InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Heart Within ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 5 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: YoukaiFate 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 07.16.2008 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 557 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 07.16.2008 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 557 | Status: Completed
THE HEART WITHIN
Summary: Granted Kagura’s heart by the surgeon Shigure, Sango has finally reached Makai after 500 years of waiting for her chance at revenge. But what awaits her in the demon realm? New friends or old enemies? (IY/YYH crossover)
A/N: Boy, was this a hard chapter. I kept going back and forth over the end---which went a whole other way than what I had first imagined. I tried re-writing the chapter several times, but they were lame. Sometimes the characters just take up the story and leave you staring gimlet-eyed at the computer ready to stab the lot of them with plastic sporks. Poisoned plastic sporks. With sharpened teeth. And salt tossed on. No, I’m not mad. Not at all. Crazy, yes, but not mad. (eye twitch)
Thanks for the reviews!
Fate
WARNING! DARK DESCRIPTION, MILD CURSING AND SPOILERS
Chapter Four
Slipping off into the night on soft steps that barely stirred the grass, Sango’s mind churned with speculation as she continued to worry the problem over in her head. So, Naraku had not been the one to take over the detective’s body, though the possession seemed similar to how the hanyou had always maintained control over her brother, Kohaku. The fox demon, Kurama, he had said there must be a tie between the possessed and the possessor---in Yusuke’s case, it had been the tie of blood between him and his ancestor, whoever he was. In Kohaku’s, it must be the Jewel shard embedded in his back that allowed Naraku to control him. She had always speculated that that might be the reason, but now she felt more certain, and it worried her, for the shard was not something that could ever be removed, for if it was, then Kohaku would die.
She felt a cold fear break out across her skin, leaving her clammy with sweat at the thought. *No. I cannot think it. Kohaku is not dead. I know it. If he were, I’m certain I’d know it somehow.*
She had to hold on to that thought, because the other was just too unbearable. If she thought that, then she would be lost, and the madness and despair would claim her with a vengeance, as they had, occasionally, in the past.
*Madness. It’s there, always waiting for me to give up, to give in. I won’t. I won’t!*
Lips thinning, her pace unconsciously quickened, as if she could outrun the demons of the darkness that had always chased her. Moving as a faint whisper between the darker shadows of the night, she shuddered at the fear that always nipped behind her thoughts. That the madness would creep up on her once more and take over her conscious mind so that she was again the shadow of a woman who drifted undying through the centuries, mind lost to despair as the anger and bitterness took their revenge on any hapless demon who crossed her path.
That was the price of Kagura’s heart---this madness---for the wind demon’s heart had been shaped from Naraku himself, and a part of him still resided within it. His red eyes would haunt her thoughts, glowing feral and hungry in the darkness of her nightmares, and she would be lost to it for a time, the waking world receding as she battled inside her mind to overcome the poisonous curse of his demonic influence. For she was influenced, by both the dark oni and the wind daughter he had created. Kagura’s anger, her bitterness, her almost incessant thirst for freedom---those were her gifts as well. They had helped shape her into what she was, though it was her own burning need to avenge herself on the foul hanyou that had saved her, as well as her own strength of spirit that had allowed her to forge through the darkness and pull those new threads of influence into her own self-tapestry.
Would Kagome or Inuyasha even recognize her now? She wondered, and was almost glad that she might never know, for her promise to Shigure prevented her from ever seeking them out. She was almost thankful, then, for the evil demon’s sinister price for giving her Kagura’s heart, for she was saved the fear of it. And there was good among the bad of having the demon influence of both Naraku and Kagura within her own spirit, for the wind youkai’s ability to distance herself from reality, to separate herself from others and the burden of their pain---that had helped her, Sango, to do the same.
It had helped just now, when she had felt the danger she was in, and the faint alarm at having been so open with those three demons, and so easily lulled by them into relaxing her natural guard when around others. It was frightening, actually, how easy she had felt with them, though they had probably not known it. Her people skills were more than a little rusty, and she had lost the easy familiarity of simple companionship with others of her kind.
Though they weren’t of her kind, not really. They were demons, though she had lulled herself with the thought that Yusuke and Kurama, at least, were part human. Yusuke was what one could consider a hanyou, and Kurama, with his strange soul trapped within a human’s body, was nearly the same. But that fire apparition, Hiei---he had been a full demon, with no ‘taint’ of humanity to mar the purity of his youkai blood.
Sango sneered. Demons were ever so full of themselves, considering themselves to be above their human counterparts. What fools they were. She had known humans more valiant and worthy than ever any demon could hope to be.
Not true. For she had known youkai, too, who were worthy, and although they had been few, they had been some of those closest to her heart. Her eyes burned, remembering her lost Kirara, and she dropped that memory like a hot stone, setting it inside the dark pool of her bitterest thoughts for a better time than this to deal with.
The truth was that Hiei had reminded her sharply just what it was she hated most of the demon-kin. He exemplified their darkest traits---the callous disdain and casual disregard for others, their arrogant superiority and innate feeling of entitlement---that the world had been created for simply their own pleasure. They were like animals, devouring all in their path, sending their darkness forth to wreak the chaos they enjoyed so much.
She loathed them for that, that belief that the world was their oyster, to devour or discard at will. It was anathema to her who had been raised to protect the helpless, to aid those weaker and…out-numbered…
She suddenly twisted to the side, ducking beneath the wide-spread branches of the nearest tree as she heard the faint whisper of wings above her. Her senses tingled, sending icy shards of dread down her spine as she felt the powerful cloud of evil menace pass over her. She dare not look up, lest she draw their attention with her pale face among the shadows, but she extended her senses, using the raw feel of the air stirred up by their wings to map their numbers.
There was a dozen or so, their hunger sending them questing through the night for the warmth of the fresh blood that they craved. They were sightless, blind of eye and vision, but could feel the warmth of their victims’ blood as it pumped heat through their veins. They craved that warmth with an intensity almost shrill in its raw, aching hunger, and she shivered, glad for the spells cast upon her cloak that would hide her body’s warmth from their questing. It was one of several protections, and while these were primitive demons, their dull minds only aware of hunger and rage, they were powerful adversaries, attacking in family groups until the last one was dead, so hard was their hunger and so dull their awareness but for the unceasing rage that fed them. Banshees, they were called by the men who had lived through such encounters, and the stronger varieties could freeze a man in place with simply a scream.
These flew silent, though, and Sango gave terse thanks to whatever gods had granted the blessing, even as she broke from under cover and ran back toward the three demons’ encampment. For she knew what prey the evil birds hoped to dine on tonight, and knew with a dawning sense of dread how unprepared those men were to meet such a foe. The fox---he had said their defenses were low, and although she cursed under her breath for the instinct that had her running to go help three beings she could care less about, still she ran, for it was not in her nature to let them die, no matter who or what they were, without aid.
Twisting through the thick trees, she followed the birds’ path, letting them guide her so she could focus her energy on running. Catching sight of the distinctive orange light of their fire in the distance---the one she had lit---Sango snarled, for that was as sure a draw to the hungry banshee-youkai as the three males’ own blood. Two of them were human, appealing in itself, but the third was a fire apparition, one who would be even more appealing than they with the heat of his fiery blood to draw their attention. No matter how much energy Hiei had regained from his sleep, Yusuke had still derided that arrogant, red-eyed bastard that his energy was still too low to even sense her own aura. That did not bode well for their chances, outnumbered and exhausted as the three were.
Carefully checking the arsenal strapped to her own body, Sango drew her sword even as she looked up to gauge the birds’ progress above her. She had out-paced them, by only a few strides, and they were zeroing in on their target, wings expanding as they flew up in a spiral to gain height so that they could then dive in for the first kill with as much power as they could summon from the air.
She saw one of the three men suddenly look up at the sky with a frown. It was the fire demon, Hiei, who must have felt the evil aura rising above their small clearing. His gaze drew the fox’s, who even stood up to scan the darkness above. The third one, Yusuke, just rolled over in the grass, making some snide remark she couldn’t even hear for the wind rushing in her ears.
It was as if everything were in slow motion, for even as she saw the fire apparition and the fox both turn their attention sharply in her direction, she called up her energy---that air that always seemed to swirl around her, though she had no name for it but as something Kagura’s heart had gifted her with---and threw it with all her might at the fire, which burned so cheerfully bright a beacon for the sightless birds’ beckoning. Flames flew high in the rushing gale, flaring in protest before suddenly vanishing in a showering of spent sparks beneath the force of her summoned wind. Ashes flew up to dance with the rocks she had so carefully gathered, sending them scattering everywhere as if a giant hand had casually tossed them about. The detective was sent rolling over onto his face in the dirt---he jumped to his feet with a yell of protest as he spat mud. The fox demon had leapt clear of the debris, crouching on a low tree-limb up out of the way from what they thought was the attack.
“Get down!” Sango shouted even as she charged into the clearing, one hand jerking free the long length of her cloak as the fire demon jumped down from another tree, drawing his sword and snarling, “You!”
Hearing the tell-tale whoosh behind him, Sango flung her cloak over the angry demon even as she slid past him. She felt something bite along her side, a shallow graze that would have gone deeper had the folds of her cloak not intercepted the youkai‘s sword and enveloped him in its folds.
*That bastard cut me!* Snarling, she callously used his body as a platform to leap off of so that she could strike at the raking talons of the descending banshee who had almost got him. There was a hiss and a faint shriek of rage as the attacker found his prey snatched out from under him. A razor-sharp beak snapped for her head, wings mantling as the hideous bird tried to gain lost altitude. Spinning in mid-air, Sango lobbed its ugly, naked head from its body, spearing a second bird who dove in to attack behind it on the end of her blade and using its own weight to swing herself back down on a tree-branch, which swayed alarmingly under her weight. Lightening the heaviness of her body with a touch of wind-granted buoyancy, she ran along the branch’s length, shouting “Banshee!” in hoarse explanation as the rest of the flock suddenly swooped in with racking talons and gaping maws.
The battle was eerily quiet, but for their own grunts and shouts. The birds hissed in anger, their screams of thwarted rage and pain but the faintest of whispers. Sango had her hands full, fending off three of the bastards, who dove and snapped around her chosen tree. Dancing across the swaying branches with light steps, she tossed knives with abandon, barely able to see her silent adversaries for the swirling leaves and swaying brush around her. She heard yells below, and saw the fox snapping some kind of whip that sheared one banshee’s wing off at the shoulder, sending it careening out of sight, uselessly trying to flap its single wing to slow itself before crashing into the dirt with a broken neck. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the detective leap up to an incredible height to punch one ugly bird right in the head with a nasty crunch of snapping bone. He didn’t see the one behind him, its wicked talons ready to grab hold, but she was able to toss out those same metal-edged stars she had considered using on the fire demon earlier, hitting it in three sharp strikes along the eye and breast. It hissed in pain, and faltered long enough for the Mazoku to turn around and cave its head in with his fist with a smug yell of “Take that, you ugly ass vulture!”
Sango was too busy, then, to hear more, for the three who had been toying with her decided now was a grand time to attack all at once, and she took the expedient path of escape by diving off her tree. She let out a loud “oof!” as something solid struck her in mid-air, grabbing hold as she struggled, trying to kick at her unseen attacker even as he snarled, “Damn it, you fool!” as they tumbled gracelessly to the ground.
Red eyes flashed as she landed on her back---hard---and then were gone as he sprung back up to dispatch the banshee who had been about to impale her on its grasping claws before he knocked her out of the way. Gasping hoarsely, Sango rolled to her feet, diving out of the way as another bird angled in for the kill. Grasping her sweaty sword hilt in both hands, she spun with all her might, splitting the hissing youkai from shoulder to tail on her deadly blade and hissing herself when claws grabbed her thigh with bruising force before falling away. She felt another swoosh of air behind her, and spun to face it, but a tangle of green snapped out to catch the ravenous banshee from behind before she could do anything. Feathers and blood rained down, and she made a face as the head cracked into the earth mere feet from her, its open beak gouging into the turf to hold it upright in a weird parody of how it would have bit into her flesh.
There was the heavy slam of a body hitting the solid length of a sturdy tree bole, and Sango spun into a low crouch to face it, one of the last of her throwing knives in her hand as she kept her sword up in defense.
“Gotcha, ugly!”
There was another thunk, and then the bird’s mangled body fell like a stone to lie at the base of the tree as leaves and broken twigs showered down with the ugly grey feathers. The clearing was suddenly quiet, the foul aura gone as the last of the youkai were dispatched with a whispered scream. Yusuke jumped down from the tree, kicking the mangled body at the bottom with a muttered expletive as Sango slowly straightened. Kurama appeared, the thorny length of his green whip spiraling around him in a lazy circle as he dropped to the ground in a graceful crouch, his red hair falling gently across his back and shoulders with a silky whisper. He looked up at her, his green eyes almost black in the darkness, though there was a faint glow surrounding him and his thorn whip, as his energy pulsed in the fevered aftermath of battle.
Shying on instinct, Sango danced to the side as a whisper of movement suddenly materialized into one very pissed off demon standing right beside her. Her sword, which she had raised by reflex, was met by the glittering, blood-drenched length of his, and he snarled, “What the hell were you thinking, woman?”
She blinked, and spun on her heel when he tried to force her back with his stronger weight. He followed the movement, keeping up the pressure as they spun in a full circle. Her arm shook from the strain of keeping him back, and he pressed his advantage of strength, but she managed to fend his blade off long enough for her to sweep her other hand, knife clenched tight in her sweaty palm, under his guard and against his side, the sharp tip pointed up toward his kidneys just under his ribcage. They froze like that, his eyes blazing as she snarled at him, “What the hell are you doing? I just saved you, you ungrateful jerk!”
“Saved me?” His body was suddenly free of the danger of her knife as he shifted in a movement too fast for her to follow, and she stumbled back as his sword scraped along hers. “You could have gotten me killed, you little fool, when you threw your cloak over me!”
“I was only trying to protect you, demon!” She spat that like the foulest epithet. “I shouldn’t---have---wasted---my time!” Her words were gasps as he pressed down with both arms, muscles bulging as he slowly bent her over backwards, almost doubled-over. She dropped her knife to use one hand as leverage to spin out from under him. The move would have allowed her to kick his feet out from beneath him with the sweep of her own---if it had been successful. Instead, she found herself spinning free, he having jumped back to avoid just that. He laughed, a harsh sound, and she flicked another dagger free as he charged back towards her.
“Hiei!” Kurama used his thorn whip to lash between the two of them. Sango jumped back, setting her shoulders against the nearest tree so they couldn’t take her from behind as she squared her body, sword raised and knife held out for defense. Her breath came harsh, and her dark eyes glittered dangerously.
“Try,” she snarled, ready for the attack and daring them to, the ungrateful bastards. Just like a demon to turn on one who had only come to their aid! Well, they wouldn’t find her easy meat for the slaughter, she could guarantee that.
There was an abrupt laugh, and Sango glared as the Spirit Detective wagged his hand at her, the other one clutching his bare stomach as he wheezed. “Oh, gods, it’s just too great!”
“And what do you find so funny, demon?” Sango bared her teeth, enraged that he would think to make fun of her, the crass jerk.
Flicking his whip back so that it curled into his hand, Kurama chuckled and even Hiei smirked, dropping his sword to point at the ground as he gave her an impatient look. “I’ll speak slowly, girl, so you can understand. I’ll even use small words. We won’t attack you.”
“We wouldn’t dare!” Yusuke bellowed, before laughing again. “Ha, ha. Gods, that’s funny! Did you see the look on her face? ‘Try.’ Oh, god---I think she meant it!”
Sango grit her teeth, not dropping her guard for an instant. They were only toying with her, the sadistic bastards.
“Anei---we do mean it. We aren’t here to fight you, in fact, we are grateful that you came to our aid.” Green fire suddenly sizzled along the length of the whip curled in his hand, and it abruptly disappeared. “Your help was timely. We would not have faired so well without it.”
“Hn,” Hiei sneered, wiping his bloodied sword on the feathered ass of a dismembered bird before sliding it home in its sheath. “Speak for yourself, fox.”
“Oh, come off it, three-eyes. She was only trying to save your worthless ass.” Yusuke crossed his arms and grinned at her. “Though I do wonder why you tossed your cloak over him. It wasn’t that great a shield---he still managed to cut you with his sword, though it doesn‘t look that deep---”
“Heh.” Hiei looked rather pleased at the thought, his eyes catching hers with a smirk as hers narrowed.
“---so maybe that was it.”
“You’re hurt?” The fox demon looked startled, his green eyes moving over her body as he stepped forward.
“No.” Sango reflexively twitched under the intensity of his gaze, and met his skeptical concern with unwavering stubbornness.
“Jumpy, ain’t she?” Yusuke said, raking his fingers through his short hair as he smirked at her.
Casting a scowl in his direction, Sango abruptly sheathed her dagger in its place beneath her upper arm. Its twin was missing, still laying on the ground from where she had dropped it during the scuffle with the fire demon. Dropping her sword’s point, she still held it ready, suspicious of their motives.
“I have a few salves---” Kurama pulled them forth, the small, clever packet neatly folded into the size of a wallet.
“I’m fine.” Sango warily stepped away, though she still kept the three within her sights as she pulled a knife out of the next tree’s trunk, where it lay buried half-way into the bole. Yanking it free, she tested the edge and frowned before sheathing it in the belt that she wore criss-crossed athwart her shoulders and hips. She felt a trifle stiff, her leg a little bruised, but otherwise fine, though her energy was low.
“Hn.”
She glared at the demon’s derisive snort, than automatically caught the retrieved dagger he threw her with unnatural speed and unnecessary force. She hissed as the hilt hit her palm, and fumed silently as he raised a smug brow. Smoothing her expression to one of icy indifference, she sheathed the knife with its twin under her bare arm, anchored by the band circling it above the elbow.
“Nothing wrong with her reflexes.” Yusuke grinned, before putting his fists on his hips and glaring around their ruined campsite. The clouds had cleared above, casting a wan light across the body-strewn clearing. Spying a glint of metal, he went to go retrieve the small star-shaped weapon, and howled when his fingers bled from trying to pluck it free from the bird’s skull.
“Ow! Damn star!” He kicked the bird, and almost kicked Sango, who had come up to retrieve the tiny weapons herself.
“Careful,” she said absently, neatly freeing the three stars with a practiced flick of her wrist. Wiping the blood off of them, she pocketed them at her waist. Glancing at her drawn sword, she used the bird’s body to wipe the blood from it as well before finally sheathing it. Scanning the clearing, she looked for the rest of her knives as Yusuke sucked on his fingers and scowled.
“So why the hell did you come?” He was irritated, by both her cool appraisal and her seeming sudden indifference. He didn’t like how she did that. It was uncanny.
Ignoring his question, she said, “We should leave before other demons take notice of this place. The insects are already gathering.”
“Hmph. That’s not a problem.” The fire demon crushed a buzzing annoyance between his fingers and then flicked it away with a sneer.
Sango made a face. God, that was disgusting. Spying another dagger buried in a nearby tree, she strode over to retrieve it as Yusuke accepted a Band-Aid from Kurama, who watched her move about with uncommon interest.
“You’re slow,” Hiei muttered, easily picking out the various arsenal she had tossed with seeming abandon around the glade. Glaring at the taiji-ya, who ignored him, he went to stand by his friends, arms crossed over his bare chest, having discarded his cloak with hers when she had thrown it over him.
Sango worked steadily around the clearing, counting as she assembled her collective knives and sheathing them with meticulous care. The bodies had started to smell, and she wrinkled her nose as she bent over to pull one out of a bird’s eye. The three were muttering between themselves behind her, and she ignored them to use both hands to grasp the stubborn hilt and yank it free.
“Hn.” Hiei’s red eyes flicked over her and then back to the ex-detective with a noncommittal snort.
Kurama lifted an ironic brow, but had to smile, for Youko agreed. The slayer did have a pleasing shape, both slender and lithe, which was revealed by her low-slung black jeans and the sleeveless turtleneck she wore. She was also bristling with more weapons than he had ever seen anyone carry.
“I thought Keiko had a nice ass,” Yusuke continued, sotto voice, so the slayer wouldn’t overhear him. He wasn’t that much of an idiot.
“How is your energy?” Kurama abruptly asked Hiei, who frowned.
“Not as recovered as I would like.” The fire demon scowled.
“Nor mine,” Kurama grimaced.
“Is that a thong?”
They both shot the taiji-ya a disbelieving look, to find her not even bent over, but up in the tree, perched on a branch while pulling another knife out of the one above it.
Yusuke laughed, holding his stomach because it hurt so much. “Oh, god---you should see how far your eyes just bugged out!”
“Will you kill him or shall I?” Hiei’s voice was dark with menace.
Kurama smiled faintly, though it didn’t reach his eyes. Yusuke stopped laughing, seeing the look in them.
“Woah! Hit a nerve, there.” A knowing grin started dawning on the Mazoku’s face as he entertained the infinite possibilities of the sudden revelation. There wasn’t much he could get Kurama on.
“I suggest, Detective, you leave well enough alone,” Hiei warned, turning his head to look at the object of their discussion. She was back out of the tree, now kneeling over one of the ugly birds to turn it over with hardly a flinch. Lifting a stiffening wing, she pulled another knife free.
“Damn. How much silverware can one person carry?” Yusuke looked on in awe, rubbing the back of his head as he moved away from the other two. He dug his dirty bare feet into the thick grass, having discarded his one remaining shoe earlier that evening.
“She’s looking for a demon,” Kurama said, as if merely making an observation as the three of them watched her disappear around the tree.
“Hn.” Hiei folded his arms.
“So are we,” Kurama continued.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of the fire demon’s mouth.
“Yeah. So?” Yusuke turned around, still oblivious.
“Perhaps we could search together.” Kurama casually walked past him to pick up the smudge of thicker darkness that was wedged under a bush. Dragging it free, he shook the long length out even as Hiei plucked his own cloak from the bush’s branches. Swirling it over his shoulders, the apparition settled it back into place with an impatient look as he noted how the fox demon’s long fingers caressed the smooth cloth held in his hands.
“I thought that might be it,” the fox muttered to himself, and Hiei raised a questioning brow.
“This cloak is be-spelled,” Kurama explained with a light smile. “Which explains why, Hiei, she threw it at you.”
“Charming.” Hiei’s lip curled.
“Hoped to kill him, did she?” Yusuke grinned.
“No, she didn’t.” The girl suddenly appeared with a dark look. Holding out her hand for her clothing, she raised a thin brow when the fox demon didn’t immediately give it to her. “Can I have my cloak back, please?”
“You have spells of protection woven into this cloth, don’t you?” Kurama asked her.
“Yes.” She folded her arms, looking wary.
“Heh. Spells are for the weak.” Hiei met her flashing gaze with his own cool sneer.
“You knew the birds were blind and that they used infrared waves to track their prey,” Kurama said, still holding the cloak.
Sighing, she relaxed her angry stance. “Yes.”
“Your cloak is heat-shielding?” The fox’s question was mild.
“And heat-sensitive,” she replied, holding his green gaze.
“So, wait, you tossed it on Hiei because you thought he was going to fry your ass?” Yusuke demanded, letting out a laugh at the thought.
“Very funny, Detective,” Hiei snapped.
“No, Yusuke. Anei thought to shield him.” Kurama did not drop her gaze, even though he addressed his words to the former detective. “He’s a fire apparition, and the thermal temperature of his blood is higher than a regular demon’s.”
“I’d say.” Yusuke grinned. “A real hot-head, Hiei.”
“You will keep your foolish comments to yourself, Detective, if you know what’s good for you.” The fire demon fingered his hilt, though Yusuke was unfazed by the empty threat.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, three-eyes.” He grinned down at the red-eyed demon with a fond look.
“You knew the banshee youkai would go after Hiei first.” Kurama told the girl, who remained silent. “You sought to protect him.”
Hiei growled, eyes narrowing. “I didn’t need your protection, girl.”
She snorted, which had them all widening their eyes in surprise. Stepping forward, she neatly nipped her cloak out of Kurama’s hands and set it across her shoulders in a single, fluid motion. Drawing the edges together, she snapped them closed at the throat and stepped back. “We’re done here.”
“Not entirely,” Hiei growled. She ignored him, merely nodding to the other two. Yusuke, knowing she was about to pull that creepy, melt-away-into-the-shadows disappearing trick of hers, shot a hand out to grab hold of her arm to stop her. She stiffened up like an old, used hanky and he met her angry gaze with a mocking smile.
“Does this mean you don’t wanna come with us?”
“Let. Go.”
“Woah!” Yusuke snatched his hand back as if burned. Raising both with fingers spread in mock surrender, he grinned cheekily at her. “So you don’t like to be touched. I get it.”
Her eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint in their dark depths as her hand found the hilt of her sword.
“Pity.” The detective’s grin widened as she shot him a dirty look.
“Yusuke, you’re not helping.” Kurama sighed.
“Does he ever?” Hiei demanded dryly, and the fox’s lips quirked.
“Hey!”
“I travel alone.” The words were sharp and poignant, her voice icy as her eyes glittered.
“Boh-ring.” Yusuke waved a negligent hand, making a face at the horrible thought. “I would drive myself nuts if I was alone all the time.”
“So you choose to drive us nuts instead?”
“Damn it, three-eyes! I’m gonna---”
“You seek a demon.” Kurama spoke to the girl, and did not flinch as her sharp gaze slid to his. “You know we do as well. We could help each other.”
“No, thanks.” She turned away, flipping her hood up and preparing to leave.
“We have the Jagan.”
She paused, shooting him a startled glance over her shoulder as Hiei growled.
*Just what the hell are you doing, fox?* The fire demon sent the unflappable redhead, who just smiled slightly.
*Just---let me. Please.* Kurama did not beg; that was not in his nature. Hiei glowered, not liking it one bit, but the fox had earned his trust, something not that easy to do, and so he let it lie. He just hoped Kurama had more in mind than attracting a nice piece of ass, as the detective had so boorishly put it.
“The Jagan Eye?” She turned back towards them, her voice carefully neutral.
“You are a bigger fool than I took you for, if you could not tell I am a Jaganshi,” Hiei sneered, his third eye glowing slightly behind the white bandana he kept over it.
“Why?” she demanded, the question a good one.
“Entertainment.” Yusuke grinned smugly at the fox’s rather bland look.
“Entertainment?” she repeated, her voice cold as she withdrew into herself once more.
“Ah, hell. Why not?” Yusuke folded his arms. “You’re not a half-bad fighter---for a girl---and those two are still low on energy, though the three-eyed freak would never admit it, would you, Hiei?” He met the fire demon’s scowl with a cocky smirk. “Besides, you helped us. We should return the favor. We’re both here doing the same damn thing, so why not do it together?”
The girl was silent, clearly churning the thought over in her head as they watched her. She finally turned to Hiei, her brown eyes narrowed. “The Jagan. I know it can range a powerful distance, but how can you 'see' something when you don’t even know what to look for?”
Hiei sneered at the oblivious answer. “I can’t.”
“Then you can’t help me.” She looked somewhat relieved by that fact. “Thank you for the offer, but---”
“Do you know what it is you seek?” Kurama interspersed himself, green eyes intense.
“Revenge,” she replied, a wealth of turbulent emotion in that single, whispered word.
“Hn,” Hiei sneered. “How typical.”
She stiffened at the slight but only raised her chin, her words icy as she drew herself up to go. “Again, I thank you for the offer, but no. I can find---”
The fire demon was suddenly upon her, pinning her arms to her sides at the elbow with the hard, iron band of one of his own. She gasped in outrage even as the calloused fingers of his right hand feathered over her face, pushing aside the thick curl of her bangs so he could grip both sides of her temple between thumb and pinky. She struggled violently, letting out an incoherent cry of rage when he forced her to her knees with a hard shove.
“Hiei!” Kurama and Yusuke shouted at the fire demon, who ignored them.
*Show me!* He plunged into her mind, thinking to force the memory up from her subconscious, but it was there, at the forefront of her thoughts, which churned wildly in all directions at the sudden intrusion. The red eyes that bore into hers had recalled another‘s, and he flinched, as she did, at the memory of pain, the shadow of which sent a dull echo across his back, right between and just below his shoulder blades. A face flashed across her mind, a boy’s face, with empty eyes and fresh blood dripping from the chained scythe held up in his hand, as if raised for another blow. She screamed inside his mind, rage and fear mixed together with a burgeoning sense of utter rejection.
*GET OUT!*
He flinched at the raw power of her command, and snarled, summoning the face of the demon forth from the turbulent rage of her thoughts. There was an insane laugh, a hoarse mockery of derisive scorn. It was called up from the deepest pit of her memories, and she mentally screamed, a heart-wrenching sob of pain and terror and utter loathing amid the inhuman rage and denial. A name formed from her mind to his, and he repeated it.
*Naraku---*
*NO!*
He was abruptly plunged back inside his own body, and he staggered back as she launched herself at him, fingers crooked as if she would tear him apart with her frail, human nails. Hiei grabbed her wrists in his hands, and then howled when her knee found his most tender area. Muscles quivering in reaction to the pain, his eyes flashed bloodily as he snarled, his fangs appearing as the demonic rage took over.
“Holy shit.” Yusuke‘s mouth fell open, seeing the flash in her own eyes, which were crazed with the fever of uncontrolled youkai rage. “They’re going to kill each other!”
Kurama’s voice was hoarse, the demonic energy swirling around the clearing summoning up his Youko side in answer. He fought it back, trying to keep a reign on his rising emotions as Yusuke darted in, fist flying in a short, sharp jab to the girl’s temple. She crumpled beneath the blow, and the ex-detective followed it up with a second to the fire demon, who only moved aside, rolling out from under her and leaping to his feet as his rage found another victim.
*Hiei!* Kurama called out sharply, and the demon paused, his glowing eyes dimming slightly before he fell to his knees in sudden exhaustion.
“Damn.”
Summary: Granted Kagura’s heart by the surgeon Shigure, Sango has finally reached Makai after 500 years of waiting for her chance at revenge. But what awaits her in the demon realm? New friends or old enemies? (IY/YYH crossover)
A/N: Boy, was this a hard chapter. I kept going back and forth over the end---which went a whole other way than what I had first imagined. I tried re-writing the chapter several times, but they were lame. Sometimes the characters just take up the story and leave you staring gimlet-eyed at the computer ready to stab the lot of them with plastic sporks. Poisoned plastic sporks. With sharpened teeth. And salt tossed on. No, I’m not mad. Not at all. Crazy, yes, but not mad. (eye twitch)
Thanks for the reviews!
Fate
WARNING! DARK DESCRIPTION, MILD CURSING AND SPOILERS
Chapter Four
Slipping off into the night on soft steps that barely stirred the grass, Sango’s mind churned with speculation as she continued to worry the problem over in her head. So, Naraku had not been the one to take over the detective’s body, though the possession seemed similar to how the hanyou had always maintained control over her brother, Kohaku. The fox demon, Kurama, he had said there must be a tie between the possessed and the possessor---in Yusuke’s case, it had been the tie of blood between him and his ancestor, whoever he was. In Kohaku’s, it must be the Jewel shard embedded in his back that allowed Naraku to control him. She had always speculated that that might be the reason, but now she felt more certain, and it worried her, for the shard was not something that could ever be removed, for if it was, then Kohaku would die.
She felt a cold fear break out across her skin, leaving her clammy with sweat at the thought. *No. I cannot think it. Kohaku is not dead. I know it. If he were, I’m certain I’d know it somehow.*
She had to hold on to that thought, because the other was just too unbearable. If she thought that, then she would be lost, and the madness and despair would claim her with a vengeance, as they had, occasionally, in the past.
*Madness. It’s there, always waiting for me to give up, to give in. I won’t. I won’t!*
Lips thinning, her pace unconsciously quickened, as if she could outrun the demons of the darkness that had always chased her. Moving as a faint whisper between the darker shadows of the night, she shuddered at the fear that always nipped behind her thoughts. That the madness would creep up on her once more and take over her conscious mind so that she was again the shadow of a woman who drifted undying through the centuries, mind lost to despair as the anger and bitterness took their revenge on any hapless demon who crossed her path.
That was the price of Kagura’s heart---this madness---for the wind demon’s heart had been shaped from Naraku himself, and a part of him still resided within it. His red eyes would haunt her thoughts, glowing feral and hungry in the darkness of her nightmares, and she would be lost to it for a time, the waking world receding as she battled inside her mind to overcome the poisonous curse of his demonic influence. For she was influenced, by both the dark oni and the wind daughter he had created. Kagura’s anger, her bitterness, her almost incessant thirst for freedom---those were her gifts as well. They had helped shape her into what she was, though it was her own burning need to avenge herself on the foul hanyou that had saved her, as well as her own strength of spirit that had allowed her to forge through the darkness and pull those new threads of influence into her own self-tapestry.
Would Kagome or Inuyasha even recognize her now? She wondered, and was almost glad that she might never know, for her promise to Shigure prevented her from ever seeking them out. She was almost thankful, then, for the evil demon’s sinister price for giving her Kagura’s heart, for she was saved the fear of it. And there was good among the bad of having the demon influence of both Naraku and Kagura within her own spirit, for the wind youkai’s ability to distance herself from reality, to separate herself from others and the burden of their pain---that had helped her, Sango, to do the same.
It had helped just now, when she had felt the danger she was in, and the faint alarm at having been so open with those three demons, and so easily lulled by them into relaxing her natural guard when around others. It was frightening, actually, how easy she had felt with them, though they had probably not known it. Her people skills were more than a little rusty, and she had lost the easy familiarity of simple companionship with others of her kind.
Though they weren’t of her kind, not really. They were demons, though she had lulled herself with the thought that Yusuke and Kurama, at least, were part human. Yusuke was what one could consider a hanyou, and Kurama, with his strange soul trapped within a human’s body, was nearly the same. But that fire apparition, Hiei---he had been a full demon, with no ‘taint’ of humanity to mar the purity of his youkai blood.
Sango sneered. Demons were ever so full of themselves, considering themselves to be above their human counterparts. What fools they were. She had known humans more valiant and worthy than ever any demon could hope to be.
Not true. For she had known youkai, too, who were worthy, and although they had been few, they had been some of those closest to her heart. Her eyes burned, remembering her lost Kirara, and she dropped that memory like a hot stone, setting it inside the dark pool of her bitterest thoughts for a better time than this to deal with.
The truth was that Hiei had reminded her sharply just what it was she hated most of the demon-kin. He exemplified their darkest traits---the callous disdain and casual disregard for others, their arrogant superiority and innate feeling of entitlement---that the world had been created for simply their own pleasure. They were like animals, devouring all in their path, sending their darkness forth to wreak the chaos they enjoyed so much.
She loathed them for that, that belief that the world was their oyster, to devour or discard at will. It was anathema to her who had been raised to protect the helpless, to aid those weaker and…out-numbered…
She suddenly twisted to the side, ducking beneath the wide-spread branches of the nearest tree as she heard the faint whisper of wings above her. Her senses tingled, sending icy shards of dread down her spine as she felt the powerful cloud of evil menace pass over her. She dare not look up, lest she draw their attention with her pale face among the shadows, but she extended her senses, using the raw feel of the air stirred up by their wings to map their numbers.
There was a dozen or so, their hunger sending them questing through the night for the warmth of the fresh blood that they craved. They were sightless, blind of eye and vision, but could feel the warmth of their victims’ blood as it pumped heat through their veins. They craved that warmth with an intensity almost shrill in its raw, aching hunger, and she shivered, glad for the spells cast upon her cloak that would hide her body’s warmth from their questing. It was one of several protections, and while these were primitive demons, their dull minds only aware of hunger and rage, they were powerful adversaries, attacking in family groups until the last one was dead, so hard was their hunger and so dull their awareness but for the unceasing rage that fed them. Banshees, they were called by the men who had lived through such encounters, and the stronger varieties could freeze a man in place with simply a scream.
These flew silent, though, and Sango gave terse thanks to whatever gods had granted the blessing, even as she broke from under cover and ran back toward the three demons’ encampment. For she knew what prey the evil birds hoped to dine on tonight, and knew with a dawning sense of dread how unprepared those men were to meet such a foe. The fox---he had said their defenses were low, and although she cursed under her breath for the instinct that had her running to go help three beings she could care less about, still she ran, for it was not in her nature to let them die, no matter who or what they were, without aid.
Twisting through the thick trees, she followed the birds’ path, letting them guide her so she could focus her energy on running. Catching sight of the distinctive orange light of their fire in the distance---the one she had lit---Sango snarled, for that was as sure a draw to the hungry banshee-youkai as the three males’ own blood. Two of them were human, appealing in itself, but the third was a fire apparition, one who would be even more appealing than they with the heat of his fiery blood to draw their attention. No matter how much energy Hiei had regained from his sleep, Yusuke had still derided that arrogant, red-eyed bastard that his energy was still too low to even sense her own aura. That did not bode well for their chances, outnumbered and exhausted as the three were.
Carefully checking the arsenal strapped to her own body, Sango drew her sword even as she looked up to gauge the birds’ progress above her. She had out-paced them, by only a few strides, and they were zeroing in on their target, wings expanding as they flew up in a spiral to gain height so that they could then dive in for the first kill with as much power as they could summon from the air.
She saw one of the three men suddenly look up at the sky with a frown. It was the fire demon, Hiei, who must have felt the evil aura rising above their small clearing. His gaze drew the fox’s, who even stood up to scan the darkness above. The third one, Yusuke, just rolled over in the grass, making some snide remark she couldn’t even hear for the wind rushing in her ears.
It was as if everything were in slow motion, for even as she saw the fire apparition and the fox both turn their attention sharply in her direction, she called up her energy---that air that always seemed to swirl around her, though she had no name for it but as something Kagura’s heart had gifted her with---and threw it with all her might at the fire, which burned so cheerfully bright a beacon for the sightless birds’ beckoning. Flames flew high in the rushing gale, flaring in protest before suddenly vanishing in a showering of spent sparks beneath the force of her summoned wind. Ashes flew up to dance with the rocks she had so carefully gathered, sending them scattering everywhere as if a giant hand had casually tossed them about. The detective was sent rolling over onto his face in the dirt---he jumped to his feet with a yell of protest as he spat mud. The fox demon had leapt clear of the debris, crouching on a low tree-limb up out of the way from what they thought was the attack.
“Get down!” Sango shouted even as she charged into the clearing, one hand jerking free the long length of her cloak as the fire demon jumped down from another tree, drawing his sword and snarling, “You!”
Hearing the tell-tale whoosh behind him, Sango flung her cloak over the angry demon even as she slid past him. She felt something bite along her side, a shallow graze that would have gone deeper had the folds of her cloak not intercepted the youkai‘s sword and enveloped him in its folds.
*That bastard cut me!* Snarling, she callously used his body as a platform to leap off of so that she could strike at the raking talons of the descending banshee who had almost got him. There was a hiss and a faint shriek of rage as the attacker found his prey snatched out from under him. A razor-sharp beak snapped for her head, wings mantling as the hideous bird tried to gain lost altitude. Spinning in mid-air, Sango lobbed its ugly, naked head from its body, spearing a second bird who dove in to attack behind it on the end of her blade and using its own weight to swing herself back down on a tree-branch, which swayed alarmingly under her weight. Lightening the heaviness of her body with a touch of wind-granted buoyancy, she ran along the branch’s length, shouting “Banshee!” in hoarse explanation as the rest of the flock suddenly swooped in with racking talons and gaping maws.
The battle was eerily quiet, but for their own grunts and shouts. The birds hissed in anger, their screams of thwarted rage and pain but the faintest of whispers. Sango had her hands full, fending off three of the bastards, who dove and snapped around her chosen tree. Dancing across the swaying branches with light steps, she tossed knives with abandon, barely able to see her silent adversaries for the swirling leaves and swaying brush around her. She heard yells below, and saw the fox snapping some kind of whip that sheared one banshee’s wing off at the shoulder, sending it careening out of sight, uselessly trying to flap its single wing to slow itself before crashing into the dirt with a broken neck. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the detective leap up to an incredible height to punch one ugly bird right in the head with a nasty crunch of snapping bone. He didn’t see the one behind him, its wicked talons ready to grab hold, but she was able to toss out those same metal-edged stars she had considered using on the fire demon earlier, hitting it in three sharp strikes along the eye and breast. It hissed in pain, and faltered long enough for the Mazoku to turn around and cave its head in with his fist with a smug yell of “Take that, you ugly ass vulture!”
Sango was too busy, then, to hear more, for the three who had been toying with her decided now was a grand time to attack all at once, and she took the expedient path of escape by diving off her tree. She let out a loud “oof!” as something solid struck her in mid-air, grabbing hold as she struggled, trying to kick at her unseen attacker even as he snarled, “Damn it, you fool!” as they tumbled gracelessly to the ground.
Red eyes flashed as she landed on her back---hard---and then were gone as he sprung back up to dispatch the banshee who had been about to impale her on its grasping claws before he knocked her out of the way. Gasping hoarsely, Sango rolled to her feet, diving out of the way as another bird angled in for the kill. Grasping her sweaty sword hilt in both hands, she spun with all her might, splitting the hissing youkai from shoulder to tail on her deadly blade and hissing herself when claws grabbed her thigh with bruising force before falling away. She felt another swoosh of air behind her, and spun to face it, but a tangle of green snapped out to catch the ravenous banshee from behind before she could do anything. Feathers and blood rained down, and she made a face as the head cracked into the earth mere feet from her, its open beak gouging into the turf to hold it upright in a weird parody of how it would have bit into her flesh.
There was the heavy slam of a body hitting the solid length of a sturdy tree bole, and Sango spun into a low crouch to face it, one of the last of her throwing knives in her hand as she kept her sword up in defense.
“Gotcha, ugly!”
There was another thunk, and then the bird’s mangled body fell like a stone to lie at the base of the tree as leaves and broken twigs showered down with the ugly grey feathers. The clearing was suddenly quiet, the foul aura gone as the last of the youkai were dispatched with a whispered scream. Yusuke jumped down from the tree, kicking the mangled body at the bottom with a muttered expletive as Sango slowly straightened. Kurama appeared, the thorny length of his green whip spiraling around him in a lazy circle as he dropped to the ground in a graceful crouch, his red hair falling gently across his back and shoulders with a silky whisper. He looked up at her, his green eyes almost black in the darkness, though there was a faint glow surrounding him and his thorn whip, as his energy pulsed in the fevered aftermath of battle.
Shying on instinct, Sango danced to the side as a whisper of movement suddenly materialized into one very pissed off demon standing right beside her. Her sword, which she had raised by reflex, was met by the glittering, blood-drenched length of his, and he snarled, “What the hell were you thinking, woman?”
She blinked, and spun on her heel when he tried to force her back with his stronger weight. He followed the movement, keeping up the pressure as they spun in a full circle. Her arm shook from the strain of keeping him back, and he pressed his advantage of strength, but she managed to fend his blade off long enough for her to sweep her other hand, knife clenched tight in her sweaty palm, under his guard and against his side, the sharp tip pointed up toward his kidneys just under his ribcage. They froze like that, his eyes blazing as she snarled at him, “What the hell are you doing? I just saved you, you ungrateful jerk!”
“Saved me?” His body was suddenly free of the danger of her knife as he shifted in a movement too fast for her to follow, and she stumbled back as his sword scraped along hers. “You could have gotten me killed, you little fool, when you threw your cloak over me!”
“I was only trying to protect you, demon!” She spat that like the foulest epithet. “I shouldn’t---have---wasted---my time!” Her words were gasps as he pressed down with both arms, muscles bulging as he slowly bent her over backwards, almost doubled-over. She dropped her knife to use one hand as leverage to spin out from under him. The move would have allowed her to kick his feet out from beneath him with the sweep of her own---if it had been successful. Instead, she found herself spinning free, he having jumped back to avoid just that. He laughed, a harsh sound, and she flicked another dagger free as he charged back towards her.
“Hiei!” Kurama used his thorn whip to lash between the two of them. Sango jumped back, setting her shoulders against the nearest tree so they couldn’t take her from behind as she squared her body, sword raised and knife held out for defense. Her breath came harsh, and her dark eyes glittered dangerously.
“Try,” she snarled, ready for the attack and daring them to, the ungrateful bastards. Just like a demon to turn on one who had only come to their aid! Well, they wouldn’t find her easy meat for the slaughter, she could guarantee that.
There was an abrupt laugh, and Sango glared as the Spirit Detective wagged his hand at her, the other one clutching his bare stomach as he wheezed. “Oh, gods, it’s just too great!”
“And what do you find so funny, demon?” Sango bared her teeth, enraged that he would think to make fun of her, the crass jerk.
Flicking his whip back so that it curled into his hand, Kurama chuckled and even Hiei smirked, dropping his sword to point at the ground as he gave her an impatient look. “I’ll speak slowly, girl, so you can understand. I’ll even use small words. We won’t attack you.”
“We wouldn’t dare!” Yusuke bellowed, before laughing again. “Ha, ha. Gods, that’s funny! Did you see the look on her face? ‘Try.’ Oh, god---I think she meant it!”
Sango grit her teeth, not dropping her guard for an instant. They were only toying with her, the sadistic bastards.
“Anei---we do mean it. We aren’t here to fight you, in fact, we are grateful that you came to our aid.” Green fire suddenly sizzled along the length of the whip curled in his hand, and it abruptly disappeared. “Your help was timely. We would not have faired so well without it.”
“Hn,” Hiei sneered, wiping his bloodied sword on the feathered ass of a dismembered bird before sliding it home in its sheath. “Speak for yourself, fox.”
“Oh, come off it, three-eyes. She was only trying to save your worthless ass.” Yusuke crossed his arms and grinned at her. “Though I do wonder why you tossed your cloak over him. It wasn’t that great a shield---he still managed to cut you with his sword, though it doesn‘t look that deep---”
“Heh.” Hiei looked rather pleased at the thought, his eyes catching hers with a smirk as hers narrowed.
“---so maybe that was it.”
“You’re hurt?” The fox demon looked startled, his green eyes moving over her body as he stepped forward.
“No.” Sango reflexively twitched under the intensity of his gaze, and met his skeptical concern with unwavering stubbornness.
“Jumpy, ain’t she?” Yusuke said, raking his fingers through his short hair as he smirked at her.
Casting a scowl in his direction, Sango abruptly sheathed her dagger in its place beneath her upper arm. Its twin was missing, still laying on the ground from where she had dropped it during the scuffle with the fire demon. Dropping her sword’s point, she still held it ready, suspicious of their motives.
“I have a few salves---” Kurama pulled them forth, the small, clever packet neatly folded into the size of a wallet.
“I’m fine.” Sango warily stepped away, though she still kept the three within her sights as she pulled a knife out of the next tree’s trunk, where it lay buried half-way into the bole. Yanking it free, she tested the edge and frowned before sheathing it in the belt that she wore criss-crossed athwart her shoulders and hips. She felt a trifle stiff, her leg a little bruised, but otherwise fine, though her energy was low.
“Hn.”
She glared at the demon’s derisive snort, than automatically caught the retrieved dagger he threw her with unnatural speed and unnecessary force. She hissed as the hilt hit her palm, and fumed silently as he raised a smug brow. Smoothing her expression to one of icy indifference, she sheathed the knife with its twin under her bare arm, anchored by the band circling it above the elbow.
“Nothing wrong with her reflexes.” Yusuke grinned, before putting his fists on his hips and glaring around their ruined campsite. The clouds had cleared above, casting a wan light across the body-strewn clearing. Spying a glint of metal, he went to go retrieve the small star-shaped weapon, and howled when his fingers bled from trying to pluck it free from the bird’s skull.
“Ow! Damn star!” He kicked the bird, and almost kicked Sango, who had come up to retrieve the tiny weapons herself.
“Careful,” she said absently, neatly freeing the three stars with a practiced flick of her wrist. Wiping the blood off of them, she pocketed them at her waist. Glancing at her drawn sword, she used the bird’s body to wipe the blood from it as well before finally sheathing it. Scanning the clearing, she looked for the rest of her knives as Yusuke sucked on his fingers and scowled.
“So why the hell did you come?” He was irritated, by both her cool appraisal and her seeming sudden indifference. He didn’t like how she did that. It was uncanny.
Ignoring his question, she said, “We should leave before other demons take notice of this place. The insects are already gathering.”
“Hmph. That’s not a problem.” The fire demon crushed a buzzing annoyance between his fingers and then flicked it away with a sneer.
Sango made a face. God, that was disgusting. Spying another dagger buried in a nearby tree, she strode over to retrieve it as Yusuke accepted a Band-Aid from Kurama, who watched her move about with uncommon interest.
“You’re slow,” Hiei muttered, easily picking out the various arsenal she had tossed with seeming abandon around the glade. Glaring at the taiji-ya, who ignored him, he went to stand by his friends, arms crossed over his bare chest, having discarded his cloak with hers when she had thrown it over him.
Sango worked steadily around the clearing, counting as she assembled her collective knives and sheathing them with meticulous care. The bodies had started to smell, and she wrinkled her nose as she bent over to pull one out of a bird’s eye. The three were muttering between themselves behind her, and she ignored them to use both hands to grasp the stubborn hilt and yank it free.
ooOOooOOooOOoo
“Now, that’s a nice ass.” Yusuke appraised the bent over slayer with a wicked smile.“Hn.” Hiei’s red eyes flicked over her and then back to the ex-detective with a noncommittal snort.
Kurama lifted an ironic brow, but had to smile, for Youko agreed. The slayer did have a pleasing shape, both slender and lithe, which was revealed by her low-slung black jeans and the sleeveless turtleneck she wore. She was also bristling with more weapons than he had ever seen anyone carry.
“I thought Keiko had a nice ass,” Yusuke continued, sotto voice, so the slayer wouldn’t overhear him. He wasn’t that much of an idiot.
“How is your energy?” Kurama abruptly asked Hiei, who frowned.
“Not as recovered as I would like.” The fire demon scowled.
“Nor mine,” Kurama grimaced.
“Is that a thong?”
They both shot the taiji-ya a disbelieving look, to find her not even bent over, but up in the tree, perched on a branch while pulling another knife out of the one above it.
Yusuke laughed, holding his stomach because it hurt so much. “Oh, god---you should see how far your eyes just bugged out!”
“Will you kill him or shall I?” Hiei’s voice was dark with menace.
Kurama smiled faintly, though it didn’t reach his eyes. Yusuke stopped laughing, seeing the look in them.
“Woah! Hit a nerve, there.” A knowing grin started dawning on the Mazoku’s face as he entertained the infinite possibilities of the sudden revelation. There wasn’t much he could get Kurama on.
“I suggest, Detective, you leave well enough alone,” Hiei warned, turning his head to look at the object of their discussion. She was back out of the tree, now kneeling over one of the ugly birds to turn it over with hardly a flinch. Lifting a stiffening wing, she pulled another knife free.
“Damn. How much silverware can one person carry?” Yusuke looked on in awe, rubbing the back of his head as he moved away from the other two. He dug his dirty bare feet into the thick grass, having discarded his one remaining shoe earlier that evening.
“She’s looking for a demon,” Kurama said, as if merely making an observation as the three of them watched her disappear around the tree.
“Hn.” Hiei folded his arms.
“So are we,” Kurama continued.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of the fire demon’s mouth.
“Yeah. So?” Yusuke turned around, still oblivious.
“Perhaps we could search together.” Kurama casually walked past him to pick up the smudge of thicker darkness that was wedged under a bush. Dragging it free, he shook the long length out even as Hiei plucked his own cloak from the bush’s branches. Swirling it over his shoulders, the apparition settled it back into place with an impatient look as he noted how the fox demon’s long fingers caressed the smooth cloth held in his hands.
“I thought that might be it,” the fox muttered to himself, and Hiei raised a questioning brow.
“This cloak is be-spelled,” Kurama explained with a light smile. “Which explains why, Hiei, she threw it at you.”
“Charming.” Hiei’s lip curled.
“Hoped to kill him, did she?” Yusuke grinned.
“No, she didn’t.” The girl suddenly appeared with a dark look. Holding out her hand for her clothing, she raised a thin brow when the fox demon didn’t immediately give it to her. “Can I have my cloak back, please?”
“You have spells of protection woven into this cloth, don’t you?” Kurama asked her.
“Yes.” She folded her arms, looking wary.
“Heh. Spells are for the weak.” Hiei met her flashing gaze with his own cool sneer.
“You knew the birds were blind and that they used infrared waves to track their prey,” Kurama said, still holding the cloak.
Sighing, she relaxed her angry stance. “Yes.”
“Your cloak is heat-shielding?” The fox’s question was mild.
“And heat-sensitive,” she replied, holding his green gaze.
“So, wait, you tossed it on Hiei because you thought he was going to fry your ass?” Yusuke demanded, letting out a laugh at the thought.
“Very funny, Detective,” Hiei snapped.
“No, Yusuke. Anei thought to shield him.” Kurama did not drop her gaze, even though he addressed his words to the former detective. “He’s a fire apparition, and the thermal temperature of his blood is higher than a regular demon’s.”
“I’d say.” Yusuke grinned. “A real hot-head, Hiei.”
“You will keep your foolish comments to yourself, Detective, if you know what’s good for you.” The fire demon fingered his hilt, though Yusuke was unfazed by the empty threat.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, three-eyes.” He grinned down at the red-eyed demon with a fond look.
“You knew the banshee youkai would go after Hiei first.” Kurama told the girl, who remained silent. “You sought to protect him.”
Hiei growled, eyes narrowing. “I didn’t need your protection, girl.”
She snorted, which had them all widening their eyes in surprise. Stepping forward, she neatly nipped her cloak out of Kurama’s hands and set it across her shoulders in a single, fluid motion. Drawing the edges together, she snapped them closed at the throat and stepped back. “We’re done here.”
“Not entirely,” Hiei growled. She ignored him, merely nodding to the other two. Yusuke, knowing she was about to pull that creepy, melt-away-into-the-shadows disappearing trick of hers, shot a hand out to grab hold of her arm to stop her. She stiffened up like an old, used hanky and he met her angry gaze with a mocking smile.
“Does this mean you don’t wanna come with us?”
“Let. Go.”
“Woah!” Yusuke snatched his hand back as if burned. Raising both with fingers spread in mock surrender, he grinned cheekily at her. “So you don’t like to be touched. I get it.”
Her eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint in their dark depths as her hand found the hilt of her sword.
“Pity.” The detective’s grin widened as she shot him a dirty look.
“Yusuke, you’re not helping.” Kurama sighed.
“Does he ever?” Hiei demanded dryly, and the fox’s lips quirked.
“Hey!”
“I travel alone.” The words were sharp and poignant, her voice icy as her eyes glittered.
“Boh-ring.” Yusuke waved a negligent hand, making a face at the horrible thought. “I would drive myself nuts if I was alone all the time.”
“So you choose to drive us nuts instead?”
“Damn it, three-eyes! I’m gonna---”
“You seek a demon.” Kurama spoke to the girl, and did not flinch as her sharp gaze slid to his. “You know we do as well. We could help each other.”
“No, thanks.” She turned away, flipping her hood up and preparing to leave.
“We have the Jagan.”
She paused, shooting him a startled glance over her shoulder as Hiei growled.
*Just what the hell are you doing, fox?* The fire demon sent the unflappable redhead, who just smiled slightly.
*Just---let me. Please.* Kurama did not beg; that was not in his nature. Hiei glowered, not liking it one bit, but the fox had earned his trust, something not that easy to do, and so he let it lie. He just hoped Kurama had more in mind than attracting a nice piece of ass, as the detective had so boorishly put it.
“The Jagan Eye?” She turned back towards them, her voice carefully neutral.
“You are a bigger fool than I took you for, if you could not tell I am a Jaganshi,” Hiei sneered, his third eye glowing slightly behind the white bandana he kept over it.
“Why?” she demanded, the question a good one.
“Entertainment.” Yusuke grinned smugly at the fox’s rather bland look.
“Entertainment?” she repeated, her voice cold as she withdrew into herself once more.
“Ah, hell. Why not?” Yusuke folded his arms. “You’re not a half-bad fighter---for a girl---and those two are still low on energy, though the three-eyed freak would never admit it, would you, Hiei?” He met the fire demon’s scowl with a cocky smirk. “Besides, you helped us. We should return the favor. We’re both here doing the same damn thing, so why not do it together?”
The girl was silent, clearly churning the thought over in her head as they watched her. She finally turned to Hiei, her brown eyes narrowed. “The Jagan. I know it can range a powerful distance, but how can you 'see' something when you don’t even know what to look for?”
Hiei sneered at the oblivious answer. “I can’t.”
“Then you can’t help me.” She looked somewhat relieved by that fact. “Thank you for the offer, but---”
“Do you know what it is you seek?” Kurama interspersed himself, green eyes intense.
“Revenge,” she replied, a wealth of turbulent emotion in that single, whispered word.
“Hn,” Hiei sneered. “How typical.”
She stiffened at the slight but only raised her chin, her words icy as she drew herself up to go. “Again, I thank you for the offer, but no. I can find---”
The fire demon was suddenly upon her, pinning her arms to her sides at the elbow with the hard, iron band of one of his own. She gasped in outrage even as the calloused fingers of his right hand feathered over her face, pushing aside the thick curl of her bangs so he could grip both sides of her temple between thumb and pinky. She struggled violently, letting out an incoherent cry of rage when he forced her to her knees with a hard shove.
“Hiei!” Kurama and Yusuke shouted at the fire demon, who ignored them.
*Show me!* He plunged into her mind, thinking to force the memory up from her subconscious, but it was there, at the forefront of her thoughts, which churned wildly in all directions at the sudden intrusion. The red eyes that bore into hers had recalled another‘s, and he flinched, as she did, at the memory of pain, the shadow of which sent a dull echo across his back, right between and just below his shoulder blades. A face flashed across her mind, a boy’s face, with empty eyes and fresh blood dripping from the chained scythe held up in his hand, as if raised for another blow. She screamed inside his mind, rage and fear mixed together with a burgeoning sense of utter rejection.
*GET OUT!*
He flinched at the raw power of her command, and snarled, summoning the face of the demon forth from the turbulent rage of her thoughts. There was an insane laugh, a hoarse mockery of derisive scorn. It was called up from the deepest pit of her memories, and she mentally screamed, a heart-wrenching sob of pain and terror and utter loathing amid the inhuman rage and denial. A name formed from her mind to his, and he repeated it.
*Naraku---*
*NO!*
He was abruptly plunged back inside his own body, and he staggered back as she launched herself at him, fingers crooked as if she would tear him apart with her frail, human nails. Hiei grabbed her wrists in his hands, and then howled when her knee found his most tender area. Muscles quivering in reaction to the pain, his eyes flashed bloodily as he snarled, his fangs appearing as the demonic rage took over.
“Holy shit.” Yusuke‘s mouth fell open, seeing the flash in her own eyes, which were crazed with the fever of uncontrolled youkai rage. “They’re going to kill each other!”
Kurama’s voice was hoarse, the demonic energy swirling around the clearing summoning up his Youko side in answer. He fought it back, trying to keep a reign on his rising emotions as Yusuke darted in, fist flying in a short, sharp jab to the girl’s temple. She crumpled beneath the blow, and the ex-detective followed it up with a second to the fire demon, who only moved aside, rolling out from under her and leaping to his feet as his rage found another victim.
*Hiei!* Kurama called out sharply, and the demon paused, his glowing eyes dimming slightly before he fell to his knees in sudden exhaustion.
“Damn.”