The Sixth Unmarked Videotape

The Sixth Unmarked Videotape by; boysluvcraft
Part4…

Hiei cursed as he waded through hip high muck of the swamp he now found himself in, after narrowly escaping the blue squid-thing in the caves. The thing didn’t follow him outside. Why? He couldn’t say. Maybe it didn’t like the mud. He couldn’t imagine the thing would move well in this mud. He could barely move in it. It smelled bad too, like rotten vegetation. Not that the headless creature would care about that, but Hiei did. There didn’t seem to be any solid land in the swamp. Large twisted trees with big mottled fronds grew right out of the mud. The tress were nearly worthless to him. Normally he could climbing them and leap from one to another, thus making his journey fast quicker and cleaner. But alas they were too few and far between for that. The best he could do with them is to climb up onto their gnarled roots for a short rest. There was sunlight here, but not much. The sky looked just as muddy as the ground.

He didn’t recognize anything; he didn’t like that, having no clue where he was or which way to go. He had tried to focus his third on a familiar energy source, to use it as a beacon, but to no avail, anything familiar was far out of range. Hiei was liking the situation less and less. He cursed again as he came to anther stand of roots and pulled himself out of the muck. The mud made a thick slurping sound as he drew himself out of it. He swore the shit was getting thicker.

* * *

The marble swirled green, grey, and brown. The color firmed into a picture. It took her a moment to pick the Koorime out of the picture. His previously black clothes were now caked in mud making him blend in with the surrounding swamp. “He’s made it out of the caves,” she observed, “He is a determined one.”

“Some good it will do him,” A second female put in, “No matter how determined he may be, he shall never find his way out of your false worlds. No one ever has.”

“You flatter me and my talents, sister,” the first smiled, however coldly. “But come now, I should be commending you, it was your talents that captured this fine creature in the first place.”

“He is a good catch isn’t he,” the second preened, “yes, this one alone could feed us for centuries with his power.”

“That is if doesn’t lose his spirit, and decide to just lie down and die,” the second reminded her. “It would not be the first time that has happened.”

Any farther conversation on the subject was interrupted when the door swung open, a third woman rushed into the room, “Sisters, is he still alive? Do tell me he still lives!”

“The new one, aye, he lives.” Answered the second. “It is a good thing he does, because we have been waiting for you to use your talents on him, to siphon away his energy, so we may all feed.”

“Ah-ha. Your wait was not in vain, because while you waited I discovered. You see, this one my have more to offer than meets the eye,” the third quipped.

“Meaning?” the first sighed.

“I shall tell you-- and show you!” The third woman stepped aside so that two squat demons with little horns could pass. Each of them was bearing a load which they set up on an unoccupied table.

“What pry tell is that?” The second woman pointed.

“It is a human devise called a television, and the smaller one is a VCR,” Said the third.

“I know what it is!” Snapped the second, “I wanted to know why you’ve dragged it in here!”

“To play these,” the third held up a small stack of video tapes. The first was labeled ‘Makai Unification Tournament’. She put the tape in. the screen flickered to life, it showed their current captive. He was knocking down demon after demon as he fought in the opening elimination rounds The announcers voice identified him as Hiei, a previous winner of the Dark Tournament, and recently Lord Makuro‘s second in command .

“So?” The second sneered, “Are you implying we should fear this whelp? Because if you are, I may have to imply that you have lost your senses. Why, with our powers we could have contained Lord Raizen himself. Gods know we would have, if the chance had ever presented itself.”

“It is funny you mention late Lord Raizen” the third said as she fast-forwarded, then stopped it at the appropriate spot. Now a handsome young man with dark hair and piecing brown eyes was on the screen. “This is his descendant and heir, Yusuke Urameshi. And while I have this thing running…” She fast-forwarded again until the tape came to the part where an elegant red haired young man was gracefully fighting with a whip. “This whelp is really the famous Youko Kurama.”

“Have you point?” the first woman spoke.

“I have,” said the third as she replaced the ‘Makai Unification Tournament’ video with another, this one was not marked. “I found this in the little one’s coat.”

The image flickered to life, it showed their captive. Hiei was astride Yusuke’s chest, thrusting his manhood into the latter’s mouth. And the red haired one was there as well. Kurama was occupying his mouth on Hiei’s shoulders, while he fucked the Toushin’s ass. The two women watching jumped from the shock of raw masculine sexuality that was being displayed on the television screen.

“Revolting!” the first scowled.

“Be that as it may,” the second said, “but it is… useful.”

“Ah, you get it?” the third preened.

“I do, if you mean that we can use the one we have as bait to lure in the other two.” The second nodded, “I am proud of you, it is a good idea. But I don’t suppose you’ve thought of how exactly we will lure them?”

“Well no,” admitted the third, “But trapping is your specialty, sister.”

“It is. And I have already come up with a way to lay the bait,” said the second.

The third excitedly inquired, “How?”

The second answered, “Well, it seems to me these boys like movies….”

As the second and the third sister plotted the first turned here attention back to the fire demon held captive in her synthesized world. He was moving again, trudging through the sludge. It was time to shake things up. She dripped her nail into her well, drawing forth a single drop of blue ink and let it fall to mix into the brown, grey, and green.

* * *

Hiei was trudging through the mud, and yes it was getting thicker. On the bright side it was also becoming shallower. Hopefully this meant that he was coming to solid ground. He could see another crop of trees coming up over the horizon. Good. The mud was sticking to his legs, it weighed him down, causing each movement to burn much more energy than he was willing to spare. He paused after his last step. The ground beneath the mud in that spot felt harder than the surrounding land. A rock? Maybe he was coming to a table of stone.

All at once the rock surged upward, throwing Hiei from its back. Hiei landed ungracefully in the mud. He wiped the gunk from his eyes and looked in the direction from which he was thrown. Standing there in the mud was a titanic sized crustacean. It was all blue and all legs that arched up several feet from the mud to connect to its flat body. Hiei cursed himself. How did he not sense that thing while it was right under him? Now that he thought of it he hadn’t sensed the squid-thing in the cave either. The thing turned about to face him. Its little stalk eyes glowed like hot embers. Then what had appeared to be its underside unhinged to reveal itself as a great man-trap of mouth. It was lined with hooked teeth. A giant claw snatched at him. Hiei narrowly evaded it, but then he slipped and the other claw caught him, damn mud. The claw moved to toss him whole into its toothy man-trap jaws. Hiei wasn‘t about to be defeated, just yet. He righted himself mid-air, drew back his fist as he closed in on the gape, and called “Fist of the Moral Flame!”

He delivered a rapid succession of blows directly to the back of the thing’s throat. It spit him out, mewing its agony. Hiei once again tried to regain his footing on the uncertain terrain. The creature was retching. The last thought that ran through Hiei’s head was Shit! The thing’s mouth unhinged again as it spewed forth an abundance of sticky blue fluid. The vile substance hit Hiei full force, knocking him down.

“Damn it, I’m getting real tired of wallowing in this god forsaken mud,” Hiei complained. The mud should have been the least of his concerns. The fluid the creature had coated him with was solidifying. It was clinging to him like tar, gluing his limbs together. He couldn’t move!

Fast as lighting a slippery rope-like appendage shot from the back of the great crab’s throat. It was covered in hooked thorns. The thing wrapped around him. The hooks tore Hiei’s clothes and caught in his skin as the creature dragged his prone body into its mouth. The man-trap mouth closed, Hiei was engulfed in darkness and the retched stink of the things breath. More foul fluids were pouring into the cavern; they burned his skin like acid. It was acid-- stomach acid. He was being digested! The knot that had been forming in Hiei’s stomach since he first woke up in the cave, welled up in his throat. Hiei screamed. As he did so his energy spiked. All at once the foul stenches and fluids dispersed and the dim light of the swamp came back to him as his energy blew the crab-creature to bits.

There Hiei sat in the mud and the guts. His energy sank back to normal levels, but still he continued to scream and scream until his throat went horse and he could scream no more. Then he just pounded his fist into the mud, mouth opening and closing in sob that he could no longer voice. Just as his fit seemed to be waning and Hiei thought he could start to calm down, a massive sink hole opened up just beneath him. The mud and sludge drained away down the sinkhole, pulling him along with it. Hiei tried to fight the current but there nothing for him to grab a hold of, no way to propel himself forward. He opened his mouth to curse only to have it filled with foul mud. He was pulled under.

* * *

Kurama was cheerfully walking from the station in the direction of Yusuke’s house. He had an overnight sack with him that contained enough clothes to last him the weekend, as well as a few choice items from his secret toy chest. They planned on spending the whole weekend together. Kurama was even going to third-wheel on Yusuke’s weekly date with Keiko-- or was Keiko the third-wheel? They still weren’t sure what they were going to do about her.

Kurama came to Yusuke’s door and knocked.

“Come in it’s open!” He heard Yusuke call from inside.

Kurama let himself in, only to freeze in the doorway and exclaim, “What are you doing?”

Yusuke was standing in his living room next to the window clutching the hose end of some type of vacuuming machine. He was wearing an apron, rubber gloves, and other such cleaning regalia. He looked up from where he was working on the drapes to Kurama.

Kurama blinked a few times, “Yusuke are you CLEANING?”

Yusuke switched off the whirling machine, “Dang it Kurama, you don’t have to sound so surprised. I’m not a complete pig ya know.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” Kurama apologized, “I just never pictured you being so… involved with it.”

Yusuke looked around at his sparking clean, lemon fresh apartment as if he were noticing it for the first time. “Yeah, well I rented this steam vacuuming machine to get this nasty stain off the couch. Well, it worked too well. I had one really clean spot on a dingy couch, so I decided to clean the rest of it to match. After that the rest of my furniture looked crappy in comparison, so I cleaned them too. Then I thought the tables and the shelves could use a good dusting, and the carpets looked a little shabby, and… yeah I guess I got a little carried away.”

“It looks nice,” Kurama stated dumb founded as he removed his shoes.

“Ya might want to take the socks off too,” Yusuke warned him, “The rug’s still a little damp.”

“Is the bed still dry?” Kurama asked.

“Yeah.”

“We can fix that.”

Yusuke giggled, yes giggled as Kurama gathered him up in his arms. Yusuke tipped his face up so Kurama could kiss him. Kurama thrilled at the sensation of Yusuke’s gloved hands caressing his chest. “You know, Yusuke,” Kurama told him, “I could really get used to seeing you like this.”

“Oh, yeah?” Yusuke purred, “I was just getting ready to get down on my hands and knees, and scrub the kitchen floor, wanna watch?”

Kurama answered by way of a hungry growl. He released Yusuke who skipped into the kitchen. He mixed some warm water with Murphy’s oil soap in a bucket. He kneeled down on the floor, dipping his rag into the suds. Then he moved down on his hands and knees, starting to stub the floor. Yusuke was fully aware of Kurama were he stalked him from the doorway. He lifted his hips just a little to improve the fox’s view.

Kurama moaned just a bit, watching Yusuke’s ass move back and forth as he scrubbed. Kurama reached down and lowered his fly, loosing his hardening length. Yusuke saw this out of the corner of his eye. “Keep scrubbing,” Kurama instructed as he fondled himself.

“Getting off on watching me clean… really getting to the bottom of the kink barrel, aren’t cha Kurama?” Yusuke laughed under his heavy breath. Truth be told the situation was getting him aroused as well. “Then again who am I talk? I’d come watching you eat a piece of toast.”

Kurama’s only retort was a chuckle. He sunk to his knees behind Yusuke. He tugged the boy’s sweat pants down to his knees. Kurama admired the tawny twin globes before him. He lightly rushed the very tips of his fingers against them, exciting a shiver from the boy in front of him. Kurama bent over Yusuke’s back to nibble gently at his neck, he breathed into his ear, “Yusuke….”

“OH MY FRIGGEN GOD!” The sudden bellowed voice started the two demons.

“Kuwabara!” Yusuke yowled angrily at the intruder, as he pulled up his pants. “What the hell are you doing barging into my place?”

“Don’t get mad at me Urameshi. Your front door was wide open!” Kuwabara crossed his arms.

“My door was-- Kurama!” Yusuke shot an indignant look at the fox, who was trying to tuck his erection back into his pants.

“I’m sorry Yusuke,” Kurama pleaded, “I was in such a shock when I came in and found you cleaning I guess I forgot to shut the door.”

“You were CLEANING Urameshi?!” Kuwabara gawked, “Well I guess it does kinda smell nice in here and stuff.”

“What the hell are you doing here Kuwabara,” Yusuke snapped.

The ginger haired man looked hurt for a second. Then quietly inquired, “I was just in the neighborhood, n’ thought I’d drop by…. You’re not still mad at be about the stuff we talked about on the train, are ya?”

Yusuke softened at that. “No, we’re cool. I’m just a little testy because I was bout to have kinky sex with my boyfriend and I was interrupted.”

Kuwabara‘s back went ramrod straight and he gibbered “Oh, uhh, sorry… uh I guess you two want to be alone and stuff….” He started backing way toward the door.

“Kuwabara stop!” Kurama ordered sharply. Kuwabara was about to question him when he sensed it too. There was a demonic aura just outside the door, it wasn’t a very powerful one, but it was there. Kurama rushed over and tore open the door in time to see a small imp-like creature scurry off into the shadows. Kurama looked down at where it had left a plain wooden box on Yusuke’s doorstep.

“Should we go after it?” Kuwabara peered over the red heads shoulder.

“No, it was just a delivery boy. It is of no use to us.” Kurama shook his head, picking up the box and bringing it inside.

“Hey, be careful with that, it might be a bomb or something,” Kuwabara cautioned.

“No, if someone wanted to plant a bomb they would have sent someone who could do it undetected,” Kurama told them. “That one was broadcasting his presence; they wanted us to find this.”

“Okay I get it, I’m always wrong,” Kuwabara drawled. “So what is a telegram?”

“You may not be far off the mark,” Kurama said as opened the box and lifted out the item it contained. Kurama recognized it as a Spirit of Words Sphere, which was a common medium for conveying messages in demon world.

He tossed it against the wall, breaking its glass shell. A silvery liquid ran up the walls like mercury, tracing lines and creating shadows until a clear picture formed. It was Hiei. He looked tattered and he was covered in mud, in fact he half buried in the stuff.

“Um, guys what is this?” Kuwabara asked, but his question would go unanswered, because in the next second a giant crab burst from the mud and attacked Hiei. Yusuke and Kurama tensed as if they were ready to jump into the picture to fight at the smaller demon’s side. However there was also a trace of lament there, because both Yusuke and Kurama knew this scene was prerecorded. What ever happened, it would be too late to do anything about it.

They watched Hiei flounder in the mud. They saw him thrown into the beast’s gullet, only to see said beast explode in a wave of black fire, Hiei standing in the center. But he was not the haughty, self assured Hiei they knew. He screamed. He raved. Just when the spectacle couldn’t get any worse, the ground opened up and swallowed him. It was then that only actual words were spoken in the Spirit of Words. It came as melodious girl’s voice, it could have almost been characterized as sweet if not for the hateful things it spoke,

“Yusuke Urameshi, Youko Kurama, as you have seen, your dear Hiei has gotten himself in somewhat of a situation, from which he has no means of escape. If you ever wish to see him again you must follow these following directions: One, go to the pseudo-sphere. Bring as many allies as you wish but both of you, Kurama and Urameshi, are required. Two, once there you should be able to sense you beloved’s energy; follow it. It should bring you where you need to be. Oh and one more thing, don’t dally. Who knows how must longer he can hold out.”

“All right Kurama,” Yusuke’s paled face turned to the red head, “Tell me you’ve got something clever worked out.”

“It’s a trap,” Kurama stated blandly. He sat himself down on the couch; one arm crossed over his chest the other hand resting on his chin. His expression was blank, emotionless. To someone who didn’t know Kurama would have thought the fox didn’t care. But the two men in that room knew Kurama very well, and they knew that the calmer his surface, the more the emotions raged inside.

“Kurama…” Yusuke’s voice wobbled a bit. His eyes were fixed on the wall were the scene with Hiei and the crab was repaying itself. Yusuke swayed a bit, before he flopped down on the couch. He tore is eyes away form the image. If he kept watching it he knew he was going to be sick.

“It will stop soon,” Kurama told him, “They’re trying to egg us on, so that we rush into this without thinking.”

“What the hell is there to think about?” Yusuke snapped. “All we know is that Hiei’s in trouble and that it’s a trap.”

“Yes, they didn’t give us very much to work with, did they?” Kurama mused.

“Or any choice… Damn it!” Yusuke cursed, “We’re just going to have to walk right into their stupid trap!” Kurama didn’t have anything to say to that because he knew it was true. It was playing into the enemy’s hand, but it was their only option.

Then Kuwabara, whom had almost been forgotten, spoke up, “Well, whatever you’re doing I’m going with you. And I don‘t want to hear any arguments. I‘ve already told Urameshi that we’re friends and this is the sort of things that friends do for each other.”

Kurama stared at Kuwabara for moment before he replied with a simple, but heart felt, “Thank you.” Then he turned to Yusuke, placing a comforting hand on his cheek. “We’ll go first thing in the morning.”

Kuwabara left after that, but he’d be back come morning to join the rescue party. As previously planned Kurama stayed the night with Yusuke. However they did not spend it as planned. Their cloths stayed on and Kurama’s toys stayed in his bag. Through the night the two demons just held each other tightly as though they expected something to tear them apart from another.

TBC…
A/N: Teaser time: Cue Smile Bomb…. It’s a rescue mission to find Hiei. What diabolical plan do these three sinister sisters have for our heroes? Next time!