#hxk role reversal au

[intobarbarians]

"You ditched me.”

That comes out more pissy than Kuwabara intends. He had been hoping for ‘casual,’ possibly ‘aloof.’ Still, pissy is better than ‘I waited under the full moon at our agreed-upon meeting place all fucking night. You did not show up. Because you ditched me.’

“The detective caught me,” Kurama says. “I had to use the Forlorn Hope without you. I’m sorry.”

Yeah, Kurama ditched him. The only way the detective catches the greatest living thief in demon history is if Kurama gives him a map with his location spelled out in big, red letters. “Urameshi was supposed to come after me. I was going to shake him up a little bit so we had time to figure out how to use the Forlorn Hope--”

Kurama’s face does a thing, like when he means to steal only a couple of Kuwabara’s fries but ends up eating all of them.

Kuwabara’s face does a thing in response. Several blood vessels are bursting. “Seriously? You knew this whole fucking time how to make that stupid mirror grant wishes?” You’re a curse, Kuwabara reminds himself. You ought to be used to being unwanted by now.  “Out with it! What’s so bad you couldn’t tell me--your literal partner in crime!--huh?”

“The Forlorn Hope grants any wish in exchange for the wishmaker’s life.”

Oh. “That’s pretty bad,” Kuwabara admits. “Wait. If you made a wish, then how are you still here?”

Kurama laughs, unburdened. Kuwabara hasn’t heard that laugh since before Shiori’s hospitalization. “Yusuke. That reckless human heard my wish and thought I was a fool for saving my mother at a cost that would only bring her immense heartache. He asked for his life to be taken instead. For that, the Forlorn Hope spared us both.”

If not for the kindness of Yusuke Urameshi, Kurama would be dead, and Kuwabara would have lost his only friend.

Kuwabara smiles. He wants to fight Yusuke even more.

“He’s been the most accommodating variable, hasn’t he? If he wasn’t trying to arrest you right now, I’d suggest you two become friends.”

Right. Kuwabara still has the third artifact.

He looks down at the Shadow Sword. “I guess I don’t need this anymore.” Not that he ever had. Stealing all three artifacts had been a ruse to cover the fact they were after one in particular.

“No, controlling humans and ruling the earth isn’t your style.”

“I could be an evil overlord if I wanted to be,” Kuwabara grumbles. His mother’s people certainly believe he’s capable of it.

He examines the blade, listening to the slosh of the antidote in the hollow of the hilt. If it means saving Shizuru, then maybe he is.

“I’m going to turn myself into Spirit World authorities soon,” Kurama says. “When I meet Koenma, I’ll take responsibility for everything that’s happened--the planning, the break-in, all of it. I’ll do whatever I can to convince Koenma to let you go, Kuwabara. He seems reasonable.”

Fucking martyr. “Busting into the vault and taking the mirror was my idea.”

“Freeing Goki from prison and giving him the Orb of Baast was mine. I know you hated it.”

Kuwabara had bitched and shouted himself hoarse when Kurama first made the suggestion. Kurama had been unmoved, calmly explaining his reasoning over and over until Kuwabara gave in. “You were right. Spirit World went after him first, and Urameshi saved those kids’ souls before we had to.”

“I’m sorry, Kuwabara.” Yes, this is what Kurama sounds like when he actually means it. “I asked you to compromise your principles for me, and you did. What’s worse is I know I’ve taken valuable time away from your own goals. You’ve been looking for your sister for more than a year now.”

He’s searched Makai a thousand times over for his sister. Shizuru has to be somewhere in the human realm. That’s all Kuwabara is sure of. He bet everything on the jagan, and the stupid fucking thing won’t give him a single clue about her location.

Kuwabara grips the hilt of the sword. The Shadow Sword is heavier than the one Shigure made him train with after the surgery. With time, he could get used to the weight. “It’s not looking good, is it?”

“Let’s not underestimate her,” Kurama cautions. “Your sister is a powerful ice demon, and you have not yet fully mastered the jagan.”

Kuwabara hates himself for being so incompetent. If he could tap into the abilities of the jagan, Shizuru would be safe. Instead, the eye drains his energy to the point Goki had laughed at him like Kuwabara hadn’t fought countless demons stronger than that asshole and won them all. Goki. The nerve on that ogre.

“She left Hyouga because of me. If she’s in danger, it’s all my fault.”

“That is precisely why you cannot afford to be arrested.”

He hadn’t been thinking that far ahead when Kurama told him his mother was dying. He’d been thinking about how terrible it was to lose your mom, to never be held by her again, how frightening and painful it was to be alone in the world without anyone to love you, and how he didn’t want Kurama to know the feeling.

A child’s wish. Kurama must already know. He’s not really fifteen years old like Kuwabara is. “You can’t be arrested, either. What about your mom?”

“Yusuke promised to put it in a good word for me.”

The detective, again.

“It will help my chances if I give them the Shadow Sword,” Kurama hints.

Of course. “Sure. Anything.”

“My mother is getting discharged tomorrow afternoon. The doctors are baffled by her miraculous recovery and want her to stay an extra day to be on the safe side. I’ll meet you at the usual time?”

“I’ll be here.”

Kurama squeezes Kuwabara’s shoulder as he walks by. “Let’s get through the day ahead of us. We’ll find your sister. I promise.”

The Shadow Sword hangs at Kuwabara’s side. “Yeah.”

Fuck.

Kurama’s almost around the block before Kuwabara calls after him. “You should have told me! About the mirror? I would have still helped you, you know.”

“I know. That’s why I didn’t.”

Kurama doesn’t look back, but that doesn’t mean he misses Kuwabara flipping him off.

[intobarbarians]

part six to this

***

The Masked Fighter is obviously Genkai.

Yusuke shrugs when Hiei interrogates him on the matter. “We’ve got our fifth fighter,” he says. “Who cares who’s under the mask?”

She hasn’t even bothered to change the clothes she wore when she held her own tournament. Why hide her face?

“Maybe it’s not for us,” Kuwabara speculates. He unwraps a piece of bubblegum and pops it into his mouth. “Maybe the mask is for her.”

Hiei watches him blow a bubble three times the size of his head. “What is that supposed to mean?” He holds up a finger in blatant threat when Kuwabara focuses more on his bubble than Hiei’s question. Kuwabara narrows his eyes and defensively tilts his head back. Stupid. As tall as Kuwabara is, Hiei is excellent at jumping and that fucking bubble is not out of his range.

Kurama, working out the most likely scenario that will happen in the near future without his intervention, tries to opt for peace. “There’s a tactical advantage in hiding her identity.”

Hiei glares at him. He turns his finger from Kuwabara’s bubble and points it at Kurama. “Obviously. My issue is that she’s not even doing it particularly well.”

A loud pop cuts off Kurama’s response. Kuwabara whines like a wounded animal.

Hiei looks at Yusuke. The rock came from his direction but he’s fast asleep.

Kuwabara woefully picks the gum off his face. “This is an omen,” he mutters grimly. “The next four days are absolutely going to suck.”

If they live that long.

The ship’s captain cackles on the intercoms. “Alright, maggots,” he sneers. “Only one team on this boat will be competing in the Dark Tournament--consider this the preliminaries. Send your best fighter to the ring: the winner’s team secures a spot in the tournament. The rest of you can step into the drink for all I care.”

Genkai beelines for the ring.

Kuwabara flicks off the last piece of gum from his cheek. “Aren’t we going to talk about this?”

Hiei’s seen a little of what Genkai can do. If Rando hadn’t been such a sniveling coward who relied on tricks instead of skill, he would have been her student instead of Yusuke. “She’s going to annihilate all of the fools who step into that ring.” Hiei smirks at Kuwabara. “And if she doesn’t, we’ll just kill every last person on this boat. Then no one can argue when we say we won.”

He can’t be sure which emotion flashes briefly in Kuwabara’s eyes at his blunt statement, but it shames him, nonetheless. Kuwabara says, “You didn’t have many friends growing up, did you.”

Hiei looks away. No, he didn’t.

But he never wanted them, either.

Genkai wins the match as easily as Hiei predicted she would. The progenitor of Yusuke’s shotgun subdues the other combatants in no time.

No one seems particularly upset. They all turn on Team Urameshi with hungry eyes and blood thirsty grins. Hiei’s idea is pretty popular with this crowd.

They end up killing everyone, even though they won.

Kuwabara’s right--it’s certainly an omen of something.

***

The hotel is the most luxury Hiei has ever experienced in his life. He sees other humans besides himself, Yusuke, and Genkai for the first time since reaching the island. Women wear jewels and gowns that are worth more money than a hundred years’ worth of his rent. If he could pocket a single earring, he could probably pay for Yukina’s college--no matter where she goes.

He wants to set the whole thing on fire.

As if sensing his intent, Kuwabara keeps a hand on his shoulder and doesn’t let go until they reach their room. “Let’s win this thing, and then we’ll consider committing arson, alright?”

“Promise?” Everything is gilded in gold and marble. Hiei wonders if it can even burn. But Kuwabara is a fire demon--he could set anything alight.

Kuwabara looks like he’s about to make another joke, but Hiei is dead serious. After a moment’s consideration, he says, “Alright. If that’s what you want.”

He’ll probably only do it if the place is empty and no one can get hurt.

It’s the kind of promise that could make a man fall in love.

Hiei will hold him to his word.

***

Rinku is an annoying toddler.

He sticks out his tongue at Hiei. “I’m older than you are!”

Hiei slices through the strings of all of these fucking stupid yo-yos. His spirit sword is a violet light, a fire that burns at his command. “At least you know better than to argue that you’re annoying.”

He punches Rinku in the chest and sends him crashing down into the arena. He uses the sound of the impact as cover to ask, “Do you know where I can find a demon surgeon named Shigure?” He sneaks a glance at Kurama, but it doesn’t seem like he heard Hiei’s question.

Rinku thrashes until a foot connects with Hiei’s hip. Ow. “Fuck off.” So that’s a no.

He jumps back and seriously considers killing this kid. It’s stupid that he’s even hesitating. This isn’t the place to be soft.

The memory of the disappointment in Kuwabara’s eyes when he mentioned killing everyone on the ship here replays itself in his head. Rinku takes advantage of his distraction: yo-yo strings emerge from his sleeves and wind their way around Hiei’s body until he’s cocooned in them. Rinku tosses him out of the arena as Koto begins the ten count.

Hiei struggles to break the strings, but they wrap tighter the more he tries to get loose.

Fuck, if he had Yusuke’s spirit gun, this wouldn’t be a problem.

Rinku laughs. “Not so tough now, are you?”

Hiei snarls. The spirit sword has limited mobility with his hand bound to his waist, but it doesn’t have to stay a sword, does it? He could still kill Rinku and be back on his feet before Koto can call the match.

He looks at Kuwabara, visibly holding himself from rushing to Hiei’s aid. Kuwabara wouldn’t like it if he killed Rinku--even if he only looks like a kid.

“Ten!”

The strings ease their grip. Rinku grins over the edge of the ring. “Don’t feel too sorry for yourself,” he says. “That wasn’t bad for a human.”

Hiei stands. His body tingles where the blood flow returns to all of the places it was cut off. He nods toward Kuwabara. “You should thank him for your life.”

Rinku blinks in confusion. Hiei holds his hand at his side like it’s still trapped by the strings, and summons his spirit sword: it grows and grows, a thin, deadly line until it hits just below Rinku’s feet.

Rinku stumbles back in alarm. “You--but why--?”

Kuwabara pats Hiei down looking for injuries. “Hey, are you okay?”

Hiei waves off his fussing. “I’m fine.” He doesn’t break eye contact with Rinku until the toddler gets it.

The undercurrent is not lost on Kuwabara. “Uh, what’s going on?”

Hiei drags him back to the rest of Team Urameshi. At least Yusuke’s still asleep and didn’t see him lose the first fucking match. “Nothing.”

He’s just letting everyone know that the tiny human everyone underestimates is more of a monster than an actual demon.

[intobarbarians]

part four to this

***

Kuwabara spends all morning correcting his form.

“You’re using too much force,” he says. “Let the blade do the work.”

Hiei slowly practices each kata like Kuwabara showed him instead of chucking the sword straight at his jagan. “This is taking too long.”

“The basics are important. The fun stuff will come later and more easily when you’ve mastered the fundamentals.” Fun stuff--like the single slash that cut Seiryu in half. Hiei represses a shiver. Maybe Kuwabara doesn’t earn any points for elegance, but he does well enough with what he’s got.

“You sound like my math teacher,” Hiei grumbles. He still doesn’t understand algebra.

Kuwabara smiles. All three of his eyes shine with pride.

Why does that smile always make his heart skip a beat? Hiei shakes his head. It must be because it reminds him of Shizuru.

“You should listen to your teacher then! You’re finishing your homework like Yukina asked you to, right?”

Hiei graduating junior high turns out to be as important to his sister as her education is to him--that is, a fuck ton.

He grits his teeth. “It’s completely pointless.” He’s doing more homework now than he ever has in his whole life. But Yukina’s eyes had skillfully filled with tears as she said, “It’s my dream to go to the same high school as my big brother!” The absolute worst part of her whole performance is that Kuwabara saw it, and he’d genuinely cried. What else could Hiei do in the face of their combined waterworks except promise he’d do his best not to flunk?

Kuwabara gently corrects his wrists to make sure the blade is perfectly vertical to the ground. “You’re making good progress. If we had more time, you could become one of the greatest swordsman in the country! We should get you a better teacher, at some point.”

Hiei draws the sword over his head, then swings forward like he’s casting a fishing line. That’s the problem, isn’t it? There isn’t enough time. “What about the person who taught you?”

He strikes gold on an awkward subject. Kuwabara looks away. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Interesting. “Didn’t part on good terms?”

Kuwabara holds his hand out for his sword. Hiei reluctantly gives it back. He technically has his own, but there’s something different about handling a real blade rather than his spirit sword. “No, but also...not no.”

Hiei crosses his arms and waits for an explanation.

Kuwabara points to the jagan. “The same guy who taught me how to use a sword is the same guy who gave me this--don’t you dare get any ideas.”

Hiei tries to look innocent. “What?” He could win the tournament easily if he had something as powerful as the jagan under his belt.

He’s not very persuasive. Kuwabara glares at him suspiciously. “I nearly died getting this! Twice, actually. The surgery literally takes twenty-four hours and there’s no anesthesia.”

Don’t they have drugs on Makai? “Why did you get it if it’s so dangerous?”

Kuwabara sheathes his sword. He pulls out the headband in his pocket and wraps it around the jagan. Hiei hates it when he does that. He shouldn’t hide his power from the world. “I was dumb and I lost something really important to me. The jagan is the only way I could find it again--or it was supposed to be. It didn’t help, actually.” The grief on his face is heartbreaking. Whatever Kuwabara lost must be more valuable than gold.

“Was it worth it?” If Hiei had the jagan, there would be no question.

Kuwabara shrugs. “I was stronger before I got it.”

Hiei almost laughs. It sounds like complete bullshit, until the spirit awareness he’s despised his whole life urges him to reconsider Kuwabara’s words.

The laughter dies in his throat. “You’re serious.”

“Well, duh. Like I said, the surgery was awful and I’ve never fully recovered from it. I don’t know if I even can.”

Hiei can’t wrap his mind around it. Just how strong did Kuwabara used to be?

Strong enough to kill Toguro?

“I don’t know,” Kuwabara says. “Maybe?”

The jagan loses a little of Hiei’s respect. “Can’t you take it out? At least for the tournament?” He would finally have a reason to honestly tell Yukina he’s coming back home when he calls her before bed.

Kuwabara sighs. “First of all, this is not like loading a previous save in a video game. I’m not going to magically get my old stats back if I ask Shigure to take out the jagan.” Shigure, huh?

Kuwabara doesn’t realize his mistake. “Secondly, he put a pocket dimension in my skull so that the jagan could go somewhere that wasn’t going to squish my brain, and then he had to build a whole network of psychic nerves so that I could control the jagan with my mind. It took me almost a year before I could leave his place and not get eaten by every asshole on Makai. It’s why he taught me how to use a sword. I was so weak I would have been dead meat without a little extra protection.”

He grinds the heels of his hands in his eyes. Hiei regrets bringing this up for him. “Don’t you think I’d go there right now and let him scramble my head if it meant we’d win this thing?” Kuwabara whispers miserably. “I don’t want you to die--any of you.”

They agree on one thing, at least. “I don’t want to die, either.” Yukina’s already picked out which high school she wants them to attend. They have a drama club and she likes the uniform. She says he’s got a good chance at passing the entrance exam, which is probably the real reason she’s got her heart set on it. Somehow, he’s got to survive this stupid fucking tournament and go back to school and his sister.

But what about Kuwabara? Shizuru said he’s Hiei and Yusuke’s age. What does he look forward to? Sleeping in more parks? Picking up odd jobs here and there at Koenma’s whim? There has to be something more than that. How is he going to live unless he has a reason?

I’ll just have to protect him, Hiei thinks. He promised Shizuru he would look after Kuwabara. He promised.

[intobarbarians]

part fourteen to this

***

Kuwabara is sitting outside of their hotel room when Hiei returns. He thrusts an enormous platter of dumplings under Hiei’s nose and says, “Here. I fought off several hungry demons to save these for you at the buffet. The battle was brutal and many fingers were bitten, but I emerged victorious in the end.” He pounds his chest with one fist for emphasis. “No need to thank me! Some are pork and some are peach.” Kuwabara picks one at random and demonstrates with a bite. It’s peach.

Hiei stares at him. “What are you still doing up?”

Kuwabara eats his dumpling. “Waiting for you. Duh.”

Why?

Kuwabara starts in on his second dumpling. “Because we’re on an island full of people that want to kill us.”

He makes an excellent point.

Hiei puts his back against the wall and slides down until he sits beside Kuwabara. He reaches for a dumpling: pork. “Everyone else is asleep?”

Kuwabara nods. “Yusuke literally called me paranoid.”

That’s rich coming from him. “He knows I can take care of myself.”

Kuwabara doesn’t look at him. “Yeah, but maybe it’s nice to have someone make sure you’re okay--even if that someone is just me.”

Shit. He didn’t mean to make Kuwabara feel bad.

Even demons can feel unwanted.

He's on the verge of apologizing, but Kuwabara plows on before Hiei has a chance. “Jin and Toya came by after you left. They explained that their sponsor had his head bashed in by Toguro--he wasn’t a big fan of how we got cheated that last round.”

Toguro’s name fills him with dread. “How thoughtful of him. I was going to use my wish after we win the tournament for the deaths of every single member of the committee. If Toguro keeps picking them off I might be able to wish for something else.”

The dragon yawns. A B class at most.

He expects Kuwabara to be disappointed in his blood thirsty nature again, but instead he looks thoughtful. “Toguro sent a pretty strong message--we probably won’t have to worry about any more cheating for the rest of the tournament. He really wants to fight Yusuke.” He takes a small bite of his dumpling. “We’re sleeping on the floor tonight, by the way. Yukina and Shizuru took your bed and Keiko and Botan took mine.”

Hiei blushes. Shizuru is sleeping in his bed?

“I wish she wasn’t here,” Kuwabara mumbles. “Some of these guys knew Tarukane. What if they recognize her and kidnap her again?”

Hiei has to consciously relax his jaw; he won’t let any of those bastards lay a finger on her. “She’s the safest place she can possibly be--with us.”

Kuwabara smiles faintly. It’s sadder than his usual smile. “How did you know she’s my sister?”

What version of the truth protects both of them? “It was on the videotape Koenma sent Yusuke when he assigned us to rescue her.” Nevermind that Hiei never saw that part of the tape.

Kuwabara doesn’t buy it. “Did Yusuke tell you?”

Hiei bristles. So what if he did? “We’re friends.” Kuwabara only showed up a few months ago; he and Yusuke have known each other for years, even if they knew each other’s fists better than each other’s personalities for many of them.

“I’m not mad,” Kuwabara says. Did he eat all of the food Shizuru gave him? He’s still only on his second dumpling. “I think it’s nice you guys trust each other like that, even though it’s my secret.”

The dragon none too subtly draws a mental image of a crayon baby with orange hair tumbling out of the sky in Hiei’s brain. He envies your bond.

No one has envied Hiei anything, but his friendship with Yusuke is different. It is special. He would die for Yusuke, like he would die for Yukina, like he would gladly die for Shizuru.

He loves so many more people than he thought himself capable of loving.

He scarfs down another dumpling. “You should tell her.”

Kuwabara shakes his head. “I can’t.” Hiei strains to hear his words.

“If I had a brother, I’d want to know,” Hiei lies. He probably does have half-siblings somewhere. His scumbag father could have dozens of kids across the country for all he knows, and Hiei has zero desire to know any of them.

“She’s better off without me.”

Why is he being a stubborn fool? It breaks Shizuru’s heart to hide that she’s his sister. “Isn’t that for her to decide?”

Kuwabara has endless excuses. “I don’t have any way to prove it to her.”

“It’s an absolutely ludicrous thing to lie about.”

Kuwabara delicately strokes his neck. “People do all kinds of shit for Hiruseki stones. Those stupid fucking rocks have done more harm than good.”

Hiei agrees, but Kuwabara is not the type of person to be motivated by greed. If he were not her brother in truth, Shizuru might still let him peddle such a lie. She would see a kid who wants, more than anything else in this fucking world, to be loved. She could be a big sister to such a kid, blood or not.

“I don’t even have ice powers,” Kuwabara says. He chuckles at his own confession. “I’m half-ice demon, but I can’t even chill a soda can.”

Hiei frowns. No, that can’t be right. “But you offered to cool me down when we were fighting Team Masho.”

“Yeah,” Kuwabara says. “I was gonna dunk you in an ice bath or something.”

Unbelievable.

Children of two worlds usually take after one parent more than the other. Mastery of both fire and ice would be an incredible feat. The dragon peruses Hiei’s memories. You’ve never seen him attack with fire, either.

Hiei shoves a dumpling into Kuwabara’s hands. “Eat up. There’s too many for me to finish alone.” Not true. He could eat all of this and more.

He asks the dragon, what do you know about the jagan?

The jagan feeds on massive amounts of spirit energy from the user, but the rewards are handsome for those who learn to control it. Your friend is not using it to its fullest potential. He seems disinterested in most of its abilities.

Tell me something I don’t know.

For him to have successfully survived the surgery, Shigure is either a highly skilled surgeon or Kuwabara was an A class demon.

I don’t understand what you mean by class.

Spirit World’s classification of power. An A class would handily win this tournament. No one here can compare with the strength of an A class--expect perhaps the fox in his true form.

Hiei watches Kuwabara eat. How can he become as powerful as he once was?

The dragon considers Kuwabara through Hiei’s eyes. He relies on his brute strength and incredible endurance to win fights. The jagan is not a tool he utilizes in combat.

So he just needs to use it more?

Imagine where your psychic powers would be if you had been training them up to this point.

Exponentially more intolerable than they already are.

Kuwabara yawns. “We should probably go to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us.” The dumplings have all finally been eaten.

This man used to be an A class demon. Hiei wants to see him restored to his former glory.

The dragons hums in agreement. We will help him achieve so much more.

[intobarbarians]

part thirteen to this

***

The heat vision is effortless to control--with a little practice. Six minutes is all it takes for Hiei to master the switch between his normal vision and infrared.

Very good.

It certainly makes it easier to spot the sentries on either side of the cave entrance: two, tall, thorny stalks, topped off with red flowers in the shape of a star.

The fox has a fun sense of decor, the dragon says. Those flowers act as motion sensors. Get too close and they will eject a cloud of pollen into the air.

Fatal?

No, but you will be unconscious for the next ten hours, or until your friends find you snoring in the tide.

There has to be some way Kurama gets past them.

There are little sacs beneath the petals where the flower connects to the receptacle. Neutralize the sacs with a bit of spirit energy and you’ll have approximately fifteen seconds to sneak in. Same trick ought to get you back out, with no one the wiser.

You’re finally proving useful.

The dragon sniffs. What a rude host you are. I would have preferred the redhead.

Which one?

Either.

Hiei summons spirit energy in both of his palms. Ocean water laps at his boots. As long as he doesn’t stray too far inland, the waves will take care of his foot prints. Kurama will never know he’s been here.

He lifts his hands and directs a wave of energy at the neck of each flower; they gently tilt forward as if nodding off to sleep. It’s not Yusuke’s spirit gun, but Hiei’s still pretty fucking impressed with himself. Maybe he could master a similar technique in the future.

That, and so much more, little human boy.

He dashes past the dozing sentries into the mouth of the cave. There’s the faintest glow of light up ahead.

He hears Ichigaki cursing before he sees him. “-and when I’m free, I’ll dump that fucking fox into a vat of acid--oh! Hello, young man.” Ichigaki abruptly stops reaching for a beaker. One hand is almost free, while the rest of him is wrapped tightly in vines. “Could I persuade you into letting me down like a good lad?”

Hiei picks up the beaker to inspect it. It’s half filled with yellow liquid. This cave must be Ichigaki’s lab as well as his prison. “I don’t think you can, considering you injected a vial of who-the-fuck-knows-what into my leg the last time we spoke.”

Ichigaki sighs. “I told you, or at least told your friends while you were within hearing range: it’s a solution of DNA taken from the Dragon of the Darkness Flame.”

“What’s so special about this dragon that you had a sample of its DNA with you at all times?”

Oh goody. I love hearing about me.

“The Dragon is a most fearsome creature that lives in the darkest abyss of Makai--that’s Demon World to you, young man. Every few hundred years or so, it surfaces to wreak havoc on the upper planes, the parts of Makai closest to the human realm. There’s no other monster quite like it, and we are from a world of monsters. We always know when it chooses to strike; the black flames left in its wake are quite distinctive.”

The dragon preens.

“Sounds like its DNA would be pretty valuable to you--why inject me with it?”

Ichigaki shrugs. “For fun, mostly.”

This fucking guy. “You have a pretty messed up idea of fun.”

“My idea of fun is influenced by what I can learn, and I have been learning so much from your kind, young man. I believe humans are an untapped resource. The spirit energy you all possess is truly incredible and worthy of study. We should be doing more with your people than simply eating you.”

Hiei can’t help the laugh that bubbles up. “Eat us?” He tries to picture Kurama smacking his lips over a plate of human kidneys. Ludicrous. And yet--

It was more common in the old days, when the barrier between Makai and Earth was so porous demons could come and go as we pleased. Spirit World has since cracked down on such behavior. Now, you’re something of a delicacy, eaten only by those powerful enough to flout Spirit World’s regulations.

I can’t exactly say I’m sorry to hear that.

The dragon is somber. Makai is extraordinarily resource poor. The very ground in our realm is sick, too corrupted to feed the masses. Spirit World’s rules mean that many demons starve to death.

You sound very sorrowful for someone who apparently preys on your own kind.

I can mourn my brethren, even as I delight in their fear of me.

“--so you see, while I could have injected any number of demons with that solution--and many would have been quite willing!--I believed only a human might have survived the recombination process. And look at you, young man. You stand and breathe as a testament to my intellect.”

Hiei rolls his eyes. “I’m alive because I fought to be. It has nothing to do you.”

Ichigaki wiggles like a rat caught in a cheese trap. “You certainly do deserve some credit, of course. But, the experiment has only just begun. You need someone to observe your new condition and to treat you, if necessary. I am the only person qualified in either of our realms to do so.”

Ah, Hiei was wondering when he would play this card. “I only need one thing from you, actually: where is Shigure?”

“This again?” This, always. “Honestly, the last I heard he was serving as one of Mukuro’s inner guard.”

“Mukuro?”

Ichigaki laughs. “One of the Three Kings, young man! You truly know nothing of our politics, don’t you?”

Hiei tries again. Who the fuck is Mukuro?

As he says--one of Three Kings ruling a prominent swath of territory in Makai. You’ll find it very difficult to swipe your prize from Mukuro’s hands. The inner guard are fiercely loyal to their king.

Hiei holds up the beaker to Ichigaki’s face. “What is this stuff?”

Hiei sees the exact moment alarm seizes his face. “Be careful with that, young man! If you drop that it will doom us both!”

Do you agree with his assessment?

Partially. The substance is mildly caustic; Ichigaki probably intended to use it to free himself from the vines. Simply dropping it will not do much. If the liquid were combined with an open flame, however-

Hiei considers his options.

Ichigaki starts to sweat. “If you release me, I promise to devote my full resources to curing you. I can’t guarantee anything, of course. That is the way of science, after all, but I can--”

“Shut up,” Hiei says. “I don’t want to be fixed.” He turns on a Bunsen burner and begins to leave.

“Please!” Ichigaki cries. “You’re not really going to leave me here, are you? Aren’t humans more compassionate than that?”

Hiei stops. “For all of your experiments, you really don’t know anything about us, do you?” He throws the beaker at the burner and starts running. Ichigaki’s scream of rage dies out when he breathes in the toxic fumes.

Hiei knocks out the flower sentries and bolts into the open air.

He runs until he’s safely out of the flower’s motion sensor range. “Think my cover up is convincing enough?”

I don’t believe the fox will suspect a thing.

“I don’t care if Kurama knows,” Hiei says. “I just don’t want Kuwabara to find out.”

He would never look at Hiei the same way if he knew.

[intobarbarians]

part twelve to this

***

Zeru waltzes up to Kuwabara while Hiei is at the buffet piling mountains of mashed potatoes and teriyaki chicken on his plate. Yukina wordlessly spoons steamed broccoli on top of the potatoes. She’s pretty concerned by his recent eating habits: this is his fifth helping and he's still insatiable.

My apologies, the dragon says. I’m just busy trying to fix all of your internal bleeding.

“Is this seat taken?” Zeru bats his eyes at Kuwabara like he didn’t personally attempt to turn him into a shish kebab yesterday.

Well, he can fuck all the way off.

Hiei dumps his plate next to Kuwabara. He was sitting in between Botan and Yukina, directly across from where he could sneak glances at Shizuru, but he bares his teeth at Zeru and says, “Yes--by me,” like it’s been true the entire evening. He doesn’t break eye contact as he slides into the chair.

Kuwabara has the nerve to look baffled by their exchange.

Rinku whispers to Yusuke, “Zeru’s been a new man since Kuwabara won their match. He’s been burning fewer people to death, which is nice.”

Chu drinks directly from a gallon of milk. “But he’s gotten way more irritating. It’s always ‘Kuwabara this, Kuwabara that. Do you think Kuwabara will notice me now that it’s been hours since I tried to kill him?’ That sort of thing.”

Hiei stifles his annoyance by shoveling chicken into his mouth. Zeru has no business cozying up to Kuwabara--he lost. Kuwabara should have killed him--or Hiei should have fought him instead and killed him. He still could.

A rib pops back into place. Eat your food.

Chu pointedly kicks a chair back. “Let the kids have dinner in peace, Zeru. You can talk fire demon shop with Mr. Kuwabara later.”

Zeru sulks at Chu’s insistence. He smiles at Kuwabara and says, “Maybe we can get dessert.”

Kurama interrupts before Hiei can stab Zeru to death with his fork. There’s dirt under his fingernails and a steely look in his eye. “Ichigaki has been dealt with for now.” He signals for a waiter and orders a cup of tea.

Yukina watches Hiei polish off the broccoli. “What exactly happened to you?”

He smears a floret in the last of the potatoes. “I got turned into a science experiment by a real life mad scientist.” He gets up for a sixth helping after shooting Zeru a warning look.

Yukina grabs his wrist before he can leave the table. “Yes, but what does that mean?”

“It means that no one knows for sure what’s happening with Hiei right now,” Kurama says. “Not even Ichigaki.”

Hiei slips on his poker face. We already guessed as much.

“Can that bastard fix Hiei or not?” Keiko squeezes Yusuke’s hand. He blames himself for Hiei ever getting mixed up with Spirit World in the first place, so naturally it must be his fault that Hiei is...whatever he is now.

There’s a slight twinge at the back of his throat. Just doing a little redecorating.

Hiei sits back down. Yukina’s hand is an anchor. She’s steadied him for as long as he can remember. His heart seizes with a terrible thought: after Ichigaki fucked up his DNA, are they still twins? Is he still her brother?

Yukina smiles. She always knows when his brain is being stupid. “Whatever happens, I know you’re still you.”

At least one of them does.

Kuwabara slides his food onto Hiei’s plate. Hiei frowns. It looks like Kuwabara didn’t eat a single bite. “Here, have mine. I didn’t even do anything today.”

That’s not true. He stopped Yusuke from doing something he would have regretted forever.

Shizuru kicks Kuwabara’s shin. He winces when she says, “It’s not good for growing kids to skip meals. I’ll get you another plate.” She ignores his protests and comes back with two.

He stares at the bok choy and the salmon and the fried rice and the marinated beef ribs.

“You don’t like it?” Shizuru asks, way too casually. She very deliberately chose each of these dishes.

Kuwabara shakes his head. “It’s all my favorites, actually.” He sounds confused.

Shizuru watches him closely. She’s trying to bait Kuwabara into mentioning their blood relationship.

Hiei steals a bite of Kuwabara’s fried rice. He’s clearly not ready to have that particular discussion. “Start eating or I’ll eat it for you.”

“Hey!” Kuwabara swats his hand away. Hiei steals a piece of salmon because he can. Kuwabara sighs at his persistent rudeness, then shyly smiles at Shizuru. “Thanks for this.”

Shizuru nods, pleased to do this small thing for her brother. Hiei knows the feeling; taking care of Yukina has made the same happiness bloom in his chest innumerable times.

He catches Kurama giving him a discerning look. “What?”

“How do you feel? You took a pretty bad beating in the arena.”

“I feel fine.” Which is true. Nothing feels broken.

You’re welcome.

That, apparently, only adds to Kurama’s concerns. “But you shouldn’t be fine,” he insists. “You should be in the infirmary, unable to get out of bed for at least three months.”

Hiei shrugs. He’s always healed fast. The broken tibia from when he was a child healed in no time. He didn’t even get an infection from lying in the dirt until sunrise.

“Those with an abundance of spirit energy always recover quickly,” the Masked Fighter says. She’s declined to eat since it would require taking off her mask. See? She gets it. “But that alone doesn’t quite explain how quickly you’ve bounced back from your fight.”

They all look to him for answers--except for Kuwabara, who happily gnaws on a rib bone.

Hiei finishes his meal and stands. “I don’t know what to tell you,” he says. “Why not worry about this later? As long as I can fight in tomorrow’s match, there isn’t a problem.”

He leaves before they can argue. There’s still one item left on his to do list.

***

Of course, Yusuke chases after him. “Hey!”

Hiei turns just in time for Yusuke to sock him in the face. He almost falls straight on his ass, but Yusuke grabs him by the collar of his shirt and reels him in so Hiei’s almost eye to eye with his fury. “If you had died back there, I would have been the one to tell Yukina. Can you imagine that? I would have had to tell your little sister that her brother died like a big fucking idiot, that he left her alone and I couldn’t stop him.”

He can imagine it, is the thing. It makes him sick to think of it. They have no money. If Yukina didn’t drop out of school to find a job, she would have been forced to go back to their grandmother. She would have been all alone with a woman who sought to control her every move. “If I wasn’t willing to do what was necessary to win, then it would have been all of our families being informed of our untimely demise. Your mother and Kurama’s. Shizuru and Keiko, as well as whoever the Masked Fighter left behind.” Yusuke, he thinks, is probably the only family Genkai really has. “I didn’t see what other choice I had.”

Yusuke laughs. It is not a pleasant sound. “But you had a choice, so let me make this clear in words that might just get through that thick head of yours: don’t you ever try to sacrifice yourself. Do you hear me?”

Hiei thinks Yusuke is going to hit him again, but he hugs him tight instead. “It wouldn’t have just been Yukina,” he whispers miserably. “I would had to tell Mr. Yukimura why you weren’t lurking around the restaurant for shifts anymore. I would have had to tell Principal Takenaka why you weren’t ever coming back to class, even though your attendance is as terrible as mine. I would have had to tell my mom why she needed to stop asking if you were coming over. You matter, you stupid asshole.”

Hiei hugs Yusuke back. “I could say the same to you, moron.”

They hold each other until they stop sniffling. “Well, that’s enough crying for...forever.”

Hiei chuckles, but he doesn’t need his spirit awareness to know they have wells of tears left to weep. “Go back to the others. I’ll be there soon.”

Yusuke wipes his eyes with his sleeve. “Where are you going?”

“Nowhere. Just a walk.” There were enough clues on Kurama’s clothes to give Hiei a good idea of where he’s keeping Ichigaki.

“You know you’re my best friend, right?” Yusuke says. “Half dragon or not.”

“Yes.” Hiei looks at the grass beneath his feet. “You’re my best friend, too.”

“Good. As long as you know.” Yusuke tries to give him a noogie, but Hiei trips him. “Ow, okay. Good night, you jerk!”

Hiei heads to the shore. “Good night, Yusuke.”

[intobarbarians]

part three to this

***

Toguro brings down a building on Yusuke’s head and says, “If you don’t fight in the Dark Tournament, I will hunt down and kill everyone you know and love.”

Yusuke trembles in his shoes. Toguro buttons his coat. Like an after thought, he casually adds, “Make sure the little one comes, too. He’s also a special guest.”

Hiei watches it all happen from the overpass a block away. That man is dead, he thinks. I killed him.

But Toguro keeps walking away.

He finds a concrete wall and starts pounding away at its face. His fists are bloody and torn and the rock crumbles beneath the incessant beating. I killed Toguro. I killed him. I killed him.

Hiei has spent his whole life punching things. He’s beaten up men three times his size when they leer at Yukina. He’s broken doors and windows and he’s shattered his own body more times than he can count. He has fought every goddamn day to be the strongest there is.

Then he met Yusuke Urameshi, who is stronger. Now there are demons and monsters and promises of carnage if Hiei doesn’t do exactly what they say, and they are all stronger still.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

A long shadow covers Hiei from the sunset. Kuwabara jokes, “What did that wall ever do to you?”

Hiei turns and snarls. “What the fuck do you want?” He wants to scare Kuwabara off with his rage, but he’s terribly afraid that what Kuwabara actually sees is his total, unshakeable terror.

Kuwabara carefully hides his pity. “Came by to see how one of the Dark Tournament’s special guests is doing--they don’t invite just anybody to these shindigs, you know.”

Hiei sees through Kuwabara’s false cheer immediately. “I take it you’re invited, as well.”

Kuwabara nods. “Kurama, too.”

At least they can all be completely fucked together. “Isn’t this exciting. I’d rather be fighting in an underground tournament for the enjoyment of some goddamn robber barons who should be drawn and quartered in the fucking streets than studying for high school entrance exams, anyway.” The injustice of it infuriates him. Anger and panic and fear are an awful cocktail that set his blood on fire.

Hiei turns and starts punching the wall again.

Kuwabara gently catches his hands. “Hey, hey.”

Hiei tries to shake him off, but Kuwabara is unmovable. “Let go of me!”

“Stop hurting yourself and I will. It doesn’t do anyone any good breaking your hands like this.”

“It doesn’t matter!” Hiei shouts. He struggles futilely in Kuwabara’s arms. “We’re all going to fucking die anyway!”

The ensuing silence is loud. They spend a few seconds listening to each other pant.

Kuwabara tips his forehead against the back of Hiei’s skull. “Give us some credit, will you? We might not die.”

Maybe Kuwabara won’t, and maybe Kurama and Yusuke won’t, either, but Hiei recalls exactly how Maze Castle went down. He’s the fucking weakest out of all of them. He’s going to die and Yukina will be all alone. Hiei promised her he’d never leave her, not when they don’t have anyone else in the world and never have.

“I hate this.” God, is he crying?

“I know.”

“I hate this!” Kuwabara patiently absorbs all of Hiei’s weight. Why does he feel safe here? He’ll never be safe again. “I wish I never met Yusuke. I wish I never went to Genkai’s tournament. I wish I never agreed to fight the Saint Beasts. I wish I never rescued-”

The words catch in his throat. How can he think that? How can he think that for even one moment?

Kuwabara knows what he meant to say. “It’s okay.”

“Shut up.” Nothing about this is okay. Shizuru would still be imprisoned and tortured into making Hiruseki stones if Hiei hadn’t helped Yusuke save her. The most beautiful and incredible woman in all of the worlds who Hiei loves so much--how can he regret setting her free?

Kuwabara sighs. “You’re right. I should have spoken more clearly. The situation we’re in is fucking terrible. Absolutely no doubt it! There is a non zero chance that either death or dismemberment is in our near future. But the things you’re feeling right now? Those are okay. I promise; you’re not a bad person.”

There’s a lot Hiei could say to that. He wants to find everyone responsible for this fucking tournament and tear them into pieces. He wants to bathe in their blood and make them regret, with every second he allows them to live, ever fucking with him.

What comes out is, “They’re threatening my sister. If I don’t fight, they’re gonna kill Yukina.” They want to kill her, all because she has the misfortune of having Hiei for her brother.

“Yeah, that’s pretty standard for the Dark Tournament. They threatened Kurama’s family, which was real fucking stupid of them. That’s one messenger they’re not getting back. If I had a family, they’d probably-” Hiei feels Kuwabara’s breath against the back of his neck. “I guess they’d have to find her, and they probably would.”

Hiei stays quiet. He’s not sure if Kuwabara knows that he's aware Shizuru is his sister.

“I’m gonna do my best,” Kuwabara says. “I swear--I’ll do my best to protect your sister and Yusuke’s mom and Kurama’s family and win the Dark Tournament.”

Hiei looks at the wall he spent an hour crushing into powder with his fists. Toguro demolished a fifteen story building--and all Hiei can do is this.

“How long did it take you to learn how to use a sword?”

“Ha.”

Hiei tilts his head back and glares.

Kuwabara grins that dumb, goofy smile of his. “Well, someone taught me the basics. After that, there was a lot of trial and error--mostly error. Some might argue that my technique leaves much to be desired.”

Hiei is one of those people, but beggars can’t be choosers. “Teach me.”

Kuwabara considers him for a moment. “Okay.”

Hiei is suspicious. “Okay?”

“We’ve got a few months before the tournament starts. Better use our time wisely and train like hell. Yusuke is already on his way to Genkai’s, I bet.”

“And Kurama?”

Kuwabara looks away. “He’s been waiting for me to bring you to the train stop for the last twenty minutes or so.”

Hiei blinks. “What?”

“Well, he and I were talking and we agreed to be sparring buddies. Then we talked some more and thought it would be great if you joined us! But somehow it ended up being me who got saddled with asking if you wanted to train with us--Kurama’s slick like that.”

These two demons, each a capable warrior in his own right, want Hiei--a human--to train with them?

Hell fucking yes, they do.

Hiei fights off a grin. “I’ll see if I can clear my schedule.”

Kuwabara openly smiles. “Great! Because we’ve got a little detour to make.”

He starts dragging Hiei down the street. “To my house?”

“Yep! You’re gonna tell your sister where you’re going for the next three months so she doesn’t get worried about you. Why are you groaning like that? Is your stomach upset or something?”

[intobarbarians]

part eleven to this

***

Risho smashes open Hiei’s rib cage with an uppercut. “Stay down.”

As if Hiei would ever give him the satisfaction. He swallows a groan as he pushes himself back on his feet; something inside has burst open. He can feel his body struggle to knit an organ back together.

That would be your spleen, the dragon supplies helpfully. 

The backseat driver makes an already difficult fight that much harder. Risho breaks another rib with his knee. Sorry, but have you tried not getting the shit kicked out of you? Is that a tactic you’ll be employing in the near future?

The goddamn dragon DNA keeps fucking with his vision. One minute he’s seeing like he normally does, with the usual limitations of the human eye and all the colors of the rainbow. Then, it’s like someone flips a switch: all he sees is heat. Risho is as cold as a snake covered in his Armor of Clay, but Kuwabara is a glorious star in infrared, hot and bright. Hiei could stare at him forever.

Focus, please. We’ve only just met. I’d rather you not die so soon.

Yusuke yells a truly astonishing number of obscenities at Risho. “If you lay another hand on my best friend, I’m going to break it!”

Best friend?

Yes, he means you.

Hiei swings for Risho’s face, but he easily avoids the punch.

I don’t know how to beat him, he tells the dragon. I’m fighting Risho and my own body at the same time.

He’s close to being completely drained of spirit energy.

Hiei looks back at Yusuke. That idiot would do anything to win if it meant the rest of his team would survive, he thinks fondly. Anything.

The dragon pieces together his intentions. I don’t recommend this particular course of action.

It doesn’t matter. It’s all Hiei can do. The team is what’s important.

“Do you have a death wish?” Risho snarls. He jams his fist into Hiei’s shoulder and dislocates the joint. Hiei hardly feels it. There’s so much pain that any more is meaningless. “Accept defeat, human, or you will die.”

“I love a good brawl as much as anyone else here, folks,” Koto says, “but even I can barely stand watching team leader Risho kick around a human child who isn’t putting up much of a fight.” Her ears twitch in disgust as Risho lands another kick to Hiei’s torso.

“Please let us out,” Kuwabara begs the nurse. “We’ve already been declared ineligible to compete for the round! Fucking please, lady! Please! He’s our friend.“

The nurse is stunned by the tears in his eyes. “You really care about your teammates, don’t you?”

“He does,” the Masked Fighter says, “but what’s more is that it’s pointless keeping us trapped in here. Hiei’s made his choice. The match will end soon.” Her energy pulses until it touches the barrier. It momentarily blinks out of existence before rematerializing. The nurse gapes in shock. “Maybe you really are a healer, Ruka. Your barrier has had an interesting side effect: it’s replenished my spirit energy more quickly than it would have otherwise returned.”

Ruka looks away. “It’s not worthwhile being a healer on Makai when your patients find more and more ways to die.”

Kuwabara, ever soft hearted, asks, “Is that how the shinobi recruited you?”

She shrugs. “My new job isn’t that different from my old one--I just get paid better.” The barrier comes down. Risho is too busy wailing away at Hiei to notice. “You should say goodbye to your friend while you can. Risho is going to kill him.”

“Thank you,” Kuwabara says. He runs off to join Yusuke and the others.

The Masked Fighter pauses before following him. “You’re a very adaptable person, Ruka. You should consider another career change. Preferably one where you’re not playing a cartoon villain.”

Ruka gives her a wry smile. “I’ve always wanted to host a talk show.”

The dragon gives up on getting Hiei to change his mind. Very well. If you insist on dying, at least make sure you win.

Hiei plans on it. He feigns a kick at Risho’s shin before sprinting full speed towards his teammates.

Genkai, I know that’s you. It would have been my honor to be your student. Look after Yusuke.

Kurama, I’ve never admired someone so quickly after meeting them. We could have gone on a crime spree for the ages, don’t you think?

Yusuke, you have saved my life a thousand times over since the first time we beat each other senseless outside of school. Let me repay the favor.

Kuwabara, fucking tell your sister who you are, you idiot!

He sends Yukina all the love in his heart.

Hiei spins on his heel and runs straight at Risho.

“What the fuck is he doing?” Yusuke cries. “That’s not spirit energy!”

“No,” Kurama says sadly. “It’s life energy. He’s going to sacrifice himself to beat Risho.”

Kuwabara screams his name.

Hiei’s vision flickers back to heat. A void of pure ice steps into the audience.

Shizuru cups her hands and yells, “Hey, kid! Look out!”

Hiei’s spirit energy flares back to life at the sight of her. He punches Risho out of the stadium without even looking.

Ah, the dragon says. I figured that would get your attention.

Keiko, Botan, and Yukina quickly run in behind Shizuru.

Hiei looks at Koto. She shrugs and begins the ten count. He starts walking toward his sister. “What are you doing here?”

“Yeah,” Yusuke says. He gives Botan the stink eye. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Yusuke.” Botan smiles like she wants to demand a match with him in the ring. “When an ice apparition of incredible power demands to know where her little brother is, you don’t argue. You get out of her way.”

Koto declares Hiei the victor just as he leaps out of the ring. Yukina leans down as far as she can to greet him. “Very impressive, big brother.”

Hiei jumps up the wall and lifts himself up by the railing. He pops his shoulder back in and says, “Shouldn’t you be studying?”

Shizuru smirks at him. He hopes he’s not blushing. “Shouldn’t you both be studying?”

Kuwabara hangs back shyly with the Masked Fighter. Great. He’s really going to ignore what could have been Hiei’s last words to him.

Yusuke yanks him down by his ankle. Hiei scrabbles at the railing to keep from falling. “Don’t think we’re not going to talk about what happened back there.”

Yukina presses their foreheads together. “Can you come home yet?”

Hiei hides a relieved smile. He’s not fucking dead. “Soon.”

The dragon stretches comfortably under his skin. Very soon.

[intobarbarians]

part eighteen to this

***

The slight twinge in his chest is a familiar pain. It passes too quickly for Hiei to remember when exactly he felt it before. He shakes off the ache, a little uneasy. His first instinct is to blame the dragon.

More redecorating?

Not me. A feeling of pure contentment. I have the place exactly as I want it.

Shishiwakamaru pulls his sword out from Ura Urashima’s neck. “Do I even need to fight you?” he asks. “You’re only a human. Why not save us both the trouble and concede the match?”

Arrogant prick.

Hiei draws Kuwabara’s sword from its scabbard. The spirit sword cuts through everything like butter, but he loves the way a real blade offers resistance. “You’re just afraid your ‘fans’ will see what you really are when faced with a challenge: absolutely nothing.”

Shishiwakamaru’s smile freezes. He wants to rip out Hiei’s throat for his insolence.

Excellent. This match might be some fun after all.

He blocks the first blow of Shishiwakamaru’s sword with his own. Shishiwakamaru leans in and snarls, “I was trying to be nice, you brat. Just for that, I won’t let you have the easy way out.”

Hiei kicks him squarely in the stomach. “Good. I don’t need it.” He pushes away Shishiwakamaru’s sword and swings for his knees.

Shishiwakamaru leaps back. His face morphs into something ugly before he gets himself under control. “If only you were of some renown, human,” he says. “I would unleash my full power on you with no hesitation, but what’s the point in going all out when it won’t bring me glory?” Shishiwakamaru chuckles. “The truth is you’re the one who is nothing. You’re just as insignificant as the rest of your species--what the fuck.”

The tip of Kuwabara’s sword grazes across Shishiwakamaru’s chest. “Sorry. I got tired of listening to you whine.”

Yukina cheerfully screams from the stands. “Get him, big brother!”

Hiei smiles. He hears Kuwabara drill the same advice into his head: Stay on the offensive. The best way to win with the sword is to be relentless. Don’t give your opponent an inch. You hear me, kid? Stay on ‘em.

He slashes at Shishiwakamaru’s arms and legs, his wrists and ankles. Hiei cuts off a chunk of hair from the left side of his skull. Would Makintaro buy dinner for this? It’s not quite a punch to the face.

Shishiwakamaru screams, and so do his fans.

Someone throws a tomato at Hiei. “How dare you touch Shishi’s hair, you awful beast?”

Hiei glares at Juri.

“Sorry.” She shrugs. “The audience isn’t competing, so there’s nothing I can do. You just have to deal with it!”

Hiei catches a cantaloupe and launches it back at Shishi’s fan club. The nerve of these people wasting food.

He’s on the verge of telling them to fuck off, but the twinge in his chest comes back, except it really fucking hurts.

Hiei doubles over. It feels like someone is pulling him apart from the inside out, taking the broken pieces and tearing them into smaller and smaller bits.

It’s the same pain he felt when Yukina came home late from theater rehearsal. “There was a car accident today. One of our classmates was killed. Do you know him? His name is--”

Hiei closes his eyes. Yusuke, what the fuck is happening to you?

Shishiwakamaru keeps screaming. “--and when I’m done with you, there won’t be enough for your family to bury!”

“Hiei, watch out!”

That was the second piece of advice Kuwabara had for him during training. Keep your eyes open. Don’t get so focused on the kill you’re not paying attention to your surroundings. You’re kind of intense, you know that?

Yeah, Hiei knows.

No, he’s literally telling you to watch out right now.

The fangirls’ celebratory screams melt into terror.

A thousand ghosts assault the stadium.

Shishiwakamaru spins his sword around and around. “Do you see now who it is you’re dealing with?” His laughter is like a banshee shriek. “I’ll kill everyone here if it means killing you!”

Botan wraps one arm around Yukina and the other around Keiko. She pulls them tight against her and throws up her hands to summon a shield. Her playful personality vanishes; she is every bit the personification of death Hiei sometimes forgets she is. The ghosts wearily avoid her energy.

The dead have no power against the reaper.

Zeru, annoyingly enough, fights as fiercely as he ever did in the ring to protect Hiei’s sister and friends. He fries every ghost that strafes by with a bolt of fire. He’s not even actively trying to catch Kuwabara’s eye or anything.

Rinku huffs. He bashes a ghost with his yo-yo. “Me and Chu are doing just fine by ourselves! Thanks for asking, Zeru!”

Kuwabara and Kurama fight back to back. The rose whip artfully eviscerates anything that gets too close to Kurama, but Kuwabara’s injured wrist means he’s slow to guard his right side. A ghost lunges for his neck.

Hiei thinks, Shishiwakamaru, you are a dead man.

Icicles skewer the ghost before it touches Kuwabara. Shizuru’s fury is breathtaking. She spins to Hiei and yells, “Finish this asshole, kid!”

With pleasure.

Hiei dances past a dozen ghosts. The attacks are random; Shishiwakamaru has no control over any of them.

He punches the smirk off of Shishiwakamaru’s face. That’s dinner.

He lifts the sword above his head. Shishiwakamaru pulls off the shawl around his shoulders. “Any last words? You might still have a few fans left alive in the audience to hear them.”

“Yeah,” Shishi says. “Enjoy your trip.”

Hiei blinks. “What?”

Shishiwakamaru wraps Hiei up in the shawl. Hiei practically lets him. Wow, he’s really scared of a sheer piece of fabric.

Um, if I may interject, this is not just any piece of fabric--

Shishiwakamaru’s smile is vindictive. “I hope you fall into a volcano.”

Fuck.

The world around Hiei shifts. The fearful cries of the dying are immediately silenced.

He looks around instinctively for Yukina, but the stands are empty.

It’s the old stadium, the dragon says. That went a lot better than I imagined. You could have ended up anywhere in the three realms, but you somehow stayed on the same island! Good job. I mean, you’re certainly not going to return to the ring in ten seconds, but you might be back in time for the next match--Hiei? Hiei?

He falls to his knees. Shit, shit, shit.

Hiei rolls to his side. He curls up into a ball because no one can fucking see him so why not?

This is what dying feels like, isn’t it?

It’s nothing so pleasant.

“Yusuke,” Hiei gasps. “You idiot.”

His best friend better not be dead again.

[intobarbarians]

part seven to this

***

Roto begs for mercy as the Death Plant takes root in his flesh. “Please, Kurama!”

Hiei is well aware of Kurama’s reputation for ruthlessness, but this surpasses even his expectations. Kurama curtly denies Roto’s plea with one word: “No.”

Roto screams. Flowers and vines tear him open from the inside out until his corpse blossoms into a macabre bouquet, just off center in the arena.

Kurama’s stony facade lasts until he exits the ring. He asks Kuwabara, in a quiet voice, “My mother-?”

The jagan, active since Roto threatened Kurama’s mother, finally closes. Kuwabara smiles. “She’s okay.”

Kurama exhales in relief. He looks a little more like his usual--human--self.

Hiei clenches his fist. What could he have done if Roto threatened Yukina instead? Endured the humiliation, he supposes. Sought justice after, when Roto was alone and without his tricks.

Zeru steps into the arena before Roto’s body can be cleared out. He motions for Kuwabara to join him. Smarmy bastard.

“Guess we’re saving the drunk for Yusuke,” Kuwabara says cheerfully. He musses Yusuke’s hair as he walks past him into the arena.

Yusuke flails in his sleep but Kuwabara manages to dodge his grabby hands. “Better win this, Kuwabara,” he slurs dreamily. “Don’t hold back too much.”

Zeru is a fucking asshole. He laughs as he sends a scorching fireball at Kuwabara the moment Koto begins the match.

Hiei can’t stop himself. He shouts, “Look out!” but Kuwabara isn’t quick enough to get out of the way. Hiei squeezes his eyes shut. He pictures Shizuru’s stricken face as he tells her that her little brother is dead, that Hiei failed to keep his promise and protect him.

Kurama lays a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Watch,” he says. Hiei reluctantly opens his eyes. He can just barely make out a dark shape still standing in the fire. Zeru’s laughter abruptly stops.

Kuwabara dispels the flames with a wave of his hand. Not even his cloak is singed. He screeches indignantly at Zeru, “I’m a fire demon, too, you prick! It’s in my tournament bio.” Kuwabara leaps across the ring and punches Zeru so hard in the face Hiei hears the crunch of his nose.

Zeru goes sailing backward into the wall. He doesn’t so much as twitch as Koto starts the ten count.

Kuwabara shakes out his fist. “Can you believe that guy? I was literally born on fire! I can take a little heat.” He jumps out of the ring as Koto declares him the winner.

Hiei taps Yusuke with his foot. “Nap time’s over.”

Yusuke replies, “Hey, Hiei, what do you think of me opening a ramen stand?” The fool is still sleeping.

Hiei smiles. “I think you should probably learn how to cook first.”

He can’t believe they might actually win this thing.

***

He hates it when he dreams. They always start with her.

He’s born screaming at the top of his lungs. It’s grating, even to his own ears. He wishes he’d just shut the hell up.

The nurse tilts him so his mother can see his face. She can’t hold him yet; she’s about to give birth to Yukina.

She cradles them both in her arms and waits for the happiness of finally holding her children to come, but it never does.

His grandmother nods approvingly at Yukina, but she will never acknowledge Hiei as her blood. “You look nothing like Hina,” she says. It is an insult, a curse. She means he looks like his father. She will say this all his life until he runs away and never goes back.

His mother tries to finish high school, but it’s too much with two babies at home. She drops out and she resents them for it. She resents them for destroying her future.

He keeps his mother up all night because he never stops crying, never stops needing to be held. He wants to be loved and no matter how hard she tries, she just can’t. She puts him in the crib with Yukina and his sister comforts him with a chubby fist. The first language they learn is gibberish only the two of them can understand.

The coroner will label his mother’s death an accident, but he sees her ghost. He will see her guilt and her shame, and he will see the grim reaper try and fail to coax her into moving on.

She tries to mother him in death like she couldn’t make herself mother him in life and it infuriates him, makes him sick with grief.

“Go!” he screams at her. “Just go! I don’t want to see you anymore!”

He doesn’t know if she crosses over or if she’s still wandering somewhere around the city, just out of his sight.

Stop, please, he begs his brain. Please. I don’t want to see this anymore.

That works, sometimes.

The memory fizzles into something unfamiliar: a dojo, packed with students bowing their heads in sorrow. A man lies unconscious in the middle of the room. He is dying.

“I can make him better,” an oil slick voice coos. “I can fix your master.” Three heads swivel towards the voice with hope in their eyes. “But it will come with a cost. Just a little thing.”

The dojo becomes a lab. The three students are chained to gurneys. The oil slick voice says, “I calculate a sixty three point seven percent chance of you all surviving this procedure. Those are the best odds yet!”

The three students stare in unison. There’s no more hope in their eyes. “Kill,” they chant. “Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill--”

The oil slick laughter echos in Hiei’s head as he bolts upright in his bed.

He fights to control the shaking before he throws off the covers and marches into Kuwabara’s room.

Kuwabara sleepily turns toward the sound of the door opening. Hiei doesn’t even have to wake him. “What’s wrong?”

“Ichigaki is controlling the members of his team. They’re being forced to fight and have no free will of their own.”

Kuwabara solemnly accepts his word without question, even though it’s two o’clock in the fucking morning. It surprises Hiei, a little. He’s not used to anyone but Yukina taking his psychic powers seriously. “Fuck,” Kuwabara says. “How do we help them?”

He doesn’t know. “They want us to kill them.”

“Well, fuck that.” Kuwabara sits up. “There’s got to be something we can do.”

He stumbles to his feet. Hiei swallows. Kuwabara only wears boxers to sleep, apparently.

He doesn’t notice Hiei’s unusually strong interest in carpet design. Kuwabara throws on his cloak and pulls Hiei along as he goes to wake the others. He smiles at Hiei. “It’s gonna be okay,” he says. “We’ll figure this out.”

Kill, kill, kill, the students had begged.

He hopes to hell Kuwabara’s right.

[intobarbarians]

part seventeen to this

***

Smoke from the Idunn Box shrouds the arena in dense fog. Kurama’s spirit energy fades and fades, growing smaller and weaker until it nearly blinks out of existence.

Kuwabara strains his neck to see past the fog. He keeps a firm grip on his injured wrist and says, “What the fuck is going on in there? Is Kurama okay?”

Hiei can’t see a goddamn thing with his normal eyes, so he switches to something better.

Ura Urashima is a mediocre heat signature, cackling in the center of the fog. “I’ll never get over how gullible humans are! One sad story and you fell all over yourself trying to rescue me like you’re the hero in some fairy tale. How pathetic, Kurama. This match will be easier than taking candy from a baby, because that’s what you are now!”

Juri looks like she’s about seven years old. She wraps her tail around herself and cries out for her mom.

Hiei scans for Kurama, but the Idunn Box is fucking with his vision. The entire arena has gone ice cold--

That’s not the fog.

A brush of energy clears the smoke. Ura Urashima spots Kurama first. He stares blankly for a moment, unable to reconcile what he sees with what it means. But at his heart, Ura Urashima is a coward, and cowards want to survive. He slowly stumbles backwards and raises his hands in a plea for mercy. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Don’t kill me, please!”

A silver-haired demon lazily stalks toward Ura Urashima. Hiei’s seen flashes of his presence in Kurama before, but they have never been formally introduced.

Kuwabara nudges him with his shoulder. “Yoko,” he breathes.

Yoko Kurama looks down at his body with a detached sort of amusement. “Perhaps I should spare you,” he says. “Thanks to your toy, I am restored to my true form.”

His power eclipses Toguro’s. Hiei glances at Kuwabara. He stares at Yoko Kurama in awe.

See what I mean by A class?

Shishiwakamaru swallows nervously. Onji, for once, demonstrates less than total ease, but perhaps not as much concern as he should, considering the legendary bandit on the opposing team.

He doesn’t expect to face the fox himself. There must be some limitation to the box’s magic.

Yoko Kurama has worked out as much for himself. He pulls a seed from his hair and drops it to the ground. In seconds, roots sprout from the seed until a gorgeous, white petaled plant grows large enough to bind a dozen men in its tendrils. “If you truly want mercy, you will explain the secrets of the box.”

Ura Urashima trips over his own feet. He pisses himself and cries, “I don’t know anything about the box! It was given to me by those two!” He points at Onji and Shishiwakamaru. “Me, Makintaro, and Kuro Momotaro--we’re just three low class demons who ran into these guys looking for bodies to fill out spots on their team. They gave us these items to augment our power. Ura Urashima isn’t even my name! It’s--” A blade impales his throat before he can complete his story. Yoko Kurama looks over the corpse at Shishiwakamaru in annoyance.

“Sorry, but those are trade secrets,” Shishiwakamaru says. “We can’t let just anybody learn them--I’m sure you understand.”

Yoko Kurama doesn’t immediately murder him with some flowers, so maybe he does.

The deaging process doesn’t last long. Juri, back to being old enough to order a beer, swiftly declares Kurama the winner.

Kurama is his usual self when he returns to his team. It’s disappointing to lose Yoko so quickly.

Kuwabara gushes so hard he nearly loses his hand. “That was fucking incredible!”

Hiei kicks Kuwabara’s leg out from under him. “Calm down before that hand goes flying into somebody’s mouth.”

Kuwabara pouts. “You’re a mean nurse.”

“And you’re a terrible patient.” They turn to the stadium entrance. Shizuru tosses her cigarette into a garbage can. “Hold still or you’re going to fuck up your injury even more.”

Kuwabara withers under her stern glare. “But it’s already healing,” he murmurs weakly.

Yukina once cut her finger chopping an onion for dinner. She tried to wave the whole thing off as a paper cut. The bandage was so soaked with blood that Hiei had to change it before dragging her to urgent care.

Hiei is supremely unsurprised when Shizuru descends on her little brother with the force of a spirit gun. “Don’t even try it with me, kid.”

Shishiwakamaru squawks from across the arena. “You rolled a free space! Which one of you losers do I have the honor of disemboweling?”

Kuwabara tries to jump to his feet, but Shizuru pins him with a look. “Nuh-uh.”

Hiei and Kurama sidle away while Kuwabara isn’t looking. “Shall we decide with a coin toss?”

Why not? This is what heightened spirit awareness is for. “Tails.”

They flip a quarter ten times before Kurama finally concedes. “Your spirit awareness is truly extraordinary.” He doesn’t exactly sound happy about it.

Hiei smirks. “Maybe Toguro would be willing to settle things with a game of rock-paper-scissors.” Yukina could sub in. While she’s never been plagued by visions of ghosts like her brother, she’s always been incredibly lucky when it comes to games of chance.

Shizuru pulls Kuwabara into her lap and demands his wrist. Kuwabara reluctantly obliges. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to try and speed this along. I’m not a miracle worker, but this isn’t going to heal before the finals on its own.” Shizuru furrows her brow in concentration. She’s beautiful all of the time, Hiei thinks dreamily, but she’s somehow even prettier when she looks like she wants to murder Kuwabara for getting hurt.

A delicate, blue light emits from her touch around Kuwabara’s wrist.

Kuwabara winces slightly. “I didn’t know the Koorime could heal people like this.”

“There’s probably a lot you don’t know,” Shizuru says. “But you can ask me, if you want to.” She so obviously wants him to ask.

Hiei looks down at Kuwabara’s sword. He hasn’t let go of it since Kuwabara’s match with Kuro Momotaro.

He doesn’t bother asking for permission. Hiei enters the ring with the blade in his hands. “Keep an eye out for Yusuke and Genkai, alright?”

“Hey,” Kuwabara says. “That’s my sword!”

Shishiwakamaru smirks. “So they chose their weakest member to fight me.”

Hiei rests his thumb on the hilt of the blade. He wonders if Makintaro will pay for dessert if he cuts off Shishiwakamaru’s nose.

[intobarbarians]

part five to this

***

Kurama and Kuwabara argue quietly in the bamboo. Hiei steps back behind a boulder before they notice him. So that’s why they’re late to dinner.

Kuwabara’s voice is low and furtive, but Hiei makes out every word he says. “-just be careful what you say to the kid, alright? He’s a human. He’s not like us.”

‘Kid’? Hiei rolls his eyes. They’re the same age.

Kurama raises a placating hand. “You want him to survive, don’t you?”

“Of course I do!” He’s so loud a few birds fly off in annoyance. Kuwabara brings his voice back down to a whisper. “But coaching him into embracing his inner killer is a step too far, don’t you think?”

“The Dark Tournament demands nothing less,” Kurama says. “There will not be many opportunities to show mercy or kindness--for us or our opponents.” He gives Kuwabara a pointed look. Hiei smirks. At least Kurama knows whose personality flaws he’s critiquing.

Kuwabara refuses to take those words lying down. “Mercy and kindness are why you’re still alive, or are you conveniently forgetting how Yusuke almost sacrificed himself to the Forlorn Hope so you and your mom can be together?”

A spark of dangerous intent crackles through the air. Did Kurama’s hair just change color? “I have forgotten nothing. I’m repaying Yusuke’s good deed by giving what tools I can to Hiei, so that we can all see this through to the other side.” Kurama’s shoulders slump by the tiniest fraction. Maybe Hiei imagined the trace of silver in his hair. “Or do you honestly believe I don’t care for either of their lives?”

Yusuke once said that Kurama and Kuwabara go way back. Hiei can see the camaraderie shine through between them. It’s not so different from the bond he and Yusuke have, no matter how much they both deny it. “Come on, man. Don’t play that card. You know I think you’re one of the sweetest people in the world, Yoko or not.” Kurama smiles at that. “It’s just--we can’t forget the big picture here.”

What’s more big picture than not dying?

“If--when we win, Hiei’s gotta go back to being a normal person. He’s got to go back to school and living with his sister. He’s got to do homework and buy groceries and unnecessarily scowl at everybody who looks at him.”

Hiei scowls.

“He can’t do that if he’s completely fucking traumatized! He can’t be around other people if we rewire his brain into shutting off his humanity so that he can kill without hesitation. He will never be able to move on and heal from whatever happens if we don’t try to protect his heart as much as we can!”

A flush creeps up Hiei’s neck. What does that oaf know about his heart? The only thing it needs to do is beat.

Kurama is quiet for a moment. “I understand your concerns, but our enemies are not as honorable as you.” Very few are, Hiei thinks scornfully. “They will look for any vulnerability to exploit, and they will not restrict themselves to the ring if we do a little too well for their liking.”

“We planned for this already, remember?” Hiei grits his teeth. He doesn’t remember receiving an invitation to that particular team meeting. “Your family, Yusuke’s, Keiko, and Yukina--we’re looking after them.”

Hiei nearly leaps out of his hiding spot. Is Yukina in danger no matter what he does?

“A precaution that will likely not be necessary. The Tournament Committee would have much more difficulty finding participants for their games if they didn’t keep their word at least some of the time.” Kurama sighs. “However, they won’t interfere if the other teams resort to such measures.”

Hiei rubs his forehead. The tournament might be his only chance to find out any information on Shigure’s whereabouts.

“I talked to Yukina about it,” Kuwabara says. “She said she’ll be on the look out for anything weird. I tried to get her to stay with Keiko for awhile, but she’s afraid their landlord will kick her and Hiei out if he sees a chance. He’s not fond of Hiei, apparently. What an absolute dick.”

Hiei adds it to the list of things he needs to take care of when he visits Yukina for his next round of homework. Make sure the bills are paid, the fridge is stocked, that his sister has the new scarf she’s been eyeing, and to beat the shit out of his good for nothing landlord.

Kurama chuckles. “I’m sure you took care of it.”

“Damn right I did--by asking Yusuke to make sure his mom took care of it.” Atsuko? “You know she’s semi-involved with the mob?”

That explains a lot about Yusuke, unfortunately.

Kurama and Kuwabara share a laugh. They’re probably thinking the same thing Hiei is. Kurama asks, “How do you think his training is going?”

Hiei remembers how Yusuke complained about being made to sleep with snakes and balancing on spikes with one finger for hours. Whatever Genkai’s cooked up this time must be a fucking nightmare.

Kuwabara tactfully says, “I’m sure he’s learning a lot.”

“You’re concerned about the toll the tournament might have on him as well, I’m sure.”

Kuwabara hesitates. “I’m really worried about Yusuke in general, to be honest.”

Why?

Kurama’s not as clueless as Hiei is. “So am I.”

“If our lives weren’t at stake, I’d say it would be better if he lost, you know? He’s too young to get it into his head that he’s the strongest there is.”

Yusuke can never rest on his laurels, because Hiei will always be right there chasing after him.

“I agree. Neither Yusuke nor Hiei understand that there are far worse things than Toguro lurking in the depths of Makai--creatures with power the Tournament Committee could never hope to control.”

Hiei shivers. God, what the fuck kind of place is Makai?

The kind of place of place a baby can get thrown off an island floating in the sky, a voice reminds Hiei. The kind of place where a kid like Kuwabara could get some magic eye implanted into his head, and nearly die for it.

The kind of place where Hiei might receive the same magic eye.

“And what about me?” Kurama’s voice draws Hiei out of his head. “Are you worried about me, too?”

“Sure,” Kuwabara says. “Although you’re both a fifteen year old boy and a three hundred year old fox demon, so I’m not exactly sure how to gauge your general mental health.”

Kurama honestly responds, “I’m not sure, either.”

That makes all three of them.

[intobarbarians]

part ten to this

***

Hiei can’t sleep. His pillow is too loud.

The nurse says, “If you delay your medical exam any longer, you will be disqualified from the round.”

“I already told you!” Kuwabara shouts. “We have an injured team member and it ain’t me. Just--please.”  He smooths back Hiei’s hair with a shaking hand. “Can’t you see to him first?” Hiei’s mouth is so dry. The forked tongue does nothing to wet his lips.

The nurse glances at Hiei. There’s a speck of pity in her eyes. “I have to examine you in the order of the charts I’ve been given.” What a load of horse shit. Somewhat more sincerely, she says, “I’m sorry.”

The Masked Fighter sighs. “Obviously, this is meant to take us out of the fight for as long as possible. The sooner we get these so called ‘check ups’ out of the way, the sooner we can help our team.”

A line of fire dances along the length of Kuwabara’s neck. He’s so furious he can barely keep his power in check. Hiei strains to get closer to his heat. “Fine!” Kuwabara growls. “Why not? Hey, nurse, I’d like to schedule my dental cleaning while we’re at it.” He gently sets Hiei down in the grass. “I’ll be back soon, okay? You’re going to be fine.” No. Kuwabara needs to stay.

The talons have already turned back into his useless fingers. He doesn’t have the strength to keep Kuwabara from leaving. Hiei watches helplessly as the Masked Fighter and Kuwabara enter the medical tent. It’s a trap.

The nurse gives each of them a cursory once over. “I recommend that you both sit out this round.”

Kuwabara nearly starts breathing fire. “On what grounds? I barely have a scratch on me!”

The Masked Fighter says nothing. She used up a lot of her energy utilizing the Spirit Wave.

A barrier goes up around the tent. “If you refuse to follow medical advice, then I’ll just have to keep you here--nurse’s orders.”

Kuwabara breaks the exam table in two. “You’re lucky I don’t hit women,” he says, and throws each half of the table against the barrier. They bounce off without doing any damage.

The nurse laughs. “I might not have much in the way of offense, but I make a mean barrier. You’re going to have to do way better than that if you want to break out of here.”

Yusuke slams his fist against his palm. “Dirty fucking cheaters! I’ll take all of Team Masho on if I have to!” He’s just as angry as Kuwabara is.

Kurama squeezes Yusuke’s shoulder. “Let me fight. I’ll win as many matches as I can. Should I fall, it’ll be up to you to finish the round.”

“No way, Kurama! You’re the only one who might be able to help Hiei--at least until we can catch a breather and make Doctor Fucking Asshole over there fix him.”

Ryo and Kai keep Ichigaki firmly pinned between them. “Don’t worry,” Mitamura says. “We’ll make sure he doesn’t slip away.”

Kurama shakes his head. “There’s nothing I can do for him except my part to ensure our victory.” He kneels by Hiei’s side. “Remember the reasons you have to live and hold on to each and every one of them,” Kurama urges. “We still need you, Hiei. Don’t even think about dying.”

***

His reasons for living:

Yukina, always. His sister has been his whole world since the day they were born. He doesn’t want to know the person he would be without her. They have the same eyes, just like their mother’s. Not even his grandmother could deny it, and she denied him everything.

Who is this?

Long, brown hair. Cigarette smoke. A sudden ice storm.

The woman I love.

And him?

A green uniform that doesn’t belong to their middle school. A house key and an offer to crash at his place any time: my mom is never home, man. She’s always out drinking. Your little sister can stay, too.

My best friend.

The voice continues flipping through his memories. The redhead. No, not that one. We’ll save him for later.

Roses. Algebra homework, his math scores improving a whole letter grade. Compassion and ruthlessness, intertwined.

My other friend. I don’t have many.

More than you think.

Yukina said you were looking for work. We need an extra server for the lunch crowd on the weekends. That’s right. My family owns the restaurant just outside the neighborhood. You’re friends with Yusuke, right?

My best friend’s girlfriend. My friend, too.

And there are still more friends.

Faded pink hair and the high score on a dozen arcade games. A ferryman’s oar and a briefcase full of gadgets.

What’s your point?

One more--why does he preoccupy so many of your thoughts?

Determination, loneliness. Demons don’t cry but this one does. A mulberry tree. A sword, his fists. The sister he protects from the shadows. Fire. Ice. Abandoned. My, my, my--

I don’t know. I don’t know.

Liar.

I don’t know.

The voice lets him get away with it. Lots of reasons to live, little human boy.

Lots of reasons for you to shut the hell up, chatty dragon bastard.

We’ll get along very well together, you and I.

***

Hiei swims back to consciousness. Kurama wins two matches and is pummeled half to death in the third.

Yusuke exacts justice on Bakken. Jin dissipates his rage and they get along like a house on fire. The Tournament Committee cheats them again and calls the fourth match a double loss. There is no one left to fight Risho.

Kuwabara pounds his fists against the barrier. “Let me out! I can still fight! Let me out!”

Yusuke looks around the stadium, hears the chants from the crowd calling for the deaths of his team. It drowns out the decent man in his heart.

“Why not?” His energy spikes, temporarily silencing the audience’s jeers. “They were never gonna give us a fair shake at this thing, so why the hell not?”

The dragon in Hiei approves.

“Because you’re better than them!”

It’s because they’re better than them that they have the right--

“No! Listen to me,” Kuwabara yells. “It’s not about what they deserve! They’re cheating scumbags. They don’t deserve anything! It’s about what you deserve! And you deserve to be able to live with yourself.” He looks Yusuke in the eye and pleads, “You deserve to be a good man.”

Yusuke’s awful rage peters out. He turns to Hiei and with one, swift shake of his head announces his decision. “Kuwabara’s right. Whatever happens--we have to live with it.”

Risho says to Koto, “Call the match already.”

Hiei stands. He tastes the dragon’s fire on his tongue as he steps into the ring. “Yes, call the match.” He grins at Risho. “I’m ready to begin.”

[intobarbarians]

part nine to this

***

The first bone he ever broke was his left tibia. It happened outside of grandmother’s apartment, when he was seven years old.

His grandmother always tried her goddamned hardest to keep him and Yukina apart. She made them sleep in separate rooms and enrolled them in separate schools. They ate at separate times, existing in separate worlds under the same roof.

He missed all of Yukina’s first grade plays. She missed his increasingly violent outbursts in school.

His grandmother reveled in every disparaging comment his teachers left on his report card. “You think it’s just me? Everyone sees you for what you are,” she’d say. “That’s the inescapable truth about you, boy. You’re destined for nothing good.”

What was there to say to that? On that point, they were agreed.

Outside his and Yukina’s rooms stood a grand, old tree. At night he’d slip into its waiting branches and carefully climb outside her window.

“Don’t listen to her,” his sister would say. He wanted to hold her hand but the branch was too far away. “You’re my very favorite person in the whole world, big brother! You’re the strongest, kindest, best brother I could have asked for.” He wasn’t so sure about any of that, but it was always wonderful to hear her say it, to believe it for him. “We’re going to grow up and go somewhere she’ll never find us and we’ll always be together.”

It seemed impossible. It had to happen.

Fights were common with his grandmother. He broke things--vases, furniture, Hina’s hand mirror. His grandmother delighted in his violence. She loved it when he proved her right.

Yukina would stretch her hand as far as she could after fights like those. They were too small to bridge the gap between, but they never stopped trying. “I wish I could protect you.”

He loved the oak tree. It was the only thing that kept him connected to Yukina.

He could have climbed it blindfolded, backwards, and with one hand tied behind his back, but still--

Still, his foot slipped.

He fell and hit the ground and he’s probably lucky he broke just his leg and not his back.

He looked up miserably at Yukina’s window, but he didn’t make a sound. His grandmother could never know they found a way to break her rules.

A neighbor found him when she was leaving for work. It had been hours.

The injection is an inferno in his veins. His cells are being ripped apart and it’s only his strength of will holding him together. He will be damned if he dies here, and especially if he dies before his old hag of a grandmother.

Hiei screams.

Yusuke lifts Ichigaki off his feet and slams him against the wall. The needle falls into the grass. “What the fuck did you do?” Shit. If Hiei doesn’t stop him, Yusuke will kill Ichigaki and how will he find Shigure then?

He tells his body to stand, to get the fuck up right now, but it refuses to obey him. He looks down at his arms. In between blinks of an eye he thinks he sees scales ripple across his skin.

Yusuke raises his fist. Killing intent pours off him in waves. “Start talking--or I start punching your stupid face in.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, young man,” Ichigaki says. “I am the only person who can help your friend over there. If you kill me or maim me in any way, then you might as well start composing his eulogy.”

Yusuke snarls at Koto. “Hey, ref, this guy just poisoned my teammate! Can’t you do something?”

Koto steps back in the face of Yusuke’s rage. “I’m sorry, but the match is over. There’s really nothing in the handbook that covers this kind of situation! Besides, Team Ichigaki already lost. It’s out of the Tournament Committee’s hands-”

Yusuke howls. “Are you kidding me? Look at him, he’s fucking dying!”

Kurama lays a hand on Hiei’s pulse. Hiei tries to pull away. It’s too cold. “He’s burning up. We’ve got to bring down his fever.”

“I’ve got him.” Kuwabara lifts Hiei effortlessly into his arms. He feels so warm. Is Kuwabara always like this? A comfortable furnace with heat to spare? Hiei sighs. He never wants to be anywhere else. “I’m gonna cool you off, okay?”

Hiei shakes his head. “Hotter.”

“I’m sorry, kid, but humans generally avoid cooking their brains in their skulls. Or so I’ve heard.”

He digs his talons into Kuwabara’s shoulder. His gasp is a lovely sound. “Hotter.”

Ryo picks up the needle Ichigaki dropped. “I’ve seen this before,” he says. “I’m pretty sure this is the same stuff we saw him inject into M4 and M5.”

“What?” Kuwabara cradles Hiei closer. Good. Now if only he’d turn up the heat. “The weird cat lizard people Kurama and I fought? That shit is what he shot Hiei up with?”

“Genetic splicing.” Kurama narrows his eyes at Ichigaki, who is rapidly losing confidence in his recent choices. “What sort of DNA was in that injection? If you do not answer me, the consequences will not be pleasant.”

Ichigaki laughs nervously. He’s seen what Kurama can do with plants. “Let’s not be hasty, my good man. Experiments can produce the most splendid results! Your friend might even thank me: rewriting the very building blocks of his DNA is none other than the genetic material of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame!”

Kurama’s eyes flash a dangerous gold. “A coward like you could never get close enough to such a beast.”

“Of course I didn’t collect the material directly! I had a few assistants willing to sacrifice themselves in the name of science.”

Two faces appear in Hiei’s mind. Young and foolish; they have no idea what Ichigaki is asking when he assigns them their fatal task.

Yusuke is an avenging angel. Hiei sees his spirit energy burn bright like a phoenix. He grips Ichigaki by the collar and demands to know, “Can you fix him or not?”

A bell interrupts Ichigaki’s reply. “’Scuse me, folks,” Koto says. “The Tournament Committee would like for me to relay a message: the next round is to begin immediately.”

The crowd erupts into cheers.

“Fine.” Ichigaki wilts under Yusuke’s glare. “We’ll take this outside then.”

“Not so fast, Team Urameshi.” Koto looks extremely reluctant to say the next part. “Your round three match starts now.”

[intobarbarians]

part eight to this

***

The crowd boos as the delay drags on.

Koto covers the microphone with one hand and furiously whispers, “Where the fuck is the rest of your team, Urameshi? The audience is getting antsy here!”

“I don’t know. I’m not their dad!” Yusuke grins. It’s more teeth than smile. “Why don’t we ask the good doctor over there? I’m sure he has some idea.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Ichigaki says. It’s the same oil slick voice from Hiei’s dream. “Perhaps they neglected to set their alarm clocks.”

“Hey, asshole, in case they didn’t teach you how to count while you were attending mad science school, your team is also missing two people.”

Ichigaki laughs. Hiei takes a single step toward him. Nothing would give him more pleasure than to rip that bastard’s throat out. The Masked Fighter grabs his elbow and quietly says, “Remember the plan.” Right. The plan. Well, Hiei has plans of his own.

“You’re very funny, young man! Is your ability to trade quips why they made you team captain? If so, bravo! You’re eminently qualified.”

The Masked Fighter intervenes before Yusuke can spit another school yard taunt. “Why don’t we just get this over with?” Her voice is softer and more girlish, but this is the most the Masked Fighter has sounded like Genkai outside of insulting Yusuke. “We each have three fighters. Let’s decide the match with a battle royale--the team with at least one member left standing wins.”

Ichigaki pulls out a calculator and punches in a few numbers. He glances at Yusuke and the Masked Fighter, then practically looks down his nose at Hiei. Good. It will make what Hiei has in mind later all the more satisfying when Ichigaki realizes how badly he’s misjudged him.

Whatever final tally Ichigaki adds up has him cackling all over again. “I agree to your terms,” he says, “provided you agree to mine. If my team wins, I get to have the three of you as subjects for my experiments!”

Yusuke readily accepts. “Sounds good to me. Of course, my own extra condition is that I get to kick your ass next.” 

Maybe there are a few brain cells rattling around in Ichigaki’s head. He narrows his eyes, trying to reassess Team Urameshi for anything he might have missed in his calculations. The three of them calmly look back, giving nothing away.

Hiei senses Ichigaki’s animal brain try to sound the alarm, but his arrogance drowns out the sirens. He snaps his fingers and orders, “M1, M2, and M3, do make this quick. I’m eager to acquaint our new friends with my lab.”

Yusuke jumps into the ring. “You haven’t won yet, you dick.”

Koto sighs in relief. “Oh, thank fuck.” She twirls the microphone in her hand and says to the crowd, “Thanks for your patience, everyone! Teams Ichigaki and Urameshi have negotiated a six person battle royale for this round, meaning that their missing team members have been disqualified from participating in this match.”

Kurama and Kuwabara better hurry.

“Fighters ready? Begin!”

M1 channels his spirit energy into three rings around each arm. He jumps into the air and throws them all at Hiei.

Hiei twists out of the way. He’s the fastest person on Team Urameshi, but not by much. He dodges four rings, but the fifth and sixth ones nick his face and his lower left leg.

The Masked Fighter somersaults over M2′s head. He swings at the ground where she stood only seconds before. Hiei can’t see what makes the crater, but it obliterates a whole section of the arena.

“Focus on your spirit awareness!” The Masked Fighter instructs Hiei and Yusuke. “You won’t be able to survive their attacks otherwise!”

Yusuke runs around the arena trying to avoid M3 touching him with his explode-y hands. “That’s literally the thing I’m worst at!”

But it’s the thing Hiei is the best at. He’s fought his psychic powers every step of the way since he was a child. All they’re good for was seeing his mother’s anguished spirit, for sensing how much his grandmother despised him, how worried all of his fighting made Yukina.

Now, they might actually have some use. Hiei closes his eyes. M1 mechanically chases him across the center of the ring. No, not M1. That’s not his name.

En summons his angel blades again, but now Hiei can clearly make out the illusions. He avoids the real blades with ease and lets the illusions flow past him.

Something in En recognizes that Hiei has figured out his trick. He feels the spark of gratitude, before En issues a familiar plea, “Kill, kill, kill--”

Hiei kicks him in the face. “Yusuke, the Masked Fighter is right. Stop using your eyes and remember your training with Genkai.” He can’t be sure, but he thinks Genkai smirks at him under the mask.

“As if Grandma would ever let me forget a moment of the hell she put me through,” Yusuke grumbles, but he closes his eyes anyway. Ryo nearly catches up with him, but Yusuke ducks his Grizzly Claw.

The Masked Fighter sweeps Kai’s feet out from under him. He rolls away and Hiei and Yusuke both see the javelin made out of spirit energy in his hands. Ryo and En flank Kai as all three chant, “Kill, kill, kill.”

“Part one of our plan is going swimmingly,” Yusuke says. “Part two is TBD. So, how about we make some progress on part three?”

Hiei glances at Ichigaki. He looks about ready to piss himself. “I’ve got some ideas about that, actually.”

Yusuke nods. “Be my guest.” The trust Yusuke places in him is priceless. Hiei’s starting to begrudgingly admit that he’s the best friend he’s ever had.

Hiei spreads his arms and turns toward Ryo, Kai, and En. They cry, “Kill...us. Kill us, kill us, kill--”

“Shut up,” Hiei snarls. He can’t stand hearing them beg to die anymore. “You think the experiments will stop with your deaths? You think he won’t find others to manipulate so he can continue advancing his own sick designs? Fight, goddamn you! If love of life can’t compel you to take back your bodies, then maybe hate and revenge will.” It’s fueled Hiei for as long as he can remember.

The three of them stumble at his words. “Kill-”

Hiei looks at the Masked Fighter. “Keep talking,” she says. “Just a little more.”

“Don’t you dare give up!” Hiei shouts. “What would Mitamura say if he could hear you now?”

Ichigaki fumbles with his calculator. “H-how did you know that name?”

“Because we know all about your plans, you evil fuck!” They all turn at the sound of Kuwabara’s voice. Hiei’s so glad to see his ugly, beautiful face that it doesn’t even occur to him to fight back a smile.

Kuwabara and Kurama support a very weak, but a very much alive Mitamura between them. “Go on, sir,” Kuwabara says. “Tell your students what you want them to hear.”

Mitamura struggles to stand on his own. Kuwabara and Kurama hover near by, ready to catch him, but Mitamura finds the strength to keep going. “I want them to know I am proud of them for being so strong. I know they revere life and respect it as I have taught them to, and they are not accountable for the crimes Ichigaki has forced them to participate in against their will and their hearts.”

Seeing Mitamura stops Ryo, Kai, and En in their tracks. They weep at the sight of him.

“That’s it,” the Masked Fighter says. Bright blue light coalesces in her fingertips as she swiftly targets pressure points on Ryo, Kai, and En. The Virucchi attached to their backs fall helplessly to the ground, deactivated once and for all.

Yusuke crushes a Virucchi under his foot. “So, that’s the Spirit Wave, huh,” he muses. “It’s just as cool as you described it last night.”

Hiei’s pretty sure Genkai rolls her eyes, but she still sounds pleased when she says, “Thanks.”

The Masked Fighter turns to Hiei. “You did good, kid. Your pep talk may have been a little unorthodox, but it got through to those men. Regaining their will to live is what allowed them to survive the Spirit Wave and expel the Virucchi from their bodies.”

Hiei dodges Yusuke’s attempt to ruffle his hair. “You’re the hero of the hour, man! Thanks to your vision, we saved these guys and barely got a scratch this round!” He smiles dangerously at Ichigaki. “And I get to cash in on our little agreement, don’t I, doc?”

Hiei pushes Yusuke back. “He’s mine,” he says. “Go help the others.” Mitamura is already limping towards his students, arms open and tears streaming down his face.

Ichigaki cowers as Hiei looms over him. “You’ve got one chance to live, and one chance only.” He’s careful to keep his voice low. “Do you know Shigure? He’s a surgeon somewhere in Makai. Don’t lie to me. I’ll know and it will piss me off.”

Ichigaki is too startled to deceive him. “Shigure? That hack?” He takes a step back from Hiei. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m just curious.”

“W-well, I can certainly find out for you, but only if you don’t kill me.” Of course. Hiei is going to kill him after Ichigaki tells him what he wants to know.

He really should have seen the injection to his thigh coming. Ichigaki stabs the needle deep into his vein and plunges every drop of green liquid into his body.

Hiei collapses to his knees. “What the hell was that?”

Ichigaki laughs. “You’re about to find out.”

[intobarbarians]

part fifteen to this

***

The weeping breaks his heart.

Hiei covers his ears to block out the sound, but it’s no use. The cries beckon him to come. Are you my savior? My protector?

He is none of those things.

This dream is a memory that has already happened, but Hiei can exact the blood price for unpunished sins. He is an instrument of imperfect justice.

He follows the sound to a prison cell.

Behind the bars, a figure bows their head. He sees the color of fire in their hair and thinks please, no, not you, Kuwabara but the body is too lean and too young to be him. In their shackled hands is a large vase of something hot and bubbling. They stare into its surface, hypnotized by the promise in that scalding liquid.

The figure lifts the vase and tilts it over their head. Hiei looks up into the vase’s open mouth and his hesitation vanishes. I have no choice. I won’t let him hurt me anymore.

The acid pours and pours down his right side. It claims his face until his cheek caves in and he loses his vision. His arm withers until the bone melts into calcium on the floor. His thigh is gristle, cauterized meat that meets the air without a scrap of skin in between.

He screams. They scream.

They hold the vase until it’s empty. It crashes to the ground unbroken.

Relief nearly sends Hiei to his knees. I am free. I am free. He’ll never touch me again.

I am free, I am free, I am-

Genkai kicks him awake. “Get up. It’s time for breakfast.”

Hiei flails until he’s free of the blankets. Blankets? He went to sleep with only one. “What the fuck!”

Genkai kicks him again. “I give Yusuke a free pass on the disrespect because I trained him. Unless you’re willing to endure being shot with spirit energy for hours on end, I suggest you watch your tone.”

He is willing, actually, but Hiei sneers anyway. “I wouldn’t want to make Yusuke jealous.” That’s a lie; he would love to make Yusuke jealous. Hiei blearily rubs his eyes. Genkai’s not wearing her mask. “Decided to drop the superhero act?”

Genkai ignores him. She drops a tray on the coffee table. There’s enough food for three people, so it might be just enough to feed Hiei. “The girls very thoughtfully let you sleep in, considering your late night walk. Kuwabara and Kurama are doing reconnaissance this morning. Toguro’s team is competing in their first match of the tournament.”

Did the second blanket come from Kuwabara? “Everything’s been stacked in their favor from the start.”

“Yes,” Genkai agrees grimly. “Though, their lack of participation up until now has been a small mercy for the other teams.”

Hiei looks away. They’ve come far, but is it far enough?

I have so much to teach you, little human boy.

What? When?

Can your teammates win the next round without you?

Four against five isn’t the ugliest of odds, but it’s no good to learn new tricks if the team loses the tournament before Hiei can use them on Toguro.

Genkai’s voice startles Hiei from his thoughts. “Having another conversation with your new friend?” She looks at him shrewdly.

It’s stupid to lie to her. “My friend has been very valuable.”

How courteous of you to acknowledge my contributions to the continued effort of keeping you alive.

“So Ichigaki was telling the truth.” Hiei is careful not to betray anything at the mention of Ichigaki’s name. “I’m not a genetic engineer or anything, but having its DNA injected into your body doesn’t explain why you would develop a psychic connection to the Dragon. I doubt his other experiments were chatting with lizards in their brains.”

Yeah, what the fuck is this about?

The dragon scoffs. I have been around since before your ancestors discovered fire. Obviously, I need entertainment.

Hiei shrugs. “It likes me.”

Genkai picks up a croissant from the tray. “Enough that it won’t be a liability?”

Scout’s honor.

Hiei assesses the dragon’s words for truth. It’s honest--for now.

“Yusuke is worried about you. You should tell him about the passenger in your head tagging along for the ride. It’ll explain the blank stare you’ve been intermittently sporting for the last twenty four hours. He can finally stop thinking it’s brain damage.”

Hiei sniffs. Yusuke has taken way more hits to the head than he has.

Genkai picks up a teapot. The sound of tea pouring into a cup transports Hiei back to the cell. He is lifting the vase, his body is burning--

He shakes himself to break the spell. Why did he have that dream?

“What are you and your friend conspiring about?”

Hiei would rather talk about the dragon than the dream. “It wants me to skip the next round so we can train.”

Genkai shakes her head. “We need you for this one, kid.”

Warning bells chime in the back of his head. Fucking spirit awareness. “What’s going on?”

“Speaking of Yusuke, I have one more lesson to teach him.” Hiei accepts the cup of green tea she hands him without taking his eyes off of her. “We’re going to miss part of the semi-finals. You’re team captain in his absence, so make sure not to lose while we’re gone.”

Shit. He can’t ask Kurama and Kuwabara to win the next round alone. Hiei takes a sip. “What kind of lesson?”

Genkai smiles. She looks more tired than he’s ever seen her. “A hard one, I’m afraid. It’s the culmination of Yusuke’s entire training. I would have preferred to put this off for a few years, but circumstances have forced my hand.”

She loves Yusuke deeply. It’s plain to see that her actions have been carefully planned to protect him, to give him the best possible chance of winning this fucking tournament.

Hiei swallows. If he had been her student instead, would she love him, too? He has never really had a mentor. Every teacher Hiei’s had has given up on him as soon as they meet him.

Not me, the dragon says. I see your potential.

Genkai places a hand on his shoulder. Hiei jolts in surprise at her touch. “I’ve been meaning to tell you this for awhile,” she says. “I would have been honored to be your teacher, Hiei. As honored as I am to be Yusuke’s.”

Hiei quietly stares. It’s like she read his mind.

“You’re a good kid. I wish you grew up hearing that more often.” She points at his heart. “This is not the weakness you treat it as. It is the source of all your power. Don’t ever forget that.” She stands and brushes off her knees. “If something happens to me, look after Yusuke.” She swipes another croissant and walks to the door.

Hiei scrambles to his feet. When Genkai turns around, he bows deeply and respectfully.

The dragon thoughtfully watches Genkai leave. There will never be another like her.

No, there won’t.