-13/11/06 - Author's Note: I've discovered a new and rather effective way of planning this fanfic. My sister and I, we tend to bounce ideas off one another when we're doing written work (she's currently working on a FFX Novelisation thing), and all I really needed to do was stick on a sound recorder and discuss this story. After we were done chatting, I played it back and realised that between us we'd come up with a lot of decent material. I'm a lot clearer on how I'm going to go about writing this fic now. Unfortunately any time I want to do some brainstorming for it now my sister also needs to be available… Maybe one day I'll upload the Mp3 files.

This chapter's got some dense paragraphs at the start due to the lack of dialogue. Apologies. And this is my first shot writing from Hiei's point of view. I'm sorry in advance for the train wreck I'm probably about to make out of the most awesome character in the series. And there's grossness. Like, for a grand total of four lines.

-…-

Chapter Two

It was an accepted norm that animals didn't like Hiei. They generally didn't come within ten feet of him, especially wild ones. It wasn't something that bothered him that much, nor was it strange for him to be walking through dense woodland, like he was now, and hear nothing but the sound of his own footsteps on the damp soil. Maybe they smelled Evil, he thought idly, and ran for cover.

Patrol duty was long since over for him. He'd even carried on with it a little longer than he'd had to, not because it was something he enjoyed, but because he wondered what he'd do with himself after he was finished. Well, here he was. He'd seen Mukuro a lot, though he attempted to keep his visits as cold and businesslike as he could. However, Mukuro had always seen through the façade and they both knew it. He was beginning to run out of reasons to visit, and it still felt like a loss somehow to admit that he was there simply because he wanted to be. Visiting her was one of the few things that really gave much structure to his time. The other main one was checking in on Yukina. She hadn't seen him in three years, and she certainly didn't know that Hiei was her brother… but he made sure that he saw her at least once a week. He never stayed long, there was something weird even to him about being around her while she was asleep.

Once, while he was there he'd sat down on the end of her bed and carelessly, after several minutes he fell asleep.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hiei?"

Neither Hiei nor Yukina moved. Kurama went into the room quietly, set his glass down on Yukina's dressing table and gave Hiei a tentative poke. Silence. Kurama glanced nervously at Yukina, worried she'd wake up if he caused a greater disturbance. When he was sure that she was definitely still fast asleep, he shook his friend gently.

After a few seconds Hiei made a relatively amusing snuffling noise before blinking up at the fox demon. He jumped when he realised what had happened but was quickly subdued by Kurama's hand on his shoulder.

"Hiei-" he was about to ask him what he was doing, but it seemed like a stupid question, since he'd obviously come to see Yukina. After a second he tugged Hiei off the bed and half-dragged him out into the hallway, far enough away from Yukina's room that she wouldn't be woken up by the sound of them talking.

"How long have you been here?"

"Well, I wouldn't know, I was asl-"

"Have you been hiding here for a long time?"

"Don't be ridiculous, I only stopped by the temple to see Yukina, I'm not hiding out in the basement if that's what you're worried about. Besides, what were you doing up and hanging round Yukina's room?"

Kurama shook his head hurriedly. "I was - I heard - …Hiei, you're more than welcome here - you don't have to sneak in at three in the morning to see her. You can come by in the day or even stay for a while."

"Sounds appealing,but I prefer my own system," Hiei replied bluntly. He turned and made for the door.

"Hiei-"

The dark-haired demon paused.

"I mean it. Genkai would be happy to have you here, especially if it brings you and Yukina closer together. Just think about it, alright?"

Hiei considered this for a moment before nodding that he would. After a second he lowered his gaze. "…Thanks," he said somewhat grudgingly, before opening the door and leaving quietly.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

He hadn't taken Kurama up on his offer, but he had continued his nighttime visits. Once or twice he and Kurama had crossed paths, and Hiei had begun to wonder if he was staying awake in a deliberate attempt to catch him. Actually, Kurama seemed to have been staying at the temple quite a lot…

Still, it didn't matter. Kurama had made no further attempts to persude him to come clean to Yukina. But now that things had 'settled down' somewhat, he was aware that Kurama was expecting him to do it sometime soon. Yusuke and Keiko had just gotten married, Kuwabara's life had pretty much gotten as good as it could get… The one who needed her peace now was Yukina. He knew that. But still had hadn't done anything about it. Maybe somewhere within him he was awaiting some great revelation that would somehow justify the past, help him to explain why he'd been silent for so long and allowed her to wait for him when he had no intention of ever telling her the truth. And all the while, he was making her wait longer, and digging the hole deeper.

He sighed and sat on the ground under a tree, lost in his own thoughts and not entirely sure what he was going to do next. He could go back to the temple as Kurama had suggested… it would at least be something to do. But like his visits to Mukuro, he hated the idea of admitting that he was there because we wanted their company. He didn't even know why. Why did it somehow feel like it would be a knock to his pride?

He looked up suddenly at a curious clicking sound. There was a short pause in which everything fell completely still, deadly silent. Then, at some unknown signal, something shot out of a nearby tree towards him like a bullet. In one swift move he snatched it out of the air and looked down at it. He barely had time to register exactly what it was before several more bolted at him seemingly from all directions. Quickly he leapt to his feet, drew his sword and started slashing away at them until he became a black and white blur, dodging and cutting as shards of plastic and metal fell to the ground at his feet.

After nearly a minute of this Hiei became aware that this barrage might not let up anytime soon, and if he was honest he wasn't sure how long he could keep it up. He thought about locating the source of the attack and turning whoever was responsible into kebab cubes, but it seemed to be coming from all directions and it was all he could do to just work out where the next ten or so were coming from. All at the same damn time. He tried using his Jagan Eye to trace his attackers, but it was as if there were small ki signals coming from all over the forest. After several seconds he realised that they had been masked or weakened so he wouldn't notice their presence.

Finally, like a little black lightning bolt he jumped into a tree, the source of the nearest ki signal and encountered another demon there. Barely taking time to notice much more than a mop of green hair and some kind of souped-up gun contraption, he cut the sniper into several places before he shot to the next, taking out as many as he could safely manage while avoiding their apparently plentiful ammo.

He was starting to wonder how long it would be before his attackers ran out of things to fire at him when he felt a short, sharp pain in the back of his neck - someone had been behind him and - how had he not noticed…? The onslaught stopped. The pain was gone as suddenly as it came. The forest took flight.

-…-

"Kuwabara speakin'."

"Hey, Kuwabara, still alive without me around?"

Kuwabara almost dropped his cellphone. "Urameshi! You guys arrived?"

"Well we weren't planning to fly round in circles forever. How's it going?"

"It's okay, I guess. Kinda quiet. You get checked in?"

"Keiko's talking to the receptionist now… The flight sucked, man, turbulence all the way, I had to hold Keiko's hair back and everything."

Kuwabara screwed up his face. "Thanks for the info."

"Nothing new or exciting at home?"

"Why would there be? You're not here to cause trouble! You should take trips more often man, I think you're jinxin' us."

"You're not funny!"

"Yusuke, I've got our keys!" Keiko's voice could be heard distantly from Yusuke's end of the line.

"Hey, Kuwabara, gotta dash, we're checked in! I'll call again soon."

"Alright - later!"

Kuwabara flipped his cellphone shut and put it back in his pocket. "Hey, Yusuke and Keiko're at their hotel! They're going to their room now."

"Now Kuwabara, I'm sure Keiko wouldn't appreciate-"

"You are sicker than you let us think, Foxboy!"

"Sorry, I was just-"

"Appreciate what, Kurama?" Yukina asked suddenly, from her place on a little wooden stool near the corner of the room. Both boys looked round at her before looking at each other.

Genkai walked in, saving them all a little embarrassment. "So Yusuke's officially out of the country. Poor, poor China…" she said with a smile.

"Hehe, got that right!"

There was a pause in which they all just looked at one another.

"I'm… bored," Kuwabara said suddenly, and with a depressed sigh all their cheerful dispositions wilted.

-…-

"Any trouble?"

Yura shook her head. "It was harder than they thought it'd be but… they got him. He wasted like six of them before he'd go down though."

"Well… they won't need paid then."

The two walked down a wide hallway until they reached a set of stairs, Yura a few steps ahead as they headed underground. They made their way to a lower hallway and continued, "He's a hostile little bitch, though. The drugs wore off about half an hour ago and he's been threatening me ever since. Here," she added offhandedly as she gestured to a deep recess in the length of the hallway, about eight squre feet, apparently completely unguarded, separated from the rest of the hallway by nothing more than what looked like a white chalk line and some hovering talismans. Near the furthest wall back, a pair of scarlet eyes glared back at them.

The taller man didn't look impressed. "Huh… All that grief… I expected him to be…"

"More powerful?"

"No… taller."

"Five foot four, sir."

"Are you two finished?"

The two glanced round at him as if they'd forgotten he was actually there for a moment. Yura's boss chuckled. "Now, now… Remember your manners, won't you Hiei? You're a guest here, after all."

"Tried to get out a few times, but I think he learnt his lesson pretty quickly," Yura continued nonchalantly. She turned to look at Hiei and smiled sweetly. "I can cross this line! Can you?"

She waved her hand in the air in front of her over the white line, but in a sudden flash of scorching white light she gave a bone-chilling scream and drew back quickly, staring in horror at the twitching red and black mess that was once her left hand. Most of the skin and flesh had melted instantly, and clung to the bones of her hand in a sickening, charred liquid scab. She just stood there and stared at it for several seconds, shaking, before she shrieked again and ran for the stairs, almost tripping over herself several times and sobbing hysterically as she went. The sound of her screams still resonated from the stone walls after she was gone.

The two that remained regarded one another in silence. "Well then," the taller man said. "She'll know in future not to tease the hostages, won't she?"

"I can't imagine who you're trying to lure here by putting me in this stupid box. It'll be several weeks before anyone realises I'm gone. And I warned your silly little assistant that I'd kill her if she came anywhere near me. She got off lightly," Hiei replied unapologetically.

"I won't be making that mistake." His captor pointed to the chalky line. "That is no ordinary demon ward, as you've probably already worked out by seeing my assistant crossing it - much to her regret, I'm sure. That's the most advanced infrared technology designed in all three worlds. Installed alongside demon magic too. Doesn't look like much, does it?"

Hiei didn't look overly impressed, and not just because he didn't know what 'infrared' meant. "Please. I could level this entire building. And I plan to."

"Ah, yes, your little dragon-summoning trick. I suppose it's worth a try, isn't it…?" With a smirk the man turned and walked away leaving Hiei to contemplate the repercussions of breaking out of this ward by simply overloading it, and the implications of the word 'hostage'.

Well, he thought irritably, as he glared angrily at the attachment on his belt where his sword ought to have been. The bastards had confiscated it after they'd knocked him out. Now I know how Yukina felt in that ridiculous human's house…

He considered this idea for several moments in silence.

The victorious captor paused on the stone steps that led to ground level, smirking as the basement filled with a yellow light before falling back into darkness once more. He shook his head and continued up the steps, chuckling. "Totally predictable."

-…-

6/11/06 - Author's Note: Still not a lot has happened. WOE. Most of you have probably worked out why everyone but Hiei's able to cross the line from what written there, either that or I'm just weird. I really, really wish I could make this story more exciting, I'm aware that it's a bit dialogue heavy at the minute. As I said before though, let me know using REVIEWS about what you want to happen in this story, I am more than willing to deviate from my original plans to give readers what they'd most want to read. I'd also like to know if you'd prefer shorter, less detailed chapters. Am I going too out of my way to explain everything? I think so. Let me know what YOOOU think!

Next Chapter: Kurama has an unexpected visitor, and I stop having to use clumsy-sounding allusions and pronouns to describe our villain-type character. Hooray!

ALSO: The title of this story is likely to change very soon, and the summary already has. 'Dominos' is only a working title until something better hits me with regards to the route the story is taking.