Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own anyone or anything, not any of the Yu Yu Characters or the Linkin Park song that is featured in this chapter. I just put the idea together. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
I don't have a lot of time for details right now" Koenma said curtly to the team surrounding his desk in Reikai (the spirit world). "A valuable member of my spirit detectives has gone missing on an assignment that admittedly I should not have sent her on, but did anyway. I was a fool. Neither I or any of my contacts have heard from her in. . . too long. . . and I need you all to find her and bring her back" Koenma finished, turning his chair to the wall to hide the fear he could not keep from his face.
"Ummm, sir?" Botan ventured, "Who is missing? According to my records all of your spirit detectives are accounted for."
"Well. . ." Koenma started embarrassedly, "You don't know everything Botan so, just believe me when I say she is missing. She is a double agent of sorts and very important to the demon world so her loyalty to our cause is generally kept a secret. I just told you know because. . . well BECAUSE SHE IS MISSING AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE SHE IS AND THIS IS BAD!" Koenma yelled, losing his temper in his frustration and panic. Though Koenma meant to send the message that the discussion was over, his emotional reaction encouraged the gang to press him for more information.
Kuwabara took the bait first and said, "So uhhh, who is she?"
"THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT!" Koenma squealed, his appearance of a baby adding to the sense that he was having a temper tantrum.
"Koenma, I'm sorry but if you want us to find her sooner rather than later, we are going to need more information. The more we know, the better we will be able to use our individual talents to help get her back safely before something untoward happens to her, assuming it hasn't already" Kurama urged.
"Oh, you're right" Koenma sighed in defeat. "You just can't tell anyone. Her name is Hikari Ushido. She. . ." Koenma was cut off abruptly.
"is a short darkness demon of some power with long black and white hair and a fondness for tunics. Her empathic abilities border on telepathy as she is able to use mind links with those she is close to. She is gifted in a variety of martial arts forms as well as with a katana, throwing knives, and a bow and arrow. She is clever, intelligent, creative, and is such a stubborn loner that she makes me look approachable. Her singing will leave you haunted by its beauty and sadness forever. . ." Hiei trailed off to a finish if his description and turned to look at the window.
"Hey wait a minute shrimp, didn't Kurama say that was the name of your ex lover that one time when he was really drunk?" Yusuke asked, trying to hide his delight at pestering the usually stoic Hiei.
"Hn." Hiei responded, but failed to meet Yusuke's eyes. Kurama looked over sadly over that the window where Hiei sat, surprised by how much depth of feeling Hiei had for his once lover.
Before anyone else could start in on Hiei, Koenma cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "None of that matters now. Go get prepared for the mission and meet back here in an hour."
Reminded of the seriousness of their mission, everyone filed out. "Hiei, wait for a moment" Koenma called. Hiei stopped by the door, but didn't turn around. Realizing that was the best he was going to get Koenma spoke, "I understand this is a personal mission for you, however I need you to understand that it is an important mission, I needed the best of the best which is why I sought out your team. I needed your skills in particular, which is why I have to ask, do you still have your mental link with Hikari?"
Silence.
"Hiei, please. This is about someone's life here, someone who doesn't deserve to die. I shouldn't have sent her on that mission, this is my fault. Please don't punish her."
"I can still find the onna if I need to".
"Then I must ask you, please take whatever time you need to find her. We need to know what she can tell us about her situation and whereabouts. I am planning on sending you all to the location of her mission, but if you can find better information we will have a better place to start."
"Hn."
"Hiei, I know the people who found her. They will torture her to death in the slowest way possible."
Hiei put his hand on the door knob, showing he was preparing to leave the room. He couldn't afford to care about that ona again.
"They will break her" Koenma whispered.
And Hiei froze where he stood, the word break triggering a flood of memories he didn't want. She had broken him by her fear to trust, and in his hurt and frustration he shattered her in return. No one should be shattered twice in a lifetime, if someone could even survive such treatment at all. Shit. He owed that onna, he owed Hikari. Her name felt strange in his thoughts because it had been forced away for so long. Hiei didn't know how he felt about Hikari, and he didn't want to know. Perhaps he wouldn't have to know. Maybe this mission would simply be a rescue mission, and then he could go about his way. Hopefully. Hiei didn't want to love again, such things were too painful, and were not allowed to ever turn out well for the forbidden one. Finally Hiei filled the silence with his rough baritone, "I will look for her. Give me the rest of today." Without another world, Hiei was gone.
Koenma sighed deeply, and returned to his paperwork, while trying to decide whether he would send the others ahead, or have them wait for Hiei's report. If Hiei found out she was dead, there would be no point in sending his team, and he would have new problems to cope with. Her death would confirm the rumored coup against the spirit world was a reality and that they all were in serious trouble.
Hiei returned to his room to pull his cloak over his characteristic tank top, and then opened and jumped out of his window into the cool autumn air. Why the spirit world had to maintain the same weather seasons as the living world was beyond him, Makai, (the demon world) never put up with such idiocy as changing weather. The constancy of the darkness and stormy days in the demon world was much more practical and less cumbersome. Hiei ran at his usual lightning pace into the forest until he found an area so thickly shaded as color all the sunlight as a deep green glow. These forests were his only pull to the mortal and spirit worlds, he could never have such life at home, despite all of its character advantages. Hiei settled himself in one of his favorite trees, and after sparring the smallest of smiles to a nearby bird, he closed his eyes and sunk deep into himself.
Hiei looked for the cord of mental connection that belonged to Hikari, straining his mind to remember what was once so familiar to him. He imagined the dark purple tunnel of sorts, inlayed with sparks of grey and black and smelling faintly of living forests, rich earth, and sunshine, smelling of Hikari. Finding her in his mind took both longer and shorter than Hiei expected – he formed the tunnel quickly enough, but found its disarray and unkempt state difficult and time consuming to navigate. The tunnel had its usual share of mental traps and snares, with a few new ones it took Hiei time to untangle. Then the most troubling part was at the mouth of the tunnel when he walked straight into a sheer wall of mental energy. Hiei threw various attacks at the wall, without causing a ripple in its strength. He groaned in frustration. In the following silence Hiei realized the vibrations he heard from the wall were words, were, to his amazement and horrible, singing, Hikari's singing. As soon as he concentrated on the words, they flowed to his ears as if she were standing next to him, singing in his ear:
"I used the dead wood to make the fire rise
The blood of innocence burning in the skies.
I filled my cup with the rising of the sea
And poured it out in an ocean of the debris.
I'm swimming in the smoke,
Of bridges I have burned.
So don't apologize,
I'm losing what I don't deserve.
I held my breath as the clouds began to fall
But you were lost in the beating of the storm.
And in the end we were made to be apart
The separate chambers of the human heart.
I'm swimming in the smoke,
Of bridges I have burned.
So don't apologize,
I'm losing what I don't deserve.
It's in the blackened bones
Of bridges I have burned.
So don't apologize,
I'm losing what I don't deserve.
The blame is mine alone,
Of bridges I have burned.
So don't apologize,
I'm losing what I don't deserve. . ."
Hiei shuttered, unable to listen to any more of the haunting words, her words. He knew she had written them just as intuitively as he knew it was her voice singing them. When he was able to compose himself he listened again, and realized the words were on a repeat reel of sorts, a last defense mechanism of her mind. She didn't realize he was here, or she would have confronted him, or at least responded to his presence. This confirmed Koenma's fear that Hikari was being tortured. She wasn't singing these words out loud, she was thinking them with all her soul, thinking them to ground her and guard her against being aware and present in whatever her physical circumstances were. This also confirmed that Hikari was still fighting and prevailing against her captors. There was hope. Though Hiei cringed at sharing such personal information about Hikari with the team, he jumped off the tree and raced to the castle – her life was worth more than his pride.
Koenma called the team back together as soon as Hiei entered his hall. Once Hiei had explained Hikari's situation, in the fewest words possible, Koenma asked the team to leave immediately for Makai, where he had sent Hikari weeks before.
Makai is an entire world, baka, where exactly in it did you send Hikari?" Hiei growled, his impatience and tension too apparent.
Koenma sighed, "Oh I suppose I will have to tell you everything."
"That would be helpful" Kurama said dryly.
Ignoring Kurama, Koenma continued, "You should all be familiar with Maze Castle from before, the Castle of Demon City where you defeated the Four Saint Beasts. Since that time Demon City has been quiet, relatively speaking, until recently. Apparently, since Demon City is not in the direct territory of any of the three demon kings, it seems to be a hot spot for rebels to gather. A few months ago I was given intelligence that the rebels were doing more than talking, they were preparing a plan to attack Reikai and breach the barrier between the Makai and the human world, through the destruction of the spirit world. Naturally I was concerned, so I sent Hikari to investigate as an undercover agent. Hikari is a. . . ummm. . . very good cover agent and I was receiving regular reports from her until three weeks ago, and since I haven't heard anything. I am afraid she has been found out" Koemna shivered.
"The cost of betrayal in Makai is punishable by the worst torture, until death" Kurama whispered as if to himself, even he couldn't keep the fear from his voice.
"Then you see the difficulty of the situation" Koenma continued. "I sent Hikari there, so if she has been found out and is under torture, as Hiei seems to have confirmed, then I feel duty bound to rescue her. . . and well. . . that's where you guys come in."
Is there a rebellion then?" Kurama asked, worried.
"I am afraid so" Koenma replied, knotting his fingers together, "but it seems to be in its beginning stages. It is apparently rather difficult to organize a band of demons to act together, so there still seems to be more time. Hikari said she was close to finding the rebellion's weak point when I stopped getting her reports. With any luck, upon her rescue we will have some better idea of how to halt the rebellion before it comes to war."
"Well then what are we waiting for" Yusuke exclaimed, and following his lead, the team ran from the hall.
"Do be careful, boys!" Botan called after them as one by one the disappeared into the portal to Makai. Botan turned to Koenma as she said, "Lord Koenma, do you think they can pull this rescue off?"
Koenma shook his head and tightened his grip on his fingers. "They have to. I gave them as much information as we had; the rest is up to them."