Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction / Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ Demon of Makai ❯ Chapter 11

Two days left until my lovely summer vacation ends. This is the price I pay for being an officer in the band. But I don't mind all that much; I'll have to get up earlier, but it's my last year! I'm a senior, so I don't have to do this ever again! It's very exciting, realizing that this is my last year of high school, but it's sad at the same time. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

 

Serena SilverMoon: I wouldn't buy any of those lines either, but no one's going to call them out on it just yet. They all have their secrets, and as long as no one tries overly hard to find out what those secrets are, they're willing to let the lies slide. I liked having Hiei frozen and unable to attack the kids without being punished; he usually doesn't care what other people will do if he does something, so it's funny seeing him in a situation where he does care.

 

~*~

 

Jordan's mind was still in a haze as she helped Crystal get the injured back inside the “hospital”. Hiei's words echoed in her mind. “They won't let me hurt these children. Besides, if I do, eventually King Yama will find out and I'll be thrown back in this place. And while we're talking about handicaps, why haven't you used your Rose Whip? It would save lots of time and trouble.”

 

“The same reason as you, Hiei. I like this place no more than you do, and I would miss my mother too much to jeopardize my staying in Ningenkai.”

 

For some reason, while she knew that Shuichi was one of the four in the park, she never really accepted that he was one of them until now, when he used the same words as them. Actually, it was Hiei that spoke of King Yama, but he wouldn't talk of him unless it was with a fellow spy working for him. Granted, Shuichi might know about King Yama and not work for him, but that wouldn't make sense, if he was holding back for the same reasons as Hiei.

 

She sighed. Why does it seem like I never have any luck with guys? she asked herself.

 

<Talking to yourself again? That's the first sign of madness, you know.>

 

Not you again.

 

<Like a bad dream, I keep coming back. Of course it's me!>

 

Why can't you go away?

 

<You'd destroy yourself, that's why. Now why are you still pining after this redhead?>

 

Because he's cute, and he's strong, and other reasons.

 

<You're a fool, you know that? You know nothing about him, and you're still attracted to him. And how can you say he's strong? You could beat him in a heartbeat.>

 

Probably. But he was holding back when we were fighting these people. I have no idea how strong he really is.

 

<You're hopeless. Hopelessly infatuated with this guy's looks. I can't believe we're in the same body. In case you've forgotten, he's still Voice 4.>

 

Well, maybe it could be just while we're here. I mean, who knows when they'll find that demon. It doesn't have to last beyond the day we go back home.

 

<You're looking for a fling? What kind of person am I sharing a body with? How will that make him feel once he finds out?>

 

I'll tell him right up front.

 

<What makes you think he'll agree to a fling? What if he wants it to continue after that? He might not want anything to do with you, after all.>

 

We'll see what happens.

 

“Jordan?”

 

“What?” She looked into her sister's concerned eyes.

 

“I've been trying to reach you for the past fifteen minutes,” she said. “Are you okay?”

 

“Oh, yeah, I'm fine,” she responded. Looking around, she saw that there weren't anymore people on the ground. “Where did everyone go?”

 

“They've been taken into the hospital,” Crystal replied. “We just finished putting the last person in there. Right now the rest of the gang is inside, helping them. You just sorta wandered back out here.”

 

“Sorry about that,” she apologized sheepishly. “I was lost in my thoughts.”

 

“I think we're staying here,” Crystal continued. “I know Kagome and Serena are, which means Robin's staying. I'm pretty sure the boys will stay with them, but the other four, the ones we ran into, will be moving on to find that demon. I'm all for staying here, but it's up to you.”

 

Jordan knew better than to trust that. What she really said was, “I don't care what you're doing, but I'm staying here regardless.” There wasn't really anything Jordan could say to that other than, “I guess we're staying here then.”

 

Crystal put on a brilliant smile and hugged her. “Now we can help these people.”

 

“You know I can't heal worth crap,” Jordan pointed out.

 

“Demons have been showing up here for the last ten years, Yoshiro said. You'll have plenty to do that won't require you to heal anything. I happen to know that your sorry attempts to heal even a small scratch are sure to be messed up in some way.”

 

“Hey!” Jordan yelped, but her sister had a point. It wasn't fair, really. They both could fight, and while Jordan was unquestionably better, when it came to healing, or domestic power, Crystal was the top dog. All she had to do was snap her fingers at dirty dishes, and they would clean themselves, or dusty shelves would dust themselves off. Jordan tried that. Once. The dishes broke, and all the dust went into the air, making her feel like she was suffocating and had major sneezing fits for days after.

 

“Let's go back inside,” the dominant twin suggested. “It's getting cool, and I don't think either of us wants to catch a cold.”

 

“I need to feel the wind blow by me,” Jordan said, closing her eyes. “The air inside is stifling, with all those people around. I'll go inside in awhile.”

 

Crystal smiled again. “Okay, see you then.” She walked back in to help the townspeople.

 

Alone. She felt the breeze blow past her, cooling her hot body. Looking up, she was surprised at how bright the stars were. “They're beautiful,” she breathed, her entire focus on the twinkling lights in the sky.

 

“They are,” a husky voice said right behind her. Whirling, she came face-to-face with Shuichi. Literally. His face was directly in front of her once she turned around. His eyes were dancing at her expression. “I didn't want to disturb you, but I had to add my two cents in when you mentioned the stars.” He backed a few steps away before coming to stand beside her, looking up. “They aren't normally this bright. Stars are hard to see here because there are so many trees, but they are beautiful.”

 

Jordan was speechless. How does he know this stuff? I'd better be careful, or I'll get lost in his voice. Or his eyes. His emerald eyes…Said eyes were now looking straight into her own. “I believe that we will stay here for a few days, but after that, our paths may part for some time.”

 

“So you're leaving us here for the rest of our lives?” Jordan demanded, finally finding her tongue. “How do we know that you'll come back and take us home?”

 

“Why would we leave you here?” he asked.

 

“Why wouldn't you?” she countered.

 

He shook his head, chuckling. “We aren't that kind of people, Miss Jordan. We would no more leave you here than our own families.”

 

“So, do you know where this demon is?” she asked, changing topics.

 

“Not yet, but I'll track him tomorrow. I believe I know who we're looking for, as I've met him a long time ago. I could be wrong, but so far I have yet to err.”

 

“Well, whoopee for you,” Jordan muttered.

 

“Pardon?” he asked, looking confused.

 

“Nothing,” she said quickly. “How will you track this demon down?”

 

“His scent,” he answered. “Normally, demons try and mask their scent, as it alerts others of who's near. He, however, flaunts it, as it causes terror. Other demons know he's a dangerous person, and he revels in their fear. Also, we've been told that people with spirit energy or…basically, anyone other than a normal human with no supernatural energy can't harm him.”

 

“If that's true, then you can't hurt him. Is that right?”

 

He smiled; it wasn't a pleasant smile. “I intend to find that out. First, I have to find him.”

 

“Can you smell him?”

 

“Not me, no, but I'm sure I can find a demon willing to lend his nose.”

 

“You sound confidant, for a human in a human-eating world,” Jordan observed.

 

“They know not to mess with me by now.”

 

“So you've been here before?”

 

“Yes. It's not a place I like to be in, and I avoid it when possible.” He shuddered.

 

“You know, you should probably go back inside. It wouldn't be good if you caught a cold from staying out here for too long,” Jordan remarked.

 

He smiled at her. “I will be fine. It's just the thought of not finding him soon that makes my blood run cold.”

 

“It's not that bad a place, though. I mean, it would be tough staying here, but one could grow used to it. Sure, there're a lot of demons that you have to deal with, but it isn't all that bad.”

 

“You haven't been here long enough to know that the bad here outweighs the good by too much to consider staying here.”

 

“What if you didn't have anything binding you to our world? Like your mother?”

 

He spun towards her. “You heard?” His voice was calm, but his eyes and actions suggested otherwise.

 

“What are you, a spy or something?” she demanded. This probably isn't the smartest thing to do, but too late now. If he kills me for finding out, then I brought this on myself.

 

He stared at her for a moment. “Where did you get the idea that I was a spy?” he asked.

 

“I heard you talking to Hiei earlier, and in the park you were speaking in code to Hiei and two other people.”

 

“Code?” He seemed genuinely confused. “I don't know where you got the impression that we were spies. We aren't, not even close.”

 

“Then why were you and Kuwabara stalking Tanner?”

 

“We weren't. He was trying to look for something to make us look bad, so we had to make sure he never found what he was looking for.”

 

“Jordan! Shuichi! You'll catch your deaths out there. Come in!” shouted Serena from the inside.

 

“Looks like we have to go,” Jordan said nervously, not sure what he would do next.

 

He turned around and started walking towards the door. “We won't hurt you,” he called over his shoulder. “Trust me.”

 

~*~

 

Healing was exhausting. Robin could see it on Shuichi, Kagome, Sage, Crystal, and Serena's faces when they called it a night. Lines were etched in their faces, making them look older and more worn-out. Yoshiro lent them a hut with more than one room, so they had a place to stay for now. He was thankful that they were healing his people, and apparently wanted them to stay. How long they were actually going to stay was another matter. She knew that Yusuke and the other boys wanted to get a move-on in looking for that demon, and the demon in question might be on the other side of the world for all they knew.

 

At the moment Robin was leading Kagome to the room the five girls shared. Kagome had stumbled about every other step, so Robin just put an arm around her and half-dragged her the rest of the way. Kagome barely even noticed when she was put in bed; her eyes were closed, and her mind already far away.

 

A noise at the door caused Robin to look over, but it was just Jordan supporting both Serena and Crystal. Going over, she took Serena from the other girl and helped her to her bed.

 

“I'm almost glad I don't have healing in me,” she commented softly to Jordan. “If this is the price of it, it almost isn't worth it.”

 

“True,” agreed the fighter while going to her own bed. “But everything comes with a price.”

 

“Some are less harsh than others, though,” Robin ventured.

 

“Yeah, but they also aren't as powerful or as effective. Like, if I didn't spend a lot of time on my fighting, I wouldn't be as good a fighter as I am.”

 

“But still. Having your energy drained every time you use it isn't all that good.” She thought for a minute. “Well, they did try and heal more people than normal, and they were using more energy than they were probably used to. You'd think they'd know to pace themselves.”

 

Jordan shook her head. “They're true healers. They don't want to leave a patient injured, so they push themselves.”

 

Robin blew out the light. “How long do you think we'll be staying here?”

 

From the long silence, Robin gathered that whatever Jordan had thought she was going to say, she wasn't expecting this. “I'm not sure. I was talking with Shuichi earlier, and he said he was going to try tracking the demon they're looking for. They've met before, apparently. If he's not in the area, then I guess either they're going to move on and leave us here, or we'll go with them and they'll drop us off at a different village.”

 

“Well, if they call for a vote, then I vote we stay here, since we know that these people are human, probably the only human village in this place. How is he going to track him?”

 

“He said he was going to find a demon willing to help him out. These people have been here before, and something made them dislike this place a whole lot. I don't see what's so wrong with it, myself, but I haven't been here for very long. It's not that bad a place, if you think about it.”

 

“If you don't count the demons who want to eat you and the miscolored things, then yeah, it isn't quite so bad. I mean, it's not like there aren't humans that are after your blood back home.” There was bitterness in Robin's voice when she said that last part.

 

“What happened?” Jordan asked, not sure if this was a touchy subject.

 

“My friends, my old friends, are hunting me. They want me dead,” she said flatly.

 

“Oh.” It seemed that Jordan didn't know what to say to that.

 

“Kagome's family took me in, and I've lived in the shrine ever since.”

 

“How long ago was this?”

 

“About a year ago, now.”

 

Silence reigned for the rest of the night.

 

~*~