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Kurama paused at the edge of the cliff, hands clenched at his sides, red hair whipping around his face. His eyes were pinned on the ground below, and his mouth pursed into a tight frown. “This isn’t good.”
Hiei grunted from somewhere. Urameshi squatted at the edge of the cliff, hands in his jacket pockets. Kuwabara manfully resisted the urge to kick him in the ass and see if he fell. “I can’t see anything through the trees.”
“It’s the trees that are the problem.” Kurama pulled his hair out of his face and tied it into a quick ponytail, thin vines holding it in place. “They have a lot of names, but most call them Desolation Bringers.”
“Sounds melodramatic,” Kuwabara said. He skimmed the forest below, but the trees looked like regular trees to him – if slightly more bulbous than he was used to. “What do they do? Eat you?”
“No, that would be easier to deal with,” Kurama said, because of course. “The trees emit a type of spore that causes an extremely unpleasant reaction in most demons.”
All three of them gave him a bit of the side-eye, but Kuwabara was the only one grinning. Urameshi smacked him in the shins before pushing up to his feet. “How unpleasant are we talking here?”
Kurama shook his head, testing the ponytail. “Oh, mostly just uncomfortable. Itchy, if you will. But it’s a long-lasting effect unless you counter it.”
Kuwabara’s known Kurama long enough to know when he’s being cued. “How do you counter it?”
“Physical contact.” Kurama smiled at him, all innocence except for the gleam in his eyes. “It makes you desire physical contact.”
Kuwabara’s mind immediately went somewhere dirty. Sue him, he was seventeen, he was allowed.
Urameshi was apparently on the same track. “What, like horny?”
Kuwabara gave Kurama the same mostly-innocent look back. “How would we ever tell the difference if Urameshi got hit?”
Urameshi smacked him again, but in the ribs this time. Kuwabara wheezed out a laugh and ducked out of hitting range. “I want it on record that I do not consent-“
Urameshi went for his knees. Kuwabara hit the ground hard enough to knock the air out of him, but not enough to stop laughing.
“No,” Kurama said, rolling his eyes at them. “I’m not aware of any sort of sexual compulsion, though I’m sure some have chosen to alleviate the effects that way. It just creates a need for skin-to-skin contact.” He smiled brightly at Kuwabara, but the youko’s eyes were definitely sliding past Kuwabara’s shoulder to where Hiei was lurking. “Cuddling, if you will.”
Urameshi blinked, a wicked grin slowly spreading over his face. “Cuddle spores?”
Hiei blinked into existence on Kurama’s other side. He didn’t look particularly concerned, but he did have one hand wrapped around the hilt of his katana. “I assume you can counter its effects.”
“Not that I’m aware of,” Kurama said cheerfully. “Admittedly, I’ve never tried. As I said, it’s mostly just unpleasant. It creates a desire for… physical affection, if you will. The sensation is very hard to ignore, but it fades after a few days.”
“Days?” Hiei said. “And you’ve never tried to counter it?”
“I’ve never been hit by it,” Kurama said. “And those that have were not anyone I was particularly invested in aiding, for the most part.”
“Fair enough,” Yuusuke said. “So how do we take these guys out without getting all touchy-feely?”
“Avoid damaging the trees,” Kurama said. “The spores are released when the tree feels threatened or endangered.”
Hiei grunted and flickered out of view, moving too fast for Kuwabara to follow with regular vision, but he was making a beeline for the trees. “So are these trees sentient at all?”
Kurama gave him one of the bright smiles that meant they were on the same wavelength. “In fact, they are.”
Yuusuke was looking back and forth between them, the corner of his mouth ticking upwards in anticipation.
Kuwabara nodded. “Are they smart enough to know the difference between a sword and an ax?”
Kurama smiled sweetly. “Probably not.”
Yuusuke was still laughing when he jumped off the cliff.
The mission wasn’t from Koenma this time around – they mostly weren’t, these days, with Hiei and Yuusuke having their own positions now, and Kurama having connections to another ruling power as well as being… mostly an adult? With a day job and everything, it was weird. Kuwabara himself was technically never a Reikai Tantei, which meant Koenma’s team of errand boys was largely defunct. He still sent Botan around with the occasional message when Yuusuke was in town, or if there was something Kuwabara and Kurama could handle on their own, but that was about it.
No, their missions these days were mostly from Yuusuke, or, weirdly, Hiei. Demon warlords getting too big for their britches, mostly, that needed dealing with before it got bad enough that Mukuro and Yomi needed to pay attention to it themselves. Technically Urameshi fell into the same category but he’d set the precedent of getting his nose into everything from day one, so him showing up wasn’t the political nightmare it would be if Yomi did it.
The current mission was one of Yuusuke’s, and unlike ninety percent of the others, it wasn’t just a thinly veiled excuse to hang out. A band of youkai raiders had been hassling some of the villages set up near the border of Yuusuke’s territory, and he’d decided to do something about it. Hiei and Kurama were along as witnesses – apparently Yomi and Mukuro didn’t approve of slaughtering villagers but also didn’t want Yuusuke annexing a bunch of new territory under the guise of protecting innocent lives. Kuwabara was there because Hiei had shown up at his house in the middle of the night and said “If I have to, you have to” and Kuwabara had been too asleep to come up with a compelling counter argument.
The raiders weren’t too impressive up close. A couple dozen medium-level youkai and a few more low-level youkai who seemed to be there mostly so the others had someone to boss around. No prisoners that they could see, but the survivors said the raiders had mostly just killed people and stolen food and supplies.
The whole fight should have taken two minutes, tops, except that Kurama was on the sidelines using his abilities to keep the trees from attacking, and Urameshi and Hiei were having some kind of contest to see who could be the least helpful in a fight.
“I know this isn’t exactly life or death,” Kuwabara called over his shoulder as he knocked a knife out of a fox-faced youkai’s hand and kicking it back against one of the make-shift shelters, which promptly collapsed, “but if either one of you wanted to start taking this seriously, that would be great.”
Urameshi made some kind of high-pitched whiny sound and continued not knocking out the youkai he was fighting. Hiei straight-up ignored him, which honestly felt less disrespectful.
“Oh, let them play.” Kurama was leaning against one of the murder trees or whatever he’d called them, youki emanating in a steady wave. The trees stirred occasionally as someone got thrown against them, but mostly stayed still and silent, like Urameshi grumbling into his pillow when they tried to wake him.
He was about to make that comparison when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. “Kurama.”
His teammate stepped away from the sadness shrub just in time to dodge a hammerstrike from a deep red youkai with a faux-hawk.
Then, three things happened at once.
Faux-hawk’s hammer missed Kurama by half a mile or so, slamming into the side of the vaguely homicidal sentient tree instead. Kurama cursed under his breath, using the rose whip to restrain his opponent even as he turned his attention back to the tree, youki focused on stopping the spores of sorrow or whatever the fuck, seriously, Shizuru wasn’t going to believe this one.
And then the third thing – Hiei finally got tired of playing with his food and kicked his opponent hard enough to send him flying backwards into another one of the trees.
Kurama, distracted with his own angry tree, didn’t see it happen. Hiei, unaware that their plant-controlling ace-in-the-hole was distracted controlling a different plant, was already turning his back on the tree and his unconscious opponent when the tree seemed to expand outward slightly, like a bellows drawing in air, before shooting a stream of pale orange dust directly at Hiei’s stupid face.
Kuwabara lunged. Hiei saw him coming out of the corner of his eye and dodged before Kuwabara could shove him, which worked out the same as he skipped a half a dozen feet to the side, well out of range of the spores. Kuwabara, meanwhile, took the hit dead center of his chest, staining his t-shirt bright orange and lingering in the air around him like a cloud. He coughed and tried to wave the worst of it away from his face.
“If they’re sentient, does that mean that tree just spit on me?” he asked no one in particular. Hiei snorted in the way that meant he was actually amused, though whether it was at his comment or just at seeing Kuwabara take a faceful of tree snot was anyone’s guess.
It wasn’t a guess. It was the second one.
“We have got to work on your reflexes,” Urameshi said. “For serious dude, you walked right into that one.”
“Kuwabara-kun!” Kurama skidded to a stop a few feet away, eyes gleaming gold for a second as he took in the situation. “Hiei, deal with the rest of them. Yuusuke, water, as much of it as you can find. Kuwabara, strip.”
“What?” Kuwabara said.
Urameshi coughed into his fist. “So, as glad as I am you’re finally doing something about all of this,” he waved a hand in Kuwabara’s general direction, “show my boy a little class, there’s not even a ceiling.”
“What?” Kuwabara said.
“Water,” Kurama snapped. “Now.”
Both Hiei and Urameshi decided not to argue with that tone of voice, disappearing in opposite directions to carry out Kurama’s orders. Kuwabara plucked at his t-shirt, watching a small cloud of spores puff off it.
“Stop it,” Kurama said. He hadn’t come any closer, and his eyes were sharp and laser focused on the spores. “Get out of those clothes, as quickly as you can without getting any more of it on your skin. And don’t breathe any of it in.”
"Pretty sure that ship has sailed,” Kuwabara told him.
“Kuwabara, please.”
“What’s the big deal?” Urameshi reappeared at Kurama’s side with a couple of clay jugs. “Even if he gets some of it on us, you said yourself it’s just kind of annoying, right? I’m man enough to ask for cuddles if I need them.”
Kuwabara raised a slightly skeptical eyebrow at Kurama because Urameshi would bleed out before asking for help and risking no one coming and they all knew it. Kurama ignored him, eyes narrowed on the spores floating around Kuwabara’s face. His youki was still thrumming, a constant hum of energy at the back of Kuwabara’s mind, as he kept the other trees calm.
“It’s annoying to youkai,” Kurama said. “It’s fatal to humans.”
Kuwabara paused in the act of plucking at his shirt again. “Well, shit,” he said.
Urameshi handed the jugs to Kurama and vanished again.
“I’m sorry,” Kurama said. His voice was tight, his lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line. “I should have explained-“
Kuwabara waved him off, kicking his shoes off in the general direction of the asshole tree that had blasted him. “So how fatal are we talking? Like, is my skin gonna melt off or am I just going to drop where I’m standing?”
“It’s slow and painful,” Kurama said tightly. Hiei and Urameshi both reappeared, Urameshi hauling a barrel full of what was hopefully water.
“You said it made people cuddly,” Urameshi objected. He planted the barrel on the ground hard enough to make some of the water slosh over the sides. “How is that slow and painful?”
“Humans are social creatures,” Kurama said. He was watching Kuwabara strip with an intensity that made his skin crawl a little. “If they don’t experience physical touch and affection they can suffer from skin sickness – touch starvation. It can literally kill them. The trees induce an annoying tendency to clinginess in youkai, but it will wear off eventually. With humans, it kills them before it can wear off.”
“Touch starvation isn’t like a gunshot,” Kuwabara said. He pulled his t-shirt off by the collar, managing to keep nearly all the pollen (spores?) on the outside and dropped it on the ground a few feet away. “Can’t I just touch someone and this is a non-issue?”
“I hope so,” Kurama said, which was not quite the level of enthusiasm Kuwabara had hoped for. “I honestly don’t know how long it takes to wear off in humans. And we can’t risk tracking it back to the human world and exposing your sister and friends. So please hurry.”
“Why is this my life?” Kuwabara asked. It was rhetorical. They all knew it was Urameshi’s fault. He kicked off his jeans, tossing them in the same general direction as his shoes, and shook his head, a small shower of spores falling to the ground in slow motion.
“Man, I wish I had my phone,” Urameshi said, reaching for the barrel. “I’m gonna put this in the yearbook.”
Kuwabara snorted. “You wouldn’t know how, dropout. And back off, I can do it.”
Kurama frowned. “It might be easier if you let us help-”
Kuwabara cut him off. He was starting to feel something weird in his chest, something a little uncomfortable, a little hollow. It wasn’t familiar but it wasn’t unfamiliar either. “Urameshi’s part youkai, but the rest of him is human. Do we know how this shit will affect him?”
Kurama hesitated, which was as good as admitting Kuwabara was right. “Your body is 100% human, so that goes for you too. You guys keep your distance, I can manage taking a bath by myself.”
“Not a bath,” Kurama said, “you’d just be sitting in the spores and get them on the rest of you. Try to rinse the exposed areas off as much as you can.”
Urameshi tossed him one of the jugs, which he caught one-handed. “Rinse your hair,” Kurama said. “Try not to get anything on the rest of you - your skin was mostly protected by your clothing. You may want to remove your boxers and-”
“I’m not getting naked in front of a bunch of strange youkai, they can get their rocks off on their own time.”
Urameshi snorted. “None of them are going to be waking up anytime soon. Hiei put them down hard.”
Kuwabara snickered. So did Urameshi. Hiei glowered at them both simultaneously.
Kuwabara bent forward so he wouldn’t drip on himself any more than necessary, and upended the jug over his head, working it though his hair as much as he could. “Okay, so this is booze.”
“Listen,” Urameshi said. “I was kind of in a hurry.”
Kuwabara rolled his eyes as much as he could without getting anything in his eyes. “It smells like gasoline, no wonder those guys didn’t put up much of a fight. Their intestines were being dissolved from the inside.”
“This one is also booze,” Kurama confirmed, before tossing the second jug.
“Shizuru’s gonna murder me if I come back smelling like this shit.”
“She’s not going to get the chance if you die a slow and painful pollen-related death,” Urameshi pointed out.
“Spores,” Kurama and Hiei said in unison.
“Judgmental,” Kuwabara said. He upended the second jug over the back of his head, working his fingers through the hair and trying to feel for any clumps or grittiness.
Kurama gestured for the jug, which Kuwabara tossed back to him, and the youko refilled it with water from the barrel, then tossing it back and forth a few times until Kuwabara was reasonably sure there weren’t any spores left on him.
Hiei crowded up into his personal space, sharp eyes peering at Kuwabara’s bare skin from entirely too close. “Watch it,” Kuwabara said, resisting the urge to cover his chest like a scandalized girl. His fingers twitched a little, and he curled them into fists before he could do something stupid, like grab Hiei and infect him too. “The idea was for you not to get this shit all over you.”
Hiei cut him a sharp glance that Kuwabara couldn’t entirely decipher, then snapped his fingers and set Kuwabara on fire.
Well. Not Kuwabara so much, which he figured out when he was done screaming and flailing. “Stop your whining,” Hiei snapped over the sound of Urameshi’s hysterical shrieking and Kuwabara’s manly shouts. “He can’t even feel it.”
“You couldn’t have done that before I got naked in front of a bunch of bad guys?” Kuwabara snapped back. He held up a hand, watching the flames flicker a fraction of a centimeter above his skin before burning out as abruptly as they had begun. It had the added benefit of drying him out a little which was good because damp shorts are no one’s friend.
Hiei just grunted, which was about as much of a response as Kuwabara had expected, to be honest. “That’s as clean as we can get you without a bathhouse. Open the gate.”
Kuwabara jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “And these assholes? We can’t just leave them here, they’ll go right back to it as soon as they wake up.”
“Kurama and Hiei can deal with them.” Urameshi crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll go back to the Ningenkai with you and help you explain this shit to Shizuru so she doesn’t think you’re being a weirdo or possessed by a pervert or whatever.”
“Shizuru’s in South Korea,” Kuwabara said. He hadn’t really thought of that, when they were talking about getting home before. Something tight and hard dug into the pit of his stomach and he took a deep breath as subtly as he could.
“Why is she in South Korea?” Urameshi demanded.
“Ask your mom, she’s the one who invited her. Some kind of girls’ weekend or something.” Kuwabara took another breath, trying to test the ache. It wasn’t physical, it felt like something familiar, but…
Oh. It felt like when you were trying not to cry. A heat and pressure building up with no outlet.
“Shit,” Kuwabara said. “I think this stuff is starting to get to me.”
“What’s happening?” Kurama took a step forward and Urameshi uncrossed his arms, fists clenched like he was gonna punch the spores right out of him – which actually, the idiot might think worth a shot. Kuwabara gave him a narrow-eyed glare before answering Kurama. “I dunno, exactly. But I’m feeling something.”
“Open the gate,” Hiei said again.
“Take it to my place,” Urameshi said. “I’ll call Keiko and explain what’s going on, she won’t mind helping.”
“I can call Sawamura or the guys. I don’t want to make Keiko feel weird.”
“It’s four in the morning in the human world,” Urameshi pointed out. “Even your squad is going to think this is weird if we can’t explain the demon thing to them.”
That was true, unfortunately. Kuwabara was pretty sure they’d still come if he said he needed help, but yeah it would be deeply weird. “Mitarai-“
“No,” Kurama and Urameshi said.
“Then we’re running out of options,” Kuwabara said.
“Keiko will be fine with it,” Urameshi said. “She likes you better than me half the time anyway.”
“Fine, but if she’s not okay with it I’m out of there.”
“She used you as a human pillow the last time we went to the beach. This won’t be any different.” Urameshi’s gaze narrowed and pinned Kuwabara like a laser focus. “You’re twitching.”
He was. Damnit. Kuwabara looked down at his hands and clenched them into fists. “Okay. We’ll figure this out back home.”
Urameshi stepped closer, still keeping a couple of feet between them. Kuwabara took a deep breath, concentrating on Urameshi’s apartment just a few buildings down from where he’d grown up in Sarayashiki. The image of it formed in his mind, familiar and safe, and he felt the knowledge of where it was in the universe settle into his thoughts. He raised one hand, fingers curled around where the Dimensional Sword’s hilt would fit, and summoned his reiki.
It flickered.
“Um,” Urameshi said.
Kuwabara focused on his reiki again, and this time there was a brief flare of orange light in the center of his palm, before it flickered out again.
“Okay,” Kuwabara said, genuinely uneasy. “I don’t like that.”
Urameshi gave Kuwabara a sharp glance. “This shit is messing with the Jigen Tou?”
“Indirectly.” Kurama’s brow was deeply furroughed, and he was doing that thing he only did when he was trying not to let them know how deeply fucked they were, smiling through lips pressed tightly together. “Kuwabara’s reiki is trying to fight off the effects of the spores. There’s nothing left for anything else. Including the Dimensional Sword.”
Kuwabara looked at his hand, fingers still curled over a non-existent hilt. “That’s, that’s probably bad, huh?”
Kurama exhaled but didn’t say anything.
And Kuwabara - he’s not actually stupid, even if he’s not as smart as Kurama, or Keiko, or his sister. He knows damned well that he’s got a lot of reiki, and he knows that if he’s already drained of it, then whatever these spores are going to do to him is going to hit soon, and hard. “Okay,” he said. “Where’s the nearest gate?”
Kurama glanced up at him. “What?”
“We used to do this shit the hard way all the time before I got the Jigen Tou,” Kuwabara reminded them. He was trying to stay calm. It wasn’t fear curling its way through his stomach and making his hands tremble - or at least, not fear of dying. Something hollow and brittle was forming in his chest like a burned-out lightbulb ready to shatter at a wrong touch. It felt empty. It felt lonely. It was already making the back of his throat burn like he was thirsty for something that wasn’t water. “We just need to get to the nearest gate, and then Urameshi and I can go track down Shizuru or Mitarai-”
“No!” Urameshi and Kurama said in unison.
Kuwabara rolled his eyes at them. “Or whoever, I don’t really care at this point.”
“The nearest one is in Yomi’s territory. Nearly a day’s travel to the south, at a casual pace. We could make it in less than half that if we push it.” Hiei jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “There’s another, only slightly further, that’s in Yuusuke’s territory, which might be the safer option if we don’t want Yomi involved.”
“I have safe passage through Yomi’s territory,” Kurama said. “And he’ll extend it to the three of you if he knows what’s good for him.”
Kurama was using the voice no one wanted to argue with again, ending any discussion before it could begin. Hiei led the way, and Kuwabara, after one last longing glance at his practically brand-new sneakers, followed.
“How bad is it?” Urameshi asked. He was pacing Kuwabara but keeping a couple feet between them. It was kind of weird - from the moment he’d decided they were friends back in Sarayashiki, Urameshi had more or less forgotten personal space existed. Kuwabara was used to bumping shoulders together, or their hands touching as they walked, or Urameshi poking and swatting at him to emphasize whatever he was saying. Even when they were sitting or resting Urameshi would sit close enough to press their shoulders together or use Kuwabara as an armrest or a living pillow. The carefully maintained distance felt… Uncomfortable. Isolating. He had the sudden idea that Urameshi was mad at him, or didn’t like him anymore, and a stab of loneliness shot through his chest like being stabbed with an isicle.
Kuwabara caught himself before he could open his mouth, swallowed whatever he’d been about to say. “It’s fine,” he said, forcing a grin. “I can take whatever this stuff is dishing out. Kuwabara Kazuma isn’t going down because of some sadness shrub.”
Hiei made an exasperated sound, but Urameshi grinned and flashed him a thumbs-up. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We aren’t letting you die in your boxers.”
“If you let me die at all I’m telling Botan on you,” Kuwabara said without heat. “And for fuck’s sake, steal me some clothes or a blanket at least before you drop my corpse off at my sister’s place.”
“Get you a nice frilly bathrobe off some old lady’s clothesline,” Urameshi said cheerfully.
“I am continually amazed that every time I think I’ve witnessed the depths of your stupidity, each of you manages to surprise me.”
“Hiei’s calling us stupid again,” Urameshi said.
“I stopped listening to anything he says years ago,” Kuwabara said.
“Yeah?” Urameshi said with deep skepticism. “Because you sure do spend a lot of time getting mad at everything he says.”
Kuwabara grinned and shook his head. “No, that’s just his general presence I’m objecting to.”
“Children,” Kurama said. He was a few feet behind them, pacing them while maintaining the same distance as Urameshi. At least with him it was a little less unusual - unlike Urameshi, Kurama had enough manners not to climb all over a guy.
For some reason it still made Kuwabara’s gut churn, though.
He was starting to think he wasn’t going to make it to the gate before this stuff started really hitting him.
“What,” he said, and he had to make himself cough when his voice almost cracked on the vowel. “What are the symptoms of touch starvation? Exactly?”
He could immediately feel three sets of eyes on him, even though Hiei didn’t turn around. “You said it wasn’t that bad,” Urameshi said.
“It isn’t, I don’t think. But I’ll know better how bad it’s getting if I know what to expect.”
That logic seemed to appease them, because Kurama answered. “It varies,” Kurama said. “Mostly it’s mental: depression, anxiety, loneliness. Some experience a desperate need for approval, praise, or validation.”
Kuwabara pointed a finger at Urameshi. “Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything about how you spent years desperately trying to get me to acknowledge you,” Urameshi said.
“The physical aspect can present as itchiness which can’t be eased, or an ache deep in the skin.”
“How does it kill people?” Urameshi asked. Kuwabara scowled at him, but couldn’t really put any energy into his disapproval. Probably he needed to know.
“The depression is what kills, mostly. Some simply give up and die, no longer eating or drinking, until their bodies fail them. Some kill themselves, rather than continuing to suffer the loneliness.”
Urameshi raised both eyebrows at him like a dumbass. Kuwabara rolled his eyes. “No, I’m not about to kill myself.”
“Well if he tries to lie down and die we can just carry him,” Urameshi said. “It’ll take way more than a few hours for him to starve.”
“I’m not gonna lie down and die,” Kuwabara scoffed. “Have you met me?”
“He has a point,” Kurama said. “I’ve never seen a fight Kuwabara didn’t get back up from, even when staying down might have been safer.”
“Like all those times I crushed you into the street,” Urameshi said.
“I’m gonna live long enough to knock your block off,” Kuwabara said.
“Wait.” Urameshi skidded to a stop, then chased after them when no one else stopped. “Wait, wait. Why can’t we fix the touch starvation now?”
“It may have escaped your notice, but we’re currently deep in the Makai,” Hiei said. “Very few humans ever see this world and those that do aren’t in a position to hand-hold.”
“No, asshole. I mean I’m here. Kuwabara said it himself - I’m part demon. And Kurama’s body is whole human, technically.”
“Very technically, especially now that I’ve regained the ability to shift to my other forms. And I have youki, which is antagonistic to the human body. I am not sure I’d be human enough for Kuwabara’s body to recognize my touch as human.”
“I have reiki,” Urameshi pointed out. “And I don’t turn into a fox.”
“If I still have any of those spores on me-” Kuwabara started to say, but Urameshi waved him off. “If you do then I’m just in the same boat as you and we can deal with it together.”
“And what happens if it doesn’t work by hugging it out? Or if it requires an unaffected person to make it better? Then we’re both shit out of luck.” Kuwabara pointed out. “Kurama said he doesn’t know how bad it can get with humans, right?”
“Yes,” Kurama said tightly. “Because nearly every human I’ve ever seen affected by this has died screaming or sobbing within a day or two of contamination.”
Urameshi didn’t say anything to that, just clenched his jaw and stared straight ahead.
Kuwabara took a breath and didn’t let the others see the way his hands were shaking with the need to reach out and touch.
A storm came in on them less than halfway to the gate because of course it did.
Kuwabara didn’t notice immediately, most of his attention focused on keeping his hands to himself and trying to ignore the spreading ache through his limbs. His chest hurt but it was an emptiness, hollow and sharp around the edges, reminding him that he was alone and was going to stay that way.
It wasn’t true. He knew it wasn’t true. If nothing else he had his friends from school, and Shizuru and his dad in their own way, and he knew Keiko and the girls cared. He knew the team cared, could feel it every time his thoughts brushed theirs, could feel it in the soulbond that tied them together. That wasn’t something that could be faked: if they hadn’t given a shit about him then the bond wouldn’t have ever worked in the first place, not even for Urameshi’s sake. He knew that. He did.
But also he was pretty sure they never cared about him at all.
He grit his teeth shut against the thoughts, tried to keep his psychic abilities locked down. He’d already caught Hiei looking at him funny once or twice and he was afraid he was starting to project. Kurama and Urameshi were basically mind-blind, so they wouldn’t notice as quickly as Hiei with his Jagan. The thoughts creeping in around the edges of his mind weren’t real and Kuwabara refused to be weak enough to let the spores or whatever the fuck make him doubt his team. They didn’t deserve that.
The physical pain was easier to ignore; he knew how to handle that, knew how to tune it out. He was nowhere near his limits yet, and running in his bare feet was almost more annoying than the pain throbbing under his skin. He matched his pace to Urameshi’s and kept running, one foot in front of the other, eyes on the ground in front of him because whenever he looked up and saw one of the team he had to rein in the almost uncontrollable urge to reach out to them.
Which is probably why when Hiei stopped running, Kuwabara almost tripped over him.
He swore, throwing himself backwards at first, then remembering Kurama, and skipping to the side away from Urameshi. He stumbled and almost fell, arms pinwheeling, but managed to catch himself at the last minute. “What the hell, dude?”
Hiei jerked his head toward the horizon. “There’s a storm coming.”
Kuwabara followed his gaze and saw clouds in the same direction they’d been running toward. They were thick and billowing, seeming to fold over each other as they rolled over the mountains toward them.
Well, not rolling so much as racing.
“There’s not even any wind,” he said.
Hiei ignored him. “We should take shelter.”
“We’re kind of on a time crunch here,” Urameshi objected. “I don’t think some rain is a good enough reason to let Kuwabara die of spore poisoning.”
Hiei grunted. “One, he’s not going to die from poisoning. Two, he’s mostly naked. Three, he’s the one most likely to be able to create a long-lasting barrier and he’s got no spiritual energy left. And four-“ he raised his voice over Urameshi’s indignant proclamations that his barriers were phenomenal, “that is not a rainstorm.”
“Why,” Kuwabara asked no one in particular, “is me being naked a factor?”
“It’s an acid storm,” Kurama said. “And it comes on very quickly. Hiei is right, we need to move.”
Urameshi was giving the sky a skeptical look. “Can’t Hiei burn it off, like he does the rain?”
“I’m sure he can,” Kurama said. “At which point the acid combusts and creates a firestorm.”
“All it takes is one of you idiots slowing down or tripping over his own oafish feet-“
“Hey,” Kuwabara said, because hey.
“-and falling outside the scope of my power to get your flesh melted off. Which would be bad enough on a normal day but as I just said, Kuwabara doesn’t have any reiki left, so he’d die immediately.” Hiei was glowering now, but there was an edge beneath his usual anger. “The spores will kill him slowly and we may be able to keep him alive long enough for the storm to pass. The storm might kill him and the rest of us quickly.”
“Pick your poison,” Kuwabara said. “I think I’d like to avoid having my flesh melted off, thanks.”
Hiei grunted and veered toward the right, taking off in an angle that would bring him kind of perpendicular to the storm. The rest of them followed, and Kuwabara found himself pushing back a burst of anxiety that they were trying to leave him behind. Which was stupid, they’d let him make the decision after all. And realistically, Urameshi and Hiei were so fucking fast that if they wanted to ditch him, he’d be gone already. It was just the stupid demon spores messing with his head.
He ran a little faster anyway.
Hiei brought them to something that wasn’t a cave so much as a massive overhang, but it was solid rock and should do the trick. They were racing the storm for the last couple of minutes, and Kuwabara could see the acid green rain falling over the mountains like a curtain as they reached their shelter.
“How long do these storms usually last?” Urameshi asked.
“It varies,” Kurama said. “But this one seems to be moving fairly quickly.”
“Unless it gets caught between the mountains,” Hiei said. “Then we’ll just have to wait for it to burn itself out.”
Kuwabara eyed the wall of liquid hitting the ground just beyond the shelter of the overhang. “Fuck this, I’m going back to sleep.”
Urameshi looked like he wanted to object but he kept his mouth shut. Kuwabara sprawled out at the back of the overhang, back pressed up against the rock wall of the mountain, and buried his face in the crook of his elbow.
He wasn’t expecting to actually fall asleep, not considering how crap he was feeling, but somewhere between listening to Kurama and Hiei talking in a low murmur and the sizzling hiss of the acid rain just a few feet away, he must have drifted off, because at some point he was startled awake.
It was Urameshi who woke him, and it was mostly just that he sounded pissed off. Kuwabara almost didn’t realize what was being said, because his stupid, spore-poisoned brain was insisting that Urameshi was mad at him, that they were all mad at him, that he should just give up now rather than keep being such a fucking burden on the team. It felt like the air in his lungs was empty, like he was breathing but nothing was happening, and he grit his teeth and forced himself to open his eyes because for fuck’s sake since when did he give a shit if Urameshi was pissed at him? They pissed each other off for fun.
He blinked at the rock wall in front of him, listening to the way his blood seemed to pound in his ears, and only then realized he could still hear the sound of acid hitting the ground just a few feet away, and that Urameshi was pissed. At Kurama.
That didn’t happen very often, and it was enough to pull his brain out of whatever funk it had settled into for a minute.
“You should have said something.”
“I know. I’m very aware that the situation is the result of my negligence.”
“Then why didn’t you?” Urameshi was moving around, probably pacing. He tended to do that when he was stressed out about something, and fighting with Kurama would stress Kuwabara the hell out. “Even Kuwabara’s not so block-headed as to take a killing blow when the other guy didn’t need him to.”
“I thought I had the situation under control.” Kurama sounded tired, which Kuwabara could empathize with. “The trees were responding to my powers.”
“If you had told us the stakes, me and Hiei wouldn’t have been out there fucking around. We would have had Kuwabara’s back. We sure as fuck wouldn’t have let him take that hit if we’d known it was going to fucking kill him.”
Oh, that made sense. Urameshi did guilt a lot easier than he did anger. He just tended to act angry for all emotions.
“He didn’t want to tell us how he knew.”
Hiei’s voice was low, calm. The fire demon, for all that he spent a lot of time yelling about shit, didn’t actually tend to lose his temper very often.
There was nothing for him to lose his temper over, a voice at the back of Kuwabara’s head pointed out. After all, it was only Kuwabara who’d been hurt and it wasn’t like Hiei cared. It was kind of amazing he was even bothering to go along with this stupid errand of dragging him back to the Ningenkai. What a waste of his time, he was probably just hoping to stick around long enough to be sure Kuwabara was dead and wouldn’t be fucking up his missions any more.
“How he knew what? About the spores?” Urameshi sounded more confused than anything else. “Kurama always knows about weird plant shit. That’s his whole thing.”
“He didn’t want to tell us how he knew the effect the spores have on humans.” Hiei’s voice changed, became more pointed. “That’s why he wasn’t honest about the consequences.”
“What?”
“He has said twice now that the humans he has seen affected died in screaming agony shortly after exposure. Yet, when he was describing the symptoms to Kuwabara, he said that people died slowly of starvation or malaise unless they chose to kill themselves.”
“I didn’t lie,” Kurama said. “Those are the effects of regular touch starvation. I didn’t think putting the idea of a quick death in his head was the right call to make at the time so I avoided the specifics of the spore-induced version.”
“He’s not going to kill himself,” Urameshi said, and even to Kuwabara’s fucked-up brain that sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as the rest of them.
“Normally I would never think so,” Kurama said. “The humans I saw affected – whatever the spores did to them, it was agony. And nothing they did seemed to give them any ease at all. Some of them were clawing their own skin off, trying to make the pain stop.”
“Kuwabara’s not-“ Urameshi cut off, and Kuwabara could feel eyes on the back of his head. “Is he?”
“I think so.” Kurama exhaled slowly. “His hands were twitching, and clenching, and he stopped himself from moving a dozen times before he fell asleep. I think the ache, or the numbness I mentioned are enhanced to the point of painfulness.”
“It’s been hours.”
“Yes. And he’s not a normal human. His reiki is fending off the worst of it, and his training is allowing him to cope with the rest.”
“You think he could still end up like those other humans. The ones you don’t want to tell us about.”
Kurama didn’t reply, but he must have nodded, because Urameshi just sounded more pissed off. “Over my dead body.”
“It won’t come to that.”
“Say what you want about the idiot,” Hiei said, “but he’s stronger than most of your kind.
Damning with faint praise, considering Hiei’s opinion of most humans was so low it was underground. It was still enough to cause a distant spark of pride and amusement at the back of Kuwabara’s mind. He could feel it, like a brief flicker of candlelight in the dead of night, and part of him knew that if he wasn’t feeling so fucking weird, he’d be rubbing it in the little shithead’s face already.
But the rest of him felt numb. Not cold, just… empty. The pain was still there but it was like Kuwabara wasn’t the one feeling it. He could hear the guys talking but as if from miles away. Hiei didn’t care if Kuwabara lived or died on a good day, and probably less now that Kuwabara was fucking up their mission. They were going to have to go back and finish cleaning up after the raiders once Kuwabara was dead and they all had better things to be doing. Probably they should have just gone ahead with the mission instead of going to all this trouble to save someone who was as good as dead already.
It bothered him to think they’d be annoyed with him after he was dead. It would almost be easier if they’d just left him behind without all the fuss and bother. At least they wouldn’t resent him that way.
He closed his eyes and pressed his temple hard against the rock beneath him because it was the only thing he could really feel. Maybe if he died here they’d leave him and he’d just melt into the rock like those old fossils. If he died here at least he wouldn’t have to live any longer knowing he was nothing but a burden, a problem for the others to handle.
Kurama knew, a voice in the back of his mind whispered. He knew you could die and he didn’t care enough to warn you. He was hoping you’d be stupid and careless like you always are so he didn’t have to deal with you anymore.
Maybe it was true. If it was, some part of him was glad that they’d at least decided to stay around while he died. Even if they hated him for it later, at least he wasn’t going to die alone.
The ache in his temple faded like everything else and Kuwabara didn’t fight it.
And then it came back.
The pressure in his temple where he had pressed it into the rock hard enough to cut the skin; the bone-deep cold; the ache in every limb; the bruises on his feet and the burn in his lungs, all of it slamming back into him at once, bright, unignorable.
“Wake up!”
Hands grabbed at his shoulder, so warm they burned against his aching skin. Fingers were digging into his skin deep enough to bruise as he was hauled off the rock until he was sitting upright. He blinked, only just realizing that his eyes had been open the whole time.
Urameshi was crouched in front of him, eyes wide and panicked in a way he didn’t usually get. Kurama was right beside him, and Hiei hovered at Urameshi’s back. All of them were staring at him with an intensity that made his skin crawl. “What?” he asked, but it came out a dry croak, and he had to cough and drag in a few deep breaths before he could try again. “What?”
“You weren’t breathing.” Urameshi somehow managed to make that sound like an accusation. “I came over to wake you up and you weren’t breathing.”
Kuwabara frowned at him, his brain still kind of fuzzy with sleep. “Well, I’m fine now.” He was breathing a little faster than usual, now that Urameshi had pointed it out, and the burn in his chest did feel more like oxygen deprivation than the ache of the touch starvation in the rest of his body.
It was fading already, along with the ache. His head felt a little clearer, too, and he was kind of embarrassed to realize how miserable his thoughts had gotten for a minute there. He shot Hiei a narrow-eyed glance, but the fire demon just glared at him in vague irritation instead of scorn or disgust, which meant he hadn’t picked up on any of Kuwabara’s ridiculous self-pity.
Actually, now that he was taking stock of himself, it was hard to remember why any of that had seemed so real to him. He could remember exactly what he’d been feeling, but it was like watching a character in a manga go through it, rather than something he’d felt himself. He dragged in another deep breath and felt his heartbeat even out, and some of the lingering ache and cold in his bones seemed to thaw at the same time. “I think it might be wearing off,” he said. “I’m feeling better. A lot better,” he added, flexing one hand. The urge to reach out and grab for one of his teammates was still there but it was more of an urge than the desperate need he’d been feeling before the storm hit.
“I think we should probably still try to get you back to the human world,” Urameshi said, even as Kurama said, “Yuusuke,” in a slightly alarmed tone and Hiei said, “Are you both idiots?”
Kuwabara gave Urameshi a raised eyebrow. His friend frowned at him and shrugged.
And that was the moment they both realized Urameshi was still gripping Kuwabara’s shoulders.
“Shit,” Urameshi yelped, letting go and trying to hop backwards, only to end up on his ass on the rocks. “Crap, did I make it worse?”
“I don’t think so,” Kuwabara started to say, but he didn’t make it past the second syllable before the pain slammed back into him like a freight train.
It was worse, this time. Everything he’d been feeling before Urameshi woke him up, but instead of building gradually, it all hit at once leaving him no time to adjust. The ache and the cold and the brutal need all wrapped up in the absolute certainty that he was going to die here and die alone while the team washed their hands of him, a problem they’d never wanted and would no longer have to put up with. He had a split second of rational thought before it swamped him entirely and he used it to lock down his mental shields, but that meant he didn’t have anything left to spare to stop himself from screaming.
Cold like electricity under his skin, an ache like every bone breaking at once, something hollow and broken and rotting in his stomach and chest like something vital had been ripped out of him and it was never going to end -
Until it did.
He choked on a scream, tried to drag in air even as his whole body seized up in a frantic shudder of relief. The pain didn’t stop but it faded until he could think again, and he could feel literally anything else. His knees hurt, he thought inanely, and then he blinked and the rest of the world came back into focus.
He was kind of sprawled half on his stomach, half on top of Urameshi, and his knees hurt because Urameshi had probably dragged him across the rocks to get a hold of him. Both of Urameshi’s arms were wrapped around him, palms spread flat against his back. His face was smashed into Urameshi’s chest and even with the t-shirt between them, Kuwabara could tell that the parts of him that were touching Urameshi had already stopped aching.
“Don’t-“ He stopped, swallowed a couple of times. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m not that kind of guy”
Urameshi laughed, and even all fucked up, Kuwabara could tell it was strained. “I am,” his friend said with a forced sort of cheerfulness, the same way he would crack a joke before they all went off to possibly get killed against demon gods or whatever the hell it was that week. He had his chin pressed to the top of Kuwabara’s head, and the skin of his throat was warm against Kuwabara’s temple.
“I’ll give you second base,” Kuwabara said, trying to put the same lightness into his voice but pretty sure he was failing. “But third and Keiko kills us both.”
That got a slightly more genuine laugh, which was kind of what he’d been going for. He could feel some of the tension easing out of him, his spine and shoulders slowly going lax as Urameshi’s body heat seemed to spread through his skin. He had enough presence of mind to be slightly mortified, but not enough to do anything about it.
“Well I guess that answers that question,” Kurama said. The youko shifted, and Kuwabara cracked an eyelid to watch him settle cross-legged at Urameshi’s hip.
“We could have done this hours ago,” Urameshi said, and he still sounded pissy, like he had when Kuwabara heard them arguing. “Instead of letting him suffer.”
“God, someone’s melodramatic this morning.” Kuwabara braced himself against the ground and pushed up enough that he wasn’t basically sprawled on his belly like a dead fish. All three of his teammates flinched like he was going to burst into flames, but he’d learned his lesson. If Urameshi wasn’t going to object to being used as a teddy bear, Kuwabara wasn’t going to offer him an out. Instead he just shifted so that he could lean against Urameshi’s side and then slumped over, knocking his skull against Urameshi’s and going boneless.
“Ow,” Urameshi said pointedly. He’d kept one palm pressed flat against Kuwabara’s back the whole time and now he moved, sliding his hand so he didn’t break contact until he had his arm wrapped around Kuwabara’s shoulders, hand gripping Kuwabara’s upper arm. “Is this enough? You good?”
“Stop talking about it,” Kuwabara said. “You’re making it weird.”
“I can take my jacket off,” Urameshi offered. “Get more skin so you can press against it.”
Kuwabara dug his knuckles into the skin over Urameshi’s ribs and dug in hard enough for even him to be uncomfortable. Urameshi didn’t pull away, but he did retaliate, kicking Kuwabara’s ankle half-heartedly.
“Children,” Kurama said, dry tone completely failing to hide his amusement. He grabbed Kuwabara’s wrist before he could jab at Urameshi again, and pressed it between both of his hands. “The jacket might be a good idea, Yuusuke. Can you get it off without losing contact?”
“S’fine,” Kuwabara said. He wiggled his fingers in Kurama’s grasp. “I think it’s working. Feels better. Like I’m thawing out.”
“You’re a giant turkey we took out of the freezer,” Urameshi said.
Kuwabara snorted because he kind of felt like it. “Asshole,” he said, because it was true.
“Is the pain easing?”
Kuwabara hummed. Now that he wasn’t so tense he was starting to get tired. He could feel his reiki sparking in his core again, starting to replenish now that every drop wasn’t going to holding off the effects of the spores. “Yeah. Still there but it’s not as bad. It’s fading every minute.”
“And your reiki?”
“Catching up.” He let his eyes slip closed. “You got this, yeah?”
“Hey,” Yuusuke said, voice sharp, and he shoved his shoulder into Kuwabara’s arm, just enough to jostle him. “Hey, don’t fall asleep, man.”
Kuwabara shoved him back as much as he could without losing his headrest. “Oh my god, shut up, I’m not going to fucking die.”
“You said that last time!”
“I think it’s fine to rest,” Kurama said. “If the effects of the spores are being negated, and we’re aware of the risk, we can all keep an eye on him to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Yeah,” Yuusuke said. “Funny how that works.”
Kuwabara jabbed his thumb up under Yuusuke’s ribs again, harder this time. “Knock it off. He didn’t do it on purpose.”
“He kind of did-“
“I kind of did,” Kurama agreed. “I’m sorry, Kuwabara-kun, I didn’t intend for you to get hurt. Or you, Yuusuke.”
“I wasn’t-“
“You could have been. If your presence is enough to ease the spores’ effects it’s very likely that they would have harmed you as well.” Kurama met Kuwabara’s eyes and smiled, but Kuwabara could tell there was something a little heavier behind it. “I would not have thought myself the sort of person who would put my own safety over a friend’s. At least, not anymore.”
“You didn’t,” Kuwabara said. “Knock it off.”
Kurama’s expression remained unconvinced. “Rest. The storm doesn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon. If your condition is stable, it’s probably best to wait here until the storm passes, or your reiki recovers.”
Sitting there and doing nothing for a while sounded amazing. Kuwabara hummed an agreement and let his eyes slip shut. Urameshi didn’t immediately antagonize him, so he was probably on board with Kurama’s plan.
He hadn’t felt this exhausted in a long time – since Majari, maybe, when he’d spent the last of his reiki to trick the demon into a physical fight, or since Toguro had hurt him. He wasn’t crazy about it. Being weaker than his opponent sucked, but if it was a worthy one he could accept it. But not even being able to stand up and fight if his friends needed him to chewed at him.
He used an uncomfortable amount of his remaining energy to knock his temple against Urameshi’s. “You got this?” he asked again.
The arm around his shoulders tightened. “Yeah,” Urameshi said this time. “We got this.”
“We’ve got you,” Kurama echoed. The youko squeezed his hand one last time and started to pull away.
Kuwabara’s grip tightened without any conscious thought on his part. Not enough to stop him, Kuwabara couldn’t have stopped fucking Eikichi at the moment, let alone someone like Kurama, but the youko froze as if he’d been chained in place. “Kuwabara-kun?”
“Don’t,” Kuwabara said. He dragged in one of those deep breaths that was more like a sigh. “Helps.”
“I’m not human,” Kurama said. “It shouldn’t affect the spores.”
“You’re not human,” Urameshi said, “but your skin is. Maybe that’s enough.”
Kurama didn’t answer for a moment, but the hand didn’t move, so Kuwabara took that as acceptance and let himself fall asleep.
It felt like a long time later when he half-woke, unfamiliar youki prickling around the edges of his awareness. He tried to move, just in case, but apparently his body had decided on a full-blown rebellion at that point because he didn’t so much as twitch.
From somewhere very nearby Hiei’s youki flared unguarded in a way he didn’t usually allow, bright and furious, a clear warning to fuck off. Urameshi didn’t so much as twitch, his head heavy against Kuwabara’s, breaths sounding deep and even just a few inches away. Kurama chuckled softly, his own youki flaring sharp and wild alongside Hiei’s for a moment.
The strange youki rapidly receded and Kuwabara would have grinned if he had the energy.
“The storm has passed,” Kurama said. He’d shifted position at some point and was sitting on the ground behind them, his chin resting on the opposite shoulder from Urameshi, and his arms wrapped loosely around Kuwabara’s waist, palms pressed lightly over Kuwabara’s stomach. It felt kind of weird, mostly because it was making Kuwabara felt kind of like a little kid being held by a parent. “Shall we head out before more trouble heads our way?”
“Trouble,” Hiei scoffed, and for once Kuwabara was in complete agreement.
Kurama huffed, a soft puff of air that was warm against Kuwabara’s skin and sounded more of an exhalation than an actual laugh. “I think we found rather a lot of trouble already.”
Hiei didn’t say anything, but Kuwabara could feel the fire demon’s gaze flicker over him. “Not all of us.”
Kurama hummed. “Wasn’t it?”
Hiei made that angry cat sound he made whenever Kurama scored a point on him. “There’s no point leaving now. We’d just have to lug the idiot like deadweight. It’d be more efficient to wait for him to wake and open a gate.”
“Oh yes,” Kurama said cheerfully. “Much more efficient. Certainly there’s no other reason to wait.”
Kuwabara thought now would be a good time to wake the rest of the way up, so that when Hiei went for Kurama’s throat, at least Kuwabara wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
Well. Not unintentionally, at least.
“The idiot’s awake,” Hiei said.
Kurama hummed. “His heartbeat is picking up a little.”
Kuwabara figured that was his cue. It took an uncomfortable amount of focus but he was able to crack a single eyelid and found himself staring at Hiei’s chest.
Better than his face, Kuwabara decided. “Hey.” His voice cracked halfway through and the rest sounded like he was gargling with gravel, but he was pretty sure it was intelligible and he was taking that as a win.
“Hey.” Kurama sounded like he was trying not to laugh at him. The youko lifted his chin off Kuwabara’s shoulder and was probably checking him out, because a moment later he said, “Your color is improved.”
“Great.” Kuwabara took a deep breath and was kind of surprised when he immediately felt more awake. He was tired and sore but it wasn’t the bone-deep exhaustion he’d been feeling. This was more like the usual, had-a-shitty-day-and-need-another-eight-hours kind of tired. God, he was so skipping school when they got back to the human world.
“Your reiki isn’t,” Hiei said flatly. “I doubt you can handle the dimensional sword like this. Go back to sleep until you can be useful.”
If he were slightly less tired, Kuwabara would totally have taken that as a challenge. He gave Hiei’s stupid face a glare, just on principal, and if the smug smirk he got in return was any indication, the shrimp had been trying to provoke him into getting them out of there. Asshole. Fine. Kuwabara was a teenager, he could sleep anywhere. See how Hiei liked being stuck here till the Makai equivalent of two in the afternoon. “Wake me up if another storm starts rolling in. I can probably get us out of here before then.”
Kurama leaned back in, his chin resting on Kuwabara’s shoulder again. Now that he was a little more recovered, he was very, very aware of Kurama’s hands and how warm they were and how very close to the waistband of his pants they were. “I feel better,” he said, clearing his throat when it came out mostly as a question. “If you want to, uh, sit somewhere more comfortable, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“I’m comfortable here,” Kurama said, and if his breath tickled Kuwabara’s throat in a way that somehow went all the way to his toes, that was information he’d take to his grave, thanks.
Kuwabara hesitated, then lifted the hand that wasn’t caught against Urameshi’s ribs and placed it over one of Kurama’s. The youko didn’t comment, but he did shift his fingers just a little, so that the fingertips brushed over Kuwabara’s.
Hiei sighed and shifted his weight, about to turn away – probably going to stand watch, or find something to set on fire, or just get out of range of all the teamwork and shit that was currently happening.
“Don’t,” Kuwabara said.
He caught himself a second too late, teeth clenching shut after the word had already slipped free. He didn’t raise his eyes to Hiei’s face.
The fire demon had paused, black coat swaying slightly around his calves with the aborted movement. He wasn’t leaving, yet, but he was clearly waiting for more.
Kuwabara didn’t bother clearing his throat, let the words stay gravely, and tired. “It helps.”
Kurama’s fingers brushed over his, tickling his stomach.
“I’m not any kind of human,” Hiei spat. He sounded angry but there was no heat.
Kuwabara let his eyes slide shut. “Dunno. Just helps.”
He was warm, and still pretty tired. He didn’t bother fighting it this time.
Hiei didn’t leave.
They roused him a few hours later. He was still half-asleep when he summoned the dimensional sword, but he could hear the rush of wind, the crash of lightning on the horizon. Not another acid storm, but still nothing he wanted to be caught out in. He pictured home in his mind, and let the sword do the rest. His other arm was draped over Urameshi’s shoulders, his wrist caught in a tight grip. Urameshi’s other hand was pressed flat against his hip, Kurama’s hand warm against his back, neither taking the chance of letting go just yet. He let them drag him through the portal, felt the smooth wood of the temple floors beneath his bare feet, smelled tea and incense, heard Yukina’s voice sharp with alarm.
Hiei answers her, calmer, quiet. He still doesn’t leave. Kurama and Urameshi don’t let go. His reiki is thick under his skin.
When Yukina's hands cupped his face, hands cool with youki, he woke up enough to run his thumb over her cheek, catching the tear gem that fell.
He woke up for real a while later, when Keiko walked in. He was in bed, but not his bed. The mattress was bigger, the comforter heavier, and the sunlight was coming from the wrong side of the room. Urameshi’s place, almost as familiar as his own by now, the sound of traffic zooming past, and the smell of ramen lingering on almost everything Urameshi owns.
Keiko’s voice was soft, worried. “Is everyone all right?”
Urameshi kind of grunted something mostly reassuring. He was pressed up against Kuwabara’s chest, feet tangled together, one arm looped over Kuwabara’s waist. Probably not the best position for a man’s fiancé to find them in, but honestly Keiko’d seen worse. At least they both seem to be wearing more clothes than the last time Kuwabara checked. There was the warmth of another body at his back and he'd know Kurama even with his eyes closed, the strength of his hand cupped over Kuwabara’s hip, the smell of his fruity shampoo, the lingering scent of spring that always seems to follow him around. Hiei wasn’t there but Kuwabara could taste the smoke of his youki somewhere nearby still. Probably the roof.
“Yukina said you guys had a rough mission.” Keiko was keeping her voice down, and her footsteps were nearly silent as she circled the bed to stand on Yuusuke’s side.
Yuusuke shifted a little against Kuwabara’s chest, not enough to pull away but enough to turn toward her. Kuwabara wiggled back against Kurama without thinking about it. “Hey, Keiko-chan.”
“Kazuma.” Keiko’s voice was mostly amused. “Yukina said you guys might need me?”
“Um,” Urameshi said intelligibly. “Uh. Yeah. I think we’re good?”
“We only got to second base,” Kuwabara said into his pillow.
“That’s not what it sounds like,” Urameshi said.
Kuwabara grinned and turned his head enough that he could meet Keiko’s eyes over Urameshi’s thick skull. “Yes it is.”
She was smiling at him, the corners of her eyes crinkled in what looked mostly like relief. “I feel like probably someone in this bed owes me an explanation.”
“Demon plants sneezed on me,” Kuwabara told her.
“Well that would do it,” she said.
“Would you like to join us?” Kurama asked. The youko pressed a smile against the skin between Kuwabara’s shoulder blades. “I still think a full human would be helpful in dispelling the effects of the spores.”
“That is my fiancée,” Urameshi said loudly.
Kurama’s voice was all innocent confusion. “But I thought you wanted her to help Kuwabara-kun?”
“Oh,” Keiko said sharply, and all three of them went silent. “So it’s all fine and dandy for my fiancé to be in bed with Kazuma and Kurama, but when it’s your fiancé, all of a sudden I can’t help?”
“I – I didn’t – Do you want-“
Keiko crawled onto the bed, deliberately planting a knee in Yuusuke’s ribs. “Shove over.”
Urameshi was stammering but he lifted his arm and moved over enough that Keiko could slide into the space between them. She stayed on top of the covers, because Keiko-chan was that kind of girl. She did grab one of Kuwabara’s hands and grip it in both of hers though. “Does that help?”
He wasn’t hurting anymore, either because the spores were wearing off or because Kurama was still there, but he still felt better when her thin fingers curled around his. He chalked it up to having a shitty day, and also Keiko-chan just being super sweet. “Yeah, thanks, Keiko-chan.”
She tucked his hand against her cheek and snuggled into the blankets. Urameshi threw his arm over her and grabbed Kuwabara’s wrist. “You gotta keep an eye on him,” he warned her. “He tried to die on us like three times today.”
“Yesterday, technically,” Kurama said.
“No one was trying to die,” Kuwabara said, loudly, not that he thought it would shut them up, and very deliberately didn’t let him think about all the bullshit the spores had put in his head. “And, I feel the need to remind you, I didn’t die.”
“He lived, bitch,” Urameshi snickered, then wheezed when Keiko drove an elbow back against his stomach.
“I’m very glad you didn’t die,” Kurama said, and there was a solemness, a heaviness, in his voice that kind of made Kuwabara think that one of them, at least, had some idea of what had been going around in his head back there. “I was… very concerned that Yuusuke and I wouldn’t be human enough to help you.”
“Urameshi’s human,” Kuwabara said. “God help the rest of us.” Urameshis’s grip tightened on his wrist just enough to make his bones creak a little before he loosened up. “I don’t think it matters though.”
“You said even Hiei’s presence was helping you, at the end.”
Kuwabara ignored the flicker of something at the edge of his awareness that meant Hiei was using the Jagan to listen in. He’d said it once and he’d give Sensui a kiss on the mouth before he said it again. “I think you were right the first time. Humans are pack animals. It’s just that you were caught up on the human part, when it was the pack that mattered.”