InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Blue Anshan ❯ The Rescue 13 - What Makes You Burn ( Chapter 35 )

The Blue Anshan

By Alesyira

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho are not mine. I made a few OCs to fill in my gaps.

Summary: Imaginations run a little wild.

Chapter Rating: T

Author's Note: Original Post Date 07/24/20

look, I've been loling over this title for like LITERALLY a solid year, and I am super glad to finally share it with you. ALSO, I really appreciate the reviews that have been posted. I cherish each bit of feedback, whether it's criticism or praise. If you have questions / comments / ? moments, please don't hesitate to poke at me. I might not change anything about what I'm doing, but if it's constructive and well-intended it'll definitely be taken to heart. If you've made it this far in my story, you're a gem. love you 3000

Arc 4 - The Rescue 13 - What Makes You Burn

the present

Kagome started feeling a bit weird trying to distract herself by ogling the male in the clearing, if that was what she was actually doing. She hid her face behind her hands for a moment, using the physical action to tear her gaze away from the clenching muscle in his jaw, then forced herself to look in the other direction. 'Ugh, he's cute and scary and looks so angry.'

She tried to reason with herself that under normal circumstances, she'd probably not be so… interested...

Her reasoning trailed off. Her memories jumped back to all the irritating, short-tempered, abrasive males in her life prior to this adventure, and —even when she wasn't feeling lonely— many were interesting and at least a little appealing. She just had been in a constant struggle to overcome what felt like such impossible odds. It seemed to never end, until it suddenly did.

She had to accept that she'd spent too many of her previous years in some pretty extreme circumstances, and it made sense for her to enjoy the company of people like this. Even if they didn't enjoy her company very much. She sighed.

Thinking about her travels and trouble-making youkai males made the magic within her well up again to seek out more information. She shoved it back down, growing worried. Her magic was a natural thing that she'd honed over the years of adventuring into a decently powerful force, and sometimes felt like it had a mind of its own, protecting her and giving her information about things around her.

This realm made everything within her fight against the restraint. In her heart she felt that her magic was a natural defense against the lurking dangers hidden behind every bush and tree, but in her mind she understood that each exposure of her magic could draw more danger and be seen as a threat to those that called this place home.

Eventually, she was at a loss for something else to distract herself from her troublesome magics, and so talking through their troubles seemed like a passably good idea to her. She tugged on a tuft of the weird pink grass with a frown. "I don't even know what the heck is going on out there. I just got some vague instructions about where to go and I left entirely on faith that I'd be able to make a difference in anything, and all I've managed to do is cause trouble for everyone." She glanced around the clearing again and was surprised to see him looking at her, but his expression was so bored that she was immediately embarrassed for even trying to talk around him.

And then she kept talking. Surely the others would be sneaking back any second now.

"And now you guys have been dragged into this mess, exposed to this danger, having to take that disgusting medicine to avoid troubles with my plant…"

-o-

It was bad enough when she'd been staring at him in silence, but now she kept going on and on about something pointless and irritating.

Hiei couldn't help himself. Youko had planted the strange seed of thought —maybe teasing, maybe not— that this female might be interested in him, and with contemplations of burning kitsune on his mind, his gaze kept dropping to her rapidly moving lips. She was upset by the change in circumstances, her weakness, or something equally inane. In her frustration, she vented at length to the only person within earshot, even when he was obviously not paying much attention to her words. He wasn't sure he wanted to deal with two overly amorous kitsune. One was bad enough, and he had thankfully only experienced the sideswipe teasing of someone only half-interested in a tussle.

She occasionally trailed off to stare into the darkness shrouding the surrounding trees with a light blush staining her cheeks, but then her irritation flared and she'd start her bitching my-job-to-be-the-martyr tirade once more. As she got angrier at the jerk behind all the trouble, her strange magic swelled around them and brushed his skin with the vaguest sensation of burning. He closed his eyes and savored the occasional sting of shifting nuances in the power fluctuating across his body.

She ran out of steam eventually, and he found himself disappointed when the magic began to fade. She slumped back against the large rock in their clearing. In a final burst of anger, she slammed a fist into the purple bush next to her. It rustled pathetically and a branch snapped under the brief assault before she hissed in pain. He glanced up, only halfway interested in whatever ridiculous injury she had inflicted upon herself to see that her hand and forearm were littered with thick purple spines. He looked at the plant she had attacked and had to physically restrain an irritated sigh.

"You've never been in this realm before," he stated with certainty, watching her carefully. It was inconceivable that a youkai hadn't ever been to the Makai. And if she was an avatar, surely her youkai spirit —especially a kitsune— should have been old enough to have at least some minimal knowledge of common plants and animals in this realm. Every idiotic action he'd witnessed her make spoke of complete ignorance.

She pointedly dismissed his observance with a frown and began carefully pulling the spikes from her arm with her free hand, wincing as the barbs caught and tore the skin, leaving behind tiny spots of welling blood.

He watched her clumsy progress for about fifteen seconds before he gave in to the impulse he'd had while they'd traveled. He knelt at her side and snagged her injured arm, carefully and efficiently removing the spines with practiced flicks of his fingers. Being this close to her with her arm in his grip did not bring back the strange sense of dangerous magic to his senses, which was a little disappointing. He'd been expecting that, after he knew what to look for, it might have stood out more noticeably once he had her in his grasp again.

He picked up his teammate's observation of the clearing where their mysterious quarry stood alone, and their assessment of his power was a welcome distraction. Fire, S-class. He silently agreed, tasting the elemental magic in the area once more. Like any battle with the unknown, this could either prove to be an interesting bout with a strong foe, or a disappointingly quick kill like the distracted one earlier in the day.

The ash-colored youkai could have caused a great deal of destruction with the attack she'd been gearing up to unleash.

He hadn't hesitated.

"Do you think they'll be gone long?" Her question was quiet. Had it come from someone like Keiko or Yukina, he might have thought she was worried for the wellbeing of their friends. But this girl, he was beginning to understand, was very insistent on personally completing her task, and from what extensive grouching she'd done since the others had left, she was ready to accomplish it singlehandedly - anything to be less of a burden on others.

So self-sacrificing.

He mentally rolled his eyes, but gave no reaction to indicate his guess. The strangely alluring scent of old cake tugged at his senses. Her blood smelled wrong but Kurama had said it burned, and as she began to nervously prattle on in the extended silence about something sounding vaguely like dinner plans, he casually leaned closer to the tiny wounds on her forearm and took a quick, tentative taste. She continued to speak as though she hadn't noticed what he'd done. (She probably hadn't.)

And then Kurama asked him if he recognized this unknown youkai. He could barely divert enough of his attention to the youkai male in their thoughts to see if anything was familiar (nothing, and he said as much in just as many words) as he absently removed more of the sharp spines from her skin.

He tested the strange quality of the substance burning against the tip of his tongue. The flavor was nothing unusual from what he could tell. It was just blood with maybe a touch of the unsettling sweetness that everyone could easily smell. But it was like he'd tasted fire itself, hotter than the flames of his energy which could not burn him. The sensation slid slowly from its point of contact through his flesh, soaking in and spreading before fizzling out like a carbonated beverage.

The words popped out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "What makes you burn?" He inwardly winced at his own audacity, but refused to back down from the question and continued to flick the spines free from her skin. He might have refrained from asking such a ridiculous question if any of the others had been within earshot. But since they weren't here…

She had been pointedly staring out into the dark woods, trying not to look at the male sitting within a foot of her. When he'd unexpectedly taken her arm in his warm grip, she'd flinched in surprise and had to tamp down the sudden surge of magic that rose in reaction. Her cheeks flamed again as she looked at the contours of his face and the strange sheen of his dark hair, but then her thoughts started going a little sideways and she forced her gaze to the woods where the others had disappeared. 'Surely they'll be back any moment now.'

She returned to her random nervous chattering, anything to keep her mind off his proximity and the painful stings as he skillfully plucked the spikes from her skin. His unexpected question caught her completely off-guard. She somehow managed to finish the sentence she'd already queued up to mindlessly spout, and then her brain stumbled over whatever was supposed to come next. 'What the heck?' She almost didn't dare to look in his direction, unsure if he'd be staring at her with his crimson eyes glowing, those mind-in-the-gutter words on his lips. She peeked at him from the corner of her eye and caught sight of him touching his bloodstained fingertip to his tongue before pulling free another spine.

She shuddered as she was momentarily stunned by the strangely intimate action, his question forgotten. 'Do many youkai taste blood like this? Is he a vampire?' When he turned his intense questioning gaze up to meet her blank stare, she shivered and blushed. "Um, what?" His sword-callused palm was warm as he firmly gripped her wrist, and she gasped as he turned her arm to a better position to reach the spikes stretching nearly to her elbow. Those crimson eyes, red like the blood now collecting in large drips trailing down her forearm, shimmered with-

"Why. Do. You. Burn." He asked again, punctuating each word with annoyed disdain as though speaking to a misbehaving child.

Cold water doused the heat that had overcome her sensibilities and she blinked at him. "Burn...?"

His eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth turned down in irritation that he'd have to further spell out his question. He shrugged and turned his attention back to the task at hand. He didn't want to know badly enough to continue speaking with the apparently brainless female. The last spines came free and he released her.

Kurama told him they were going to leave the fight in his capable hands, to which he was not surprised, and that they were on their way back. He stood without another word and stepped across the clearing to lean nonchalantly against a tree to await their return. He felt her eyes follow his movements, and a brief, weird fluctuation of burning magic around them made his hair stand on end again. He was definitely sure he didn't want to be the object of some idiotic burning kitsune avatar's attentions.

She could think of a few things that would make her burn. Her face turned red again and she pressed her hands to her cheeks to soothe the reddening and to hide her silly reaction. But now she knew he probably hadn't meant anything dirty by the question, and it was definitely the last year of loneliness combined with the afternoon's unexpected craziness (like incredible kisses from an unfairly pretty male) that had sent her brain directly to the gutter.

She then realized what he'd probably meant, and she mentally checked herself for any leaking traces of holy magic. Everything she knew to control seemed sealed up tight, but it was possible she hadn't considered something.

"I'm not sure anymore," she whispered, half in response to his question, and half to the dozens of questions she'd been asking herself lately.