Dry Country

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I had a lot of ducks to keep in line on this one. You know, I’ve had to go back twice during this story and rewrite entire sections because I forgot I put Shigure in this story and didn‘t account for him. Sigh.

Dry Country By: boysluvcraft
Part four…

Yusuke looked down from where he crouched atop the causeway between the communication building and the labs. Below he could see the cross-dressing thug, Miyuki. The giant Gokumonki was about a hundred yards away, but out of sight, being blocked by the north side of the communications building. Inmaki was on the Westside of said building, closer to the barracks. The three stooges had been sent out, no doubt to look for the four escaped men, Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara. Their flight must have caused quite a stir. Yusuke noticed that Miyuki had not even bothered to re-dawn his fake breasts. Yusuke braced himself for his next move. He took a deep breath and pushed himself off the building. He landed feet first in the soft sand with a pronounced thud. Miyuki’s gaze shot in his direction.

“You!” Miyuki growled as he saw Yusuke dart into the shadows. Miyuki smirked as he gave chase. Yusuke was fast, Miyuki had to give him points on that, but he couldn’t run forever. In fact Miyuki would have bet Yusuke was not going to be running much farther at all. The man was fleeing northward and around the communication building. Going in that direction, he would run right into Gokumonki.

Little did Miyuki know that Yusuke was well aware of this fact-- in fact, he was counting on it. Yusuke rounded the corner, he immediately saw Gokumonki in the distance. The giant had his back to Yusuke and was dully looking out into the desert while scratching his back side.

“Goku, behind you!” Miyuki called from the rear.

Gokumonki listed around slowly, not quite registering the urgency in Miyuki’s call. Yusuke was charging right for him and he did not seem to be slowing or even trying to avoid the big man. Gokumonki opened his arms and lurched forward to snap up the green clad man, but then--

“Look out below!” Kuwabara howled as he soared off the roof of the building. He landed elbow first in the middle of Gokumonki’s back.

Yusuke paused to give his comrade a hand up. “Come on let’s get!” They ran for the corner of the building.

Gokumonki was getting back on his feet about at the same time as Miyuki was nearing him.

“Idiot, you’ll let them get away!” Miyuki hissed. Together they gave chase. They rounded the corner of the building which their quarry had vanished behind, only to come face to face with their fellow conspirator, Inmaki.

Inmaki squeaked, “What?!”

Gokumonki emitted a, “Huh?”

“Where?” Miyuki spat.

Then there was a clank at their feet. As one they looked down to see the can with a hose nozzle resting on the ground where it had fallen. They looked up just in time to see Yusuke discharge his leaser-pistol. There was loud bang and a sticky spatter.

“What!?” Miyuki ejaculated again, but this time the question was totally different. He tried to move, but found he couldn’t. Soon the trio of thugs came to realize they were pasted solidly to the wall.

“Cute trick huh,” Yusuke drawled, hopping down to ground, “seemed kinda appropriate to catch you snakes in your own web.”

“Snakes don’t have webs, Yusuke, spiders have webs,” Hiei corrected him as he dismounted the building. Then as he turned to help Kurama down, “your metaphors are all mixed up.”

“Oh, way to ruin my moment, Hiei,” Yusuke pouted.

“God, we’ve been out witted by imbeciles,” Inmaki groaned.

“Anyway, this should keep you guys out of trouble while we trounce your bosses,” said Yusuke. He snapped his fingers, “Kurama.”

Kurama stepped forward with a little brown bottle in hand. It was an anesthetic that he’d found in a first aid box down in the secret bunker. He waved it under Inmaki’s nose and the man passed out. He moved to Gokumonki to give him the same treatment.

“Fools” Miyuki growled, “You don‘t know who you‘re messing with.”

“You are no position to be making threats,” Kurama told him flatly.

“Not me,” said Miyuki.

“You mean your boss, Toguro,” Yusuke put in, “Or his boss Mr. Sakyo?”

Miyuki looked astonished, “How did you know we where employed by Mr. Sakyo?”

“You just told me,” Yusuke smirked, “Put him out Kurama.”

Kurama did so. After that he allowed Yusuke and Hiei to boost him up back onto the roof. They planned to reenter the complex via the roof access hatch in barracks. The complex was mostly a self contained structure, so there were not many entrances into it. Most of the external doors in the building were for emergencies, thus would have set off an alarm if forced open. Their group needed to enter undetected, so the access hatch was their best bet.

After they got to the hatch, Hiei and Kuwabara worked together to remove the glue they’d put on it and force it open. Kurama turned to Yusuke, “What was that you were talking about back there, about a Sakyo person?”

“Something Koenma said,” Yusuke shrugged, “Thought I’d do a bit of confirming, ya know, before I go back to earth and shove my foot up the guy’s ass.”

“We still got these goons to worry about,” Hiei reminded Yusuke as their group carefully descended the steps, “One ass at a time Yusuke.”

“Oh, you’re one to talk, you chibi Casanova you,” Yusuke grinned.

“Hey,” Kuwabara called to them from where he had been scouting down the hall, “Will you guys quit talking all weird and come on we got friends whose lives are literally hanging in the wind.”

“He’s right,” Kurama nodded. They took off running down the hall to the east-west corridor. After a time Kurama hummed, “That name, Sakyo, does sound familiar.”

“I think Koenma said he own a company called, uh” Yusuke frowned trying to remember, “portholes?”

“You mean Portals!” Kurama seemed to remember something, “I believe that the name of the company Karasu used to work for before be defected to Reikei.”

“Suppose he didn’t defect after all,” Yusuke drawled.

“So this Sakyo guy is the one who hired these thugs to attack us,” Kuwabara put in, “What, we gonna call the cops on him or something?”

“I doubt typical law enforcement will be able to touch him,” Hiei gloomed, “I bet he even has a few bought judges in his pocket.”

“Damn, shorty you always got to be so negative?” Kuwabara snarled at him.

“Knock it off you two,” Yusuke reproached both of them, “remember we’ve got a bunch of bad guys on this planet to knock down. When all this is over we’ll file a report or something, and let Reikei deal with the legal crap on the home front. Right now I want you guys to just concentrate on winning back this base. Understood?” Yusuke’s authoritative tone had an instant cooling effect on his two men.

“How we gonna play this Urameshi?” Kuwabara asked in all seriousness, “We got four bad guys in three places.”

“Make that four bad guys in four places,” Hiei amended. Just then Bui came into view. The four skidded to a stop. The tall blue haired man had just passed the four way junction at the heart of the complex on his way to the barracks. He had a squirming terrified Toya slung over one shoulder.

When he saw them, Bui paused and smiled, “Before you all rush me you should know the score. We have your friends in three different--”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yusuke interrupted him, “We know were everyone’s at and who’s got them.”

“Ah, that’s good,” said Bui, “I’ve never cared for making big villain speeches anyway. Well, lets get a move on.” He reached down to a tiny devise hanging on his belt and poked a button. It made a little beep sound, but nothing else.

“What the heck was that?” Kuwabara demanded.

“Oh, just a transmitter to let my colleagues know that you’ve arrived,” Bui told them, “They will start torturing their respective hostages in one minute and thirty seconds, unless someone shows up to stop them.”

“At least now we know how we’re going to play this,” Hiei growled, “I’ll take this big oaf, you three can figure out the rest among yourselves.”

There was no time for arguments, the clock was ticking down. Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara shot past Bui, who made no move to stop them. One last glace at each other and they separated at the junction; Kurama east to the labs, Kuwabara south to the drill sight and of course Yusuke north to the commutations building, to his lover and Toguro. After their foot falls retreated into silence, Bui tossed Toya to one side like a sack of wet laundry. Bui’s gaze never came off of Hiei. He smirked, “You were cuter anyway.”

Hiei just grunted and prepared himself to fight. “Hn.”

As Kurama flew down the east corridor, part of him felt bad for having left his lover behind to face that brute, Bui, all by himself. But another part of him, a bigger part, trusted Hiei to be strong enough to take care of himself. Besides, he had friends who were completely unable to defend themselves at the moment. Shishi and Suzuki were tied up, possibly drugged, and completely at the mercy of that degenerate Karasu.

Kurama could feel the laser-gun Yusuke had given him, where it was tucked away in the breast of his pink coveralls. Kurama doubted it would of much use to him considering that he was going to face Karasu down in the lab. There were chemicals, gas lines, and all sorts of dangerous or combustible agents in there. A misplaced shot could blow the whole place up. However, Kurama wasn‘t completely without options, he still had his cable cum whip.

To think he had once called wielding a whip a worthless skill. That was years ago, when his country cousin Kuronue had taught him how to crack a whip. He would never have guessed the knowledge would have saved both him and his lover that night. Even now, the rhythmic slapping of the thing on his hip served as a comfort. Kurama made a mental note to himself to visit Kuronue when he got back to earth and give him a big kiss.

Kurama could see the entrance to the lab. He weighed his options on how he should approach this confrontation. Karasu was expecting him. So it would have been pointless to try to sneak into building. And any kind of deception would have taken too long. Bui said that the hostages would start to suffer in one and a half minutes and Kurama highly doubted Karasu would give them reprieve. Kurama decided to take the direct approach.

Inside the lab Karasu strolled back and forth in front of his captives, rolling his scalpel in his hands like a toy baton. He glanced at his watch and smiled. “You know you’re pretty easy on the eyes,” He said glancing at Shishi. Shishi stiffened as Karasu sauntered over to him. “You have lovely eyes; red. I like red. Hmm, not too fond of blue though.”

Shishi cried out around his gag as the silver flash of Karasu’s sharp blade sparked past his nose. Thankfully rather than pain, it was followed only by a sudden lightness on one of his temples and a tickle as a lock of his hair floated down to settle on his lap.

Karasu chuckled at the panic stricken look on Shishi’s face. “Oh, did you think I was going to cut you? I was just playing, you see. I would never dream of cutting such a pretty face.” Karasu petted his cheek which was now wet with fearful tears. Shishi was wearing striped flannel pajamas, the front of them was only half buttoned. Karasu slipped his hand down Shishi’s partly was exposed chest. He repeated, “I wouldn’t cut such a pretty face.” Then without warning, he flicked his wrist and a fine cut appeared on Shishi’s chest. Blood flowed from it and soaked into his pajamas.

A few feet away, Suzuki was vainly fighting against his bindings. Karasu turned to him, “Calm down I haven’t forgotten about you.” He walked toward Suzuki, his hand falling purposefully on a microscope.

What he planned to do with it would remain a mystery as at that moment Kurama appeared with a growled, “Karasu!”

Karasu turned with a cheeky grin, “Couldn’t stay away from me could you? Was I really that good, Kurama? I’m sure it must have felt good to finally lay with a full sized man.”

“Are you implying that you are full sized man?” Kurama spat, dropping his eyes suggestively below Karasu‘s waist.

“You bitch,” Karasu hissed. But then his scowl twisted into a smile, “Oh Kurama, are you not the least bit curious as to how I know about your relationship with the little grease monkey?”

“Obviously you’ve been spying on me,” Kurama reasoned, “As I’m sure that you’ve been spying on everything in this complex and reporting it back to your true employers.”

Karasu tittered, “You were correct on the latter part. But come now, do you think I had nothing better to do with my days but follow you around? How vein. No, I actually learned that little tidbit by accident, while I was performing the more involved part of my clandestine actives. I saw you and Hiei involved in some clandestine actives of your own. My my, that was a show. You were so wanton, laying on your back with your knees pulled nearly up to your ears, begging him to take you harder and harder. I nearly couldn’t stand it.”

Kurama’s face flushed while his mind raced. The only time he and Hiei did things like that was when they were in his room. He found himself stuttering, “H-how?”

“I just happened to peek in trough a little hole in the wall I accidentally made. You see, Kurama I’m very familiar with the insides of the complex. I should be. I’ve spent the past eighteen months laying bombs inside the walls.”

“You lie,” Kurama hissed, “You couldn’t possibly have gotten explosives on this planet!”

“Home made bombs, my love,” Karasu explained, “As you know, I am an expert on combustibles. You would be amazed at how many common household items can be converted into an explosive. Drain cleaner, parts from a broken electronics, toothpaste, the list goes on.”

“Why-- why would you do something like that?” Kurama demanded.

“You never know when you’ll need a little leverage,” Karasu told him as he pulled a remote control devise out of his pocket. “With a press a button I can broadcast a signal that will blow this place sky high-- oh and don’t bother to tell me I’d be killing myself too. I’m not fool enough to set all the explosives on the same trigger. I can take out the barracks or communications building without harming this one.”

“Not the drill site? Kurama asked. He watched Karasu’s expression darken, “Oh I see, you didn’t have the foresight to waterproof your bombs. The flood ruined them, did they?”

“I can still blow the com building,” Karasu said, “Your precious Director is in that building, as is the company doctor and that spineless turncoat Risho-- if you care about him. I wouldn‘t. He sold the lot of you lot out over a little death threat.”

“This is between you and me Karasu, leave them out of it,” Kurama implored him.

Karasu seemed to think for a moment, “Well, I may forget about my little toy here,” he waved the detonator, “If I were given an adequate distraction.” He followed this with a leisurely leer up and down Kurama’s form.

Kurama glared at him with an intensity that surely could have killed a lesser being. Karasu was unaffected. All the dirt looks in the world wasn’t going to keep his thumb off that button. Karasu grinned, thinking that he had made the redhead completely impotent to opposed him. This could not be any farther from the truth. While Karasu had been prattling on, Kurama was taking stock of his situation and his placement. Karasu was several feet in front of him and to his rear was a sink full of beakers, soaking soapy water. That would be Risho’s handy work. The man was prone to putting his soiled implements in the sink and forgetting about them. It was Kurama’s lucky day. Quick as a flash, he went for his whip and cracked it. The sound ripped through the room like a lighting bolt.

In the next second, Karasu was staring disbelieving at his welted and empty hand. He looked back to Kurama. The redhead stood haughtily with the detonator in his hand. Then he dropped it into the sink. There was an electrical fizz and then nothing. Just as Kurama surmised if Karasu hadn’t the foresight to waterproof his explosives, he also didn’t waterproof the detonator.

“Now let’s see how you do in a fair fight,” said Kurama.

Karasu purred, “Oh I am going to fuck you up so bad…”

While Kurama and Karasu had been exchanging words, Bui and Hiei had been exchanging blows. At first Bui had attempted to grapple Hiei down, believing that Hiei’s small body would be unable to withstand his raw strength. But the quick little man proved to be too fast and nibble for him to capture. The last time they’d met, Hiei was already wounded and in shock. He didn’t really even register that there was anyone in the room with him until he felt Bui’s hands slide down his pants. But now Hiei was fresh and alert. Bui’s strength was of little concern to him. Each time Bui struck him, he struck back with vengeance.

After a particularly hard punch that Hiei inexplicably delivered to the tall man’s face, Bui staggered back a step. He lifted his arm to dab at his chin with his sleeve. He seemed almost surprised when the fabric came away with a hint of blood on it. “So, you’re tough and cute,” he mused, “Damn, I could fall in love with a boy like you.”

“Can the banter,” Hiei huffed, “In case you haven’t noticed I’m in hurry.”

“Too bad for you,” Bui told him, “At this rate we could go round like this all night.”

Hiei growled to himself. He could keep fighting no problem, but he didn’t need to get hung up here. He wanted to knock this guy out and go on. His lover was surely standing toe to toe with that pervert Karasu by now. His best friend, Yusuke was going to face this Toguro person-- and if he was half as strong as Yusuke believed he was there would be trouble. And then there was Kuwabara… Hiei didn’t even want to think about how disastrous that showdown would be. He needed to end this now.

Hiei reached into his coveralls and pulled out the laser-gun Yusuke had issued him. Hiei disliked the idea of using the weapon. Bui was unarmed, so it seemed dishonorable to pull a weapon on him, but desperate times…. Griping the handle with both hands, Hiei lined the muzzle up and pulled the trigger. Then there was nothing, a panic rushed through Hiei’s mind. The thing wasn’t loaded? Do you load a laser-gun? Or do you charge it? Hiei hadn’t considered it until that moment. He never really cared for guns at all. He preferred more elegant weapons like swords. In his youth Hiei had studied Japanese styled fencing. It was shame the complex didn’t have a locker full of emergency katanas.

“You forget to turn the safety off?” Bui condescended as he rushed forward. He slapped the weapon out of Hiei’s hand. And then, he drove on to plow Hiei hard into the concrete wall.

There was thick copper pipe running along the wall. The small of his back made harsh contact with it, compounding the surge of pain the blow provided. For a moment the pain defused his vision into white and he lost the sensation of space, gravity, and pretty much everything, but the pain that was driving up his back. That and the pipe, his right hand still gripped it like an anchor. He was dully aware of crunching sound, like cheap plastic breaking. The moment passed swiftly and he could see. And what he saw was a fire ax swinging down on him. It came down in a crimson arch and cleaved the pipe to his left, embedding itself in the concrete.

Bui chuckled, obviously finding the startled look on Hiei’s face amusing, “I could have killed you, you know. You should consider yourself lucky.”

“Lucky that you have bad aim,” Hiei spat. Bui smiled and Hiei regretted having given him attitude, because the tall man seemed to like it.

“You don’t seem to understand,” Bui crouched down so he could be closer to Hiei’s level, keeping his hand on the ax handle. “I don’t have to kill you to win this. All I need to do is detain you. Now it’s up to you how this is going to go down. You can decide to cooperate and then me, you, and the ice princess over there can go have a party. Or I can hurt you.”

Hiei stared past Bui. He saw Toya laying unconscious not a few feet away. He also saw the laser gun on the ground. It was broken, the plastic casing cracked and the barrel crushed. If he tried to fire the thing, it will probably blow up in his face. He could smell something too.

“Come on,” Bui ran his free hand through Hiei’s spikes, “I’m not really bad of a guy. I could take care of you. There is no reason why you can’t come out of this whole thing alive.”

“What about the others,” Hiei whispered.

“I can’t promise,” Bui leaned in closer, “That redhead, I doubt he’s alive anymore. He went down to the lab with Karasu.”

Bui was only inches away from his face. Hiei closed his eyes, knowing what he was going to have to do. He felt Bui draw closer, his heat radiated on Hiei’s face. Hiei braced himself and then without warning he crashed his head foreword right into the bridge of Bui’s nose. Bui fell back on his hind end, blood gushing out his nose. In a fit of rage he grabbed for his ax and wrenched it out of the concrete. Hiei wasted no time. He shot over to Toya, collecting his broken gun on the way. He hefted Toya up on his shoulders. Bui had freed his ax and was ready to charge. Hiei retreated farther away as his hand searched the remains of the gun. He found a switch that must have been the safety. He turned it. No time for second guesses, he pulled the trigger and lobbed the gun into the space between him and Bui. It went off like a grenade. The explosion was compounded by the fact that the hall was full of gas. That pipe that Bui had cut was one of the lines that supplied propane gas to the three buildings. Because that gas is heaver than air and Hiei was much closer to the ground than Bui, he was able to detect it first.

The space between Hiei and Bui erupted in a ball of fire. The shock of the explosion threw Bui’s body up in the air like a rag doll, and it soon vanished from sight behind the fireball. The complexes detection systems had already detected the fire and the heavy fire doors were sliding shut to isolate the area. With Toya in tow, Hiei darted behind the closing door, thus saving them from the flames. The fire wouldn’t burn for long. Hiei knew that the same system that had activated the fire doors would also be shutting down those broken gas lines and activating vacuums in the air ducts which would remove the air, smothering the flames. To Hiei’s misfortune, he was on the barracks side of the complex and the system would keep the hall closed off for another half hour while it ran scans and sent error retorts. If he wanted to get to the labs he would have to get back outside and go around.

Hiei dragged Toya back into the barracks, suddenly feeling very tired in the quiet lull after the action. He felt as though he could have dropped right there on the spot and sleep for hours. Shaking off his fatigue, he started to unbind his unconscious comrade. As he did so he examined the blue haired man. He was bruised and had a few minor cuts on his hands and face. Hiei smoothed his hand over Toya’s cheek until the man’s eyes fluttered open.

Toya blinked, “Hiei?”

“Toya,” Hiei responded curtly.

Toya looked around as recent events came back to him, he gasped, “Hiei, there are intruders in the--”

“I know,” Hiei cut him off.

“They have--”

“I know.”

“But they--”

“I know everything, damn it,” Hiei held up his hand.

“You can‘t possibly know everything.” Toyo shot back.

“You’ve been having kinky three-way sex with Shishi and Suzuki,” Hiei told him.

Toya blushed, “Damn you do know everything.”

“Ya, I’ll tell you your winning lotto numbers later,” Hiei crossed his arms, “How’s your head?”

“Fine I guess,” Toya rubbed the back of his head. “Hiei, what are we gonna do?”

“I,” Hiei groaned a little as he rose up to his full height, “am going to try and join the fray. This building is safe for now, but I’d recommend you find someplace else to hide.”

“I’m coming with you,” Toya followed Hiei down the hall.

“You don’t have to--”

“No,” Toya cut Hiei off this time, “look how beat up you are. You got that way saving me didn’t you? Let me at least try to repay the favor.”

Hiei stopped and looked the blue haired man over. “Fine, but go change first. You won’t do anyone any good running around barefoot in your pajamas.

Toya looked down at himself, blushing as if he’d forgotten that he was not dressed. He darted into his room. A few minutes later he emerged clad in his usual cool blue coveralls and work boots. Hiei was waiting for him in the hall. He had a duffle bag over his shoulder that he did not have before. When Toya asked him what was in it, Hiei just grunted and made no comment. Hiei lead him through the access hatch. And down the south side of the building, toward big puddle of water that was once the drill site.

When Kuwabara had arrived on the drill site, the elder Toguro was deeply involved with tormenting Chu and Jin, who were dangling from the crane. He would drop them a few feet, haul them back up and then do it again. Jin looked like he was about to faint, Chu looked like he was about to puke. The man laughed like a mad child each time he dropped them.

Kuwabara saw this and called out, “Touch it again and your dead meat!”

The elder Toguro looked up, acknowledging Kuwabara. His face twisted in a farce of a smile. He pulled the lever again, dropping the two men, this time he didn’t stop it. Jin and Chu splashed down into the well and started to sink. Kuwabara shrieked and ran to the water.

“My, not very good at these rescues, are you,” the sick little man chortled.

“Shut up freak!” Kuwabara roared as he made a grab for the controls that would bring his friends back up again.

Toguro didn’t stop him. He pulled the lever and soon Chu and Jin’s heads broke the surface. They coughed and gasped for air, but otherwise they were okay. Kuwabara let out a sigh of relief. That had been really easy, too easy. Just then there was a mechanical whirl and something priced his side. Kuwabara cried out and staggered back, clutching at the bleeding hole in his left side. Toguro stood before him laughing like the mad man with a cordless drill in his hand.

“Ha, you walked right into that one, you fool!” Toguro reveled in his glee.

“Ya know, something tells me you ain’t certified to operate that equipment,” Kuwabara ground out.

“Don’t need to be certified to do a little DYI project,” Toguro chuckled. “I think my first project will be remodeling your face. HA!” Toguro lunged at him with the drill.

“Gwaah!” Kuwabara gibbered as he got out of the way. Toguro was right with him though, taking one step forward for each step Kuwabara took back. The hole in his side was bleeding and it pained him with each step. On the bright side, it seemed the maniac had forgotten his friends.

“Oh, crap!” Kuwabara had tripped over a pile of boards and fell flat on his back. His attacker let out a crow of victory as he went to lunge the drill at him once more. Kuwabara gritted his teeth and kicked his leg out. The drill grazed his shin, but his foot carried on to connect with Toguro’s face. The man soared backwards and crashed through the door of a shed that had not been locked up properly.

Kuwabara took a few deep breaths before he tried to stand. He hissed as he moved. The drill made some nasty wounds, they’d probably scar, but he didn’t think they’d be anything serious. It was over now-- he heard the whirling again, this time accompanied by a loud buzzing.

“Oh fuck my life!” Kuwabara yelped as Toguro’s spindly form appeared in the doorway. He had the cordless drill in one hand, and in the other a cordless power saw. Toguro released one of his trademarked laughs and charged for Kuwabara.

“Crap!” Kuwabara bellowed. Instinctually his hands fastened on whatever happened to be on hand. In this case it was a couple of lengths of steal pipe. He brought one up as the saw reached for his breast. It connected, throwing out golden sparks.

Toguro crowed, “Ah-ha!” and made to stab at him with the drill, but Kuwabara countered just in time, bring up a second section of pipe. The drill glanced off it and the tool whirled harmlessly inches from his left ear.

It was it that time when Hiei and Toya came running over the dunes. From the top of the dune they could see the entire site, silvery-blue under Planet 364’s full moon.

“Look! “ Toya pointed out to Hiei. At first he only saw the bright sparks. Then he made out what was causing them. The maniac Toguro was attacking Kuwabara with his power tools. Kuwabara had nothing to defend himself with but a couple of scrap pipes. Hiei couldn’t see any injuries from that distance, but he was sure he had some. Kuwabara seemed to be favoring one leg and his movements were jerky as if each one pained him. But forbid Kuwabara stop, Toguro would kill him with those misused mediums of construction.

Truth be told, the blood loss and the pain was getting to Kuwabara, he wasn’t sure how much longer he keep defending like that. Toguro was very aware that his prey was starting to weaken. Not that he had to wear him down; he could have killed the copper haired man four times by now. He just liked to play with his victims, draw it out; give them hope and then take it away, find what they care for and then break it, anything to see that look that he loved so much; fear, loathing and utter despair. He made a lunge with the saw to distract the man and then attacked with the drill, this time not allowing Kuwabara to block it. It wasn’t aimed for anything vital, just the upper thigh of his uninjured leg; A little token injury to taunt the tall man. Kuwabara howled as the drill bit into his flesh. Toguro laughed uncontrollably. He backed off a pace as Kuwabara fought with his pain.

“These instruments are so much fun. To think I skipped shop class all those years back in high school.” Toguro cackled over the roaring of the tools, “Perhaps when I’m finished with you I’ll build a lovely end table out of your friend’s bones. What do you think sounds better, that or watching them drown in the very hole they dug? They both sound very dramatic.” He paused as if thinking, “Well, I suppose I don’t have much time for arts and crafts while we’re on this job. I suppose I can try it out when we get back to earth. I know just where to get the materials too, Sarayashiki City, Japan, 105 Maple Lane, apartment number 32.”

Kuwabara’s eyes went wide. That was his home address on earth.

Toguro saw this reaction and continued, “I read it in your personal files. And yes, I read about your sweet little wife as well. Yukina Kuwabara, maiden name Koorime, age 24. A curious thing though, she’s not just listed as your beneficiary, but also for the mechanic, Hiei Jaganshi. Did you know about this? It’s a strange thing for a man to leave his pension to another man’s wife. Oh, do you suppose they were secretly lovers? Can’t you just imagine it your pretty little wife and your good friend, doing unspeakably wicked things--”

“Shut up you prev!” Kuwabara interjected without thinking, “He’s her bother and she’s the only family he’s got, that’s way she’s listed like that-- you stay away from her you sick fuck!”

Kuwabara charged him. Toguro grinned. This was exactly what he wanted Kuwabara to do. He’d rush right into his own doom and die lamenting over the immanent deaths of his friends and his poor innocent wife on earth. Kuwabara was almost in his reach. He readied his muscles to swing his impromptu weapons that whirled and buzzed menacingly in his hands. And then they stopped, with a weak stutter and a wheeze the tools died in hands.

“What?!” Toguro gasped, but too late to react. Kuwabara was on him. The redhead swung his pipe like a bat, hitting him a cross the temple. Toguro flew to the ground like a broken cart-wheel. Barely conscious, he rolled over to look at the tall man standing over him. He sputtered, “H-how?”

Kuwabara told him, “Maybe you shouldn’t have skipped shop class. Cordless tools run on a battery. They’re convent for when you don’t want to mess with cords, but they only last for like twenty minutes. That’s if they’re at full strength. But those little toys there belong to Shorty, and he never charges a battery until after it’s been fully drained. He says it shortens the battery’s life, ya know. Just had to wait you out. Then while your dumb ass was making threats about my family, I could hear the motors starting to struggle. They’d have so little power they couldn’t cut through warm butter.”

To that Toguro made an inaudible noise and passed out. Kuwabara heard scuffing in the sand. He feared that it was other members of Toguro’s gang. He spun in to face that direction. The move was too quick and caused a sharp pain in his wounds. He was relieved to see that the new arrivals were not enemies, only Hiei and Toya.

“You’re alive,” Hiei said it as though the fact was surprising, but not joyous.

“Of course, you punk--” Kuwabara stopped himself. There were more important things at the moment. “The guys, they’re in the water. We gotta get them out before they freeze to death.”

With that said, Toya and Hiei rushed to the water. Hiei leaned into the cabin and started pulling the levers that would lift them out of the water. Kuwabara limped up behind him and took control of the machine. He was, after all, the most experienced at using it and they were moving some delicate cargo. While he operated the levers and switches, Hiei and Toya waded out into the water to help guild their comrades in. Jin and Chu were shivering violently. Their faces were pale and their lips were blue, but they were alert and didn’t show any sighs of shock.

After they were on land and untied, Hiei handed each of them a set of clothes. Boots, and coveralls, grey ones for Chu and Jin’s were mustard colored. He had fetched them from their room while Toya had been changing. He figured the two would refuse to hide in the cozy warm barracks as well, so the least he could do was bring them proper clothing. He left Toya to help them change and carried his bag over to Kuwabara.

“We’ll need to dress these wounds,” he looked at the bleeding holes on Kuwabara. He pulled out a first aid kit, which he’d taken off wall of the mess hall.

Kuwabara pulled a lopsided grin as he watched Hiei dutifully pull out the bandages and bottle of antiseptic. He said, “Ha, I knew that cooler than thou routine was just an act. You really do care about stuff don’t you-- Ouch!” Hiei had just poured some of the antiseptic over the wound on his side and it stung.

“I am cooler than thou,” Hiei corrected him as he cleaned the excess blood away, “And don’t go thinking I’m doing this because I like you or anything absurd like that.”

“Well, it was cool that you thought to bring the med kit,” Kuwabara muttered.

“I thought it’d be a good idea,” Hiei snorted, “After all, you can’t even go to the toilet without injuring yourself.”

“One time! I slipped on a bar of soap, hit my head on the tub, and you never let me live it down,” Kuwabara howled, “Dang it Hiei! I was trying to be nice you little-- Yeowch!” Hiei poured more of the stinging liquid into the wound on his leg.

Hiei saw the kicked puppy expression on Kuwabara’s face. He really hadn’t meant anything personal about it. It was Hiei’s prerogative as his brother-in-law to taunt him, and it was habit. He had to admit, he did take it too far at times. Kuwabara was hissing through his teeth as the antiseptic burned in his wound. As a sort of apologetic gesture, Hiei leaned down and blew cool soothing air on the wound.

Kuwabara looked down at Hiei. His eyes were half lidded and focused downward on his task. Kuwabara never before noticed how full Hiei’s eyelashes were. His pale pink lips were puckered as he blew gently on the wound. He almost looked… soft and a lot like his sister, Yukina. Kuwabara never really considered a resemblance between them before. But they did have several similar traits. Their faces were about the same shape, same nose, mouth same. The eye color was the same, though the shape was different. Hiei’s were narrower and looked more exotic. His hair was also much darker than hers, leaving a greater contrast with his fair skin. The differences actually kinda made him the prettier one.

“Gah, what the hell am I thinking?” Kuwabara yelped.

“Excuse me?” Hiei looked up from where he was bandaging Kuwabara’s leg.

“Uh, um nothing just thinking out loud,” he waved a dismissing hand at Hiei. The small man shrugged and moved to take care of the scratch on Kuwabara’s shin. Kuwabara muttered to himself, “Dang, if I’m thinking that way… I’ve been on this planet way too long.”

In short order Jin and Chu were dressed, and Kuwabara was all bandaged up. The group was gathered together as they were about to decide what their next move would be. But then the night was shatter by an enormous pop sound followed by the sound of breaking glass-- a lot of breaking glass. It had come from the direction of the labs. Strategy forgotten, Hiei dashed up one of the dunes where he could get a view of the labs. What he saw was Kurama’s greenhouse, shattered.

“Kurama!” Hiei cursed and took off running for lab building.

The others were stunned by what had just happened, but then Toya turned to Jin and Chu, “You two go ahead and take Kuwabara up to the com building. Doc Shigure should be there to take a look at him. You two can handle that, right?”

“Sure thing,” Jin nodded, letting the aforementioned Kuwabara lean on his shoulder.

Chu went to join them. He asked “Your not coming with, mate?”

Toya shook his head, “No I… I need to go with him.” He left the two to their assigned task and followed after Hiei toward the lab. There Kurama was fighting for his life and the lives of Shishi and Suzuki, against the devious Karasu.

Before, Kurama had challenged Karasu to a fair fight. That challenge remained unmet. Kurama dove beneath a desk, avoiding Karasu’s latest potshot. The silent attack caused a few glass beakers and a light bulb to bust and shower fine glass down on Kurama’s back. A few yards away, Karasu stood holding out his weapon. Like Kurama’s laser-pistol, it had classic gun-like shape, but it operated on a very different principle. It was handheld Sonic Cannon, and like all sonic based devises, it worked by emitting sound waves on a high frequency. The sound could not be heard with human, but it could be devastatingly destructive. Unlike Kurama’s laser-pistol, it produced no heat that would react with the hazardous materials in the lab. Thus Karasu was not hampered from using it as Kurama was in using his laser. And use it he did.

Aiming his next shot lower, he pulled the trigger. He would know the devise was working by the gentle vibrations that it sent into his palm. Kurama knew it was working from the not so gentle vibrations it was racking into the desk around him. The metal sang a piecing song as the sonic waves rippled through it. The sound was almost enough to make Kurama’s ears bleed. That however was the least of his concerns, in a few more moments the sonic would literally rattle the desk to pieces and he would need to seek a different shelter or face that weapon. Kurama saw another table just a few feet away. He made a break for it just as the desk started to collapse. Karasu saw him moving and chased after him with the invisible wave of sound. A chair caught in the wave was sent flying. Kurama though made it to the safety of the table.

“Kurama,” Karasu tutted, “surly you know by now that you can not win. I have all the advantages here; weapons, environment, hostages. How long must we go around like this?”

Kurama didn’t give him a response, but he knew he was right. Not only was his laser useless because of the threat of igniting some hazardous materials, but the usefulness of his whip was severely lessened by the design of the lab. Lab tables, Plexiglas partitions, and hanging light fixtures all hampered his ability to weld his makeshift weapon. He couldn’t even flee the lab altogether because that would be to leave his friends alone with the man. If only he could get close enough to make a clean shot. If if, bloody if. He needed to face facts; Karasu had his number. Sooner or later he would get a hold of Kurama and then he would--

He muttered in a forlorn voice, “Okay.”

Karasu was about to continue his fire when he heard Kurama’s soft voice whisper from behind the table. “What was that?” He asked, not really understanding.

“I- I give up,” Kurama choked, “You can do whatever you what with me, just leave them alone.”

For a moment Karasu stood shocked. Truth be told, he had expected this little game of his to play out much longer. He could have forced Kurama into submission sooner, by simply threatening his friends. But he wanted it to draw out. He wanted to watch Kurama sweat each time the sonic barely missed him, and panic as he started to run out of things to use for cover, started to run out of energy. He was going to back Kurama into a corner like hunted animal. He’d see wonderful terror-- terror that he created-- painted in those lovely emerald eyes. Just the thought of it was enough to give him a hard on… Comparatively, this was almost a disappointment.

Karasu gathered himself, “Come out of there. I’ll hold my fire.”

Kurama did what he was told. He slowly emerged from beneath the bulky lab table, hands raised. He left his whip behind on the floor. It wouldn’t do him any good anyway.

“All right come over here,” Karasu kept his weapon leveled at the redhead just in case. It was only set on stunning strength anyway, so there no threat that he’d accidentally kill the man before he got what he wanted from him.

As Kurama neared the other, he reached up to start unbuttoning the top of his coveralls. Karasu gave up an approving growl as the fabric parted to flash a glimpse of Kurama’s elegantly sculpted pectorals. Kurama was aware of how silent his two captured friends had become. In all likelihood they were staring at him in astonishment. To all purposes, it seemed Kurama had completely given up and given in. Kurama was but two feet from Karasu. He pulled at his top, feeling the laser-pistol shift beneath the fabric. His fingers itched to take it in hand and use it on the dark-haired man. Just a little closer. Karasu was only inches away. Kurama reached up and slipped his fingers into Karasu’s hair. He lifted his face to the man. Karasu bent his neck as if to kiss him.

But then, a sudden blow struck across Kurama’s face. He tittered from the shock. For a moment Kurama couldn’t even conceive what had just happened. Karasu had slapped him, hard. And then as Kurama was stunned, Karasu caught him around the waist with one hand. The other hand quickly snaked his hand inside Kurama’s coveralls and located the laser-pistol. The whole thing only took a split second. The next thing Kurama knew he was being held by Karasu and his own laser was aimed at his face.

“Bold Kurama, really bold. Use your wiles to get close enough to me to use this little toy” Karasu examined the weapon. “A shame I’m not a complete idiot. I do have to commend you, though. It must have taken some serious restraint to hold off on using this. Or perhaps it was intelligence; this building is not exactly the safest place to be playing with this sort of thing. That’s one reason why I use a sonic. Things only go boom when you want them to.”

Kurama glared at him, but said nothing.

“Now cut the pouting and come along,” Karasu waved him along. Karasu directed him toward the south side of the labs, which puzzled Kurama because Karasu’s areas were along the east side. The south was where Kurama’s workshop and greenhouse located.

Of course, Kurama thought, he wants to demean me in my own territory. Of course he did. Karasu didn’t just want to have his way with him physically, he wanted to get inside Kurama’s head, torture him, and drive him to the brink of madness. Don’t let him get to you. Kurama told himself, everything will be fine so long as you don’t let him get to you. At the very least I’ve gotten him away from Suzuki and Shishi.

“Oh yes, I almost forgot about your two little friends,” Karasu half turned. He leveled Kurama’s laser-pistol it at a jar with a big red label on it that read CAUTION HIGHLY FLAMMABLE. He discharged the weapon. The jar shattered and its continence ignited. Quick flames spread out over the shelf and climbed the wall. As the fire spread more containers melted or busted adding their contents to the fires. Kurama knew there were propane lines running along the far wall. If the fire was to reach those lines, the lab would become an incinerator. Thick black coils of acidic smoke rose up, to stain the ceiling. The smoke, of course set off the emergency systems. The alarms went off, an unnerving foghorn sound, and red lights flashed. The system would close the fire doors and suck the air out of the room just long enough to smother the fires. Unfortunately Kurama didn’t see it doing that before the fires reached the gas lines.

“Shishi, Suzuki!” Kurama shouted, momentarily forgetting about the man with the weapon to his back.

Karasu seized Kurama by the arm and hasty pulled him toward the closing fire doors, “Come on Kurama. Unless you want to fry, too.”

Kurama paid him no heed, but continued to try and rush to his friends. In spite himself, Kurama was quite panicked. He figured that Karasu was capable of many horrible things. But of all things, he had never expected him to do something like this.

“Kurama!” Karasu growled, bringing his sonic weapon up.

He pulled the trigger and Kurama found himself flung mercilessly against the near wall. Kurama’s ears were ringing and he couldn’t move his body. Karasu quickly gathered him up and sprang past the fire door with not a second to spare. Inside the greenhouse, Karasu tossed Kurama rather unceremoniously into a shelf of gardening supplies. Little implements and jars rattled with the sudden impact and a bag of fertilizer toppled over, raining the stuff down Kurama’s back.

“Damn you’re crazier than I am,” Karasu panted.

“… possible,” Kurama muttered.

“What did you say?” Karasu leaned over Kurama’s seeming prone body.

“I said it’s possible!” Kurama’s sharp green eyes shot up to meet Karasu’s. His eyes shone with rage, frustration, and unspent tears. His teeth were clinched, almost in a snarl, making him resemble nothing less than a cornered fox. Out of nowhere the point of a razor sharp sickle appeared at the dark haired man’s throat.

“Y-you can’t be serious,” Karasu stuttered in astonishment. He hadn’t expected Kurama to recover from that sonic blast so quickly. Nor had he been aware of the potentially deadly implement’s residence on those shelves. Because Kurama didn’t use it very often, it had been pushed to the back, unseen, and forgotten. Until the sudden impact of Kurama hitting the unit jarred it forward as if Lady Fortune, herself had delivered it into his hands. He pressed its tip to Karasu’s throat until a bright bead of blood welled up, proving that he was indeed serious.

“It may not be a laser-pistol, but it’ll work,” said Kurama.

Kurama abruptly brought the sickle up with every intention of slicing Karasu’s throat. At the last second, Karasu jumped back so he only sustained a minor scratch on his cheek.

Karasu cursed, wiping the blood off on his sleeve, and then he smiled. He was annoyed, but not threatened. “I don’t know why you’re so mad at me, Kurama. All of this is your fault to begin with.”

“Bull shit,” Kurama spat as he struggled to his feet.

“No no, it’s true,” Karasu insisted, “If you’d been a good boy and accepted my affections, instead of running away with that Urameshi, we wouldn’t have had to do all this.”

“Shut up.” Kurama advanced on Karasu, swinging the blade at his head.

Karasu stepped back and out of the way. He continued to toy with Kurama, “Is it really such a horrible idea for you to be with me? Or was it that I was too much for you? I’m sure you’re not used to receiving such high levels of pleasure.” He evaded another one of Kurama’s attacks. “I mean, just look at your usual partner. Tell me are all his parts as tinny tiny as the rest of him?”

“Stop taking nonsense,” Kurama attempted another swipe. Karasu fainted back once again, but this time Kurama had expected it. He dropped and swept Karasu’s legs out from under him, much to the dark haired man‘s surprise. Furry burning in his eyes, Kurama raised his blade to deliver one final blow.

Finally seeing the danger, Karasu reached for his sonic cannon. Kurama saw the move in time and dove out of the way of the paralyzing pulse beam. He landed awkwardly in the dirt. A sharp pain told him he may have pinched a nerve in his shoulder. He had no time to lick his wounds. He scrambled for the nearest cover he could find, a wooden work table. By the time Karasu adjusted his aim, Kurama had toppled the wood work table to act as a momentary shield. Karasu aimed at the table. Kurama readied himself for the shock that was to hit the table-- but it didn’t come. He heard Karasu curse softly.

Wait a second, Kurama put it together. The table was made of wood. Karasu’s weapon operated with sound waves. Wood absorbs sound. It doesn’t work on wood!

Karasu also came to this conclusion, but he wasn’t bothered because thanks to Kurama he had something that did work on wood, the laser. He pulled it out into his left hand and fired several shots in quick secession. The shots burned smoking holes through the table. The shots just barley missed Kurama who had been forced to throw himself flat on the earth.

Karasu chuckled as he sauntered closer to the upturned table-- but not too close. He’d learned already learned how dangerous this young man could be. “This resistance of yours is getting less cute by the minute, Kurama.”

“Then we’re starting to see eye to eye,” Kurama said, still crouched behind the tipped and broken table, “I never found you cute at all.”

His attacks during that last exchange were instinct running on the heat of anger and desperation. But now he had cooled and was bidding for time as he thought of what to do next. Karasu had a sonic cannon and his laser-pistol. What did he have? A sickle, a wooden table, a greenhouse, and his wits. Seemed a little unbalanced. Kurama realized that he’s probable be beaten by now if it wasn’t the little cat and mouse games Karasu was paying with him. Kurama remembered an old earth cartoon about a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry. He remembered how the Tom the cat would toy with Jerry, but the mouse always managed to turn the tables on Tom-- often with the cats own devises. As silly as it sounded, that cartoon allusion provided the missing link. It all came together. Kurama knew what he had to do.

Karasu prattled on, “I’ve seen what you consider attractive. I’ll never understand why you’d pick that reject from Munchkin Land over me. Could it be that you have some sort of Shouta complex? Is that it? Do you like little boys, Kurama? That’s how Bui is, you know. Oh, he liked Hiei. I’m sure he’s nailing the pip-squeak to the wall right now. Heh, I bet the little freak is loving it too.”

“Stop,” Kurama seethed as he shot up, one hand on the leg of the table other grasping the bottom edge, “Stop talking about my Firefly!”

He intended to charge Karasu. Karasu saw his opening to use his stunning sonic weapon on the lovely redhead. Kurama had already anticipated that he would choose that weapon. Karasu wanted to rape him and would try to take him alive first. Before Karasu fired, Kurama swung the table up on its short side so that it became a full body shield. He felt the sonic waves being absorbed into the wood. He pressed forward. Small bursts of sound leaked through the laser-shot holes, pelting and stinging his body like invisible firecrackers. The sonic fire ceased. Karasu raised his left hand to switch to laser fire. He shot at the table as it suddenly jerked one side, burning an ugly hole directly where Kurama’s heart would have been. It had been a mistake because while the table went left Kurama had gone right. The move had successfully confused Karasu and he fired in the wrong direction.

It only took a second for the man to realize his mistake, but a second was all Kurama need to send his sickle slicing through the air toward Karasu-- another tick he’d learned from his cousin Kuronue. The man tried to get out of the way, but he was off balance and taken by surprise. The blade sliced his left arm; leaving a deep cut on his bicep and causing him to drop the laser-pistol.

Forget about a kiss, a wild part of Kurama howled with glee, when I get back Kuro’s getting a blow job!

Kurama had returned to the shelf of tools and retrieved a large pair of shears and a sharp trowel. He immediately threw the shears at Karasu. They careened awkwardly in the air and embedded themselves point down into the dirt not two inches from Karasu’s foot. Karasu cursed with fervor. He apparently didn’t find this cute anymore. He turned up the intensity on his sonic.

Kurama hurled his towel. Karasu fired the sonic. The sonic wave caught the flying implement mid-air and turned it back. The towel shot back toward Kurama, whizzing past his ear at the same time the sonic wave hit him. The shock flung him back into the shelving unit with enough force to dislodge the shelves. Everything inside fell in a chorus of clanking metal and breaking glass. Only the frame of the unit remained, surrounding Kurama like big metal coffin. The sonic waves ripped and reverberated inside the box, piercing its way into Kurama’s flesh. He could feel his organs rattling inside of him. His kidneys ached, his bowels knotted, hot bile inched up his throat, his heart strained just to keep its beat, while his brain howled with the pain of the ringing the sonic caused in his ears. Kurama screamed. He gritted his teeth while fighting off the urge to surrender to unconsciousness. He screamed again.

Then there was a thunderous pop surrounded them completely on all sides, including overhead. Karasu lifted his face skyward, as a knee jerk reaction to the sound. Above him, he saw a spider’s wed pattern etching itself into the glass panels of the ceiling. His finger slipped off the trigger of his weapon, freeing Kurama from his torment. The splintering and cracking sounds increased in speed and volume as the web spread across the ceiling. The all at once it all crashed down. Like a symphony of bells, small shards and great chunks of glass rushed to the ground, catching the unaware Karasu beneath it. Just a Kurama planned. He knew the glass would break under too much strain. All he had to do was provoke Karasu into providing the strain. Kurama had been lucky. Curled up inside his metal box the glass did not touch him.

For long moments all Kurama could do was try to fight back the waves a nausea which the stresses of the night had incited in him. He beat Karasu, but so what? They had destroyed the labs and all their research. The base was, to his knowledge, still in enemy hands. His body hurt. He had failed to save Shishi and Suzuki. And he had no idea what sort of state the rest of his comrades where in. Hiei… He remembered leaving Hiei to face the colossal Bui all on his own. Was he okay?

“Kurama…” He could almost hear his voice now. “Kurama!”

Wait. he did hear Hiei’s voice. Kurama uncurled himself and looked around. There, across a sea of jagged broken glass was Hiei.

“Kurama!” Hiei called out.

“Hiei?” Kurama could have cried, “Hiei, I’m here!”

Hiei spotted him. His face was so pale with fright, but it seemed to brighten upon seeing his love in one piece. He looked at the glass and then called to Kurama, “Don’t move. I’ll come and get you!”

He vanished for a second and then returned with a broom in hand. He stepped carefully over the skeletal remains of the greenhouse’s framework. Deliberately, he made his way toward Kurama, pushing the glass out of his path with the broom. It gave him a bit of a start when he spotted the mass of glass and blood that was once Karasu. He quickly looked away.

“Oh thank god,” Hiei sighed when he reached the box and enfolded Kurama into his arms. Up close Kurama could see all the cuts and bruises that hadn’t been there before.

“You’re coveralls are ripped,” Kurama pointed out as he returned the embrace.

“Speak for yourself,” Hiei chuckled brittlely, “You have so many holes in yours; we’ll have to start calling them barely-covers-any-thing- at-alls.”

Kurama sighed, “Hiei…”

“Foxy?” Hiei smiled. And they drew together to kiss deeply, so happy that they could be together again.

The tender moment was short lived as they were interrupted by the tinkling of disrupted glass and Toya’s voice calling them, “Kurama, Hiei?”

The blue haired man was picking his way along the path Hiei had cleared. His face held an expression the mixture of concern and question. Kurama could guess the question. The guilt swelling inside of him was evident.

“Kurama, what’s wrong?” Toya asked as he approached the couple. He looked around, “Where’s Suzuki and Shishi?” He paled.

“I’m so sorry,” Kurama had to fight not to choke on his words, “He set the lab on fire… and left them there. It spread to the gas lines. The emergency systems… couldn’t activate in time. I….” Kurama shook his head. He didn’t know what to say.

“But weren’t the gas lines cut?” Toya blinked.

Kurama’s sorrowful expression instantaneously changed to one of confusion, “Cut?”

“Yeah,” Hiei scratched his ear, “When I was fighting Bui he accidentally cut the lines and then I blew them up.”

“Then that would mean…”

“That the lines where empty during the fire,” Toya finished it for Kurama.

At that point Kurama felt very foolish. Of course the lab hadn’t exploded. He would have heard it if it had. With renewed vigor, Kurama pressed for the entrance to the lab proper. Hiei pushed himself in front of Kurama so as to remove any dangerous pieces of glass in his path.

At the closed fire door Hiei said, “It’s pointless, we can’t get in until the system opens the door.”

“Nonsense,” Kurama used his nails to pry a panel off the wall. Underneath was a circuit board which was connected to the door. He pulled out a wire and then touched it to another part of the door. A few sparks few out at him and then the door slid open with a swish. Kurama looked quite pleased with himself.

“What am I gonna do with you?” Hiei shook his head, making his way into the vaguely smoky corridor.

“I’ll make up a wish list,” Kurama followed with a smirk.

Inside they found Shishi and Suzuki, a little smoky, but for the most part okay. The base’s systems managed to subdue the fires long before they could reach the pair. They were released, presented the clothes Hiei had so thoughtfully packed for them in his duffle bag, and received fond kisses from Toya. Hiei and Kurama pretended to be interested in something else while the three petted on each other and expressed their shared relief at seeing that they were all well.

Hiei gave Kurama a quick debriefing on his fight with Bui and Kuwabara’s victory over the elder Toguro.

“That leaves only their leader,” Kurama nodded, “He sounded very dangerous from what Yusuke had told us.”

Hiei pointed out, “So far we’ve won because these goons have been underestimating us. If we’re lucky their leader will make the same mistake with Yusuke.”

“Find some wood to knock on Hiei,” Kurama stated grimly. He stared worried toward the direction on the communications building, “Yusuke….”

TBC…
A/N: Next up the clash between Toguro and Yusuke. See ya there.