InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Forgiving Heart ❯ The Forgiving Heart ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

This was written for a contest for The Deadliest Sin community [http://thedeadliestsin . proboards55 . com/index . cgi] for the theme “Broken Arrow.” We’re having another very soon for fanart, so if you’d like to enter we’d love to have you!

This was actually inspired by a comment made there by DYquem about how humanized authors tend to write Hiei and tend to dim down his bloodthirsty tendencies to suit their purposes (or something to that effect). That really got me thinking and so this is what I came up with. Enjoy!

Written to: “Lai Sheng Yuan” by Andy Lau

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The Forgiving Heart

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At midday Hiei stopped for a rest on the banks of a wide stream that twisted and wound down the mountain. He rinsed the blood from his body and examined his many wounds. The swirling blue crystal at his neck brought him many challengers, and today he had dispatched a group of demon bandits.

There were several deep gashes across his chest and back, but nothing that wouldn’t heal within a few days. He’d spent a large amount of youki calling his fire to his hands, though, and it had left him feeling weak and vulnerable. He needed to find a safe place to rest up. After cleaning himself, he continued to follow the stream down the incline.

At the base of the mountain he found a small pocket of even land cradled in a womb at the center of several rocky outcrops. The stream that had gradually become wider and faster emptied here, cascading over the rocks in a great waterfall into a round pool in the forest. The path of the water seemed to stop there, so the young demon concluded there must be caves under the pool that continued underground. There were likely caves behind the falls themselves.

It was with caution that Hiei scaled the natural rock wall that encircled the little Eden and descended into the trees. Carefully, for he had not survived this long without a certain thoughtfulness to his surroundings, he explored the patch of unsullied land.

Most of the area was covered with old oaks and splashes of bright red maples. The western side was open, with only a few cedars striking the skyline peaking over the rocks. Here, three cherry trees and several other fruit-bearing giants stood alone amongst the wildflowers.

It was quiet here. There were no human villages, though with the security afforded by the natural barrier of the outcrops it would have been a perfect place. However, there was little land available for farming, and that was, he supposed, why it had remained untouched for so long. The air was clean and rich with the aroma of summer fruits. Somewhere, he caught the scent of sulfur which could only indicate a thermal spring. He could smell some animals, not many. The area was too small to support any large number. He decided this area would be perfect to make his home for a while, just until he regained the energy he’d lost in the battle with that group of demon bandits.

As he approached the west, the trees began to thin. There were more shrubs and patches of flowers as a small meadow appeared through the trees. He stopped when a heady, earthen scent reached his nose. It was lighter and more pleasant than any similar he’d experienced, but it was unmistakable to the young demon. A human.

Scowling, he continued confidently into the open area, drawing his sword. He saw the human standing at the base of a peach tree, merrily plucking the plump, ripe fruit from its branches. It was a woman with thick, wavy black hair to her waist. She was dressed in green miko robes, but her face was a mystery as her back was turned toward him. It didn’t matter. They all looked the same.

The woman stopped in her task suddenly. He could see her tense as her back became rigid and she began to turn toward him. Before she could see him, though, his sword was plunged through her neck. The peaches tumbled out of her arms and barely made a sound as they landed on the cushion of grass at her feet. She struggled for a mere moment, the horrific gurgle of blood in her throat as she tried to scream the only sound in the meadow. His crimson eyes watched in satisfaction as she finally sank to her knees and went limp.

He lowered her body to the ground and crushed one black boot into her back. Her bones crackled and gave way under his weight as he held her in place and viciously ripped his sword from her neck. He examined the blade for a moment, then took a small taste of the red liquid there. The dark haired demon jerked his head back when it stung his mouth. So she did have some holy energy to go with that outfit. And from the taste of it, she was quite powerful. He had been right to kill her before she could see him and use any of that deadly power on him.

With a savage laugh, he kicked the corpse. Her face was hidden under the cloud of dark hair that shone with red and orange highlights in the evening sun. The blood still oozed from her neck and seeped into the grass and the soil.

Now it was perfect.

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The crescent moon had risen now over the tops of the trees. Hiei darted through the small forest, following the sound of the falls to its source. He could see several well-worn paths leading to the water; the woman had obviously been living here for quite some time.

The thunder of the falls grew louder as he closed the distance. Standing at the edge of the rippling water, the young hiyoukai glanced around him with the glowing embers of his eyes before stooping to drink. After he’d had his fill, he found a tall tree along the bank and leapt into the tallest branches to settle in for the night. As a youkai, he rarely needed to sleep, but with his depleted energy, rest was a necessity.

The silver crescent in the black sky passed the hours and soon it was morning again. Hiei awoke to a strange noise, that of some large animal lumbering through the woods. Rising quickly, he silently descended to a lower branch and crouched in the leaves to watch. The wind was blowing away from him; he couldn’t catch a scent. But, as the creature neared, he began to see a brilliant white flicker through the trunks of the trees. A large, white animal.

It broke the tree line, and he belatedly realized the thing wasn’t an animal, but a human. Another woman in the same sort of clothes as the one he’d dispatched the night before. And the same hair, too. With a doubtful crease of the brow, the young demon slipped through the trees, a mere shadow, to circle around so as to put the wind between them. That same scent reached his nose from the woman as she stumbled drowsily towards the pool of water. His eyes widened in shock.

He’d seen her die! He’d tasted her blood on his sword; he’d felt the bones of her back break under his boot. This was impossible.

With a mighty scowl, Hiei easily leapt onto the grass. He approached her silently as she knelt at the edge of the pool and rinsed her face. He still couldn’t see her features as he closed his hands around her slender throat and pushed her down into the water. He stood over her body as she struggled and fought against him. Her pale fingers wrapped around his own, trying with all her power to dislodge the bands of steel from her neck. But her strength was nothing to his and her struggles soon died with her breath. The demon glowered in disgust at the wet mass of black curls that wrapped around his wrists and seemed to seek to pull him down into the water after her. He took a moment to peel them from his hands.

Finally, he stepped back and admired his work. The claret eyes observed as her limp body, now soaked with the cool water of the falls, slumped without his support to the bank. Her head still laid in the lapping water, the cloud of inky hair swaying gently in the waves. With one black boot he kicked the corpse into the water and it floated off toward the middle.

He stood for a while, watching as she was tossed around in the powerful waves closer to the falls. But nothing out of the ordinary happened. Soon, Hiei lost interest and headed off toward the fruit trees in search of breakfast. Along the way, he found a rabbit. After twisting its neck, he promptly burned off the fur and bit into one of its legs. The blood of the animal drizzled down his chin in gruesome rivulets and left a trail of crimson through the forest. For dessert, he ate one of the peaches the woman had discarded the night before under the trees. Interestingly enough, he noted the lack of any sign that a dead body had ever laid there. There was no impression in the grass and no puddle of blood.

It was still quite early in the morning, and the sun wasn’t at full strength just yet. The grass was still moist and slick with dew. For a while, he practiced slicing through the tall grass of the meadow with his sword, but found a spot in the shade of an apple tree when the sun rose high in the blue, cloudless sky and the heat of the day became uncomfortable.

For a while he rested amongst the roots, under the cover of the shielding leaves. The chirping of the birds in the surrounding forest and the occasional patter of rabbits and squirrels lulled him into a light sleep. It must have been hours later, mid-afternoon judging by the position of the sun, when a strange but not unpleasant scent reached his nose. It wafted to him on the light breeze from the direction of the hot spring he had passed yesterday. Mixed as it was with the stench of sulfur it was difficult to pinpoint its exact origin, but it was very flowery and sweet. Like the smell of a wildflower field, but condensed and almost pungent.

His curiosity getting the better of him, Hiei rose from his resting spot and sped towards the source of the strange odor. With a jolt of shock, he found himself facing a very nude human woman as she exited the natural spring with careful steps.

The young demon had seen many naked females in his short life and had, in fact, enjoyed some of their more intimate talents. However, he’d never seen a human woman. And, to be truthful, he wasn’t as disgusted with the sight as he’d thought he would be.

Her flesh was pale, white, and incredibly smooth. Steam rose from her skin and curled around her body in a sensuous dance. She was slender and elegant, but her plentiful curves lent to an earthly beauty, as if she had risen up out of the ground itself. Where a youkai female was all hard lines and muscles, this human woman was almost soft. She looked supple, delicate like a flower. Even as disgusted as he was with the species as a whole, he couldn’t deny the allure in the subtlety of their females’ beauty.

So entranced as he was, Hiei didn’t think to hide himself before she caught him gazing upon her naked flesh. Her outraged scream shook him out of his dazed thoughts as she quickly wrapped a strange piece of cloth around her and moved to put a boulder between them.

“Who are you?” she asked, an indignant glower curving her plump lips. “What are you doing here?” Her eyes, which he noticed with a small amount of surprise reflected the clear blue of the late summer sky above them, cast about in near panic.

He merely returned the glare full force. On the opposite bank of the spring lay the same green and white priestess robes. Taking a light sniff, he noticed that under that pungent flowery scent he’d followed here was the same spicy, earthen scent of the woman. This was her, the same woman, again.

Impulsively, he growled low in his throat. “Why won’t you stay dead?”

For a moment, her face was overcome with shock. Then, Hiei began to think he might have been rash in his decision to confront her as she quickly swiped the bow from the boulder and had an arrow drawn and ready, aimed for his heart, almost faster than he could follow. Her brilliant blue eyes lit with a righteous indignation as she stared down her weapon at him.

“You’re the one who’s been killing me!” her pretty lips accused. The steel tip of the arrow began to glow pink.

He smirked despite the dangerous situation he’d found himself in. The woman’s aura was brilliant and burning with holy energy. She was extremely powerful and he had no doubt he would die if she hit him with that arrow. However, his fire youkai heritage lent him a speed which was inestimable, incomparable in this world. He’d have moved before her arrow was even fully released. “How are you alive now, human?” His fingers twitched in anticipation, eager to draw his sword.

Her brow creased in annoyance, and she ignored his question in favor of her own. “Why did you kill me? I did nothing to you!” she shouted angrily.

“You were in my way.” His hand closed around the hilt of his sword. Her eyes followed the movement and in a split-second decision she released her arrow. The young demon flickered out of existence and the arrow struck a tree, sending a burst of glittering pink splinters to the forest floor.

Hiei was behind her before she ever realized it and she screamed in agony and shock as the gleaming tip of his blade erupted from her chest. Her death was instant, and she fell to the hard-packed soil of the bank with a hardy thud.

Smirking, the young demon rolled her over onto her back. The blood was turning her scant white towel a deep, gruesome crimson that reflected maliciously in his own claret orbs. He used the hem of the cloth to wipe the blood from his sword before sheathing it. He stooped to check her pulse with one large, callused hand. The veins and arteries of the smooth, pale column of her throat were still and lifeless. Already, her body was cooling and her breath was still. The blue orbs were glossy and doll like in death.

She was positively, without a doubt, completely and utterly dead. Nodding in satisfaction, the demon took a step back and surveyed the corpse. It didn’t move, and he settled himself on the boulder above to watch. Something strange was going on here, he was sure of it now, and he would wait here until he discovered what it was.

He waited for nearly an hour. The sun had moved over the horizon and the stars twinkled overhead when something finally began to happen. As he watched, iridescent purple wisps of smoke began to rise from the ground around the carcass. The glowing power curled and wrapped lovingly around the priestess, and as it seeped into her body the blood retreated from her towel. It ran back into the wound, which then closed itself seamlessly. With a sudden, gasping breath, the light returned to her eyes and she lifted a pale hand to her chest.

Her eyes found him on the boulder. Scowling darkly, she rose and held him in her angry, electric blue gaze. He merely stared back in veiled awe. “That hurt, you jerk!”

His carmine orbs moved over her body, searching for any sign of the deadly wound. It was completely gone, all traces of blood had disappeared, and she stood before him as if it had never happened. This woman he had found was not only immortal, she was invincible. He had to discover her secret.

“How did you do that?” he demanded of her. The young woman merely glared defiantly at him, refusing to answer. Annoyed, he slit her throat before she even noticed he had moved. When she returned to the land of the living, he asked again.

And so it continued in this fashion.

The girl would refuse him, and he would kill her. He impaled her, decapitated her, broke her bones, pushed her out of a tree, snapped her neck, drowned her, cut her, bled her, and brutally murdered her over and over again. And over and over again she returned. Sometimes she was dead for longer periods than others, but she always returned.

A few times he tried burning her body. And after she was no more than a scorch of blackened earth, her ashes rose, expanded and reformed into a living, breathing woman always with that eerie violet glow.

It was infuriating and fascinating.

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The young demon watched her from the branches of a withering hemlock. She was gathering long stalks of dead, yellowed grass, preparing for the colder weather of autumn. The woman hummed a nameless tune beneath her breath, looking over her shoulder in his direction every so often. Watching him watching her.

He descended the tree in a single bound and was before her before she knew he had moved.

“Tell me,” Hiei demanded.

Solemnly, she shook her head. Her expression was one of resignation as he sliced open her midsection and she fell onto the ground with a sickening squelch. The young demon settled against the trunk of a peach tree as he waited for her. He wasn’t disappointed and soon she joined him at the base of the tree.

They sat in silence, him waiting for the stars to show themselves and her beginning to weave the pile of straw into a coverlet. With the strange human so close, her brilliant aura pressing on his own dark one, something occurred to him.

“Why don’t you ever fight back?”

She looked up at him from her work, her blue eyes darkened to navy in the twilight. Silently, she shrugged. “You’re stronger than me,” she said as if it was obvious. She wasn’t bitter or ashamed; she was stating a fact.

His carmine eyes narrowed on her suspiciously. “You are a miko.”

This time, she did look ashamed as her cheeks warmed with a blush and she looked down at her hands accusingly. “Yeah, but I’m not a very good one. I’ve never been able to control my holy energy very well. The only time I can call it forth is with a bow and arrow, and you’re too fast for that.”

He couldn’t sense any deceit from the woman, so he settled down again, pondering the stars beginning to appear in the darkening sky.

She continued with her weaving. “You know, I never introduced myself,” she said, suddenly realizing the bizarreness of the situation.

He gave her an odd look.

Smiling, she bowed as best she could from a sitting position. “My name is Kagome Higurashi. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she giggled.

The demon stared openly at her with curious crimson eyes, tilting his spiky black head as he studied her. Finally, he glowered at her. “You’re very strange, human.”

“Kagome,” she reminded him.

“Hn.”

Kagome watched him from the corner of her eye as he turned his attention back to the sky. Occasionally he would turn those fiery eyes to scan the forest around them, as if waiting for an attack. His eyes were her favorite.

They were intelligent and alert, and sometimes suspicious, almost paranoid. Especially when he was looking at her. And they were so intense, never dispassionate.

Although, the young girl reflected, his mouth was nice, too. He had full, masculine lips and a narrow chin that told her he was still young. He looked about her age, maybe even younger. He was more lean than muscular, much as Inuyasha had been, but powerful. She had felt the power behind those hands many, many times. Wistfully, she imagined that they could be gentle, too.

Blushing at her turn of thought, she focused on weaving the straw into something useful. Briefly, she pondered over the small, tear-shaped gem that always hung at his throat. It was strange and otherworldly, swirling as it did with shades of icy blue.

Without looking up, she asked blithely, “What is that gem you always keep?”

It was silent for a mere moment before a blinding pain erupted in her chest and she faded into black oblivion. When she awoke some time later, her companion was gone.

The next day found her going through her chores. She washed up, had some fish for breakfast, and spent some time finishing the coverlet for the coming fall. Already, the air was becoming chilled and it wouldn’t be long until the first frost. When that happened, she’d have to move into the cave behind the waterfall. Her supplies from the seasons before were already stored there.

She didn’t see the young demon, and by midday had become worried that perhaps he had left. He wasn’t the best company, and when he grew bored with her he usually just killed her which was always quite painful. But he was someone. In her many years living in this forest, Kagome rarely received visitors. It was very lonely, and she had grown accustomed to having the demon around.

The moon had risen before he made an appearance. He caught her as she was gathering herbs in the forest. Approaching her, he demanded curtly, “Tell me why you won’t die.”

Kagome smiled warmly up at him. “I’m glad you came back. It was too quiet around here.”

“Tell me, woman.”

“Kagome, you mean.”

He was becoming agitated. Hiei stalked up to her and, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders, he hauled her up onto her feet and glared into her sparkling blue eyes. “What keeps you from death?”

Oddly, she only responded with a small, almost grateful smile. “What’s your name?”

The question caught him off guard, and his grip briefly loosened on her arms. Strangely, she didn’t try to back away. “Why do you ask such frivolous questions?”

“It’s not frivolous. I want to know,” she told him honestly.

“Why?”

“So I know what to call you, of course,” the girl giggled.

Hiei glowered. She wasn’t taking this seriously. He was a ruthless, dangerous demon and she should be scared. “Tell me, or I’ll kill you,” he growled.

Those cerulean eyes danced with unbridled mirth as she gave him a sly smile. “Isn’t that getting a little old?”

With a strangled cry that Hiei himself wasn’t sure whether was born of frustration or grudging acknowledgement, he threw the girl back with such great force that she slammed into a tree. Her neck snapped back and connected with the wood with a crack. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped to the ground in a boneless heap.

The demon eyed the unmoving body with a slight pang of what a sensible being might have called regret. He hadn’t meant to kill her that time. It didn’t matter; she would come back within the hour and go right back to her inane questions and her useless one-sided conversations. But she’d looked sort of… surprised.

Hiei didn’t like that. Why should she be surprised that he would hurt her? He’d done it a hundred times before. And he would keep doing it until he learned the secret of her indestructibility. So why did her surprise make him feel as though he’d disappointed her somehow?

With a growl, Hiei realized that if someone was disappointed in him it meant that they had formed some kind of expectation concerning his behavior. And that made him even angrier. He was becoming predictable, and that was a death sentence in this world. His energy was completely restored and his wounds had healed over long ago. He could leave this accursed paradise when he wanted.

But he didn’t want to. It was the temptation of complete immortality, he told himself. If he could steal her strange power and harness it for himself, then he’d be unstoppable. And ultimate power was his goal, right? The pursuit of strength, of bettering himself was the driving force in his life.

When the glow overtook the unusual woman again, Hiei had seated himself on a branch overhead. She cast a sad-eyed look in his direction that made the demon’s blood boil and stooped to reassemble the assorted plants she’d spilled into her basket.

What business did she have looking at him that way? And damned if the forlorn blue of her eyes didn’t make him feel somewhat… responsible. It was ridiculous and entirely uncomfortable. Hiei could feel his control slipping.

Despite himself, the young demon continued to follow the woman through her monotonous daily routines. She washed clothes, bathed, prepared meals, made straw bedding, and stored nuts and tubers in the cave behind the falls. And as the days turned into weeks, his urges to kill her became less and less insistent. Some days passed that he never spilt her blood. Her mood became more cheerful and she began throwing those infuriating smiles at him once again.

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One day, as she lay in the sun like a lazy cat, warming her bones as she’d called it, she called out to him. He rested under an apple tree, and the tall yellow grass hid her from his view. However, he could hear her soft voice and smell her spicy natural scent.

“Hn,” was his only response.

“How far is it to the nearest village?”

Her question confused him. Didn’t she know where she was? She hadn’t been born here; surely she must have come from somewhere else.

“Why do you want to know?” he asked in return.

He heard the rustling of the dry grass as she stood. Her dark head appeared above the sea of dead foliage as she waded towards him. “I need to buy new clothes. I haven’t left this place in thirty seven years, and I’m afraid the clothes I have are getting kind of ratty,” she explained as she took a seat next to him.

The young demon gave her a disbelieving look. She only returned it with a wistful smile. “I told you, I can’t die.”

His curiosity got the best of him. “How long have you been here?”

“Hm…” she thought, trying to remember all the lonely years. “I think around a hundred and fifty years. Maybe more than that, I’m not sure.”

Hiei gave a dubious snort.

“It’s true,” she assured him with an indignant huff. “Anyway, whether you believe me or not doesn’t matter. I just need to know where a village is.”

For a while, he debated on whether or not he should tell her. Deciding there was no reason to withhold the information, he told her, “Half a day’s walk west.”

She gave a low whistle. “That’d be a whole day of walking.” She sighed, “But it has to be done, especially before winter. These won’t keep me very warm in the snow,” she pulled at the thin green hakama experimentally.

They were silent for a while and Kagome began to doze off again in the shade, shivering occasionally in the absence of the warmth of the sun. After she had fallen asleep, Hiei expanded his energy to warm the air around them. The sound of her chattering teeth was grating on his nerves.

A few days later, he rose in the morning to find her gone. He hadn’t even heard her leave, but a quick search of the area confirmed that she had indeed departed. He concluded that she must have gone to buy new clothing as she’d said she would and settled in for a long day of waiting.

However, as the sun moved across the sky, he began to develop a feeling of unease. The sense of dread intensified as the day wore on, and he finally gave into his urge to go after her, telling himself he was only protecting his interests. He found her on a road; she was on her way back. Three men stood menacing before her, brandishing their swords. The demon landed behind them, and Kagome’s frightened expression melted into one of relief.

“What have you got there, pretty girl?” one of the men rasped. They obviously hadn’t noticed the threat that lurked behind them.

The young woman pulled herself up to her full height and clutched the sac of goods close to her chest. With a defiant glare, her cerulean orbs a swirl of determination, she said, “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

The men chuckled humorlessly and began to close in on her. Kagome stumbled a step back, her sandal catching on a rock and sending her reeling backward. She landed on her bottom, spilling the contents of her bag onto the dirty road. She turned frightened blue orbs to the demon beyond the men, standing still and emotionless in the road. His crimson gaze caught hers. She began to panic. Surely he wouldn’t just stand there while these men attacked her!

When the dark form of the demon flickered out of existence, the young woman felt her heart stop. Her mind immediately went to the three men standing over her, lust heating their black eyes. They ignored the sac of goods in favor of her; Kagome wished they would just take the bag and go, but she didn’t think that’s what they wanted. Tears stung her eyes, but they never fell.

She flinched when wet droplets splattered her face. Her eyes widening; she thought it might have begun to rain. But, lifting a hand to her face, she realized it was blood. She looked up to see all three of the men frozen on their feet, blood gurgling from their gaping mouths. They fell back in unison, still and dead on the ground.

Kagome raised her eyes to the dark figure standing behind the bodies, staring at her with those carmine orbs. With a choked sob, she gave him a watery smile. “Thank you.”

He didn’t answer, but turned his gaze to the spilled bag beside her. Some heavy clothes cushioned two large jars of clear liquid and a small wooden box. Looking back at her, he noticed her blushing furiously as she moved to pick up the brown sac and its contents. She replaced the things and stood to begin walking back to her home.

Hiei, instead of keeping to the shadows as he normally would, opted to walk beside her. The young woman’s eyes slid over to him every so often, studying his vacant expression. What was he thinking?

“I would have come back,” she said, without thinking. “When they killed me, I would have come back.”

He understood the meaning behind those vague words, and his red eyes, full and deep with the wisdom of a battle worn man, gave her a hard stare. “There are worse things than death.” His voice held a low, rumbling timbre that she was unused to hearing.

Silently, Kagome nodded and turned her eyes forward to the road. “There are,” she agreed solemnly. They were silent for most of the walk, and soon the sky was purpling with the setting sun. A thought occurred to the young woman, something very odd.

“I didn’t see any youkai today,” she said, curiosity coloring her voice. Come to think of it, this strange demon had been the first she’d come across in years.

Her companion turned his eyes to survey the trees around the road. “They are being moved,” he told her. Over the last few decades, the demon population had been dwindling. He’d heard that a new world had been created just for the demons, and that they were being pushed into it gradually.

“What!” she shouted, shock written over her face. “To where? By who?”

Hiei glared at her for her outburst, but answered nonetheless, if only to shut her up. “The gods have created a new realm, the Makai, and are moving the youkai there.”

Kagome’s head spun with the information. Another world! How was that even possible? How were they getting the demons there? She had a brief image of thousands of demons being corralled and lassoed like cattle and she giggled inwardly. Her thoughts turned to her family, the future she had left behind. It would make sense, wouldn’t it? In her era, there were no youkai. It must be because they had all been moved.

“But what about you?” she asked, worry evident in her voice. “What will you do?”

Her companion snorted arrogantly. “They won’t catch me,” he said confidently. He briefly wondered why she cared.

She didn’t look convinced, and continued to worry her bottom lip between her teeth. Kagome couldn’t tell him, as she was sure he’d scoff at her for such sentiments, but she didn’t want him to leave. Before he had come, it had been so lonely. She would miss him terribly if he left. Speaking of sentiments…

“Oh!” she ejected, stopping to dig through her bag. Hiei stopped as well, eyeing her curiously. They had left the road now, and the sounds of the surrounding forest joined her little sounds of triumph as she pulled one of the heavy jars from the bag and proffered it to him. She smiled brilliantly. “I got this for you!” After he took the jar cautiously, she pulled out the little wooden box and handed that to him as well.

He silently studied the objects in his hands, wondering why she would give them to him.

After a pregnant, silent pause, Kagome laughed self-consciously. “Um, that’s oil and polishing cloths for your sword. And that’s sake.” She was keeping the other jar for disinfecting purposes.

The youkai gave her an odd look. She fidgeted with the hem of her sleeves, feeling ridiculous under his scrutinizing gaze. She felt like a schoolgirl giving the boy she liked chocolate on Valentine’s Day. “Um, isn’t that what guys like?” she laughed nervously. “Sake?”

Hiei furrowed his brow in confusion. She was giving him gifts. After he’d killed her, she gave him gifts. Sake and oil to polish the very sword that was stained with her own blood. Was the woman mad? Noticing her hopeful expression, he decided that yes, she was obviously out of her mind.

“Hn.” The youkai pocketed the small box and began walking. Unscrewing the lid from the bottle, he took a long swig of the alcohol. It wasn’t bad.

Kagome took this to mean he accepted her gifts and grinned giddily. With a bounce in her step, she followed him through the darkened woods the rest of the way home.

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Autumn passed and the first snow of the season found Kagome fishing below the falls. She sat on a straw mat on the bank, another draped over her head to protect her from the chilling wind and the flurries that floated down around her, holding her pole over the water. Hiei sat in a tree, uncaring of the snow drifting around him. He expanded his energy to melt the white flakes into steam before they could touch his body as he polished his sword.

The young woman had been sitting at the water patiently for more than a couple hours, and still nothing had bitten. She was beginning to think she would just have to snack on her fruit preserves and jerky for the evening. Up in the cave behind the sparkling wall of water, she had a fire burning. It probably needed to be fed. Sighing in frustration, Kagome packed up her pole and the mats and made her way up the narrow passage into the cave, leaving the occupied male to his own devices.

The entrance was cold and moist, but farther back into the cave her fire had warmed and dried her living space. A few feet from the fire was a straw mattress piled high with blankets and furs. On the other side was another that she had made for her companion in the hopes that he would come in out of the cold at night. It remained unused. There was a large pile of firewood further back that would last her a few weeks at least. In a chest at the far end of the little room, setting flush against the rocky wall, her personal belongings and the rations she’d horded for winter were stored.

Kagome opened the chest, running her hands reverently over the red haori that lay neatly folded at the top. Digging farther down, she found a jar of peaches and was about to close the chest when she heard footsteps from the entrance of the cave.

Turning, she saw the dark silhouette of her companion approaching. She watched him curiously as he came into the light of the fire. His beautiful ruby eyes danced with the echoes of the flames as he closed the distance between them.

She didn’t notice the large, dead hare in his hand until he held it out to her. Kagome eyed the pitiful creature hungrily. Was he giving it to her? Cautiously, she reached to take the animal.

Hiei’s expression was blank as the woman smiled gratefully back at him. Without words, he took a seat on the mattress she had specifically set out for him and watched her go about preparing and cooking her meal over the fire. He had eaten his own already, so when she offered him some of the meat, he refused and told her fire cooked all the flavor out of it. She only smiled and nodded.

As she took a seat across the fire and began to eat, he pondered why he had brought her the rabbit in the first place. He supposed it was convenient; he’d gone in search of his own meal and happened to run across two hares. Of course, he ignored the fact that they were in separate holes in two different parts of the forest.

“Mm, this is delicious!”

The strange woman’s interjection brought him back to the cave and the warm fire. She was devouring her meal in a most unladylike manor. The usually dignified young woman was tearing into the meat like a starved dog, and he found the sight amusing. He smirked at her, but she didn’t seem to notice.

After she had her fill, Kagome stretched out languidly on her side, yawning. Looking like some sleek, lazy feline, she smiled contentedly and closed her eyes to rest. Hiei remained quiet and leaned back against the wall. He closed his eyes and listened to the cascading water outside and the wind serenading the naked trees.

“Youkai?” the girl across the fire called out to him. He cracked one crimson eye to show he was listening. “What’s your name?”

The demon only frowned in annoyance and closed his eyes again. Kagome sighed dejectedly.

After a while, “If I…” She hesitated. Could she really trust him? She wanted to. He was watching her now with both fiery orbs, his interest piqued. Nervously, she cleared her throat and started again. “If I told you what keeps me from dying, would you tell me your name?”

Hiei’s eyes widened a fraction. He could hardly believe his ears. This is what he had been waiting for. She was offering her secret, her most precious secret, and all he had to give in return was his name? Was she really so foolish?

He searched her eyes for any sign of deceit. They were full of hesitance, but colored silver with hope. Curtly, he nodded.

“Okay,” she said, sitting up on the meager bed and taking a deep, calming breath. She reasoned that even if he did know, he couldn’t use it for anything. The arrow only worked for her. But her hesitance lay in the fear that after he knew, after he’d gotten what he wanted from her, he would leave. She would be alone again.

Ignoring the nervous tickle in her stomach, she launched into her story. She spoke frankly and left nothing of importance out. Kagome told him of how she had traveled to the Feudal Era from the future, through a well on her family’s shrine. How she had been born with the Shikon Jewel in her body, and how she had broken it.

“But shortly before the last battle with Naraku, the well closed and trapped me here. I was the only one that survived the battle. I had the whole jewel, and I knew what I wanted to wish for. But Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha’s brother, warned me that artifacts like the jewel were tricky. He said it would likely twist my wish into something I hadn’t intended at all.

So, instead, I took the wood from the Bone-Eaters well and the jewel to Totosai. If I couldn’t bring my friends back, I at least wanted to be able to see my family again. I had him fashion an arrow from the wood and the jewel and infuse it with my own energy. The arrow is specifically tuned into my life energy and it acts as a little time machine to keep me alive.

Sesshoumaru told me that the Shikon sees me as its guardian, and wants to keep me safe. It lends its power to the wood of the arrow, which is still infused with the time-warping magic of the well, to control the flow of time around me. It stops it to keep me from aging and rewinds it to bring me back to life if I die.”

Hiei eyed her suspiciously. He did, in fact, know of the miko from the future and the legend of the Shikon no Tama; the tales were a favorite of youkai thieves. And he was wiling to believe, if only for the fact that there was no trace of dishonesty in her eyes, that she was that miko. She was certainly powerful enough and fit the description of a “wide-eyed, untrained filly.” But from the way she spoke of it, the arrow could only be used for her and her alone. Was she merely telling him this so he would lose interest?

He knew from experience that Kagome was a terrible liar; her scent and her mannerisms always gave her away. However, he could see nothing except honesty and hope shining through her aura. Hope of what, though?

Not ready to accept defeat, Hiei demanded, “Where is the arrow?”

He ignored the way her eyes grayed with sorrow and she turned her gaze away from him and into the fire. “It’s hidden,” she said quietly.

The dejection in her voice incited a fierce resentment in his heart. His blood began to boil. What did she expect of him? What gave her the right to make expectations?

He growled angrily and stalked across the cave to stand in front of her. “I want to know. Tell me, human.”

She flinched at the name and shook her head. “I won’t tell you.”

Roughly, he grabbed her around her upper arms and hauled her shaking form up. He glared into her tearful eyes, his own cold and hard like rubies. “Where is it?” he growled dangerously.

A quiet whimper as his fingers tightened around her arms, pressing dark bruises into her pale flesh. She was crying now, but the tears only fanned his fury. “It won’t work for you,” she choked desperately.

“Where is it?” he snarled again, showing her his fangs. He wasn’t some docile pet. He was a dangerous, ruthless killer! She had no control over him, none at all! He would show her!

“How can you ask me? How can you ask me?” Kagome sobbed.

“Tell me!” His control of the situation was slipping. Her tears were stilling his fingers, the fear in her voice was loosening his grip. He viciously shoved his hesitation down. He’d killed this woman more times than he could count. He could do it again just as easily.

“Please, stop!” the woman choked. “You’re scaring me!”

Before he knew what he was doing, he felt warm liquid gush over his hand and down his arm; droplets of it splattered over his face and hers. Her blue eyes, glossy and unseeing with death, were wide with terror as she slid from his one-handed grip and onto the floor. Blood oozed from her tattered throat where his claws had been buried.

He struggled to pull his eyes away from the woman’s bloody face. Hiei growled furiously and cast about the cave in confusion. He had no control. He didn’t know what to do now. The dull, vacant blue of her eyes spurred an uncomfortable tightness, but he quelled the feeling before it could blossom.

Hiei spotted the old wooden chest and quickly closed the distance. With angry, bloody hands he threw open the lid and searched its contents. Under several jars of fruit and wrapped packages of jerky, there was a red haori made of fire rat’s fur. Under that was an old, rusted katana. He could sense a powerful aura of youki surrounding the blade. Its appearance belied the power he could feel radiating from it. With a shake of his head, he threw the sword aside.

There was a set of odd green and white clothing. He’d never seen anything like it, but had to assume it was some kind of underclothes as scant as it was. There were little paintings, so realistic, of the woman and others, some human and some youkai. She was always smiling. There were childish drawings and a little spinning top. Some heavy bound books, some with writing he could recognize and some full of gibberish. But no arrows.

He let out a frustrated growl and turned back to the girl. She still lay there, cold and deathly silent. Her blood had congealed and it no longer spilled from her ragged throat. Lavender smoke began to pour from the rocky ground around her; she was returning. Hiei rushed out of the cave, never looking back. His destination was the Makai.

.

It was with slightly heavier steps than normal that the team of four spirit detectives dragged themselves into Koenma’s office. They found him stamping papers at his desk, as usual. He looked up when he heard them enter. Hiei took a spot on the far wall. Kurama and Kuwabara seated themselves in the chairs facing his desk. Their dark haired leader stood rigidly, arms crossed in annoyance.

“Ah, I’m glad you’re all here. I’ve got a very important mission for you!” he said solemnly.

“Yeah, yeah, get on with it. I had to ditch Keiko for this and she’s got her panties all in a bunch,” Yusuke asserted crudely.

Koenma’s disposition turned to one of annoyance. “Well,” he said grumpily, “I need you to recover a human boy who’s been kidnapped by a group of elementals.”

Yusuke didn’t look impressed, and nonchalantly began picking the dirt from his nails. “Why’d they take the kid? His parents rich or something?”

“No, but his sister holds a very powerful artifact. The youkai have contacted her and told her to meet them tonight at the border between worlds on the outskirts of Tokyo. I’ve already talked with her, and she is going to trade the artifact for her brother.” Koenma’s expression turned into one of annoyance. “Stubborn girl won‘t listen to reason,” he grumbled under his breath.

“So you want us to get the kid and stop her from giving up this artifact, right?” Yusuke guessed. With an unconcerned shrug of his broad shoulders, he said, “Sounds easy enough. Alright, let’s get going.”

“Wait, Yusuke,” Kurama urged from his seat. He turned those intelligent green eyes on their boss. “What is this artifact, Koenma-sama? And why is it important?”

The demigod smiled proudly at the fox. “That’s why I like you, Kurama. I know you won’t go into a job half-informed.” He threw a pointed glare at the impatient teenager now leaning against the wall beside the door. He received an arrogant smirk in return. “The girl’s artifact is an arrow.” Hiei’s alert eyes darted to the demigod, interested. “It acts as a time machine and warps the time around her to keep her from aging.”

“And this girl is a human?” Kurama asked. At Koenma’s nod, he continued, “Why would youkai be after such a thing? A youkai’s lifespan, especially that of an elemental, is virtually limitless. And contrary to humans, demons only grow stronger with age. Why would they want to stunt their own growth?”

Koenma nodded, understanding his line of thinking. “Well, the arrow can also turn back time. If the wielder dies, it rewinds time around the body to reverse death. So, you can see that if these youkai got the arrow, they would be virtually indestructible. The only way to destroy them would be to break the arrow, thus negating its effect, and then kill them.”

“But the arrow only works for the girl. It is attuned to her energy and will only devote its powers to her.” The interjection from their most quiet member surprised the room. All eyes turned to the dark figure in the corner. Seeing the attention, Hiei narrowed his claret eyes at them. “It won’t matter if those youkai get the arrow; they won’t be able to use it. You’re wasting our time.”

The demigod furrowed his brow at him. “How do you know that?”

At the questioning looks of his teammates, the hybrid “hn”ed and turned to glare at the far wall.

The others turned their attention to Koenma as he stood scratching his head in confusion. “Kagome never said anything about that. Why would she leave something like that out?”

The name confirmed the hybrid’s suspicions and his victimless glare intensified. For a while he had been able to shake the strange girl he had killed so long ago from his mind. But lately, he had more often found his thoughts turning toward the girl. She was one of many victims of his violent past. And although he would never admit it, he sometimes found himself regretting the way he had lived, the way he had been. He knew he could never change his past, but he could change his future. He had friends now, people he could depend on, and a sister he could protect. He had things he’d never imagined he would.

“Well, regardless, there is still a human life at stake,” Koenma said. “Botan will take you to the meeting place. Just get the boy back to his sister and keep the arrow out of those demons’ hands.”

A few hours later found them in a forest outside of the city. The sounds of the nearby highway were background noise to the whistling of the winter wind through the bare branches of the trees. The moon was nearly full; its metallic light spilled into the forest and cast skeletal shadows over the snow.

The woman was already waiting there in a small clearing, clutching a slender, polished box to her chest. Nervous breaths billowed from her mouth in silver clouds. She didn’t look very old, her late teens at the most. She was dressed like a modern teenage girl with a denim miniskirt, black tights and fur-trimmed snow boots. She wore her hair, wavy and blue-black, in a thick braid, the end of which brushed the backs of her slender calves. Her blue-gray eyes, silver in the moonlight, were worried and anxious.

They stayed hidden in the shadows of the surrounding trees, waiting. They didn’t have to wait long before five demons entered the clearing, one of them carrying a young boy over his shoulder. He seemed to be unconscious and his hands and feet were bound with thick rope.

The group of youkai consisted of three male wind apparitions, and a male and female water spirit. They were relatively weak by the looks of it; Hiei estimated their leader, one of the wind users, to be only an upper C-class. This would be too easy.

The leader stepped forward and greedily eyed the box in the girl’s hands. “Give us the arrow, human wench!” he commanded.

They watched as the girl’s eyes hardened to an electric blue. Her back was straight and rigid as she fearlessly stared down the youkai. “Show me that he’s alive.”

Chuckling arrogantly, he lifted one clawed hand to wave behind him. The limp form of the boy lifted from the shoulder of the youkai behind him and floated on an invisible wind before him. Suspended above their heads, in the light of the moon, the clouds his breath made were clearly visible to Kagome.

Her eyes shone with determination as she nodded once, curtly. Her pretty mouth set into a grim line, she opened the box and pulled out a single arrow. If its authenticity was in question, the soft purple glow around it was enough proof for the youkai. Everyone, including the team of spirit detectives still hidden amongst the trees, could feel the overwhelming swell of power that poured off the object in waves.

Briefly, the girl’s blue eyes darted to their position. Hiei’s eyes widened a fraction as she looked straight at them. He knew she couldn’t see them, but somehow she could feel them there. He could see the plea plainly in her eyes and understood her meaning. He nodded to the rest of the team, silently passing on the plan.

In the next moment, she tossed the arrow to the side. It tumbled and landed in the snow mere feet from their position. In the blink of an eye, the five youkai sprinted toward the arrow, leaving the boy in a freefall to the snow-covered ground. Kagome rushed forward, arms outstretched to catch her falling brother. She caught him and rolled to cushion the fall.

Hiei flew toward the arrow while the other three ran to intercept the youkai. With a brief interjection of surprise and outrage from the youkai and a few traded insults, they dispatched them quickly. The hybrid grabbed the arrow in the chaos, carrying it to a safe distance. Inspecting it, he found it still fully intact.

They looked over to the girl. She had untied the boy and was now patting his cheeks, calling softly to him. “Wake up, Souta! I’ve got you now; you’re okay. Just wake up, please,” she pleaded with the unconscious boy.

Kurama, having retracted his rose whip and replaced it into his long, red mane, approached with comforting words. “He’ll wake up soon. I smell chloroform on him; it will wear off shortly,” he consoled her.

Sniffling, Kagome nodded, relieved Still clutching the boy to her chest, she looked up at the handsome redhead and the two boys arguing behind him. She didn’t notice the dark figure holding her arrow further away. She gave him a watery smile and chuckled privately. “You’re Koenma’s team, right? I knew he’d send you guys if he thought they could use the arrow.”

Kurama smiled slyly. She was clever. Before he could introduce himself, her eyes widened and panic rose in her voice when she asked, “Where is the arrow?”

“Ah, I believe Hi-” before Kurama could finish, the forth member of their team flickered into existence beside him, the arrow in his left hand. Kagome blinked owlishly up at him before comprehension dawned on her.

“You!” Her eyes were dark and fearful as she scrambled to put herself between him and her unconscious brother. She focused in on the glowing arrow resting innocently in his clawed hand. An icy fear gripped her heart. He could snap it so easily; he’d just have to flick his thumb, and-

The arrow suddenly filled her vision. Her eyes crossed for a moment before they focused on the hand wrapped around the wooden shaft. She followed the callused fingers up to the black-clad arm and over the broad shoulder. Her azure eyes finally met his carmine depths, as hard and cold as she remembered them. But there was something different there.

They were still alert and intense, burning with an inner fire. But they didn’t seem so cruel now that they didn’t hold her death in their depths.

Cautiously, she extended her hand to wrap her slender fingers around the arrow. Briefly, her skin brushed his and there was a spark of electricity. He was so hot, as if hellfire coursed through his veins instead of blood. He let go, but never took his eyes from hers. She pulled the arrow in close, relieved.

As he watched her eyes shift from cool navy to warm sky blue and a smile curve her pretty lips, he felt the knot in his chest loosen just a bit. “My name is Hiei,” he said lowly.

Her smile widened even more as she replied, “Nice to meet you, Hiei. I’m Kagome.”

An answering warmth flickered in his eyes. He was forgiven.

.