New story. Not much to say here other then I guess I'm going to write this one about Hiei. Hehe…he's kind of my favorite. Though Kurama is defiantly up there.

This story is going to be rather graphic and deals with themes of rape and such. There's ideas of drinking and other bad habits that one shouldn't pick up.

This story is titled "Under My Skin" after the song sung by Alex Johnson in the TV show Instant Star. I love that soundtrack and that song just fueled this idea. It might take a while for this story to get fully underway because at the moment I am working on moving into my first house. Yes, I bought a house. ;)

So here is "Under My Skin", I hope you like it!

Under My Skin

Chapter One: Finding You

"Oh, he's under my skin,

Just give me something to get rid of him

I've got my reason now bury it alive,

Another little white lie…"

Alex Johnson

The Makai air was stale, heavy with the scent of thousands of demons. But there was only one demon they were after. Youko Kurama moved through the underbrush, appearing in his ningen form. He raised a nose and slowly sniffed the air. His senses were overrun by the stench of their prey. It was obvious that the one they were after had been running for the past few days, not even stopping to bath. Kurama smiled, showing canine like fangs. Their prey had thought this a smart choice, thinking that not stopping would give him a chance to get ahead. Instead it just increased his stench and made him easier to follow.

Kurama turned around and raised one hand, motioning with two fingers. From behind him appeared the two ningens, Yusuke and Kuwabara, coming out of their hiding spots. Yusuke walked up behind the ancient kitsune and looked over his shoulder.

"How far ahead is he Kurama?" The un-appointed leader asked.

The fox looked up into the tree above him and quirked a brow. A smile pulled at his lips when he saw a few leaves move as if there were a slight breeze.

"I'm not sure Yusuke." He spoke in an even tone. "What do you think Hiei?"

The trees rustled above the detectives once more, but this time the movements were followed by a guttural 'hn.' From the branches came a black blur that stopped in front of the kitsune, body facing forward. The fire demon's body was stiff, crimson orbs narrowed with a subdued intensity.

"He's not that far." Hiei answered, still not bothering to turn and face them. "If that tall baka would stop dragging his feet we should be right on top of him in no time."

Kuwabara blinked before his narrowed eyes grew large and his mouth opened wider then any human's should. A noise came out of his mouth that would send canines running, tail between their legs. Instead it sent Kurama's hands to his ears, a scowl breaking out on his face. There was a black blur behind Kuwabara and a hand slammed upside the back of his head. His squeal was cut short as he stumbled forward with a less painful yelp.

"Shut up." Hiei snarled from his spot behind the fallen ningen. "If you can't recall from that fun little whistle trick you and Botan pulled on me, demon's ears are much more sensitive then those belonging to you blockheaded ningens."

As he stepped over Kuwabara's prone body, Yusuke and Kurama had to hide smirks behind their hands. Hiei hated it when others laughed at his actions, it made him feel like a clown, out to please others. Instead they turned their chuckles onto Kuwabara, moving to make him feel like a moron.

"You heard the hothead." Yusuke taunted, nudging his friend with the toe of his boot. "Let's get going. I want to beat this joker and get home before Keiko starts to worry. Her worrying hurts."

The spirit detective rubbed his jaw as if to emphasis his point. Kuwabara's jaw remained slack as Yusuke and Kurama walked past him and into the underbrush after the stalking fire demon. It was apparent that Hiei wanted this done just as fast as the others. Which was unusual. Hiei normally liked to take his time on Koenma's forced journeys in Makai; it meant he got to stay out of Ningenkai longer. But Yusuke ignored it. He figured the little jaganshi had business that he had to attend to in the other world.

But Kurama wasn't thinking that. He knew there was a reason that Hiei was acting so stiff, even for him. He quickened his paces to catch up with Hiei.

"What is it?" He asked the smaller demon. "What is it about this demon that it bothering you so?"

Hiei didn't look up at Kurama's normal intelligent voice. But he knew that Kurama had hit his mood on the head, to use a ningen cliché. He heaved a quiet sigh, but his eyes remained on the path ahead.

"It's his ki." Hiei spoke in a low tone, knowing Kurama's ears would pick up his words, but not the ningens'. "There is something wrong with his ki, something dark, dirty. It's as though his spirit took a bath in a Makai cease pool. Why did Koenma send us after him? What has he done?"

Kurama paused in thought. To tell the truth, he didn't know. All he knew was that Koenma had called them after a shadow demon lurking near a Ningenkai portal. Without question the Rekai team had sprang into action. But now, the two demons were questioning.

"Hiei, tell me, with your jagan, can you tell anything more about this demon?" The kitsune knew this might be dangerous. Some demons could use Hiei's special attributes against him, especially if this demon was as wrought with darkness as Hiei said he was.

"I could." The small demon responded, finally looking up at his partner. "But I fear the consequences."

This set Kurama back. Hiei was never afraid of anything, even if it put his life in danger. The kitsune fell silent and looked down at his friend. Hiei's face was its normal mask of indifference. But Kurama could see something behind the mask. He could see the fear that no one else would have ever noticed, even if the Forbidden Child's knees were knocking.

"What are we going to do then?" He decided to try a less nerve wracking approach.

Hiei frowned as he pondered the new question. He knew that if they ran head on in attack mode, this demon would wipe the floor with them. But if he used his jagan, he could be putting his own life at risk.

"I don't kn-"

Hiei was cut off when a burst of tainted ki erupted in the area. He stopped dead, the kitsune at his side already armed with his rose whip. Kurama's emerald orbs were narrowed in a dangerous manner. Hiei's hand went to his own sword when a sudden ki raced up his spine, sending tingling through out his limbs. Fear raced through him and he tried to force himself to go for his weapon, but he found that he couldn't will his arm to move. Fear raced through him even stronger then before. He looked up to see Kurama engaged harsh battle with what appeared to a man made out of shadows. The black ki was surging through the small clearing like a lowering cloud.

Panic flared in his small body as he tried desperately to move once more but his limbs were still frozen by some unknown force. He tried to open his mouth to call for the two ningens that were still far behind them, joking and trying to scare each other in the Makai underbrush.

'Bakas!' He screamed inside his mind, knowing they wouldn't hear him without the use of his jagan. 'The fox needs help!'

Desperation entered his inner pleas when he heard the fox cry out in slight pain. But with the fear of using his jagan still hanging over his frozen body, his pleas were going unanswered.

'So use your jagan young one.' A deep voice suddenly whispered throughout the caverns of Hiei's mind. 'You need to save your friends.'

Hiei's whole body shuddered at the voice. There was someone in his head, someone who knew what he was thinking.

'Who's there?' He screamed into the depths of his thoughts. 'How can you talk to me?'

The voice chuckled, sending that tingling vibrating through his limbs at a stronger magnitude. Spots burst before his vision and for a moment Hiei thought he was going to faint.

'Who I am is of no concern, but your friend's safety is. If you want to save him, use the jagan!' The voice was almost demanding this time.

Hiei's palms were beginning to sweat. His mind was the only part of his body that could move and it seemed to be in overdrive to make up for the parts that couldn't find motion. What should he do? He risked his own sanity if he used the jagan around this kind of power, but if he didn't he'd risk his only friend's life. It was another pained cry from Kurama that decided his course of events.

Hiei didn't know if he closed his eyes or not, but as his own ki filtered through his body all he saw was that dirty black that was taking over the area. A green light sudden filled the area behind his eyes in an almost blinding light. He could feel his own power building up against the ward that blocked the use of his jagan. His teeth were gritting against the cramping power as it filled his head with a dull throb. He could feel the ward cracking, breaking slowly under the building power. From some distant place he could hear Kurama cry out in a fuzzy voice.

'Hiei...no!'

But it was too late. The paralysis was suddenly gone as his hands balled into tight fists. A pained and angry cry burst past his lips as the ward cracked and shattered into white shards. They fell to the darkened earth like winter's first snow. A bright green light flooded from the opened third eye, bathing the area in a brighter, cleaner light.

Suddenly the green in Hiei's mind was slammed by darkness. The purple-black swirled, twisting with the green and forming clashing braids in the confines of Hiei's mind. With the final strand braided together a pain burst forth, seeming to split the small jaganshi's skull in two. He cried out, seeing black and purple spots speckle his vision. His now free arms rose to wrap his fingers in the white-tipped, starburst bangs.

Yet as suddenly as the pain was there, it receded into the far corner of his mind. His body was frozen yet again, stuck between consciousness and oblivion. But the voice, the voice remained.

'Good my little jaganshi, now we are bonded and I can find you in any world. I will return for you, my little firefly.'

The voice evaporated and so did the strange hold that was on him. His whole body was numb, and immediately his knees buckled. Just before he hit the ground he heard that voice again, yet this time it wasn't in his mind, it was right beside him.

"You are mine my little firefly."

With those final words Hiei hit the ground and was lost in the darkness of a dirty oblivion.

'I think he's waking up.'

The voice was fuzzy and Hiei felt like he was stuck under water. Even his breathing was labored. He wanted desperately to open his eyes, but his body still refused to react to his commands. All he could do was lay there and let a moan pass his lips.

"He's defiantly waking up." This voice belonged to Kuwabara. The ningen's normal tone drove a wedge of pain deep into Hiei's skull. He wished he could open his mouth and tell the baka to shut up.

"Good because I have a bone to pick with him." This voice belonged to Yusuke and he sounded pissed. Hiei glowered in his mind. What the hell did that idiot have to pissed about? Hiei had risked his left to save their asses.

"Yusuke!" Kurama's smooth voice was like cold water on a burn to Hiei's abused head. "It wasn't him. It wasn't his fault. I've known Hiei longer then you have, and that wasn't him back there."

What was Kurama talking about? What did they think he did? The only thing he had done was be frozen by an unknown demon, be attack mentally, and have some crazy guy talking in his head. How was any of that his fault?

"What about your injuries Kurama!" Yusuke was yelling now and Hiei knew if he didn't wake soon and tell someone to shut up, his head would explode. "You mean to tell me that wasn't his fault!"

"Yes." There was that cold water again. "He didn't lift a finger to me, didn't attack, he didn't even look at me the wrong way. Hiei did nothing."

"That's the whole point!" There was the screaming, heating up Kurama's cold water. "He did nothing! He froze and let that shadow creep kick your ass! That was as bad as physical attacking you himself!"

Hiei couldn't believe it. Yusuke was blaming him for the attack on Kurama, blaming him for the paralyzing spell that was cast on him. They were talking as though he had turned traitor on them. Anger built up in him, causing his head to throb harder. As soon as that happened, the pain dulled and he moaned. The others were silent for a moment before Kuwabara started the talk again.

"Maybe all the time in Ningenkai is starting to mess with his head." The oaf offered. "You know, maybe his demon side is going crazy. I mean you saw how his creepy third eye just kind of…blew up like that."

"Kuwabara you really scare me sometimes." Kurama muttered, and Hiei could hear the frustration mixing in the kitsune's voice. "I've been in Ningenkai longer then Hiei and my demon side hasn't started to slip into insanity. That's just a preposterous idea."

"Maybe not." Yusuke pointed out. "You're in a human body. Maybe that stops the human world from truly affecting your demon side. I mean, there's got to be a reason that all demons in Ningenkai go evil."

There was a pause, and Hiei realized that Kurama was actually considering what Yusuke had said. He had thought more of the fox's intelligence. Anger was beginning to build in him again. And this time he ignored the headache. How could they? How could they accuse him after the way he risked himself for them?

"You're wrong Yusuke." Kurama suddenly spoke up and stopped Hiei's irate thoughts. "Hiei is not slipping away. Something happened out there today and we need to wait till Hiei wakes up to tell us what it was."

"Well I'll hope it's soon." Kuwabara muttered. "Cause I still think he's crazy."

"Ass…" Hiei finally managed to rasp out, eyes listening to his command to open. The others where fuzzy at first, bodies and faces wavering at a dizzy pace in front of him. Another moan slipped past his lips as he closed his eyes and raised a hand to rub at his eyes. When he opened his crimson orbs a second time, the other three had come into focus. He sat up slowly, surprised at how sore and weak his body was. He glared at the trio, though it was a weak one.

"Well good morning to you too." Yusuke snapped back, returning the glare.

Kurama cast Yusuke a glance that said shut it. The spirit detective sat back in his chair and let the kitsune approach the bed. Kurama sat on the edge of his own bed, watching Hiei with concerned eyes.

"Hiei," Kurama said in a soft tone, "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone hit me with all their ki." He muttered, knowing full well that was what had happened.

Yusuke was suddenly at the side of the bed. He glared down at the bedded youkai as though it was one of their prisoners. Hiei glared back, knowing what was going on the detectives head at the moment. He knew that Yusuke was thinking about those ningen buildings that had the soft walls were they locked people in when they thought they weren't right in the head.

"Well I'm glad you're feeling good because you almost got Kurama killed out there today." Yusuke pointed at the fox and for the first time since he woke, Hiei saw the bruises and bandages. He winced slightly which gave the detective the fuel to go. "You panicked out there, and that mistake nearly killed him!"

"Yusuke, I was hardly near death." Kurama muttered. But his words went unheard when Hiei exploded on his own.

"I did not panic!" He snapped back, wincing only slightly as his head screamed out as well. "I was frozen! By someone else's doing! I couldn't move!"

"Exactly!" Yusuke was now irate. "You couldn't move. And because you couldn't, Kurama was hurt. It's your job to help us, as it is ours to help you. But if you freeze up, you're no help to anyone, not even yourself. And what the hell was up with your jagan? It just went insane! I thought that alone was going to kill us all!"

Hiei jumped up on the bed, despite his protesting body. He wobbled slightly and then regained his composure.

"Killed you?" He snarled. "Killed you? I used my jagan to save you. It nearly killed me! That freak out there wanted me to do exactly what I did! And I catered to him. I gave him what he wanted."

The others in the room fell silent for a moment. Hiei's words were slowly sinking in. It was registering with them that maybe Hiei wasn't slowly loosing it. But the fire demon wasn't done. He could still feel that other's demon's ki brushing against his, tainting his own. And the worst was that voice, it still echoed in his mind. 'My little firefly…' He sneered and continued in his ranting.

"When I use jagan around the wrong demons they can use their powers to mold to my own mind." His voice came out in a low hiss. "They can bond to my own ki and make it their own. They can cause insanity, kill me, do anything. And that's what that demon wanted. That's why he dragged us out there, so he could try and bond to me. He froze my body some how so my only hope to help you assholes was to use the jagan!"

He was panting now, fire flashing in his eyes. Kurama's eyes were wide and his face paled. It had been a set up? This strange demon had lured them all out into Makai so that he could get at Hiei; but why? What could Hiei have done recently to cause another strange demon kill him?

"Hiei, don't take offense to this question," Kurama had to crane his neck upward to glance at the standing fire demon. "But what did you do to make this demon angry enough to want to do this sort of thing to you?"

As the kitsune expected, Hiei's eyes narrowed and his mouth pulled down into a frown. Kurama knew the fire demon thought they were accusing him of wrong doing. Which they weren't. But Hiei wouldn't care.

The fire demon didn't answer. Instead, he turned and leapt on to the windowsill. His normal quick movements were sluggish, which worried Kurama. Hiei raised a hand and pushed open the window. He turned his gaze on the others and Kurama held back a gasp. Underneath that mask the jaganshi always wore was hurt. They had bruised his trust in them.

"I've never meet this creature before." All the anger was out of his voice. It was now a sound of defeat. "And I hope to never again. I'm leaving. Find me next time Koenma gets another damn mission."

"Hiei wait!" Kurama started, but he was interrupted by Yusuke who made an angry step towards the perched fire demon.

"Who said you could leave yet?" The detective snarled. "You still need to explain what that demon did to you. He could have easily messed with your head which would explain your suddenly strange behavior."

"Yusuke!" Kurama yelped.

"I don't have to answer to you." Hiei interrupted Kurama's attempt at speech again. But he didn't care. None of them believed him. They all thought that he had panicked out there and froze up out of fear. He had done neither. It was that voice, that damn voice that had done it.

Suddenly that same tingling washed over Hiei's body, causing his limbs to go numb. He groaned as his body slumped up against the window frame. In a fuzzy distant he could hear the others calling his name. But he couldn't respond to them. From somewhere deep in his mind came a soft brushing of tainted ki. Hiei's stomach rolled and knotted into a ball of nausea.

'My little firefly' The voice taunted, it was back. 'They do not believe you, they do not trust you. You're alone, with only me, my little jaganshi…'

No, no, it wasn't true. Hiei brought his hands up to his head and drew in a hissing breath. They did believe him. At least Kurama did and he'd be able to convince the others. This voice was just some temporary effect from using his jagan around that other demon.

'You keep thinking that firefly.' The voice laughed, taunting him even further. 'But you'll see, they are going to leave you alone with only me. Just me and you little Forbidden Child…' There was the soft feeling of a hand on his arm.

"No!" He screamed, slapping at the hand. A yelp reached his ears and washed away the tingling. His breathing returned to normal, but the nausea remained thick in his stomach. Cracking open his crimson orbs he saw Yusuke glaring at him, and Kuwabara slack jawed. What was worse was he saw Kurama standing their, holding a bleeding hand close to his chest.

That's when it hit Hiei. That hadn't been the owner of the voice touching him, it had been Kurama. And he had hit the fox. And because of this, they would lose their trust in him. His face suddenly hardened. It didn't matter what they thought, he didn't need them to hold his hand through this.

"Hiei," Yusuke suddenly spoke up, his brown orbs dark. "I suggest you leave. We'll contact you when we need you again next."

His anger suddenly evaporated at the realization that they were kicking him out. He looked at them. Yusuke's anger was written all over his face, while Kuwabara was silenced by a confused shock. Yet Kurama's face was a mask of worry. Hiei sighed and without another word he leapt out the window. As he disappeared into the darkness he could have sworn he heard the fox's voice calling him back.

But he didn't stop. He ran on into the forest, only a few words following him.

'My little firefly…'

Okay, chapter one is done! I'm really going to like this story…it's going to be good. Granted this chapter was a little fast and choppy but that was just to get things rolling. In the next chapter things slow down and return a normal pace.

In the next chapter Koenma calls on the team again. While some members of the team are still wary about working around Hiei, the toddler ruler has something that might help them, a secret weapon to help them track down this escaped shadow demon. But this is one secret Hiei could have dealt without. With the team looking at shaky times, this could be a dangerous mission.

Oh, and I have an odd and strange question. In your opinion, if Hiei were a dog, what kind would he be? Something small, like a Corgi, or something more serious, like a pure black German Shepard? I know its odd, but could you please let me know what you think.

Oh yes, and please review. ;)