A Single Flower
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A/N: Thanks for the review you guys! Here is the next chapter!
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The first thing they did when we arrived at Spirit World was to put us into the prison areas. Both Hiei and I were in different cells, but they were next to each other. He had still not woken up, and I was considering myself lucky that this was nothing like the one I had been in before.
I had told myself prior to all of this I wasn't planning on getting caught. But…here I was…definitely caught. Why did I decide to help out Kurama and Hiei after they stole the artifacts? Yes, I did owe them, but it was paid once I had helped act out as a decoy.
I closed my eyes and replayed the events that had unfolded in the past week in my head.
I was reminded of a human saying that my father had once told me. The eyes are a window to a person's soul. If that was the case…perhaps it's the look I saw on their eyes that made me reach out to the both of them. I remember I felt like I could trust Kurama. I felt like we could identify with one another. And in a sense…we did. We cared deeply for our human parents and had grown to love them and feel pain for them…feel guilty over them.
That I understood.
But Hiei, Hiei was a different matter. He only used me. So why?
I could hear rusting in the cell next to me and figured Hiei was waking up. "Damn," was the first word I heard him utter.
"You're awake." I stated so he knew I was there.
"Hn, you ended up being punished as well?" I could hear voice carry out into my cell.
I straightened myself up against the wall that separated our cells. "We're being put here temporarily until they decide our punishment. This is just a dim waiting room." I explained to him what they told me while he had been out. "So…how do you feel?" I asked even though I knew he wasn't a person for small talk.
"Does it matter?" He shot back. I could hear his voice clearer. It's as if he too had sat near the wall.
"Are you angry? That the spirit detective beat you?" I asked. I was curious. Yusuke won on pure dumb luck, but I didn't think that would've been enough to defeat Hiei.
"It's in the past." He answered curtly.
I closed my eyes and thought about when I first met Hiei. He was curt in the same fashion. I believed he was okay though. He seemed to work with Kurama just fine. So what was it that I could identify with so easily?
I remembered his bright, red eyes. I had seen his eyes before. My thoughts flashed to when I had looked at myself when I was locked in my room. Eyes that tried to hide loneliness, pain, and abandonment. Those were what my maroon eyes had looked like when father died, when I was locked away and had witnessed my 'funeral' prior.
I saw that in Hiei. I opened my eyes and I understood now why I gravitated towards him. I don't know if he was actually lonely, hurt or was even abandoned, it was just a hunch based off of my own experience. It's because of that hunch that I wanted to get to know him, follow him, and be around him. It was an awful feeling, I know. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone else, even if I were to be accepted by everyone around me.
Hiei… I decided to try to communicate telepathically with him. Do you ever feel…lonely?
What kind of stupid question is that? It worked! Perhaps it was a demon trait. That or I was very fast at learning demon skills.
I realize…I hate being alone. I imagine others must not like it too much. But you…you seem the type to like being alone. I just wonder if it's out of choice or something else. I must sound nosy. I chuckled a little.
You are. He bluntly communicated back.
I'm sorry. Just know…you don't have to be alone. I told you before, I like you. You don't care if I'm human or demon. You only were concerned with how useful I am. I don't think I am, but I know…that I can be by your side if you let me. You don't have to be alone anymore. I don't know why I felt so compelled to reach out to him. It's like I wanted to be his friend more than anything. You don't have to be alone anymore. I'll be here.
"You really do talk too much." He said out loud, but I could tell he was smirking.
I smiled. In a sense Hiei had used me, but I was using him in a way. When I was around him, I felt less lonely. Even less than I did in the company of Kurama, Yusuke and Botan. Perhaps it was the effects of putting two lonely people together.
"Well, I have to talk for the both of us." I laughed. "You say so very few words." I laughed again, but it was cut short by a guard who had entered the cell.
He unlocked it both of us and instructed us to follow him as Koenma was finally going to address our punishments.
We made our way to a very large office room and the only thing in the middle was a desk and behind that desk sat a toddler on a chair. "Yusuke was right…" I murmured to myself remembering how he had described the prince of Spirit World.
"Welcome." Koenma greeted. "I trust you know why you're here?"
Hiei turned away obviously not caring what his punishment was going to be. "Hiei, surprisingly you've managed to stay under our radar, but I'm afraid this stunt is going to cost you. You even dragged Sakura, who has no crime records thus far, into this whole mess."
"Drag? Please, it was more like babysitting." Hiei scoffed. Ouch.
"Actually…I volunteered to help, Koenma sir." Perhaps formalities would lighten my punishment. "I owed them you see." I explained.
"Yes, Botan has informed me of that and we have taken that into consideration. So far, we don't have a finite punishment set for you both, but we have come up with some precautions to keep you two busy and prevent from further obstruction to man-kind." This was going to be bad…huh?
"The two of you will be restricted to these boundaries you see behind you." I turned around to see a golden egg-shaped monitor and on it was a layout of a section of the human world. Three cities were shown with a red border around it. Okay, so it was like being on house arrest.
"To add on to that," He continued. "Sakura, because Yusuke has been set off on a mission and is not here to perform his spirit detective duties, you will take his place for the time being."
I pointed to myself. "M-Me?"
Koenma nodded. "Perhaps assisting humans will change your bleak outlook on them." Oh, that was the reason. "As for Hiei, you shall continue to do your job of what you call 'babysitting'. You are to act as Sakura's guardian until further notice."
I could see Hiei twitch. I really wanted to apologize now that I knew he was thinking of being around me as a menial job. "Is that all?" He asked and Koenma nodded, releasing the both of us.
On the way out I was given a paper with my first assignment as temporary spirit detective. I had wondered what kind of mission Yusuke was on that forced him to take a leave of absence. When we arrived at the human world, Hiei warped onto a nearby tree branch.
"I hope you realize, I could care less about Koenma's instructions, and I won't be keeping a constant eye on you. I don't care about tagging along for stupid missions that require me to aid humans." He remarked.
"Wait, you're leaving? What if something bad happens?" I asked. Yes I could summon a weapon, but if Yusuke had to deal with missions against Hiei and Kurama, what was I going to deal with?
"Tch, the missions you're assigned are probably designed as if a beast were to go fetch an item. I doubt you need instruction in that. If you're that desperate for help, than whistle or something. If I'm bored, perhaps I'll show up." He warped off again. Ooh…that Hiei!
"I don't even know how to whistle!" I yelled out into the distance to probably nothing since Hiei had disappeared so fast. To think, I wanted to be friends with him. I let out a sigh and looked at the paper. "First task is to inspect the increase of demons spotted in Ayanagi City." My eyes widened. That was…where I once lived.
I realized I would have to tread carefully in that city. After all, I was supposed to be dead. I also really had no choice as this was part of my punishment as well.
I made my way back to Ayanagi city and I had prepared a disguise for myself. I simply put my hood up and wore sunglasses. I must've looked quite strange and suspicious but the point was to not be recognized.
It was strange hiding from a place I would often frequent with friends after school or my father when we were both free of work. Since school was still in session, I wouldn't have to worry about running into Maki or Arisa. I wonder if they were well.
Instead of doing my mission, I ended up going by the old academy to see if I could spot either of them. I just wanted to see if they were okay…
"My, my, my. Have you ditched school as well little one?" Not too far from the school gates, were three girls all dressed up in the uniform of my academy.
"Don't be silly, Senna." Addressed the girl to the right. She had bright blonde hair. A yankee? Her mouth was covered by a mask. The one she had addressed as Senna had long brown hair tied up in a ponytail. The third one on the other side of Senna had short black hair and piercing ice blue eyes. The way they flanked the brunette, Senna, she had to be the leader. "How can someone who is dead still be going to school?"
My eyes widened. How did they know me? Before I could ask, the three disappeared and I felt a hit to the back of my head, and I was out cold. Damn.
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I don't know how long I was out for but when I woke up I noticed my surroundings looked awfully familiar. "I knew you would return." A voice cackled. And that was an all too familiar voice.
I was back in my room. I was back at my grandfather's mansion. He was back in my life. This had to be a nightmare.
"As if you could escape for long. Don't you remember what I said? You're not wanted by society." He remarked. "You notice…there aren't any talismans in your room anymore. Once you escaped, I knew that wasn't enough to lock a monstrosity like you. So I hired more demons to search for you. Only the idiots return, and I was right. If you escape again, this time you'll be hunted by those whose blood flows through yours. Do you think you can handle that? It doesn't seem like it, but there's a bunch of demons lurking around the grounds. You won't survive the moment you set foot out of this room." He laughed again and headed off. "It won't be known that I'm related to something like you."
"Why you!" I ran towards him but two girls stepped in front of him. They were the ones I had seen at my school. They both sent out shots of energy at me and when it hit, it hurt like hell.
"Heh, told you. You can't harm me." I was on the floor trying to recover from the hits of those two demons he had hired. This had to be some kind of nightmare. The two female demons moved away from the door and I slowly got up. "You stay here until you die. Creatures like you are meant to be alone."
What if this was my actual punishment? Filling in for Yusuke was just an excuse to get me back here. Stupid Hiei, he should've come with me. I bet he would've taken out those stupid demons easily before they got to me.
I tried to blow air out of my mouth to make a whistling sound but it just came out as sputters. I didn't think it'd work, but what else could I do? "Look, she's completely lost it." One of the demon girls pointed to me as they heard the sounds I was trying to make. "That or it's her human stupidity kicking in. When can we kill her?" She asked.
"You heard our orders. We don't attack unless she takes a step out of this room. She's gotta eventually. She's half human. She needs things we would never have to get." They scoffed and left the room.
I sat in my room isolated again. I was always quiet. The only noise was the conversations of the demons that guarded my door trying to provoke me to come outside.
I believe it had been at least two weeks since I was caught. I was weary, but I knew if I tried to leave I would be killed. I couldn't die. Not here. I refused, absolutely refused, to die out of hatred. On several occasions, I provoked them by shooting bursts of electricity at them. They were angry, but could not touch me. After all, I hadn't left.
I was tired though. At least the first time I was locked in my room, they had someone bring me food. This time? No mercy.
During my time being captured, I did learn a new trick with my powers. I could send small surges of electricity. Not enough to do damage like my torrential shot, but it could paralyze others. I had attempted it on those demons that walked past my window. They lasted about twenty minutes without moving. I wondered…if I could recover my energy enough to be able to use it on all the demons in the surroundings?
If only I could eat something though. I was starving. Twenty minutes was enough to get to the kitchen, right?
I had to remember to be fast. They would be paralyzed, but they could still see me if I escaped.
I opened the door and sent out small static electricity out of both my hands to paralyze them immediately. I used the remainder of my energy to move at high speeds and made my way to the kitchen. The staff was also paralyzed as I grabbed some quick food and made my way back into the room with record timing.
I ate quickly and then went back to acting like a dejected person. When the demons outside had recovered, they opened the door to check up on me and saw I was still there. They obviously knew something was up, but as long as I remained here, they couldn't lay a hand on me.
I let out a sigh of relief. If I could keep doing this over the next few days, I would gain enough energy to paralyze those that surrounded the mansion and escape again.
Over the next few days, slowly but surely, I could feel my energy come back to me. It was now becoming a challenge to act like I was weak.
I needed a good night's rest because in the morning grandfather would be off on a business trip, and I would begin my escape from this place.
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When morning came, I got up and stretched. "Okay, Sakura be prepared and sharp-minded." I looked around my room to see if there was anything that was ever in here that I could take with me and be of use. I couldn't help but hum a little tune as I did. It made me not notice my door being opened.
"Someone seems happy." I looked over at the entrance to see two demons, Senna and one of her side lackeys from my first day in front of me.
"What do you want?" I asked. "I haven't stepped out." I lied to them. They had no proof.
Senna held out her finger and shook it. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're lyingggg." She stretched out the syllables of the word. The third demon I saw came in with a tv and a cassette. They popped it in and in a few seconds a video was playing. At first it was just them standing guard in front of my room. "You really are a tricky little thing." She remarked. She pressed a button that proceeded to slow the footage. Right there, I was on the screen moving slowly. "It's a good thing, your human grandfather set up surveillance. We've wanted to off you for a while." She looked at her two underlings.
"Do what you want with her. But, remember, I get the kill." She smiled menacingly at me while the two jumped at me.
I tried to dodge by bouncing off of the walls, but this was nothing like when I had both Eido and Megumi come after me. The room was small, and they were both overpowering me together like that. They both landed solid hits that sent me smashing to the wall.
I could hear footsteps approaching. I really was going to die this time. I could've summoned my weapon. That probably would've helped me more. But I didn't do that. I didn't think. My instant reflex was to inhale really sharply and a loud whistle screeched through the air. I suppose I had used my energy to generate the sound.
I looked up to see Senna who was the one making her way towards me covered her ears in pain. "What the hell was that? Last words? Shrills? Pathetic." She began to gather energy and aimed right at me. "Good riddance half-breed. After you die, we get our payment and can go back to more important matters than deal with the likes of you."
I closed my eyes. Why did I have to be so weak? I waited for my final few seconds of being alive. Seconds, became minutes. Nothing happened.
I opened one eyelid to find she had collapsed in front of me. Her underlings who were right behind her had also been knocked out.
I scrunched my back up against the wall as if I could dig myself further in. "They're not dead, if that's what you're concerned about." A familiar, curtly voice could be heard in the room.
I looked up and my eyes widened in shock. It was Hiei, and Kurama was there as well! "Sorry Sakura." Kurama started. "It seems your grandfather hired quite a slew of weaklings to guard the outside. We would've arrived here sooner had it not been for them impeding our movements."
Hiei turned his head to the side. "Don't be stupid. It was that fool Koenma's fault. If he wasn't so busy recovering from his rump injury, he would've noticed that she had gone missing and not reported in her duties." Hiei casually remarked.
"Yes…but it's because we stole the artifacts in the first place that he had to be severely punished as well." Kurama remarked with a sweatdrop.
I looked at the two of them standing before me. Tears started to brim at my eyes. They both had come for me. Hiei noticed and narrowed his eyes at me. "Well, are you going to remain here, or are you going to get up."
"You…you jerk!" I got up and ran and automatically hugged him. "Next time you tell me to whistle at least teach me how before you go running off! Or at least pass the duties onto Kurama." I said pounding my fists at his shoulders.
Hiei tried to shove me off, but I held on tightly continuing to wail. He eventually did though. "Your human side is starting to show. I was just doing my job." I looked at him inquisitively. He smirked a little. "You know…being your babysitter and all."
I smiled at Hiei and turned to Kurama. "What are you doing here?" I asked. It was only Hiei who was assigned as a guardian.
"Well…Koenma advised me to come along to make sure Hiei didn't kill anyone." I smiled at Kurama as well.
"Looks like…I owe the both of you again." I said.
"Just don't go getting caught again." Hiei said cleaning the insides of his ears out it seemed. "Your whistling is a most irritating noise."
As if everything was normal, the three of us walked out of the mansion and returned back to Spirit World to report to Koenma. I'm sure my grandfather would be in for a nasty surprise when he got back and saw that I had escaped, yet again. This time with the help of friends.
He was wrong. I wasn't meant to be alone.
Koenma apologized to me and thanked Hiei and Kurama for retrieving me. I took his apology as a chance to ask for a favor even though I was the one who was supposedly being punished.
"Koenma, sir. I was wondering…since I was left alone so long…if you could find anything about my demon side. I'm curious to know." I requested.
"Hmm…" Koenma sat in his chair and thought about it. "Well, we'll see how the rest of your job goes and I'll let you know if we can find anything. You'll be at this a bit longer. Yusuke is going to be away for a couple of months training from a new mentor."
He then dismissed the three of us and we returned to the human world together.
"I suppose we'll have to accompany Sakura now until Yusuke is back." Kurama said as we walked down the streets.
"Or train her so we don't have to come to the rescue each time." Hiei commented nonchalantly. He always just had to act so cool.
"I think…it would be better if you trained me." I said agreeing with Hiei. As much as I appreciated them, I couldn't keep burdening them like this. "But!" I took a step forward and turned around to face them. "Let's go get something to eat first!" I said energetically.
Hiei's eyes narrowed. "Maybe she wasn't suffering too badly before. She seems to have forgotten all of that for her human appetite."
I let out a laugh. "It's just nice…to be with friends!" I said with a huge smile. I ran for it before Hiei could make some remark rejecting the idea entirely. "Come on! The faster we get food, the faster we can begin my training!"
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A/N: So this was a chapter to help build up Sakura's relationship with Hiei! Hope you guys enjoyed! Next few chapters will revolve around the Saint Beasts! Leave a review as they inspire to update fast! Bye! Oh, and a friend of mine pointed out the whistling thing remind her of Final Fantasy X! I hadn't thought of that at all! I was actually relating it to one of Hiei's character image songs called 'I hear a whistle'
