Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ How He Found and Lost Love ❯ Begins of a Memory ( Chapter 1 )

 

Was meant to be a one-shot, but turned into a two-shot. I don't expect this to be any good anymore, I wrote it about 3 years ago so expect a few errors and do try to live with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:: 2:30 P.M., Yusuke's Bedroom ::

 

 

 

A light drizzle of rain was pouring outside of the apartment building Yusuke Urameshi, Spirit Detective of the Spirit World, resided in. Some thunder was rumbling off in the distance, but judging from the sound, you could tell the lightning would not hit there, just the rain. Inside of the bedroom of the 14 year old Spirit Detective, one would find, Yusuke sitting on his bed while talking to Kuwabara, who was sitting in a metal chair next to the bed. Both were talking about what ever had come to mind as if they were long old friends. Which we all know, they are.

 

 

Hiei, with a bored and emotionless look plastered on his face, was sitting on the window sill near Yusuke's bed, watching the slight rain hit the window and roll down in heavy droplets. The light conversation between Yusuke and Kuwabara, barely reached his ears for he was barely paying attention to the boys as he watched a few cars drive by on the road and people walk along the sidewalks with umbrellas over their heads.

 

Getting bored, the Fire Apparition turned his attention to the two boys, chattering in the room just to see what the two baka's could be talking about on this VERY boring day. If it wasn't for Kurama dragging him here, he'd be long gone in the Makai doing his own thing. Sadly, for him, the damned fox dragged him into the apartment saying `He needed to spend more time with his allies more.'

 

His ears listened in to the conversation at hand and he visibly flinched and grounded his teeth together as the words hit full impact onto his ears.

 

“So, how do you think you can tell when you are in love, Urameshi??” Kuwabara had asked the once street punk turned detective. Hiei visibly grimaced at the question as Yusuke tried to think of an answer.

 

“I don't really know...” He said as he scratched the back of his head and winked. “But I do know you would have to know the person really well like the back of your hand… At least that's what I think…”

 

“So…” Mumbled a smirking Kurama who was grasping the situation into his hands as he gained everyone's attention. “You think you are in love when you know the girl like the back of your hand. Wouldn't that mean that you love Keiko?”

 

Upon hearing this, Kuwabara cracked up laughing as Yusuke's face drained of all its blood as his left eye began twitching. Kurama just smiled lightly as his little trap was set into motion, for the detective was now stuttering out excuses.

 

“I-I-I-I didn't mean it like that!!!” He yelled out with his eyes twitching and blood returning to his face a bit too quickly, causing him to blush.

 

“Yeah right Urameshi!!” The orange haired Kuwabara laughed out as he tried to not fall out of his chair. Hiei would have called the boy a baka at the situation, but the reminder of what they were talking about kept his mouth shut.

 

Kuwabara, knowing that if he kept on his laughing escapade he would have a black eye from the now angry Yusuke, decided to add in his two cents on the conversation at hand. “Well, I think you are in love when you think you see the one girl that is the prettiest thing in the world!!” With hearts for eyes, the boy began going on about how in love with Yukina he was. This caused the fire apparition at the window sill to start growling in agitation.

 

After noticing the anti-socials hands reaching for the katana at his belt, Kurama immediately started to change the subject off of Yukina. “Yes Kuwabara, we heard it all before…” He muttered laughing nervously as his eyes glanced at Hiei.

 

“Oh…right…” The big oaf muttered as he recalled he had just told them all that information hours before. His eyes lit up as he glanced over at Kurama. “What's your take on love?” He asked with question marks dancing around his head. Kurama shook his head at the question and sighed.

 

“Sadly, as Yoko, I was too busy thieving to ever have a relationship.” He muttered. “And, only a girl has had a crush on me, not the other way around. So I wouldn't know.”

 

The room suddenly got quiet after this.

 

“So….errr…” Yusuke stumbled with his words as he tried to get rid of the now VERY irritating silence that was happening. His eyes glanced over at Hiei as Kurama got the idea of what he was trying to get out.

 

“So what about Hiei on love?” Kurama finished for the stumbling Yusuke. He and Kuwabara both nodded their heads as Hiei suddenly went rigged on his window sill and kept his face from facing them. If he had looked behind him, he would have seen them all shake their heads with a knowing look on their face.

 

“No way would that guy even know what love feels like…” Two of the boys mumbled as Kurama nodded his head. That's when, the one thing they didn't expect… Happened.

 

Hiei snorted in disbelief from the window sill.

 

Yusuke and Kuwabara immediately got looks of confusion on their faces as Kurama raised a right eyebrow at the man. Hiei, on the other hand was silently cursing at himself for even snorting.

 

“Why'd he snort?!?!” Yusuke and Kuwabara mused out loud with wide eyes. “He didn't do it because he does know what it's like!!!.... Did he?” They both started having their right eye twitch as they pondered over the situation.

 

Kurama, on the other hand wasn't going to act stupid on the matter as he cleared out his throat. “Mind telling us what that snort was for Hiei?”

 

“Yes I do mind.” Was the short, and to the point, simple answer he received.

 

Kurama's eyes narrowed as Yusuke and Kuwabara watched on as the situation grew. “Hiei, you do know that a Kitsune, much like myself, have a very high curiosity rating, and once rose, they will do ANYTHING to get the answer they want correct?”

 

“Hn…” Was the only answer he received. Kurama lightly sweat dropped.

 

Yusuke and Kuwabara were right behind him on the sweat dropping as they glanced back and forth at the two.

 

“Yusuke, Kuwabara…” Kurama muttered quietly… “Restrain him please.”

 

In seconds, faster then the fire apparition had expect, Yusuke had tied him down to a chair as Kuwabara held him down by his shoulders to keep him from escaping. Although they didn't get him into the position with out a few gashes on their faces and shoulders that was drawing out blood. Hiei's eyes twitched as he growled out angrily.

 

“What do you think you are doing fox?!?!” He asked out loudly as he struggled to get out of the boys iron grips. Kurama shrugged as he put some serum into a shot he had miraculously pulled out of his pants pocket.

 

“Well,” Kurama muttered with a sly grin on his face. “If we told our ideas on it, we might as well get your two cents in on the matter too…” With quick strides, he walked over and jabbed the shot into Hiei's left arm and drained the serum into it. Hiei's eyes flinched as he glared at the fox. Yusuke and Kuwabara were just plain confused as to what Kurama had done to him.

 

 

“What did you put into him?” Yusuke asked bluntly.

“Truth serum…” Kurama answered, bluntly back.

 

“Ohhhhhh….” Kuwabara and Yusuke muttered in unison as they looked at the now, blank in the face Hiei.

 

“Now…” Kurama muttered as he sat down with a business like look on his face… “What did you think on Yusuke and Kuwabara's ideas on love Hiei?”

 

“Completely idiotic since they have no clue how it really feels. If they'd just open their damn eyes then just maybe they would know.” Hiei muttered quickly back as the blank look in his eyes continued.

 

“Can I use some of that stuff on Keiko?” Yusuke asked suddenly as he looked at the results on Hiei. Kurama glared at him.

 

“No,” He said bluntly.

“Damn...” Yusuke griped.

 

“Anyways…” Kurama continued. “Can you tell me why you think this Hiei?” He asked once more as he pried… A brief flicker of remembrance flashed through the fire apparition's eyes before going back to its blank look.

 

“Because I loved some one before…” He answered with a slight quiver in his voice. Immediately, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama's eyes widened in shock as they looked at each other in surprise.

 

“Didn't expect that…” Kuwabara muttered to himself… Kurama and Yusuke silently agreed with him…

 

`Hmmmm, I wonder what could have happened…' Kurama wondered mentally to himself… That's when the gears in his head started turning and he thought of a new question to ask… One that he knew would be personal, but those three needed to know the guy more anyways.

 

“Could you tell us about that Hiei?” He asked once more… Yusuke and Kuwabara both had their eyes widened at this and in the case Hiei were in now, they were in for a nice, long story…. So, naturally they went up to get themselves a nice place to sit down at, stumbling all the way in their mad scramble. Finally, the two made it to the bed and sat down waiting for the drugged Hiei to open his mouth.

 

“It was around 3 days after I had received my Jagan…” The fire apparition began in a low tone of voice as his eyes sparked in remembrance. Kurama mentally cheered at himself for ever even thinking of putting truth serum in the guy as he sat back against the bed on the floor and listened in as well.

 

“I was told that I would have needed at least a week of rest after receiving the Jagan, but I had not listened,” Hiei continued. “Thus, in doing so I was in a very weak state of mind at the time and was looking for a tree to rest in for the night….”

 

 

 

:: 60 Years ago in a Makai Forest. ::

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hiei walked silently along a just made path in the middle of a Makai forest as the sun began to set across the horizon. Silently cursing at himself for not resting like he was told too, he placed a hand to his now aching fore head and winced in pain. The red clouds in the sky seemed to turn a darker red as the setting rays of the sun hit them and the purple sky of the demon world seemed to get all the more darker, making it harder for him to see. Another pang flashed through his forehead causing him to wince in pain once more as both his hands now gripped his fore head.

 

`If this keeps up I won't be able to see to even find a place to stay for the night!' He mentally yelled at himself. Minutes more passed as he trudged on looking up at the trees and grimacing in anger at their spiked branches. The sun was soon so far passed the horizon that he could barely see a thing. Wanting to try out his powers after gaining his jagan, he tried to create a flame in his hand to at least see the way through the woods.

 

He stopped walking as he outstretched his left hand out in front of him and opened the palm up so that it was facing upwards… Blue waves of spirit energy surrounded the palm for a split second as his eyes narrowed. Another shot of pain shot through his head and he gasped once more, spirit energy disappearing and flame not being created. He frowned involuntarily and silently cursed.

 

“Damnit, this damn Jagan has made it where I can barely use my spirit energy!” He seethed out quietly to himself as he sat down upon the grass near a nearby stream. In his anger, his spirit energy flashed for a split second before he slammed his now bunched up fist to the forest ground, causing a small hole to be created right next to him and also causing bits of dirt to fly up into his hair.

 

His face contorted to more pain as his head ache continued. In mass fury, he slammed his other fist to the ground as well causing a loud THUMP to erupt from the ground.

 

“ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” A scream erupted throughout the forest causing some demonic birds to flutter out of their trees. The scream pierced through Hiei's mind worse than his head ache and caused him to look up to the sky. In doing so, he noticed that the forest had gotten incredibly quiet as the sun had stopped setting… (As the sun does in the Makai, never fully sets until well passed midnight.) The scream still echoed within his mind as he recognized it as a female's scream of fury… A yell he had heard many times before.

 

“LET ME GO YOU INGRATES!!!!!” Another scream suddenly erupted through the forest, causing Hiei to grab his fore head in pain once more and growl furiously. Curiosity and rage now swelling up, he stood up from his place and immediately took off through the forest to try and find what was causing the loud yells. More yells continued in the same ruff, female voice, most being profane words and threats, as the yells got louder, Hiei knew that he was getting closer as he ran through the trees.

 

A loud clanging sound reached Hiei's ears as he figured that the use of swords had begun. Hearing a loud thump, he concluded that some one had lost their sword in the depths of one of the trees. Knocking a few branches out of his face, he reached a pair of bushes that he slowly parted. Upon doing so, his eyes set upon the scene.

 

Two c-class rock demon's were panting and breathing heavily as blood poured out of their bodies from the other side of the clearing that Hiei had found. With their eyes rolling up into their heads, they fell to the ground with light groans before Hiei felt the life slip away from them. Seeing nothing interesting with those two, his eyes moved to his left to were he noticed an extremely large rock Demon standing next to a tree. Sword in hand, he brandished it out wards in a cocky fashion as another sword seemed to be imbedded in the tree behind him. Hiei's eyes narrowed as he noticed that the sword in the tree looked oddly, familiar.

 

His eyes narrowed more when he took a closer look at the Rock demon. His hair fell down passed his shoulders and was a deep grey (Matching of a rock in a way.) And his eyes were a swirl of grey and silver, standing at about 5 foot 7, the wind blew the hair in front of his cocky face as lust seemed to glitter behind the pupils in his eyes. Hiei's eyes widened a bit as he recognized the man as a famous bandit called Jace Jequel. Also known as the double J. (How very…. Un original!!.)

 

“So… You thought you could just disappear early in the morning and escape from repaying the kindness that you owe me…” His voice rang out in a gruff male voice as a smirk tugged at his lips. Hiei got more comfortable as he watched the scene. “Cahadras, your wits must be lacking if you didn't think that I wouldn't catch up with you to get what I deserve.”

 

Realizing that this bandit was talking to some one else in the clearing, his eyes moved to the right as he noticed that two more C-Class rock demons were standing there with grins on their faces, and also with bloody noses and two black eyes, were holding down a female demon to the ground. Obviously, this must have been the female that had been yelling her guts out earlier. Upon a closer inspection, he was able to get a good look at what had been captured.

 

 

 

 

Her hair was a deep, dark blue and extremely messy. Upon her bangs was a silver starburst reaching down to her chin. Two blue fox ears were swiveling atop her head and a silver head band was placed on her forehead under her bangs. Some bits of silver streaked through her hair as a glare of utter death and hatred was on her face showing her blood red, narrowed eyes in an evil like fashion. Her mouth was curled up in a snarl showing off her sharp, fox canines. Being knelt to the ground, Hiei was able to notice a golden necklace dropped down off her shoulders, it had a gold medallion with a blue flame pounded in the middle of it. A black over coat was on her body and seemed to cut off from one side and slanted down to the right side. Her hips seemed to stick out and hook to the coat like it was a tight dress (Although it was a baggy coat.) and her upper areas seemed to not be fully developed yet. This showed to Hiei that the girl had to of been probably a year younger than him… (This is going in Demon year terms mind you.) A dark blue fox tail came out from her hindquarters and had a silver tip on it. Hiei also noticed that the tail was slowly curling around one of the rock demon's waists as an evil glint was slowly appearing in her eye to match the snarling face. This, had to of been the Cahadras that Jace was referring to.

 

“To get what you deserve?” Her voice was low and ruff sounding with a bit of a feminine tone added into the mix. The anger in her voice sent shivers down Hiei's spine as he watched a murder glint appear in her eye. “If that is what you wanted, you should have just asked me to slice your head off before leaving in such a rush…” She finished and Jace's face contorted to anger as he walked up to her. He stopped a foot from her and placed his sword to her face, sword point just in between her two eyes. She didn't even blink once at him.

 

“You know what I mean, wench.” Jace muttered with venom dripping from his words. “Just two days ago you appeared in my camp bruised and battered. You could barely walk much less live if you were not thoroughly treated. I allowed you into the camp and fixed up your cuts and bruises. Your family name is famous in these parts; to not help you would have put a large dent in my reputation…” His words flew out of his mouth as the girl's never ending glare left her face. His sword moved lower from her face until it was just below the medallion drooping down as he continued. Hiei moved closer to hear what was going on easier.

 

“For such a favor I deserved quite an award from you. You healed rather quickly and were able to walk and run at your full speeds just yesterday in the morning. I had planned to receive my reward today and told a few of my guards to let you know what I had wanted in return…” His face turned into a twisted grin. “But you, being such a cunning fox, decided to back out of the dept you were in and run off while we were all sleeping. Too bad for you, my men are excellent trackers and it only took us one full day to find you.” His sword moved down lower and begun to rip into her coat, showing that a red t-shit was underneath... Her face twitched as she growled in anger. Noticing that Jace's eyes were not looking at the girl's face, but at what was underneath her coat, Hiei slightly growled as the thought of how dishonorable this thief was.

 

“You make it sound as if I am a liar and a cheat Jace.” The girl muttered out angrily as her arms struggled to get out of their captors grasps and pulls her coat across her chest to keep her tight t-shirt hidden. “But you forgot to mention that you wanted me to throw away my soul and sleep with you as your gift in return. I am a woman that pays her depts. In full, but having sex with ANYONE is out of the question. If you want womanly pleasure…” Her voice dropped down an octave as her growling increased. “Find… yourself…a…. hooker.” The words were evenly spaced as her anger was quite evident in her voice. Upon hearing what the man had wanted in return, Hiei's growling increased slightly as he thought of ways to torture Jace to death for such dishonorable ways of thinking.

 

Jace's eyes gleamed in mischief as he leaned forward to where his nose was nearly touching Cahadras'. His sword moved even lower causing her coat to rip all the more as he sneered.

 

“You forget…” He muttered. “You are now my captive and in the position you are in now, I can do WHATEVER I want to you without my men allowing you to move an inch!” Her eyes widened upon realization at this thought as his sword moved in a flash downward causing her coat to be cut in half and fall off her shoulders. Showing her red, tight T-shirt and black, baggy pants. For a second, Hiei's face turned a slight red when he was able to see her full curves on her body before shaking the image out of his head and glaring at Jace. Fully knowing what this man was about to do.

 

“Such fire and fury in your words…” Jace tsked out. “All, but a waste when it comes down to the heart of the matter. “His sword moved upwards and cut the necklace off her neck and fell into his outstretched hands. “Once you become my concubine, you won't need this any more.”

 

From what happened next, Hiei decided that Jace should NOT have taken that necklace away from her.

 

“GO TO HELL YOU BASTARD!!!!!” She yelled out as her tail wrapped around one of the Demon's and wrenched him away from her. With strength none knew about in her tail, she flung the man forward into Jace, sending them both flying backwards into the ground. The necklace fell to the forest floor and lay embedded in the grass. Hiei's eyes widened in interest as respect for the girl started to slowly grow inside of him.

 

“Shut up wench!!” Her other captor yelled as he tried to hit her in the back of the head with a rock, before the rock fell into her head, it swished right through and after image of her. A confused look crossed Hiei's and the demon's faces before Hiei noticed her reappear in a flash behind the demon. Her left leg raised slightly off the ground before her, quick as lightning, struck him in the back with the heel of her foot, sending him into the pile of his master and underling as well. Disappearing yet again, she appeared next to her sword and wrenched it out of the tree before walking over and picking up her medallion from the ground and holding her torn to shreds coat over her shoulders.

 

“You… bitch…” Jace groaned from underneath his two minions. With a silver flash in his eyes, rocks sharp as nails, sprouted out of his body and into his two minions killing them instantly enabling him to kick the heavy men off of him and stand back up… A glare of murder and death settling on his face as his silver eyes met with Cahadras' pissed off red ones.

 

Hiei was glaring death at Jace as soon as he killed his two minions. For one, it was utter disloyalty and betrayal, and for the other, the man didn't deserve to live for wanting a woman to give up her soul for pay back. But when his eyes fell upon the girl, utter respect swelled inside of him to see for once a female that wouldn't allow men to walk all over her like she was gutless filth.

 

“Instead of wanting your life as my pay back…” Jace growled out coldly as he spat out at the girl… He raised his sword into a diagonal position and bent his knees slightly. “I'll do with your death instead….” He finished his sentence and Cahadras' eyes narrowed at him as she bent her own knees as well and held her sword erect over her right shoulder in a parallel position ready for an attack.

 

“If it is my death that you want…” She muttered out. “You'll have to beat the swiftness of my blade, Meshinki first…” A murder glint appeared in her eyes as she finished her sentence. “And when you lose to the blade, I will take your life for EVER laying your hands on my medallion!”

 

Not wanting to ruin the show that was unfolding, Hiei inched backwards a bit to have a better view as he decided to see just how good those two were in their skills with the sword. Judging from the slight cocky attitude in the girl's voice, he could tell she was rather confident in her skills. The utter hatred and venom pouring out of her words also told him that she didn't intend to stop fighting until Jace was dead… That being said, he also realized that she wasn't this angry at all until he had laid his hands on that medallion of hers.

 

The wind began to blow and rustle the leaves around the place, twice Hiei noticed the girl had to blow her bangs out of her eyes as a death glaring match settled between the two. As the leaves blew passed them in a swirl like way, he slightly noticed the girl's feet slightly inch up further and closer to Jace, as if she was preparing for a charge.

 

 

 

 

Without the need for a blink and almost instantaneously, the two charged at each other and clashed their swords together. Upon doing so, Hiei noticed their size difference quite easily now, when the girl merely only reached barely up to the middle of his chest. Their sword lock continued as the struggle of their swords never deceased… Jace gripped the hilt with both his hands to put more force and weight on his end and push the girl back while she kept one hand on the hilt as the other slowly inched closer to it as well.

 

Just when Hiei thought she was going to put both her hands on her sword hilt as well and begin a pushing match, her legs bent slightly as she lightly jumped into the air and placed her hands on the side of her sword and flipped over behind Jace in a graceful fashion. Before the Rock Youkai had time to turn around, she spun back around to face him as her right leg stayed in the air and performed a side ways back heel kick to the man's back, sending him reeling to the ground, face first.

 

This is when Hiei realized that she wasn't only skilled with a sword; she was also skilled in a type of martial art as well. And from the way she moved, it looked oddly…. familiar.

 

With her sword straight in front of her looking up to the sky, she slowly walked towards Jace, knowing that he would get up off the ground any second… Seconds passed as she stopped just a foot away from his grounded body as the wind grew louder and her hair blew into her face in strands.

 

“Stand up Jace,” She ordered. “I know that the great Bandit JJ (known as Double J.) Is not beaten so easily, and I refuse to kill a man who is glued to the ground.” Her words held utter emotionless tones in them as a blank emotionless face now consumed her features… And this only brought Hiei the suspicion that she must be an entirely different person when in a battle to the death in her terms… the pupils of her blood red eyes seemed to shrink down to nonexistence as the head band she was wearing on her head seemed to have a pulse underneath it. Her skin seemed to go slightly paler as bloodlust filled her eyes.

 

“Kill me?” Jace's voice echoed as he slowly stooped up and turned to face her. From the force of being thrown into the ground, his nose was now broken and bleeding profusely and he was forced to spit out a tooth that had become loose in his mouth. “Wench, no female could ever get close to killing me…” Before his sentence could be finished, the girl disappeared out of sight and reappeared in front of the demon, and in a second flat; her sword conveniently sliced through his right shoulder.

 

“Hrrrnn!!” She grunted in effort as her elbow dug into his chest and pushed him back and flying into a tree. Her sword was now covered in blood from the point to halfway to the hilt and the blood lust in her eyes seemed to grow more violently as the pupils became all the more smaller.

 

“You…wench…!.” Jace gasped out as he slid off the tree and fell to the ground to his knees. “Not even letting me finish-…!"Yet again, he was cut off.

 

“There is no need for talk…” Her cold voice interrupted with a snide tone in it. “Your words are meaningless, if you want to get through to me….” Her eyes narrowed more as more energy pulsed underneath her head band. “Then you'll have to get the words through me with your sword skills…”

 

By this time Hiei's full attention was pulled to the girl's head band, as it was pulsing with an energy that he had felt some where before… Even if he had only just gotten his Jagan, the energy emitting from her headband felt the exact same as the energy coming from his own … His eyes narrowed as the fight continued.

 

Jace stood back up with his fists clenched at his sides as he growled at the girl in anger. His left hand held fast to his sword and his right hand clenched so tightly in his palms that blood slowly trickled out of his skin… The scent of the blood made the girls ears and nose twitch, but other then that, the cold passive look still held fast to her facial features. In seconds, her ears twitched once more as she heard the sound of grit within the man's palms as he grounded them together. Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch as she realized that he had something in his hands…

 

A realization, made a little too late.

 

Jace grinned as he flung his right hand out, throwing dirt and grass, and even his own blood, straight into the girl's eyes causing her to drop her sword and back away as her hands reached up and started rubbing at her eyes to get the dirt out of them. As soon as her sword hit the ground, Jace sprinted towards her and slammed his sword into her own shoulder and swooping his sword sideways, slicing through her sword arm and sending her flying to the ground. Her lithe form fell lightly to the ground in a soft thump as she slightly groaned and grimaced in pain from her arm as her hands worked on her eyes.

 

Hiei was growling at the low dirty work the man had done just to be able to send the girl to the ground. Seeing this just proved that the man couldn't fight a mere female demon! And he was supposed to be a legendary thief... And he had to resort to trickery just to win against a girl… Hiei's eyes narrowed as he thought how easily he could just snap the man's head in half, even with his Spirit Energy so low right now.

 

On the other hand, the girl was cursing at herself as to how she could not of dodged that stupid attack and how she was so stupid as to not of seen it coming any sooner. She was so stuck up in her own berating that she didn't even notice Jace walk up to her and kick her in the side, sending her body rolling over into a tree. Hiei watched closely as he saw her eyes open slightly, for the dirt and blood was now out of her eyes, and he noticed that fire, hatred, and uttermost anger flashed within them in a furious dance.

 

Jace, not knowing of the anger that he had swelled up inside the girl, stood in the middle of the clearing, smiling conceitedly as if he had just won some great prize. He blinked his eyes for a second, thinking that he had this match won, and the girl his, when he opened his eyes, they widened in shock for the girl was now standing straight in front of him with such a hateful look on her face, that his spine began to tremble.

 

“Koro shite yaru!!” (I'm going to kill you.) Her voice rang out among the trees as she yelled the threat. As her voice's angered echoes diminished, her left leg lifted up into the air and surrounded itself in black flames, hot enough to melt iron. And very swift fully, the brining leg of fire jutted out and slammed itself right on its mark.

 

Right into Jace's face.

 

The impact made his face catch on fire and his entire head be engulfed in black flames as his body was flung backward and flying through the air. The force of the blow created a large dust cloud flying below him as he flew through the air at the speed of a javelin being hurled out to its mark. His body crashed into the bushes and lit some of the leaves on fire, but that was not the only thing he was thrown into.

 

His body was flung into the bushes, right into Hiei's little hiding spot. His body fell upon Hiei, sending them both to the ground and getting his black coat caught on fire in the black flames. The flames barely scratched his skin since he was immune to such attacks, but the body flying into him, DID annoy him greatly.

 

“What's this?!” Jace asked in confusion as he pulled himself a foot off of the now smashed Hiei and looked down. “We seemed to have an eavesdropper here…” He muttered as blood dripped off his chin and landed onto Hiei's face. He was panting heavily and his breath, which smelled like a lot of alcohol, breathed onto Hiei causing his nose to scrunch up at the horrible smell.

 

“Off me….” Hiei voiced out rather coldly as he glared at the man that was dripping blood on his face. “NOW.” The muscles in his arms tensed up and with a forceful push, Jace went flying off of him and landed 3 feet away on the ground, in front of the bushes, for Cahadras to see.

 

“….The hell?” She asked quietly as her right eyebrow lifted into the air. Jace was slowly standing himself back up as the girl could clearly see his clothes smoking from her earlier attack. Hiei was busy patting out his coat at the time since that had been caught on fire as well. After wiping the blood off his face, he stood up so that the girl and Jace could both see him… Since Jace had already found him out anyways, he might as well of made himself known to her as well.

 

“Hn….” Hiei grunted quietly as his red eyes met with Cahadras' red ones. Her eyes narrowed into a distrustful glare as she silently took a step back as her feet etched closer and closer to where she had dropped her sword. A smirk pulled on Hiei's lips as he realized why she was looking at him so distrustfully.

 

“I'm not going to attack or rape you…” he muttered quietly with a snide tone in his voice. “I have no need to.” He finished before stepping out of the bushes. The girl did not cease her glaring and still etched towards her sword anyways. Hiei just merely shrugged it off, if she didn't want to believe him, that was her choice. Didn't hurt him any.

 

Hiei's eyes left the girl when he felt a tight hand grip his ankle, when he looked down, his eyes met Jace's as the famous Bandit looked at him. “Demon, this wench has backed out of her word! We had a pact, and she ignored it! She betrayed my kindness, and she's trying to kill me to get out of our agreement! Such dishonesty cannot be tolerated…! Defeat her for me, and I will reward you greatly!!” Hiei's other foot made contact with his face sending him reeling backwards, closer to the girl. Her eyes narrowed and she started growling at the both of them angrily.

 

“The thing that can't be tolerated…” Hiei seethed out violently as he looked with distaste at the man. “Is how low you will go just for a fun night in bed…” His eyes lowered into a tight glare as a slight twinge of power pulsed out of his Jagan. “Seeing this scene made me -sick-!” With that, Hiei spat out at Jace's face to signify how disgusted he was. Jace merely growled from the ground that he had made himself so comfortable with so many times.

 

“And what would you do to repay me? You have NOTHING I want,” the fire apparition said. Hiei glanced back at the girl to see her having a shocked expression on her face. As if she had thought that he was going to try and rape her too, but he took her by surprise by saying that the foul act made him sick.

 

Her eyes twitched as she tried to figure out what exactly was going on here… In the mood Hiei was in, he didn't even realize that he was starting to get more control on his Jagan, for a brief voice was speaking through his head, words were flying through his mind in fast intervals. At first, the voice in his head was low, hard to understand. And he had no clue WHAT in the world he was hearing. For a brief second, he thought he was going crazy.

 

Why? Why does he find that sickening? Why wasn't he like all those other men and try to rape me too? Why is he even here for that matter?

 

Then it clicked, he was hearing the girl's thoughts that were racing through her head.

 

He shook his head to clear the thoughts zooming through his mind. From the shaking of his head, the energy stopped pulsing from the Jagan and he could suddenly think clearly again. The girl's eyes narrowed as she noticed the third eye upon his head, energy was still pulsing from behind her head band on her forehead, and the pulse seemed to go faster when she realized what the third eye was upon him.

 

“A jagan…” She breathed out quietly in nothing, but a whisper, that Hiei could barely hear.

 

At this time, Jace had pulled himself back off the ground and glared at Hiei. Then, his eyes glanced behind him as he glared at the now confused Cahadras as well. He grimaced as the pain in his chest form the force of her kick throbbed and blood flowed out of his shoulder in small streams. Hiei's coat had blood stains on it by now from Jace falling on him and had also had plenty of scorch marks form being burned as well. It was then that Hiei realized that Cahadras was panting heavily from over exerting herself… Dirt was smudged on her face around her eyes and her left hand was hanging onto her left side where she had been wounded as well. Also, blood was slowly pouring out of her right shoulder- not as bad as Jace's shoulder though, but it was bleeding as well. Both of the red eyed demons eyes were narrowed as they glared at Jace… He smirked as he made himself stand up to a full height.

 

“Keh, y-you two would make a g-good couple…” Jace muttered quietly with a growl and stutter of pain in his voice. “Your glares m-match.” Before the two could utter a word his body slowly started to sink into the ground, feet first, head last. As he was up to his chest in sinking down into the ground, his arms stretched out from under the ground and appeared next to the two demons. One hand gripped the Tear Gem necklace around Hiei's neck while the other pulled the Golden Necklace from the girl's hands. And with one final `SNIP!' Jace and the two necklaces were gone, disappeared into the ground.

 

Silence reigned in the clearing for about a few minutes, that is, until Hiei's hand gripped the place where his tear gem once was as the girl looked at the hand where her necklace once was. Their mouths opened wide and simultaneously…

 

“THAT STUPID FUCKING PRICK STOLE MY MOST PRIZED POSSESION!!!”

 

Almost immediately their angered faces stared at each other. Both had angry looks in their eyes as they growled together in anger upon the realization that Double J had stolen their most precious items away from them. Hiei's eyes narrowed as a sour look crossed his features.

 

“No matter how prized your possession was…” He growled out. “The fact that he stole my possession because of you proves that mine is worth more…” His words sank into the girl's mind and immediately her growling increased as her own sour look covered her features.

 

“Don't say that like you think I should go get your necklace back for you…” She seethed out. “You have no clue how much that necklace meant to me and if you did…” Her voice ran off for a second before she continued. “You'd see that it would be worth more than your necklace, that was probably stolen, would be.”

 

Hiei's growling increased as she accused him of stealing his own tear gem from his Koorime mother, fire unleashed within his eyes as his bored into the flaming eyes of the girl in front of him. His teeth were barred together as his left eye began to twitch in anger. And before the girl could even expect it, he retaliated.

 

“You are a stupid bitch.”

 

Immediately her growling increased as her angered face matched his as well. Without skipping a beat she threw an insult right back at him.

 

“And you are a dumb ass bastard.”

 

And once her own insult was dished out… The verbal war began.

 

“Don't call me names shorty!”

“You're short too!!”

“You're still short for a female!!!”

 

“And you're still short for a male!!”

 

 

 

Their eyes narrowed more in anger as they grinded their fists together. And this would be around the time, the verbal war, turned into a physical war.

 

“THAT'S IT!!”

 

They both screamed and lunged at each other; fists raised and ready to give out as much pain as they possibly could to the other one. Their bodies collided and they fell to the ground. Upon hitting the forest floor, they immediately started kicking, slapping, punching, biting, and anything else they could do to bring pain to one another. (And amazingly, the girl managed to ignore the pain in her right arm just enough to wrestle around with him in her utmost anger.)

 

Their little squabble soon turned into a full fledged anime dust cloud fight where only bits and pieces of their arms, heads and legs could be seen at quick fast intervals and insults could be heard slightly being dished out at every corner.

 

By the time the sun was now nearly fully set and darkness was thoroughly setting in, the girl's eyes widened and she immediately pushed Hiei away and backed away from him. Anger was still apparent in her eyes, but she was now covered in more dirt and bruises from the little squabble just then and her eyes were wide in realization.

 

Hiei on the other hand, was just as bruised up and cut up as she was but was wondering why she had such a wide eyed look on her face. “What's wrong, realized you can't beat me?” Her eyes narrowed into a serious glare causing Hiei to shake away his anger for a split second.

 

“No, idiot.” She muttered. “If I continue fighting you like this, Jace will be getting farther and father away and harder for me to track down for my medallion. And since he is a bandit he will change his hideout as SOON as he gets there. So the more time I waste here, the less of a chance I have to get my medallion back!”

 

Now it was Hiei's turn to widen his eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but the bitch had a point. If he ever wanted to get his tear gem back, he'd have to stop arguing with the girl and get going. The only problem was, he didn't know WHERE to go to find the bastard.

 

“Hn….” The girl's voice called him back to the reality of things. “For stopping that fight I'll make you a deal.” At the words “deal” Hiei perked his head up in interest, willingly listening to what she had to say. “If I lead you to where Jace's hideout is, you can help me kill the bastard and get our things back. Deal?”

 

At first, he wanted to automatically yell out a no. But the no would only come from the dislike to the girl he had boiling up inside of him. (Even though he did respect her to some extent.) Of course, instead of just flat out saying “no”, he thought over the situation thoroughly in his mind. He had no clue how to get to the hideout before Jace made it there, he couldn't control his Jagan well enough to find his way on his own. The girl knew from first hand where it was at, and seemed to be rather strong for a female… Weighing these thoughts among his mind. He decided…

 

“Deal.” He muttered bluntly.

 

Her eyes went back to their regular narrowed look as she swiped her hair out her eyes. “Hn, then let's go. He's heading north.” She muttered as she picked up her sword from the ground and sheathed it. She turned slightly around with her left hand on her wounded shoulder and began to walk off, but before she could start heading in the direction she had mentioned. Hiei opened his mouth once more.

 

“If he moves his hide out. -Then- how will you know where he is?” He asked, making sure that he wasn't going to be sent on a wild goose chase for nothing. The girl turned her head slightly to look at him before smirking slightly.

 

“I thought you would have realized this by now. I've had a way to find these things out for 20 years now. I can control it better than you can control yours since you have more than likely just gotten yours.” She turned around fully again and pulled off the head band on her fore head and smirked more. Upon her forehead was a purple jagan eye. Just like his own.

 

“How did…” Hiei began to ask. How in the world could she of gotten one? He was told that no female or anyone else for that matter ever gotten the Jagan before! How could she of gotten it?!? Before him too?!?! But before he could voice out his question she interrupted him.

 

“How I got it is of no concern to you. I don't see any reason to spilling out my past to you.” She muttered rather harshly before turning back around and walking north. “Now hurry up, I won't wait for you to catch up if you fall behind!”

 

“Hn…” Hiei grunted out as he walked in suit behind her. “It will be very unlikely that I would fall behind…” At his words…The girl suddenly stopped walking and started to growl slightly before starting up her walk again.

 

“The name's Cahadras Fearia…” she muttered quietly. “And the sound `hn' is mine and mine alone. So I suggest that you refrain from using it.” Her voice was hollow with a slight twinge of annoyance in it as she continued walking. Hiei walked up beside her and gave her a slight glare.

 

“Hiei Jaganshi, and that sound is mine, not yours.” He muttered right back at her as the walked north as the sun fully began to set.

 

“It is mine you jerk.”

 

“I think you are mistaken. It is mine and you are a moron.”

 

To which, as the two walked north, hoping to catch up with Jace before he moved his hide out. They threw insults at each other, back and forth; for the amount of time that they didn't run out of breathe…

 

“Baka.”

“Idiot.”

“ ;Stupid.”

“Bitch.”

“Bastard.̶ 1;

 

And so on and so forth.

 

 

 

:: Back in Yusuke's Apartment.::

:: Of Course in the Present You Morons! ::

 

 

 

 

One would say that silence was reigning throughout the room, but if you were to look at Yusuke. That wouldn't be the case. For one, Kuwabara had to run out of the room in the middle of all that Hiei was saying so that he could do his bathroom duties. And Yusuke was laughing at the thought that he was now locked in the bathroom from the outside thanks to a door jamming the doorknob, with nothing less then a few stink bombs lit inside there as well... (Special thanks to Yusuke there.) Kurama, knowing that Kuwabara was going to be mad at missing the story from the fire apparition, had started recording everything that Hiei was saying. But for now, Hiei was taking a little breather for he had been speaking non stop for the past 30 minutes.

 

Loud banging noises could be heard coming from the bathroom as the door looked to be vibrating after every bang. Apparently, Kuwabara was trying to knock the door off its hinges while yelling. “Let me out Urameshi!!!”

 

“Screw you Kuwabara!!!” Yusuke yelled back as he laughed upon his bed. He had been laughing so hard at the fact Hiei was saying all this from truth serum, but now he was rolling on the bed laughing at the misfortune of Kuwabara being locked in the bathroom. He had rolled around so much that the bed sheets had come undone from their respective places.

 

“Hiei, I think you should keep taking that breather for now.” Kurama said from his position on the floor against the bed Yusuke was laughing upon. Hiei had already shut up from his story telling and was taking his breather that he so dearly needed so all Kurama had to do was wait for Yusuke to shut up.

 

“But Urameshi!!” Kuwabara's voice echoed through the door and down the hallway. “The stench in here is killing me!!! (Bet you can guess what kind of business he had in there, eh? Shows how stupid he is if he can't realize stink bombs are working in there…) A brief look of disgust crossed Yusuke's and Kurama's features before one started laughing again and the other chose to ignore the scene altogether.

 

“That's your problem!!” Yusuke laughed out. A loud groan of despair could be heard in the bathroom as more banging and hinges creaking were heard upon that poorly abused bathroom door.

 

“You'd think he would use the air sanitizer…” Kurama lightly mumbled underneath his breath in a small tone of annoyance. And for once he only showed this annoyance because he was starting to get a head ache and he didn't have his aspirin with him at the time because he had taken it out of his pocket to put the truth serum and syringe in it instead.

 

“There's air sanitizer in here!?!?! Urameshi, why didn't you tell me that before!?!?!” Kuwabara's voice rang out causing Kurama's poor widdle head ache to get worse. (Spelling intentional.)

 

“Because I wanted you to SUFFER!!!” Yusuke yelled back, not helping on the ever growing head ache in Kurama's head.

 

“Screw you Urameshi!!” Kuwabara yelled back.

 

“I'm not gay so no thanks!!” Yusuke yelled back with a grin on his face… Kurama's face contorted to a look of disgust to what Yusuke had just implied there….

 

“It wasn't an offer!!” Kuwabara yelled once more.

 

“Well I don't take up to demands faggot!!” Was Yusuke's response as he cackled at his own stupidity on Kuwabara torture. (And for those people out there who are reading this and are Homosexual; please do not take this offensive!)

 

“I am NOT gay!!” Kuwabara yelled out again as the banging's on the door got louder. “And you know I didn't mean it that way!!!”

 

“I might know, but will I ever say I do?” Yusuke replied.

 

To which, this little yelling match continued. To Kurama's utter hatred for his Head ache was throbbing into a full blown out migraine. A migraine so bad that it could pop the blood vessels in the brain. And cause Kurama to go brain dead from too many busted blood vessels. Which would cause his human body to die, thus this would lead to his soul to depart into another human woman's womb and become another child and have to wait another 10 years before his energy was fixed up all over again!! To which…. That would just suck.

 

As the yelling match continued, Kurama rubbed the throbbing temples on his head before the gears in that brain of his started turning. They started turning `round and `round and `round until those little gears found an answer. An answer to a very bad problem. An answer to shutting the baka dunderheads up. A light bulb appeared above Kurama's head as he opened his mouth and interrupted to two.

 

“Yusuke?” He asked loud enough for the Yusuke to look at him and Kuwabara to stop banging on the bathroom door. “Instead of making Kuwabara look gay how about you tell us why you were wearing leopard spotted bikini underwear one time when you were watching star-trek in here last week?”

 

Immediately Yusuke stopped his laughing and his face drained of all the color that had once been in it. Instead of the bathroom door hinges being broken, laughter was coming out of the bathroom from Kuwabara. And judging from how a loud “POING!!” sound was made; the oaf had clearly fallen into the sink laughing his brains out.

 

“I WAS WEARING MY CLOTHES!!!” Yusuke yelled out suddenly with wide eyes and his face sweating profusely. A small smirk pulled at Kurama's lips as Kuwabara's laughter in the bathroom continued and Yusuke opened his mouth to say more. “And I do NOT have any leopard spotted bikini underwear!!!”

 

Kurama now closed his eyes to make himself look all the more “witty” as a fox like grin crossed his features. As Yusuke started to fume more, He opened his eyes once more as his eyes flashed with evilness. Yusuke had just walked right in to his trap…

 

“You're not denying the Star-Trek part, Yusuke.”

 

Yusuke's face paled all the more as Kurama said these words. For what they meant was, how to put this delicately, that he did NOT wear leopard spotted bikini underwear, but he did INDEED watch Star-Trek. In fact, upon closer inspection in his room you would see a large box under his bed filled with star-trek action figures that he always hid from everybody when they came over so that he could keep his obsession a secret. One problem with that though, Kurama knew the secret.

 

“You are one evil fox, Kurama…” Yusuke muttered with a sour look on his face.

 

“You still are not denying it.” Kurama replied with that witty smile on his face causing Yusuke to fume all the more.

 

“SHUT UP ALREADY!!” Yusuke yelled out as his face now started blushing in embarrassment. And upon the yell, Kurama did as he was requested. For his job was done, he had made Yusuke blush.

 

“One of my goals in life has been completed…” He muttered out quietly. “Now to find a way to make Kuwabara smarter…”

 

Immediately the laughs coming form the bathroom ended as the aforementioned Kuwabara started banging on the locked bathroom door again. (You know, he should be arrested!! Abusing a door like that!!) And more yells started coming out as well… “I heard that!! And I am the smartest person in here so shut up Kurama!!”

 

Both boys that were not under a truth serum sweat dropped at this. For everyone knew that when Kuwabara took one of his tests at school, that he made a 7 percent on it. To which, Kurama on the other hand… Had scored a perfect score of 100 points. What does this tell you? That Kuwabara is smart and that Kurama is dumb? And that Yusuke is just a horrible case of needed counseling stuck in the middle? No, no it does not. It tells you that Kuwabara is stupid; Kurama is nearly a genius… And Yusuke is still that poor horrible case of needed counseling stuck in the middle. ( Heh heh, you thought I was going to say something different didn't you?)

 

“Right…. And the grim reaper wears pink….” Yusuke muttered at Kuwabara's outburst as he rolled his eyes.

 

“Botan does wear pink, Yusuke.” Kurama said to him with a right eyebrow cocked up… Yusuke frowned and slapped his fore head.

 

“I meant the grim reaper guy that is a skeleton with a scythe!!!” He muttered out.

 

“Yes, but Botan is the REAL grim reaper Yusuke, you might offend her.”

 

“Yeah right.”

 

Kurama sighed and realized that something was obviously wrong with the place. His eyes narrowed as he listened intently to find out what was wrong… What he heard was nothing. Zip, zero, nada, absolutely nothing. This was weird because a second ago Kuwabara was just hollering about how smart he was.

 

“Kuwabara?” Kurama asked loudly. “Is something wrong in there?”

 

All they received was a muffled shout as if Kuwabara was trying his best to talk, as if something was keeping his mouth closed or something. “Stupid……… SHORTY!!”

 

Yusuke and Kurama blinked. For what reasons? Hiei was in a trance from the truth serum, and Hiei is the only person that Kuwabara refers to shorty. So, why in the world was he calling Hiei stupid and sounding as if he couldn't talk? Both of the boys glanced at Hiei and immediately knew the reason… Hiei's jagan eye was glowing so obviously he was using it to shut Kuwabara up.

 

“Hiei, why'd you do that?” Kurama asked, seriously thinking that the fire apparition was breaking out of his trance earlier then what he was supposed to break out of it in. Instead, he received a quick, short answer from Hiei in a trance like voice like how it was sounding from earlier.

 

“He was giving me a head ache.”

 

“That would explain it…” Yusuke muttered as he sat up on his bed. “Even when he's in a trance he still gets annoyed by him. Well, that's Hiei for you.” Kurama nodded his head in agreement and turned the tape recorder back on as he sat back down against Yusuke's bed.

 

“OK, so let's continue shall we?” Kurama asked as he glanced up at Yusuke. The juvenile delinquent nodded his head and the Witty fox turned his attention back to Hiei. “Will you finish your story for us now Hiei?”

 

The truth serum induced Hiei nodded his head as the flicker of remembrance flashed in his eyes one more. Once the flash disappeared, his eyes were back to their empty, shallow, trance like state as the Anti-Social Fire Apparition continued with his story.

 

 

:: 60 Years back in the same Makai Forest.

::Three Days Later.::

 

 

 

Hiei had been traveling with Cahadras for three days (a little redundant.) straight and still there was no sight of Jace or his campsite. How could she have run off in one day and got caught all in one day from running away from the place and take over THREE DAYS just to get back to THAT place?!! He just didn't get it.

 

He didn't complain though. He just followed the girl diligently until he'd find a time that was best to just ditch her and go off on his own. Kami knows she'd do the same to him when she got the chance and he was not going to waste his chance once he got one. So he followed her, wondering why in hells they hadn't got there yet while he imagined vividly in his mind, millions of ways he could torture Jace for taking his Mother's tear gem. He fumed inside when he recalled that Cahadras had called it stolen and worthless three days ago since she had no clue of the value that is was worth to him… In his mind she was just an ignorant bitch with an attitude.

 

Of course… He didn't know of the value that her Golden medallion was worth to her either…. It could very well be close to her like his mother's tear gem…

 

He shook his head violently as his feet trudged against the ground and his fore head throbbed slightly. Thinking about things on her account was not some thing he was going to do and keep doing at all!! She more then likely stole the medallion and just wanted to keep it because it's made of gold!! He berated himself over and over in his mind for ever thinking other wise as he continued following the girl, who assumedly knew where she was going.

 

He continued walking along, kicking rocks out of his way as he passed by and walking over weeds and small plant shrubs as he went. The woods seemed to be less thick then what they normally would be, showing that the two were getting close to reaching the edge of the forest and out to the Makai planes. A desolate land that seemed to be what human ningens would call a small Desert. He would of continued walking with his thoughts struck out of reality, but since his mind was thinking on other things, he had to abruptly stop since Cahadras had stopped short in her tracks and he had ran straight into her back, causing him to fall to the ground with a small sour look on his face.

 

“Why are we stopping?” He asked quietly as he tried to regain his bearing and stand back up. The girl didn't seem to hear him as her fox tail twitched in agitation and her eyes glanced left to right around her surroundings. Her left arm was still holding onto her wounded right arm, but the arm by now had healed, but it was still sore. And a low voice came from her throat that he could barely hear, but when I say barely that means he did hear her and upon the words that he heard, his eyes narrowed in anger.

 

“Stupid Jace, leading me around in circles….” Her voice briefly muttered causing him to stand up, grab her shoulders and spin her around so that her face was facing his. His throat was slightly growling as his red eyes bore into hers as he tried to find some answers.

 

“What do you mean he has been leading you around in circles?” He asked stiffly as his fingers dug into her shoulders to keep her looking at him. Her own face had turned into a glare as his fingers held onto her steadfastly. With a swipe of her nails, she cut Hiei's fingers slightly open causing him to have to let go as she brushed herself off for a moment.

 

“Just as I said it, idiot.” She muttered cynically. “I've been following Jace ever since we passed where his campsite used to be three days ago. He knows that I am following him and is running around in complete circles to try and evade me.” Her eyes narrowed as one of her hands came up and gripped her right shoulder. “And I don't appreciate you grabbing me like that. Do it again and I will be sure to annihilate the use of your fingers with my sword.”

 

Hiei hn'ed rather quickly as her words sunk into his brain. With another slight growl he talked once more. “You mean to tell me we passed his old campsite already and you didn't tell me?!” A sour look crossed his features as the girl shrugged lightly.

 

“You never asked.” She retorted emotionlessly. Well, it was almost emotionlessly for Hiei's eyes widened a slight fraction for he could of sworn her heard a slight British accent underlying the tones in her voice.

 

“Why do you have a slight British accent?” He asked with a right eyebrow raised. He could have sworn she was a demon living in the demon world, but to have that accent she should have at least been to England or Britain before right? Plus, he also had a slight British accent that had to do with his mother and hearing some one else with one slightly surprised him.

 

“Family genes.” She muttered quietly with a sour look on her face. “That's all I'll say on the subject.” With a tone in her voice that clearly said that she would no longer speak on the subject, Hiei shrugged the accent aside as he glared at her once more. Although he could clearly hear her mutter under her breath, “Damn you old man Etnedsam!” But, as weird as the words were, he didn't press the matter and changed the subject.

 

“How long until you find his new campsite?” He asked quietly. She shrugged as her eyes glared back as well.

 

“Another three days I'd wager.” She muttered. “The idiot keeps heeding north, very easy to predict his patterns. If he changed direction it would last a lot longer so it's fortunate for us that he doesn't have a very smart brain in that head of his.” She swiped the shaggy blue hair out of her face as her ears twitched. “And if I am not mistaken I hear dinner coming straight towards us.” She sniffed the air before looking at him once more. “Smells like a deer.”

 

“I got dinner last night it's your turn.” Hiei commented. This made Cahadras growl.

 

“Excuse me, but I think I am the one leading you so to repay me back I think you should get the dinner!!” Hiei growled in return.

 

“Yes, but I'm helping you get your precious items back so we take turns!” He growled out at her. In a distant part of his mind he realized that the two were arguing like a married couple, but at the moment, this really didn't matter to him because he was busy NOT wanting to catch tonight's dinner.

 

“Hn…” She growled in frustration and pulled out her katana. “I think you should do it because I could easily get my possession on my own!!”

 

“You already told me the direction he was going in. I can EASILY find the campsite on my own now thank you so I don't need you anymore. So, from those facts I think you should go get the food!!” Her face faltered for a second as his words sunk in. He smirked in achievement at knowing he had easily won and while she was out fetching food, he'd just easily run off and ditch her; Perfect timing.

 

“Hn!” She growled out and motioned to turn her feet around so she could walk out into the forest to catch their food. “Fine!”

 

Hiei was just about to let her walk out into the woods, but then he noticed that where she was stepping was where an upturned root was facing and right on its other side was a ditch. If she continued in the direction of walking she was going she would fall straight down and crack her skull open. So very quickly he reached up to grab her and stop her from walking off in the direction, but realized that it would be too late for that so instead he pushed her right shoulder to turn her around backwards, in doing so, saving her from cracking her skull open.

 

“YIP!!” A slight yip came out of her throat involuntarily as her foot tripped over the root and she went pummeling into the ditch. Hiei's eyes cringed up slightly as he visibly heard a slight crack coming from her right ankle.

 

When his eyes opened back up to their full size he glanced down into the ditch to see Cahadras laying flat on her back while holding her right ankle in her hands as she seethed in pain. She quickly rolled herself up into a sitting position and ripped part of her pants so she could get to the ankle and begun inspecting the red swollenness of it. With a slight growl she yelled up at Hiei.

 

“Why in hells did you push me you frigging bastard!?” Hiei flinched slightly as he saw her tail bristle up in anger and noticed that her ankle was bleeding slightly.

 

“Hn…” He muttered, clearly not wanting to explain himself since he, himself did not know why he didn't just let her crack her scull open in the first place. He lightly jumped down into the ditch and landed next to the immobile girl as she grumbled and seethed in pain. Various insults were flying out of her mouth by the instant and Hiei could only catch a few which oddly sounded like “Stupid dumb ass bastard making me fall down like that he's a stupid fucking prick that needs his manhood chopped off…” And her words continued in this way causing Hiei to just ignore them all together.

 

He gently knelt down next to the girl as his fingers reached up to take a good look at her ankle. She quickly took an intake of breath and moved her ankle out of his reach. When he glanced at her with emotionless tones covering his face, he could clearly see the distrust flowing evidently through her eyes. Involuntarily his jagan eye flashed once more and another round of thoughts swam through his head.

 

Why is he trying to look at my ankle? He's a male I can't trust him!! I already know he'd ditch me in an instant once he got the chance!!... Leaving me all alone again…

 

His eyes blinked slightly at the last thought that flew through his mind as he shook his head once more to clear it. `Damnit, why in hells can I not control my jagan, but then when she gets involved it just starts reading her mind without my permission!!' Trying to ignore the distrust in her eyes that he had seen millions of times from other demons as well, he slapped her hands away from her ankle and grabbed it gently himself to make sure not to cause more pain to it. Before she could complain he drew it close to his eyes so he could inspect it a lot more closely.

 

From his peripheral vision, he could clearly see the shock and surprise flashing across the girl's face as his fingers ran lightly across her ankle to inspect the damages. Shock and surprise soon turned to confusion and her whole body flinched at the contact his fingers made upon her now very sensitive skin. His eyes narrowed as the predicament set in and he gently placed her ankle back down and glanced at her.

 

“Your ankle may be bleeding, but it's only a slight sprain. You'll be able to move again by morning.” He muttered as he stood up and walked to a tree for a second and disappeared out of her sight. He came back moments later with bits of his coat ripped off and a piece of wood that he was going to use as a splint for her ankle. As he sat back down next to her he could clearly see a small whiff of relief cross her features before going back to their normal distrusting eyes.

 

“Hn, you wouldn't have to be doing that if you hadn't of caused the sprain in the first place…” She grumbled slightly as she averted her gaze from him as he worked on her sprain. He lightly shrugged the words off him as if they meant nothing as his ripped clothe from his coat wrapped around her ankle to hold the splint in place.

 

“I only pushed you to keep you from falling over and cracking your skull open.” He muttered silently as he wrapped more of the fabric on her ankle. A slight intake of breath came from her and he could visibly see in his mind the shock and confusion covering her face once more.

 

“Why did you just not let me crack my skull open then?” She asked minutes later with a slight crack in her voice, but with the harshness in their tone none the less. He slightly shrugged as a “hn” came out of his throat.

 

“I hate to admit it, but I don't know myself.” He muttered as he realized that he was half way done with tying the splint to her leg. He took a slight glance out of the corner of his eye to the girl to notice that she was staring at him with confusion covering up every part of her face. She seemed to be struggling with either wanting to thank him or ask him once more why he was helping her out right then and not ditching her right on the spot. Deciding to answer the question that was not yet asked, Hiei opened his mouth and continued.

 

“And since I did have some fault to your sprained ankle, I am helping splint it up and heal it as payback for helping in spraining it in the first place.” He answered quickly, never taking his gaze off her ankle that he was working on as he felt her red orbs bore into his skull in mass confusion.

 

A few more minutes passed as silence reigned among the two of them. Hiei worked diligently on her ankle as she just sat there staring at him with wonder and confusion covering her features. By the time he was done with his work, the sun was beginning to set. He placed her foot back down so that it rested on the ground as his face turned to look at her. She had finally gotten rid of her shock and was looking at him with the emotionless face mask on once more as the two looked at each other.

 

“Hn, I suppose you won't be able to walk until morning.” He muttered. Before she could answer his suspicion, He quickly stood up and placed one arm underneath her knees and the other around her shoulders and lifted her up off the ground, carrying her bridal style. He visibly noticed her face turn bright red as he turned around and clambered out of the ditch and back onto the solid ground. On the way up, his feet slipped every now and then from the extra weight he was carrying causing Cahadras to flair her arms out around his neck to keep herself from falling to the ground again. If Hiei wasn't so concentrated on climbing back up, carrying her, and wondering about her blush, he would have realized that he started blushing as well when her arms wrapped around him.

 

By the time he climbed back up the path, Cahadras' face had gone bright red by now as her arms clung to his neck violently. He reached the path and gently sat her underneath a tree and made sure that she was in no possible way of hurting that ankle of hers any more then what it already was. He took 5 paces away from her to allow her some space for he could evidently see that holding her in such a way might have caused her face to go red, but he could visibly see that it had irritated her as well.

 

“Hn…” After her face had resumed to its natural color, he silently turned around and started to walk off into the forest. Not expecting anything else to happen he pulled out his katana as he trudged to the other side of the path before he heard…

 

“Wait!”

 

He stopped still in his tracks and turned his head slightly so that he could see who was yelling that behind him. His pupils shrunk from the shock as his eyebrows rose as Cahadras held a hand out to him and a small pleading look seemed to be trying to come out onto her face.

 

“W-where are you going?” She asked as she shook the pleading look out of her eyes and changed her look back to its emotionless face mask. Hiei shrugged off the pleading look that was lingering in his mind as he answered her.

 

“Getting dinner, your leg isn't going to get better over night without the proper treatment.” He muttered before disappearing into the forest.

 

(A good five minutes later.)

 

He had been walking for what seemed like an hour but was only a few minutes, trying to track the deer that Cahadras has smelled earlier. The deer would most likely still be around so finding it should be a bit easier then what normal people would find it to be. As he walked slowly through the ever thickening trees, he held his katana erect in his hands and reminisced over the past few days.

 

For the days they had just been trudging along, with him following her as she tracked her way after Jace, hardly any sentences were spoken between the two. Sure, every now and then something would happen causing the two to throw insults back and forth at each other, but the arguments always ended and the two would have been over come with silence all over again.

 

And since he had nothing better to do while he was following the girl, he had succumbed to studying her carefully as she led the way. Study her characteristics and movements so he could try to get a better understanding of her.(Hey! You never know if he'd ever have to fight her!! To understand her better would make him win easily in a fight so don't get any ideas!!) From what he could tell, she was full of pride and mistrust for nearly everyone, including those who helped her. She had a strong fighting capabilities and a strong and sane head on her shoulders as well. One would almost see her as those women in fairy tales that little girl's took up to be their “hero's” until they got older and thought that their old thoughts were stupid. The girl had pride to not allow men to control her, had strength to not allow them to subdue her… And although these qualities would make for a very strong woman, Hiei had noticed something different about her... Something more… Fearful, Something more, desperate beating inside of her.

 

Hiei had noticed that when she thought he wasn't paying attention that a light sad look would overcome her features and loneliness would bleed through her eyes. When an animal would run by that wasn't their ticket for food, he would notice a soft look cross her face as if memories of a time long gone would cross her face. And then seconds after seeing him again, the mistrust would return burning like a raging fire within her veins. And judging from her thoughts that had slipped through his mind automatically, he could tell that she had lived through so many problems in her life, that she couldn't see anything good about the world.

 

And what oddly shook Hiei was the oddness of these facts. For he could tell that him and her had many differences, but her low self esteem that he noticed and the way she carried herself clearly resembled the ways he carried himself and acted. It was almost as if he was looking at a female version of himself. And to put this into laymen's terms, it freaked him out.

 

And what really freaked him out was the fact that when he was splinting up her ankle, he felt a slight warmth growing inside of him that he hadn't recognized before. It burned and swelled up, keeping him from even being able to glance at her. The feeling tore at him and greatly confused him so he shoved it aside knowing that he wouldn't normally have done that if it wasn't for the circumstances that it was sort of his fault to begin with. He was also slightly confused at the strange fact of when he carried her up out of the ditch, that strange warm feeling had grown ten times stronger making his face grow hot and make him want to drop the girl in an instant just to get the feeling away from him. It strangely irked him and made his insides tear. And it greatly agitated him that he couldn't recognize what the feeling was. (And no it's not a feeling of love...And it is NOT a feeling of lust either you perverts!!)

 

Hearing a slight movement to his right, he left his thoughts behind him and peered in through the bushes to see a rather large deer grazing on some grass on the forest floor. Its nature was innocent, pure, unknowing of the dangers that could befall upon it in a matter of an instant. And unaware of the death that would soon be upon it. Drawing his katana out of his sheath once more, he quickly calculated the direct angles of attack to keep the kill from being a messy and fool hardy attack.

 

His body flickered out of sight in an instant. And milliseconds later, the deer fell harmlessly to the forest floor, dead as a doornail. Movement was cut away from its limbs and its eyes showed that it had died without knowing of the pain it had received.

 

Hiei sheathed his sword once more as he flickered into sight next to the deer's fallen form. His eyes glanced over it for a few seconds before he knelt down beside it and studied the meat to make sure it would be good to eat…. And he looked it over to figure out how he was going to get it from there, all the way back to where Cahadras was…

 

A hard thing to do indeed for the Deer was probably Hiei's size or a few inches taller…

 

 

(About another good five minutes later.)

 

 

Hiei was now walking back to where he had left the hurt Cahadras with three of the deer's legs cut and held safely in his arms to keep the meat from bruising. If one would look back at where the dear had died, they would see that he had cut it up into a lot of little pieces and was bring a few parts back after every few minutes. This, of course, was his first round and he planned on letting Cahadras have the three deer legs as he brought back his own share of food. (She has a sprained ankle, she needs the food more then he does!)

 

He trudged diligently along and noticed that the trip back seemed to be a lot shorter then the trip finding the deer had been to him for some odd reason. He could tell this because the trees were parting once more to show that he was nearing the path once more and his own demon nose could easily smell the track he had walked on at first. So he was practically following a scent trail all the way back to the path…. It didn't take long for him to exit the trees and find the path once more, in the very same ditch that Cahadras had sprained her ankle in.

 

“Hnnn….” He grunted out as he walked up the side of the ditch, much faster then last time because he wasn't carrying at least another 100 pounds of female demon this time on the way up. His feet suddenly hit the solid ground as he made it to the path and his eyes immediately darted over to the tree he had set Cahadras at earlier. And a slight amused smirk couldn't help, but pull at his lips. For the girl, had fallen asleep with her back against the tree and hair covering up her face from the wind blowing it… To say the least she looked oddly humoring.

 

His light steps took him closer to the girl and when he was about five feet from her, his feet struck a twig and he vividly noticed her fox ears on top of her head twitch. Seconds later, her head snapped up into Hiei's direction, flying the hair out of her face and showing her tired, and widened eyes. Once her red orbs fell upon Hiei, they narrowed back to their original size, but Hiei couldn't help but notice a slight look of relief flash through them as well. Only, they were soon taken over by her cynical look once more causing him to dismiss the subject as it stood.

 

“Hn, I thought you would have just left me to fend for myself, Jaganshi…” He heard her voice mumble from her spot as her eyes closed in a conceited fashion. He shrugged his shoulders and dropped the deer legs onto her lap. To his amusement, her eyes widened up in disgust and she sent a cold hard glare in his direction. “Excuse me?! I don't think I want deer blood all over my already bloodied up ankle!!”

 

“That was for your earlier statement.” He muttered back to her cynically. “I may have no use for you, but I do have my morals. I wouldn't just leave a wounded person behind when it was partially my fault they were wounded in the first place. Say something about me being that ignoble again and I'll snap the legs in half and poor the blood into your hair.” Another disgusted look crossed her features before she hmphed out a “hn!” and turned her head away from him and stuck her nose into the air.

 

“Jerk.” He heard her mumble underneath her breath quietly. He shrugged the insult away and turned to leave once more. But, again, he was stopped by her voice yelling out to him. “Now where are you going?!”

 

“Do you really think that's all the food there is?” He snapped to her without turning around to face her. “That's your share and I'm going to get my share of the food so stop your nagging and just wait for me to come back.” Annoyance was clearly in his voice as he snapped those words out. Once silence befell the two again he waited for her answer, but he received none. So, not wanting to waste his food spoiling, he set out to get the rest.

 

(At the clearing of the “Killed” venison.)

 

“… Kuso…” Hiei cursed out as he looked at the bones of what was remaining of the deer he had killed. Nothing, but guts and bones were lying on the forest floor. Not one drop of meat was left. And the kicker, when he had reached the clearing, there was about 5 wolves devouring the dear's remains…. They didn't kill the damn thing, he did!! They had no right to eat what was CLEARLY his!!

 

The problem was that Cahadras would eat all of the deer meat he had given her already. And now there was none for him? Yeah, he could go on for another few days without food, but then he'd lag behind from the lack of energy. And damn himself to hell and back he just HAD to give her those three legs… The only things that were now left of the dead deer and he was going to go on with an empty stomach. “Chikuso…” Hiei muttered once more as he could vividly hear his stomach make a slight grumbling sound.

 

“Hn…” Without another grumbling though to it, he turned around and headed back to the path where Cahadras and -her- food, not his, was going to be at… And you could clearly hear his slight curses as his stomach growled once more.

 

(Short Section I know, but hey, Hiei grumbling about wolves should NOT take three pages long!!)

 

“I thought you were getting your share of the food?” Cahadras asked as soon as he had entered her peripheral vision. He just shrugged his shoulders as his answer and sat down five paces away from her as she had somehow set up a fire without moving from her position and was now cooking her three deer legs over the open fire like how a little kid cooks their marshmallows on camping trips.

 

“Wolves got the rest of it.” He stated quietly with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Cahadras rolled the deer legs over in the flames and shrugged to signify she had heard him without looking in his direction.

 

“How unfortunate for you…” She muttered as one hand cooked the two deer legs and the other one held an already cooked deer leg up to her awaiting mouth. Hiei twitched as he saw her -eat- and -cook- all at the same time right in front of him. “Guess you'll have to get some tomorrow night then, ne?” Not even waiting for an answer she continued to eat the one deer leg and cook the other two. And this is around when Hiei started another string of curses.

 

His stomach had growled again, and Cahadras, with her sensitive fox ears, could visibly hear it better then he ever could. A slight smirk covered her face once the noise reached her ears and Hiei silently cursed to himself at his “stomach's complaining.”

 

“I see your stomach doesn't like the fact that it's not getting anything.” She stated with amusement in her voice. She moved her weight to the other side of her body to get more comfortably where she was sitting, but suddenly gasped in pain as her sprained ankle was pressed against a sharp rock on the ground. With a hiss of pain she immediately relieved the pressure on the rock and kicked it away with her other foot.

 

“Hn…” He muttered in response as his eyes watched her glare at the now flying rock in pain. The smell of the cooked food reached his nose and he immediately took his eyes off the scene to keep him from grabbing the food that he had already decided to give to her since she needed it more. And since he now didn't have something to stare at to humor himself, he had to start counting the leaves in the trees just to make the time fly by.

 

One leaf, two leaves, three leaves, four leaves, five leaves, six leaves, seven leaves, eight leaves, nine leaves… The smell of food started to hit his nostrils again and he continued his counting. Ten leaf, eleven leaf, twelve leaf…. And this part takes a little a while.

 

Hiei's eye started twitching as he got to leaf one hundred. For this was extremely boring and he was getting extremely agitated by just counting leaves that would die in a few days time anyways. `Leaf one hundred and fifteen, leaf one hundred and sixteen…' His voice continued counting in his head.

 

He was getting extremely close to losing count when something hot and heavy suddenly landed on his lap. He jolted out of his bored thoughts and glanced downwards to see what had just landed on his lap. His eyes widened slightly when he saw one fully cooked deer leg and half of another cooked deer leg lying on his lap ready to be eaten. Confused by this, he glanced over at Cahadras to see she had already eaten one deer leg and was working on eating half of the other one.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” He asked. She shrugged and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and swallowed the food she had been chewing.

 

“Guilt.” She said after a few seconds. “I'm sitting here eating, with a sprained ankle and you are just sitting there looking bored out of your mind with a growling stomach. To put things simple, I felt a bit guilty that you were actually treating me this kindly. And I -hate- feeling guilty. So take it and stop looking at me like I have a huge zit on the tip of my nose.”

 

Hiei glanced back down at the food on his lap before looking back at her. “Hn, I don't need it as much as you do right now so don't act like you not eating all of this isn't going to thoroughly fill you up.” He only gained another shrug in return as she swallowed another bit of meat in her mouth.

 

“You're right.” She stated after she swallowed. “I won't be thoroughly filled up, but at least this way things are fair and we both have half empty stomachs.” Her eyes glanced at him with interest as her stare burnt into his mind making him feel like he was being judged for a crime or something. Not going to get put down so easily, he gave her the same hard stare right back and shrugged.

 

“Hn, fine.” He muttered and went to work at the food she had actually shared. In all truth, he may have acted like it was nothing on the outside, but on the inside he was shocked. No one ever shared their food with him when he was with the bandits; they made him get it for himself. And he had only known this wench for three days and had plenty of arguments with her, and yet she was willing to make things fair and share the food… He just didn't get her one bit, one instant she is cold and cruel, the next annoying, and then like this… He just didn't get her at all.

 

That's when a thought flashed through his head that he remembered hearing one of the bandits he used to live with say all the time. The memory caused a slight smirk to pull at his lips for the quote was very evident in his mind. `You can never understand women, one minute they seem nice then the next they throw your for a loop and start bitching at you! Don't try to understand women people; they'll just confuse the hell out of your mind!!'

 

Hiei couldn't help but thoroughly agree with that statement at the moment of time.

 

“What are you smirking about?” Cahadras harsh voice cut Hiei out of his thoughts as he noticed she was now giving him a stern look of resentment. The same look she had been giving him for three days now. Although he couldn't really complain, he gave her that same look of resentment as well since he too didn't really trust her all that much either.

 

“Hn, nothing of your concern.” He muttered back to her causing her to hn and avert her gaze from him. And that's when it hit him, all day today she had been using “his” sound and he hadn't said a thing about it. And that confused him because normally he got all on her case when she used that sound that he dubbed as his. He cleared his thoughts when the girl unwrapped her ripped coat from around her waist and laid it on the forest floor. Without saying another word she slowly rolled herself onto it and snuggled up into what looked to be a comfortable position to sleep in.

 

“Wake me up before morning and I'll relieve you of the use of yours vocal cords. I wake up to you watching me sleep for no apparent reason; I'll relieve you of your life, comprende?” She asked him from her position with her back turned towards him. He hn'ed and threw away the bones of his finished dinner and glared at her back.

 

“There's nothing worth staring at on you.” He muttered back causing her to hn harshly and begin ignoring him.

 

After realizing that there was nothing at all to do, Hiei took off his coat as well showing that he only had a pair of pants and his white belt on underneath. Laying the coat on the ground in the same fashion as she had done, (quite a few feet away from her of course.) he lay down on his coat as well and looked up at the sky that had settled into a darkish red night for them to sleep through. But, he felt like he was being watched so he glanced over and noticed that Cahadras had been staring at his back.

 

“What?!” He said a bit too harshly as his eyebrow rose in confusion as to why she was staring at him.

 

“It's nothing.” She said and looked up at the sky as well. “I was just wondering why you had such a big scar on your back is all.” Hiei flinched briefly before rolling onto his back to keep the scar out of sight.

 

“I got it from a fight… That's all I'll say on the subject.” He muttered in a tone that dismissed the subject. He really didn't feel like telling her that he got in a fight with a man that had steel wings on his back and when they had first struck blades, the scar for some reason had just formed on his back for no apparent reason. Because if he told her that, he'd be willing to tell her everything else about him as well. “But while I just answered that question, tell me this, why do you wear the black fore arm glove over your left arm?”

 

He felt her flinch briefly as well before hiding her arm in one of the ripped sleeves of her coat. “It hides a scar I don't want people to see, get over it.” With her own dismissing tone on that subject, the two of them “hned” and just continued looking up at the sky as they tried to gain a little shut eye.

 

After his fifteenth time closing his eyes, Hiei growled in agitation as another question formed in his mind, keeping him from falling asleep. He glanced quickly over to Cahadras to see that she had her eyes closed, but was not asleep. But the twitching in her ears informed him that she was just listening to the world around her. Knowing that he wouldn't wake her, he got the question out of his system.

 

“When I left to go get that food.” He started at first; not knowing how to get the question passed his throat. “You had a slight worried look in your eyes. And once I returned you look a bit relieved. Care to explain?” He glanced back at her to see that her eyes were widened from the question and she seemed to twitch while thinking up an answer.

 

“I'm not one to tell about my life history.” She stated without looking over at Hiei who was waiting for a better answer then that. “But, if you must know, I'll say this and this alone.” He noticed her take a slight intake of breath as if fearing to tell him some deadly secret or something. “From events in my life, part of my mind and body has grown afraid of being left alone to fend for myself. You're the first person I've traveled with in months, so when you started to walk off I just felt like I was going to be left alone again. Try to pry further into the subject and I'll be sure to turn you into a woman.”

 

With that, her eyes closed and she rolled over to turn her back to him. A few minutes after this he could hear slight evenly spaced breathing to show that she had fallen asleep. With many more questions floating around in his head that he knew he would probably never get answered. He dismissed the conversation and rolled over to turn his back to her as well. His eyes closed as he allowed sleep to now take over him for the night with only one thought on his mind. And once the thought flashed threw his mind, he couldn't help but open his eyes and glare slightly. For thoughts like this was not something he EVER wanted to think about. With a slight smack to the fore head, he closed his eyes to let sleep take him as he tried to shove the remaining thought out of his head for good.

 

`I wouldn't mind finding more out about this woman…' He thought once more before his fingers pinched his arm lightly and the thought left his mind immediately.

 

“Kuso…” He grumbled before he fell into silent slumber.

 

 

:: Three Days Later ::

:: Ten Miles out of the Makai Woods. ::

 

 

Three days passed once more and Hiei was utterly tired of following a trail that just kept heading north. Although he could tell by Cahadras' excited ear twitches that the two were gaining on the stupid thief, he was just getting impatient to get his items back. And amazingly, Cahadras' sprained ankle had healed rather quickly by the time he had woken up after the night she had sprained it, and as if nothing had happened the night before, Cahadras had started leading him once more and he just quietly followed. As if nothing had happened at all.

 

But something -did- happen that night, and Hiei couldn't figure out what it was that had happened. And that just made him even more irritable as he followed the half fox demon around.

 

He felt different towards the girl ever since that night, as if a small understanding between the two had grown and he just couldn't hate her like he once did. For some reason his respect and understanding for her was overpowering the annoyance that she had brought him ever since that night, and he didn't know WHY that was happening. He just knew that it pissed him off.

 

“God damn rocks, getting in my way!” He snapped out of his thoughts as Cahadras cursed and kicked a rather large rock out of her walking space and sent it whizzing through the air for a couple of yards before landing. She then glanced back at Hiei for a brief moment before continuing on in her steady like fashion.

 

“Hurry up slow one!” She said as she walked. “We're getting closer! I can smell the bastards scent in the wind!” Hiei shrugged at her new found achievement and followed after her through the medium sized grass. They had exited the Makai woods just yesterday and were now walking diligently across the dead looking Makai plains. And rocks, thorns, and dry dirt were everywhere.

 

Already being irritated, the “slow one” comment sent him reeling over the edge into a full out bad mood. So, before walking after her, he picked up a large rock and chucked it through the air at high flying speeds. Once the rock left his finger tips, he began walking forward as if he hadn't done a thing. The rock flew through the air and was seconds before hitting its target…

 

BAM!!!

 

To his utter amusement, the rock slammed into the back of Cahadras' head, sending her reeling forewords a few steps before regaining her balance. Her hands reached up and started rubbing the now growing welt on the back of her head as she grimaced in pain and turned around and began glaring absolute death at Hiei. The rock then fell harmlessly to the ground, as if it hadn't even caused any damage in the first place.

 

“What in seven hells was that for!?!?” She screeched as her right eye narrowed in pain and she continued rubbing the back of her head. Hiei shrugged and continued walking towards her.

 

“I was irritated already and you calling me slow one sent me over the edge.” He said plainly and continued walking without a brief flicker of guilt on his face. He couldn't help but feel rather amused when she growled in utter anger and fumed at him from where she stood.

 

“You may be in a bad mood, but don't take it out on me when I didn't cause you to wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!!” She hissed out making Hiei shrug once more.

 

“I've been annoyed ever since three days ago, not since this morning.” He stated casually and noticed her blink in confusion.

 

“What would I spraining my ankle do to get you annoyed?!” She grounded out through clenched teeth. “Even then I did nothing at all to you so stop taking out your male pms on me!!”

 

For a brief moment, Hiei wondered what she meant by “Male pms” but decided against asking what she had meant to spare himself some embarrassment. Instead, he decided to say, “Then you telling me that you were actually scared to be alone that night was not something that you said to me? This caused a scene for you to “do” something to me.” Immediately his head ducked a fraction of an inch to keep his Jagan eye from being hit with a flying rock towards his head.

 

“Don't you DARE remind me of that!!” She yelled at him and threw another rock towards him. This time he barely dodged it by twirling to the right, but before he could comment on anything else, about a dozen more rocks were thrown his way causing him to have to dodge each and every one of them, making him look oddly like he was dancing. A very poor dance mind you.

 

“Now who's taking their anger out on someone?” Hiei said after the last rock whizzed by his head as he smirked. She was huffing in short breathes of anger as she glared and clenched her fists together, as if she had forgotten of her throbbing head for a brief moment. Her eyes were twitching and she looked about ready to kill.

 

“Shut up!” Another rock flew through the air, but this time it hit Hiei smack dab on the nose, sending him reeling backwards a few inches before regaining his footing. Judging from this, Hiei had to conclude her aim was getting better. His hand reached up and began to rub his throbbing nose as he ended up glaring at her as well.

 

“There!” She huffed out once more before regaining some regal air around her and getting rid of the angered look on her face. “We're square.” After that she turned around and started walking north once more as Hiei fumed over his now red nose that was as red as Rudolph the red nosed reindeer's nose.

 

She walked off faster and he could clearly see a cloud of anger flying over her head as she walked. One would think that he would be utterly annoyed now for the sake of his nose. But he began to follow her once more with a smirk now lightly on his lips. A cruel, amused one that is. Because over that little bout right there, he had seen something in her eyes, something that told him she was irritable about three days ago as well, meaning that he wasn't the only one who was walking in a sea of confusion. Knowing this, he slightly felt better.

 

:: Two Hours Later ::

:: By a Stream in the Plains::

 

 

 

Ever since the little rock fiasco, the two had quietly decided to walk and give each other the silent treatment for as long as they possibly could. They had continued waking under the hot, dark red sun for a couple hours now and clearly, they were rather parched in the mouths. (Meaning- They was thirsty!) Hiei of course was not going to break the silent challenge of no speaking to each other to advise stopping for a drink some where. And judging from how silent Cahadras was being, she had decided the exact same thing.

 

During this whole time traveling, Hiei had begun to notice some differences about himself. For one, he was actually gaining most of his Spirit Energy back and the Jagan was becoming a lot easier to handle. He recalled that Siguire (Spelling?) had told him that the Jagan has its own mind and he was waiting to find out if what he was told was actually true. Because, Siguire HAD said that no female ever successfully gained a jagan eye and proof was walking right in front of him that a female had gained one. So, all in all he wasn't about ready to thoroughly trust Siquire's words JUST yet.

 

“Hn, if you keep walking your going to end up going the wrong way.” A familiar female voice called out causing Hiei to tumble out of his musings in a very awkward fashion for he nearly tripped over his own feet to stop walking forewords and stomped on a few roots in the process. He turned his head to his right and saw that Cahadras had stopped walking and was kneeling down in the grass with her hands cupped together and held up to her mouth. Seconds later he realized she was by a small stream and was getting herself something to drink.

 

“Hn, looks like you stopped -not- talking to me.” He muttered out in a voice that sounded something like a grumbling voice as if he had been dreading the fact that she even knew how to speak. She gently brushed his words aside and took another sip out of the stream.

 

“Take a drink if you're thirsty, the water is pure and you won't get sick from drinking it.” Cahadras stated quietly. “The sun beating down on the grass here- with their roots branching out into the water- serves as a natural filter for this stream.” Hiei nodded his head and knelt down 3 feet away from her and glanced at the crystal clear water that was glimmering back up at him.

 

“How do you know this?” He asked with a distrustful glance towards the girl, she didn't even look at him to return her reply.

 

“This stream used to be a large river.” She stated with a hint of remembrance flashing in her voice. “I was taught by….” She seemed to pause in fear for a few seconds before continuing. “By my Father on how the river was filtered. That was years ago and the river is now a stream as you can see, but it is filtered none the less.”

 

For a brief moment, Hiei felt a flicker of envy towards this girl, for she knew her father, which meant she more then likely knew her mother as well… And that made him feel really resentful at that thought. But when he noticed the slight tones of sadness and fear in her voice when she had said “her father” he could tell that something had happened to make it not such a happy thing. And the envy soon disappeared. Not really in the mood for talking anymore, he just nodded his head and placed his hands in the watery depths and felt its coolness rush against his fingertips.

 

He closed his eyes briefly before raising his now cupped hands out of the water, and in the same fashion as Cahadras; he sipped the water out of his hands as well. The cold water felt good in his dry mouth and all of a sudden the sun didn't seem so hot anymore.

 

“Hmmm…” He heard Cahadras gently sigh from where she was sitting and his eyes glanced back over at her to see her staring at the sky as if deep in thought. The glimmer in her eyes almost looked as if she was lost in a memory and not even in this world any more. Hiei blinked and sat back and continued glancing at her for he had no clue why in hells she was sighing like that.

 

“Those woods we traveled through…” She muttered under her breath. “Was the very woods I lived in when I was just a child…” He could see happy memories flash against her eyes and then suddenly see a sadness fill them and she glanced back downwards to her feet that were lying on the ground. “So many memories that I can't stand to remember were in that forest…”

 

“Why are you telling me this?” Hiei asked for he was lost as to why she would even say such things to him. Six days ago she would have said something about him not needing to know and now here she was recollecting over a few things. A slight chuckle came from her mouth causing his right eye to twitch because he -never- heard her chuckle either and to put this into simpler terms: it was shocking.

 

“Just something I felt like saying….” She said gently as another chuckle exited her lips as if she was remembering some old joke. Hiei, on the other hand, was looking at her strangely like how he did in the future when Yukina had told him that he looked familiar. This girl was just CONFUSING him!!

 

“I'm sure there are places that you travel through that bring you good and bad memories as well, Hiei.” Cahadras said once more before standing up. And yet again, Hiei was taken by surprise because she had never referred to him by his first name before until now. Yeah, she called him bastard, jerk, moron, and Jaganshi, but saying his FIRST name was a new one. And the soft sadness in her voice was making him nearly go nuts because he had no clue what in the world was happening to make her act that way. Although, she did have a point there…. Those woods they traveled through -DID- hold some memories for him… Quite an irritating one actually that has something to do with when he was 10 years old and some female 9 year old demon had stolen one of his two swords. But that's a -DIFFERENT- story and it shall not be discussed here.

 

“Hn, hai those woods do have a few memories that linger in my mind. But judging from how your eyes are flashing through recollections you must have had a lot more memories from there then I did.” He stated gruffly before standing up as well. Cahadras, again, didn't look at him, she just shrugged her shoulders and swiped her blue hair out of her eyes and turned back towards the path.

 

“Let's continue, I only took a break because I could feel Jace taking a break, and his breaks don't last long.” She started walking once more and Hiei, silenced by confusion, diligently followed.

 

:: Later on That Night ::

 

“Hurry up and pick one.” Hiei said with his right eye twitching and a hint of agitation drifting in his voice. A fist suddenly flew at him and conked him on the head lightly before retracting to where ever it belonged to. Hiei grimaced and begun to growl slightly. “What was that for?!”

 

“Shut up and let me concentrate.” Cahadras said harshly as she conked him on the head again causing his eyes to twitch in anger. Her other hand was stretched out above Hiei's closed one as she tried to think of which of the straw pieces to pick that were being held directly in Hiei's hand. She had been moving her fingers across the straw for 2 minutes now and Hiei was getting impatient from holding the straws for too long.

 

“Hn….” Hiei continued glaring at her in his agitation as his stomach begun to growl slightly, but not loud enough for him to hear just yet, but he knew it was growling anyways. A slight smirk graced Cahadras' lips as soon as the stomach growling reached her ears and her fingers gently plucked one of the straws out of Hiei's hands showing it to be a medium sized straw.

 

“Took you long enough.” He grumbled as she threw the straw to the ground and grabbed the handful of straws in Hiei's hands and held them out to him in return. She merely smirked at him as a mischievous gleam appeared in her eye.

 

“I was only waiting to see how long it would take before your stomach would start growling…” She muttered casually causing Hiei's eyebrows to rise and him to look at her with a sour look on his face. “Now hurry up and pick one before I take it as a forfeit.”

 

Hiei mentally sighed to himself as his right hand moved out and held itself erect above the straw in Cahadras' hands. As he concentrated, silently, on what one to pick, he couldn't help but wonder to himself on why in the world he was doing this.

 

And that's when he remembered, they had been walking as they had been doing for the passed six days and they came across the same argument that they had every night. Who in the world was going to get dinner? But today, instead of the normal argument, Cahadras suddenly suggested that they draw straws, the one with the smaller straw goes and gets the food. He was reluctant to at first and just wanted to argue for no apparent reason, but a certain conk to the head made him reluctantly agree to the terms...

 

Now the real question stands. Why in hells did he just let her conk him in the head without hitting her back or yelling at her for it? None may ever know for he didn't know the answer to this himself. His finger went to grab one of the straws, but he soon decided against it and retracted his hand a few centimeters before thinking of which one too pick again. That would be about the time another thought raced through his head. Like before, he recalled a man saying a quote about how confusing women can be. And right now he was remembering another quote that the man had said.

 

`And the one thing that you should look out for is if a woman hits you and you don't hit back. If you catch that happening then I'm sorry to tell you, but that little wench is getting you wrapped around her finger!!'

 

Almost immediately his eye begun to twitch and he shook the thought out of his mind rather quickly causing Cahadras to give him a strange look because he looked rather ridiculous in doing so. `Hn, no way I'd allow that to happen…' Hiei thought mentally to himself. For one, he already promised himself that a relationship with ANYBODY is completely out of the question. Plus, how stupid do you think he would look if he was wrapped around a woman's finger? (Not literally people just so you know.) No way would he allow himself to sink that low and let THAT horror of all horrors happen.

 

“Are you going to pick one already or are we just going to stand her like idiots for the rest of the night?” Cahadras cynical voice broke through his thoughts and pulled him back to the problem that was at hand. His eyes glanced at Cahadras to see her left eye was twitching and her left foot was tapping the ground rather quickly as she waited for him to make his move. So, deciding to stop thinking altogether except for which straw to pick, he glanced back at the straws.

 

Now, what he needed was a straw that was larger then Cahadras' medium sized straw, and there was probably only 3 left in there to choose from and the rest were more then likely shorter. So him getting the food for the night rested on one little pick of a straw. And too bad for him his jagan didn't really want to help him at the moment. Plus if he even -tried- to use it he'd probably just gain another conk to the head anyways. And he didn't feel like going into a yelling spree at the precise moment of time.

 

His eye twitched as he stared intently at the straws. Which one to pick? Which one would be his lucky one? He didn't want to get dinner tonight because he could feel the presence of squirrels all over the place!! And god did he hate those!! Always chittering and chattering away with their little acorns! Probably planning ways to utterly torture him no doubt! Yes, he just wanted to sit and let Cahadras do all the food hunting and let the squirrels torture her instead of him!! Of course they might decline the offer and torture him while he waits, but he was willing to take the risk!!

 

Okay, maybe that's not his real reason for not wanting to go get the dinner. But since the author of this story can't read minds it will have to be a secret as to why he refused to fetch the food. So, for now, we will just go with the dumb squirrel idea.

 

His fingertips went to reach for one and gently started to slowly pull the straw out, nice and slowly so he could waste time in hopes the thing might grow bigger than the one Cahadras had pulled out. But right when the straw was a centimeter out of Cahadras' hand…

 

“No not that one.” Cahadras said bluntly with her eye brows quirking. Hiei gave her an intent stare for a couple of seconds before his fingertips slowly let the straw go and went to choose another one. “Nope, not that one either.” His eye twitched slightly as he started glaring at the girl as his fingers glided over to another one. Cahadras' voice immediately snapped out, “Definitely -not- that one!!” As soon as the words left her lips, Hiei began growling and reached for a different one. This time her voice rose to a higher tone. “Are you insane!?! I wouldn't choose that one if my life depended on it!!” By now Hiei was extremely annoyed.

 

Being in his annoyed mood now, he just threw caution to the winds and grabbed the straw he was last pulling on and put a good grip on it... He gently pulled it out and flipped it upwards for the two of them to see. Four eyes widened immediately as two of the eyes narrowed down in anger and the other two lit up in a conceited like way.

 

“Looks like you're fetching the dinner tonight compadre.” Cahadras said with an amused smirk flittering across her face.

 

For, you all guessed correctly if you even guessed at all, Hiei pulled out the shortest one from the entire stack… What black luck he has, ne?

 

“I guess I'll set up camp and try to figure out Jace's bearings while you are out hunting for food along the planes…” Cahadras said with a smirk that could kill flashing across her face. Hiei was glaring direct daggers straight at her as his eyes went from her medium sized straw on the ground and back to his little stubble of a straw in his hands… Fire was raging within his eyes and his fingers gently broke the straw in half and dropped it to the ground.

 

“You go get the dinner…” Hiei said with anger evident in his voice. “I don't lose to cheaters…”

 

Immediately her conceited smirk flew off her face and was replaced by a rather sour scowl. With a voice dropped below a few octaves, she began to growl venomously as her fox tail bristled out in her new found anger and her ears flattened on top of her head. Her fists clenched by her sides and her eyes narrowed in a menacing type way.

 

“Are you insinuating that I cheated to win?” She growled out with nothing less then pure venom dripping from her voice. Hiei's own eyes were narrowed in the same fashion as her's as he sent a challenging glare straight at her. Without a crack in his voice that held pure emotionless tones in it, he answered.

 

“You're damn right I am.” His words stung through the air and he could visibly hear her growling reach to higher tones as her front fox canines were bared through her lips. Their sharp points seemed to be digging into her skin to keep herself from lunging herself at him in an all out attack. That's when he continued. “You're Jagan works a lot better then mine, so I am sure you used it to figure out which straw was the longest and which one was the shortest.”

 

Cahadras' ears twitched and the anger stayed evident in her eyes. But when she spoke next, she had such emotionless tones in her voice that is was nearly frightening. “You have no proof that I used my Jagan, Jaganshi.”

 

“Then explain to me why you kept telling me to -not- choose the straws that I was bent on choosing?” Hiei shot out without skipping a beat with venom in his voice. “You clearly some how knew that the ones I was first choosing were bigger then the medium sized straw you drew so you decided to alter my choice. On the last one, you knew I would be annoyed so you added more vigor to your bout causing me to grab it…” Hiei paused for a brief second before letting only one word leave his clenched lips. “Cheater.”

 

A nice soft wind blew between the two as a now steady staring contest set on between them. Red eyes glared at red eyes, fists clenched with other fists. Growls escaped against other growls… It was a male versus female, fox versus fire, third eye versus third eye, hatred versus respect, Mario versus Bowser, conflict!!!.... Ahem, you can just ignore that last part.

 

Right then, right when the wind stopped its light blowing, both stubborn demons opened their mouths, ready to start yelling at each other to relieve their access anger without throwing a fist. But, before any word could escape their opened mouths, nearly simultaneously, the Jagans atop their fore heads flashed violently for a split second. Leaving the two stunned as to why that had just happened.

 

Hiei didn't have to wait long until he felt another presence inside his head, searching for answers to find out what had just happened. Good luck for them though, they wouldn't find anything. Feeling the presence grow even -stronger- in his head, getting a little too close to some personal information in there, he realized who the culprit was. And with a brief smirk on his lips he immediately thought something that would enable to mind-reader to read his thoughts.

 

`A bitch should not be allowed to have those kinds of curves!' He thought insanely as if some hidden joke was underneath these thoughts. Nearly immediately the feeling in his head stopped it's searching and he continued on. `I mean, it goes against all naturally laws for a bitch to have such great curves like that!!' He glanced over at Cahadras and he could barely see a slight tint of red start crawling up her cheek bones. `It's just wrong I tell you!! Oh! Hi Cahadras, are you having fun reading my mind?'

 

She fell into his trap, just like the little culprit should have.

 

Immediately her face flamed red with anger and embarrassment and she took a step away from him with fire and confusion flashing through her eyes. Hiei was greatly amused by this for he felt her searching his mind for their jagan's actions, and he wasn't about to let her read too much out of it. So, saying something like that was more then enough to make her back down. Her right eye twitched and immediately her flushed face turned into a hardened scowl as she leered dangerously at him.

 

“You just -love- to read my mind don't you?” He spat out with anger dripping from his words. Cahadras' eye twitched and he continued. “That should teach you, you little damn eavesdropping bitch.

 

And that's when the unspeakable happened.

 

Cahadras threw her hands in the air with an uttermost exasperated look on her face and screamed in agitation to the so-called heavens above. With a shake of her wrists she cursed the world in general.

 

“God damnit!!” She yelled out, clearing forgetting Hiei could hear her. “Why do males have to be such damn jerks!! Especially when they have a nearly perfect chest that make my eyes bulge!! THAT SHOULD BE AGAINST THE LAW!!!” Suddenly the whole plains grew quite and all you could hear was a cricket chirp…. Only once, it for some reason knew not to chirp again…

 

Four eyes widened immediately and Cahadras' hands flew from the air and suddenly clamped her mouth shut as a flushed look crept across her cheeks. Her eyes darted over to Hiei to see that his own little blush was creeping ever so slowly onto his face as his whole body twitched as her words set into his brain.

 

The one thing that seemed to shock her though, from what Hiei could see in the mind state he was in. Was the fact that his face had completely flamed red and he seemed to be frozen in spot from her words. Both blinked at each other for the next for minutes and Cahadras' hands never left her now closed mouth. As if she was scared of what might come out of the mouth moments after setting her hands free.

 

“I…. uhhh…” He quietly stammered before his feet slightly turned in the other direction and his pink face went back to its original color. “I think I'll go get dinner…” And with that, he spun around on his heel and took off in the opposite direction, looking as if he was in a daze.

 

Cahadras blinked a few times and just stood there with her own quizzical look crossing her face. Her right eyebrow was raised and she seemed clearly confused as to what had just happened. Silently, with a shrug of her shoulders she turned around and shrugged off what ever confusing thought she had appearing in her mind.

 

“Weirdo…” She mumbled under her breath as she got a fire going.