InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Beautiful Nightmare ❯ Chapter 6
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Yokuraromaru 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 07.17.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.4K | Visits: 906 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 07.17.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.4K | Visits: 906 | Status: Work In Progress
Beautiful Nightmare
I’m so sorry that it took so long to get this chapter out! Writer’s block is evil! Seriously, because of you all, I sat at my computer for hours, staring at the screen until more ideas came out. Sometimes it’s hard to turn thoughts into words, but I managed with your help.
Also, thank you everyone for all of the publicity! Your reviews helped me much more than you think. Thanks for contributing, and I love you!
Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha nor Yu Yu Hakusho.
Chapter Six
Hiei watched as the enormous boomerang deflected off of the mirror that the child before him was holding. He wanted to scream, warning Sango to move, but his mouth refused to spit the words out. In what seemed to play out in slow motion, the Hiraikotsu struck Sango, knocking her backwards. The force drove her into Shippo, sending both of them crashing to the floor. A split second later, the offending weapon slammed into the floor behind him, causing him to flinch and tighten his hold on the younger human girl, Koharu.
Time seemed to have returned to normal, and immediately, he worried about his friends’ well-being. A blow like that has killed demons before, and he wasn’t too sure if Sango’s human body could withstand it, not to mention little Shippo received the weight of the full grown human. “Sango, Shippo, are you alright?!” Hiei ran to the female and crouched by her side, disregarding that he was in a battle zone with the enemy no more than a few feet away. It also didn’t matter that the voice that came from his vocal chords didn’t belong to him. “Sango, say something!” His friend couldn’t be dead, she had to be alive!
It was then that the child dressed from head to toe in white took a step forward, reminding him that he had other matters to attend to. “Hm?” He turned his head to the eerie girl dressed in white.
“Kagome.”
He climbed to his feet, not wanting to be in a vulnerable position in front of the enemy. ‘That young girl is the demon?’ The thought was not his own.
When footsteps began to advance on him from behind, he tried to turn with as much speed as his human body would allow. Sadly, he wasn’t fast enough, and Koharu hooked her arms under his, holding him in place. Hiei tried to struggle free from the grasp, but he failed to break free. “Koharu, what’re you doing?” A weak human growl escaped from his lips. He abruptly ceased his struggling, and his attention was diverted from Koharu as the demon girl in white rotated the mirror in her hands.
“Look into my mirror. Give your soul,” the demon spoke in an impassive voice.
Unable to control himself, he did as the young demon instructed. Soon, he realized that it was a mistake. From deep within, he could feel something being pulled out of him. It felt like he was losing the very essence of his being, and he felt himself disconnecting from his body. It didn’t take too long to realize that he was losing his soul, and upon that discovery, he fought against it with his depleting power. He had already lost half of it to Kikyo, and he wouldn’t lose what he had left. With a boost of willpower, he was able to hold some of his soul to him—the rest had already gone into the mirror.
Although Hiei had retained some of his soul, there was still a continuous pull coming from the mirror for the remainder of it. When he was sure that the rest of his soul was safe within himself, he realized that his senses were weak. The room that he was in appeared to be dark and blurry, noises were muffled, and he could barely feel his body. Perhaps he had lost more of his soul than he had originally thought.
A distant thud reached his ears, and he had the vague impression that he was lying instead of standing. With much effort, he was able to focus his eyes a little, and he discovered that he was indeed no longer standing, if the distorted view of the demon’s feet was any indication. He tried desperately to speak, but was unable to get out any words. Without preamble, the pull on his soul stopped, and the demon started speaking.
“How strange, I cannot subdue her soul.” The demon’s voice barely reached his ears. She took a few steps forward in his blurry vision. “Still, you are unable to move, are you not? I desire the shard of the sacred jewel that you possess. Give it to me.”
Something within him clicked at those words, and he knew that he couldn’t just let this demon take the piece of the jewel that he had. Kikyo had already taken the last piece—which was almost completed— and he would be damned if he gave this piece away without a fight. With a newfound power, he forced his senses to start back working properly. All at once, his vision cleared, his hearing increased to normal, and he could feel his body somewhat.
He looked up at the demon that was no more than a few feet away and he forced himself to sit up, raising his bow in the process. His body felt drained and weak, and his head swam from the fast movement, but he didn’t care. Fighting through the dizziness, he aimed his arrow at the girl, ready to purify her should she make a wrong move.
“Sango! Kagome! She’s the other demon!” The vibrations of Miroku’s footfalls behind him told him of the monk’s arrival but he disregarded it, staying focused on the demon before him.
The demon child turned and walked away, and when he was sure that she was gone, he allowed himself to fall forward—his body was still too weak from the soul drain.
“Kagome, are you harmed? W-what’ve she done?” Miroku’s loud voice boomed through his ears.
A headache started to form from the volume of the monk’s words. Too tired to respond, he ignored the male and kept his position on the floor.
“Kirara, it’s you! Uh-oh! Kagome!” Shippo’s high-pitched voice assaulted his headache even more.
“Shippo, what exactly went on here?” Miroku asked the kit.
“Miroku, didn’t you see the white demon? She was trying to draw Kagome’s soul into her evil mirror.”
Despite wanting to just lay there and recover, something within him kept nagging at him, telling him that he had something else to attend to. Unsure of what he needed to do but not wanting to ignore the nagging, he propped himself up on his elbows. Just then, it hit him—he needed to go to Inuyasha’s side.
“Kagome’s soul?” Miroku questioned.
“Where’s Inuyasha? I need to get to Inuyasha!” Hiei demanded with a frail tone. He pushed down on the floor, lifting his upper body up. Due to his lack of strength, however, he collapsed back to the ground. The half demon needed his help, he could just feel it. Missing most of his soul or not, he would not let anything bad happen to Inuyasha, even if it meant that he would have to crawl to him.
“Let me get Sango on Kirara, and then we’ll go to him.”
Impatiently, he used all of his physical power to make it to a sitting position. Panting at the effort that it took on his behalf, he used his bow as a crutch, making it to his feet. He held onto the weapon to keep himself upright, unable to do nothing more. It seemed to take forever for the monk to make it to his side, but he did eventually.
Within seconds, he was positioned on Miroku’s back, and although he didn’t trust being so close to the perverted monk in this vulnerable state, he was almost certain that Miroku wouldn’t try anything inappropriate. Even if the monk did try to grope him, he knew that he had just enough energy to knock the shit out of him.
He weakly grasped Miroku’s shoulders, and before long, he had slipped into unconsciousness with Inuyasha plaguing his last thoughts.
0-0
Finding himself sprawled out on the ground with the girl on top of him is how Hiei awakened. Immediately, he moved the girl off of him and jumped to his feet. He took this time of peace to gather his thoughts, wondering why he had just lived through one of the girl’s past experiences. Did the jagan malfunction? No, it has never done that before. Thinking back, he remembered that the dragon had a part in all of this, and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why.
The sound of the girl sitting up caught his attention, and he looked to her with an impassive expression. Why did the dragon protect her? She was worthless and annoying. From the memory that he lived of hers, he concluded that she was weak physically, but her determination made her strong. She was a save-the-day type of person who selflessly put everyone before herself. Really, who would lose some of their soul and disregard the unspoken rule of resting to get better for the sake of saving a demon—a half demon at that? People like her disgusted him.
“Life is still worth living,” her voice reached his ears, doing unholy things to his body.
His stoic expression turned into a hard glare as he looked her straight into her chocolate eyes. He didn’t know what she was talking about, but that wasn’t important at the moment. “What have you done to my dragon?” Venom dripped from his voice.
A confused expression made its way on the girl’s face, and she tilted her head slightly to the side. “Your dragon…?” She looked thoughtful for a second before her face lit up with recognition. “You’re its owner?”
A flat look crossed Hiei’s features. Her small talk of beating around the bush was pissing him off. “What did you do to it?!”
Fed up with being disrespected, Kagome got on her feet and met Hiei’s glare with one of her own. “I’m getting tired of how you keep talking to me! If you have a question, the correct way to ask it would be in a nice, respectable manner.”
Hiei’s eyes narrowed at the bold human in front of him. Never before had a female been so foolish as to speak to him like that. He found it aggravating and… arousing. His blood boiled with hatred and lust. And try as he might, he could not ignore the latter if the member below his belt was any indicator.
“Maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Let’s start over. My name is Kagome, and yours is?”
Hiei glared at the girl in front of him. How stupid was she? He had tried to kill her, and it was evident that he didn’t like her. “I have no desire to become acquainted with you.”
With a huff, she placed her hands on her hips. “You don’t have to be so rude about it!”
“Stop avoiding my question!” He would have loved to choke the life out of the infuriating human, and the only thing stopping him was the memory of making a fool of himself earlier that day thanks to his dragon.
“I’m not avoiding your question! You’re the one who came into my room in the dead of the night! I should be asking you why your dragon keeps bothering me!”
Her last question caught Hiei off guard. Never before had he considered the idea of his dragon willingly seeking out this human girl. Given the information that no one but him has been able to tame it, though, her story seemed ludicrous. But what if it held some form of truth to it? No, he wouldn’t believe anything without proof. “What makes you think that I would believe that my dragon sought you out?”
Looking to be fed up with the meaningless argument, Kagome lifted her shirt enough to only expose her navel. Crimson eyes latched on to her stomach, and he saw the evidence that backed up her argument. A miniature dragon was wrapped around her navel, and judging from the energy that it gave off, it was indeed his dragon’s mark.
Every logical reason to her truth eluded him, and for the first time in a while, Hiei found himself flabbergasted. Since when did his dragon go around marking humans? Hell, it even went so far as to protect the miko from him, and it has never denied him a kill before.
Wanting to probe her of all of the information that she contained, Hiei cast the bandana that was wrapped around his jagan aside. He opened his third eye and delved deep into the girl’s mind, coming in contact with a powerful miko barrier. He expected her to have such defenses, but if she wanted to keep him out of her mind, then she would have to do better than that. With little difficulty, he broke through her mental defenses, racking through her memories to find the answers to his questions.
A shrilling scream escaped Kagome’s lips from the searing pain that soared through her head. Gripping her head with both hands, she fell to her knees. Her pleas to stop went unnoticed.
Hiei ceased to care about the pain that he was causing the girl as he came upon her recent memories. He started at the one of the night when he first encountered her, then progressed forward. In a matter of seconds, Hiei had effectively scanned through her mind, experiencing all of her emotions, actions, and thoughts until he found the conversations that his dragon had with her.
Abruptly, he pulled out of her mind, saving his eardrums from the pain that the girl was causing them with her screaming. Everything about her infuriated him. Why, of all the creatures that was lurking in the three worlds, would the dragon take an interest in her? She was a good fuck that relieved him in the moment of heat, yes, but beyond that she wasn’t anything but a pathetic human. From the thoughts that he picked up, she had become fascinated with him because of that one night, and after seeing some of his memories because of his damn dragon, she was determined to save him from his current path of destruction. He didn’t need nor want to be saved, and he damned sure didn’t want another human becoming a part of his life.
Hiei came to a conclusion—his problems were with his dragon, not the female panting on the ground before him. Even though he still wanted to slit her throat, she wasn’t the cause of the unwelcomed changes occurring with him, his dragon was.
With the intent of leaving her on the ground unharmed—mainly because the dragon protected her from him, not because he was being nice—he turned his back on her, ready to go back to the demon world. At least he could kill something there, effectively calming his nerves.
“Wait!” the girl called out. When Hiei ignored her, Kagome tried again. “Where are you going?”
“I’m being so gracious as to leave your pathetic life intact. Take that and go.” Seriously, you fuck a human once, and they expect to be your friend.
“I don’t even know your name,” Kagome whispered dejectedly in a broken voice. She hadn’t even realized that she was crying until a violent sob ripped through her. To be honest, she didn’t even know why she was crying, yet she couldn’t stop the steady flow that was cascading from her eyes. The tears were her own, yet they weren’t. Although the mental anguish that tore through her was very real, it seemed misplaced, like it didn’t originate from her.
Hiei stopped in his stride. A rare wave of sympathy washed through him by hearing her obvious tears, and he scowled. This was the reason why he had wanted to dispose of her in the first place. These emotions—they were foreign, and he could live without them. He had lived without them. So why had they decided to surface now? Or perhaps they weren’t his.
Turning to tell the girl that her tears were wasted, Hiei paused. The large brown eyes that stared at him held immense sadness and pain, triggering something within him. Never had he seen someone look so… broken. Somewhere deep down, something asked him would he be able to walk away if it was Yukina and not Kagome crying like this. Of course, he dismissed the thought before he was able to harbor on it for too long.
Kagome watched as the three-eyed demon scowled at her before disappeared from sight, and she had a fleeting thought to follow him. She never knew that the rejection of a complete stranger could hurt as much as it did. Then again, she had never experienced such a thing before. She wanted to scream to the heavens, but she knew that it wouldn’t bring the rude demon back. In fact, she couldn’t figure out why she even wanted him to come back. He had made it clear to her that he didn’t want to have anything to do with her, so she was just wasting her time. Still, it felt like a piece of her had left with the demon—whether it was because he had taken her virginity or the fact that she missed being in the presence of demons was unknown.
Without the knowledge of what course of action that she should take, Kagome remained on her knees. Her determination to save the demon hadn’t depleted one bit, in fact, it had increased. However, she knew that the chances of encountering him once more were scarce, further dampening her mood.
Without realizing it, she had become attached to the demon in such a short course of time. He had presented her with something new in her rather bleak and predictable life. Most of all, he had given her a distraction from Inuyasha, giving her the flicker of hope that she could move on. In a way, she did move on, abandoning the half demon. In the end, however, it didn’t do her much good. What is there to gain from transitioning her focus from what was lost to what can’t be obtained?
The fates were indeed cruel in their treatment of her, but she couldn’t let them stop her. She had made a vow that she would save the demon from himself, and she would be damned to break it. It was possibly the only thing that she had going for her at the moment, even if it was an illogical and unmanageable task.
“Kagome,” a voice called out, causing the woman tense. She hadn’t realized that someone was near, too absorbed in strengthening her resolution.
Turning, her clouded vision accommodated the barely visible sight of the person approaching her from the shelter that the trees had provided him with. She didn’t try to hide the fact that she was still crying, having long ago lost the ability to care what others thought of her.
When the person had come within touching distance, she looked up, identifying who they were. Instantly, an idea as to how she could relocate the crimson-eyed demon surfaced.
0-0
If there was one thing that Hiei was grateful for, it was the vast amount of land that Genkai owned. He was able to find an isolated area in the hundreds of acres that belonged to her, thus providing him with the privacy that he needed to carry out his intended task. He knew that he wouldn’t receive the peace required if he had immediately gone back to the makai.
Assuming a comfortable sitting position high in the tree that he had taken refuge in, Hiei closed his natural eyes and opened the jagan. With the third eye, he was able to access the realm of the dragon through their physical link.
Within moments, Hiei found himself in the all too familiar lair of the dragon. Quickly, he made his way down the corridor lit by black-flamed candles, ignoring the slight chill in the air. Every step brought him closer to the dragon, but most of all, it brought him closer to his past.
Eventually, he was in between his life’s records in the shape of eleven doors. He had never understood the dragon’s reasoning for having such things in its realm, and he didn’t appreciate the foul creature sharing one of the doors with the miko. It was betrayal and a desecration of their unspoken treaty. Just thinking about the invasion of privacy fueled his anger—it didn’t matter to him that he invaded other’s privacy as well.
His stride increased until he was standing in front of the massive wooden door that contained the dragon. It was odd that he made it this far without the dragon speaking to him, but he didn’t care about the circumstances that may have caused the eerie silence. Knowing that the dragon knew that he was there, he proceeded into the door without so much as a warning—the dragon didn’t deserve respect after how it deceived him with the miko.
Is there a reason why you’ve decided to come? Hiei knew that the all too familiar, cold voice reverberated from the large dragon despite it not opening its mouth. Its silver eyes stared down at the fire demon with interest.
Hiei scowled. He knew that the dragon knew the reason for his visit, and he hated that the creature would waste his time with nonsense. “Cut the crap. What the hell did you do to me, and why would you place your mark on that worthless creature?”
The black-flamed candles lining the large room waved violently due to the large gust that emitted from the dragon’s nostrils. Its silver eyes narrowed at the small demon before him. Clearly he hadn’t been too happy about Hiei’s disrespect. Quiet fool!
Hiei mirrored the dragon by narrowing his eyes as well, angered even more by the creature’s words. He was not a fool, and he wouldn’t tolerate being called such a thing. “What was that?” His energy crackled around him. If it was a fight that the dragon wanted, then he would provide it. He was certain that he could take on the beast, given the fact that he had tamed its power.
You are out of line and have forgotten that you are not my superior. You think that just because you use my power—with my permission—that you are strong. In reality, it is my power, not yours. You will not hold your ground against me in battle. As for my marking of the miko, I owe you no explanation, but you will know in due time.
A growl escaped Hiei. How dare this dragon even think for a second that he was beneath it? It was infuriating to be belittled by such a thing. Just when he was about to rise to the apparent challenge, black flames encircled him, binding his arms to his side and his legs together. Struggling against the energy bondage, Hiei tried to free himself to no avail.
You can’t even break free from a simple binding, pathetic! Leave now!
Instantly, Hiei found himself in his physical body where he had left it. A scowl instantly marred his features, and he found himself ripping the bandages off of his right arm. The dragon thought that it had control over Hiei, but it was wrong.
With his arm exposed, he began to claw at it with the intent to remove the dragon. However, his arm remained unharmed no matter how hard he scratched at it. It was times like this where he wished he hadn’t broken his katana. In a fit of rage, he began to scrape his arm against the tree that he currently occupied, receiving no new results. One way or another, he concluded, the dragon would come off of his arm, even if he had to cut off the whole limb.
He was under nobody’s control, and he would not be treated as such.
Chapter End
Remember, your reviews help! Seriously, this chapter busted my brain, and without your encouragement, I would have taken longer to produce this. Let all of your thoughts and questions about this chapter go into a review—I’m dying to know what you think of this chapter, especially since I stayed up all night to finish the last three pages and edit.
Last but not least, I promise that it will not take over three months to get the next chapter out.
I’m so sorry that it took so long to get this chapter out! Writer’s block is evil! Seriously, because of you all, I sat at my computer for hours, staring at the screen until more ideas came out. Sometimes it’s hard to turn thoughts into words, but I managed with your help.
Also, thank you everyone for all of the publicity! Your reviews helped me much more than you think. Thanks for contributing, and I love you!
Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha nor Yu Yu Hakusho.
Chapter Six
Hiei watched as the enormous boomerang deflected off of the mirror that the child before him was holding. He wanted to scream, warning Sango to move, but his mouth refused to spit the words out. In what seemed to play out in slow motion, the Hiraikotsu struck Sango, knocking her backwards. The force drove her into Shippo, sending both of them crashing to the floor. A split second later, the offending weapon slammed into the floor behind him, causing him to flinch and tighten his hold on the younger human girl, Koharu.
Time seemed to have returned to normal, and immediately, he worried about his friends’ well-being. A blow like that has killed demons before, and he wasn’t too sure if Sango’s human body could withstand it, not to mention little Shippo received the weight of the full grown human. “Sango, Shippo, are you alright?!” Hiei ran to the female and crouched by her side, disregarding that he was in a battle zone with the enemy no more than a few feet away. It also didn’t matter that the voice that came from his vocal chords didn’t belong to him. “Sango, say something!” His friend couldn’t be dead, she had to be alive!
It was then that the child dressed from head to toe in white took a step forward, reminding him that he had other matters to attend to. “Hm?” He turned his head to the eerie girl dressed in white.
“Kagome.”
He climbed to his feet, not wanting to be in a vulnerable position in front of the enemy. ‘That young girl is the demon?’ The thought was not his own.
When footsteps began to advance on him from behind, he tried to turn with as much speed as his human body would allow. Sadly, he wasn’t fast enough, and Koharu hooked her arms under his, holding him in place. Hiei tried to struggle free from the grasp, but he failed to break free. “Koharu, what’re you doing?” A weak human growl escaped from his lips. He abruptly ceased his struggling, and his attention was diverted from Koharu as the demon girl in white rotated the mirror in her hands.
“Look into my mirror. Give your soul,” the demon spoke in an impassive voice.
Unable to control himself, he did as the young demon instructed. Soon, he realized that it was a mistake. From deep within, he could feel something being pulled out of him. It felt like he was losing the very essence of his being, and he felt himself disconnecting from his body. It didn’t take too long to realize that he was losing his soul, and upon that discovery, he fought against it with his depleting power. He had already lost half of it to Kikyo, and he wouldn’t lose what he had left. With a boost of willpower, he was able to hold some of his soul to him—the rest had already gone into the mirror.
Although Hiei had retained some of his soul, there was still a continuous pull coming from the mirror for the remainder of it. When he was sure that the rest of his soul was safe within himself, he realized that his senses were weak. The room that he was in appeared to be dark and blurry, noises were muffled, and he could barely feel his body. Perhaps he had lost more of his soul than he had originally thought.
A distant thud reached his ears, and he had the vague impression that he was lying instead of standing. With much effort, he was able to focus his eyes a little, and he discovered that he was indeed no longer standing, if the distorted view of the demon’s feet was any indication. He tried desperately to speak, but was unable to get out any words. Without preamble, the pull on his soul stopped, and the demon started speaking.
“How strange, I cannot subdue her soul.” The demon’s voice barely reached his ears. She took a few steps forward in his blurry vision. “Still, you are unable to move, are you not? I desire the shard of the sacred jewel that you possess. Give it to me.”
Something within him clicked at those words, and he knew that he couldn’t just let this demon take the piece of the jewel that he had. Kikyo had already taken the last piece—which was almost completed— and he would be damned if he gave this piece away without a fight. With a newfound power, he forced his senses to start back working properly. All at once, his vision cleared, his hearing increased to normal, and he could feel his body somewhat.
He looked up at the demon that was no more than a few feet away and he forced himself to sit up, raising his bow in the process. His body felt drained and weak, and his head swam from the fast movement, but he didn’t care. Fighting through the dizziness, he aimed his arrow at the girl, ready to purify her should she make a wrong move.
“Sango! Kagome! She’s the other demon!” The vibrations of Miroku’s footfalls behind him told him of the monk’s arrival but he disregarded it, staying focused on the demon before him.
The demon child turned and walked away, and when he was sure that she was gone, he allowed himself to fall forward—his body was still too weak from the soul drain.
“Kagome, are you harmed? W-what’ve she done?” Miroku’s loud voice boomed through his ears.
A headache started to form from the volume of the monk’s words. Too tired to respond, he ignored the male and kept his position on the floor.
“Kirara, it’s you! Uh-oh! Kagome!” Shippo’s high-pitched voice assaulted his headache even more.
“Shippo, what exactly went on here?” Miroku asked the kit.
“Miroku, didn’t you see the white demon? She was trying to draw Kagome’s soul into her evil mirror.”
Despite wanting to just lay there and recover, something within him kept nagging at him, telling him that he had something else to attend to. Unsure of what he needed to do but not wanting to ignore the nagging, he propped himself up on his elbows. Just then, it hit him—he needed to go to Inuyasha’s side.
“Kagome’s soul?” Miroku questioned.
“Where’s Inuyasha? I need to get to Inuyasha!” Hiei demanded with a frail tone. He pushed down on the floor, lifting his upper body up. Due to his lack of strength, however, he collapsed back to the ground. The half demon needed his help, he could just feel it. Missing most of his soul or not, he would not let anything bad happen to Inuyasha, even if it meant that he would have to crawl to him.
“Let me get Sango on Kirara, and then we’ll go to him.”
Impatiently, he used all of his physical power to make it to a sitting position. Panting at the effort that it took on his behalf, he used his bow as a crutch, making it to his feet. He held onto the weapon to keep himself upright, unable to do nothing more. It seemed to take forever for the monk to make it to his side, but he did eventually.
Within seconds, he was positioned on Miroku’s back, and although he didn’t trust being so close to the perverted monk in this vulnerable state, he was almost certain that Miroku wouldn’t try anything inappropriate. Even if the monk did try to grope him, he knew that he had just enough energy to knock the shit out of him.
He weakly grasped Miroku’s shoulders, and before long, he had slipped into unconsciousness with Inuyasha plaguing his last thoughts.
0-0
Finding himself sprawled out on the ground with the girl on top of him is how Hiei awakened. Immediately, he moved the girl off of him and jumped to his feet. He took this time of peace to gather his thoughts, wondering why he had just lived through one of the girl’s past experiences. Did the jagan malfunction? No, it has never done that before. Thinking back, he remembered that the dragon had a part in all of this, and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why.
The sound of the girl sitting up caught his attention, and he looked to her with an impassive expression. Why did the dragon protect her? She was worthless and annoying. From the memory that he lived of hers, he concluded that she was weak physically, but her determination made her strong. She was a save-the-day type of person who selflessly put everyone before herself. Really, who would lose some of their soul and disregard the unspoken rule of resting to get better for the sake of saving a demon—a half demon at that? People like her disgusted him.
“Life is still worth living,” her voice reached his ears, doing unholy things to his body.
His stoic expression turned into a hard glare as he looked her straight into her chocolate eyes. He didn’t know what she was talking about, but that wasn’t important at the moment. “What have you done to my dragon?” Venom dripped from his voice.
A confused expression made its way on the girl’s face, and she tilted her head slightly to the side. “Your dragon…?” She looked thoughtful for a second before her face lit up with recognition. “You’re its owner?”
A flat look crossed Hiei’s features. Her small talk of beating around the bush was pissing him off. “What did you do to it?!”
Fed up with being disrespected, Kagome got on her feet and met Hiei’s glare with one of her own. “I’m getting tired of how you keep talking to me! If you have a question, the correct way to ask it would be in a nice, respectable manner.”
Hiei’s eyes narrowed at the bold human in front of him. Never before had a female been so foolish as to speak to him like that. He found it aggravating and… arousing. His blood boiled with hatred and lust. And try as he might, he could not ignore the latter if the member below his belt was any indicator.
“Maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Let’s start over. My name is Kagome, and yours is?”
Hiei glared at the girl in front of him. How stupid was she? He had tried to kill her, and it was evident that he didn’t like her. “I have no desire to become acquainted with you.”
With a huff, she placed her hands on her hips. “You don’t have to be so rude about it!”
“Stop avoiding my question!” He would have loved to choke the life out of the infuriating human, and the only thing stopping him was the memory of making a fool of himself earlier that day thanks to his dragon.
“I’m not avoiding your question! You’re the one who came into my room in the dead of the night! I should be asking you why your dragon keeps bothering me!”
Her last question caught Hiei off guard. Never before had he considered the idea of his dragon willingly seeking out this human girl. Given the information that no one but him has been able to tame it, though, her story seemed ludicrous. But what if it held some form of truth to it? No, he wouldn’t believe anything without proof. “What makes you think that I would believe that my dragon sought you out?”
Looking to be fed up with the meaningless argument, Kagome lifted her shirt enough to only expose her navel. Crimson eyes latched on to her stomach, and he saw the evidence that backed up her argument. A miniature dragon was wrapped around her navel, and judging from the energy that it gave off, it was indeed his dragon’s mark.
Every logical reason to her truth eluded him, and for the first time in a while, Hiei found himself flabbergasted. Since when did his dragon go around marking humans? Hell, it even went so far as to protect the miko from him, and it has never denied him a kill before.
Wanting to probe her of all of the information that she contained, Hiei cast the bandana that was wrapped around his jagan aside. He opened his third eye and delved deep into the girl’s mind, coming in contact with a powerful miko barrier. He expected her to have such defenses, but if she wanted to keep him out of her mind, then she would have to do better than that. With little difficulty, he broke through her mental defenses, racking through her memories to find the answers to his questions.
A shrilling scream escaped Kagome’s lips from the searing pain that soared through her head. Gripping her head with both hands, she fell to her knees. Her pleas to stop went unnoticed.
Hiei ceased to care about the pain that he was causing the girl as he came upon her recent memories. He started at the one of the night when he first encountered her, then progressed forward. In a matter of seconds, Hiei had effectively scanned through her mind, experiencing all of her emotions, actions, and thoughts until he found the conversations that his dragon had with her.
Abruptly, he pulled out of her mind, saving his eardrums from the pain that the girl was causing them with her screaming. Everything about her infuriated him. Why, of all the creatures that was lurking in the three worlds, would the dragon take an interest in her? She was a good fuck that relieved him in the moment of heat, yes, but beyond that she wasn’t anything but a pathetic human. From the thoughts that he picked up, she had become fascinated with him because of that one night, and after seeing some of his memories because of his damn dragon, she was determined to save him from his current path of destruction. He didn’t need nor want to be saved, and he damned sure didn’t want another human becoming a part of his life.
Hiei came to a conclusion—his problems were with his dragon, not the female panting on the ground before him. Even though he still wanted to slit her throat, she wasn’t the cause of the unwelcomed changes occurring with him, his dragon was.
With the intent of leaving her on the ground unharmed—mainly because the dragon protected her from him, not because he was being nice—he turned his back on her, ready to go back to the demon world. At least he could kill something there, effectively calming his nerves.
“Wait!” the girl called out. When Hiei ignored her, Kagome tried again. “Where are you going?”
“I’m being so gracious as to leave your pathetic life intact. Take that and go.” Seriously, you fuck a human once, and they expect to be your friend.
“I don’t even know your name,” Kagome whispered dejectedly in a broken voice. She hadn’t even realized that she was crying until a violent sob ripped through her. To be honest, she didn’t even know why she was crying, yet she couldn’t stop the steady flow that was cascading from her eyes. The tears were her own, yet they weren’t. Although the mental anguish that tore through her was very real, it seemed misplaced, like it didn’t originate from her.
Hiei stopped in his stride. A rare wave of sympathy washed through him by hearing her obvious tears, and he scowled. This was the reason why he had wanted to dispose of her in the first place. These emotions—they were foreign, and he could live without them. He had lived without them. So why had they decided to surface now? Or perhaps they weren’t his.
Turning to tell the girl that her tears were wasted, Hiei paused. The large brown eyes that stared at him held immense sadness and pain, triggering something within him. Never had he seen someone look so… broken. Somewhere deep down, something asked him would he be able to walk away if it was Yukina and not Kagome crying like this. Of course, he dismissed the thought before he was able to harbor on it for too long.
Kagome watched as the three-eyed demon scowled at her before disappeared from sight, and she had a fleeting thought to follow him. She never knew that the rejection of a complete stranger could hurt as much as it did. Then again, she had never experienced such a thing before. She wanted to scream to the heavens, but she knew that it wouldn’t bring the rude demon back. In fact, she couldn’t figure out why she even wanted him to come back. He had made it clear to her that he didn’t want to have anything to do with her, so she was just wasting her time. Still, it felt like a piece of her had left with the demon—whether it was because he had taken her virginity or the fact that she missed being in the presence of demons was unknown.
Without the knowledge of what course of action that she should take, Kagome remained on her knees. Her determination to save the demon hadn’t depleted one bit, in fact, it had increased. However, she knew that the chances of encountering him once more were scarce, further dampening her mood.
Without realizing it, she had become attached to the demon in such a short course of time. He had presented her with something new in her rather bleak and predictable life. Most of all, he had given her a distraction from Inuyasha, giving her the flicker of hope that she could move on. In a way, she did move on, abandoning the half demon. In the end, however, it didn’t do her much good. What is there to gain from transitioning her focus from what was lost to what can’t be obtained?
The fates were indeed cruel in their treatment of her, but she couldn’t let them stop her. She had made a vow that she would save the demon from himself, and she would be damned to break it. It was possibly the only thing that she had going for her at the moment, even if it was an illogical and unmanageable task.
“Kagome,” a voice called out, causing the woman tense. She hadn’t realized that someone was near, too absorbed in strengthening her resolution.
Turning, her clouded vision accommodated the barely visible sight of the person approaching her from the shelter that the trees had provided him with. She didn’t try to hide the fact that she was still crying, having long ago lost the ability to care what others thought of her.
When the person had come within touching distance, she looked up, identifying who they were. Instantly, an idea as to how she could relocate the crimson-eyed demon surfaced.
0-0
If there was one thing that Hiei was grateful for, it was the vast amount of land that Genkai owned. He was able to find an isolated area in the hundreds of acres that belonged to her, thus providing him with the privacy that he needed to carry out his intended task. He knew that he wouldn’t receive the peace required if he had immediately gone back to the makai.
Assuming a comfortable sitting position high in the tree that he had taken refuge in, Hiei closed his natural eyes and opened the jagan. With the third eye, he was able to access the realm of the dragon through their physical link.
Within moments, Hiei found himself in the all too familiar lair of the dragon. Quickly, he made his way down the corridor lit by black-flamed candles, ignoring the slight chill in the air. Every step brought him closer to the dragon, but most of all, it brought him closer to his past.
Eventually, he was in between his life’s records in the shape of eleven doors. He had never understood the dragon’s reasoning for having such things in its realm, and he didn’t appreciate the foul creature sharing one of the doors with the miko. It was betrayal and a desecration of their unspoken treaty. Just thinking about the invasion of privacy fueled his anger—it didn’t matter to him that he invaded other’s privacy as well.
His stride increased until he was standing in front of the massive wooden door that contained the dragon. It was odd that he made it this far without the dragon speaking to him, but he didn’t care about the circumstances that may have caused the eerie silence. Knowing that the dragon knew that he was there, he proceeded into the door without so much as a warning—the dragon didn’t deserve respect after how it deceived him with the miko.
Is there a reason why you’ve decided to come? Hiei knew that the all too familiar, cold voice reverberated from the large dragon despite it not opening its mouth. Its silver eyes stared down at the fire demon with interest.
Hiei scowled. He knew that the dragon knew the reason for his visit, and he hated that the creature would waste his time with nonsense. “Cut the crap. What the hell did you do to me, and why would you place your mark on that worthless creature?”
The black-flamed candles lining the large room waved violently due to the large gust that emitted from the dragon’s nostrils. Its silver eyes narrowed at the small demon before him. Clearly he hadn’t been too happy about Hiei’s disrespect. Quiet fool!
Hiei mirrored the dragon by narrowing his eyes as well, angered even more by the creature’s words. He was not a fool, and he wouldn’t tolerate being called such a thing. “What was that?” His energy crackled around him. If it was a fight that the dragon wanted, then he would provide it. He was certain that he could take on the beast, given the fact that he had tamed its power.
You are out of line and have forgotten that you are not my superior. You think that just because you use my power—with my permission—that you are strong. In reality, it is my power, not yours. You will not hold your ground against me in battle. As for my marking of the miko, I owe you no explanation, but you will know in due time.
A growl escaped Hiei. How dare this dragon even think for a second that he was beneath it? It was infuriating to be belittled by such a thing. Just when he was about to rise to the apparent challenge, black flames encircled him, binding his arms to his side and his legs together. Struggling against the energy bondage, Hiei tried to free himself to no avail.
You can’t even break free from a simple binding, pathetic! Leave now!
Instantly, Hiei found himself in his physical body where he had left it. A scowl instantly marred his features, and he found himself ripping the bandages off of his right arm. The dragon thought that it had control over Hiei, but it was wrong.
With his arm exposed, he began to claw at it with the intent to remove the dragon. However, his arm remained unharmed no matter how hard he scratched at it. It was times like this where he wished he hadn’t broken his katana. In a fit of rage, he began to scrape his arm against the tree that he currently occupied, receiving no new results. One way or another, he concluded, the dragon would come off of his arm, even if he had to cut off the whole limb.
He was under nobody’s control, and he would not be treated as such.
Chapter End
Remember, your reviews help! Seriously, this chapter busted my brain, and without your encouragement, I would have taken longer to produce this. Let all of your thoughts and questions about this chapter go into a review—I’m dying to know what you think of this chapter, especially since I stayed up all night to finish the last three pages and edit.
Last but not least, I promise that it will not take over three months to get the next chapter out.