InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Tears ❯ Inside of You...Inside of Me. ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

"This Hiei is the heart of the miko of the Shikon no Tama, the purest creature in the history of all creation, even purer than myself. Beaten and broken, bloody and bleeding more, she tries to hide it hear in the cave that houses my body. She tries desperately to shelter it here amongst the rocks and moss and yet even as we speak the walls are crumbling.

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Hentai / Romance / Angst | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 12.26.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 14.3K | Visits: 2.2K | Status: Work In Progress

AN: Hello Everybody! I know that it has been some time since my last update but I am afraid that it could not be helped.

I just wanted to clarify on something I said last chappy. Yes Hiei is the older sibling in his relationship with Yukina. What I meant when I said that Hiei had not been there for her was that there were times in Hiei's life that he was not in contact with Yukina such as when he was first thrown off the Isle and with the thieves or when he had his Jagan implanted. It was during one of these times that Kagome saved Yukina. I am extremely sorry for not making myself clear in the first place.

I also need to tell where in the time line this story is taking place. It will become obvious where things are taking place in Kagome's world later on but I need to clear up the matter of the YuYu world. I am going to say that this happens after the Chapter Black saga and Yusuke is now demon except that he never went to Makai and developed the tournament. Kurama and Hiei also never went back and Yusuke never met Raizen. The details around Kuwabara's death will be made clear in time.

*Will contain a very long and slightly sad speech by a special someone, you don't want to miss it.*

Now without further adieu here is the next chapter! ENJOY! ;)

Disclaimer: Damn you, you sadistic bastards for taking away my one true dream! One day I will own them all. Sees all the owners of all the animes outside the door. It was a joke damn ya'll people have no sense of humor.

Just joking I don't own either InuYasha or YuYu Hakusho. (Weeps softly)

"..." talking

Flashback

... Telepath

'...' thinking

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 6

INSIDE OF YOU...INSIDE OF ME

AT THE OFFICE.

Yusuke was for lack of a better word livid.

First Koenma sends them out on some strange mission and then it turns out that the chick they were assigned to find knew Hiei somehow. And then after taking her to the toddlers' office she freaks the fuck out and demands Hiei's life for the deaths of her family supposedly killed by said chibi youkai. And on another note Koenma so kindly informs them that he doesn't posses a picture of the girl and then one shows up on his screen at a wave of her hand. All he could think was "What the Fuck!" And Yusuke being Yusuke that was exactly what he said.

"Koenma what the fuck is going on? Fist you send us after this chick without so much as a picture to go on and then she comes here demanding Hiei's life and suddenly a picture shows up."

"Yes. I am quite curious as to what your answer is myself." The ever gentle and calm voice of the avatar made itself known.

Koenma once again in his child form eyed the two team mates trying to gauge exactly how much he could tell without giving away everything.

"There are things in the three worlds that not even me or my father would dare to stop, fate being one of them."

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means Yusuke that I was not meant to show you a picture of the girl until she so deemed it necessary. As a matter of fact there really was no picture in my database until she arrived and then suddenly it was there."

"Koenma-sama what exactly was she talking about dealing with Hiei and the deaths of her family?" Questioned the ever curious kitsune.

"Three months ago at the completion of her mission she arrived home and discovered that her entire family including her baby brother had been killed. And not just killed but tortured and maimed, her mother and grandfathers bodies were hardly recognizable. I do believe that the death of her brother is what hit her the most. Through certain...means she was lead to believe that Hiei had been the one to kill her kin and she came to my office demanding information on him. After a very long...squabble shall we say I convinced her that due to certain plans that the fates had for him, Hiei could not be killed now. We agreed that she would not kill or hunt him for the time being, but she informed me and Boton that if she ever heard his name again that she would come here and claim his life the fates be damned."

"So by sending us to that school to find her you knew what would happen when she heard his name! You KNEW and you still sent us." Yusuke was enraged with the ruler, stalking over to the desk and grasping his collar he lifted him straight up into the air.

"Listen to me you bastard, I refuse to lose another member of this team and another friend on one of your missions just because you refuse to give us all of the information. If Hiei doesn't come back alive I will kill you and nothing will stop me. King Enma be damned, there will be nowhere you can run where you will be safe from me." Yusuke's eyes took on a red shine. "Enma and his SDF could not stop me before so do not think that they can stop me now. You had better pray he comes back alive or you will not live to see the next sunrise."

"Yusuke kindly put Koenma down, he is turning blue."

Yusuke dropped the princeling in favor of rounding on Kurama. "Kurama what is wrong with you! How can you be so calm about all of this aren't you supposed to be Hiei's best friend? And what did that bitch want with you anyways?"

Kurama's eyes flashed gold quickly before settling back into their customary green, but if you looked closely you could see the golden flecks in them signaling to all who knew the avatar that Yoko was wide awake and close to the surface. A low growl escaped Kurama's throat startling all the rooms' occupants. "Yusuke, Yoko advises you not to speak about Lady Kagome in such a manner if you wish to retain possession of your voice box."

"But Kurama aren't you even worried about Hiei at all?"

"Yes Yusuke I am very worried but I have faith that Hiei can handle himself in just about every situation, even this one."

"But what if he can't Kurama? What if he needs us and we aren't there for him just like we weren't there for..."

There was no need for the detective to finish his statement. Everyone knew by the grief that darkened his eyes who he was talking about.

Kuwabara.

"I know Yusuke, trust me I know, but I am afraid all we can do is stay here and wait and see what it is that the fates have in store for our friend and pray it is not death. You never know though Yusuke things are not always how they seem."

THE SAME TIME IN THE HIGURASHI SHRINE

On the bed in the room of one Kagome Higurashi, heroine of the past, protectress of the present, preserver of the future, and miko of the Shikon no Tama, there lay two still figures lock in what would seem to an outside observer as a lovers' embrace. The female lay on top of the male her arms wrapped tightly around his neck seemingly in fear that he would disappear, her head tucked underneath his chin. The male lay still as death barely breathing almost in fear of disturbing his partner, a look of utter peace on his unsmiling face. His arms wrapped around her waist and his nose buried deeply in her hair the small youkai was relaxed. That quickly changed as his partner rolled slightly and slipped off of him curling into a ball at his side.

Disturbed by the lose of warmth the fire hybrid rolled onto his side facing the woman and slung one bandaged arm around her waist drawing her back to his front and once again burying his nose in her hair. A sigh escaped him softly, a sigh that would have never been uttered had he been aware of his actions.

One would never have guessed that beneath the peaceful exteriors of the beds two occupants' secrets were being revealed, souls bared, desires unearthed, beliefs shattered and life's changed forever. And while the three worlds went about their daily routines of life and death unaware, they would all know soon that things would never be the same.

INSIDE KAGOME'S MIND

The first thing that Hiei noticed he came to was the silence. When he opened his eyes all he saw was darkness. Now Hiei had ventured into many minds in his life, some belonging to humans and others to the most depraved youkai you could imagine, and yet never in all of his time had he come across a mind so blank. This onnas mind was like a blank canvas. In every mind there was at least some kind of activity, a spark or a ripple, something. Here there was absolutely nothing.

"That Hiei is because you are not in the active area of Kagome's mind at all. I stopped you before you could fully enter her memories in order to speak with you. Now come, we have many things to discuss and only a limited amount of time to discuss it in."

Hiei spun around quickly searching in all directions for the origin of the voice. It was a woman's voice there was no doubt about that. It radiated power, old power. The kind that came with decades of training, the kind that Genkai possessed, and yet the voice was not old or scratchy like the old psychics. Instead it held youth and beauty and yet sadness older than time as if the possessor had seen many things that they had not wished to.

Then without warning there was the sensation of being pulled forth that centered around his navel as if the universe was being pulled from around him or he was being dragged through time and space itself. He could hear the whoosh of wind as it flew past his face and could feel the squeeze of time and space as his body was constricted and suddenly he found it hard to breathe. Then as quickly as it had all started it stopped.

Just like that.

Hiei opened his eyes and was amazed at what he saw. He stood in a clearing in the woods. It was perfect in every way. Surrounded by towering trees the clearing was carpeted in soft grass the perfect shade of green and a random sprinkling of wild flowers. Looking around he noticed some odd things about the clearing.

First was the amount of detail that was put into the setting. In someone's mind things were never this clear. Usually everything was foggy and blurred and only the extremely important memories were clear and they were never this clear. The detail was amazing, everything was so life like, there was even a slight breeze blowing through the clearing.

The second thing that struck his interest was the sky. It was a haunting blue that comes with the closing of the day and yet it was still bright outside. He could feel, actually feel the sunshine on his exposed skin and face and yet he could not find the sun anywhere in the sky. One thing he could see though where the large black thunderheads that were making their way into the clearing. Even as he watched he could see their progress across the sky, they moved slowly but they moved without stopping. For some strange reason they gave him the vague feeling of unease.

But besides the detail in the setting and the approaching thunderstorm the thing that captured his attention the most had to be the well. The well was plain enough made simply out of wood and yet as he approached it he could not shake the feeling that there was more to it than there seemed.

"That's right my little Koorime. There is much more to this well than there seems. This is called the Bone Eater's well. Many years ago it was used to dispose of the bones of dead demons and then it had...other...uses. But that story I am afraid is for another time and is not for me to tell." There was a weary sigh in the air around Hiei and he briefly heard the flutter of invisible clothing when suddenly the voice spoke to him again. "Now Hiei I must ask you to finish the next leg of your journey on your own. I am afraid that I have exerted more energy than I wished to at the moment and must regain some of my strength before I finish this conversation with you."

Hiei was quickly becoming angered though none of his emotions were clear on his face. This...this fucking onna was daring to order him around as if she was his master! How DARE she presume to give him orders! The bitch's warning be damned he would make that voice feel agony if he ever found its body.

She could feel the rage radiating off of his body and did not hesitate to say something to him. "Youkai, you will calm yourself unless you wish to be purified. Your anger is doing you no good here. You have not been ordered simply asked to continue on to the next location by yourself. If you wish to have your questions answered I suggest you meet me by the Tree of Ages as quickly as possible. I will be there waiting for you with answers. The Goshinboku is the tallest tree in the forest it should not be hard for one of your capabilities to find in a short period of time. I advise that you hurry."

With those last parting words Hiei could feel the presence of the onna or whatever it was disappear as he turned to look in the direction of the largest tree. For some strange reason something told him that his simple life would never be the same after this day, and for some reason that he could not fathom that thought did not upset him as much as he had thought it would.

Strengthening his resolve he set forward into the woods determined to get the answers to the questions that he was not even sure he wanted to ask.

WITH KAGOME IN HIEI'S MIND

The first thing that registered with Kagome when she opened her eyes was that the sky was a pretty pink color and the air around her and the ground beneath her was cold. The cold itself didn't affect Kagome much anymore. While she could feel that the temperature was low and was still dropping the cold did not directly affect Kagome like it used to, as a matter of fact neither did the heat. One of the numerous advantages of being...whatever the hell it was that she well, was.

Still couldn't figure that one out.

It was strange really not ever knowing what you where. Sometimes she would wake up at night with one of those after hours epiphanies that only come to the truly sleep deprived right after they finally slip into sweet slumber, and realize that she had no clue really what she was.

She didn't even know if she was human any more.

She particularly remembered one occasion when she had caught a villager in one of the towns they had passed through picking on Shippou and calling him a filthy youkai and telling him that he deserved to die. The small kitsune had been in tears when Kagome had finally found him huddled by the mans feet, curled into a ball by a swiftly delivered kick. She had been enraged. The only thoughts circling through her head had been that this ningen had hurt her kit and any threat to her young was not allowed to live.

Shippou's scream of fear had quickly alerted the others who had arrived only to be rendered speechless at the sight of their Kagome holding a two hundred pound village man off of the ground by his neck snarling in his face and baring her fangs at him as she proceeded to lecture him on the respect that was to be shown to all children of all races by him from now on.

Within the time it had taken them to blink the man had been thrown through a wall and Kagome had a sniffling Shippou held in her arms licking his face and drying his tears in a manner disturbingly similar to that of a mother kitsune.

The rest of the day she had cuddled the small kit and loved on him, she had even growled at InuYasha when he had committed that she was spoiling the 'stupid little rat' and had attempted to bop Shippou on the head. The broken bones in his hand had not healed until late the next day they were so shattered, the burn mark from her miko energy had not healed completely for two.

Sango had commented that she had never seen her look so feral or demonic, Miroku had said she had never looked sexier, Shippou had simply said that he had never felt safer, while InuYasha had sulked and muttered bitch under his breath while nursing his battered limb.

Kagome shook off the thought of better times in favor of focusing on the here and now.

She slowly stood and looked around her and was amazed at what she saw. Instead of simply being inside Hiei's memory banks like she had expected to be she was in some sort of winter wonderland. It looked like the entire place was made out of ice even the huts. Looking around she made a startling discovery. Not only was this place an island of ice it was a floating island of ice.

FUCK!

She never had been too good with heights.

Shaking off the feelings of impending doom that always followed when she was up high, Kagome observed her surroundings like she had been taught. She recognized the place as the Koorime isle that she had once visited, the same one that Yukina originated from. The place was beautiful there was no doubt about that but it was so cold. And she didn't mean just temperature wise. She distinctly remembered the inhabitants of the ice isle. They were for the most part cold-hearted, frigid bitches.

She had got along with a few of them after the first ten minutes of being in the village but for the most part she couldn't stand them.

Then suddenly out of no where there were two huge blasts of youkai energy that were coming from somewhere behind her. Turning Kagome viewed her options. She could both stay here and search the village, but she could feel no life in it, or she could track down the two auras that were behind her and beat her answers out of them.

Now maybe she had spent far too much time around youkai or she was finally taking her long awaited trip down Insanity Avenue, but the second option was sounding pretty damn good right now.

Smirking to herself Kagome set off determined that she would finally get her answers. But as determined as our young miko was she could not ignore the fact that her powers were slowly weakening as she went. She could only hope that she could hold out long enough for her to finish this once and for all.

BACK WITH HIEI

After only about a minute of running half speed did Hiei reach the tree. He realized that his first suspicion was correct; this was the same tree that was outside the onna's house except that the energy was different. The tree felt much younger. While the energy still felt like ancient plant energy it felt much younger than it did at the onna's house.

Glancing around Hiei noticed that he was alone and for once could not resist temptation. Striding forward he placed his palm flat against the trees trunk directly over the scar in the bark. Instantly as his skin touched the bark he felt something reach for and connect with the Jagan. Suddenly there were emotions, so many emotions. More than he had ever felt in his entire existence.

Sadness, despair, loneliness, longing, pity, hatred, fear, anger, grief, small doses of happiness, pain and love.

So much pain and love connected and intertwined. Not the love of pain but instead the pain of love. It was almost as if they had caused each other.

What surprised him the most was not the hatred or the pity because he had expected to find both, after all, all humans did was pity themselves and hate others right, instead it was the directions these two emotions were sent in that startled Hiei. All of the pity that he was feeling was focused outward without an ounce to spare for the possessor. All of that pity was deeply intertwined with either love, empathy, or more compassion than Hiei had ever seen in one place in his lifetime.

It was strange really to be inside the mind of a being that did not possess a single shred of self-pity. Everyone he had ever met had pitied themselves at one time or another. Hell even Kurama tended to pity himself, true it was normally the kitsune bitching about the lack of sexual activity that he had been involved in with his new counterpart, but still it was self-pity none the less.

The next wave of emotion was one that Hiei himself was quite familiar with. That bitter tang of hatred that hung in the air around a place years after the source had left. It tends to leave a bitter after taste, a sort of bite in the back of ones mouth after you had been exposed to it. As the wave crested bringing the full force of the emotion onto Hiei he barely managed to stay on his feet, almost driven to his knees by the force of the emotions.

Yes he was quite familiar with hate if Hiei did say so himself. Hiei had hated many things in his life time, and when Hiei did something he did it to the best of his ability, hating something was no exception. Yes he had hated many, the Koorime that had abandoned him at birth, Tougoro, Koenma, himself, hell he had even hated Yusuke for a short amount of time when they had first met (still did sometimes to tell the truth), and many others along the way. And yet he had never hated anything to this extent. Plus there was something different about this hate, it was even more bitter than normal and had a large twinge of sadness mixed into it too.

And then suddenly as if someone had just flipped the universal light bulb Hiei could name the emotion.

Self-Hatred, and tons of it too.

More than he had ever seen or felt.

All of this intense emotion was directed right at the one who produced it. Suddenly Hiei had a disturbing thought; maybe he and this onna were not so different after all. He too had once had an intense hatred for himself. While it was not completely gone it still was not anywhere near as strong as it had been before Kurama had shown him that he did have some worth even if it was only to the team. Maybe no one had ever told this girl just how important she was to them, maybe she had no one just like he had had no one. He still carried the scars from when he had attempted to end his own life in a fit of depression. They had been so deep that not even his youkai healing abilities had been able to completely heal them. Had Kurama not found him when he had Hiei knew that he would not still be among the living. He vaguely wondered if the onna too carried any similar scars.

"More than you could even imagine on one of her age. This is what she feels day in and day out; even in sleep she does not find solace. Her dreams are nightmares of the darkest degree and her every waking moment is filled with what ifs and if only. She feels the hatred, the loneliness, and most of all the emptiness inside of her." Hiei still could not see the being that spoke with him but he had the feeling as if she were right beside him. "I am sure that you have noticed it by now haven't you Hiei. The encroaching darkness, the ever present, ever growing storm cloud just over the horizon that never seems to dissipate. How, could you not notice when presented with something so broken and shattered that it is almost impossible to ignore, though many have already done so."

"After a lifetime of being whole she was shattered in an instant and then destroyed over years. In the beginning it was only a small twinge after the first shock of being torn in two, but then it started to grow. It spread faster, grew stronger and began to draw her in. What makes it truly horrible is that the whole time she could have fixed the problem, rewoven the shredded fibers of her soul and been whole again if only it wasn't for them."

"Could you imagine feeling the empty growing and drawing you in and all the while knowing that you were losing your very soul? Could you handle knowing that even though you have the means and the capabilities to fix the problem, that you have the opportunity to be whole again, that you will not take it? That you refuse to take it? Could you possibly live with the knowledge that to be whole again all you would need to do was end one single life and your suffering would end, that all you had to do was end one life that was long since over, and refusing time and time again to fire the arrow that would free yourself from the pain."

"It is beyond unbearable Hiei and it only gets worse for I still have much to tell you and show you so that you will not judge her unfairly. I still have many more questions for you, ones that require only one answer."

"Now imagine falling in love towards the beginning of all of this. Then realizing that you would do anything to see that one person happy, even if it meant letting your own soul be ripped apart, then scattered even farther apart, or even stolen. Letting all of this happen just so they could be happy even if it wasn't with you. Then imagine later realizing that they were not even your friend, that they held no love what-so-ever for you, that they would never love you in even the smallest sense. Learning later that they were even waiting on your death, praying that you would be killed in an attack or die in your sleep. And the whole while you knew that they wanted you dead and you wanted to kill yourself for them so that maybe then they would see you as you and not a copy, but knowing that you will not because even after all of that you had promised that you would not leave them alone and that you would always stay with them no matter what. Not moving on because even after all of the torture both physical and mental you still loved them in spite of what they had done to you. And tell me this, could you still after all of this, be cheerful and act happy, always have a smile on and never act sad just to keep the only ones that you had alive, happy and sheltered now as you had been unable to keep others in the past."

"Tell me Hiei would you still want to live after that?"

"Hn. If the bitch is so eager for death then why has she not killed herself and spared the worlds her presence?"

"Oh Hiei there is much that you do not know about her but I am sure that you will learn in time."

"Enough games. Witch you speak in circles, always saying they or them never a name. You will give me straight answers or you will regret it!"

The woman sighed once again, ignoring his words and the threat within them. "Still so much to learn. Well no time like the present."

Suddenly that tugging feeling was back again and Hiei knew that he was in for a change of scenery, hell he was almost anticipating it. This time when he opened his eyes he saw that he was in some kind of cavern. All around him where old rock formations stalagmites and stalactites that were hundreds of years old. The cave was amazing and radiated a sense of peace and welcome to Hiei that he had rarely experienced anywhere. It was then that he noticed that the rock formations were not really rock formations after all, they appeared to be part of one giant youkai and yet it was made up of many different beasts at the same time.

It was an abomination.

Hiei noticed something special about the largest stalagmite in the very center of the cave. It took on the form of a beautiful woman in old miko robes and armor held in the jaws of a massive youkai. She had a fist size hole through her chest where her heart would have been.

"The reason why I am unable to appear to you in my true form is simply because my body never really died. My body is still in this cave trapped in suspended animation for all times. This is only a memory, her memory of what my cave looked like when she first saw it. It was once pure and peaceful, the air was clean and the aura relaxing, but times change. This cave has changed. Midoriko's cave they called it. This cavern reflects the inner feeling and thoughts of the one who possesses my jewel. With the first guardian it was pure but cold and unfeeling and yet a selfish air flowed through the walls at the same time. And then later after she arrived it was pure and clean, untainted but most of all welcoming. The barrier was open to all, youkai, hanyou, and ningen alike. Any who wished to pay tribute to my statue or to simply feel the loving embrace of a mother came here. But as I have said things change and not always for the better."

Hiei was sure that if this Midoriko had a body she would be rubbing her temples in exhaustion as he had seen Yusuke do time and time again.

"The atmosphere slowly changed as darker, sadder emotions wormed their way inside. And finally it is like this."

That fucking pulling sensation was back and then suddenly as if a spell had been lifted the entire atmosphere of the cave changed.

What had once been clean air was now dusty and reeked with pain. The air teemed with sadness, so much so that the walls themselves seemed to be crying out in pain. The floor was dusty and molding, the statues crumbling and there was barely any light to be had. And yet throughout it all Midoriko's body remained clean and unscathed almost as if what ever had caused the destruction was afraid to touch her body.

Then he saw her.

The small fragile body of a woman. Naked her only covering was her hair, long glorious black hair, hair with two pink stripes, hair that Hiei recognized. She was bloody and beaten with the look of one who had been severely whipped. Cuts and scrapes seeped blood freely and seemed to fester in the damp cave. And through it all she shook with silent sobs, almost afraid to make a sound.

Kagome.

"This Hiei is the heart of the miko of the Shikon no Tama, the purest creature in the history of all creation, even purer than myself. Beaten and broken, bloody and bleeding more, she tries to hide it hear in the cave that houses my body. She tries desperately to shelter it here amongst the rocks and moss and yet even as we speak the walls are crumbling. This cave is the simplest reflection of her soul. Once these walls were clean and the air was pure and sweet to breathe, but now this cave is dark and every breath is painful. The walls are crumbling in on themselves and I fear that soon it shall completely cave in and seal shut."

"Her very soul is dieing Hiei, and I fear that if something is not done soon then she will be lost to all three worlds."

"Hn."

"I have existed for a long, long time Hiei, longer than I had wanted to. I am older even than you. I have seen things that I wish had never happened, done things that I wish I had never had to do. And yet out of all the scars on my soul, out of all the memories that plague my conscience the destruction of this soul weighs on me the most. Out of all of the lives that I have taken, first as a miko and then as part of the Shikon no Tama this soul and its destruction will haunt me for all eternity. This is my fault no matter what she says on the contrary the destruction that the jewel has caused has been entirely my own fault."

"She and she alone has the ability to keep the jewel pure and to make the wish that will eventually set my soul free. There is one stipulation though, the wish must be pure and made by the pure of heart. I have only once been presented with a pure wish, and I would gladly spend the rest of eternity in my prison than grant that wish. *Sigh* Why or how that girl thinks that way I will never really know she should have known better than to believe him."

"I have a request for you Hiei. I simply ask that you watch over Kagome for me and try and prevent the empty from over taking her. I do not even know that she would be whole if she were to merge with the Shikon no Tama once again. I sincerely doubt it. Even my soul compares to nothing next to the massive size of her own. Now I know that you have more questions that you would actually like to ask and I assure you that they will be answered, just not now. This "procedure" does not normally go this way but I saw fit to interfere."

"Our time grows short Hiei but there are still two very important facts that I would have you know. One she would never hurt Yukina like that, she is too pure. Secondly, when you return to your body and after she has told her story I want you to ask her why she really stayed all those times. The answer will reveal a lot about her. Now I am afraid that I must go, but I will be seeing you again little Koorime."

Hiei felt what would be equivalent to a gentle shove on his chest and he felt as if he were falling backwards. Back into the world, back into his body, and back into his own mind. In those moments he could not help but admire the ningen that carried such a broken soul.

IN HIEI'S MIND AT THE SAME TIME THIS WAS HAPPENING

Kagome was getting sick and tired of this.

Every time that she came even remotely close to the location of the energy signals they would suddenly disappear only to reappear somewhere behind her. She felt like she was playing some kind of annoying game of hide and go seek or maybe tag. Either that or she was being tested. She really hated the second idea.

She had never done that great on tests.

But let's look on the bright side:

At least it wasn't Geometry!

Hell she could fight demons, save princesses and rescue water goddesses any day, but give her a Geometry test and she would rather jump head first off the nearest bridge, or mountain, whichever was closest.

Anyways, she had been on this ill-fated goose chase for what felt like hours and she was no closer to the constantly moving energy source. She was pissed off and she was tired, and an ill and tired Kagome was not a pretty sight. She could no longer ignore the steady drain on her energy and she knew that her supply would not last much longer and her time was running out. The spirit scan had not worked properly. Instead of taking her quickly through Hiei's memories it had instead fully submerged her into his mind and him into hers. It seemed to have taken her to an almost physical manifestation of the place that had the most impact on his life.

She shuddered to think just were in her mind he was and what exactly it was that he was seeing.

She was pissed at herself for not being able to use her own technique correctly. Was she really so horrible, so pathetic, that she could not even use an ability she herself had created and perfected (or so she had thought) in the right manner? Maybe it had been the two auras that were separate and yet attached to Hiei's own aura that had thrown the spirit scan off. She had noticed the two immediately but had failed to take into account the affect they could have on her technique.

Mostly though she was just tired, deathly tired. It was taking a lot out of her to maintain the link for so long and the strain on her energy was taking its toil on her more and more every minute. Before when she had preformed the spirit scan the energy required had not amounted to even a quarter of the energy that she was producing now just to remain in contact with Hiei. Kagome suspected once again that it had to do with Hiei's youkai and the two accompanying auras that were intertwined with his own. She cursed herself again for making the mistake.

The first aura had an animalistic feel to it and seemed to be drawing on her energy, trying to use her as a new power source or possibly an outlet. The other aura had an other-worldly feel to it that tended to remind her of the old psychic that had trained her, except that there was a demonic energy hovering around it as well. This thing was trying to set up permanent ties to her mind, her energy, and what remained of her pathetic soul. The extra pull of the first aura was adding to the strain on her energy and she was quickly becoming too weak to resist them.

It was taking an absurd amount of energy to:

1.) Keep the connection between herself and Hiei open.

2.) Give herself and Hiei the corporeal forms that this required.

3.) Fight off the energies that were alternately trying to feed/connect from/with her.

4.) To keep herself from becoming lost in the dreamscape that she seemed to be currently trapped in.

She knew that she had to get her answers soon or take the risk of never getting them or possibly having to repeat this all over again. Then as if in answer to all of her silent prayers the two energies stopped and remained in place. If she had been able to accurately measure the distance between them she would have to say that they were perhaps two to three miles to her right just beyond the sloe of that hill and in the trees that she could just barely see.

If she used her powers and pushed herself she could reach them in possibly ten minutes give or take a minute or two. Her training would definitely come in handy here but she was in danger of pushing herself too far and that could lead to her death if she wasn't careful. She had to be cautious with how she went forward; she could not afford to die now without avenging her family and making arrangement for Shippou. She would be damned before she left her kit in the world with no one to care for him. Praying that this would not get her killed she set off in hopes of reaching the auras and her answers before her time ran out.

TEN MINUTES LATER

There, just ahead of her she could feel them. They were stationary and the power they produced was almost enough to take her breath away. They were so strong and yet she could not figure out what it was exactly about them that bothered her besides the obvious.

Putting on one final burst of speed Kagome rounded the corner and skidded to a halt at what she saw. There in front of her was a floating glowing ball of lavender light, and a small blackish purple...gecko!

"Hn, he is not a gecko."

The voice came out of nowhere and possessed no real tone, just floating into and out of her range of hearing and yet she got the distinct impression that the voice was male.

"Hn, perhaps I am, I would like to think of myself as a male, though I am not really sure."

Kagome unable to think of a response found herself for once speechless so she asked the obvious questions.

"Where are you? What are you doing here? Hell what are you in general?"

"I am what you would call the Jagan, an all seeing eye for the spirit I believe."

It was at this time that Kagome noticed the lavender ball of light seemed to pulsate in time with each word that was spoken by the mysterious voice. "So you are this so called Jagan eye."

"Yes, I am. Now my reluctant companion over here, who is unquestionably male, is known formally as The Dragon of the Darkness Flame. Quite the temper that one has, so be careful not to upset him."

"So I take it you are the one that has been trying to connect with me, and he the one that has been attempting to feed from my energy since I arrived." Kagome more stated than questioned.

"You are really quite bright aren't you my little miko? Yes those auras that you have been feeling have indeed been our own. We were intrigued as to who would dare venture into the mind of our master. Not many would even consider touching him not to mention almost completely melding parts of their mind with his own after knowing exactly what he is."

"First off I am not you anything and secondly my name is Kagome not miko, thirdly I could care less what your master is, all I want is the answers that I came here for. And finally I would stop my attempts to connect or feed from me if I was you, or I will not be responsible for my actions."

"Then I suppose it is a good thing indeed that you are neither of us, wouldn't you say? You are fooling no one Ka-Go-Me all three of us know that you are too weak to purify a fly at this point in time, let alone take on two such as ourselves. We both desire a connection to you and we will not be stopped my little miko, not by you and certainly not by our master. He is further occupied at the moment and he will be none the wiser until it is too late for all of us."

At hearing their intended claim Kagome tried to withdraw wholly from the Jagan and the Dragon and completely from Hiei's mind. Immediately upon noticing her attempted withdraw the little 'gecko', that Kagome had once fleetingly thought cute, shot forward towards her growing in size as he went. By the time he reached her he had grown to over ten feet long and over one foot wide. His eyes were red and his scales were a blackish purple that seemed to flicker with a darker flame. Jerking forward he wrapped his coils around Kagome's body, his head resting on her shoulder, his nose in her neck, he squeezed her gently not wanting to frighten her just warn against future escape attempts. He was reminiscent more of a large python than of a dragon of any kind.

Then without any warning his tongue flickered out of his mouth and ran gently yet firmly across her jugular caressing her pulse point and trailed upwards to her ear where he gently nipped the lobe and growled softly, as if to tell her how much her taste pleased him. Kagome could not suppress her shivers at the Dragon's actions.

The Jagan chuckled at the actions of both of his companions, "He says that you taste absolutely divine, and that he cannot wait to taste your blood. He believes that it will taste like the sweetest nectar."

Kagome thrashed back and forth in the clutches of the amorous dragon, trying in vain to escape his coils that retained an oh-so possessive hold on her form. "Get you filthy coils off of me, you deranged gecko!" She was starting to become slightly desperate, her resolve and her resistance were fading at a rapid pace she knew that she did not have much left in her. She was running on fumes.

If she did not leave now there was a good chance that she would not leave at all or that when she did she would be leaving with even less of herself than she had entered with. But she could not, would not leave until she had her answers. If Hiei had killed her family, killed Souta he would die today and there was no one that would stop her.

"I had a purpose in my journey here. I want to know if your so called master was the one behind the deaths of my family. I want to know if he killed Souta. Did he kill my brother! Did he? Answer me! I swear to you that if you do not I will muster everything that I have left in me and I will purify you all even if it kills me in the process."

The Jagan was worried. Here he and the Dragon had finally after all of their years of existence found and being that held both of their interests and they did not even desire her death, as was usually the case, and she had a death wish. Hell even that messed up son of a bitch that they willingly called master was interested in her, not that he would ever admit it. He knew that if he ever wanted even the slightest chance of making the girl his he would have to disabuse her of the notion that it had been any of them that had killed her kin.

"We three have not killed a human that we have not been ordered to dispose of in a good five years. We have had no desire to end up in a Reikai prison cell or possibly have our sentence to Koenma raised any higher than it already is."

"How can I believe you? Do you honestly think that I will just take your word for it and forget that it ever happened?"

"I do not lie, I am unable to do so, nor would I even if I was able, lying is the cowards' way out and that is beneath all three of us. I can assure you that neither of us has ever killed a human with an energy signal even close to yours. You can rest assured my miko that had we done so we would have found you long ago and you would not have had a chance in hell of escape, not that you do now mind you. You can rest assured that the killer was not us."

At hearing this Kagome had no choice but to believe the creature. She could sense no lies or falsehoods and it would take an extreme amount of energy to deceive her while in this state. While she was fully aware that the creatures possessed more than enough energy to deceive her she would have at least felt the starting ripple of power as it flowed throughout their beings. And yet at hearing this, what little control Kagome had had left shattered and was scattered to the four corners of the universe. After all of this time of thinking that she had Souta's killer on her radar and plotting his death with the little information she had been able to pry from Koenma, only to find out that she had the wrong youkai.

She truly was worthless.

She couldn't even do revenge right.

She was breaking more and more each day. She was slowly drifting farther and farther apart piece by piece, sinking faster and faster and she could barely find the strength to continue to fight against the current of her own soul. Shippou was the only thing that kept her grounded, and even then the thoughts that maybe the kit would be better off without her circled through her traitorous mind.

Wrapped around and snuggled as closely to her 'body' as he was the Dragon felt the exact moment when her control wavered and without hesitation both he and the Jagan launched themselves forward and forcefully connected with her. The literally ripped the strands of her energy from her hands and out of her control, giving them the ability to manipulate it to their ends. Taking control of the strings the Jagan wrapped many of them around the body of the Dragon and many around himself. The eye was a master at energy manipulation, after all that was were he gained all of his own powers from. He knew that in the real world the Dragon and himself might develop some differences in their normal physical states, and yet it would be worth it for the permanent tie that they would soon have with the little miko.

As the connection was finally installed the Jagan and the Dragon were nearly overwhelmed by the shear blankness of what they found. It reminded the Jagan of the first impression that Hiei had when seeing her eyes for the first time. She was blank now in a way that her eyes had never shown; this went too deep to be seen on the surface. It was as if...as if she had simply shut down, flicked a switch and turned off the light. They weren't even sure if she was there anymore. They could actually feel her slipping away slowly and they hated the feeling of being unable to reach her.

The Jagan tried to get her attention a little desperately, "Kagome!"

She didn't even flinch when he practically screamed her name. The Dragon tried to get her attention in his own way, purring and growling in her ear while nipping at the lobe, and still there was no response.

The Jagan was worried; the Dragon on the other hand was pissed. The onna he wanted, his mate-to-be, the only one he had ever found after all his years of existence first in the Makai and then as a companion to Hiei that had ever had the potential to appease his hunger, was slipping away from him and he refused to let her go where he could not follow. Even from here he could feel her spirit fading in and out of existence as if she was ready to let go and yet there was something holding her back.

He could not, would not allow her to die and leave him alone again to face the coming decades by himself. He would not allow her to leave Hiei or the Jagan alone any longer, not just himself. Drawing the conclusion that he would have the onna as his one day very soon the Dragon carefully weighed his options. He could let her go now and allow her to withdraw from Hiei and hope that she would live on her own, but he would be running the risk of losing her so this was not an option. Or he could mark her. Not the mating mark, but the courting mark of his kind.

Being that they had no human form he and his kind were unable to officially mate with any species outside of their own unless they had a humanoid host. Since coming to be with Hiei almost five years ago the Dragon had been on the look out for a mate of his own, someone to fill the void inside of all three of them. Having Hiei as his host had its advantages and its disadvantages. First there was the fact that most females and many males found Hiei and his dark brooding looks to be quite attractive, but while they found him attractive none would go near him with the intention of mating after learning of his origins, and he had never found a ningen female that captured his interest until now. This one however was different. All four components that were necessary for Hiei to take a mate had finally agreed upon one single being.

The Dragon, the Jagan, Hiei's inner youkai, and even Hiei had agreed that they all wanted this onna for their own. The other three parts knew that Hiei would never admit that he desired the onna for various reasons, but he had failed to realize that his actions at the ningen school had revealed his interest for him. Never had anyone seen Hiei act so gentle towards anybody besides his sister Yukina. Although he had Kagome pinned to a wall at the time his entire body had spoken, unknown to the two parties currently engrossed with each other, of possessiveness and protective instincts that the hybrid had thought long dead. yes even Hiei subconsciously wanted the girl and the other three parts of his being agreed that they would have her regardless if he wanted it or not.

Now the courting mark of the Dragon was not permanent unless the onna herself agreed to their claim and the likelihood of that happening at this time was highly unlikely. But it did have its use in this occasion. The courting mark was designed to protect its bearer using the youki of the demon or the energy of the being that bestowed it. This mark would allow the onna access to his youki and the ability to draw from his own resources. This should provide her with more than enough power to remain grounded and stable until they had time to investigate what had made their onna so very broken.

Making a snap decision he chose. He would mark the onna. This would show all others that she was worthy of the Dragon and that she belonged to him as well, while at the same time allowing her the time to chose whether she wanted to stay with them or leave, not that the second choice was really an option.

Rearing back he prepared to deliver the bite that would tie her to him when he realized something. They were still in the dreamscape that had been created. They were not currently in the physical world thus any courtship mark delivered here would not stay. While she could very well purify them from here it was because her powers reached for the soul of a youkai killing them at the very root of their existence. Only energy changes would take affect here thus the success of the Jagan and his energy manipulation. While the courtship mark was mainly energy it still required the physical mark to activate it. Being in the dreamscape meant that none of them had a real physical body here. While he could feel her curves against his coils it was a cold feeling, like embracing clay. Her body held none of the warmth that she had given off at the school. When he had tasted her skin earlier he had really tasted her energy not her actual flesh he realized. He would remedy that soon enough.

He would be required to wait until the onna had withdrawn from Hiei and the apparition had begun to awake before taking control of his body and applying the mark. He would have to be quick otherwise they really could lose her.

Sending his thoughts to the Jagan, the Dragon waited for the agreement that he knew would come. The Jagan wanted to be connected to the onna in every way possible, her mind, her body, even her soul. He found her a puzzle and his desire to solve it rivaled the kitsune at his worst. The eye wanted desperately to dive into her mind and never leave, to bask in her energy and feed from the depths of her being. He would get his wish come Hell or high water.

The Jagan and the Dragon both could feel the emotions gripping Hiei while neither could see or directly feel the events that were taking place where ever the Koorime happened to be located at. It was highly likely that as soon as Hiei awoke they could be bombarded with visions, memories, and emotions from whatever it was that had happened and it could throw them off slightly if they were not quick about it. They would strike as soon as they felt Hiei regain even the slightest bit of awareness, so as not to get distracted.

They would each mark her in their own way and if they had their way about it they would never be separated again. With these thoughts they retracted their energies from binding Kagome to them and holding her in place, instead they simply brushed their auras against her own in a sensual manner attempting to calm her. Knowing that they would see her soon they allowed her to slip away from them slowly each reluctant to let her go. Then with one last brush of their auras she was gone.

BACK AT THE HIGURASHI SHRINE KAGOME'S BEDROOM

Hiei began to awaken slower and groggier than he ever had in the past on the few occasions that he had allowed himself to hibernate. Something was wrong, very wrong with him. He usually snapped into consciousness immediately without the in-between state that most ningen experienced, but this was different. He felt as if something was draining energy from his body in preparation of something big.

Then he felt them. The Jagan was open and currently burning through the bandana that covered his forehead and the Dragon was thrashing on his arm in an attempt to escape its confines. Neither had his permission to due anything, not to mention try and get free. The Dragon was uncoiling itself from his arm now as the pain of the detachment swept through him. As if sensing his discomfort a thin thread of energy crept up from the sleeping form of the miko currently held in his arms (though he truly had no idea how she had gotten there) and reached out to soothe the beast and assisted it in detaching itself without causing Hiei anymore pain. The onna was insane; she had just signed her own death warrant.

Hiei watched as the Dragon finished its detachment and proceeded to slink across his chest until it was laying flat across her chest in its smaller form. Hiei did not want to see the onna die simply because he had no desire to upgrade his sentence to the Reikai brat any higher than it already was. He tried to call it back but all it did was ignore his prone form and continue along his business. The Jagan was restraining his movements and would not allow him to move. All Hiei could do was lay there and watch as the Dragon demolished the onna.

Or so he thought.

Hiei watched the onna and his Dragon as the beast studied the lines of exhaustion that Hiei himself had just now noticed located on her face. His conversation with Midoriko came back to him. This girl really was broken. The Dragon sat there for a moment before leaning up and gently nuzzling the lines around her eyes and woofing softly in her ear. Hiei was confused; why was his Dragon being so damn gentle with the onna?

And even as he watched the situation became weirder. The Dragon once again lowered himself until his muzzle rested on her breast and tilting his head he appeared to be listening to her heartbeat with his eyes closed. As if sensing his regard the Dragon snapped open his eyes and gave Hiei his equivalent of a smirk. Leaning forward the Dragon inhaled the onnas sent and seemed to pause in rapture. His tongue flickered into view again and this time the Dragon ran it upwards from her pulse point all the way up to her ear where he gave the lobe a soft nip. Then suddenly he reared back and his jaws gaped wide in preparation to deliver the death blow to the sleeping miko. Growling slowly the beast jerked forward and Hiei knew that his life was over. He would forever be indebted to that fucking pacifier sucking, diaper wearing, stupid son of a bitch.

But then at the very same time the Jagan released a massive blast of energy aimed directly for the spot on her neck that the Dragon would soon latch his fangs. The resulting flash of light and the explosion that followed was powerful enough and filled with a big enough mixture of youkai energy and miko ki that it sent Hiei flying across the room to land on his ass, hurting him enough to make him pass out again.

His last rational thought before the darkness overtook him was, 'when had the Dragon grown those pink scales?'

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So do you guys like it or not. I am sorry for not updating sooner but I made this pretty long to make up for that. Please review, flamers, and ideas welcome. JA! ;)