An annoyingly shrill scream echoed through the woods. Hiei, who had been sleeping in a nearby tree was jerked awake by the noise. He looked around for any immediate danger. Sensing none, he closed his eyes to go back to sleep, trying to commit to memory that good parts of what happened last night to memory with... he could not recall his name. Some that started with an 't', no 's'. A night as a bottom for the first time for the price of learning the location of the demon osteopath Shigure was an easy price to pay. Especially when the other demon was smaller and quicker than expected. But he definitely knew what he was doing with his mouth.
Another scream, even louder than the first one, was sounded. "Help us! Someone!" A deep, hollow laugh from another demon came as a response to the scream. Hiei hoped whoever was laughing would put an end to all the screaming so he could go back to sleep in peace. If he ever found a permanent lover, he hoped he or she could give head half as well as that... guy. "Yasha!" the piercing voice shouted again. "Don't hurt him!" Another deep laugh came in response. Followed by a male voice crying out in pain. "Yasha! Don't kill him! I'll give you all my money if you just leave us alone!"
At the sound of money, Hiei became intrigued. He sat up and listened hard to see if she said anymore. He was unsure what the price Shigure would charge for a Jagan Eye was. Rumored had it was costly, but if he was going to find his tear gem and the ice maidens' world again, he would have to pay Shigure's price whatever the cost. For all the screamer's money, it would not hurt to interfere and he could find another fight to pick with the laughing demon to get stronger. He flitted from tree to until he landed on a tree resting above the scene bellow.
To the right was a large demon that looked like a a centaur, but with a snake's head and tail and long claws hanging from his numerous fingers. To the left was a small crouching figure with dark skin and medium length dark hair in a green and brown tunic holding out a sizable bag of coins in one hand, and holding tightly to a bigger figure with matching dark skin and shorter long dark hair who lay against the first figures shoulder, clearly injured. "Take it!" the crouching figure ordered in screechy voice. "That's why you attacked us isn't it?!" She shook the bag for good measure. It made a pleasant jingling sound.
The demon moved towards the two figures. "How much is in there?"
The young woman looked even more frightened and began to shake with fear as he approached. "Enough for you to enjoy," she squeaked back. "Don't come any closer!"
"You come from that bird clan right? I noticed the emblem on your clothing earlier," the demon said, stopping in his approach to instead start circling the pair like a predator.
"That's right!" the woman said with a more determined voice. "And my mate is like a prince to us. He knows we're out here. He'll come looking for us really soon if he isn't already. If he finds out you injured my brother, he will hunt you down and make you wish you've never been born."
"You're not mated to him yet," the injured figure, Yasha most likely, coughed. The woman shushed him.
"So your mate/not mate is coming for you soon eh little bird?" He stomped his foot towards her for good measure. She flinched, pulling Yasha closer towards her while still keeping the bag of coins in hand. "Tell me? How much more money would your 'mate'," he added in finger quotes for effect, "give me if I held you two for ransom? Or in the case of our injured friend here, just held you for ransom?"
"Don't you dare lay another hand on him!" the woman squealed.
"Or what? Your 'mate' will hunt me down? Let him try little bird." The demon began approaching the pair on the ground again.
"Go away!" She shouted, give the bag of coins a pathetic toss towards the demon. Hiei took that a good time to interfere. Lightning quick, he jumped from the tree, grabbed the bag half way between the woman and the demon, and slowed to a halt a few paces beyond them. He tied the heavy bag to his belt and squared himself into a fighting stance, hand on sword, facing the demon. The demon looked weaker up close that Hiei had originally thought.
The three never noticed Hiei was there until he stopped moving. "Where'd that bag go little bird?!" the demon roared at the woman. The woman, noticing Hiei first, was already looking at him in shock and disbelief. The demon followed her gaze and brought his eyes to Hiei as well. "And who are you? Another bird? Her supposed 'mate'?"
Hiei stared the demon down calmly, waiting to see if he would make the first move. "Ha, he's not my mate," the woman retorted. "But he is one of our men," she bluffed poorly. "He's our lead general. He's the head of our army. My mate's second in command."
The demon turned his gaze back to the woman. "If he's really your general, why doesn't he look like you?"
"Um," she stuttered.
"Why isn't he dressed like you? He doesn't look like an army commander to me," the demon rounded on the woman, taking his eyes off Hiei as if he was too weak to be a concern, which pissed him off. "I've picked my teeth with bones bigger then him."
Hiei, moving at extreme speed, came between the two figures, sword pressed against the neck of the demon. The demon gave a hiss at him, reaching with a large claw to strike him down. Hiei jumped in the air, leaving an after image for the creature to slice through. The woman gave another wordless scream. The demon's claw hit the after image with a hearty, gleeful laugh. After laughing he realized Hiei was gone. He looked around for him on the ground. Hiei was falling back towards the ground, swung his sword with expert precision, slicing off the demon's head, claws, and finally half down his torso before landing on the ground in front of the woman and injured person. The woman gave another shrill cry that could make ears bleed. Hiei was tempted to rip out her throat just to get her to shut up. He shook the blood off his sword and sheathed it. The kill was hardly fun or worth the effort.
The woman let the injured person go, who managed to stay sitting up, and threw herself at Hiei's feet, crying hysterically. "Great Mother!" she said in her high voice. "Great Mother! You saved us! You don't even know us and you saved us!" Hiei looked down at her, mystified by her over dramatics. He took a few steps away. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at him in awe. "Let me bless you as a way to thank you for your courageous heroics."
"Minha," Yasha groaned, half in pain, half in warning. "Don't." He tried to lift his arm up towards her, but halted the effort with a painful wince.
Minha paused in her crying and looked back towards Yasha. "It's okay Yasha. He's a hero. A courageous warrior. He has to be. He heard my cries and saved us." She turned back to face Hiei. "Right?" she asked for confirmation.
Hiei looked down at her and gave her a vicious looking grin. "Hn, I just wanted the money." He tapped the bag of coins hanging heavily on his belt. "She gaped at him. "And a good fight. Too bad the demon behind me was blind and slow. At least this wasn't a total waste of time." He tapped the bag again.
"Give me back my money," Minha half ordered, half whined. She looked like a spoiled, pouting child.
"Hn," he grunted. "I don't think so."
"But that's what a hero would do!" she countered.
"You're the only one saying I'm a hero." She looked at him in disbelief. "Now let's have that blessing you offered as well."
"No!" she snapped incredulously.
Hiei moved and in a flash had Yasha's hair in hand, holding his head up and exposing his neck. He brought his sword to Yasha's neck, cutting into it just enough to cause a trickle of blood to start to pour. Yasha struggled against him, trying to squirm away weakly. Hiei noticed he had deep claws mark running down both his back and abdomen. One of his arms seemed broken and the other dislocated at the elbow. He clearly had been no match for the other demon, but had tried to fight him off nevertheless. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly," Hiei told Minha calmly.
"Let him go! Can't you tell his gravely injured?!" Tears were streaming down her face again. "He could die before he gets to a healer! I'll do anything! Just don't hurt him anymore!"
Hiei drew the sword slightly down deeper on Yasha's throat, making his bleed another small trickle. "You have two choices woman. Either you give me your blessing and that small purse you have stashed inside you tunic." She looked at him surprised that he knew she had hidden away another small stash of money on her person in addition to the bag of coins. She reached her hand up to her chest protectively, where she had the purse hidden underneath a stitched emblem of a hawk, revealing exactly where it was. She gave him a small frown. "Or, I kill him and you give me the blessing and the purse before I slit your throat. If you survive that, you'll never be able to speak again. I think I could live with that."
She glared at him with a frown on her face. He tightened his grip on Yasha's hair and pulled hard for good measure. Yasha winced, trying to move his hands and then grimaced as pain shot up both of his arms. "Don't do it Minha."
At Yasha's pained voice, she seemed to break her resolve. She reached into her tunic, pulled out the purse, and held it out to Hiei. She hung her head towards the ground shamefully. Hiei took the sword from Yasha's neck and shoved him forward towards the ground. Yasha tried to break his fall with his hands instinctively and howled in pain when they came in contact with the ground first. Even if he had been uninjured, he did not seem like he would be much of a threat.
Hiei sauntered over to Minha. When he almost reached her, she threw the small purse at his feet in one last feebly defiant act. He pushed it up over one foot and kicked his leg up in the air with his knee bent. The purse flew up in the air and he caught it, giving in a good shake for good measure. The jingling sound it made was almost as pleasant as the bag tied to his waist. He put it in his pocket.
"Now that blessing," he ordered her. Minha glowered up at him in nonverbal response. He glanced back at Yasha and rest his left hand on his sword.
"You son of a bitch. Give me your hand," she grumbled as she began pulling at her hands. He had not noticed before that she was wearing thin gloves the same shade as her skin tone. Once done, she held out both of her hands, palms up. He kept his left hand resting on his sword and held his right hand out to her. She took it into both of her hands, looking like it was the last thing she ever wanted to touch. She looked up at him with tight lips and a hint of defiance in her eyes.
"Say it out loud," he instructed, in case she was going to think the blessing instead of say it. He was not a mind reader yet and wanted to know what she said.
"As you wish," she hissed through her teeth. The next words out of her mouth were sharp, quick, and unintelligible.
He pulled his hand away, holding it up in the air threateningly. She cowered, bringing her hand protectively over her head. "What did you say?"
She looked up at him passed her arms. "It's just a generic blessing from our clan. I did it in our ancient language because that's how we're supposed to do it. It essentially is a blessing for good luck and prosperity. We, uh, we say to all our warriors."
He glared down at her, doubting if she was telling the truth. She was quivering with fear, arms crossed over her chests with her hand tucked under her armpits, and eyes trained on the ground. "For your own sake and his sake, you better be telling me the truth." He figured whatever she said exactly would be unimportant as she did not look like a very powerful or dangerous demon. He gave her a last quick look over and saw she had a jeweled hair clip holding her hair in place at the base of her neck. "This looks valuable too," he commented before reaching down and unceremoniously ripped it out of her hair a long with several strands of hair. She gave a high pitched, childish wail in response. He brought the clip up to his eyes for a closer look, pulling away at the hanging hairs. It sparkled and shined in a way that proved the jewels in it were real. He put it in his pocket.
"Give that back!" she shouted as she pulled at her now loose hair, inspecting it for damage. "That wasn't part of the deal."
Hiei took two steps back and looked back towards Yasha again. "Want to make a new deal?" Her eyes went wide and she shook her head. Hiei turned and looked at Yasha laying down on the ground. He was too injured to even attempt to fight back or get up off his stomach, but was staring up Hiei with an angry look. Hiei looked over Yasha's body for good measure, noticing a short sword sheathed around his hips. The hilt of the sword had jewels on it as well. He walked over to Yasha, reached down, and yanked the sword off its belt, knocking Yasha's arm in the process which made his grimace. The jewels on it were not as impressive as the jewels on the hair clip, but the sword was pretty valuable looking. He unsheathed it half way and inspected the blade. It looked hardly used. "New deal. You stay both stay still as mice until I'm gone. One move," he looked over to Minha to emphasis his next point, "and I'll change my mind and kill you both anyway with my new sword."
Both glared at him as he walked a way, but other than that stayed put. He stopped a few times to look back at them tauntingly, but not even Minha fell for it. Since he had taken everything he thought was worth money from them, he decided not to waste time in killing them. Leaving them alive meant they would talk about him, spreading his reputation as both a thief and murderer. When he could no longer them, he heard Minha give another yell. This one sounded like it was out of frustration.