Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Raiden Youkai no Noroi: Zasshu ❯ Chapter Five ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Damn her!

Damn her to hell!

If the girl's grip had been iron before, then what would one call this?

Hiei sat there, unmoving, glaring at the young woman who held him with such ferocity. There was no way out; she had not only his cape in her clenched fists, but the shirt underneath as well. If he wanted out badly enough, he could simply remove both of them, but that would most likely lead to a plethora of awkward questions, particularly from the silver inu youkai.

Not that this situation was any better. How could she have fallen in such a heavy slumber mere moments after such a horrifying nightmare?

He sighed, leaned back on his elbows, and looked down his nose at the sleeping girl. Her night-black hair clung to her back and arms with static, leading down to the middle of her forearms. Uneven bangs trimmed her face, curving downward from the middle until they were almost half the length of the rest of the rest of her hair. Even at their shortest, the locks of hair reached down to the bridge of her nose and fluttered with each breath she took.

The rest of her body was arranged in a rather uncomfortable fashion. She had been lying on her left side when she had woken up, facing the wall. When Hiei had come in, she had twisted around; her lower body had remained the same way as before, while her torso had become hopelessly entangled in the sheets. Her head now rested on Hiei's chest, with her arms and hands were pinned to his upper body by her own weight. Hiei himself sat on the side of her bed opposite the wall, and had spun around to face her. His own legs hung over the side; his back was beginning to ache.

Tentatively, he reached out and began to smooth out the hair that held fast to her skin, ignoring the small shocks that erupted at random moments. How long this went on was something he was never entirely sure of, but when he had smoothed out the last strand, her brow became knitted and a small moan escaped the back of her throat. Her fingers tightened quickly and then relaxed. Finally, her hands slipped away from Hiei long enough for him to slide out from under her. He placed her back on the bed and covered her up again, ignoring the strange feeling that came over him. What was it called...nostalgia? But why? He'd never spoken to her at all, never even heard her name. Other than the strange mental attack she had forced on him, they had no connection whatsoever. But even with these reasons, the same question pulsed in his mind like a mantra: Why?

His query was cut short by the sound of footsteps coming down the hall and Hiei hastily took his escape through the window.

---

“We cannot, under any circumstances, allow your friend near the village.”

Ichiro had explained this fact quite briefly, and had left Kurama alone to deliver the message.

How to go about this? Informing him that the citizens would kill him simply because he was a half-breed would only offend the Koorime's pride. Taking it a step further and telling him that, even if he did manage to make it through the mob of murderous youkai, there was no telling how many innocents would be killed in the process might make a dent, but it wasn't certain. The worst possible course of action would be to flat out demand him to stay at the onsen, after which Hiei would undoubtedly take off on his own and decimate the entire village once he got there.

Kurama couldn't help but smile at the predictability of Hiei's actions, though they weren't exactly working in his favor.

“May I suggest,” a soft voice said behind him, “that you say nothing at all?”

He rotated and saw Ichiro's blue-haired, green-eyed younger sister glancing at him curiously from the doorway. What was her name again? Midori? “I-I'm sorry, it's just that...I overheard your conversation with Oniisan earlier, and...Well, your friend doesn't strike me as the type to allow something like this to carry on without him.”

Was Hiei truly that transparent, or was this woman simply perceptive? “No, he's not. But I don't like lying to him, either.”

“You don't understand,” she replied, shaking her head while her gentle face contorted into a slight snarl. “You either lie to him, or he dies. The leaders of the raiden youkai are beyond brutal. They'll murder infants for the simple reason that their parents are of two different races. Hiei-san is the Forbidden Child, and everyone knows it.”

“Then may I ask a question?” Midori nodded as she knelt to put on her zori. “Why is your brother letting you go?” It was glaringly obvious that Midori herself was a zasshu, not only from her ki, but because of the vehement way she had spoken just before.

She sat on the platform next to him and sighed. “You see that puddle of water over there?” she asked, pointing to the miniature ocean that had gathered under the trees and refused to dry up. “Watch.”

Slowly, so slowly that he almost missed it, the water began to ripple and lift from the ground. It lethargically began to dance in the air, like some sort of aqueous serpent, and gently made its way to Midori's outstretched arm as her finger directed it in its strange, calming waltz. It abruptly changed tempo and whirled at a rapid pace around the young woman's arm. Suddenly, there was no water and the pale, slender arm had become blue, the fingers webbed and a long, fin-like appendage appeared on the side and ran up to her elbow.

Midori smiled shakily at Kurama's amazement. “If I do this to my entire body, I can pass off as a full-blood mizu youkai.”

“I didn't think any of your kind were left.”

“There aren't, at least none that I know of. I'm one of the last in this area, anyway.” She flung her arm to the side, expelling the water and reverting it to its former appearance. “There's only me and my father, I think.”

Rising to her feet again, she looked down at Kurama and said, “I don't want him to come,” referring to Hiei. “This stretches far beyond your ability to comprehend. No matter how strong he is, he's no match for those barbarians.”

“What do you mean?” How huge was this plot that he and Hiei had stumbled upon? Where did the fear in the water demon's gaze come from?

“I'm not at liberty to say. We're leaving tomorrow at dawn, so please be ready.” She stepped off the porch and left the befuddled kitsune without a backward glance.

---

The young boy hung limp in Yusuke's hold, resigned to his fate. His sister- his own flesh and blood, Hexe- continued to hack away, seemingly unaware of Alaric's pain. No one cared as the sea of black pooled before his eyes, nor did they pay mind to the soft whimpers escaping his mouth; his tears were regarded as foolish.

“Will you stop being such a baby? I'm only cutting your hair, for gods' sake!”

---

-san- An honorific, equivalent to Mister, Mrs., or Miss in English.

Zori- Straw sandals

Zasshu- Hybrid

Hydromancy- An extremely advanced form of ki manipulation able to be used only by those who posses the gene for it. While most water demons can handle water to form it into attacks, hydromancers can change the makeup of the liquid's atoms to benefit their use- those who are extremely powerful can make water run uphill if they wish. Midori utilizes hers for illusion.