Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The youkai and you by me, Kita! ❯ Koorime ( Chapter 9 )

Thanks to all six reviewers of my fic ^-^;;

Your nicey-nice comments are very much appreciated =^-^=

*~*~*~*~*~*

You're woken suddenly. At first, you're not sure what it is that woke you, then, when nothing bothers you, you begin to drift off again . . .

An icy voice hisses in your ear immediately.

"Get up, baka ningen, or I'll kill you right here." You're up in an instant, swinging your arm out behind you, towards the voice . . . and with a satisfying `thud' the offender lands across the room. Breathing hard, terrified out of your wits at being threatened while you're half-asleep, you glance over at the lump on the floor. Hiei is lying across the room, not unconscious (as you first thought, from the force of your blow), because he's looking at you. His eyes speak of both anger and shock . . .

You just look at him for a few seconds. Why did he wake me . . . oh, right . . . the training. He gets up and walks over to you.

"Let's go." Briefly you think of that Saturday . . . the day after you met him . . . which seems so long ago, now . . . when he woke you at three in the morning. You narrow your eyes.

"As soon as I'm ready. Why were you in here, anyway? Couldn't Kurama or Genkai have woken me up?" Slightly surprising you, he averts his gaze as you get out of bed, red eyes staring at the wall. He answers you when you're in the closet (a.n./ which, BTW, is a walk-in closet, where, when you close the door, it's like a little dressing room (only no mirror, just enough room to change, ya know? ^-^;;)).

"Hn. They're not up yet. I didn't want to waste time." After a while, you come out, wearing a simple, red-colored shirt (that goes down to your mid-thighs) with a black belt at the waist (a.n./ to keep it from flying up during training . . . yipe!!!! BAD MENTAL IMAGE!!!!!!!! ;;;;;), and black leggings. Your hair is done up in a high ponytail. He glances at you once, then `hn's, walking out of the room.

"Hurry up, ningen."

You follow him out into the forest. When you've reached a clearing, he sheds the cloak, revealing a blue tank top, black pants and two thin white belts. He places his katana against a tree, then looks over to you, red eyes locking on yours.

"We'll work on your energy, today, ningen." You nod . . . and then focus on bringing your fire to the surface . . . it engulfs you suddenly, streaking your hair with red and swirling around you in a mass of blue. Hiei smirks, then does the same.

Black flames, tinged with purple, surround him, and he takes a step forward.

All that you can remember about that training session were the shades of blue, black, and purple. It was a never-ending competition between the two of you, to see who could find the next opening, or block an incoming attack. He was merciless; coming at you until you felt as though you would simply collapse from exhaustion. About halfway through the day, perhaps in the early afternoon, you had to take a break. After hours upon hours of fighting at an increasingly intense level, you were worn out. You put your back to a tree trunk, then slide down it and land, sitting, on the grass. You fall asleep almost immediately afterwards.

_I_N_T_O_-_H_I_E_I_'_S_-_T_H_O_U_G_H_T_S_

I watched her fall asleep. What a baka this girl was . . . you NEVER doze off with an enemy around . . . then a strange thought occurred to me . . . what . . . what if . . . she . . . doesn't consider me an enemy, then . . . I flitted away . . . I had to think about this strange situation . . .

_O_U_T_-_O_F_-_H_I_E_I_'_S_-_T_H_O_U_G_H_T_S_

You feel a twinge of something . . . then . . . you can't breathe. Something's wrapped around your throat . . . you raise your head to look up into the clearing . . . only to see four demons standing there. Smirking, the one holding the whip around your neck pulls it quickly, causing you to fall to the ground. Two of his companions rush over with a rope, and you, remembering your training, burn them to cinders the moment they get to you. The leather whip is gone as well. Then you're tired again. Too much . . . you think . . . too much . . . . . . . . Hiei . . . . you think suddenly, upon seeing his katana at the edge of the clearing . . . as one of the demons runs toward you, ax raised to kill . . . you close your eyes . . . . . . Hiei . . . . I tried . . . . . forgive me . . . . I was too weak . . . . . .

_I_N_T_O_-_H_I_E_I_'_S_-_T_H_O_U_G_H_T_S_

I sensed something. Freeing my Jagan, I heard her. I started to summon the dragon, while running back I heard its rumble as it fed off my growing energy. Coming to the clearing, I released it, shooting the spirit toward the demon that was threatening her. I growled, flitted over to my katana, then proceeded to slit the other's neck. All this had taken less than half a minute to occur. I turned as the last flames of the dragon disappeared, and saw her falling . . .

_O_U_T_-_O_F_-_H_I_E_I_'_S_-_T_H_O_U_G_H_T_S_

You return to consciousness, feeling as though you've just been hit by a truck . . . then scalded, then the truck backed up and ran over you AGAIN (a.n./ ^-^;;;;;;; sorry, I couldn't resist adding a little humor……..^-^;;;). Now you realize you feel something warm around you. You also notice a certain smell in the air . . . pine trees? Is that it . . . ? . . . Well, you suppose that makes sense . . . you're in a forest, after all. Then there's something else . . . something . . . you can't identify. You turn your thoughts back to the warm presence holding you . . . there are two arms wrapped around your back, and someone is obviously trying to comfort you. You can almost hear their heartbeat . . . if you tried . . . then you notice you're half-lying on the ground . . .

_I_N_T_O_-_H_I_E_I_'_S_-_T_H_O_U_G_H_T_S_

I'm not sure why. When I saw her fall, I rushed over, dropping my katana as I kept her head from hitting the ground . . . she looked so peaceful . . . A strange emotion caught in my heart . . . something I thought had frozen shut many years ago. Was she dead . . . ? . . . Did I come back too late? . . . Then I noticed the burns, and cursed myself. I hadn't done a great job of aiming . . . that demon must have been closer to her than I thought . . . I had just released the dragon in his direction, then concentrated on killing the other. Without thought, I embraced her now-limp form. For some reason . . . the thought that I . . . could have caused her death . . . tore me up inside . . .

_O_U_T_-_O_F_-_H_I_E_I_'_S_-_T_H_O_U_G_H_T_S_

The person holding onto you . . . their body has started to shake, though very slightly . . . it's almost like . . . they're trying . . . not to cry?? You open your eyes slowly, but nothing except a vast plane of blue meets your gaze . . . the same blue . . . that Hiei's shirt was made of . . . wait . . . . . . . Hiei? Holding YOU? You glance up, moving your head slightly, he notices the movement, and is looking down at you by the time your eyes reach his face. It's like the two of you are under some spell. He doesn't let go of you . . . you're both just sitting there, icy blue eyes locked with his crimson ones. It's a bit of an awkward position you're in. He's got you between his knees, though your legs are just splayed out on the ground and your head is resting right against his chest . . . or . . . it WAS . . . he's pushed you away from him a little, now, his hands resting on your shoulders, just looking into your eyes.

So many flashes of emotions flicker behind that crimson stare . . . you couldn't possibly name them all . . . there's . . . anger . . . and sadness . . . but they were ALWAYS there . . . now, though . . . there's an open, frightened feeling . . . like he's . . . scared. You raise a hand to his left cheek, the back of your fingers running over the skin as you speak.

"Hiei-" You stop, searching for an answer in those crimson eyes, but upon receiving nothing, you instead lay your head on his left shoulder, breathing in the scent of . . . pine. Pine . . . you think dreamily . . . and Hiei . . . you'll always remember those two . . . go together . . .

For the next chapter, go to '13. Evergreen`

~ E TSUZUKU ^-^ ~