Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Blood Red Marker ❯ Chapter 7: Escaping Death ( Chapter 7 )

Ahhhh! I am being so lazy, I know! I have had soccer camp for the last two weeks, so I am sorry that I haven't been able to update.

Chapter 7: Escaping Death
Zann's eyes closed, and she felt her head swimming in blackness. In her ears the howling of the wind against her body roared drowning out any and all thought. Her stomach seemed to floating somewhere around her throat. She tried to take a breath of air, but as she opened her mouth, all the breath was sucked out of her.

Zann's grip on her sword loosened, until it fell from her grasp. She lost herself to unconsciousness seconds before everything in her world came to an abrupt and painful halt.

She floated in darkness until her eyes fluttered open to extreme pain and light. Peering out between her eyelashes, a bright yellow light made her wince and intensified the headache that throbbed in her temples. She reached out with one had and blocked out the light, turning her head slightly to the side. Squinting, she slowly took stock of her surroundings.

All around her were growths with brown stems and lush, green leaves. /Plants…?/ She couldn't find any other word for it, bushes surrounded her making a small cave. Through the bushes there streamed a yellow light, a partially broken off ray striking her face. She tried to move a bit to the left, wriggling her body back and then forward. She gasped. It seemed like every bit of her was on fire, a feeling concentrated mostly around her legs.

/Shit. I must have broken my legs during the fall…?/ She inhaled sharply. /The fall! If that damn black-haired demon and his partner comes searching for me, I shall be a helpless waste of air!/ Her thoughts spurred her into action. /I would die before letting myself be rendered helpless at a demon's flick of his fingers!/ She snarled.

She began testing all the parts of her body mentally, while physically still looking around her. She gently tried moving her left leg, inching it up slowly and wiggling her toes and rotating her ankle. There was no pain. Just an feeling of bruised muscle and bone.

Her right leg wasn't in as good of shape. She could move it, but putting her ankle a certain way brought tumults of fiery pain. She figured that she could walk and perhaps run on it, but fighting would only make it worse.

Hauling herself up with the help of a thick bush branch, she leaned on her left leg and used her uninjured arm to grab her wounded shoulder. Trying to catch her breath, she looked upward. The sight almost made her fall. It was the most beautiful shade of blue she had ever seen. /The sky! I never thought that such a black ceiling could ever deny such beauty!/ Zann was lost in a moment of fragility where she could not rip her eyes away from the mighty blue expanse, broken here and there by the tops of nearby trees.

Zann came back to herself in a jolt, and black walls began to close in on her in her mind, blocking out the new-found beauty. She closed her eyes and shook her head, searching for her soul basis, her grey-and black flame. She could feel it still residing in her, though it's size had become significantly smaller.

She opened her pure black eyes again, and began walking off in whatever direction she found suitable.

She walked for ten minutes, avoiding rocky areas that might turn her ankle the wrong way. She marveled at everything, the mighty trees, the crisp feel of the wind and air and the top of the cliff far above. She wondered for a while about how her death had not resulted from such a fall, but found her answer when she noticed the bushy tree tops set about the base of the cliffs.

Her marvels were cut off when she began to hear a strange noise. It had a gurgling, unstoppable sound that seemed like it belonged there for all of eternity. Mesmerized, Zann followed the sound till she found another amazingly beautiful sight. It was a stream, running over a small waterfall and onto small rocks and pebbles. Zann knelt down beside it, forgetting her pain. She took her hands and dipped them into the water, gasping pleasantly when she found it briskly cold. Cupping both hands, she dipped them and scooped up some of the water into her face. /This is much better than the stale pools I have drunk from for most of my life…/ she sat back on her knees, taking care to avoid her injured ankle. She peered down into the pool of water collecting below her. In it she saw her reflection. Pale skin from lack of sun, and large, white-less black eyes stared coldly back at her. The words of the Lord drifted back to her. You shall be Zann……For your Father, Zannthys……Everyone is your enemy……

Zann frowned into her reflection. /Everybody is my enemy, including you. So now you are dead. Foolish Lord./ A soft rustling behind her brought her immediately into full alertness. She reached out in her mind, and found the faint but surely there presence of another creature.

Zann slowly reached for her sword as she felt the presence of the intruder coming nearer. It blundered along, loudly yet still cautiously. Waiting till the intruder was in slashing range, Zann prepared herself for a quik stab.
Moments before she turned, the creature said something. "Could you help me? I lost my mommie..." The sound of the voice was small and quiet, as if it were on the verge of tears.
The voice startled Zann into movement, and she spun around and drove sword into the soft flesh without thinking, only remembering the words of her dead Lord. Everyone is you enemy...

Hiei watched as the girl drove her blade ever deeper into the child. He saw the look in her black eyes turn slightly from blank to confused. Something in him flared, as if her gave a shit about the little child. He immediately brushed away this feeling. If this girl still had surprises, he would have to be focused. He would deal with his emotions later.

Kurama, who stood next to him, had little luck controlling his anger. Something inside of him cracked, and he appeared next to Zann in a flash, his rose whip digging into the flesh on her back.

"How dare you attack such a helpless child!" His voice spat venom. Hiei watched a little surprised. He had never heard Kurama speak in such a way before.

Zann arched her back in pain as the thorns dug deeper in, cursing loudly to herself. /DAMNIT! Why the hell wasn't I able to sense them!/ She wrenched herself forward, only to be met with the piercing blade of Hiei.

In a feeble attempt to black his swing, she ducked to the side. As she rolled up she found herself face to face with the red-eyed demon.

"Too slow." He rasped, staring emotionlessly at her. He thrust his katana towards her lower abdomen. She tried avoiding it by shifting to the right, but as soon as she turned her ankle it let out a scream. She bit her lip and hesitated slightly, still moving but not moving fast enough. Hiei's sword came driving into the lower left side.

She bit her lip, trying to quell the screaming that was bubbling inside of her. /God damned idiot! How the hell could I let this happen! I will not die, damit!/

Kurama came to her quickly and roughly held her hands behind her back in a tight and painful hold. Hiei stood over her, waiting for her thrashing to stop. Zann grabbed control of her limbs and mind. She looked up through her clouds of pain to see Hiei standing above her, katana raised high and ready to strike. She stared right into his eyes, the eyes of her killer. The eyes of a demon. /Damn, I swore I would not be killed by a demon. Yet here I am, about to be slain by one./ Zann continued staring, unflinching at a glare that would have made any other human wilt. /HA! I dare you to kill me. It is like I said, I refuse to die!/ Just as she said this to herself, a tearing pain like a nail through her neck broke her thoughts and sent tumbling into a whole different world as Hiei thrust his sword into her neck.

Hiei brought his bloody sword out from her body, slightly shaken. /Those eyes. Damn, it was as if she was daring me to kill her…/ He shook of those thoughts as he watched his enraged red-haired friend drop her from him and go to the dead child, picking it up and bringing it to a patch of wildflowers. He laid the child down, and pulled a seed from out of his sleeve. He placed it on top of the body, then watched silently as flowers covered the corpse.

"So sentimental." Hiei said.

"The child did not deserve to be killed." Kurama responded calmly. He sighed as he looked over his shoulder at Zann's lifeless body. "Yet I guess that she was brought up that way. What could have made her be so cruel as to slay a child. Not even you Hiei, would have so little heart to do so."

"Don't be so sure, Kurama." Hiei turned his back on the kitsune, slightly annoyed. The look of confusion as she killed the child floated in his mind. Out of nowhere, his Jagan began to throb. His sense picked up on a growing source of energy, coming from Zann.

Wide-eyed, he turned towards her body to find Kurama already standing over it, a puzzled look on his face.

All the while, Zann was still falling through a world of torment and pain. In painful jerks, she would find herself in previous stages of her life. She was in the house, blackness all around cowering in fear from the master who stood cackling above her. Another jolt and flash and she was unleashing her angry flame for the first time. Another and she was flying through the air, coming to meet the ground in a dull thud. And yet another showed her lying in a sea of dark, the cold body of the child next to her and the black-haired demon standing above her with a bloody sword.

Everything went white all of a sudden, with colors flashing by as she felt herself being painfully pulled upwards. Yelling, she tried to anchor herself to whatever was solid. /No! NO! I refuse! I HAVENT SEEN ENOUGH! I REFUSE TO DIE!/ Suddenly she felt her body shift, and float like it did when she fell from the cliff. The next instant she found her self gasping and trying to sit up in her physical body. Her hands went to her throat, and found a rapidly healing cut grow ever smaller. /How in fucking hell?../ She looked up just in time to see Kurama's fist connect with her face. Then she floated, once again, in total darkness…

Well, that is all I am going to write now. Sorry again about how long it took to update, but, once again, I am quite the lazy one…. Read and Review an I will update sooner next time!