Demon Tale

Demon Tale
1: Sleeping Hiei

Mukuro had a garden. It was a beautiful garden with rows of flowerbeds and tidy little walks that meandered around cherry trees, which were currently in full bloom. It wasn’t at all what Yusuke expected from the former battle hungry tyrant. Then again the presence and appearance of the garden probably had more to do with the tastes of her retainers than her own. In fact, she seemed to think very little about it, judging by her tone when she had told him that Hiei was training in the garden.

“Where’s Hiei.” Those were the first words out of Yusuke’s mouth when he entered the main audience chamber of Mukuro’s summer castle, not greetings or thanks to his gracious hostess, but, “Where’s Hiei?” Rude as it may have been, Yusuke had not seen his friend in so long and now that he was so near-- he just couldn’t wait.

As Yusuke stepped around a hedgerow, he felt Hiei’s aura tingle in his peripheral. He quickened his step in anticipation. As he rounded the next corner he started to call out, “Hey Hiei!” But his words died in his mouth.

Hiei was standing under a great cherry tree-- no shirt on, so he was being serious today. He was as still as a stone, his palms pressed together, fingertips barley touching his lips. He might have been a statue if not for the slow steady breath that played over the tips of his fingers. The wind blew, sending a shower of cherry pink blossoms down on him. His eyes snapped open and he moved, dodging back to avoid a flurry of petals to his front. Not one touched him. A will-o’-the-wisp of wind flung a cloud of the petals toward his flank, which he quickly spun and danced away from.

Danced, yes, it looked very much like a dance, with the grace and fluid precision in which he was moving. Hiei leapt over a wave of the things that was lashing at his legs. His movement subsequently caused the wave to gust up into the air where the wind could catch them again and swirl around him in a deadly spiral-- because in this game the cherry blossom petals were apparently deadly.

Just then Hiei lashed out his hand, middle and forefinger extended. Yusuke glimpsed just the slightest spark of flame sitting on his digits. He touched a single petal and it burned. Moving lighting quick, Hiei attacked one petal after another, until the air was filled with a thousand little points of flame and Hiei danced amongst them.

But the little points of flame died in the blink of an eye. The cherry pink petals turned to ash and floated to the ground. And Hiei was still again.

“Wow. That was some show.” Yusuke clapped his hands as he stepped out from behind the shrubbery. “Ya ought to sell tickets,” Yusuke joked to belay how enamored he actually was by the performance.

Hiei jolted. He hadn‘t been aware anyone was being watched. “It was a training exercise,” he barked at Yusuke. When Yusuke looked at him questioningly, obviously wondering how fighting flowers could make you stronger, he elaborated, “Brute strength isn’t everything. You also need coordination, lighting fast reflexes, and above all absolute control. That is what these exercises cultivate.”

“Yeah and it was pretty too,” Yusuke put in, grinning.

Hiei scowled and grunted, but made no other comment. Yusuke licked his lips, shifted from one foot to another. Hiei just stood there, absently surveying him. At last Yusuke spat, “Hell.”

He pounced on Hiei, his arms closing around Hiei’s neck in a loose headlock. It was intended that Hiei get out of it. Hiei gripped Yusuke’s bicep and ground his hip into Yusuke’s inner thigh to obtain the leverage to throw Yusuke over his head. But Yusuke retained some hold on Hiei’s clothes, which he used to grapple the smaller man. Hiei executed his own reversal. Soon the wrestling match was in full swing.

Without concern for who won, the two tested each other’s strength and flexibility, until that became boring and they parted, only to clash again with fists. Yusuke punched Hiei in the gut. Hiei struck him in the collar. Yusuke landed a solid blow to his left cheek, which Hiei countered with a blow to his right. They skidded apart. Reflexively Yusuke raised his right hand, finger extended in preparation to fire his Spirit gun. He looked up and Hiei was reaching up, touching the bandage on his left arm that contained his Dark Dragon.

Yusuke smirked. Hiei smirked back, “Well hello there, Yusuke. What brings you the demon world?”

Neither one of them really planned to fire off their signature attacks, of course. What and destroy Mukuro’s beautiful garden? Hiei had never been good at commutating. And for that matter neither was Yusuke, the only difference between them was that Yusuke had mastered the art of pointless chatter. This was just how they said hello.

“Ya know, getting caught up on the news. Hokushin had some boring leader stuff he wanted me to do, even though I’m technically not their leader anymore now that we’ve got Enki as Demon King,” Yusuke rattled off as he sunk down to lay on the grass. His journey combined with his skirmish with Hiei had tired him, somewhat.

Hiei joined him on the ground and probed, “And how does that translate to you being here?”

“It doesn’t. I finished with that junk already.” Yusuke turned on his side so he could see Hiei. “I came to see you.”

Hiei gaped in surprise, but quickly hid it before saying in a cynical tone, “You went out of your way, crossed half of the demon world, just to see me?”

“Well yeah. I mean, I’d already crossed a dimension,” Yusuke shrugged. Mischievously, he touched Hiei’s abdomen with his two fingers, walked them up over his chest, all the way to his chin. “What are a few more miles to see one of my best friends?” He punctuated it with a bop to the tip of Hiei’s nose.

“Knock it off,” Hiei muttered capturing that troublesome hand. “So there’s no trouble in the human or spirit worlds that you intend on dragging me into?”

“Nope,” Yusuke told him.

“Hmm,” Hiei hummed. And if Yusuke wasn’t mistaken, he could have sworn Hiei looked disappointed.

“What?” Yusuke said, “You itching for a good fight? If so, give me a few to breath and I’ll take ya on again.”

“Tempting,” Hiei said, “But that’s not it.” He paused as if he were debating if he really wanted to say what was on his mind. He spoke. “I was sort of hoping for a more extended diversion. You see, Mukuro has gotten this idea in her head…. She thinks-- well actually I don’t know what she’s thinking, because it’s completely asinine!”

“What is it, Hiei?”

“She wants to marry me off.”

“Marry you off?!”

Hiei groaned and laid his head back on the grass, “She cannot be talked out of it! She’s even rounded up a bunch of simpering females for me to pick from. That’s why we’re at her summer castle right now, rather than the fortress.”

“I wondered about that,” Yusuke nodded, “This place don’t really suit the two of you.”

“It’s very genteel, yes,” Hiei agreed. “She thinks these surroundings would be more conductive to…ugh, romance. I would have taken off, but Mukuro isn’t exactly the easiest person to get away from when she wants you to stay.”

“I bet,” Yusuke concurred.

“Up until now she always said that I could leave whenever I like and she’d make sure no one followed me.” Hiei continued with a grimace, “I didn’t realize it until recently, but she thought that Kurama and I were… an item.”

“No kidding?” Yusuke tried and failed not to laugh. Between peals of laughter he said, “Where would she get an idea like that? Well, I guess she found out she was wrong a month ago when he married--”

Kurama married Keiko, Yusuke’s girl. Yusuke had known Keiko all his life and she was the only one who really seemed to give a rat’s ass about him. Everyone naturally thought that they would grow up and get married. But it didn’t work like that. Yusuke grew up in ways that Keiko hadn’t. He understood and lived in the world in its larger scheme.

But then he never grew up in the way that she did. She lived in a small world, her house and family, the school where she taught junior high literature. She understood practicality, necessity, and the comfort that comes with living in the small world. Yusuke never felt comfortable in that small world. Then there was Kurama. He was practical. He had lived centuries in the large scheme and now he was ready to live in a small world. They got married.

“So what ya gonna do?” Yusuke turned back to Hiei’s situation.

“The last thing I want is a bothersome woman-- other than Mukuro,” Hiei said, “I suppose I could just refuse any women she brings. But then she might just pick one FOR me. That might be worse. Who knows was sort of cow she‘ll saddle me with.”

Yusuke mused, “Sounds like you could use a wingman.”

“What need do I have of a man with wings?” Hiei looked at him. “But I’d accept a whole flock of them if it meant I wouldn’t have to take a wife.”

“My, I think the lady protests too much. Is it because you don’t like women?” Yusuke smirked and suddenly he rolled his body over onto Hiei’s. Supporting his weight on his arms as he smiled appreciatively at Hiei‘s stricken face. Oh how Yusuke loved to see Hiei’s surprised face. “Or, is it because you don’t know what to do with one? I could teach ya, hands on, ya know. Ha, I bet you‘ve never been in this position before; Pinned to the ground with a hard body on top of ya.”

“You know that these females are not interested in ME. They’re interested in my position as Mukuro’s right hand and eventual heir. My personal tastes are irrelevant. However I must point out that if I were with a woman this position would be reversed,” Hiei unexpectedly levered his body against Yusuke’s effectively flipping their positions so Hiei now sat on Yusuke’s stomach, pinning the taller boy’s shoulders to the ground. “In any case I’m hardly a virgin. I can handle myself just fine.”

“I can see that,” Yusuke said admiring Hiei’s imperious grin.

“You haven’t seen anything,” Hiei said off handed. He hummed mysteriously, “Maybe you should….”

“Uh Hiei?” Yusuke queried. Hiei’s gaze on him was almost predatory. It couldn’t have been far out of Yusuke’s imagination that the smaller demon intended to eat him-- or do something else! Yusuke instantly berated himself for have even half thought the notion. But still that half-notion sent a hot flush working its way into his cheeks. Yusuke sincerely hoped he wasn’t blushing, but then Hiei’s smirk widened and he knew that he was. Damn him.

Hiei’s hands slowly drifted down from Yusuke’s shoulders to brush Yusuke’s well-formed chest. “You are so easy,” Hiei declared with humor-- or what passes for humor with Hiei.

“Nuh-uh!” Yusuke protested, sitting up, “I know you’re screwing with me. But two can play at that game. Come here, I’ll lay one on you. I will!” Yusuke made a half-assed grab at Hiei’s torso, hugging the other boy to him. Hiei laughed freely, a thing he did seldom for anyone but Yusuke, and made feeble attempts to dislodge himself from the other laughing boy’s strong arms.

This might have devolved into a second wrestling match, but at that moment a giggle that obviously didn’t belong to one of them intruded. Both men froze from the neck down as their heads whipped violently in the direction of the intruding giggle. There, standing in the gap between the hedgerows with a bemuse expression on her face was the cybernetic dam, Mukuro, flanked by at least a dozen comely young women.

“There was a tea party planned for today, so Hiei could meet his potential brides,” Mukuro explained, “Though, I should have known that he wouldn’t have shown up, so I decided to bring the party to him.”

She snapped her fingers and servants poured out as if from nowhere, baring tables and dishes and covered food platters. A four piece string band and a pretty lithe singer in a satin dress appeared on the risen stones under a rose trellis and started to play. It all happened so fast that suddenly Hiei and Yusuke found themselves foolishly embraced in the middle of a full scale garden party, and had to hastily separate. A miscellaneous servant handed Hiei a dark blue tunic to pull over his head. Mustn’t have the man of the hour half naked! Yusuke for his part, had to hunt down his discarded jacket; his shirt havening been torn to shreds during his initial skirmish with Hiei.

Meanwhile, the girls that had accompanied Mukuro spread out over the garden finding places to display their loveliness-- and they were indeed all very lovely in their own ways. There were all different types girls there, small ones, tall ones, cute young looking ones, glamorous older looking ones, ones covered in fur, some covered in scales, some with more than the minim number of appendages.

But there was one that shinned above them all. She was pale with long midnight dark hair that flowed down her back, between two delicate batwings, to taper off just above her knees. A set of curing ram horns adorned the temples of fairy face. And she wore a backless, strapless, little black dress that might have actually have been painted onto her long, voluptuous body.

She didn’t seek a pleasing back-drop; she didn’t need one to enhance her beauty. Instead she boldly strolled up to where he and Hiei stood. Looking at her, Yusuke started to feel an uncomfortable tightness in his pants.

Eyes as dark as a starless night fixed on Hiei and a pink tongue flashed out ever so calculatedly over red painted lips. “Lord Hiei, I‘m Devetaki the Enchantress, I’m sure the pleasure is all yours.”

Oh, that self-assured coquettish line from such a dazzling woman could finish any man and make him a slave…. Hiei was apparently far from ‘any’ man. He looked her up and down appraisingly and said bluntly, “Your power levels are pathetic.”

She laughed charmingly, however a bit nervous, “Well, I’m not a warrior. However I do have other attributes you might find appealing. I‘m sure the two of us, together, would be a force to reckon with.” She leaned down to toy with the decorative embroidery on Hiei’s shirt. This action served the dual purpose of plumping up her already generous breasts and presenting them at Hiei’s eyelevel. He stepped around her, leaving her looking quite foolish, half bent over with her breasts presented to nothing.

“Are we quite finished here?” Hiei asked Mukuro.

“Not quite,” returned in a light, yet oddly dangerous tone. Then she called for the four piece spring band to start playing slow dancing music.

Hiei was obliged to dance with each and every girl. Yusuke watched. Some people would have found the display comical, mostly because the majority of the women were so much taller than Hiei. But Yusuke was fascinated with the way Hiei maneuvered them gracefully around the floor as the girls recited their qualifications to him and how seamlessly he switched partners. He couldn’t help wondering, how did Hiei learn to dance like that?!

Then the time came when it was Devetaki’s turn to be his partner. She boldly stepped into him-- which more or less pressed her breasts into his face again-- and said, “I understand, Lord Hiei, I might have come on a bit strong back there. Oh, you must think I throw myself at any man I see, but I have to tell you that just isn’t so!”

“Uh-huh,” Hiei made a non-committal grunt.

“It’s just that when I saw you, I was so taken that I just couldn’t hold myself back. Tell me you don’t feel this thing between us?” She shifted her body in a way that would have made it imposable for Hiei not to appreciate the ‘things’ between them.

The song ended, conveniently. Hiei took a sharp step back from her and addressed Mukuro, “That was all of them, I think. Are we done now?”

“Yes, I think it’s time we break,” Mukuro said, satisfied with the progress of the afternoon.

The girls lined up to say a few paring words to him before they left. Devetaki, of course, calmed the statically ideal spot at the end of the line. She touched his face as she passed, a smile painted on her red lips with mysterious promises. Once again Yusuke felt that nagging tingle in his loins. Oh, what a short conquest this would be if it were him she was after! She cooed to Hiei, “I’ll see you again tonight at Lord Mukuro’s dinner table-- though I’d prefer something a bit more… intimate.”

“Why don’t you just go home, women?” Hiei said without batting an eyelash. “I have little desire to take a wife, in spite of this sodden circus. Even if I did, the one I picked would not be you.”

“How can you say that?” Devetaki persisted with an attractive pout, “We’ve hardly met.”

Hiei turned swiftly and didn’t look back, “You’re not my type.”

Yusuke was looking however, what he saw was one of the most terrifying things he’d ever dared gaze upon. Her pretty face twisted. The blood red corners of her mouth turned down, flashing angry white teeth. Her eyes narrowed to little slits, dark as a starless night and just as cold. Meanwhile her breast heaved, pumping like bellows in her chest, feeding the flames of rage. She was a women scorned.

“You’ll be sorry,” she vowed, “Nobody rejects Devetaki the Enchantress!”

She was not among those present later that night at dinner. After dinner, a servant offered to show Yusuke to a guest room. Hiei told him to bugger off and promptly dragged Yusuke to his room, where he set up a game of checkers-- because Yusuke wasn’t bright enough to pose a challenge in chess. Checkers and chess were some of the few ‘human games’ Hiei would play and enjoy.

“I see no route of escape,” Hiei said mildly as he moved a chip, claiming two of Yusuke’s pieces and trapping a small platoon of others.

Yusuke jumped one of Hiei’s, taking the piece while sacrificing another, but still effectively punching a hole in Hiei’s net. “It’s not so tight. I still have a chance to take out plenty of pieces.”

Hiei countered by skipping over three of Yusuke’s pieces and landing on his side, “Pick off as many as you like, it only delays the unavoidable. King me.”

“Gosh, Hiei are we getting metaphysical here?” Yusuke raised an eyebrow.

“Metaphorical,” Hiei corrected him dryly, “But points for correctly pronouncing a big word. And if you’re referring to my current issue… maybe. I can pick off and reject as many females as I want. I’m sure Mukuro will just bring more.”

“Just pick one, then. Ya don’t got to love her or even touch her or nothing,” Yusuke said grudgingly, “I mean, like, haven’t you ever heard of a marriage of convenience?”

Hiei picked up on his cynical tone, “That’s another point for knowing about a concept like a marriage of convenience. But you don’t exactly subscribe to the idea, do you?”

“To tell the truth, I really don’t like the idea of you getting married at all. Convenient or not.” Yusuke admitted. “I mean, both Kuwabara and Kurama were married now.” Kuwabara had married Yukina. If Hiei got hitched that would leave him as the last unattached member of ‘the team’. He knew it was a selfish way to feel.

“If you’re worried about being left behind, why don’t you take a female too?” Hiei said shrewdly, “There are plenty to pick from right here.”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why?”

“You’ll laugh.”

“Probably.”

“I want to be in love,” Yusuke said.

“Me too,” Hiei replied.

Yusuke stared at him for a moment and then spat, “Lair!” He threw a checker piece at him, “You don’t even believe in love!”

Hiei grinned like a shark, “No, I don’t exactly proscribe to your silly human fairy-tale concept of love. But it is a good excuse not to rush into a marriage.” Hiei jumped the last six of Yusuke’s pieces, winning the game.

“Son of a bitch,” Yusuke gawked at the board, “next time we play chutes and ladders.”

“It’ll take you forever to hunt up a servant at this hour,” Hiei told him, “You can sleep in my bed. It’s ridiculously huge and there are so many pillows on it, you could build a fort out of them to sleep in.” Hiei was kidding about the fort thing, but when Yusuke saw all those pillows….

Later, snuggled up in the pillow fort they’d built, Yusuke asked Hiei, “So, if you ever did decide to, ya know, get married or something? What kind of person would ya want?”

Hiei gave him a look that could have killed a lesser apparition. “You do remember who you’re talking to?”

“Come on Hiei,” Yusuke poked him, “I’ve already got you sleeping with me in a pillow fort, might as make it the full slumber party experience and talk about chicks and stuff.”

“What about you?” Hiei turned the question.

“I don’t know,” Yusuke shrugged, “Hot, I guess. A good fighter would be cool, but it’s not a big thing. I guess I’d just like someone who gets me…,” Yusuke yawned, starting to feel tired now. “…Someone who gets me; like you do. So, what about you?”

Hiei didn’t answer. His eyes were closed and his chest was raising and falling heavily. Yusuke snorted, “Faking son of a bitch.” He put head down and went to sleep.

By the morning their pillow fortress had fallen down around them. Yusuke woke up in a completely different passion than he’d fallen asleep in-- which would not have been noteworthy if he had not woken up with his head in Hiei’s lap. And there seemed to be a rather hard lump in his make-shift pillow.

Yusuke jerked his head up, looked at Hiei. He was still soundly asleep. Good, now Yusuke could be slightly less embarrassed. His eyes drifted back to the bulge in Hiei’s lap that had woken him.

“Whoa,” Yusuke muttered. “He… he’s really got something there.” Yusuke prodded the bulge with his finger. Hiei’s endowments were impressive. Plenty long, reasonably thick, and man, was it stiff. Yusuke couldn’t help himself. He reached down and delicately untied the sting on Hiei’s pants and then ever so carefully he pushed the material down.

“Whoa,” Yusuke repeated. It was even more glorious unwrapped. Such a shame he refused to share it with anyone. “Well, only one thing to do.”

Hiei woke up alone in a pile of pillows. The first thing he saw was his own morning wood smiling down on him. “What the?!” He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Yes, someone had drawn a smiley-face on his member with a felt tip marker. He had a good idea who that someone was. He was in the bathroom snickering now.

“Yusuke, you prick!” Hiei jumped out of bed with intention of pummeling his comrade.

“Oh come on, you had it coming, sleeping so soundly. I couldn’t help myself!” Yusuke protested. It was a wonder Yusuke was able to play the prank without him waking up. Was Hiei really that comfortable with him?

“So, you have an uncontrollable desire to handle other men’s phalluses?” Hiei retaliated. Yusuke’s mouth flapped like a fish trying to breathe on dry land. Hiei smirked, “I win.”

Yusuke went back into the bathroom to comb his hair. Meanwhile, Hiei strolled over to his table. Breakfast was already set out, brought in by some discreet servant. Hiei usually sensed them come in. He didn’t this time. Was he losing his touch? Or was he just distracted? Whatever, he selected a thick, red apple and sank his teeth into it. It was sweet; too sweet; overwhelmingly sweet!

Yusuke was putting the final touches on his hair when he heard a loud thud. “Hiei?” He called. He called again when he got no response, “Hiei?” He walked out of the bathroom and then he ran. “Hiei!?” Hiei was lying limp on the floor, an apple with a single bite taken out of it, clutched in his hand. “Hiei!!”

Hiei could not be woken. Yusuke and Mukuro tried everything from shaking him gently to bludgeoning him ruthlessly. They tried shouting and strong smelling salts. It was pointless. Several doctors under Mukuro’s hire examined him, but could not find a way of waking him. They even called Kurama in from the Human World—awkward as that was for Yusuke.

He confirmed with a shake of his redhead, “It was in the apple Hiei ate. It was tainted with a powerful enchantment.”

“So, FYI this was no accident,” Yusuke added.

“I want this entire castle locked down!” Mukuro turned from Hiei’s prone figure and ordered, “Whoever did this must not escape!”

“You mean you’re going to lock us in?” One of the girls, she’d invited to court Hiei, exclaimed.

“What if whoever poisoned Lord Hiei strikes again!” Another put in, “What if we’re next!”

“Eek! I don’t want to be cursed!” A wave of panic busted over the room like the waters from an overloaded levy. “You can’t lock us up with this maniac! Eek! We don’t even know who it is. It could be anyone!”

The panicked frenzy was interrupted by one of two generic guards, “Lord Mukuro we’ve found the culprit.” They hauled the sagging form of the Devetaki between them. She had traded her slinky black gown for a slick black cat suit and her long dark hair pinned in a knot in back of her head.

The other guard supplied, “She supposedly left yesterday after Lord Hiei so humiliatingly rejected her at the garden party. But we found her hiding in the cellars. She must have snuck back in and planted the poison in Lord Hiei’s room.”

“Well?” Mukuro demanded of her.

Devetaki’s lips slowly curled into a cruel smile. Like a flash her hands shot up, her long, black lacquered nails slashed at her captor’s skin. She must have had a paralyzing poison on them. The guards stiffened and fell backward like downed trees.

“Yeah I did it,” She told him, “I injected that apple with the nectar from the Tree of Blights. It can make him sleep forever. Not that he would have had forever. I was going to slit his throat after he when under, but you were there!” She pointed to Yusuke.

“But why?” Yusuke interjected.

“Because I was supposed to be his wife, not one of these tramps!” She pointed to the trembling group of demonesses. “He could have made me Queen of the Demon World. If I can’t have his empire, no one can! I won’t let it happen!”

She ripped the pin from her knot. It was long and sharp as a razor. She lunged at Hiei’s unconscious form with every intention of completing her mission of killing him.

“No you don’t!” Yusuke howled as he intercepted her. He raised his fist and hit her in the jaw, sending her flying.

She was shocked. She never thought a man would have the heart to lay a hand on her beautiful face. “You…you HIT me!”

“I’m going to do a lot more than that,” Mukuro seemed to just materialize behind Devetaki. “HAAAA!!!” There was a flash of light. Devetaki screamed, clutched at her face and prepared to flee. Kurama headed her off, rose-whip in hand. Mukuro and Yusuke closed in on her.

“Nooo!” Devetaki wailed. She grabbed an object off her belt. It looked like a pear. She bit into it and instantly her body was enveloped with flames. Yusuke, Kurama, and Mukuro had to shield their eyes against the glare. When they looked back, she was gone.

“She’d rather die than be captured,” Kurama observed.

“We have other things to concern ourselves with,” Mukuro said, “Namely, finding the cure that will awaken Hiei.”

“You think there’s a cure?!” Yusuke jumped on that.

“If there wasn’t she wouldn’t have been so keen on stabbing him as well as poisoning him,” Mukuro told him.

“The Tree of Blights; I’ve heard of that,” Kurama put in, “It’s said that it grows a variety of fruits and flowers, each one with a special curse attached to it, and some cures. I don’t know much more. They were systematically destroyed ages ago. There’s only one place where they are believed to still grow; an ancient forest-swamp. I can’t say if you’ll find the cure there or not, I’ve never been. And I don’t plan on going now.”

“Why not?!” Yusuke demanded.

“I won’t leave Keiko,” he said simply. “The search for a cure could take a long time, hundreds of years even” Hiei was one of his best friends, but Keiko was his wife and he wouldn’t leave her waiting… that’s what Yusuke would have done.

Yusuke was about to shout something else, but his expression softened. “You’re an okay guy, Kurama.”

“Thank you,” Kurama said.

Mukuro coughed to get their attention. “Hiei will need protection, if he is to sleep for a century. This castle will do. We’ll lock him in the tower. And to make sure he is protected, I will remove this.” She touched the bandages on his arm. They were special curse bindings, to keep his Black Dragon contained. “We’ll evacuate the castle and let the dragon haunt the halls. Though it’ll make it difficult for us to get back in when we find the cure… if we find it.”

“I might have a contribution,” Kurama dug around in his pockets and pulled out a pouch. “Scatter these seeds around the castle. They will grow into aggressive creepers that will act as a barrier. In time they will also infest the structure and support it even after time has made it weak.”

“Yusuke?” Mukuro called. The young man had such a pained look on his face.

Yusuke took one last look at Hiei. “I’m going to find that cure.” He turned with a determined gleam and marched out to do just that.

TBC…
A/N: I’ve been fussing at this one for about a year now. But I’ve finally finished it. Hope it entertains. Reviews rock. More coming next time.