Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ How He Found and Lost Love ❯ Ends of a Memory ( Chapter 2 )

 

 

::Back In the Present::

:: No, not in Yusuke's room, In Yusuke's brain!!::

 

::Of course Yusuke's room idiots!!::

 

 

 

“She actually yelled that out loud?!?!?!” Yusuke interrupted with an incredulous look on his face. His only answer was a slight nod from the drugged Hiei, but it was more then enough to cause the Detective to fall into a fit of laughter and literally fall off his bed laughing so loud.

 

The door to the bathroom suddenly was kicked down as Kuwabara fell through it from the force of his kick and went flying into the hallway wall. Tears were pouring out of his eyes as his own laughter escaped his mouth and soon, he had joined the floor as well with his hands holding onto his stomach as he continued to laugh. “Shorty was practically hit on by a chick!!!” His mouth opened up wider as he laughed making him look strangely like his face was built for a horse instead of a humans, this only caused Yusuke to laugh harder as Kuwabara dragged himself into the room and the two continued laughing their guts out on the floor.

 

Kurama was just amazed.

 

Amazed that his truth serum was still working, amazed that something like this had even happened to the fire apparition, and amazed that this probably had something to do with him acting cold and cruel… Although he hadn't found out what that girl had to do with it just yet, but a twinge inside of him, like an instinct was clearly yelling out to his brain -THE GIRL HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH HIM ACTING CRUEL!!! IT'S OBVIOUS DING DING DING WE WIN THE PRIZE!!-

 

And he also wondered what kind of prize he could have won with just a simple thought flying through his head.

 

Did I forget to mention that he was also amazed by the fact Yusuke and Kuwabara were laughing together as if the detective had not just locked the human up in the bathroom with a few stink bombs?

 

While the two idiots (Come on, let's face it, they are -not- the brightest crayon in the box.) continued their little laughing spree at the embarrassment of Hiei, the Kitsune's eyes glanced over at the aforementioned drugged Fire apparition for a brief moment and curiosity covered his features. `What could have happened between these two? What happened to cause him to never mention the girl until now? There has to be a link about this girl that adds up to Hiei acting so cold hearted I'm sure of it… But what?'

 

While the mental musings of Kurama continued inside that conniving (Hey, if he was a thief as Yoko then he MUST have been a little bit conniving!! It makes sense!!) head of his, the drugged Hiei sat there in his trance like state oblivious to the whole world around him. That is, unless one of the three boys asked him a question, but since two of them were occupied with laughing their asses off and the other was busy with his own thoughts, none asked him a question.

 

And of course, if those two boys continued laughing in such a way, they were likely to actually laugh their asses off LITERALLY! Which would be a sight to see for Yusuke and Kuwabara both would be running around the apartment trying to catch their bouncing away asses. A sight to see, yet also a disturbing sight to see for those of us who do not want to see the backsides of two boys run around the place. But you have to admit, that would be a funny mental image in a way.

 

Ahem, let's continue.

 

As Kurama continued the musings in his mind, he failed to notice that there was a slight change going through Hiei's eyes. For now, right on the cue when no one was watching, his eyes flickered, not from remembrance like earlier, but a sadness flashed before them violently, as if he was remembering something that had to do with the tale he was telling them now. The look of sadness was only brief, for it flittered away like it had never been there in the first place, seconds later.

 

WHAM!! THUNK!!!

 

Kurama was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts as the sound of a punch and something hitting the wall reverberated into his ears causing his eyes to twitch and make him jump about two feet off the floor in the surprise. And with a curious look upon his face, he flushed his musings to the backs of his mind and glanced over towards Yusuke's bed, and his eyes lowered in exasperation as he saw Kuwabara's face now plastered into the wall as Yusuke put his fist back down out of its punching motion.

 

“Did I miss something?” He asked casually as Yusuke humphed and turned his back to the plastered human. He glanced at Kurama and with clenched teeth he muttered.

 

“You missed nothing!”

 

“Oh?” Kurama raised a right eyebrow as he looked on at the scene curiously. “Are you sure? Because just a second ago you two were laughing like lunatics on the floor and now you have slammed Kuwabara's face into the wall as if nothing funny had even happened. Care to explain?”

 

Yusuke gave Kurama a slight glare of agitation that clearly told Kurama that he had won that bout and a seemingly dark cloud had appeared above Yusuke's head as he fumed in anger. The way he was holding himself, funny enough, greatly resembled Keiko when she complaining about Yusuke never making it to school on time. Upon this realization, Kurama tried his best not to let out a small chuckle as Yusuke let out his explanation.

 

“He mussed up my hair.”

 

Kurama could have anime fallen. (And the look on his face could be described as this: -_-;;;;;)

 

Only…

 

“Oh look, my lucky one thousand yen coin holder!!!!!” Yusuke suddenly got a cheery look on his face as he bent forward and picked a coin case off the ground.

 

Now Kurama actually DID anime fall, for that was rather random of Yusuke.

 

“@_@... Moving on…” As Yusuke looked at the once thieving Kitsune known as Kurama, stand up with an innocent look and laugh crossing his features, the red haired boy quietly looked towards the fire apparition. “How about we have him finish up shall we?”

 

“Sure thing.”

 

And with that, the two turned their heads and stared at Hiei expectantly waiting for him to continue on with his memories. And all the while, Kuwabara slowly slid off the wall like a banana peel and fell to the floor with a sickenly “plop”, with swirls for eyes.

 

::One Week Later::

:: In the Past::

 

After that little incident with Cahadras yelling out more then she should have, Hiei had of course, gone to get the dinner. But that wasn't all, ever since that night every time Hiei so much as -looked- at the girl, his cheeks would flame up and he'd have to disappear for a few minutes just to get the memory out of his head. No one and I mean no one, had ever said such a thing about his looks before, not one single person. And clearly, he was not used to it, especially since it came from -this- girl. He was stumped, literally, and even more confused then what he had already been.

 

It had been a week since that day, and still he couldn't keep himself from blushing every time the memory came to mind. And Cahadras seemed to want to play the came “No looky, no talky, we happy.” Meaning, not once did she turn to look at him to make sure he was following, not once had she spoken a word to him, (She went and got her own dinner.) and as long as she kept it up, they were all good and happy. Not literally of course. She just continued on following supposedly the scent of Jace's trail and only the movements of her excited tail and ears would tell Hiei if they were getting closer or not. And so far, he hadn't seen an excite blood lust twitch out of him in days. He was just about to break her newly found game just to find out what she had found, but his last week embarrassment kept his mouth shut with a sour look plastered onto his face.

 

And, another thing that brought upon his sour look was the fact that he was extremely bored. They hadn't come across another demon in over a week and Cahadras had gone out catching dinner each night without so much as a word on it, so he had NOTHING to do. And it was bothering him, his hands just itched to use his sword on something and his mind had the intense need to cause SOME kind of action just to humor him. But, as I said before, there was NOTHING worth doing just for some good ole entertainment. It was rather infuriating.

 

Also, while he had been in this bored state of walking, he had come to realize that they were no longer walking on the Makai plains. Instead, they were in another small forest, not as big as the first one that they went through, but it was a forest none the less. And it seemed, as if off in the distance, Hiei could barely make out the outlines of a high cliff over hanging everything. And it seemed as if Cahadras was making a direct beeline for it. A thought flashed through his head that caused his eyes to widen, could that cliff be where Jace is hiding? His heart pounded within his skull and his blood boiled just at the thought of that vile man living and breathing on this day and the intense need to cause SOME action just got even worse as his hands gripped together in fists.

 

“Stop walking for a moment.” He was reeled out of his angered thoughts as Cahadras FINALLY ended her game of no looky and talky and actually spoke to him as she pivoted around on her left foot just to face him. The look on her face looked serious enough but a certain glee, of excitement was gleaming within her eyes, and when he took a better look, he also noticed the slight tints of blood lust appearing in them as well.

 

“What do you want?” He sneered out in an agitated tone of voice, just itching to start a fight for his boredom's sake. And before he even realized what he was saying or what he was thinking, he decided to add, “To have another look at my `nearly perfect' chest?” Immediately he could have bitten his tongue in two for Cahadras' eyes widened slightly as her cheeks flamed red and her eyebrows began to twitch. His own blush had begun to creep onto his face as well mind you.

 

“No I don't want to look at anything on you except for your face.” She muttered in a furious voice as her fingers clenched tightly together. “For it is your face that I am talking to, not your…. -chest-.” Hiei could clearly hear the venom and agitation pouring out of her voice as the word chest escaped her lips. And for once, he was on her side, he should have kept his mouth shut on that subject for now he was starting to feel rather awkward.

 

“Then answer my first question already.” He muttered as bluntly as possible, for he did not want to portray any kind of emotion on his face at all for the moment of time. Cahadras merely hn'ed as her eyes glanced down to his still clenched fists.

 

“I can sense you are in an irritated mood.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice as her head nodded towards his fist. “I just wanted you to calm yourself; I'm bored as hell and just as agitated by Jace as you are.” Before he could say anything else, her eyes glanced back towards the cliff in the distance. “I can tell that you can sense it, Jace is up there… And as much as I want to pulverize him, you don't see me getting too worked up about it though. Its best that you calm down or you will be too angry to concentrate when fighting. Now come on.” And without another word she turned around and begun walking once more.

 

And strangely, Hiei couldn't help but agree that he did need to calm down, but without him realizing it, he had already stopped clenching his hands together at her words. And he seemed to feel much better now, if he didn't know better he'd think he felt better at the fact she was talking to him again, but of course, that wasn't it, it had to be the fact that he knew for sure that Jace was just up ahead. Yeah, that's what made him feel better, no doubt about it.

 

He started up walking again, following behind Cahadras just like he was a few moments ago, before a brief thought crossed his mind. Both of them were after Jace for a reason, to get their prized possession back. But the question still stood, why did she prize that medallion so much? The question was so firm in his mind that he never even noticed it when he suddenly asked to her back, “Why is that medallion so important to you, not that I really care.”

 

Immediately he could have bitten his tongue in two again, for Cahadras suddenly stopped her steady strides and froze within her own tracks. Her ears had begun twitching excessively as her head slightly turned so one of her eyes could stare straight into his. And right then and there he already guessed what her answer was going to be.

 

“I'll tell you if you tell me why that necklace was so important to you.” His face could have fallen off. He did not see that answer coming at all, her saying that it was none of his business, sure that sounded like something she'd say, but not that!! His eyes twitched violently as his brain quickly tried to find an answer to this statement she had stated. In a way, he was sure and ready to just hn and forget the whole conversation altogether, but something inside of him urged him to say something totally different, as if his curiosity was getting the better of him and he didn't know why.

 

“Fine, you first.” He found the words flying out of his mouth before he could even agree with himself to say them. Immediately Cahadras' eyes widened as if she was surprised that his answer would have been that and she seemed to stutter just to answer him. Hiei's heart was pounding in his head and he suddenly wished he could just disappear right then and there.

 

“Hn…” The girl stopped glancing back at him as she seemed to regain her composure once more and began to walk fore ward all over again. Was she refusing to answer? For some reason he felt rather angered at this, but her silence kept him from speaking as well and he began to walk for ward, annoyed as ever, but her voice cut his foot steps off first.

 

“My father gave me the medallion, just 2 years before he died, and the blue fire pounded into it was a tear gem that my mother cried when she gave birth to me. She was half Ice Maiden after all… That's why it's important.” The girl continued walking on as she seemed to refuse to glance back at the now befuddled Hiei. The thing was her father's!! And her mother was half Ice Maiden and the blue flame used to be a tear gem! Hiei nearly thought his eyes were going to bust right out of his sockets. (And right about here, in the present Yusuke was asking, “What in the world is this Cahadras?! She looks like a fox, controls fire, and yet her mom was half ice maiden!! I'm lost!!”)

 

`Well, fair is fair…' Hiei thought quietly to himself as he began walking as well, he walked at a fast, even pace to get himself just feet away from Cahadras' retreating back as he spoke back to her. “I can't say much for dead parents, but the necklace was a tear gem that my mother had cried… And I never knew my mother, so it's important to me…”

 

He could tell she was shocked, he could tell that she couldn't believe that he held up his end of the bargain, but a bigger understanding seem to grow between the two immediately after the words were said. Both could tell that they had saddened lives and pasts and both could see now that they had lived rather lonely and disturbing lives, it was almost as if a link had been built between the two of them right in that instant. Cahadras didn't say or show that she was shocked, she just continued walking, but Hiei for some reason could easily feel it. And just to keep the distance for his own comfort, he allowed her to walk on ahead, lost in her own thoughts.

 

And that was when he noticed it, a slight sense of auras hit him full force in the back of his head as his senses kicked in and he felt demon presences all around him. But before he could warn Cahadras of this feeling, an intense pain suddenly erupted in his right arm, as if something had just been shot into it. He gasped loudly in pain causing Cahadras to whirl around, but he couldn't see her. His eyes were going blurry as they immediately looked towards his arm… And that's when his eyes began to roll into the back of his skull.

 

He had been hit by a rather sharp dart, and it had injected his whole body with a deadly poison. And the last thing he could remember hearing was fierce battle cries and the growls of a suddenly furious Cahadras before his whole mind went…

 

Blank.

 

And his body fell with a sickenly thud to the ground below, pupils all but disappeared in his eyes and his body completely lifeless, except for the twitches that happened involuntarily in fast intervals.

 

(Line here.)

 

 

His mind snapped to, one could say, for the past time he had been swimming in utter darkness, and sometimes even losing all his thought to everything. But now, his ears could pick up the whistling of the trees around him and he could feel the beating rays of the sun pouring onto his body. It was as if he had just woken up out of a dream, only there was no dream to wake up from. And that's when he realized that he had finally woken up, after being hit by that poison dart.

 

His eyes opened, slowly, but fast enough for his eyes to be blurred and unable to make out really anything but blurs. So he blinked them, once or twice, and the blurs of everything all but disappeared making everything in the reality easy to see through his eyes. Of course, now that he could see, he nearly wished that he'd just pass out again, for he was now completely shocked and his mind seemed to go blank once more.

 

His eyes met with other red eyes as he realized that Cahadras had been leaning over his face when he woke up, and a look on serious concern was filling up her eyes as her right hand placed something cool and soft against his forehead. His mind came back to reality when he realized that a wet rag from her ripped coat had been placed against his head. But, he couldn't bring himself to say anything, for his throat was standing still on its own accord as he stared into Cahadras' scared, concerned face. Her own forehead had been cut open and blood was trickling down her face in a small stream clearly showing that she had been in a fight of some kind, and not only that, dirt and grass stains and small bruises were upon her face as well.

 

And that's when the girl finally realized that she was being stared at. For the gaze of her eyes went away from the wash rag and met his and the once concerned and scared look flashed away to be replaced with a look of inner relief. A slight smirk pulled up on her lips as her hand continued pressing the wet rag onto his fore head.

 

“So, the poison did wear off, I see…” She muttered almost as if to herself before aiming her words to him. “I thought my Kitsune Herbs were probably too late in healing you, but I see I was wrong… Baka me I guess.” Her eyes slightly narrowed as she noticed that Hiei continued staring at her as she had just said `Oh my dear Hiei I thought you were dead!!' Of course, you wouldn't catch her dead saying that. “What?” She queried in an agitated sounding voice.

 

“I-…” Hiei tried to speak, but his voice was croaky, probably from just waking up so he was forced to try again. “Hn, I was wondering why your face was leaning over mine.” Immediately the realization hit the girl full force and she got herself into a sitting position, away from leaning over him although her hand was still holding the wet rag in place.

 

“I had to feel you breathing somehow.” She explained quietly. “My hearing isn't working all too well right now.” As if she had pointed, Hiei's gaze went up to her ears to see that the tips of them were slightly bleeding and they were lowed atop her head as if to hold back a certain kind of pain. In doing so, she couldn't hear him breathing so she had to resort to leaning over him to feel him breathing instead.

 

“What exactly happened?” He groaned out slightly as he forced himself into a sitting position causing Cahadras to have to hold the wet rag on his fore head more securely to stop it from falling. His cheeks lightly went red at this for a split second so his right hand shot up as his left held him erect and pulled her hand away and replaced her hand with his and held the wet rag on his fore head instead. She rose her right eyebrow up at that action, but questioned it none for he was staring at her intently as he asked once more.

 

“What happened after I blacked out? All I know is I was hit by a poison dart, and fell to the ground hearing battle cries.” He refused to mention that he heard her furious growls as well, for he didn't want to go into -why- she had been so angry. It was really none of his business. He also had the urge to ask why she looked so bloodied up and battered, but he didn't want to make her think he was concerned or anything. For, the fact is he wasn't.

 

The girl heaved a small sigh as her hands retracted to her lap and her ears twitched. “I- I'm not sure how to explain it…” She muttered as her tail twitched as well and Hiei noticed that some of the blood that he saw on her was actually some one else's and not her's. But the small scratches and the cracked head and hurt ears was her's. Everything else wasn't.

 

And he noticed that Cahadras was having trouble telling him what had happened. As if she was trying to find a way to explain it without having to tell him something… As if she was trying to hide something from him. He didn't really give a damn what that could be, but he did have curiosity, and he was getting a smidge curios.

 

“I heard you gasp out in pain from when the poison dart had hit you…” She muttered quietly, “And when I turned around, you were in the process of falling over and about six c-class rock demons leaped out of the bushes…”

 

:: Flash Back::

:: Cahadras' Perspective ::

 

 

He was falling to the ground, passed out and poison was probably already entering his blood veins. And the beating of his heart that normally reached my ears began to slow down, telling me that he was falling into a slight coma. Fear swept over me for a split second as the force of my spin from turning around to look at him, fell into my face. And almost, as if in slow motion, I watched his body begin to inch closer to the ground and a sudden anger overcame my mind and a furious growl leaped out of my throat.

 

That's when my eyes noticed that six rock demons jump out of the bushes, their spears that rested comfortably in their hands were raised so that their sharp points were directed at me and a look of blood lust glee crossed their faces, as if they were about to make the kill. I was stunned for all but a split second before I noticed the rock demon with a poison blow dart gun secured to his belt… The anger all but swelled up into me…

 

How dare they attack the bastard in such a dirty and low way?! He was utterly defenseless, and there was no way in knowing, they didn't even give him a slight warning before firing away!! That was low class and dirty!! And although a single part of my brain told me it was something that I probably would have done, the anger covered the thought up as my hands involuntarily pulled my sword Meshinki out of its sheath and I waited for the dirty men to come closer to me.

 

And they of course, ran towards me as my furious growl all but echoed around the trees. They attacked the bastard, and now they were running right passed his fallen form as their battle cries yelled out and overcame my furious growls. Still in slow motion in my eyes, their feet pounded against the ground, and there was only the blood beating through my brain and the blood lust seeping into my eyes that I could hear or feel.

 

The bastard has gone through so much, I can tell… So much pain and betrayal just like me…

 

“BASTARDS!!!” I cry out and cover my swords handle in my hands and grip onto it tightly. The blade flares up, as flames of black night erupted out of my hands and covered the entire steel of the sword, and the heat radiates and heats my face up. A few of the rock Youkai, their grey faces and rock like arms running in their slow pace all but made them look rather idiotic, stopped for a split second in their tracks when they noticed my sword. But the others continued running fore ward, making the others continue as well. I barred my fox canines out as my tail bristled out and ears flattened against my skull. My sword was craving blood, and I was going to give supply my sword the blood it desired.

 

He just slightly opened up to me, and now he might die… He might die after I had opened up to him slightly!!!

 

I felt the anger rising up around me and my whole body grew as hot as my sword as I felt my Jagan flash and erupt my body into flames as well. If I was going to kill, I was going to make them suffer. The man that was closest to me suddenly through his right arm forward, making his spear fly through the air, more than likely aimed right in between my eyes for it was flying straight as an arrow at fast speeds… My eyes narrowed as my growl erupted into a slight scream of rage. And with a swift upward motion of my arm, Meshinki flew upwards, slicing the spear in half before it was five inches to my face, and burning the wood of its handle into nothing but ashes causing the point on the spear to fall harmlessly to the ground at my feet.

 

And as much as that jerk annoys me… I don't want him to die…

 

The first attack had begun, and I no longer held the need to hold still, my feet pounded into the ground as they sprung me foreword in a sprint and I raised Meshinki above my head… A small pang of pride beated in my heart as I realized that these men gasped in shock at my speed as I ran towards them in the same fashion as they were running towards me… Only a glare of anger was on my face and my jagan was glowing as it flared energy into my sword and body, causing me to run even faster. If I had been calm, I would have realized that I never ran this fast before in all my life, and I never felt so in control of my energy and jagan either… I of course, didn't know the reason for this either.

 

And as it was his fault for my ankle being sprung…

 

“Die!!!” The ugliest of these demons yells out to me as he springs out of the raid and shoots rocks as sharp as spear points out of his hands straight towards me, content to kill me by stoning me to death.

 

“You… FIRST!” I scream out and my body flickers out of sight causing the rocks to fly right through me in the most harmless of ways. My right arm tenses up and I spring my sword forward in a thrusting motion and I feel the sweet feeling of flesh being severed and blood splattering out. Droplets of blood cascaded onto my face as Meshinki dug deeper into the demons stomach.

 

“Hn….” I suddenly have no use for words as something takes over me, something that always takes over me when I smell the scent of blood. My pupils disappear from my red eyes and I feel an angered emotionless emotion over come me. My face becomes blank and no growls escape my lips… Just like with my fight with Jace, I was ready to kill, and nothing was going to stand in my way.

 

“HRRRR!!!!” I grip onto Meshinki tightly and its flames burn deep within the demon's opened stomach and I wrench the sword upwards, slicing into the demon's chest, ribs, up through his neck, and finally exiting out of his skull. Some blood spilled onto me in droplets and the smell only made my blood lust grow in higher need as the flames on my sword flamed with a vengeance and the demons dead rough body fell to the ground, dead before he even started to fall.

 

It was my fault that he was near death from poison… I should have sensed it and stopped it before it happened!!

 

“Now, for the poisoning of my -friend-.” I growl out in such an emotionless voice it even scares me slightly. I never even noticed that I had referred to the bastard as `friend'. I flick the blood off my sword as I glare at the five other rock demons who seemingly stopped dead in their tracks to stare at the dead form of their leader. “Your heads will be my trophies.” With not a care in my mind or eyes, I step onto the corpse of the dead demon and slowly make my way, as if in a trance, towards the others.

 

This, the deaths of these men is for the bastard and for him alone… I am sorry that I couldn't stop it…

 

“All at once!!!” One of the demon's cry out and suddenly they all lunge at me all at the same time, spears raised. I didn't even flinch a spear grazed my head and caused it to start bleeding, nor did I flinch when the backs of four spears rammed into my gut and sent my body flying backwards and to the ground.

 

What is this pleading that lies within my heart and mind? As if something is begging to come out… As if my anger has summoned something within me and it wants to kill just as much as I do… And why do I feel so submissive to it? `Release your inner feelings…' It says to me, echoing within my mind… `Release me and destroy those that have destroyed what is yours…'

 

My heart is pounding in my head and I make no effort to rise from the ground where I had fallen. My limbs do not want to move and I feel as if I am having an inner battle within my mind. The sword that I have hidden-with the use of the jagan- at my belt seemed to have grown a pulse and has started beating in tune with the beating of my raging heart. Meshinki had been thrown to the side from the attack in my stomach and the sword that I myself had created seemed to be asking me to draw it. The sword I never used and that no one ever noticed was begging to be drawn… And with each beat that I felt come out of it, that something inside of my body called out to be released…

 

And once my eyes notice the fallen form of Hiei behind the rock demons that are walking towards me… My mind snaps… And I oblige to the inner voice within my mind.

 

Release your true self… Save this one that understands you… Draw the hidden sword.

 

I slowly stand up, as if with great effort my arms and legs rise and my eyes all but glare at the demons who have gathered all around me, ready to kill. As if some wild glee has taken over me, I smile… I smile with the cruelest evilest smile I can muster causing the demons to give me quizzical looks, as if I had suddenly grown insane.

 

And then, my jagan flashes and I draw the hidden sword at my belt, showing its silver gleaming beauty to everyone's eyes. It glares with a suddenly deathly white and blinds the men around me, and even myself… And that's when the light engulfs me, and I feel an intense pain.

 

My shoulder blades feel as if they have been sliced open suddenly by invisible knives and a sudden chill surrounds my body… As if being electrocuted, a shock sweeps through my body and the light only flashes more brightly as this intense pain continues and nearly rips my mind in half! Energy seems to be pouring into me with each beat of my other sword and I feel as if my body has begun to change… The intense pain in my shoulder blades continues and it feels as if something soft and hard as steel has begun to sprout of them… And my hair seems to grow and fall off my shoulders and cascade to the ground, when normally my hair only reaches the middle of my back.

 

My mouth opens in a silent scream as the beating of my sword continues and the intense pain only grows all the more worse… I see nothing but blurred shapes in my mind, and my eye sight is reduced to the point which I barely even notice that my hair has turned the color of silver.

 

Then, the pain stops… And I feel a terrible blood lust engulf me as my eyes, now seeing through a grey veil, looks upon the shocked rock demons around me….

 

“Die!” I scream out in a voice that sounded like a demonic, yet angelic shriek, a sound that I had never heard before, and without stopping to think, I raised my sword and disappeared out of sight…. And then I knew no more.

 

Allow your true self, to save the one you care for…

 

:: Flash Back Ends::

 

“So that's what happened?” Hiei asked quietly as he stared at the girl. She seemed to refuse to look him straight in the eye and he was sure that she was leaving something out. And the twitching of her fingers was a dead give away that she was as well. But he wasn't about to pry.

 

“Yes, you passed out, the 6 Youkai attacked me, and I killed them. You woke up 15 minutes after I tended to your wound.” With that statement she looked down to his upper right arm to show that it was indeed bandaged. “The poison has also left your system thanks to the herbs I gathered up.”

 

“And where did you get the herbs?” He asked almost distrusting and to his surprise it looked like she flinched. But the thought immediately left his mind for she didn't do it again.

 

“I'm half Fox Demon Hiei.” She stated nonchalantly. “And I was taught how to make healing herbs.”

 

“Hn…Why did you help me?” He asked once more, almost dreading the answer that he thought he was going to receive.

 

“I was indebted to you for helping my ankle out… I decided to repay the favor.” His mind cringed; she said what he thought she was going to say. And as much as he didn't want her to say it, he didn't know what he had wanted her to say anyways.

 

“You do know why those demons were here right?” Cahadras suddenly asked him, causing his eyes to glance at her's and they stared into each other's eyes intently. Just that stare made Hiei shake off what ever he was thinking earlier as he considered what she had just said. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know who those demons were or why they attacked them… But judging from the look in Cahadras' eyes, she sure as Hell knew.

 

“They were scouts sent to scan the area of intruders so they could guard Jace's territory, Hiei.” She stated quietly gaining even more of his attention. “If we were attacked by them, it would mean he knows we are here and knows that we are coming. He's waiting for us, and I don't plan on disappointing him any.”

 

“Hn.” Hiei nodded his head in understand and tried to stand up. But his legs seemed to be like jell-o and shook violently, causing him to fall to the ground once more. Seeing this, Cahadras slightly smirked as she stood up and helped him to stand up. But before she could step away to let him walk on his own, his arm wrapped around her back to use her as support. He knew he couldn't walk, and even though he wasn't going to admit to it, he was still going to use her as a support stand for walking.

 

“If that's the way you want it…” She muttered and the two continued walking towards the cliffs. Their steps were slow because Hiei still couldn't hold his own weight for a bit so he stumbled every now and then, but Cahadras kept him standing up so that he didn't slow the two down too much and the walked fore ward, eye set on what was ahead even though they knew somewhere inside of them that they were too weak for a good fight.

 

And every time he stumbled, his hand that was hanging onto her shoulder would slip and grip a hold of her back. And each time, it caused her to gasp in pain… Curiosity set in, his eyes glanced towards her back and he noticed that her blue hair that once hung down to her mid back… was down to her ankles… and the few silvery streaks in her hair had increased in number. In addition, where his hand landed, right on her shoulder blade was a scar going straight down from the beginning of the shoulder blade and until the end of shoulder blade (on both her shoulder, and a cut in the coat itself). And this wound didn't look like some one caused it… It looked like something had sprouted out of her body instead to cause it…

 

But instead of asking about it, he kept his mouth shut… It wasn't any of his business and he wasn't about to butt into it… Something in the back of his head told him that he should ask… As if he didn't something terrible would happen, but he ignored it.

 

And he didn't notice that Cahadras was breathing heavily and looked about near collapsing herself… As if all the energy she owned had seeped out of her body and she was using every bit of her strength and will power to walk

 

::Later on that Night::

:: Bottom of the Cliffs::

 

The two disgruntled demons trudged along silently as they followed the base of the cliff towards where Cahadras was sure that the trail leading upwards lay. It was getting rather dark and every now and then the two would have to stop their walk so they could wait for their eyes to adjust to the obscenely poor lighting from the sun as they continued on. Hiei, being in a blank phase still, from the close encounter of death that Cahadras had saved him from, walked as if he was dead on his feet, for many things were troubling him.

 

One thing that was apparent in his mind was what would happen once the two gained their items back from Jace. Surely they would part and go their separate ways, he knew that, but for some reason, that very thought made him feel as if is insides were churning and twisting together. There was something about that thought that he just didn't like. And to tell the truth, it confused him. Just merely a week and a half ago he would have probably celebrated parting ways with her once their `mission' was complete and now he felt almost reluctant to even allow her to leave his sight just to use the bathroom!!

 

And not to mention, this feeling had grown even strong inside of him ever since Cahadras had saved his life. He didn't want to admit it to her, but he was grateful. Even though he saw his life as forfeit, he still had things in his life to do before he left this world behind and that girl saving him from those poison darts earlier that day really made him feel grateful to her. Grateful, and lost in his own thoughts, for he had no idea he was so weak… Weak enough to allow a demon to sneak up behind him and shoot a poison dart into his right shoulder. Weak enough to not have sensed the demon in the first place. And all this time he thought that his strength was returning to him, when all along, it was all an illusion.

 

The vision of when he woke up to Cahadras bending over him, laying a wet clothe on his face with slight concern in her eyes flashed before him one more time. His eye sight had been blurry at the time, but the sun shining down behind her illuminated her in a way he had never really seen her in before… For once she didn't look like just a normal average female demon with the female body to boot, she looked, and he couldn't even find the words for it. Because once he had woken up he had actually mistaken her for some ancient angelic siren that legends sung about. And that irked him. The vision of the concern flashing through her eyes repeated in his mind over and over again and each time he saw the vision, the emptier he felt.

 

Shaking the thoughts away, he looked at the back of the girl he had just been thinking about and slowly studied the back of her head as she walked in her briskly fashion. Her hair seems to have a slight bounce to it as it waved back and forth at him (Not literally.) And the moonlight seemed to make it shine more then the sun could. `Why did I never really notice it before…?' He thought quietly to himself… Just this morning he had thought nothing of her looks really and now he seemed to be studying her looks in a certain detail, as if he wanted to remember everything like a picture in his mind when they parted. And he just couldn't seem to place why he was doing it.

 

He slightly pinched himself and continued walking, thoughts like that was something that he didn't need nor want and even if it took him a million days, he'd somehow get rid of those annoying thoughts. He had yet to thank her for tending to his poisoned arm and they were already just a cliff away from where Jace's new hide out had been settled. He could easily tell that they were very close because every time he noticed Cahadras smell the air, her tail and ears would twitch in eagerness and she'd speed up her pace a little more, as if anxious to get her hands around Jace's throat. And each time her ears and tail twitched, he couldn't help but think that it looked rather….

 

His eyes widened as the thought zoomed through his head.

 

Cute.

 

`Hiei no baka!!!' He yelled in his mind and immediately slammed his right foot into his left shin causing him to seethe in pain. Although this action did do what he had wanted, that very horrid word left his mind instantly.

 

That's when he stopped walking, because he heard a twig snap as if someone's feet had stopped in mid step and landed onto the wood making it snap in to. Looking back fore ward, he noticed that what he had heard was Cahadras stopping in her tracks and glancing back forth from side to side. It was rather dark now and he could barely make out the visage of her less than seeing the expression on her face. His feet rest lightly on the ground as he waited for her to say something as the ever throbbing pain in his left shin seemed to grow a red tint to it underneath his pants, more then likely bruised.

 

“I think it's time that we rested for the night, don't you?” Her voice rung out and echoed against the trees as she pivoted on her right foot and spun to face him. Her eyes were narrowed in their normal emotionless expression, but Hiei could clearly notice the feint softened look in her eyes as she glanced at him. He hadn't really noticed it before, but now that he thought about it, each day her eyes grew more and softer when she would talk to him, as if she was beginning to trust him more and more. And if he had seen himself when he looked at her, he would have noticed the exact same things.

 

Fortunate for him neither of the two had a mirror for they had no use for one. You didn't think they they'd just carry one around for good measure did you? Did you?!?! Did you think that Cahadras would carry one too make sure her face looked pretty or something?!?! Did you think that Hiei was messed up in the head and carried a mirror around so he could fix his hair up in the morning!?!?! As funny as a mental image as that is I would THINK NOT!

 

…

 

And I shall take the silence as an agreement and return you to your regularly scheduled One-Shot fanfic.

 

“You seem rather content.” He muttered out snidely as he nodded his head and immediately sat down onto the ground. A slight glare overcame her eyes as she looked at him with a sour expression on her face. With a small `hmph' she tossed her hair out of her face and sat down as well.

 

“I am finally going to get my medallion back…” She scoffed out with a small glare still aiming in his direction. He just shrugged the glare off as he noticed her mouth open to say something else, but oddly she seemed to hesitate to even let the words out. As if she didn't even want to hear them herself. “I am finally going to get it back, and be able to put all this behind me and…..uhhh… Forget all about it.” The words felt like ice jabbing into his heart and judging from the slight twitch in her eye he could tell that she for some reason didn't like what she just said either…

 

Although he really couldn't understand why he suddenly felt cold once those words left her lips.

 

“Hiei.” He was pulled suddenly out of his thoughts as the girl mentioned his name… Yet again, he was surprised by it for she hardly even used his name unless she was adding a profane word into the mix. His head shot up and red eyes met with red eyes as he looked at her questioningly.

 

“What?” He asked in a harsh tone of voice which was surprisingly, unintended. The girl merely shrugged the tone away as she stared straight at him, never losing contact once.

 

“We have been, what, traveling with each other for over a week correct?” She asked quietly, already knowing the answer. When she gained a nod of approval she continued in her low voice, almost as if she was hesitating to even speak out the words that she wanted to say. “I've decided that once we gain our items back we will probably never see each other again, Hiei Jaganshi, but know this,” Her face grew ashen and he could almost see her insides twisting up, egging her to continue even thought something else was telling her to shut up and ignore the subject all together, but as if her twisting insides won, she opened her mouth to say more. “On normal circumstances I would leave the one I was traveling with once the mission was over, never letting them know one thing about me… But you're different, I feel some kind of sense of understanding when I am around you, and it seems to be compelling me to tell you about myself… I know that once we part ways it will probably eat at my insides if I don't, so I am going to let you know…”

 

Hiei's eyes widened up a slight fraction of an inch as her last sentence fragment exited her lips. It was almost as if she was an entirely different person, for the words flew out in a soft tone of voice that no longer held the harsh mistrust in it, but it held soft, understanding and trust that seemed to sound so very much unlike her.

 

“Who I have been, what I am, and what I may become…”

 

“You've lost me…” Hiei muttered out as his eyes bore into her's as he searched for the answers written across her face, she sighed and blew more hair out of her face and stared intently back at him, almost dreading the fact that she was saying this.

 

“I mean, as a parting gift, I'm letting you know my secrets.” Again, his eyes widened as the reality of her words sunk in. Let him know her secrets? That's practically telling him her weaknesses as well! Could she possible trust him enough to know such information? Some fluttered in his heart at this and he felt some strange pride just at the thought she trusted him enough to spill her guts to him, but he quickly pushed the feeling away as if meant nothing.

 

“Why are you-?” He began to ask but her hand lifted swiftly into the air, signaling him to stop, and almost as if he was being controlled by strings, he compiled.

 

“I trust you enough for you to know this, and I know not the reason why…” She explained quietly… “All I know is that when you are around I feel more understood, less alone, and that is enough to even make me want you to know more about me… Do not interrupt me further, or I may lose the courage to tell you.”

 

He wanted to speak, he wanted to make her stop, or at least, he thought he did. As much as he thought that he wanted her to forget the subject all together, his throat seemed to have been frozen, no words would come out no matter how much he opened and closed his mouth… No words formed, so nothing interrupted her as she closed her eyes briefly and sighed… Once the sigh passed away, she began to talk.

 

“I was born to a Fox Demon, my father, and a half Fire Apparition and Half Ice Angel, my mother.” The girl stated quietly. “I also had a six month younger brother, and I was happy to live around them. I felt so happy, so wanted and loved… It was everything that I could ask for.”

 

At this, Hiei noticed pain, sorrow, and fear flash before her eyes and it looked almost as if tears would start pouring out of them. Not wanting to risk that happening, Hiei began to say something, any thing to make her stop, but her mind was settled and her personality stubborn. Before any word could reach his lips, she continued, almost as if interrupting him.

 

“But… All three of them were killed on my brother's fifth birthday… And I had a front row seat to it all…” Cahadras silently muttered and a tear started to slightly form within her eyes. “I was so young, and naïve, and immediately I was forced to grow up, something that still breaks me even `till this day…”

 

Hiei had averted his eyes at this time, for although she hardly spared any details of what exactly had happened, he could feel the pain and hurt within her voice, and it was ripping his soul in half it felt like. But when he turned his head slightly back to look at her, he vaguely saw a tear drop stroll silently down her face and drop off her cheek, and crystallize into a smooth gem before ever hitting the ground. And this shocked him for two reasons, one; that was a tear gem, and only those who can control ice have the power to cry such things… And two; this girl was actually crying silently.

 

“I've lived a life of loneliness ever since. My first kill was as if I was killing myself, and many men, sick in their own ways, tried to rape me. I never felt so alone and misunderstood. Then, one man actually fell in love with me, and died for it… I never had the chance to tell him that I never felt the same, so in a way, I felt as if his death was my own fault. And I was still alone, craving for revenge on my family's death, and I still crave for it.”

 

He could feel the pain, the hurt… Almost as if he felt it before, maybe not in the same situation or way, but he did feel the burning desire to leave the world, the desire for revenge and the pain that kept him so hateful to the world… He had felt it, and now he was feeling her's as if they shared it… One more tear seemed to drop off her cheek and turn into another gem before she continued.

 

“My Jagan, I know you have been wondering about it.” She muttered slightly as she wiped a tear out of her eye. “I got it from a man named Dende Shiget, his father was Mende Shiget. And Mende was an apprentice for the lead man on the operation of the Jagan, Siguire. Neither were allowed nor licensed to even do the operation, but my own crave for revenge took me to him. And I'll never get rid of the memories from those horrid years.”

 

Her voice trailed off as her eyes stared intently into his, her once gruff, mistrustful features had all but left her face, and were covered in pain and hurt, for he could tell she had only given him a brief summary of her life, and not the full version, and just the brief summary, caused two tears of her's to fall.

 

“Now you know…” She muttered. “So now I can rest peacefully once we part knowing I said these things… For I could tell that you would understand, although I know not of all the things that have happened to you, something just told me I should tell, so I did…” she stared in silence now, almost as if she was thinking that he was going to throw an insult at her any minute, but no words seemed to be able to form on Hiei's lips… His mind and emotions were too confused for it.

 

“And if you don't understand me now…” She paused for a second as she turned her back towards him and begun smoothing out her ripped coat to use as a bed for the night once more. “Then I have made a mistake, and will probably get hurt once more…” And with that, she laid down with her eyes closed Hiei guessed, and didn't say another word to him. Although he knew she wasn't asleep, for her breathing was fast as if she was restless her ears were twitching more then they usually did when she was asleep.

 

And he was utterly speechless, the lack of details in her story only made him more speechless, for he could still see and feel how she must have felt, it was almost as if he was feeling those very feelings right now, and although they had different situations; In a way, he did feel those feelings, and he still did. He felt the loneliness, the despair, the pain, the want and need for revenge. He felt them, and he still did, he didn't know what kind of sixth sense this girl had, but he understood every thing she had been feeling, in thus, he understood her, maybe not to a full extent since she only gave him a briefing, but he understood.

 

“You must have felt….” He rephrased the word as he begun to speak quietly, making sure that here ear twitched towards him so that he knew she was listening; he began to speak once more. “You must -feel- despair, pain, loneliness, desperation, and a need for revenge that burns so deep within you, that you can't see anything else worth living for in life…” His words struck a chord as the girl slowly rolled over to look at him with widened eyes. “I know of these feelings, and I understand them, for I feel them too. Although, unlike you, I'm not going to tell you about my past, for I don't think I really need to.”

 

“So… You do understand…” She breathed out quietly as her tail moved a few inches off the ground and then flapped against it once more creating some dust to pick up. Hiei's gaze never left her's as he tried to think of another answer. On normal circumstances, he wouldn't tell her that he understood, around any one else he wouldn't either, but there was something about her… Something that she did to him that caused him to trust saying these things, to not feel as if he's going to be thrown out if he did.

 

“Yes, I understand, and I can understand why you felt so lonely as well. I can also understand why you fear it… Although I never feared it, for I felt it ever since the day I was born… You on the other hand, were forced into feeling it, causing you to fear it…” His voice trailed off as the intensity of their stares began to force him into silence, although he had said all that he had wanted to say, but still the stare that the two of them were sharing seemed to have no need for talk, just the looks in their eyes was all they needed to know what the other was wanting to say.

 

She was shocked, nothing more nothing less, the look in her eyes as she stared intently at him had many emotions flickering through it at quick intervals as if he could see her inner mind struggling for a comment on this. She seemed lost, as if she had no idea what to do when some one actually understood her, as if she needed a hand to guide her, but there was none to take hold to. She blinked quite a few times as his eyes bore into hers for quite some time, the crickets had begun to chirp by now and it had seemed that they were consumed in silence.

 

And that's when the silence was broken; the rustling of the girl's coat could be heard as she stood up off of it and walked over towards where Hiei was sitting at. He, of course, had no idea what was going through her mind, but her walking stopped when she was directly a foot away from him. He glanced up at her, refusing to turn his head upwards too look at her and he could see a contented look of sheer demanding covering her face. And with a somewhat harsh, tense, but soft voice, she spoke.

 

“Stand up, Hiei.”

 

Now, on normal circumstances he would sneer up at her and ask in a snide tone of voice why he should even listen to what she was saying. But there was something in the tone of her voice and in her eyes, and without him needing to even tell his body, he involuntarily stood up. He rose to his full height to see that she was actually about an inch taller than him when it came to the exact point of it, even though, that still meant she was short. And since they were only a foot away from each other, they could easily feel the body heat radiating and cumulating. He had no clue what she had wanted of him to have him stand up, but a serious look was in her eyes so he assumed that it was something important. But that was before he saw the serious look changed to a look of kindness and care that nearly sent Hiei reeling into a mind full of confusion… Only, her last action pulled that off.

 

With nothing less than utter shocking surprise, Hiei suddenly felt Cahadras' tail wrap around his waist, her gaze never left his and he could have sworn that he saw her lips slightly curve into a very small smile… Hardly noticeable, but it was there.And he paused for a moment, and pretty soon an even more shocked expression came upon his expression ... she was using her tail to... HUG HIM!! And just when he was about to throw a conniption and as suddenly as the hug began, her tail unwrapped around him and her eyes narrowed slightly.

 

“That's my thanks…” She muttered quietly as her tail flittered behind her as if it was trying to knock off what ever germs it had just received from that strange hug. “My thanks for understanding… No one has ever understood before…” And with that, she turned back around, walked over, and sat back down onto her ripped coat… And for the record, her tail never did stop fluttering violently as if was yelling something along the lines of `That contaminated me!!!'

 

Hiei merely blinked, for his limbs didn't seem to want to move now… He was shocked, confused, surprised… Let's just say he was forced into a standstill as his left eye began twitching.

 

“Oh and by the way…” Cahadras' voice spoke out again as she rolled over on her coat, keeping her back towards him. “You would -never- catch me doing what my tail did with my hands, trust me on that notion.” And with that, Hiei heard no more for the girl had seemingly fallen asleep.

 

 

:: The Next Day ::

:: Nearing Noon ::

 

 

The poison had long disappeared out of Hiei's system this day and the wounds that were on Cahadras appeared to have all healed up. But the gashes on her back were still there, like there would be a never ending scar there until the ends of time. Hiei noticed them each time her hair moved, but he never mentioned it to the girl. Both had come upon a silent agreement to get to Jace's hideout before it was noon, and it was nearing noon now. Now words were to be spoken for both demons were concentrating on making their way up the cliff path that Cahadras had surprisingly found earlier that morning.

 

They had been climbing up the path, getting higher and higher in elevation with each passing moment, for about 5 hours now. Under normal circumstances, Hiei wouldn't mind, but from climbing higher and higher each minute, his feet were starting to get rather sore. But he said nothing, for the vile stench of Jace was finally starting to reach his nose, and like Cahadras was last night, he was in a rather anxious exited mood to get his sword through the man's stomach at this moment.

 

And it seemed that the higher they climbed, the thicker the trees began to grow. Both had walk side by side to keep the other from slipping from the steep climb, but even that was becoming hard to do since the trees were getting closer and closer together with each passing moment.

 

As was mentioned, the two were walking in utter silence for they were concentrating on making it up the cliff. Seconds passed, and seconds turned to minutes, and minutes to what seemed like hours, and just as they were about to just sit down and give them selves a break, they stumbled upon a few rocks and realized that they were now at the top…

 

Only thing left was to find Jace.

 

“Can you smell him anywhere?” Hiei asked quietly for he didn't want to speak to loudly… For if he did that he may be heard by one of Jace's many scouts walking around the area and today was the day they were going to attack… Not getting a surprise attack in motion would just completely ruin it. His eyes slowly glanced at Cahadras as he waited for an answer, but all he received was her sticking her nose in the air, closing her eyes slightly and sniffing slightly. It would have been humorous at the time if Hiei's mind wasn't stuck on ripping Jace's heart out.

 

“*sniff.**sniff.*” Her nose scrunched up as she took a whiff out of the air two more times, but as disgruntled as she looked, he could tell she caught something for her tail had begun to twitch rapidly…. He found it actually odd, he could tell her every emotion just with a twitch of a tail, and it was also quite humoring.

 

“His minions are all over the place…” She mumbled quietly as her eyes glanced over at him as well. “The stench could knock a mere ningen out…” Her eyes closed slightly as she took another whiff of the air, but this only caused her nose to scrunch up more as look of disgust appeared on her face. “And disappointingly, Jace seems to smell better then them…”

 

Hiei blinked slightly and questioned back rather quickly, “You can smell that bastard?” The corner of his eyes noticed her nod her head slightly as her right arm rose and pointed in a direction that seemed to be leading towards the East, and that, strangely enough, was where the cliff's edge began…

 

“I smell his putrid- but not as rancid- scent directly that way…” She muttered again… “And judging from the smell he's preparing for us, he's quite sweaty from practicing his kata.” Her nose scrunched up in disgust again as she sent a slight glare towards Hiei. “Reminds me of when you were practicing yours just a few days ago…” He shrugged at this.

 

“I'm not about to put perfume on to cover up the fact I was training.” He muttered quickly back causing her to give him a sour look.

 

“I told you, it's not perfume it's-. “ Her voice was cut off before she could even finish by Hiei's own mocking one.

 

“Herbs that cover up one's scent to keep them from getting caught by enemies easily…” He recited as if he heard the phrase quite a few times. To his humor, a small growl erupted in her throat and he couldn't help but smirk at the known fact that he had annoyed her. “I think you said it before…Excuse me, I think you said it about 5 times before…” His smirk continued and she averted her side ways gaze away from his and stared in the direction that she had earlier pointed in.

 

“Let's go and get this over with already…” She muttered hastily and began to trudge up the path she had pointed out with a slight agitated twitch happening on her ears every now and then… Hiei shrugged with his jerk smirk still on his face as he shrugged and walked after her, silently, for they wanted to kill Jace in a surprise attack, quickest way to get it done in their personal opinions.

 

 

 

The wind was howling it felt like, for they were up at such a high elevation that the cool winds felt even cooler as they blew and along with the cold, they had a more forceful push in them as well. Cahadras' hair was blowing wildly, Hiei noted, and it seemed to be even wilder since her hair now reached her ankles instead of the middle of her back, and it seemed to be annoying her greatly. He could have taken time to laugh at this, but their silent trudging along up the path wasn't as long as they had hoped, for just as his mind was about to slip into a small day dream until he reached his destination, the girl suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, spun around -Grabbing Hiei's wrist in the process- and tugged him behind a set of bushes.

 

“What the-..?!” Before the question could even leave his throat, her fingers landed on his lips in a signal for silence and his eyes glared at hers for a second before he noticed that she was pointing outside the bushes… Curiosity set in, and instead of yelling at her for those sudden movements, his eyes peeked out through the bushes… And as he did so, a low and steady growl began to seep through his pursed lips.

 

They were there, or in other words, they had finally reached their destination, the one place that they had their minds set on for those weeks, and they were finally there. It almost seemed, to Hiei, as if he was lost in a dream, for he was sure that he was never going to get his Mother's Tear Gem back. The very scene where it was all going to end and I say this why? Just outside of the bushes the very two Fire Apparitions hid in, there was a vast clearing, around 67 yards long but maybe only 13 yards wide. No grass or weed grew in this clearing; all they could see was dirt, and a lot of it. And the clearing suddenly ended on the left side, in a sudden drop, the edge of the cliff was where it ended, probably about 500 feet up in the air, and a nasty little fall it would be as well.

 

But that wasn't the only thing that they could see through those little wholes in that bush they hid behind… For right in the middle of the vast clearing, was a famous rock Demon Bandit, practicing his Kata, just feet away from the edge.

 

They had found the Double J, Jace the Rock Demon bandit… And he looked tired then ever since it looked that he had been practicing all day without a minutes rest.

 

This was it, raging thoughts were racing through Hiei's mind as he watched the man he hated most at the time practice his sword skills without a care in the world just before him… Anger swelled up within in him as he resisted the urge to leap out just then and go for an attack, and it was taking all his will power just to keep him from growling loudly in anger… And almost as if Cahadras sensed his raging battle within his mind, she placed a hand upon one of his now clenched fists and gave it a tight squeeze to gain his attention… And it was enough, for no female have ever grabbed his hand before, so her actions served its purpose well enough.

 

“Hiei…” She muttered quietly as her eyes, filled with an unspeakable rage, stared at the demon just ahead doing jumps and slices with his sword on invisible foes. “Let me have a try at him first…” In seconds he was about to protest but her voice interrupted him. “You have no control of your anger right now and would be easily subdued, so let me go first until you gain some amount of control…” Her voice was tense, serious sounding and strict, as if something was taking over her as of the moment… As if she was changing into that emotionless fighter once more…

 

And her words had sense to them, and they compelled him to nod his head in agreement, but before she even left her spot, she added in another view point for him to think over.

 

“I have a huge dept I must pay back to him Hiei…” She muttered, “A dept that runs deep within my pride… And I intent on paying him back, so don't interfere, understand?”

 

Before he could even nod his head, her body had flickered out of site as she seemingly ran off to prepare a surprise attack against the unsuspecting Jace… All he could do was sit and wait… And boy he was getting impatient.

 

The wind began to howl even louder as the time passed by, and he didn't know if he should listen to what Cahadras was saying, or just begin the fight now… For at the rate it was going, he felt as if Jace's head was never going to be chopped off. And that was really bugging him, like the ground was burning underneath him, just begging him to attack… But his pride and honor held him still as another thing inside of him forced him to trust Cahadras' words and wait…

 

And after that decision was made, he didn't have to wait much longer.

 

The man was huffing, breathing heavily from his lack of rest and it almost seemed as if he was using all he had just to hold his sword up… Of course, if he was attacked, this would probably chance in a matter of moments and he would be brought to the defenses, better then what his opponent may have gather. But in this instant, no opponent came running out at him… Instead, from a small tree a little over 10 yards away from where Hiei resides, a stick, of fairly good size, flew through the air and landed with a `THUNK!' into Jace's head.

 

This, in turn, caused Jace to fall a few inches fore ward, gain his bearings and twirl around in time to see the stick fall harmlessly to the ground. The hit didn't seem to hurt him all that much, but it sure did gain his attention… Immediately his sword was up in a defensive posture and his eyes were intently scanning the area in a narrowed glare.

 

“Who's there?!” He yelled out and his voice echoed around the place making it easy for even Hiei to hear the man's voice. Jace's eyes continued to scan the area as his hands gripped the hilt of his sword tightly in his grasp and he seemed to grow agitated at not receiving an answer. “Speak I say!”

 

And with that final outburst, a new voice sprang out of the trees, sounding confident and cocky as if these words had been practiced for many a day. Hiei recognized the voice immediately, and knew that the battle was about to begin, and not wanting to be caught off guard, he slowly drew his sword for his own protection.

 

“You seem to be lacking in your senses Double J… From all the legends I heard of you in, you always knew when things like a small twig were headed your way… And what's this that I see? You couldn't even stop that small twig from hitting you in the head… You disappoint me Jace.”

 

Immediately a growl erupted in Jace's throat and he kicked the twig away with unneeded force, sending it flying off the cliff. And his glare only hardened as he stared off in the direction where he could have sworn the voice came from.

 

“Show yourself, coward!!” He yelled out once more… Hiei nearly sweat dropped at the Irony of the man's words… For the only coward he saw there, was the man who had just finished his Kata… And at those words, a cocky chuckle emitted from the bushes as if Jace had said something peculiarly funny.

 

“Before you start calling some one a coward, you should accept what you are first…” The voice mumbled out in its quite cocky chuckle. “But as you ask, I'll show myself...”

 

Immediately the tree trembled as if something was about to leap out of it, and as the leaves started moving, Jace immediately shot his right hand forward, and the force caused the hand to glow in a purplish light, and from the energy emitting from his hands, rocks, sharp as daggers, sprouted out of his hands and were flung straight into the tree. Hiei, for a moment thought they had hit the person residing in there, but the thought left his head for he did not hear the piercing of flesh.

 

“And here I thought I was the coward…” The cocky voice muttered, and to Jace's utter surprise, it was coming from right behind him… “But only cowards do an attack like that, you need a punishment for such a scrawny blow…”

 

And immediately, in a brief moment, faster then Jace could turn his body around, two feet kicked up into the air, sprung fore ward, and imbedded themselves into to the rock Demon's back… The force of this drop kick immediately knocked the wind out of him, but that wasn't all it did, for he was sent flying fore ward, face first in the dirt.

 

Jace's eyes twitched and his growl became louder, and with the anger of his nose now being smashed in, he quickly rolled over to see his attacker. And falling to the ground, was a blue haired, half fox demon, half Fire Apparition, falling to the ground in a fluid motion, heading back to the dirt, where her feet had first came from.

 

“The wench!” Jace gasped out as her hands and feet caught herself just seconds before she landed, and without skipping a beat her feet pushed upwards causing her to flip over backwards, and perform a back hand spring, forcing her to land back on her feet, staring intently at Jace.

 

“Hn… So nice to see you Jace…” Her voice huffed out seconds after landing as Jace continued staring at her in shock… “It's time I paid my dept to you in full, its called revenge; understand?” Jace slowly began to stand up at these words as he looked at her questioningly through the eyes, but her anger was apparent in her emotionless voice, and there was no chance that she was going to allow any more words to fly out of this demons mouth.

 

Her eyes flashed white for a brief moment and her Spirit energy spiked as well, immediately she sprinted foreword and brought her right fist back as it began to glow with a blackish aura, filled with nightmaric flames. Her speed increased and before Jace was even halfway off the ground; her right fist flew foreword and embedded itself right in between his eyes. Fire crackled and sparks flew off her hands as a her fist, smashing against his face reverberated across the way, and once more Jace's body flew backwards, causing him to meet the ground once more…

 

And there she stood, glaring utter death and hatred, as the blackest of flames burned around her hand… Her pupils once more were disappearing to non existent and it looked almost as if she was becoming what one would call a monster.

 

“It's called the Nightmare Flame fist… My specialty move…” Her voice muttered in a low, matter-of-fact tone of voice as if she was teaching a child how to fight. “I do hope you get used to it… For you are getting a million more of them… That one was for being a coward… And this next one will be for poisoning Hiei.”

 

Jace groaned in pain, for the force of the punch had caused a dent to appear on his fore head and he was sure that he was going to have a bruise there in the morrow… (If he lives that long that is.) And although he wondered why she said “This Next one” for she hadn't moved for her next attack yet, his anger and hate was flashing through his eyes and he was seconds away from sinking into the ground and attacking her from below…

 

But that's when that “next one” made contact with him… The indention on his fore head suddenly started glowing a bright red and an intense burning sensation suddenly over took his mind, as if he was having a migraine, only it was the outer parts of his head. The pain gradually grew in strength and felt as if hot pokers were being pressed into his fore head… Mouth widening a gap, his eyes fell upon the emotionless Cahadras who stared at him… And he let out his words...

 

“AAAAUUUGGHHH!!” That was more like a scream in pain.

 

“As I said…” Cahadras' voice mumbled quietly… My Nightmare Flame fist… Its contact is that of a normal punch with spirit energy added into it… But the nightmare begins once the Flames of Darkness enter your mind…” Her voice trailed off as Jace fell to the ground and clutched his head in pain and began writhing around as if he was being electrocuted from the inside out.

 

“Hn…” Without even waiting for the pain to wear off, she immediately took action, flickering out of site once more and seconds later she reappeared next to Jace's fallen form. And with a sudden maliciousness in her eyes, her leg shot out in a swift snap kick, making contact with his ribs and sending him rolling feet away from her, and even closer to the edge. And to her satisfaction, that kick in the ribs caused the sound of bones cracking to reach her ears, and this told her that she had broken a few of his ribs.

 

Her voice was silent now, not one little peep exited her lips, blood lust was within her eyes and the death of Jace was apparent in her mind… Not even thinking things through now, she withdrew Meshinki from its sheath, and she charged, straight on after Jace, full speed, and ready to make the killing blow as the Rock Youkai struggled to even stand. In her mind, she wanted this fight to end quickly, the only thing Jace -ever- deserved for stealing her medallion and all those other things was a quick and sudden death… And so, without even thinking, she decided to grant him that death.

 

In her mind, it was all over, Jace would be gone and her debts be paid… Blood lust reigned in her eyes and her hatred soon took complete control over her mind, making her run all the more faster, and slam her sword in a swift thrust for the killing blow. The sword sliced through the air one might say as even Hiei could hear its swishing sounds as the sword made its way ever closer to Jace's neck. But, as much as a killing blow as this was, Cahadras failed to notice the man's hand gripping the ground and begin glowing in a yellow light of spirit energy.

 

Her one grave mistake.

 

CRACK!!!

 

Meshinki, her very trusted sword that she had ever since she was 9 years old, suddenly slipped from her grasp, the hilt fell to the ground in a heap of metal, and the girl's eyes widened up considerably. For the other half of the blade went souring through the air right off the cliff… The blood lust immediately left her eyes as she saw three rocks, sharper then knives jutting out of the ground; their points were sharp and their thickness a perfect defense… And to her disadvantage, the rocks had cut her sword in half… Her eyes watched the hilt of her sword fall to the ground, and she felt as if a part of her heart was going down with it… For they say, those who have a love for fighting, put their hearts in their weapons, and her most prized weapon was destroyed.

 

Her mind was in a state of shock, for that was her prized sword, one that had helped her in many battles, and her own carelessness destroyed it. It was like a dagger of ice piercing through her heart and the shock of this revelation caused her to lower her hands, open and ready for any kind of attack to befall her. And Jace was ready to take this to his advantage, for even though he was wounded, that last attacked boosted up his energy, enough to make him shoot off the ground and land a heavy blow into Cahadras stomach with a right handed fist.

 

And all the while Hiei watched as her body flew through the air and landed against the ground. And he never noticed his growl increasing and the utter hatred that was now boiling inside of him.

 

His eyes watched in slow motion as Jace landed blow upon blow upon the now defenseless Cahadras.

 

Jace's fist flew through the air and connected with her shocked face causing her to fall to the ground… Too shocked and lost in a memory to do a thing.

 

And his foot came out of nowhere, digging into her gut and launching her even further backwards.

 

Hiei resisted the urge to stand up and interfere as he saw Jace concentrate all of his energy into his hand, making it into a hard solid rock. He even resisted the urge to run out and interfere when Jace ran up to the girl who was trying with all her might to stand back up and he flinched and used all of his will power to stop himself from interfering when Jace slammed his hard as a rock fist against the girls head… Knocking her out instantly… And her words rang through his mind “Don't interfere, you understand?” And his body was frozen in place… It was a matter of honor that he not interferes, but this girl was knocked out, and there was nothing he can do, for he never backed out of things like this… But with each time he blinked, his anger and hatred began to boil up inside of him until he felt as if he was going to burst.

 

“Now, how does it feel to be beaten you wench!?!?!” Jace spat out as he brought his right foot backwards, And in doing so, a yellow energy surrounded his leg and slowly materialized into a hardened rock as well. “That medallion is mine you bitch and you're not getting it back!!” With that said he swung his stone foot foreword, hitting her in the ribs, and cracking what sounded to be about 5 of them… And with the force of that kick, blood seeped out of the girl's mouth and her body rolled across the ground, landing closer to the trees and farther away from her assaulter.

 

A smirk graced Jace's lips as he walked slowly towards the girl who didn't even have color in her eyes any more… Her body was stiff, rigid, and almost lifeless, as if the shock of her sword being broken was too much and she had no way to protect herself… Jace had seen this, and used it to his advantage, and now he was wanting more… His hand slowly went into his shirt pocket and pulled out two necklaces and held them erectly in the sunlight as he continued his walk towards the girl.

 

“Trying so hard to get these back…Don't worry, love…” Jace muttered, almost as if to himself… “I'll bury them with you once I'm done with your body…” And with that, his hands opened, and the necklaces gleamed in his hands before he safely tucked them back into his shirt pocket with that snide smirk plastered upon his face. And that's when Hiei recognized the trinkets.

 

Those were the medallion and his tear gem…

 

“…The whore…” Jace continued as he stopped inches away from Cahadras' lifeless form, and Hiei quickly noticed Jace's eyes trail up and down the girl's battered body and an unspeakable anger suddenly swelled up within his stomach… For Jace was looking Cahadras over with a look of pure lust and low class thoughts racing across his face.

 

“Might as well get what I wanted before this all happened, before I kill you, Cahadras… Your body will be mine…” And that's when a mind of a battered soul snapped in half.

 

FWOOSH!

 

Jace didn't even see if coming when a sudden energy of fire shot out of the trees and slammed straight against his back… The only thing he did see, was a searing pain flash against his eyes as his whole back lit up in black flames of anger and hate.

 

“AAAGGH!!!” The Youkai screamed loudly as he backed away involuntarily as the fire began to lick and burn against his demon flesh, the pain was intense and Jace felt as if it was the Nightmare Flame fist all over again!! His feet tripped, and hell fell to the ground writhing around once more, only his writhing put the fire out, to his utter glee. And once that pain left his mind, the heat of a spiking energy hit his body full force, causing him to glance towards the trees the fire beam had shot out from.

 

There was Hiei, standing out in the open, eyes narrowed in a tight glare, teeth gritted together, with the most malicious look on his face Jace had ever encountered in his life. Not only that, blue Spirit Energy was surrounding his entire body while the new Jagan upon his fore head glowed with a malevolent, unholy light. The sight, in and of itself, brought a chill slamming across Jace's spine.

 

“Leave the girl.” The Fire Apparitions cold voice echoed amongst the cliff in a demanding like way. His stare had long locked into Jace's eyes and it seemingly froze the Rock Youkai in place, and without him noticing, his legs had begun to shake. “Your quarrel is with me now, you sick, sad excuse for a demon.” His words spat out utter venom that could make any smart demon tremble in fear and want to run for his mother. But Jace, for one didn't have a mother, and he also wasn't the type to follow his instincts either.

 

“So, even the bastard is here, and I thought you two would want to do this separately.” The man commented in a snide tone of voice as his interest left the fallen form of Cahadras and was now looking upon Hiei. His knuckles cracked together as he began to walk towards where the fire apparition stood, for it's not much of a fight when you're not in hitting distance. Although, there was a weird vibe growing around Hiei, his eyes looked blank, and his whole face was masked in an emotionless, blank stare, but his spirit energy was flaring in anger with each beat of his heart.

 

“We made a deal, she would lead me to you and I would help get our things back…” Hiei commented quietly, almost as if Cahadras meant nothing to him, as if he only lived for the fight that was about to commence... “You have won your fight with her,… but I assure you…” His voice dropped another octave as he spoke in the most malevolent of voices he could muster… “Your blood will be spilled with -my- hands for what your filthy hands did to HER!!!”

 

Now, for some reason his words didn't sound all to convincing in Jace's mind… The cold tones of cruelty that flowed through his words were probably the cause of it… Jace couldn't sense any anger, nothing… He could only see the lust within Hiei's eyes to make Jace live through a literal living hell. But his voice was too low, and didn't sound all to convincing, until he rephrased his words.

 

“I should say, for what foul acts you have placed upon Cahadras in this fight, are now mine to bear… And for EVER even thinking of raping an unconscious girl, I WILL MAKE SURE THAT YOUR DEATH IS AS LINGURING AND PAINFUL AS POSSIBLE!!!!”

 

The Fire Apparition screamed out his hatred and rage in just those few sentences as the over powering rage swiftly went through Jace's ears and caused his whole body to tremble numbly, for only a split second… And that was the end of their conversation.

 

For the true battle just began… Spirit Energy, not as strong as one would think, but strong enough, radiated off of Hiei's body as his own angry growls echoed across the ground… His eyes, once blood red, were now glowing bright red as if some inner devil was taking complete control of him… His hands slowly reached for his sword sheath as he drew his sword in the swiftest of motions and his Jagan continued glowing in its un heavenly light…

 

Jace blinked, for only a split second, but once his eyes opened once more, they widened in shock, for Hiei was no longer where he once was; only an after image was fading away where the thief's eyes looked. The fire apparition was no where to be seen… But his grey eyes widened all the more when the form of the fire apparition immediately appeared in front of him and as blast of psychic energy shot out from his Jagan and pounded against Jace's body, and almost immediately, he couldn't get his limbs to move.

 

Without a word, a cruel smirk graced Hiei's angered face as his hands shot out and grabbed a hold of the collar on Jace's shirt… And with a great heave and work of the upper chest muscles, he used strength that he didn't know he could bring out of himself, to lift Jace up and toss him over his head, sending him flying towards the ground, and even closer to the cliff… Before Jace's landing, Hiei flickered out of site once more, reappeared next to the falling form of Jace and dealt a hard elbow to the man's neck, thrusting him into the ground and causing a small indention to appear around the demon and dust to spring up and surround the two.

 

Jace's eyes slightly opened as he glared straight into Hiei's face, fire burning eyes met with cold grey as the thief slyly, without the Fire apparitions attention, shot out a rather thin rock out of his hands and injected it in the ground surrounding Hiei's feet. And the Fire Apparition never noticed the crack appear in the ground an encircle him, all he saw was a smirk grace Jace's lips that he felt the strong need to wipe off with his fist.

 

With their own thoughts in mind, Jace stood up and a glaring match began between the two. Their eyes melded together in a silent staring fight as each man tried to study one another, to find their weaknesses, and to decide the rules of battle. The dust that had surrounded the two now was suddenly blown away when a gust of wind began to blow violently, causing their hair to wave back and forth in wicked ways.

 

And then, just as suddenly as it began, the wind stopped… And the two decided their fighting terms.

 

A fist on fist battle, first to fall was the loser…

 

Immediately their fists shot out!! Hiei's right hand connected with the jaw bone of Jace while Jace's left hand shot out and connected with Hiei's stomach. Both men grunted from the forces of the punches, but nothing was going to stand in Hiei's way of killing this man, and this thief was stuck on keeping his life…

 

Hiei quickly moved his hand up and foreword in an upper cut like motion.

 

Jace was hit, but regained his balance quickly before slamming his first foreword.

 

Hiei swiftly dodged and slammed his fist into Jace's stomach.

 

Jace grunted in pain, but slammed his own hand into Hiei's forehead.

 

Hiei seethed in pain but slammed his right hand out none the less.

 

Jace dodged the attack and moved his right hand up in an upper cut like motion.

 

Hiei regained his balance quickly before slamming his own fist foreword.

 

Jace swiftly dodged and slammed his fist into Hiei's stomach.

 

Hiei grunted and rammed his right hand upwards none the less.

 

(And I thank -Danny Boy- for the idea of how to write the scene mentioned above.)

 

And that's when Jace dodged this last punch and slammed both of his hands into Hiei's shoulders and gripped against them tightly as if he was going to grip the life right out of them. His teeth grinded together as Jace's nails dug straight into his skin before a piercing pain shot right through his shoulders… Blood spilled out of the wounds that were now there from the sharp rocks jutting out of Jace's hands and ramming themselves into his shoulder bones.

 

And that's when that new pain caused the fist to fist game to end… Hiei's eyes widened in pain as the rocks dug into his shoulder and caused the blood to continue pouring out slowly… And with a smirk on his face, Jace began his next attack as Hiei gritted his teeth in pain and his hands quickly grabbed a hold of his aching shoulders.

 

“DIE!!” Jace screamed as his whole fist changed form into a solid rock and rammed against Hiei's left shoulder, where the neck begin.… The pain immediately caused Hiei's pupils to dilate as his whole body slumped to the ground, and this action caused Jace to smirk in triumph, for the Apparitions death was assured once he tried to stand up. For once Hiei had fallen, the crack surrounding him in the ground had slowly widened.

 

No one noticed the pounding beat emit out of the fallen form of a girl's body, or the slight changing of blue hair to silver…

 

Red eyes opened from near the trees as a raging thought went flying through the victims head… `That pain again…. It over powers me but I don't want to feel that pain again!! I can't let it take control of me!!'

 

Red eyes changed to silver as their pupils disappeared and the fallen form viewed the seen from a front row seat, knowing all too well the trap Jace had set…

 

Another pounding beat emitted from the girl

 

Hiei's eyes glared up into Jace's as the pain all but subsided from his two shoulders. Blood poured out of one shoulder while the other seemed to grow immensely numb, as if it had lost all its will to move… And a brief thought crossed his mind, wondering why Jace hadn't finished him off yet… What was he waiting for?

 

Blue fox attributed soon began to turn to silver, but still the men did not notice, and the realization of the fire apparition's predicament soon caused the figures heart beat to speed up and anger to flash sky high…

 

“Stand up…” Jace muttered down towards Hiei as his unmistakable smirk played on his lips. “I'd hate to kill a man who is glued to the ground…” The words felt like a slap to Hiei's face, for he heard them some where before… Cahadras had said those very words to Jace and now he was defiling them. Anger swelled up inside of him as these words took place within his mind as his body slowly began to rise.

 

And Jace's smirk only widened as the rock he had dug into the ground started to break away at the cliff's edge Hiei was standing on, bit by bit…

 

He was too his knees now, and they were slowly bending, anytime now, Jace assumed, and Hiei would be making his trip to the ground.

 

“RAAARRGGH!!!” A screeching sound emitted all around them freezing both men in their place… Its sound was that of a harpies screech only more Angelic and its screech pierced their very ears. And it all, but interrupted Jace's moment of Triumph… Four eyes immediately looked towards where the voice had come from, and each eye widened in utter shock and amazement.

 

There Cahadras stood, bruised and battered as ever, but she no longer looked like Cahadras. Her height was all the same and so was her figure, but there was something different about her. Her eyes were completely silverish grey and there were no pupils within in them to shine off her no abnormally alabaster pale skin… Her once fox-like fangs were now large in size and her hair, fox ears and tail, had gone completely silver… And resting upon the lid of her jagan eye…

 

Was a black gemstone, embedded within the skin.

 

Hiei wasn't sure weather to believe his eyes or think he had gone crazy, and the shocked silence of Jace could have meant the very same… And it if wasn't for the fact that an angered energy full of hate and concern wasn't radiating off her body in waves, the two would have found her majestic.

 

“JAAAACCCEEE!!!” Her scream erupted from her throat, sounding more like a screech then anything else and the two could barely tell it was even saying a name, but a strong energy was emitting from her and she seemed to have become possessed… And before either man could react, she shot forward like a javelin, running at high speeds as if she had wings to give her an extra boost in her running.

 

Her speed shocked even Hiei for a split second as the two boys watched her run at them with nothing, but utter maliciousness flashing across her eyes… But almost immediately, as if some fear had taken over him, Jace flung his hands foreword and began shooting on sharp rocks upon rocks at the girl, to stop her in her tracks.

 

“USELESS!!” She screeched out once more and with amazing agility her feet maneuvered her around most of the rocks while other's hit against her body and fell harmlessly to the floor… And as invincible as this sounds, Hiei could tell that although they fell off of her, she was in extreme pain… But something deep within her kept her going…

 

“Don't stand up Hiei or it's your death!!” She screeched out once more, and her silver eyes glowed brightly and her speed increased, by now Jace was frozen with fear…

 

So he had no way of stopped it when she dropped kicked to the ground, running into the two necklaces in the process, dragging them with her, and ramming her legs right into Jace's, knocking them completely out from under him. And almost as if in slow motion, Jace's body began to fall…

 

Right off the cliff…

 

“AAAHH!!!!” The scream of Jace could be heard for miles as he suddenly made an irreversible pummel to the 500 feet of ground below. His body whistled through the air and soon he became nothing, but a speck falling towards the ground below.… But this wasn't a cause for festivities, for just as Hiei watched his fall, Cahadras pushed her feet into his sides, sending him sprawling out and away at least 6 feet from where the ledge was… And now she was the one standing where Hiei once stood.

 

And the last thing that Hiei saw of Jace was his foot scrape against the ledge before making its fall to the ground.

 

And then there was silence.

 

Shock had overcame Hiei at this time so all that he could do was stare at Cahadras, who was staring intently back at him… Her eyes were drooping and she was panting heavily, almost as every bit of energy in her entire body was being sucked out and she was about near collapsing… The two stared at each other like this for the most longest of time, not even noticing that the two necklaces had fallen off the cliff as well, following right behind Jace.

 

And as they continued looking at each other… Cahadras slowly began to change back to her normal looking features… Her hair slowly retraced back to its blue color, but stayed silver in some strands of hair, and her once silver eyes soon returned to their blood red ones… And pretty soon in this silence, Hiei was no staring at the girl he had been traveling with, not the one that he couldn't begin to describe in words.

 

“And you got the last hit….” Hiei muttered quietly as a breath of relief escaped his lips… Cahadras nodded her head and slightly smirked at him…

“I had more things to get him about then you had, of course I did…”

“Then why don't you move so we can get out of here?” He couldn't believe he said that… He had said “we”, as if they were still going to be traveling together after this was all said and done… He had said we, when he was so sure that they were going to part ways…

 

“That sounds nice…” The words pounded into his head causing his brain to stop thinking altogether for a split second… With widened eyes, his gaze bore into her soft gaze as her body slowly started to stand up so that they could leave…

 

Her legs pushed her body up and her weight pressed against the rock below her, and that's when Hiei heard the crack in the boulder…

 

Cahadras froze instantly as both their eyes looked to the ground below the girl. And to Hiei's utter shock, a crack had formed all around the girl from the rock Jace had wedged into the weak ground, and as if her weight was the button, the weak rock was beginning to crack and break off.

 

It was all slow motion for Hiei, he first heard the crack, and then Cahadras' shocked eyes went and stared at him and he suddenly saw her lips move in a motion that seemed to say “Please forgive me…” And then, as if time sped up, the rock cracked and slipped off the ledge, and her own body began it's fall down the cliff.

 

“Cahadras!!!” The yell came out of his mouth before he could even think as his body shot up off the ground and ran towards the girl who had begun her own fall… With wide shocked eyes, she fell backwards as Hiei's hand reached out to her and grabbed a hold…

 

Of the red scarf that was loosely wrapped around her neck.

 

FLIP!

 

The scarf unwrapped and the girl shot down from the cliff at high speeds… In the eyes of Hiei, it was almost in slow motion as her body twisted from the pressure of the fall and her eyes stared up at his as they became even smaller as she pummeled to the ground and his shocked eyes carefully burned the vision of the girl as she fell… Her saddened look and disappointed face that was consumed by fear, her hair blowing upwards from the fall, and her eyes saying over and over in his mind, `Please forgive me.' And then her body disappeared out of his site.

 

“CAHADRAS!!!” An even louder yell leapt out of his throat before he could stop himself… But there was nothing more he could do, for yelling was not going to stop her downward fall… And he was sure that vision was never going to ever leave his mind.

 

`To which this girl falls, and I know not as to why I feel so heart-stricken and broken.'

 

 

:: A week later ::

 

Hiei walked diligently through the outer parts of the trees as his eyes scanned the ground for any sign of the girl that he had been traveling with. The first day that he had gone looking, he had found Jace's bloodied corpse at the bottom of the cliff, surprisingly with Cahadras' broken sword point piercing through his heart, as strange as this was, he didn't question it. And he knew, somewhere inside of him, that this girl was more then likely dead… but some emotion compelled him to look. Even though it had been seven days since she had fallen, this emotion continued to bind him to his task. He had still never sorted out what emotions he felt for the girl, and here he was looking for her body, hoping to find the answers. And that's when he realized that he had stepped on something rather hard…

 

He stepped back and looked down, and barely buried under the ground was a shiny trinket-looking object gleaming back up at him. He bent forwards, and he slowly dug the bauble up to examine it more closely, and once his hands wrapped around it and a string, he stood back up to his full height and looked over the trinket… and his eyes widened, for this was no trinket at all!!! His lips began to tremble and his eyes spasm as he realized that he held Cahadras' Medallion securely in his hands.

 

And that's when it clicked, all the emotions he felt for this girl swirled up inside of him and his eyes narrowed in anger and in realization. All this time, he had been wondering why he felt so strange around this girl, and now he finally knew the answer… And he failed to save this girl, he helped her just a second too late… Only now, only this late he realized what that feeling was that he held so dearly in his heart for her… His eyes narrowed into a tight glare as his eyes bore into a tree trunk violently, and without him noticing it, a tear had begun to seep out of his eyes.

 

“...I loved you, Cahadras... and I promise, I will never love anyone else but you again. And if it means my life is to be a living Hell until judgment day,” He paused as a tear dropped down his face, and as it fell, his face grew cold and hard and he yelled furiously, “THEN SO BE IT!”

 

With that sudden motion, the tear leapt from his face, falling to the ground in a lonely dance of sadness. As it neared the ground, something began to happen to the tear; it became more crystalline in design, rounder in shape; seemingly solid. A mournful, ghastly blue gem of tears.

 

Suddenly, his whole face was masked in utter blankness, not one emotion could be seen… save one… sadness. It was as if his turmoil squeezed his insides, his teeth slowly gritted together as his eyes lowered in utter anger, more then he had ever shown his entire life. His hands clenched so tightly together that they began to shake violently as he realized how he had failed her… He failed to protect the one person that he had loved… And it angered him, his eyes narrowed all the more and the ground trembled beneath his feet, for his whole body had begun to shake.

 

::Back in the Present::

 

Silence reigned through out the room in Yusuke Urameshi's bedroom, indeed for each of the three boys (Kuwabara had long woken up from being knocked out.) were too shocked to say a thing… And the truth serum induced Hiei was silent as well, but the thing that kept the boy's silent, was the fact that the man was trying his best no to let tears fall out of his watered up red eyes… It was as if they were in a trance themselves, thinking over how he must have felt, finding out that he loved a girl a week after she died… It was as if they were the one's to fall off the cliff instead.

 

Kurama glanced over at Yusuke, and Yusuke did the same vice versa… Both had no clue what to say at this exact moment of time for they each were stunned to silence… That's why he had no use for relationships, -that's- why he never so much as looked at a girl, and -that- was the reason why he was so cold and cruel… He was literally allowing himself to live through a living hell.

 

Neither Kurama nor Yusuke knew what to say next, but, Kuwabara sure had a good (*cough*not*cough*) idea of what to ask.

 

“Hiei, who's your sister?” The baka dunderhead asked out loud and immediately Yusuke and Kurama widened their eyes and gave Kuwabara a horrendous look.

 

“Are you insane?!?!?!” Both boys asked in unison as Kuwabara glanced at them stupidly.

 

“Yeah, it sucks what happened to him, but it was 60 year's ago, and I really WANT to know who his sister is!!” He argued.

 

“Did you ever think that maybe you shouldn't know who she is?!?!” Yusuke asked incredulously as both boys glanced over at the truth serum induced Hiei as Kuwabara awaited an answer.

 

And that's when, Hiei blinked… And his fingers began to twitch… And only Kurama seemed to notice these actions as his eyes began to narrow… He blinked once more and this time when his eyes opened…

 

The pupils had returned and inside was a fire burning in anger, and the first thing those eyes set upon was our pour Kuwabara.

 

“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS BAKA NINGEN!!” Hiei's yell rang out causing Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara's hair to blow back from the force of the yell… Their eyes were twitching as they looked at now very pissed off Fire Apparition as all three came upon the conclusion… Hiei was no longer in his trance…

 

Silence consumed them all at this moment as the four seemed to stare at each other… Or more like, Hiei stared at the other three while the other three stared at Hiei. As if they were having their own conversation with their eyes. A thoughtful expression had soon covered Hiei's face after a bit as he tried to recall the hour's earlier events… And to the other's horror, his face paled and his eyes began to twitch.

 

“….No…” The word fell breathlessly off Hiei's lips as he glanced around the room, reality sinking in that he had just been forced to tell those three one of the most hidden things that happened in his life..

 

“Now Hiei…” Kurama tried to calm the Fire Apparition down who seemed too look like he was about to go through a convulsion, “There's no need for alarm-…” But Kurama was cut off short, for the look he saw in Hiei's eyes were no longer anger, but hate and sadness, for himself, and his memories… And Kurama was quickly forced into silence as the pale faced Hiei slowly backed away before turning around and sprinting out of the room in a mad dash to get away…

 

A clanking noise was heard after this and all three boys looked down in the door way where Hiei had just been… And immediately guilt began to set upon their hearts.

 

There lay a tear gem, filled with black fire and white ice, lying on the floor.

 

 

 

~*~*~*~

 

 

Finished, and as said in the first part of these, I don't expect it to be any good since it is a very old fanfic that I wrote just for the fun of it. I probably could have made it into a one-shot here, but it was just so long that at fanfiction.net I had to break it up into two parts for it to fit. So, two parts it shall stay.

Anyone think I should make a sequel?