Part 2: Ningenkai Tenshi
It is said that when the human race comes under attack, whether it be from a youkai threat, or from amongst themselves, that one among them will rise up as a light, as a savior, as a beacon of hope that they are not a lost race. They had given themselves no formal name, but over the years they had been known by many; Messiahs, Goddesses ,Divine Spirits, Angels. The purity of the one, would engulf the many, and save them from whatever chaos that befell them. It was never mentioned how this happened, but was always recorded that soon after, the being would disappear. Some believed that after threat had been ended, the being simply went back to wherever it had come from, until the next time it was called upon. Others believed they became normal human s afterward, losing their abilities, and living the rest of their mortal lives in peace. Still others believed that the use of all their life energy was require to purify their race, and that after it was done they died. It had been millennia since one had showed itself, but when any human started to show signs of the abilities these so called Tenshi possessed, the Reikai was the first to jump upon them, and guide them, for it was always the case when they did appear, that danger was not far behind them.
Koenma stared at the monitor in front of him, eyes fixed on the snoozing girl under the tree. The file the Ogre had just handed him hung loosely in his fingers, forgotten after he had read its contents, and connected the dots of the situation. It had been so long since one had appeared that he had forgotten the signs. Powerful purifying skills, unbelievable optimism, compassionate heart to all creatures (including cranky and injured fire youkai), and an array of other obvious markers that would be a tell tale sign that a certain ningen girl was just a little more that she appeared to be. The demi god had suspected that she was more than a gifted ningen, even with her family tree, but he had not expected this. There was no doubt in his mind that she was ignorant of the matter, as the subjects often were when they first appeared. Always new, always young, but always came around in time to save the day. The mere fact that this girl was a Tenshi was not what concerned him, but it was why she had appeared.
It was traditional for such a being to show itself in a time of crisis, or shortly there before, but there was nothing on the radar. Not a peep from the Maikai, other than the lower class youkai that kidnapped her in the first place. There was the usual distress in the Ningenkai but nothing out of the ordinary, and certainly nothing that would call upon such a being as she. It had been that way since the Dark Tournament had reached it s conclusion almost a month ago. It unnerved him that she was there with no obvious probable cause.
"Ogre!" he snapped suddenly, fixing the tall blue creature with a narrowed gaze. "You're sure this report is correct?"
"You're father gave it to me himelf, Sir" the Ogre replied, a serious expression crossing his face for once, for he too understood what such an accusation meant.
Koenma nodded, and returned to staring at the screen. "If this girl is what my father thinks she is, we are overdue for something really, really bad."
When Hiei heard the first signs of stirrings from below, it was close to dawn, and he slid silently from his branch, landing just in front of the still dozing girl. He pocketed his hands, opting rather to nudge her with his foot until she grunted out what he guessed to be some sort of acknowledgment that she was waking up. When she instead simply slumped over, and started dozing again, he resumed the probing with his foot, until she was batting it away, eyes half lidded, and lips pulled down in a pout.
"Wake up onna" he ordered, retrieving his foot before she could touch it with her batting hands.
"The sun isn't even up yet!" she complained, sitting up, and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"The sooner you get up, the sooner we can leave" and the sooner I can be rid of you he added mentally.
This did little to motivate the tired girl, as she continued to sit on the grass covered ground, her clothing wrinkled and her black hair a mass of untidiness around her head. Hiei rolled his eyes at her unwillingness, and reached for her arm to haul her up as he had done the night before, only this time she grabbed his hand first.
"Please don't" she said, her sleepy eyes finding his face "My arms still hurts from the other time."
He felt a slight warmth on the skin she touched, like the pickling of sleeping limb, and he pulled away almost instantly. Had she been preparing to purify him again? As he watched her, he doubted that it was the case. She was drowsy, and inattentive, nearly falling over when she tried to stand. If she hadn't been attempting purification, then what had that sensation been? So preoccupied with this question, he hadn't even seen her pass him.
"Well, are we going or not?" she whined, stamping her foot lightly on the ground in her impatience. "You got me up, and now your just standing there. If you don t move, I'm going to go back to -OOF!"
The whining sound of her voice was like nails on a chalk board to his sensitive ears. Before she could finish her sentence, he had darted forward and slung her over his shoulder in an unorthodox sort of way, beginning his trek back to the portal. It was several moments later before she started up again, this time a note of hysteria in her voice. She wailed such things as 'This is completely unnecessary!' and 'I have legs for a reason!' and other such comments that didn't interest him. She had legs, but she would be slow, and he would rather return to the Reikai within the next hour, rather than several agonizing hours later, and there for carrying her was completely necessary-though he loathed every momentof it- disproving both her points in one thought.
After a while, she stopped struggling, and even stopped talking, though she would make the occasional complaint if he jostled her too much, and there was always the question of how much further? and are we there yet? both of which he pointedly ignored.
Sooner than expected, the portal's energy prickled at his senses, and within moments it came into sight, a small swirling mass of blue and white almost invisible in the similar colored sky.
"Hold on" he informed her dryly, as he positioned for a higher jump, and sprung toward the sky, vaguely aware that her entire body had tensed in his arms as they faded through the portal into the seemingly unknown.
If Botan hadn't been on call to witness it first hand, she might not have believed that he had actually gone through with it. Sure, being threatened to spend the rest of his days in the darkest depths of the dungeons of spirit world where are the scariest, most dangerous, and most powerful criminals were held, was pretty bad, but surly it was nothing compared to the chunk of pride it must have taken the fire youkai to carry the sleeping girl into the Reikai offices, bridal style. Botan chewed at the inside of her cheek, desperately trying to withhold the giggling bubbling up in her throat.
'Ningen' Hiei thought bitterly 'too weak to even handle passing through a simple portal'. He punctuated his thought by glaring holes at the girl in his arms. Purifying him, forcing him to chase her through the damn forest, being weak and slow therefore forcing him to belittle himself by carrying her, and then passing out mid jump-to-portal , throwing him off balance, and sending them careening out of control into said portal, and spilling them out at the gates of the Reikai castle rather ungracefully, AND remaining comatose forcing himto further humiliate himself by carrying her inside. At this point, he would have rather dragged her in by her hair, or simply left her at the gate for one of the ogres to find, but damned if he was going to be caged because of some ningen wench.
When he saw Botan, red faced and forcing her laughter to remain quiet, he almost lost the ebbing control on his temper. "Oh, Hiei!" she gave him a sly grin, "You big softy you, taking such righteous step to rescue the fair maid. It s almost like you're a he-"
He cut her off with an icy glare before she could say that despicable H word in referral to him. "So much as a breath in my direction while I'm here, and I will take your head back with me to the Ningenkai." He snapped.
Botan effectively zipped her lips, but followed him to Koenma's office regardless, a grin still plastered on her gleaming face. Koenma, however, was not as courteous, for upon seeing the sight of the hiyoukai with his arms full of sleeping human girl, he let loose with a long, bellowing sort of laughter that had Hiei gritting his teeth and count to ten.
1 don t drop the girl.
2 don t kill Koenma.
3 don t drop the girl.
4 don t kill Koenma.
After a few agonizingly slow minutes, Koenma quieted, whipping tears from his eyes. "Well now" Koenma said with a grin, crossing his arm "See? Doing good things just for the sake of doing good things isn t so bad is it?"
"Hn" Without warning, Hiei simply dumped the girl on the toddler's desk, her body thumping onto the wood in a painful sounding way.
"Be careful!" Koenma barked with just a smidgen too much panic in his voice, as he moved to make sure the girl was unharmed.
Ignoring the scrambling child, Hiei growled "You have your precious ningen wench, safe and sound, without a scratch. She's your problem now"
Botan, who had been quietly observing the scene before her, suddenly came forward with a curious light gleaming in her violet eyes. Now that Hiei was no longer carrying the girl, she saw the unsettling state of his cloak, and exposed skin below.
"Hiei?" she inquired, "Did she hurt you?"
He pinned her with flaming crimson eyes "How dare you suggest that a ningen onna could harm me!" he snapped.
Concern trumping fear, Boton continued on with only a slight hesitation. "Hiei if she touched you with that purification magic, you need to be treated right away. It won't-" But before she could finish he was out the door.
"Hiei!"
"Leave him Botan." Koenma ordered "He'll be fine." He was trying in vain to pick the still unconscious girl up by himself "Help me get her someplace that isn't my desk!"
"Right away sir!"