DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own Yu Yu Hakusho! It belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi.
Pairings: Hiei/OC(Ayame Oshiro)
Continuity: Anime (After The Four Beast to right after The Chapter Black Saga)
Summary: Ayame has lived by herself up in the mountains for the past seven years for reasons only she knows however, will a new face change the way she feels about herself and teach her that she can live without hurting those she cares for?
Author's note(s): If you read any of my stories you MUST know damn near all there is to know about YYH. For this story I'm going to follow the anime timeline instead of the manga. Why? Well because I'm lazy and because I haven't yet read all of the manga. Also nearly all of my stories will have a base song, and then the second song will describe the chapter. So, it will look like this: Slow Burn~Gasoline
At the end of every chapter I will tell you who the artist is and give brief description of why I think the song fits this chapter.
About the title: Slow Burn-Atreyu. This is the main title and over time you will figure out why and if you have heard it you may get the gist of why it's the main title.
5:00am
BEEP...BEEP…BEEP…BE-
I slammed my hand onto the off button of my alarm clock. ~Got to get up…~I thought to myself and sat up rubbing my blue-grey eyes. ~Got a big day today.~ I thought sluggishly as I put on my panda slippers and lazily strolled over to my bedroom light switch and turned it on then continued over to my bathroom. Not bothering to close the door, both because I needed the light and because it's not like anyone could see me naked, I stripped off my giant white t-shirt, underwear, kicked off my panda slippers and climbed into the shower. As the hot water enveloped my body I cleared my mind and meditated. Unconsciously and out of habit I reached for my shampoo bottle, when I had the bottle in my hand I poured some of the mucky liquid into my opposite hand and lathered it into my long reddish-brown hair. After closing the cap on the top of the bottle I repeated the procedure with my conditioner. As I placed the bottle back into its place I slowly opened my eyes and took a deep breath. I grabbed my oatmeal Shea body wash and put some of it onto my wash cloth. As I felt the water beginning to cool down I knew that I had about thirty seconds before the water became cold. I quickly washed and rinsed my body and turned off the water before it became freezing.
"I really need a bigger water heater." I thought out loud to myself as I wrapped a towel around my body and another towel around my hair. Feeling more alert I strolled over to my dresser to retrieve a pair of blue jeans, a tank top, a bra and of course underwear. I stripped the towel around my body and threw it into the dirty cloths basket. I towel dried my hair and threw that towel into the dirty clothes basket to join its twin. I put on my bra and underwear then I pulled the tank top over my head; it's rather simple looking, just white with a thin sky blue trim across the top. The only thing that bothers me about it that it shows off some of my belly and although I'm healthy I still don't like flashing my body around, but considering where I'm going today I don't mind showing some skin. I put on my blue jeans, which have holes in the knees, and made my way back over into the bathroom. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. ~Wow even with my hair a mess I look pretty.~ I smiled at my rare attempt to up my own self-esteem. Picking up my brush I brushed out all the knots in my long hair, and quickly brushed my hair, exiting my bathroom I walked over to the small bedside table and grabbed my wallet, my shopping list, and my wrist watch. ~Five thirty seven….I'm a little off schedule, but o well.~I thought as I walked over to my bedroom door.
I exited my room, being sure to shut off the light and close the door behind me. I walked down the hallway and turned to the right into my small crammed kitchen. Deciding to just use the stove light I put on a pot of coffee and then pulled out the ham sandwich I had made last night out of my refrigerator. I sat down at my small dining table and munched it down while I waiting for my coffee. After finishing my sandwich I grabbed a banana off of the table and ate that as well. Standing up I opened the cabinet above my coffee pot and got a coffee cup and poured myself a cup of coffee. I opening the frig I got out some creamer and poured a small amount in my coffee. After putting the creamer back in the frig I sat back down at the table and drank it. ~I need to add coffee to my shopping list.~ I thought as I sipped at my coffee and pulled out my shopping list, while grabbing a pen off the table and added it to the list. After I finished my coffee I placed the cup in the sink and walked to my front door. I put on my sneakers and opened the door to the dark early morning. I turned on my outside light, closed the door behind me, and walked down to the right end of my house. Leaning up against the house was my trusty steed; my black and silver mountain bike. Smiling as I stared down at my bike I double checked my pockets to make sure I had everything. ~Yep, I'm ready.~ I thought to myself as I hopped onto my bike and rode off into the forest that surrounded my house.
4 Hours later
As I peddled down my usual bike trail, I took a quick look down at my wrist watch. ~Nine thirty. Well, I'm making good time. I should be at the store in two more hours.~ Now, I could peddle at a faster pace however that could prove fatal due to all of the twist and turns of this forest. It took me two years to find this trail, and before that I had to walk to the grocery store. That was an all day trip; now that I have the bike I'm usually back by five or six in the afternoon. I only wish that the forest was vehicle accessible…but the seclusion is why I chose this place… my thought was halted when a young man stepped out in front me, and placed his leg in front of my tire. Before I had time to either grip the breaks or swerve out of his way my front bike tire hit his leg and I was sent flying. I landed on my back which knocked the wind out of me. As I sat up and gasped for air I heard the man speak behind me.
"Well, well, Hebiki look what I found. Our next meal."
I turned around to face the man whose voice had changed half way through his sentence, first it was gruff and then it became monstrous. The air now back in my lungs I gasped as now instead of a young brown haired boy, there was a large brown furry four legged creature with four glowing red eyes and large teeth drooling and staring at me. I stared wild eyed at the creature unable to move, scream or anything. Part of me was honestly fascinated by the beast but most of my mind and body was screaming at me to get out of here.
"Justttt rememberrr to sssharreee." I heard which strangely sounded like a slithering snake as just a sort of creature appeared behind a nearby tree. He was two legged and covered in gray scales; he stood like human only his head was like that of a snake. I felt my body begin to tremble. For one second I considered getting away on my bike but as I took a quick glance at it I realized that that would not be an option. My once perfect front tire was now nothing but scrap metal and rubber, and the frame was bent in an unbelievable way. It looked like it had been ran over three or four times with a monster truck. My attention was brought back to the two things in front me when one of them spoke.
"Atleasssstt you managed to find a prettttyyy one thissss time." The snake slithered as he began stalking towards me. His "friend" followed suit as he replied,
"Let's just hope her soul is a delicious as she is pretty."
I finally found some strength in my legs as I began crawling away from them only to back myself up against a tree. ~Screaming would be pointless it's not as if anyone can hear me!~ My mind screamed at me as I opened my mouth to do just that, I closed it when the creature said menacingly,
"Trying to get away is pointless." The furry four legged beast said as he slowly walked towards me. Using the tree I balanced myself up against the tree as my legs wobbled uncontrollably. I stared in horror as the creatures advanced towards me. As I began to scream the furry beast wrapped his two front paws, which I now noticed where anointed with long yellow claws, around my throat. All the air left my lungs as he clutched my throat tighter, searing pain ripped through my neck as I tried gasping for air while I wrapped my hands around the beat left forearm and dug in with my nails. Even through his fur was hard as a rock and I began to cry as one of my nails popped off. I closed my eyes as I could feel myself beginning to black out. ~Is this really happening? I've lived alone all this time only to let some stupid monster kill me? No! No, this can't be happening!~ I thought in rage as I felt a warmth spread from my chest, into my arms and out of my hands. I heard the beast scream out in pain and I felt my body fall to the ground. ~I can breathe?~ I questioned excitedly as I began to take large breaths of air and rub my neck. As I did I felt my neck become warm and begin to tingle. I looked down at my hands to see both of them holding small balls of fire. I then looked up at my attacker; my eyes widened in horror as I saw that the monster was completely on fire and screaming in agony. ~No….I promised myself that I would never do this again!~ I screamed in my head angry at myself.
"I will admit that I'm sssuurrrprised that you could do thhhat." The snake demon said to me as his "friend" fell to the ground smoldering. Smirking he launched himself at me and once again I was pinned up against the tree only this time the snake creature used his tail to wrap around my throat and his hands to hold down my flaming hands. I felt the warmth go back up my arms and settle back into my chest.
"Unfortunately for you he wassss the only oneee that could exxxtttraccct your ssssoul sssso now you havvvve to die." He said as he opened his mouth to reveal two large fangs dripping with a yellow liquid which I could guest was poison.
"Atlleassst you'll make a dellliicioouuussss snack!" The snake said as he sunk his fangs into neck. I instantly felt the poison as it entered my veins, I could feel it burning through them. I moaned a scream of pain as my body began to go numb. Then that same warmth sprung from my chest and it was as if the two fires began to battle within. Slowly it felt like my warm may win but when I heard the snake grunt in anger he sent another bout of venom in my veins. As the poison overwhelmed my warmth I moaned another scream as the venom pumped through my veins. ~Great, I finally use the only thing that I promised to myself that I would never use again and even that didn't save me!~ I screamed angrily in my head as my entire body became numb and the snake man dropped me onto the ground. I had read tons of books about snakes and knew that snake poison either made their prey completely immobile or killed them and as the numbing feeling spread through my entire body I waged that this was a type of poison that kept me still. However, this was no normal "snake" so it could also kill me….The numbing slowly spread across my entire body and even my hearing left me, when the snake spoke I only could see his mouth move but could hear nothing, my thoughts slowly halted as I stared up at the snake my eyes unblinking and full of horror when his mouth began to stretch and widen. ~He is going to eat me whole!~ Was all I could think as his head neared my body. ~No! It can't end this way! It just can't!~ I thought as I once again felt the warmth inside me begin to fight the poison but then it did something weird, it abandoned the poison and I felt the warmth lick across my skin. Flames filled my vision as the once snake man screamed in agony. Even through the flames I could see his mouth moving, probably cursing me but I didn't care. In the one instance I wanted that creature to burn and using my hate for him I willed my flames towards him. ~Got him…~ I thought as I felt the warmth returning to my chest and as it settled there my vision blurred and then my world went black.
Like chapter one? Don't like chapter one? Let me know your thoughts either way!
Artist-Porcelain and the Tramps
Song-Gasoline
Meaning to me: "Cross me once and you'll see it's like a match in gasoline." I think is the best lyric that describes this chapter.