Yukina stirred in her sleep to the sound of the birds chirping outside the temple. She cracked one eye open to see that the morning rays had begun to peek over the horizon, the pink and orange hues stretching lazily across the sky. She always rose with the Ningenkai sun so she could admire the beautiful pastel colors and breathe the crisp morning air with a cup of tea. It was one of the small things about this world that she absolutely loved.
She yawned and sat up, slowly blinking the sleep from her eyes as she thought about what kind of tea she wanted to make. Shizuru had brought this wonderful smelling blackberry tea back from the market the other day that she had been meaning to try-
She gasped as she suddenly felt white hot pain lance through her chest, slicing through her breastbone, sending black spots swimming along the edges of her vision. Searing pain shot through her lungs; she couldn't breathe! Her lungs strained as if they had forgotten how to work properly. She could hear her heart becoming sluggish, each beat reverberating loudly in her eardrums, the sudden decline in beats causing panic to swell up in her. She scrabbled for her youki to save her, but the normal flow of demonic energy within her seemed to have to dried up and withered away. She practically ripped her pajama shirt away from her body and looked down to see if there was something stabbing her- but she saw only smooth, unmarred skin!
How can this be? she thought, her mind frantic as her arms pinwheeled, trying to drag herself out of bed. She had to get out of this room, she had to call for help! She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. Her jaw worked up and down in a futile effort as she struggled to breathe, a cold dread seeping into her bones as she realized she was going to die...
And suddenly the feeling was gone.
What was that...?! she thought, rubbing at her chest anxiously. She checked again to see if something had stabbed her, but there was no sign of a wound of any kind. She took a hesitant deep breath in- now her lungs were working fine. Aside from feeling quite shaken up, it was as if nothing had even happened.
Perhaps it was nothing, she tried to rationalize to herself. The twisting feeling in her gut didn't agree, but she didn't want to think about what that might mean...
A bird landed on the sill of the open window and chirped happily at her, startling her out of her own thoughts. She furrowed her eyebrows as she watched the bird hop along the edge of the window before flying away. She stayed frozen in place for a few minutes, unsure if the feeling would return or not.
When it seemed like nothing else was going to happen after a little while, she got up and went to her closet, pulling out a kimono for the day. Maybe Shizuru would be awake, and Yukina would make them some morning tea and she could tell her about...whatever it was that had happened. Shizuru was good at deciphering strange feelings from being so spiritually aware for a human, and more so especially since she had come to live with Yukina at Genkai's temple since her passing. She was sure Shizuru would have some answers for her, and could reassure her that it was, in fact, nothing.
She finished getting dressed and slid the door panel open, stepping out into the hallway. She shook herself a little bit, trying to get herself together. The awful stabbing feeling had passed, but she couldn't shake that there was something...not quite right. She felt unusually drained for having just woken up from what had been a decent night's sleep, and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled as if there were danger nearby. She twisted her hands nervously as she padded quietly down the hallway, heading for the kitchen.
To her surprise when she rounded the corner Shizuru was already standing in the kitchen, fully dressed and standing over the coffee machine, mug in hand, staring hard at the wall.
"Shizuru?" she said softly, not wanting to startle her. But Shizuru didn't move. She didn't even blink. She just continued to stare blankly at the wall. Yukina felt her heart start to sink into her stomach. "Are you okay, Shizuru?"
Slowly Shizuru turned to look at her, and she took a sip of her coffee. "It's cold," she said absentmindedly, peering down into the cup.
"I'll make us some tea." Yukina offered, forcing a small smile. What was going on?!
Shizuru nodded, her face unreadable. "Sure. I'll just be in the other room," she set her mug down on the counter top. "I should probably lay off the coffee anyway. This is my third cup."
Yukina chewed on the inside of her lip as she watched her disappear around the corner. She wished Kazuma were there, he always had something to say to make her feel at ease. But he had been away with Yusuke and the others on a mission, which had been a little strange because their days working for Reikai had been over for some time, according to what Kazuma had told her. He hadn't given her any details, just said that he would be gone for a little while and promised to return to her safely.
Her heart skipped a beat as it occurred to her that something might have happened to him, or maybe all of them. She blinked quickly and grabbed the teapot, determined to keep herself busy for the time being so her thoughts didn't run away with her.
It was nothing, after all, she reminded herself. They were probably fine.
When the tea was done, she arranged everything neatly on a tray and carried it into the other room where Shizuru was sitting on the floor, lit cigarette in hand. Yukina set the tray down gently and waved some of the smoke away before sitting down across from her.
"Shizuru-" she started, but Shizuru cut her off.
"Do you get the feeling that maybe we've done this before?"
Yukina blinked in confusion. "Ah...I'm not sure what you mean?"
Shizuru turned her head and exhaled her noxious cloud away from Yukina. "I mean, do you think we've done this before? This. Right now. This morning."
Yukina raised an eyebrow, still feeling confused. Of course they had early mornings filled with tea and coffee all the time, but that didn't seem to be what Shizuru was getting at.
Shizuru stabbed out her cigarette in the little ashtray beside her, which already had a few butts in it. "This particular morning. We did this yesterday, and the day before, I swear. I woke up early feeling like I was having a panic attack. I went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, and I put the mug on the counter next to the pot. I thought I forgot my cigs, and when I turned to go back and get them I knocked the mug over and broke it. But you see...I did this yesterday too. And the day before. So I clean up the mess, right? I get out a new mug. I have a couple cups. And suddenly I get this...foreboding feeling. Like something awful is happening. It feels like it's suffocating me. And then suddenly it's gone. And then you come in the kitchen, and you make tea."
Yukina pursed her lips and looked at the tea tray. The tea was getting cold. She reached out and took one of the cups, sipping it lightly. "I don't remember this at all though," she said, feeling troubled. She was sure that she would remember feeling the horrible pain in her chest from when she woke up if she had experienced it before.
Shizuru sighed and pushed a hand through her hair. "I don't know. I can't really explain it, I guess. I wish Genkai were still here. And I wish Kazuma would come home soon."
Yukina nodded. "Me too," she said, resting her teacup gingerly in her lap. "So...speaking of bad feelings. I had a bad feeling this morning too."
Shizuru quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Yukina traced a circle around the lip of the cup with her finger, anxiety suddenly spiking in her chest. "I woke up feeling like there was a knife in my chest. I was sure that there was. I couldn't breathe. Only when I looked, there was nothing there. And I felt...as if my youki was draining out of me...like I was dying. But then...it was gone."
Shizuru narrowed her eyes, and pulled her cigarette pack out. She stuck one in the corner of her mouth and fished around in her pocket for her lighter for a moment. She flicked the little silver box open and the scent of pungent lighter fluid and acrid smoke filled Yukina's nose.
"What do you think it means?" Yukina pressed, tea forgotten in her lap. She dropped her voice. "I'm afraid...that it means something horrible is happening."
"Yeah...me too, kid." Shizuru said thinly.
Yukina stared at her for a minute, her thoughts in a tangle. This conversation was not going the way she had hoped it would. She had hoped that Shizuru would tell her it was nothing, that everything was fine, that there was no reason for her to worry. Instead she felt like her stomach was rolling around in her gut, her heart was sinking somewhere down by her feet, and her lungs were fluttering around in her rib cage. She was worried about Kazuma, and the others of course. She knew they could handle themselves, but...
"Hey, you in there?" Shizuru interrupted her thoughts, the concern on her face apparent. "I know you're worried, I am too. There's not much we can do besides wait for them to come back. Let's just try to get on with the day, alright?" She stood up. "Sorry about the tea...I'll be outside if you need me."
Yukina nodded numbly as Shizuru placed a hand on her shoulder before walking out. She stared at the teacup in her lap, and then looked to the tray, the matching teapot and other cup untouched. She placed her cup on the tray, and noticed that Shizuru had left her ashtray behind. Her eyes widened. The ashtray was nearly filled. She could have sworn it had only had a few of the little paper butts in it just a few minutes ago.
How long had they been sitting here?
She picked it up and set it on the tea tray, gathering everything up and headed back into the kitchen. Maybe she should go outside too, some fresh air would probably help to clear her head. Plus there were plenty of birds still cheerily whistling away, and birds always managed to lift her spirits.
She set the tray down on the kitchen counter, flipped the faucet on and poured both cups of tea and the pot down the drain. What a waste of good tea. The smell of blackberry wafted up, mixing with the scent of the liquid lemon soap as she squirted it onto a sponge and began to clean up. She smiled a bit despite herself, thinking about how much she enjoyed some of the little human things, like the colors in the sunrise, or the way human soap bubbled up and became frothy and came in dozens of different scents. They didn't have those things on the floating island.
She set the little cups off to the side in the dish rack, and turned to grab the pot. She had just begun to rinse it out when she heard the sound of pounding footsteps coming down the hall, but they were too heavy to be Shizuru's-
"YUKINA!" she heard Kazuma bellow, panic in his voice. She turned around just in time to see him nearly slam into the wall as he rounded the corner, and time seemed to come to a near standstill. She saw Kazuma's mouth moving but she couldn't hear anything- everything was curiously muffled. Her eyes widened in shock as she took in the blood- was that his blood?- soaked all over his clothes, covering his arms, one of which was hanging limply at his side, dripping down onto the white kitchen tile. His face was puffed up and bruised, and his lip had been split open. His clothes were torn in several places and he was missing half of his shirt.
She felt something hit her feet and her hands suddenly felt empty. Had she dropped something? Oh yes, the teapot. How silly of her to forget.
"-we gotta go now!" he urged, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her out into the hallway with him, slamming her back into the present moment. She hurried after Kazuma, her heart pounding, her thoughts jumbled as they burst into one of the spare rooms closest to the front door.
Kurama was knelt on the floor over a crumpled black heap, his normally perfectly kept red hair in wild disarray, his clothes torn and bloody. He whipped around to face her, and she gasped, her hands flying up over her mouth. One of his eyes was missing! Blood was caked all down the side of his face, and his nose looked like it was probably broken. There were other gruesome cuts all over his face, chest, and arms, but his missing eye...it horrified her!
She sank to her knees beside him and her eyes landed on the broken black mass on the floor.
Her heart stopped. The crumpled heap was Hiei.
Hiei was wrapped up in his cloak as if it were a blanket rather than a garment, making him seem much smaller than he already was. His skin was the color of ash, and his eyes were closed. A chunk of his hair had been ripped out of the side of his head, and she could see his exposed scalp matted with dried blood. He had a massive gash running down the side of his neck, and his breathing was so shallow she could barely hear it. But the scariest part was none of those things...it was the Jagan eye, wide open...and completely dead.
She heard the sound of her tears clattering on the floor as they solidified as a far away echo. This couldn't be happening. She was just in the kitchen, washing the dishes, and then she was going to go outside and see the birds...
"You must help him!" Kurama insisted, grabbing her by the shoulders, shaking her a little more roughly than he probably intended. "There is still time! He is still alive!"
She snapped back into reality, pushing her sleeves up. "Okay," she said shakily. She pulled the cloak off and felt a fresh wave of tears stream down her face. There was the other half of Kazuma's shirt, tied tightly around Hiei's chest, blood seeping through the fabric in the same exact place she had felt that strange, horrible pain in that morning.
But there was no time to think about that. She put her hands over the spot where the blood was and released her youki, sending healing waves of energy pouring into Hiei's body.
"Kazuma, I need you to call Botan! I won't be able to do this myself!" she cried. She heard him run back down the hallway and that was all the reply she needed. "Kurama is there anything you can do to help him?" she asked desperately.
"I've already given him everything I have that will help," he said weakly. He pushed a lock of black hair that was hanging in Hiei's face aside. "I'm afraid it isn't enough, though."
Yukina gritted her teeth as she continuously poured as much youki as she could into the wound, but it didn't seem to be helping as it should have been.
"What happened?" she said, her voice cracking. Fear gripped her heart like a vise. "Why is he like this?" She stared at Kurama, waiting for an answer. "This wound should have closed by now!"
Kurama stayed silent for a minute, staring into Hiei's pale face. "He was expecting us," he said finally. "The demon...we were after. He knew we were coming. He knew our every move, our every thought." he shuddered. "And he said...we had done this before."
Her blood curdled as she thought about what Shizuru had said earlier that morning.
"...We did this yesterday, and the day before, I swear..."
"What is that supposed to mean?" she whispered.
Kurama didn't answer, and after a few moments of silence, she could smell salt water.
Tears. Kurama's tears.
She closed her eyes and tried to focus on closing the wound. Closing it should have been the easy part, and knitting the insides back together that would be the most time consuming. But why wouldn't the hole close?!
She heard a thud in the hall, and saw Shizuru with Yusuke slumped on her shoulder out of the corner of her eye. He didn't appear to be in much better condition than Kurama, and Shizuru was keeping him partially propped up against the wall. His head lolled on his shoulders, and he seemed half dead. "I'm so...sorry...Hiei..." he mumbled before going dead weight and passing out, taking Shizuru down to the floor with him.
There was a clambering and shouting coming from the front door, and then suddenly Botan was beside her, hands hovering above Hiei's chest wound, and Yukina smelled the sweet rain of her tears as she began demanding answers from Kurama, her healing energy joining Yukina's.
Yukina closed her eyes, trying to block out the sounds of everyone around them. If she focused hard enough, she would be able to see the wound from the inside, as if it were an image projected in her head. She felt everything else begin to fade away until there was only Hiei in front of her, the healing warmth of the pulsating youki coming from her hands, and the reiki from Botan interlacing with her own power, strengthening it, magnifying it.
The image that began to form was unclear for a moment, a sort of static fuzz, and she concentrated harder-
Her stomach rolled as the wound came into sharp focus in her minds eye. A large knife laced with a horrible poison of some kind had pierced his chest, causing the surrounding tissue to die and decompose at an accelerated rate.
He was rotting from the inside out.
She could feel whatever herb Kurama had given him attempting to slow the decomposition by coating the wound in a protective layer. She poured more youki into the wound, strengthening the plant's power, letting the tendrils of her energy search for the natural healing power of Hiei's own youki in an attempt to marshal his body's defenses.
Fear prickled in her mind as she felt her search come up empty; there was no youki left for her to find. It had all been sapped away.
She felt a surge of determination as she thought about how Kazuma would never give up on a teammate, and she would be damned if she would give up on him either!
"Why isn't it working..." Botan choked. "He should be getting better!"
"It's poison," Kurama replied gruffly. "The blade he has is dipped in some kind of ancient poison I've never seen before. It causes rapid decomposition of anything it touches." He touched his cheek gingerly just under his missing eye.
"Did he...cut your eye with it?" Botan gasped.
Kurama nodded gravely. "He only grazed it...but when it started to rot away, I had to remove it or it would have spread to my brain and I would have died. It is a small sacrifice, in comparison."
A lump formed in the back of Yukina's throat. This couldn't actually be happening.
"We were ill prepared," Kurama continued, watching Hiei with one saddened green eye. "Koenma and Mukuro had been watching him for some time apparently, but the information we had was still insufficient. According to Mukuro, this demon can manipulate reality- even go back in time. It was imperative that he be eliminated as soon as possible, because no one knows what he has already gone back and changed. That's how he's stayed off Reikai's radar for so long; any time someone gets close to catching him or learns too much information, he manipulates the time line to get away."
"...We did this yesterday, and the day before, I swear..."
Yukina swallowed hard. "I think we have done this before."
Kurama's good eye flickered over to her. "What do you mean?"
"It's something Shizuru said," she said quietly, "She said that we've been experiencing the same day on repeat. I don't remember anything like that, but I had this horrible feeling this morning..." she trailed off as her words choked up her throat. A horrible stabbing feeling. In the exact same place Hiei had been stabbed.
Silence hung in the air for a few minutes before Botan spoke up. "It isn't working..." she said sadly, looking down at Hiei's pale face. She broke off the course of reiki flowing from her hands.
"We can't just give up!" Yukina said desperately. "We can't..."
Botan turned her head to look the ice maiden in the eye. "I'm afraid the damage is too extensive for just the two of us. I think the best thing to do now is to try to make him comfortable...I'll go back to Reikai and talk to Koenma. Maybe there's something he can do to help."
Yukina stared at her in shock. Botan gently pulled Yukina's hands away, breaking the link from Hiei. She gave her a sympathetic squeeze and rose to her feet, vanishing from the room.
Yukina stayed frozen in place until she heard the sound of Kurama rustling around as he lifted Hiei in his arms and began to carry him into another room. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as she watched his disheveled crimson hair disappear around the corner, and she heard the sound of his footsteps lightly padding further away.
How could this have happened?
Her chin trembled and she put her face in her hands, a sob escaping her throat. She wanted so badly to be able to help him, to be able to save him. He was Kazuma's team mate, and he was always so kind to her, he deserved to be saved- why was she so helpless?!
A heavy hand landed on her wrist, and she peeked through her fingers to see Kazuma knelt in front of her, his face drawn with worry and exhaustion.
"You did everything you could," he said reassuringly. "Botan will figure something out. Everything will be okay. We've survived way worse stuff than this."
Yukina lowered her hands and finally begin to take in Kazuma's injuries. His one arm still hung at his side, and his face was bruised and cut. He looked awful.
"Oh, Kazuma," she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek. "You're hurt. You look terrible."
"Oh don't worry about me baby, I'm just fine." he said, his attempt at cheeriness sounding a bit forced. He reached up and caught her tear with his index finger before it fell, and it melted away into his hand. "Don't cry anymore. I promise it will be okay."
She sniffled and tried to smile at him, but only ended up weirdly scrunching her mouth. "Let me see your arm."
He twisted a bit so that his broken arm was facing more towards her, and she rested her hands lightly on it as she poured healing youki into his bones. It only took a few moments for the bone to stitch itself back together, and then she turned her attention to the damage on his face.
"Thank you," he said, catching her hands in his own as she reached up to touch his cheek. "But you don't have to fix me right now. You should go help Kurama with Hiei, they need it more." His dark eyes smoldered with a deep pain as he lightly kissed her fingertips. Her heart broke for him; she could only imagine that the emotion and the horror she felt at the situation was tenfold for him. And despite his reassurances...she wasn't nearly as confident that things would turn out okay.
She nodded, and Kazuma got to his feet, extending his hand out to pull her up. She took it and they walked silently to the room Kurama had chosen to bring Hiei to. They stopped just before reaching the doorway, and Kazuma pulled her into a tight hug against his body.
She closed her eyes briefly and let herself feel at home in his embrace for just a moment. This was the moment she had been waiting for since he had left on this mission, but the moment was bittersweet. Too soon they separated, and entered the room together.
Kurama had placed Hiei in a bed, a blanket tucked up just under his chest. The fox was slumped in a chair he had pulled up directly beside him, his head bowed so deeply he was almost face down in the blanket, and had one of Hiei's hands grasped tightly in his own.
Yukina steeled her nerves as she felt a fresh wave of despair crash over her. She needed to stay calm.
"I think I'm gonna go check on Urameshi," Kazuma whispered to her. He gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head before quietly slipping out of the room behind her.
And then she was alone with the two other demons.
Kurama must have sensed her come in, but he remained as still as death.
Her heart dropped at the word death. She shook herself. She mustn't think about that. They were not giving up just yet.
Wordlessly, she grabbed another chair and pulled it over to the other side of the bed, across from Kurama. She sat down and took Hiei's other hand in hers.
His hand was calloused, and much colder than she had thought it would be. But perhaps that was the poison, she thought sadly. She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles and wondered if he could hear or feel anything going on around him. Bits of dried blood flaked off his fingers and stuck to hers. She ignored it and continued as gently as she could, as if she could will some sort of small comfort into him by her caress.
She looked into his face, searching for a sign of...something. Anything. But he remained nearly motionless, only the intermittent rising and falling of his chest indicating he was still alive.
His face was unusually childlike for a demon, and he looked quite innocent as he slept. Kurama had closed the lid on the Jagan, and if it weren't for the fact that she knew he were gravely injured, she could have sworn he almost looked peaceful.
She frowned as she continued to study Hiei's face. The slope of his jaw and his smallish nose looked oddly familiar to her, but she wasn't exactly sure how. Of course Hiei was familiar to her, she had seen him and spoken to him on many occasions.
Confusion bubbled up in the back of her mind as she noticed the shape of his eyes, and the slant of his thin eyebrows. Her eyes traveled down the bed. Hiei was of smaller stature for a demon, his build only slightly larger than hers. In fact he looked quite similar to her in many ways.
"...but I had this horrible feeling this morning..."
A horrible stabbing feeling. In the exact same place Hiei had been stabbed.
She felt her brain click into place, the realization dawning on her as Hiei began to stir. Kurama's head snapped up as Hiei slowly cracked his eyes open.
A tear gem dropped from her cheek onto the bed as she looked into his dark red eyes- the very color of her own eyes.
"Hiei," Kurama said weakly, attempting a smile. Hiei blinked a couple of times before he was finally able to focus his eyes on the fox's face.
Yukina squeezed his hand, a glimmer of hope shining in her heart. Maybe everything would be okay...after all, this was a good sign...right?
Kurama's face fell a bit as Hiei didn't respond, and continued to look at him with pained eyes.
Yukina knew they were communicating in the way that only lovers do, that silent exchange of heartfelt things. She felt her hope waver as she realized that there had been no physical response when she had squeezed Hiei's hand- he was probably paralyzed.
Hiei's gaze drifted towards her, and she felt her eyes well with tears as he focused on her. "Is it true," she said shakily, reaching up to touch his cheek. She let her fingertips lightly brush his skin. "Are you..."
She didn't finish, because she didn't need to. A single tear rolled down his cheek as his eyes glassed over, an obsidian colored hiruiseki stone dropping off his jaw onto the bed.
"No!" she cried. "You can't go now, brother! You have to stay! Please!" Her heart cracked in half as she watched the light dim from his eyes. "There's still time...please..."
Kurama stiffened, and then pulled Hiei's hand up to his lips. He whispered something inaudible before reaching over and brushing his hand over Hiei's eyelids to close them.
"No," Yukina whispered, horrified. He couldn't be gone!
Kurama reached across Hiei's chest to gingerly pick up the black tear gem, and then held it out to Yukina. "Take it," he said hoarsely. "Now you know the truth. He would have wanted you to have it."
Yukina took the gem, her face stricken.
It was said that the rare white glittering stones shed by the ice maidens were worth thousands. But they would be nothing compared with a black hiruiseki stone, possibly the only one to ever exist. This gem would be utterly priceless.
And none of that mattered to Yukina. This was her brother's tear gem. The twin brother she had been searching for her entire life. The only thing now that would be left of him.
She tucked the gem into her kimono, and collapsed onto her twin's chest with a sob.