Dragon turned for one
final outrage.  And then not even Yakoru’s deadly jagan beams were able to
stop it.  It swallowed the sanjiyan whole, and with its fierce fire jaws
banished him from Kurama’s past forever.
But, even with Kurama’s help, Hiei had difficulty in retrieving the Black
Dragon and storing it away.  It took most of both their strengths – but they
had managed to be free of the maze. 

	Soon the shroud dispersed, and the darkness became warm, restful.  Hiei’s
gaze laboriously focused on the familiar figure coming close.  As his sight
blurred, Kurama was reduced to a dull brilliance, a beacon of black and
white and light blue approaching, a godling in a dream.
        The radiance fell to his knees, too, before him.
	"Kurama," he almost whispered.  "I am tired."
	"I know," he said in the voice of his youko self, which grew younger and
more human even as Hiei listened.  "Rest now.  I am here.  We are safe."
	Only then did Hiei find it within himself to surrender to the weariness.
He lost consciousness even before Kurama could hold on to his shoulders.  He
did not feel himself gently being aided down, did not notice his head slowly
being laid upon someone’s lap.
	Suddenly Kurama felt weak.  All his breath went out in a shuddering sigh
that echoed in the emptiness.  Without knowing it, his arms wound carefully,
but protectively around how much of Hiei they could accept.  Kurama’s joined
fingers rested lightly on Hiei’s chest.  And when the youko-human’s head
pitched forward abruptly, tips of crimson spilled onto the sides of Hiei’s face.
	For a long time, neither of the sleepers moved.

	"I am tired." Those were Hiei’s last words.  They would have been Kurama’s,
too, if only someone else were there to hear him.
	But the large, dark room was empty.  The sleepers were alone.
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BFN!
:***LYN***:
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|Ma. Aileen Arcega|Surfing from Bulacan, Philippines!|lyn@tridel.com.ph |
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|      	    Akin si Kurama/Minamino Shuichi of Yu Yu Hakusho!           |
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