InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Heart Within ❯ Chapter Thirteen ( Chapter 14 )
[ 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: 12.28.2008 | Updated On: 12.28.2008 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.8K | Visits: 524 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 12.28.2008 | Updated On: 12.28.2008 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.8K | Visits: 524 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, etc., of Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and not for profit.
THE HEART WITHIN
Summary: She has carried vengeance in her shadowed heart for 500 years, sacrificing her self for that dream. Now, Sango just might get her chance… (IY/YYH crossover)
A/N: Thank you for the continued interest in this story. It’s taken longer than I thought to get through certain plot twists before others can start to happen. I still have three kings and a certain wind demon to deal with, not to mention Naraku and a certain miko and inu hanyou who aren’t totally out of the picture. =) (Fate)
WARNING! SPOILERS FOR YYH BLACK AND THE THREE KINGS SAGA!
Chapter Thirteen
A brace of dead fish dropped from the sky right above the ex-detective, who jumped back with a startled yell as they fell on the ground where he had been standing. Amused, Hiei landed on top of the cave, deliberately pausing to show himself before jumping down to where the others were seated below.
“What the hell was that for?” Yusuke bristled as Kurama calmly picked up the fish to examine them.
“A fair catch. Thank you, Hiei.”
The short demon made no reply, eyes flicking to the taiji-ya, who was pulling one of her many knives free to start sharpening some sticks to spear the fish over the fire. At least she had some knowledge on how to survive in the wilderness. The detective was all but useless and would have starved to death without their help.
“Hey---three-eyes! You never answered my question. Why’d you have to toss those damn fish at me for? Huh?” Yusuke was spoiling for a fight, but Hiei wasn’t going to give him one just because he missed that thick-headed clown Kuwabara, who was always ready for a good scrap.
“Because I could,” he replied, just because he could do that, too.
Yusuke laughed, as the fire demon knew he would, and Kurama’s mouth twitched as Anei stared at them, a strange shadow in her dark eyes before she quickly covered it. She did that often when the three of them were together, and he wondered why, but dismissed it as unimportant. Trivial, really. Who knew what a half-human girl ever thought. Females didn’t know half the time themselves, so how was he to ever know---or care.
Hopping a few stones up from the rest of them, Hiei flung his coat down to sit on it. Ignoring the others as they busied themselves making dinner---they could certainly cook it, since he’d seen to catching it---he curled his right fist, testing the strength of the tattered bandages that wrapped his arm past the elbow and half-way up his thick bicep. The dirty wrappings were tinged slightly pink from all the blood that had been spilled during the fight yesterday. The color had not washed out completely, and he frowned. Tucking the ragged ends in tighter around his palm, Hiei stared moodily at his spread fingers. The dragon’s energy was well contained, doubly so by the warding bandages he shielded it with, but still it stirred restlessly within him, always wanting to break free. It was unsettling, sometimes, to feel it growling across the back of his mind, though he had gotten used to it for the most part.
He suddenly looked down, feeling someone’s attention on him, and he met Kurama’s enigmatic green gaze. It should disturb him more than it did just how much the kitsune was attuned to his moods, but Hiei accepted things for what they were, with none of the quibbling or questioning others so often fussed with. He didn’t care why he and Kurama had such a natural understanding. He respected the red-haired demon, who had won his loyalty, as had Yusuke. And yes, even that other red-headed oaf, Kuwabara.
Hiei grew disgusted by the awful thought and sneered. Kuwabara was a tangled conundrum to him. He had to respect the boy’s sense of honor and his singular loyalty to his friends, but he didn’t like how the slow-witted human held more than a little regard for his twin sister, Yukina. Kuwabara was hardly one to hold back his feelings, and had proclaimed his undying love for the ice maiden on more than one occasion. Hiei did not know how Yukina felt about the boy with the unfortunate face, but she seemed fond of him. More than fond, actually, but it was not as if he, her brother, could come right out and ask her.
His fingers curled into a fist and his red eyes narrowed. Why that fact should bother him, he didn’t know. He had made his choice never to reveal himself to Yukina long before even that demon surgeon, Shigure, had wrested the promise from him in exchange for giving him the Jagan Eye. The Eye had eventually helped him to find her, and it allowed him to look in on her from time to time. He had never intended to destroy her innocence with the knowledge of their relationship, or the dark deeds that were hung on his soul. She deserved better. And as long as he knew she was okay, than that was all he ever needed.
“Careful, Anei---the fish are oily.” Kurama’s voice broke into his dark thoughts, and he glanced down just in time to see the girl jerk her hand back from one of the spitted fish that were speared over the open flames. She hissed softly and brought the small burn on the outer edge of her hand up to her mouth to suck on it.
“Are you burned?” Kurama pulled his small first-aid kit from his pocket, but she only shook her head.
“It’s nothing. Just stings.” She winced and licked the oil from the wound. She had a very pink tongue.
Hiei stirred restlessly, discomfited by the stupid thought.
“Let me see.” Kurama had stood up, coming over to kneel beside the crouching slayer. Hiei watched with interest as she shook her dark head, raising her brown eyes to the fox’s.
“Really, it’s nothing.”
“Please allow me,” Kurama asked softly, surprising Hiei with the tenderness in his voice. Hiei’s eyes narrowed as he awaited her reaction, but she just gave the kitsune her hand after a long moment of searching his eyes with her own.
It was rather pathetic, this fussing over a simple burn. Kurama wouldn’t have been half as concerned if it was anyone else. Hiei smirked, for try as he might, the fox could not hide his growing regard for the young demon slayer.
Not so young, really. She was what---five-hundred-and-nineteen years old? Not that that was really significant, actually. If one counted Youko’s years, than Kurama was somewhere at the millennium-plus mark, and he himself was at least a century or more. Yusuke was the baby, really, having only been a half-demon for what---three days?
Hiei smirked as the detective whined like a baby about how long the fish were taking to cook. Age was rather negligible in the demon realm, but maturity? Now that was a different matter.
“Dinner’ll be ready in just a moment, Yusuke,” Kurama automatically chided, but was clearly distracted by squeezing some type of goop on the back of the slayer’s hand. The elegant fingers took a little too long to rub in the cream, turning the motion into almost a caress, and Hiei watched the proceedings with a growing sense of irritation. Just how long did it take to smear burn-ointment across the skin and slap a Band-Aid on top? Kurama was sure taking his sweet time about it.
Yusuke must have come to the same conclusion, for he stalked over and glared down at the pair of them, fists on his hips. “Is anyone else hungry around here? Hell, Kurama, think you can finish that up sometime before night falls?”
As the day was quickly waning, the hidden sun having already set, the detective had a good point. Hiei smirked as Kurama stiffened, leveling what was probably a poignant glare on the ex-detective if Hiei could see anything but the back of the fox’s spiky red head from his current vantage point. It was the taiji-ya who made the decisive move, though, by snatching the Band-Aid from the fox’s fingers and neatly extricating herself from between the two men with an acrobatic move that was quite impressive, as it involved quite a bit of flexibility and not having either demon notice what she was doing until it was done.
Hiei sat back to enjoy the show as she neatly stripped the paper off the tan bandage and slapped it to the outside of her hand. Yusuke and Kurama both did a good double-take when they realized she was no longer between them but over on the far side of the fire. Kurama must have given Yusuke another glare, for the detective’s teeth flashed in a grin in the growing darkness before he turned to the slayer. “Anei?”
“Dinner’s ready.” Her voice was a little too high, and she was hastily plucking fish off the fire with a knife, busying herself to avoid the fox’s troubled gaze, which Hiei now had a front-row view of.
Deciding this was growing too interesting for him not to be in the middle of, Hiei jumped down from his rock and landed right beside the taiji-ya. She shied a little at his sudden appearance, and he hid a smirk. She was edgy, that one, and he was actually starting to enjoy pushing her buttons.
Carelessly reaching amid the flames, he pulled two sticks from the embers, biting into one and ignoring the juice that ran down his chin. Plopping himself down on the stone just behind the taiji-ya, he was tossing the empty stick aside and starting on the second fish even before the other two demons were served.
“Hungry, three-eyes?” Yusuke smirked, accepting one of the thick green leaves Kurama had found to use as a rather sturdy plate.
Hiei paused long enough to scowl as the slayer turned to look at him over her shoulder with eyes that were too wide and brown. The corner of Kurama’s mouth twitched in amusement, irritating the short demon further. Deliberately biting into the second fish so that his sharp fangs showed, he sucked it down whole, all in one gulp, neatly licking the empty stick before tossing it after the first.
“That was downright gross,” Yusuke said, rather appalled by what he’d just witnessed. The apparition had swallowed the whole fish, eyeballs, fins, tail and all, and hadn’t even bothered to chew.
Hiei just stared at him, daring him to say more. The taiji-ya quickly turned back around, and he felt vindicated in the thought that humans were always so squeamish, especially girls. She startled the hell out of him, though, when she turned back with another stick in her hand, silently extending it to him.
He stared at the offering suspiciously, then into her brown eyes, which had rusty tints in the mahogany depths from the flickering firelight as the shadows darkened further around them. There was nothing in her expression but polite inquiry as he continued to stare at her, and then a touch of confusion when his expression hardened.
“Ah, just take the damn fish, three-eyes!” Yusuke finally burst, eyes rolling, and Hiei took the stupid fish with a scowl as Kurama silently shook his head.
“Hn.”
“That means ‘thanks’ in youkai.” The detective was being entirely too talkative in the apparition’s opinion, and he made his annoyance known by biting the head off the fish in his hand, making sure Yusuke saw it. The Mazoku only grinned, but wisely retreated to the other side of the fire with his leaf-wrapped dinner.
Kurama gave him a long look as the taiji-ja turned back to the dying fire and Hiei shrugged. Wise enough to let it lie, the fox only thanked the girl when she handed him his portion and went and sat beside Hiei, on the ground by his rock. Hiei didn’t know why the kitsune felt the need to show his support, but perhaps he was just trying to distance himself from the girl for the obvious reason that he had just embarrassed himself rather thoroughly by fussing over the minor burn on her hand.
Yusuke didn’t seem to notice the two demons’ withdrawal, for he was doing a fair job in hogging center stage, recounting some of the pranks he had pulled on his best friend, Kuwabara. It didn’t take an idiot to see just how much the brash Spirit Detective missed the big oaf, and the girl had the patience of a saint to listen to all that crap. Hiei watched her beneath hooded eyes, having crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back against the curve of the cave’s wall once he finished his third fish-stick.
She was quiet but listened with far more tolerance than he could have as Yusuke pantomimed some stupid fight the two of them had gotten into after school one day, and even smiled slightly when the detective burst out laughing at his own stupid joke. Her elfin features seemed softer somehow in the firelight’s dim glow, her chin not so stubborn and her eyes not as guarded. Her eyes were a darker shade than the detective’s chocolate-brown. Like the wood of a rain-dampened pine tree rather than the bright, raw sienna the boy sported. Her lashes were thicker, too---he hadn’t realized how thick, actually---and there was strands of lighter brown in her dark hair. They were burnt red by the firelight when she cocked her head slightly, and a few of the finer hairs on her long ponytail were caught in the fabric of her black turtleneck as she shook her head in amusement as Yusuke recounted one of Kuwabara’s stupider exploits.
She ate almost absently, and as fastidiously as Kurama. He watched her eat, her teeth flashing slightly when she nibbled on a small morsel. Her lips were a little thin, but there was a nice curve to them, and he was discomfited again when that pink tongue appeared. His gaze quickly shifted, following her hand to the crook of her elbow and then up the curve of her bare arm. Even in the shifting shadows of the firelight, one could see the defined muscles of her upper bicep. Some might consider her too developed, too muscular, perhaps, to be womanly, but she still maintained a grace and femininity that probably came from her slight frame and short stature. She certainly didn’t look all that dangerous right now, with her guard down and her expression easy as she listened to Yusuke’s inane babbling.
Hiei frowned, disgusted by his singular preoccupation with the girl, and feeling eyes on him, he turned his head slightly to glare at his erstwhile companion, who was smiling faintly.
*Have something to say, fox?* he growled, mind to mind, but Kurama only shook his head, the amusement in his thoughts bleeding through the light mental link between them.
“It’s grown dark.” Kurama shielded his eyes, though he hardly needed to, and looked around the shadows which only the fire kept at bay. The moon had yet to rise, not that they would see it, for as usual it was cloudy.
“Pointing out the obvious isn’t usually your style, Kurama,” Hiei growled, somewhat annoyed, but not with the kitsune.
“Heh.” Kurama deliberately took his time rolling up the remains of his meal for burial. The thick leaf served as fine a garbage bag as it did a dinner plate. Hiei watched the kitsune’s fussing with growing irritation, for he sensed the red-haired demon had something in mind but he was certainly taking his sweet time about divulging it.
“I think it has grown dark enough for us to try again.”
Hiei waited, refusing to show his impatience.
“Anei drew on the shadows around her the other night to fade into the background---remember? I had the idea that we might try to see if she could repeat the performance.”
Drawing his elbows from behind his head to fold them across his chest, Hiei looked skeptical. “I hope you have a better idea than just that. I seem to remember that it was not something she did consciously, but much as she’s done anything---purely on instinct.”
Kurama shrugged lightly, but would not quite meet the demon’s narrowed gaze.
*That fox is up to something.* Hiei didn’t know what, but he knew when Kurama was trying to act too casual and secretive. He also knew Kurama wouldn’t divulge whatever little scheme he had going on in that wily head of his until he was good and ready to do so, and he wasn’t about to waste his time worrying about it. Let the fox keep his secrets for now. He’d find out soon enough.
“Hn.”
Kurama gave him a sharp look, but Hiei only smirked.
Refolding his arms back behind his head, Hiei closed his eyes and gave the appearance of utter boredom by relaxing into the stony curve of the wall behind him, but he kept the Jagan open enough to see what the fox would do. At first, the scene was a hazy mist of swirling energies---the fire a blot of orangey-red, contrasting sharply with the paler spiritual energy that wrapped around the two humans who sat beside it, their demonic auras contrasting further with the faint fuchsia glow that swirled throughout and around them. Kurama was a similar mix, though his aura bore a faint luminescent silver edging to the stronger glow of his jyaki. Sharpening his focus, Hiei laid the physical over the astral, and could now see the three humans as they were to his ordinary eyes.
He watched as Kurama courteously took the girl’s finished leaf with his and put them both aside for later disposal. He watched as Yusuke willingly made room for the fox, who then sat and asked the girl how she called the shadows to her. Of course, the little fool didn’t know and had no damn clue, and Hiei grew annoyed with the whole ridiculous waste of effort as a repeat performance was given of this afternoon, when she had sought to feel her jyaki through meditation. It worked, slightly, when she first attempted it---he could see the way she pulled the air currents around her, using tendrils of the jyaki that existed in the very air of Makai to curl them around her, obscuring her somewhat in the shadows before she reached some mental stumbling block that had her hiss in frustration as the demonic energy slipped from her grasp and abruptly vanished.
He watched with growing impatience as she tried again and again, with no better results than she had this afternoon, and never reaching even as far as the first time she’d tried. She was like a child, blindly reaching for something just out of reach and yet right there in front of her, and he couldn’t stand the way she was just trying to force it---as if you could ever force the energy to obey you. You had to accept it into you, become one with it, before you could then make it do what you wanted. And it was just so damn easy---though her childishly human fumbling sure made it look harder than it ever needed to be.
Growing frustrated by the stupidity of the whole situation, Hiei finally dropped his pretence at ignoring them and jumped off his rock. Landing behind the girl, his arms folded and his red eyes glaring, he snarled, “Damn it, Kurama, this is a waste of time. I would think you of all people would be smart enough to figure that out by now.”
The girl shied at his abrupt appearance at her shoulder, but he ignored her to glare at his red-haired companion, who sat back with a puzzled frown. Raising a finely drawn brow, the fox asked simply, “Oh? And what would you do, my friend?”
Yusuke sniggered something that had the taiji-ya blushing but Hiei ignored them both to snap, “Somehow, she’s managed to block off all awareness of her demonic energy, and she’s like a child blindly fumbling around in the dark after it. Trying to force her to feel it won’t work. Someone needs to show her how to find it and recognize it before she can do anything with it.”
“An interesting suggestion, Hiei.” Kurama’s expression were almost too surprised---there was something in his green eyes that made Hiei narrow his own in suspicion, trying to figure out just what it was. But Kurama only dropped his chin in his hand and asked oh-too-innocently, “But I wonder how someone might show her? She can’t see her jyaki like you or I can.”
“Kurama, I’m disgusted you can’t see the obvious answer. Someone needs to lead her through the stubbornness of her own humanly simplistic mind---” Hiei froze at the even more obvious answer and scowled, his red eyes heating slightly as he detected the faint gleam of triumph in the kitsune’s green gaze before the wily fox quickly hid it.
*Damn it, Kurama. You knew all along this was the only way,* he snarled at the fox, who shrugged minutely as the slayer glared at the taunt about human simpletons and Yusuke looked downright confused. *Why didn’t you just ask? Why play games, damn you?*
*You needed to reach your own conclusions, my friend, as to the necessity of your interference. You would not have been so agreeable if I had just come out and asked,* Kurama replied, his mental voice a little rueful and even faintly apologetic.
*You don’t know that, fox,* Hiei growled back, angry at the way the fox had calculated his reactions and manipulated him so neatly, for the kitsune had a point, damn him. He didn’t like the idea of having to delve back inside the girl’s head just to show her how to do what she should already know, if she had just accepted herself from the beginning. It was almost ironic that he, a demon who frankly loathed humans and found little to redeem in them, was teaching a human who loathed demons how to reconcile both sides of herself.
The irony was not lost on Kurama, either, for there was a faint hint of amusement to his encouraging expression, damn him. The wily fox knew he had Hiei cornered, especially by having the apparition come to his own conclusion that this might be the only way to keep the girl from infecting the whole damn World with her rejected aura.
He still didn’t have to like it.
“Well, then, Kurama, since you are so certain that this is the only way, than you can damn well explain it to her.” And get her to accept it---for Hiei wasn’t about to put himself out trying to argue the girl into letting him inside her head again. He wasn’t exactly relishing the idea. Humans felt too damn much---their thoughts were often loud and chaotic, their emotions too near the surface of their thoughts. He tolerated Kurama’s mental presence as much as he did because the kitsune was just so damn quiet about it. The fox’s control over his stronger emotions was almost eerie, and the quiet peace of his orderly mind was almost restful when compared to the baser chaos of most others’ thoughts.
There was also the consideration that telepathy could sometimes be a two-way street. His personal thoughts and emotions could bleed through the link just as easily as the other person’s he sought to touch minds with. And while he might trust Kurama enough to respect his privacy, he didn’t know if he could extend that same trust to anyone else. He had occasionally used his telepathic abilities to send messages to the others in their team---even once with Botan (though he still shuddered at the memory of her too-emotional reaction---scratch that, over-reaction---of his death threats to Yusuke’s girlfriend, Keiko, but that had been a different time and he a different demon altogether.) He had also had the occasion to speak with Yusuke’s teacher, Genkai, who had had the spiritual power to use the fragile mental link to overwhelm him if she had not had the repugnantly honorable notion of never taking such low advantage of someone in that way. For someone could, if they knew enough and had the power to do so, and that threat was enough to make Hiei even more choosy of who he let inside his mind, lest he expose himself to that very possibility.
But he had little to fear from a half-human girl who couldn’t even acknowledge her own demon energy enough to properly control it. He had more to fear from her damnably human thoughts and crawling back inside that chaotic mess was not something he was looking forward to.
So Kurama could damn well use his persuasive powers and manipulative guile to get the taiji-ya to agree, and good luck to him, for the girl had stiffened at their sudden silent communication, as if she knew they were speaking about her, and Hiei could only look smug as the fox turned a rueful expression towards her, a speculative glitter in his forest-green eyes.
The acidic scorn in the fire demon’s words sat sour in her stomach, and Sango glared at the demon who ignored her to glare at the fox. The pair were eyeing each other with that strangely silent communion they always seemed to indulge in, and it set her teeth on edge, because she knew they were talking about her somehow. Given the fire demon’s Jagan Eye and her hazy knowledge of its alleged abilities---not to mention the fact that the spiky-pinecone-headed jerk had all but forced himself inside her head only two nights before to pluck out the images of both Naraku and her brother---she had more than a notion of just how they managed to communicate and more than a suspicion of where all this was leading.
Hiei had a point---no matter what Kurama had her do, she was just not sensing her energy or how she was able to unconsciously use it. She had spent too long denying its existence, to the point where her subconscious mind was subverting her conscious determination to find out how. It was probably a self-defensive reaction built up over centuries of denial, but it was a mental wall she could hardly overcome---at least, not in the limited space of a single day---without some sort of outside help. If she had had the time to break down those mental barriers on her own, than of course she would have preferred to do so, but she didn’t have the time. She was, frankly, spending too much time as it was in dealing with this problem rather than focusing on finding her brother.
But she could hardly face Naraku---and the gods-only-knew what powers and abilities he had gained since last she faced him---without dealing with this new problem first. It would be terribly ironic if she were to face that evil bastard and have her own rejected demonic aura feed the dark hanyou’s own rage, thus allowing him to use her own jyaki against her.
That was not a weapon she was willing to give the dark hanyou. And she owed the poor demons she had led to their slaughter yesterday---not to mention, the countless other possible victims over the centuries she had spent taking her anger and frustration out on any youkai who strayed across her path, seeing the hated face of her enemy in each and every one. Their shades deserved better from her than not to try, at least, by any means necessary, to control her demonic powers.
And if it took having to let that demon back inside her head, than so be it. Pride be damned---and yes, fear, too---for she did fear what he was capable of seeing inside her mind with that unnatural, unblinking Eye of his---but there was more at stake than just her own grudging feelings about the whole necessity of it.
But Sango had never backed down from doing what she felt she must, and she wasn’t about to start now. So when Kurama finally turned to her to try and break the idea of having Hiei show her mind-to-mind how to feel out her energy, she was already prepared for it. She listened to his persuasive little speech---slightly chagrined that he was trying to be so gentle about it---and just nodded, albeit stiffly, and said, “Okay.”
Even Yusuke, following Kurama’s wordy explanation with a frown of fierce concentration, was taken aback by her quick acquiescence. The astonished looks on both the fox and the apparition’s faces were priceless. If she had been less afraid of losing her tight control over her tumultuous emotions concerning the whole idea, she would have laughed. As it was, she kept her expression carefully neutral, especially when the fire demon’s red eyes narrowed on her suspiciously, trying to find some type of reaction other than the bland acceptance of what must be done.
“Well, then, ah…I guess it’s decided.” Kurama tried to regain his customary aplomb by turning to the fire demon, who had moved up to stand beside her. “Hiei?”
“Hn,” was the fire demon’s not-so-helpful comment. Yusuke cocked his head to one side, an amused glint in his inquisitive brown eyes, though he forbore to add anything as Kurama waited for Sango.
Sango, already seated on her knees, looked up at the short demon and met his red stare. He studied her carefully blank expression for a long moment before frowning fiercely as his eyes closed. She watched as his thick bangs---the startlingly white hairs tangled amidst the blue-black feathers of a raven’s wing---parted, revealing the lavender eye that rested just above the surprisingly delicate sweep of his thin brows. She half-expected to feel some type of drawing in of the air around her as the apparition focused his energy, but he only turned to face her. Prodded by instinct, she turned her body so that she squared his, resettling her weight on her knees in a deceptively easy pose that was nothing of the sort. She knelt as if braced for an attack, her shoulders a stiff line and her hands, lying lightly in her lap, curled into fists, her knuckles whitening with the strain.
She felt a hand lightly settle on her shoulder and she glanced up in distracted surprise as Kurama nodded reassuringly. She felt oddly comforted by the simple gesture, and taking a deep breath, relaxed minutely beneath the warm weight of his palm. Closing her eyes, she waited for the remembered intrusion as Hiei’s mind reached out for hers.
Expecting him to force himself inside her head as he had before, like an arrow piercing right through her skull, she was surprised to feel a light brush across her thoughts---as if his fingers were somehow softly caressing over her forehead. She felt the tickle of her heavy bangs being swept aside, and knew that he was. Startled by the touch, she was distracted just enough to not even realize when he was suddenly there, with her, inside her mind.
Although uneasy with the unbelievable strength of his mental presence, she was able to collar her emotions, keeping a tight lid on them so that he would not read the instinctive surge of fear that held her for a moment, like a small bird caught in the cup of his hand. Her mind whirled, twisting in upon itself, and sweat broke out across her brow as her shoulders tensed and her back went poker-straight. But she wrestled the fierce urge to reject his presence inside her head with an iron will that caused a flicker of surprise and grudging respect to seep from beneath his tightly guarded thoughts and into hers.
The feeling was gone almost as soon as it appeared, but she was heartened by it. Taking a deep breath, she cautiously opened herself up, seeing him as separate from herself and not as overwhelmed by the strength of his mental presence.
He appeared as a dark flame to her mind’s eye, a spark of unbelievable power that was yet rigidly contained. There was a surprisingly icy breath to his thoughts, fierce enough that it could burn. There was a restlessness there, like the constant stir of flickering flames, and a hunger---one that surprised her with the aching yearning that shimmered across it but was gone before she could truly register it, and left her wondering if she had even felt it at all.
*Hanyou.*
His mental voice was a hard echo of his own, sharp and clipped, with an unconscious edge of command. Slightly bemused, Sango quickly refocused her thoughts, seeing herself as a soft, white, glowing ball---like what she thought a soul might look like---and wondered if he saw her that way as well.
*No.*
The thought was short and sharp and he didn’t bother to elaborate. Instead, he seemed to twine his presence around hers, nudging her slightly to focus her attention inward. His presence were hardly intrusive---in fact, it was as if he was holding himself back from going further than just the upper surface of her thoughts. She was grateful for that, and was able to relax further as he silently turned her attention to her own body.
*See what I see.* It was an order she could not but obey, as he was wrapped tightly around her thoughts, directing her attention to the center of her body, where the heart within her pumped life and energy throughout both her physical and metaphysical bodies. It was strange to see the mix of energies she was more used to seeing in others flowing through and around herself, but surprisingly easy to pick out the different patterns with his presence to help guide her.
The lighter feel of her human chi was familiar, but the darker shadow of purple-blended-fuchsia coiling around it like a braided rope was unexpected. This, then, was her demonic energy, her jyaki, and she was startled by how it was twined with her own human energy. She had always thought of it as something separate, something apart and something strange, but it was mixed with her own energy, snaking around and through and blending into one even as she watched.
She couldn’t contain her surprise, and felt his sour amusement. Growing indignant by his callousness, she was not given time to even grumble before he snatched her awareness up and tossed her headlong into the middle of that river of flowing energy. She felt as if she was suddenly drowning in power, and she sputtered, her mind trying to grasp on to anything in a world suddenly awash with reeling energies of overwhelming intensity. He was suddenly there, a firm anchor for her clasp on to, and she huddled against the dark flame of his reassuring strength, unnerved by an experience that she had nothing she could compare with.
He was surprisingly patient while she slowly unfolded herself, tentatively touching the flood of power that surged all around them. A tingle went through her body and she sighed at the unexpected cool breeze that seemed to touch across her skin. She was dimly aware of her long hair stirring, as if a light wind were blowing gently around it, and was filled with a dawning sense of awe as she felt that it was and that it was by her doing, and not another’s.
*You see the energy; now we trace it back to the source.* The dark flame beside her spoke words she was too bemused to comprehend but she felt when he took hold of her again in that unshakable grip, drawing her with him into a deeper awareness as they seemed to jump into the turbulent flow of energy that had seemed so like a flood before and was now but a fast-moving stream. They didn’t exactly swim in the current of power---more as if they floated above it, trailing their awareness lightly across the twining paths that centered around the unmistakable beating presence of her youkai heart. Flowing inside and then back out, the energy was pumped through the center of her body as her blood was pumped through her veins, renewing the life and self within her, and suddenly she knew.
*But---it’s so simple---it can’t be that simple---*
“Hn.”
She blinked, suddenly thrust back inside her own body, and was startled by the acute feel of his calloused fingertips as they pressed lightly against her forehead, tilting her head back slightly so that she was looking up at him. She met his red eyes, surprised by the intensity of them, before her attention was caught by the pulsating glow of the lavender eye above them. She sat like one mesmerized, watching as the lightly green shimmer slowly dissolved from the unblinking iris. It was almost as if she could see the dark flame that he had appeared to her inside the black pupil, which was shrinking even as she stared.
He slowly withdrew his hand, and Sango felt her breath catch as the feel of his fingers lingered on her sensitive skin for long moments after they were withdrawn. She felt slightly dizzy and slowly became aware of other sensations tingling across her heightened awareness. Her skin felt thin and alive with a thousand confusing impressions. She could feel the air around her, pressing against her body, and could feel the current of energy that swirled through it---an energy that felt hauntingly like her own. A faint breeze stirred her hair restlessly, and her skin prickled beneath its heady touch. The fine hairs on her bare arms stood up and goose-bumps formed a pattern that left her almost shuddering with its intensity. Her clothes felt heavy, the warp of her turtleneck rubbing against her back, the sturdy denim of her jeans almost harsh in the wrinkled folds at the bend of her knees. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself, and could feel the air moving inside her, drawn along by her blood as the oxygen was rushed to her heart and lungs and then pushed out to her limbs. The energy---jyaki---that surrounded her was inside of her, and she could feel it burning a path of awareness across every inch of her body.
“Holy shit---you just lit up like a light bulb!” Yusuke’s awed whisper was a harsh shout to her suddenly sensitive ears and Sango winced, closing her eyes and then blinking them back open as the edges of her lashes pricked her skin. She felt tight---too sensitive---too alive---too feeling---it was unnerving, unsettling, and damn uncomfortable.
“Too soon.” Kurama broke into her wild thoughts. “You’re becoming overwhelmed by your new awareness of your demonic energy. Shield yourself---”
“How?” Sango whispered, her lips tingling from even the contact of that passing breath.
“Gods, must you be shown everything?” Hiei growled, suddenly dropping a hand back on the top of her head that made her want to jump back from the shock of it, for even that light pressure on her aching scalp had her gritting her teeth.
He was suddenly there, back inside her mind, his presence a lot stronger now than before---though it might have been her own super-sensitivity to everything around her. It was as if everything was magnified a hundred times its normal impression upon her senses, and she was startled by the sheer strength he exuded, the dark, icy flame that coiled around her almost hungrily reaching out for her own warmth…
She shuddered with that thought and felt a growl of anger echo behind it, as the affronted demon deliberately strengthened his presence, like an icy sword sinking into her heightened awareness, and snapped, *Push it out.*
*Push what out?* She was fed up with his attitude and didn’t bother to hide it.
*How unfortunate you didn’t replace your brain when you decided to replace your heart, hanyou,* he retorted as she saw red.
“Uh…Kurama?” Yusuke’s voice interrupted their mental spat as he surreptitiously edged away from the frozen pair. “Should her eyes be that bloody?”
Sango stiffened, angry that her control over her emotions was proving to be so weak. Damn that little bastard for making her so angry---
*Don’t you remember that I can hear your every thought, hanyou?*
*Quit calling me that!* she snapped back, suddenly wanting him out of her thoughts, and pushed with all her might.
The wind came with a whistling howl, rushing around them like a small whirlwind that set their hair tangling every which way as the dying fire blew up like a torch before dying, the burnt remains scattering with torn up leaves and grass and dust as the force behind them blew outward. Kurama tucked his head behind his raised arm as Yusuke went diving behind the nearest rock for cover. The draping moss that partially covered the front of the cave was torn away, the small pebbles and rocks blasting away with the rolled remains of their dinner to sail off with Hiei’s coat, which flew up overhead like a giant black bird with a white crest before it sank like a stone as the wind abruptly died.
Yusuke burst out laughing. “Ha! Now that’s funny.”
“Shut up, Detective,” came the sour reply from the dark. “Or do you want to die?”
Kurama smiled slightly as he ran a distracted hand through his tangled red hair. All that careful combing earlier had just been shot all to hell, and he just hoped he didn’t look like Yusuke---who rather resembled a spooked cat with his short black hair standing out all over the place.
The taiji-ya looked a little stunned, though not as alarmed as earlier, which meant that Hiei’s little ploy had worked. *Not the smartest tactic, to make her angry enough to push her energy out that way. Hiei can be even more thoughtlessly impetuous than Yusuke at times.*
Still, it had worked. That edgy, wild look was gone from the taiji-ya’s eyes and she didn’t seem half as frightened. Closing his eyes, Kurama felt the energy around her and was quite satisfied by the careful shield that had been erected as her over-abundant energy was flung out of her body by that blast of anger-fed wind. It was a natural defense, one almost automatic (and instinctive) for any youkai child, and he was happy to see the girl was now in touch with her energy enough for her instincts to react like that.
“Heh.” Perhaps Hiei had been smarter than the fox had given him credit for, for he had proved not only that she could use her energy, but that she could control it. Although that blast of wind had seemed like a simple flare of her anger-driven antagonism, she had been sharply focusing it on getting the offensive apparition out of her mind. Lightly in touch with Hiei’s thoughts, Kurama had been witness to their whole conversation and her poignant reaction to it.
He savored the memory of the multi-hued rainbow of emotions that had made up the taiji-ya’s rather distinctive mental presence. He had felt Hiei’s annoyance---the demon didn’t particularly like to be exposed to that much passion, but Kurama, not as inured as the fire apparition was to that kind of intense, internal knowledge of another person, had been rather intrigued by the rich complexity of her mind. She was so careful to hide her emotions to the outside world. He had known there was depths to her, depths that called to him in strange ways of both longing and curiosity.
Shaking his head at his strange thoughts, Kurama put them aside to go and help the slayer back up to her feet. She looked delightfully rumpled, her long hair hanging in a dark spill of tangled ebony around her shoulders and back, blending in with the dark shadow of her clothing. With the fire gone and the moon hidden behind perpetual clouds---for it was rare for the skies of demon world to be clear of them, though it did happen from time to time---the darkness of night had intruded so that he was thankful for the keenness of his kitsune eyesight, which allowed him to make out her features in the darkness.
Yusuke was not so lucky. Kurama smiled slightly as he heard a muttered curse as the ex-detective tripped over the pile of the taiji-ya’s weapons, which had kept her cloak pinned by their weight even as it had folded over them in the windy gale that had effectively swept the top of the hill clean of debris.
“How are you feeling?” Kurama asked, extending his hand to her. She hesitated a moment before sliding her calloused palm in his, but he thought it was more from the sensitivity she had experienced earlier than from any hesitancy on her part for the offer of assistance. At least, he hoped that was it.
“Better.” She smiled slightly, a rueful twist that was almost gone as it appeared. She released his hand as soon as she was on her feet, the motion quick and jerky. She backed up a bit, putting a little distance between them, and Kurama sighed. Her guard was up and firmly back in place, and although he could understand why---tonight had been rather trying for her, exposing as it was---still, he regretted the defensive reflex that had her putting distance, both physically and figuratively, between them.
“Well, you sure know how to put a fire out quick.” Yusuke’s teeth flashed in the darkness as he grinned and came over to rumple the back of her tousled head with one hand. She ducked away with a discomfited noise and Yusuke laughed.
“Damn it---why must you be so touchy all the time?” she growled, tossing her wild hair over her shoulder with a fierce glare.
“Why are you so damn touchy about it, hmm?” Yusuke deliberately baited, grinning at his own bad pun.
Surprisingly, she laughed and shook her head at him. “You’re hopeless, Yusuke.”
The detective only grinned, hands on his hips as he snorted. “That’s what Keiko always tells me.”
“She’s right, you know.” The reminder of the detective’s girlfriend seemed to relax the taiji-ya so that she even suffered when Yusuke gave her a mock-punch to the shoulder. She only waved a hand at him, like batting at a fly, and he chuckled.
Kurama watched the byplay with more than a touch of irritation, though none of it showed on his face. His voice was clipped, though, when he said, “Can you now feel the difference between your jyaki and your chi?”
“She’d better.” Hiei’s voice was hard as he abruptly appeared beside the fox, coat firmly wrapped around him. His glare was particularly poignant.
“I do.” The slayer had stiffened up again, her voice as sharp before she seemed to unfold, a strange look passing through her troubled gaze as she offered softly, “I---thank you.”
“Heh.” The fire demon borrowed Kurama’s favorite expression before disappearing again.
“Three-eyes sure likes to make a dramatic exit, doesn’t he?” Yusuke broke in unnecessarily.
“Shut up, Detective.” The voice came from the rocks above them. “You really do want to die, don’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Sparky,” Yusuke tossed back, completely unfazed by the deadly menace in the fire demon’s chilling voice. He broke into a deliberate yawn, wagging his hand in front of his face. “Damn, I’m beat. What a day. Well, fire’s out and the dishes are somewhere out in the middle of the forest---thanks to you, Anei---so I’m for bed. Who’s with me?”
“An excellent suggestion, Yusuke,” Kurama replied before turning to the slayer. “Anei?”
She nodded, only pausing long enough to fetch her cloak and gather her weapons before gingerly following Yusuke inside the darker shadows of the cave’s entrance. Kurama paused, glancing up at the height above him. “Coming, Hiei?”
“Hn.” There was a wealth of emotion in that simple grunt. Completely understanding what the demon left unsaid and the turmoil behind it, Kurama only shrugged.
“As you wish, then.” He paused another moment, looking up at the dark form he could not see. “Hiei?”
“What?”
“Thank you.”
There was no reply, and Kurama didn’t expect one. Slipping inside the cave, he left the fire demon to work out whatever it was he needed to on his own. If Hiei needed his help, he would ask. Otherwise, he had some particular plans in the morning for the taiji-ya, whose newly-won awareness of her demonic energy was just the first step in her training. One must not only accept, but embrace their nature in order to truly understand their selves. He had an idea or two for that, but it meant getting up with the dawn, and he needed sleep as much as the other two if he were to carry it out.
THE HEART WITHIN
Summary: She has carried vengeance in her shadowed heart for 500 years, sacrificing her self for that dream. Now, Sango just might get her chance… (IY/YYH crossover)
A/N: Thank you for the continued interest in this story. It’s taken longer than I thought to get through certain plot twists before others can start to happen. I still have three kings and a certain wind demon to deal with, not to mention Naraku and a certain miko and inu hanyou who aren’t totally out of the picture. =) (Fate)
WARNING! SPOILERS FOR YYH BLACK AND THE THREE KINGS SAGA!
Chapter Thirteen
A brace of dead fish dropped from the sky right above the ex-detective, who jumped back with a startled yell as they fell on the ground where he had been standing. Amused, Hiei landed on top of the cave, deliberately pausing to show himself before jumping down to where the others were seated below.
“What the hell was that for?” Yusuke bristled as Kurama calmly picked up the fish to examine them.
“A fair catch. Thank you, Hiei.”
The short demon made no reply, eyes flicking to the taiji-ya, who was pulling one of her many knives free to start sharpening some sticks to spear the fish over the fire. At least she had some knowledge on how to survive in the wilderness. The detective was all but useless and would have starved to death without their help.
“Hey---three-eyes! You never answered my question. Why’d you have to toss those damn fish at me for? Huh?” Yusuke was spoiling for a fight, but Hiei wasn’t going to give him one just because he missed that thick-headed clown Kuwabara, who was always ready for a good scrap.
“Because I could,” he replied, just because he could do that, too.
Yusuke laughed, as the fire demon knew he would, and Kurama’s mouth twitched as Anei stared at them, a strange shadow in her dark eyes before she quickly covered it. She did that often when the three of them were together, and he wondered why, but dismissed it as unimportant. Trivial, really. Who knew what a half-human girl ever thought. Females didn’t know half the time themselves, so how was he to ever know---or care.
Hopping a few stones up from the rest of them, Hiei flung his coat down to sit on it. Ignoring the others as they busied themselves making dinner---they could certainly cook it, since he’d seen to catching it---he curled his right fist, testing the strength of the tattered bandages that wrapped his arm past the elbow and half-way up his thick bicep. The dirty wrappings were tinged slightly pink from all the blood that had been spilled during the fight yesterday. The color had not washed out completely, and he frowned. Tucking the ragged ends in tighter around his palm, Hiei stared moodily at his spread fingers. The dragon’s energy was well contained, doubly so by the warding bandages he shielded it with, but still it stirred restlessly within him, always wanting to break free. It was unsettling, sometimes, to feel it growling across the back of his mind, though he had gotten used to it for the most part.
He suddenly looked down, feeling someone’s attention on him, and he met Kurama’s enigmatic green gaze. It should disturb him more than it did just how much the kitsune was attuned to his moods, but Hiei accepted things for what they were, with none of the quibbling or questioning others so often fussed with. He didn’t care why he and Kurama had such a natural understanding. He respected the red-haired demon, who had won his loyalty, as had Yusuke. And yes, even that other red-headed oaf, Kuwabara.
Hiei grew disgusted by the awful thought and sneered. Kuwabara was a tangled conundrum to him. He had to respect the boy’s sense of honor and his singular loyalty to his friends, but he didn’t like how the slow-witted human held more than a little regard for his twin sister, Yukina. Kuwabara was hardly one to hold back his feelings, and had proclaimed his undying love for the ice maiden on more than one occasion. Hiei did not know how Yukina felt about the boy with the unfortunate face, but she seemed fond of him. More than fond, actually, but it was not as if he, her brother, could come right out and ask her.
His fingers curled into a fist and his red eyes narrowed. Why that fact should bother him, he didn’t know. He had made his choice never to reveal himself to Yukina long before even that demon surgeon, Shigure, had wrested the promise from him in exchange for giving him the Jagan Eye. The Eye had eventually helped him to find her, and it allowed him to look in on her from time to time. He had never intended to destroy her innocence with the knowledge of their relationship, or the dark deeds that were hung on his soul. She deserved better. And as long as he knew she was okay, than that was all he ever needed.
“Careful, Anei---the fish are oily.” Kurama’s voice broke into his dark thoughts, and he glanced down just in time to see the girl jerk her hand back from one of the spitted fish that were speared over the open flames. She hissed softly and brought the small burn on the outer edge of her hand up to her mouth to suck on it.
“Are you burned?” Kurama pulled his small first-aid kit from his pocket, but she only shook her head.
“It’s nothing. Just stings.” She winced and licked the oil from the wound. She had a very pink tongue.
Hiei stirred restlessly, discomfited by the stupid thought.
“Let me see.” Kurama had stood up, coming over to kneel beside the crouching slayer. Hiei watched with interest as she shook her dark head, raising her brown eyes to the fox’s.
“Really, it’s nothing.”
“Please allow me,” Kurama asked softly, surprising Hiei with the tenderness in his voice. Hiei’s eyes narrowed as he awaited her reaction, but she just gave the kitsune her hand after a long moment of searching his eyes with her own.
It was rather pathetic, this fussing over a simple burn. Kurama wouldn’t have been half as concerned if it was anyone else. Hiei smirked, for try as he might, the fox could not hide his growing regard for the young demon slayer.
Not so young, really. She was what---five-hundred-and-nineteen years old? Not that that was really significant, actually. If one counted Youko’s years, than Kurama was somewhere at the millennium-plus mark, and he himself was at least a century or more. Yusuke was the baby, really, having only been a half-demon for what---three days?
Hiei smirked as the detective whined like a baby about how long the fish were taking to cook. Age was rather negligible in the demon realm, but maturity? Now that was a different matter.
“Dinner’ll be ready in just a moment, Yusuke,” Kurama automatically chided, but was clearly distracted by squeezing some type of goop on the back of the slayer’s hand. The elegant fingers took a little too long to rub in the cream, turning the motion into almost a caress, and Hiei watched the proceedings with a growing sense of irritation. Just how long did it take to smear burn-ointment across the skin and slap a Band-Aid on top? Kurama was sure taking his sweet time about it.
Yusuke must have come to the same conclusion, for he stalked over and glared down at the pair of them, fists on his hips. “Is anyone else hungry around here? Hell, Kurama, think you can finish that up sometime before night falls?”
As the day was quickly waning, the hidden sun having already set, the detective had a good point. Hiei smirked as Kurama stiffened, leveling what was probably a poignant glare on the ex-detective if Hiei could see anything but the back of the fox’s spiky red head from his current vantage point. It was the taiji-ya who made the decisive move, though, by snatching the Band-Aid from the fox’s fingers and neatly extricating herself from between the two men with an acrobatic move that was quite impressive, as it involved quite a bit of flexibility and not having either demon notice what she was doing until it was done.
Hiei sat back to enjoy the show as she neatly stripped the paper off the tan bandage and slapped it to the outside of her hand. Yusuke and Kurama both did a good double-take when they realized she was no longer between them but over on the far side of the fire. Kurama must have given Yusuke another glare, for the detective’s teeth flashed in a grin in the growing darkness before he turned to the slayer. “Anei?”
“Dinner’s ready.” Her voice was a little too high, and she was hastily plucking fish off the fire with a knife, busying herself to avoid the fox’s troubled gaze, which Hiei now had a front-row view of.
Deciding this was growing too interesting for him not to be in the middle of, Hiei jumped down from his rock and landed right beside the taiji-ya. She shied a little at his sudden appearance, and he hid a smirk. She was edgy, that one, and he was actually starting to enjoy pushing her buttons.
Carelessly reaching amid the flames, he pulled two sticks from the embers, biting into one and ignoring the juice that ran down his chin. Plopping himself down on the stone just behind the taiji-ya, he was tossing the empty stick aside and starting on the second fish even before the other two demons were served.
“Hungry, three-eyes?” Yusuke smirked, accepting one of the thick green leaves Kurama had found to use as a rather sturdy plate.
Hiei paused long enough to scowl as the slayer turned to look at him over her shoulder with eyes that were too wide and brown. The corner of Kurama’s mouth twitched in amusement, irritating the short demon further. Deliberately biting into the second fish so that his sharp fangs showed, he sucked it down whole, all in one gulp, neatly licking the empty stick before tossing it after the first.
“That was downright gross,” Yusuke said, rather appalled by what he’d just witnessed. The apparition had swallowed the whole fish, eyeballs, fins, tail and all, and hadn’t even bothered to chew.
Hiei just stared at him, daring him to say more. The taiji-ya quickly turned back around, and he felt vindicated in the thought that humans were always so squeamish, especially girls. She startled the hell out of him, though, when she turned back with another stick in her hand, silently extending it to him.
He stared at the offering suspiciously, then into her brown eyes, which had rusty tints in the mahogany depths from the flickering firelight as the shadows darkened further around them. There was nothing in her expression but polite inquiry as he continued to stare at her, and then a touch of confusion when his expression hardened.
“Ah, just take the damn fish, three-eyes!” Yusuke finally burst, eyes rolling, and Hiei took the stupid fish with a scowl as Kurama silently shook his head.
“Hn.”
“That means ‘thanks’ in youkai.” The detective was being entirely too talkative in the apparition’s opinion, and he made his annoyance known by biting the head off the fish in his hand, making sure Yusuke saw it. The Mazoku only grinned, but wisely retreated to the other side of the fire with his leaf-wrapped dinner.
Kurama gave him a long look as the taiji-ja turned back to the dying fire and Hiei shrugged. Wise enough to let it lie, the fox only thanked the girl when she handed him his portion and went and sat beside Hiei, on the ground by his rock. Hiei didn’t know why the kitsune felt the need to show his support, but perhaps he was just trying to distance himself from the girl for the obvious reason that he had just embarrassed himself rather thoroughly by fussing over the minor burn on her hand.
Yusuke didn’t seem to notice the two demons’ withdrawal, for he was doing a fair job in hogging center stage, recounting some of the pranks he had pulled on his best friend, Kuwabara. It didn’t take an idiot to see just how much the brash Spirit Detective missed the big oaf, and the girl had the patience of a saint to listen to all that crap. Hiei watched her beneath hooded eyes, having crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back against the curve of the cave’s wall once he finished his third fish-stick.
She was quiet but listened with far more tolerance than he could have as Yusuke pantomimed some stupid fight the two of them had gotten into after school one day, and even smiled slightly when the detective burst out laughing at his own stupid joke. Her elfin features seemed softer somehow in the firelight’s dim glow, her chin not so stubborn and her eyes not as guarded. Her eyes were a darker shade than the detective’s chocolate-brown. Like the wood of a rain-dampened pine tree rather than the bright, raw sienna the boy sported. Her lashes were thicker, too---he hadn’t realized how thick, actually---and there was strands of lighter brown in her dark hair. They were burnt red by the firelight when she cocked her head slightly, and a few of the finer hairs on her long ponytail were caught in the fabric of her black turtleneck as she shook her head in amusement as Yusuke recounted one of Kuwabara’s stupider exploits.
She ate almost absently, and as fastidiously as Kurama. He watched her eat, her teeth flashing slightly when she nibbled on a small morsel. Her lips were a little thin, but there was a nice curve to them, and he was discomfited again when that pink tongue appeared. His gaze quickly shifted, following her hand to the crook of her elbow and then up the curve of her bare arm. Even in the shifting shadows of the firelight, one could see the defined muscles of her upper bicep. Some might consider her too developed, too muscular, perhaps, to be womanly, but she still maintained a grace and femininity that probably came from her slight frame and short stature. She certainly didn’t look all that dangerous right now, with her guard down and her expression easy as she listened to Yusuke’s inane babbling.
Hiei frowned, disgusted by his singular preoccupation with the girl, and feeling eyes on him, he turned his head slightly to glare at his erstwhile companion, who was smiling faintly.
*Have something to say, fox?* he growled, mind to mind, but Kurama only shook his head, the amusement in his thoughts bleeding through the light mental link between them.
“It’s grown dark.” Kurama shielded his eyes, though he hardly needed to, and looked around the shadows which only the fire kept at bay. The moon had yet to rise, not that they would see it, for as usual it was cloudy.
“Pointing out the obvious isn’t usually your style, Kurama,” Hiei growled, somewhat annoyed, but not with the kitsune.
“Heh.” Kurama deliberately took his time rolling up the remains of his meal for burial. The thick leaf served as fine a garbage bag as it did a dinner plate. Hiei watched the kitsune’s fussing with growing irritation, for he sensed the red-haired demon had something in mind but he was certainly taking his sweet time about divulging it.
“I think it has grown dark enough for us to try again.”
Hiei waited, refusing to show his impatience.
“Anei drew on the shadows around her the other night to fade into the background---remember? I had the idea that we might try to see if she could repeat the performance.”
Drawing his elbows from behind his head to fold them across his chest, Hiei looked skeptical. “I hope you have a better idea than just that. I seem to remember that it was not something she did consciously, but much as she’s done anything---purely on instinct.”
Kurama shrugged lightly, but would not quite meet the demon’s narrowed gaze.
*That fox is up to something.* Hiei didn’t know what, but he knew when Kurama was trying to act too casual and secretive. He also knew Kurama wouldn’t divulge whatever little scheme he had going on in that wily head of his until he was good and ready to do so, and he wasn’t about to waste his time worrying about it. Let the fox keep his secrets for now. He’d find out soon enough.
“Hn.”
Kurama gave him a sharp look, but Hiei only smirked.
Refolding his arms back behind his head, Hiei closed his eyes and gave the appearance of utter boredom by relaxing into the stony curve of the wall behind him, but he kept the Jagan open enough to see what the fox would do. At first, the scene was a hazy mist of swirling energies---the fire a blot of orangey-red, contrasting sharply with the paler spiritual energy that wrapped around the two humans who sat beside it, their demonic auras contrasting further with the faint fuchsia glow that swirled throughout and around them. Kurama was a similar mix, though his aura bore a faint luminescent silver edging to the stronger glow of his jyaki. Sharpening his focus, Hiei laid the physical over the astral, and could now see the three humans as they were to his ordinary eyes.
He watched as Kurama courteously took the girl’s finished leaf with his and put them both aside for later disposal. He watched as Yusuke willingly made room for the fox, who then sat and asked the girl how she called the shadows to her. Of course, the little fool didn’t know and had no damn clue, and Hiei grew annoyed with the whole ridiculous waste of effort as a repeat performance was given of this afternoon, when she had sought to feel her jyaki through meditation. It worked, slightly, when she first attempted it---he could see the way she pulled the air currents around her, using tendrils of the jyaki that existed in the very air of Makai to curl them around her, obscuring her somewhat in the shadows before she reached some mental stumbling block that had her hiss in frustration as the demonic energy slipped from her grasp and abruptly vanished.
He watched with growing impatience as she tried again and again, with no better results than she had this afternoon, and never reaching even as far as the first time she’d tried. She was like a child, blindly reaching for something just out of reach and yet right there in front of her, and he couldn’t stand the way she was just trying to force it---as if you could ever force the energy to obey you. You had to accept it into you, become one with it, before you could then make it do what you wanted. And it was just so damn easy---though her childishly human fumbling sure made it look harder than it ever needed to be.
Growing frustrated by the stupidity of the whole situation, Hiei finally dropped his pretence at ignoring them and jumped off his rock. Landing behind the girl, his arms folded and his red eyes glaring, he snarled, “Damn it, Kurama, this is a waste of time. I would think you of all people would be smart enough to figure that out by now.”
The girl shied at his abrupt appearance at her shoulder, but he ignored her to glare at his red-haired companion, who sat back with a puzzled frown. Raising a finely drawn brow, the fox asked simply, “Oh? And what would you do, my friend?”
Yusuke sniggered something that had the taiji-ya blushing but Hiei ignored them both to snap, “Somehow, she’s managed to block off all awareness of her demonic energy, and she’s like a child blindly fumbling around in the dark after it. Trying to force her to feel it won’t work. Someone needs to show her how to find it and recognize it before she can do anything with it.”
“An interesting suggestion, Hiei.” Kurama’s expression were almost too surprised---there was something in his green eyes that made Hiei narrow his own in suspicion, trying to figure out just what it was. But Kurama only dropped his chin in his hand and asked oh-too-innocently, “But I wonder how someone might show her? She can’t see her jyaki like you or I can.”
“Kurama, I’m disgusted you can’t see the obvious answer. Someone needs to lead her through the stubbornness of her own humanly simplistic mind---” Hiei froze at the even more obvious answer and scowled, his red eyes heating slightly as he detected the faint gleam of triumph in the kitsune’s green gaze before the wily fox quickly hid it.
*Damn it, Kurama. You knew all along this was the only way,* he snarled at the fox, who shrugged minutely as the slayer glared at the taunt about human simpletons and Yusuke looked downright confused. *Why didn’t you just ask? Why play games, damn you?*
*You needed to reach your own conclusions, my friend, as to the necessity of your interference. You would not have been so agreeable if I had just come out and asked,* Kurama replied, his mental voice a little rueful and even faintly apologetic.
*You don’t know that, fox,* Hiei growled back, angry at the way the fox had calculated his reactions and manipulated him so neatly, for the kitsune had a point, damn him. He didn’t like the idea of having to delve back inside the girl’s head just to show her how to do what she should already know, if she had just accepted herself from the beginning. It was almost ironic that he, a demon who frankly loathed humans and found little to redeem in them, was teaching a human who loathed demons how to reconcile both sides of herself.
The irony was not lost on Kurama, either, for there was a faint hint of amusement to his encouraging expression, damn him. The wily fox knew he had Hiei cornered, especially by having the apparition come to his own conclusion that this might be the only way to keep the girl from infecting the whole damn World with her rejected aura.
He still didn’t have to like it.
“Well, then, Kurama, since you are so certain that this is the only way, than you can damn well explain it to her.” And get her to accept it---for Hiei wasn’t about to put himself out trying to argue the girl into letting him inside her head again. He wasn’t exactly relishing the idea. Humans felt too damn much---their thoughts were often loud and chaotic, their emotions too near the surface of their thoughts. He tolerated Kurama’s mental presence as much as he did because the kitsune was just so damn quiet about it. The fox’s control over his stronger emotions was almost eerie, and the quiet peace of his orderly mind was almost restful when compared to the baser chaos of most others’ thoughts.
There was also the consideration that telepathy could sometimes be a two-way street. His personal thoughts and emotions could bleed through the link just as easily as the other person’s he sought to touch minds with. And while he might trust Kurama enough to respect his privacy, he didn’t know if he could extend that same trust to anyone else. He had occasionally used his telepathic abilities to send messages to the others in their team---even once with Botan (though he still shuddered at the memory of her too-emotional reaction---scratch that, over-reaction---of his death threats to Yusuke’s girlfriend, Keiko, but that had been a different time and he a different demon altogether.) He had also had the occasion to speak with Yusuke’s teacher, Genkai, who had had the spiritual power to use the fragile mental link to overwhelm him if she had not had the repugnantly honorable notion of never taking such low advantage of someone in that way. For someone could, if they knew enough and had the power to do so, and that threat was enough to make Hiei even more choosy of who he let inside his mind, lest he expose himself to that very possibility.
But he had little to fear from a half-human girl who couldn’t even acknowledge her own demon energy enough to properly control it. He had more to fear from her damnably human thoughts and crawling back inside that chaotic mess was not something he was looking forward to.
So Kurama could damn well use his persuasive powers and manipulative guile to get the taiji-ya to agree, and good luck to him, for the girl had stiffened at their sudden silent communication, as if she knew they were speaking about her, and Hiei could only look smug as the fox turned a rueful expression towards her, a speculative glitter in his forest-green eyes.
ooOOooOOooOOoo
“Someone needs to lead her through the stubbornness of her own humanly simplistic mind---”The acidic scorn in the fire demon’s words sat sour in her stomach, and Sango glared at the demon who ignored her to glare at the fox. The pair were eyeing each other with that strangely silent communion they always seemed to indulge in, and it set her teeth on edge, because she knew they were talking about her somehow. Given the fire demon’s Jagan Eye and her hazy knowledge of its alleged abilities---not to mention the fact that the spiky-pinecone-headed jerk had all but forced himself inside her head only two nights before to pluck out the images of both Naraku and her brother---she had more than a notion of just how they managed to communicate and more than a suspicion of where all this was leading.
Hiei had a point---no matter what Kurama had her do, she was just not sensing her energy or how she was able to unconsciously use it. She had spent too long denying its existence, to the point where her subconscious mind was subverting her conscious determination to find out how. It was probably a self-defensive reaction built up over centuries of denial, but it was a mental wall she could hardly overcome---at least, not in the limited space of a single day---without some sort of outside help. If she had had the time to break down those mental barriers on her own, than of course she would have preferred to do so, but she didn’t have the time. She was, frankly, spending too much time as it was in dealing with this problem rather than focusing on finding her brother.
But she could hardly face Naraku---and the gods-only-knew what powers and abilities he had gained since last she faced him---without dealing with this new problem first. It would be terribly ironic if she were to face that evil bastard and have her own rejected demonic aura feed the dark hanyou’s own rage, thus allowing him to use her own jyaki against her.
That was not a weapon she was willing to give the dark hanyou. And she owed the poor demons she had led to their slaughter yesterday---not to mention, the countless other possible victims over the centuries she had spent taking her anger and frustration out on any youkai who strayed across her path, seeing the hated face of her enemy in each and every one. Their shades deserved better from her than not to try, at least, by any means necessary, to control her demonic powers.
And if it took having to let that demon back inside her head, than so be it. Pride be damned---and yes, fear, too---for she did fear what he was capable of seeing inside her mind with that unnatural, unblinking Eye of his---but there was more at stake than just her own grudging feelings about the whole necessity of it.
But Sango had never backed down from doing what she felt she must, and she wasn’t about to start now. So when Kurama finally turned to her to try and break the idea of having Hiei show her mind-to-mind how to feel out her energy, she was already prepared for it. She listened to his persuasive little speech---slightly chagrined that he was trying to be so gentle about it---and just nodded, albeit stiffly, and said, “Okay.”
Even Yusuke, following Kurama’s wordy explanation with a frown of fierce concentration, was taken aback by her quick acquiescence. The astonished looks on both the fox and the apparition’s faces were priceless. If she had been less afraid of losing her tight control over her tumultuous emotions concerning the whole idea, she would have laughed. As it was, she kept her expression carefully neutral, especially when the fire demon’s red eyes narrowed on her suspiciously, trying to find some type of reaction other than the bland acceptance of what must be done.
“Well, then, ah…I guess it’s decided.” Kurama tried to regain his customary aplomb by turning to the fire demon, who had moved up to stand beside her. “Hiei?”
“Hn,” was the fire demon’s not-so-helpful comment. Yusuke cocked his head to one side, an amused glint in his inquisitive brown eyes, though he forbore to add anything as Kurama waited for Sango.
Sango, already seated on her knees, looked up at the short demon and met his red stare. He studied her carefully blank expression for a long moment before frowning fiercely as his eyes closed. She watched as his thick bangs---the startlingly white hairs tangled amidst the blue-black feathers of a raven’s wing---parted, revealing the lavender eye that rested just above the surprisingly delicate sweep of his thin brows. She half-expected to feel some type of drawing in of the air around her as the apparition focused his energy, but he only turned to face her. Prodded by instinct, she turned her body so that she squared his, resettling her weight on her knees in a deceptively easy pose that was nothing of the sort. She knelt as if braced for an attack, her shoulders a stiff line and her hands, lying lightly in her lap, curled into fists, her knuckles whitening with the strain.
She felt a hand lightly settle on her shoulder and she glanced up in distracted surprise as Kurama nodded reassuringly. She felt oddly comforted by the simple gesture, and taking a deep breath, relaxed minutely beneath the warm weight of his palm. Closing her eyes, she waited for the remembered intrusion as Hiei’s mind reached out for hers.
Expecting him to force himself inside her head as he had before, like an arrow piercing right through her skull, she was surprised to feel a light brush across her thoughts---as if his fingers were somehow softly caressing over her forehead. She felt the tickle of her heavy bangs being swept aside, and knew that he was. Startled by the touch, she was distracted just enough to not even realize when he was suddenly there, with her, inside her mind.
Although uneasy with the unbelievable strength of his mental presence, she was able to collar her emotions, keeping a tight lid on them so that he would not read the instinctive surge of fear that held her for a moment, like a small bird caught in the cup of his hand. Her mind whirled, twisting in upon itself, and sweat broke out across her brow as her shoulders tensed and her back went poker-straight. But she wrestled the fierce urge to reject his presence inside her head with an iron will that caused a flicker of surprise and grudging respect to seep from beneath his tightly guarded thoughts and into hers.
The feeling was gone almost as soon as it appeared, but she was heartened by it. Taking a deep breath, she cautiously opened herself up, seeing him as separate from herself and not as overwhelmed by the strength of his mental presence.
He appeared as a dark flame to her mind’s eye, a spark of unbelievable power that was yet rigidly contained. There was a surprisingly icy breath to his thoughts, fierce enough that it could burn. There was a restlessness there, like the constant stir of flickering flames, and a hunger---one that surprised her with the aching yearning that shimmered across it but was gone before she could truly register it, and left her wondering if she had even felt it at all.
*Hanyou.*
His mental voice was a hard echo of his own, sharp and clipped, with an unconscious edge of command. Slightly bemused, Sango quickly refocused her thoughts, seeing herself as a soft, white, glowing ball---like what she thought a soul might look like---and wondered if he saw her that way as well.
*No.*
The thought was short and sharp and he didn’t bother to elaborate. Instead, he seemed to twine his presence around hers, nudging her slightly to focus her attention inward. His presence were hardly intrusive---in fact, it was as if he was holding himself back from going further than just the upper surface of her thoughts. She was grateful for that, and was able to relax further as he silently turned her attention to her own body.
*See what I see.* It was an order she could not but obey, as he was wrapped tightly around her thoughts, directing her attention to the center of her body, where the heart within her pumped life and energy throughout both her physical and metaphysical bodies. It was strange to see the mix of energies she was more used to seeing in others flowing through and around herself, but surprisingly easy to pick out the different patterns with his presence to help guide her.
The lighter feel of her human chi was familiar, but the darker shadow of purple-blended-fuchsia coiling around it like a braided rope was unexpected. This, then, was her demonic energy, her jyaki, and she was startled by how it was twined with her own human energy. She had always thought of it as something separate, something apart and something strange, but it was mixed with her own energy, snaking around and through and blending into one even as she watched.
She couldn’t contain her surprise, and felt his sour amusement. Growing indignant by his callousness, she was not given time to even grumble before he snatched her awareness up and tossed her headlong into the middle of that river of flowing energy. She felt as if she was suddenly drowning in power, and she sputtered, her mind trying to grasp on to anything in a world suddenly awash with reeling energies of overwhelming intensity. He was suddenly there, a firm anchor for her clasp on to, and she huddled against the dark flame of his reassuring strength, unnerved by an experience that she had nothing she could compare with.
He was surprisingly patient while she slowly unfolded herself, tentatively touching the flood of power that surged all around them. A tingle went through her body and she sighed at the unexpected cool breeze that seemed to touch across her skin. She was dimly aware of her long hair stirring, as if a light wind were blowing gently around it, and was filled with a dawning sense of awe as she felt that it was and that it was by her doing, and not another’s.
*You see the energy; now we trace it back to the source.* The dark flame beside her spoke words she was too bemused to comprehend but she felt when he took hold of her again in that unshakable grip, drawing her with him into a deeper awareness as they seemed to jump into the turbulent flow of energy that had seemed so like a flood before and was now but a fast-moving stream. They didn’t exactly swim in the current of power---more as if they floated above it, trailing their awareness lightly across the twining paths that centered around the unmistakable beating presence of her youkai heart. Flowing inside and then back out, the energy was pumped through the center of her body as her blood was pumped through her veins, renewing the life and self within her, and suddenly she knew.
*But---it’s so simple---it can’t be that simple---*
“Hn.”
She blinked, suddenly thrust back inside her own body, and was startled by the acute feel of his calloused fingertips as they pressed lightly against her forehead, tilting her head back slightly so that she was looking up at him. She met his red eyes, surprised by the intensity of them, before her attention was caught by the pulsating glow of the lavender eye above them. She sat like one mesmerized, watching as the lightly green shimmer slowly dissolved from the unblinking iris. It was almost as if she could see the dark flame that he had appeared to her inside the black pupil, which was shrinking even as she stared.
He slowly withdrew his hand, and Sango felt her breath catch as the feel of his fingers lingered on her sensitive skin for long moments after they were withdrawn. She felt slightly dizzy and slowly became aware of other sensations tingling across her heightened awareness. Her skin felt thin and alive with a thousand confusing impressions. She could feel the air around her, pressing against her body, and could feel the current of energy that swirled through it---an energy that felt hauntingly like her own. A faint breeze stirred her hair restlessly, and her skin prickled beneath its heady touch. The fine hairs on her bare arms stood up and goose-bumps formed a pattern that left her almost shuddering with its intensity. Her clothes felt heavy, the warp of her turtleneck rubbing against her back, the sturdy denim of her jeans almost harsh in the wrinkled folds at the bend of her knees. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself, and could feel the air moving inside her, drawn along by her blood as the oxygen was rushed to her heart and lungs and then pushed out to her limbs. The energy---jyaki---that surrounded her was inside of her, and she could feel it burning a path of awareness across every inch of her body.
“Holy shit---you just lit up like a light bulb!” Yusuke’s awed whisper was a harsh shout to her suddenly sensitive ears and Sango winced, closing her eyes and then blinking them back open as the edges of her lashes pricked her skin. She felt tight---too sensitive---too alive---too feeling---it was unnerving, unsettling, and damn uncomfortable.
“Too soon.” Kurama broke into her wild thoughts. “You’re becoming overwhelmed by your new awareness of your demonic energy. Shield yourself---”
“How?” Sango whispered, her lips tingling from even the contact of that passing breath.
“Gods, must you be shown everything?” Hiei growled, suddenly dropping a hand back on the top of her head that made her want to jump back from the shock of it, for even that light pressure on her aching scalp had her gritting her teeth.
He was suddenly there, back inside her mind, his presence a lot stronger now than before---though it might have been her own super-sensitivity to everything around her. It was as if everything was magnified a hundred times its normal impression upon her senses, and she was startled by the sheer strength he exuded, the dark, icy flame that coiled around her almost hungrily reaching out for her own warmth…
She shuddered with that thought and felt a growl of anger echo behind it, as the affronted demon deliberately strengthened his presence, like an icy sword sinking into her heightened awareness, and snapped, *Push it out.*
*Push what out?* She was fed up with his attitude and didn’t bother to hide it.
*How unfortunate you didn’t replace your brain when you decided to replace your heart, hanyou,* he retorted as she saw red.
“Uh…Kurama?” Yusuke’s voice interrupted their mental spat as he surreptitiously edged away from the frozen pair. “Should her eyes be that bloody?”
Sango stiffened, angry that her control over her emotions was proving to be so weak. Damn that little bastard for making her so angry---
*Don’t you remember that I can hear your every thought, hanyou?*
*Quit calling me that!* she snapped back, suddenly wanting him out of her thoughts, and pushed with all her might.
The wind came with a whistling howl, rushing around them like a small whirlwind that set their hair tangling every which way as the dying fire blew up like a torch before dying, the burnt remains scattering with torn up leaves and grass and dust as the force behind them blew outward. Kurama tucked his head behind his raised arm as Yusuke went diving behind the nearest rock for cover. The draping moss that partially covered the front of the cave was torn away, the small pebbles and rocks blasting away with the rolled remains of their dinner to sail off with Hiei’s coat, which flew up overhead like a giant black bird with a white crest before it sank like a stone as the wind abruptly died.
ooOOooOOooOOoo
“Damn it.” The fire demon glared as Sango raised her bowed head, which she had ducked behind her own shielding arms as the tempest raged around them. She blinked, and he disappeared, going after his errant clothing.Yusuke burst out laughing. “Ha! Now that’s funny.”
“Shut up, Detective,” came the sour reply from the dark. “Or do you want to die?”
Kurama smiled slightly as he ran a distracted hand through his tangled red hair. All that careful combing earlier had just been shot all to hell, and he just hoped he didn’t look like Yusuke---who rather resembled a spooked cat with his short black hair standing out all over the place.
The taiji-ya looked a little stunned, though not as alarmed as earlier, which meant that Hiei’s little ploy had worked. *Not the smartest tactic, to make her angry enough to push her energy out that way. Hiei can be even more thoughtlessly impetuous than Yusuke at times.*
Still, it had worked. That edgy, wild look was gone from the taiji-ya’s eyes and she didn’t seem half as frightened. Closing his eyes, Kurama felt the energy around her and was quite satisfied by the careful shield that had been erected as her over-abundant energy was flung out of her body by that blast of anger-fed wind. It was a natural defense, one almost automatic (and instinctive) for any youkai child, and he was happy to see the girl was now in touch with her energy enough for her instincts to react like that.
“Heh.” Perhaps Hiei had been smarter than the fox had given him credit for, for he had proved not only that she could use her energy, but that she could control it. Although that blast of wind had seemed like a simple flare of her anger-driven antagonism, she had been sharply focusing it on getting the offensive apparition out of her mind. Lightly in touch with Hiei’s thoughts, Kurama had been witness to their whole conversation and her poignant reaction to it.
He savored the memory of the multi-hued rainbow of emotions that had made up the taiji-ya’s rather distinctive mental presence. He had felt Hiei’s annoyance---the demon didn’t particularly like to be exposed to that much passion, but Kurama, not as inured as the fire apparition was to that kind of intense, internal knowledge of another person, had been rather intrigued by the rich complexity of her mind. She was so careful to hide her emotions to the outside world. He had known there was depths to her, depths that called to him in strange ways of both longing and curiosity.
Shaking his head at his strange thoughts, Kurama put them aside to go and help the slayer back up to her feet. She looked delightfully rumpled, her long hair hanging in a dark spill of tangled ebony around her shoulders and back, blending in with the dark shadow of her clothing. With the fire gone and the moon hidden behind perpetual clouds---for it was rare for the skies of demon world to be clear of them, though it did happen from time to time---the darkness of night had intruded so that he was thankful for the keenness of his kitsune eyesight, which allowed him to make out her features in the darkness.
Yusuke was not so lucky. Kurama smiled slightly as he heard a muttered curse as the ex-detective tripped over the pile of the taiji-ya’s weapons, which had kept her cloak pinned by their weight even as it had folded over them in the windy gale that had effectively swept the top of the hill clean of debris.
“How are you feeling?” Kurama asked, extending his hand to her. She hesitated a moment before sliding her calloused palm in his, but he thought it was more from the sensitivity she had experienced earlier than from any hesitancy on her part for the offer of assistance. At least, he hoped that was it.
“Better.” She smiled slightly, a rueful twist that was almost gone as it appeared. She released his hand as soon as she was on her feet, the motion quick and jerky. She backed up a bit, putting a little distance between them, and Kurama sighed. Her guard was up and firmly back in place, and although he could understand why---tonight had been rather trying for her, exposing as it was---still, he regretted the defensive reflex that had her putting distance, both physically and figuratively, between them.
“Well, you sure know how to put a fire out quick.” Yusuke’s teeth flashed in the darkness as he grinned and came over to rumple the back of her tousled head with one hand. She ducked away with a discomfited noise and Yusuke laughed.
“Damn it---why must you be so touchy all the time?” she growled, tossing her wild hair over her shoulder with a fierce glare.
“Why are you so damn touchy about it, hmm?” Yusuke deliberately baited, grinning at his own bad pun.
Surprisingly, she laughed and shook her head at him. “You’re hopeless, Yusuke.”
The detective only grinned, hands on his hips as he snorted. “That’s what Keiko always tells me.”
“She’s right, you know.” The reminder of the detective’s girlfriend seemed to relax the taiji-ya so that she even suffered when Yusuke gave her a mock-punch to the shoulder. She only waved a hand at him, like batting at a fly, and he chuckled.
Kurama watched the byplay with more than a touch of irritation, though none of it showed on his face. His voice was clipped, though, when he said, “Can you now feel the difference between your jyaki and your chi?”
“She’d better.” Hiei’s voice was hard as he abruptly appeared beside the fox, coat firmly wrapped around him. His glare was particularly poignant.
“I do.” The slayer had stiffened up again, her voice as sharp before she seemed to unfold, a strange look passing through her troubled gaze as she offered softly, “I---thank you.”
“Heh.” The fire demon borrowed Kurama’s favorite expression before disappearing again.
“Three-eyes sure likes to make a dramatic exit, doesn’t he?” Yusuke broke in unnecessarily.
“Shut up, Detective.” The voice came from the rocks above them. “You really do want to die, don’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Sparky,” Yusuke tossed back, completely unfazed by the deadly menace in the fire demon’s chilling voice. He broke into a deliberate yawn, wagging his hand in front of his face. “Damn, I’m beat. What a day. Well, fire’s out and the dishes are somewhere out in the middle of the forest---thanks to you, Anei---so I’m for bed. Who’s with me?”
“An excellent suggestion, Yusuke,” Kurama replied before turning to the slayer. “Anei?”
She nodded, only pausing long enough to fetch her cloak and gather her weapons before gingerly following Yusuke inside the darker shadows of the cave’s entrance. Kurama paused, glancing up at the height above him. “Coming, Hiei?”
“Hn.” There was a wealth of emotion in that simple grunt. Completely understanding what the demon left unsaid and the turmoil behind it, Kurama only shrugged.
“As you wish, then.” He paused another moment, looking up at the dark form he could not see. “Hiei?”
“What?”
“Thank you.”
There was no reply, and Kurama didn’t expect one. Slipping inside the cave, he left the fire demon to work out whatever it was he needed to on his own. If Hiei needed his help, he would ask. Otherwise, he had some particular plans in the morning for the taiji-ya, whose newly-won awareness of her demonic energy was just the first step in her training. One must not only accept, but embrace their nature in order to truly understand their selves. He had an idea or two for that, but it meant getting up with the dawn, and he needed sleep as much as the other two if he were to carry it out.