Dark flames burned all around me. The miasma was choking me as I struggled to breathe. Swerving around, I searched desperately for an escape route through the hell's abyss. There was none. I backed away from the flames, suddenly very afraid. It was then that I saw a figure, stepping through the inferno. I turned to the new threat. It was a boy, no older than 15 in a black tunic and spiked black hair. He surprisingly didn't burn.
I reached out to him, "Please! Help me!" I screamed, but he didn't seem to register that I had said anything.
I tried again, "Please!" This time, he stepped forward towards me and the flames stopped reaching for me. I approached him with a trusting smile.
"Thank you, sir." I looked into his eyes. They were the color of rubies, something that was very rare back at my home on top of the mountain. Momentarily, I had forgotten that I still stood in the middle of the flames.
The boy's eyes softened and a small smile appeared on his lips, "I missed you…" He reached a hand to my cheeks and brushed it gently. I was not used to a man's touch; I was momentarily frozen in place. This was actually the first time I had seen a man up close. There were no men back where I lived. I had only ever seen them far below the mountain peaks.
I stepped away, suddenly very embarrassed, "Um, have we met?"
"Yukihime…" He whispered, stepping closer, but suddenly, he burst into dark flames and disappeared in a puff of miasma. The death fire ring around me started cornering me again. I cried out as the closest flame licked by arm, searing my flesh.
"Someone! Please! Help!" I cried, but I could not see past the fire. The inferno closed in and I screamed as they ate away at my kimono and burnt every part of my body. I screamed and screamed until my world became black and I was suddenly awake in a foreign room, still huffing from the remnants of the dream.
A toddler stood next to my bed with a blue pacifier protruding from his mouth, "Oh good, you're awake."
I looked around me. The room was nothing like anything I had ever seen, "Sir, where am I?"
The toddler froze, looking up at me. He squinted his eyes, "Do you recognize me?"
"Um, I believe I do not, sir. This is the first time we've met." I smiled easily.
The toddler turned to the door and yelled, "Botan, come in here!" And a sapphire haired girl in a pink kimono walked in.
She immediately saw me and burst into a large smile, "Oh! Yuki! You're awake! How are you feeling?"
"Miss...Botan? I am fine, thank you, but…" I said confused, "how do you know my name?"
Her smile faltered and immediately turned to worry, "Oh my...does she not remember me?"
The toddler replied to her, "I think she lost her memories when we brought her back."
Botan turned to me again, "Dear, what's the last thing you remember?"
It was a strange question, but according to these strange people, I had lost my memory, so I complied and tried to think about what the last thing I remembered was, "Um, I was praying at the Temple and thinking about what to get for Saya for her Winter Solstice present...I think. I'm not too sure." I laughed softly, covering my mouth. The blue haired Botan and the toddler exchanged worried glances.
I stopped laughing, suddenly worried, "Have I forgotten something?" It didn't seem like they were joking. They actually seemed sincerely worried.
The toddler flashed a forced smile, "It's nothing to worry about. Just a minor lapse in memory. Nothing major. I'm sure it'll come back to you soon. My name is Koenma, this is Botan, as you already know." He said, "You should rest for a bit more, you look unwell."
He headed for the door, motioning for Botan to follow, "We'll be right outside if you need us." And with that, he disappeared through the door. I frowned a little, wondering what I had forgotten, but decided against pursuing the issue further. He did say it'll come back. I have nothing to fear. Laying back down on the surprisingly soft cushion, I immediately drifted off into sleep.
Outside the door, Koenma motioned for Botan to be quiet and follow him back to her office, "Don't say a word to anyone about this."
"But sir!" Botan argued, "How can we not tell Hiei about this! He's practically destroying himself trying to find her!"
"It's orders from my father, Botan, I can't disobey." Koenma frowned.
"Why is King Enma trying to separate her from the others?" Botan asked.
"This wasn't what I had in mind when I asked him for help," Koenma fretted, "I told him I needed help rescuing her from the fire demons, but my father thought keeping her dead would be best."
"Wait what?" Botan exclaimed, "So King Enma is the one who hurt Kuwabara and took Yuki's body?!"
"Quiet Botan! No one can know about this!" Koenma hushed, "My father wanted her dead so he sent assassins to take her body back when he found out she had died. He was going to keep her dead, but I intervened."
"Your father allowed you to just take her then?" Botan asked surprised.
"No, he did something to her. Most likely that's what made her lose all her memories." Koenma sighed.
"Why does King Enma want her dead?" She argued.
"He doesn't want any outsiders to know where the Winter's Essence is. She was captured because of it too." Koenma replied with another sigh. He cradled his head in his arms, trying to sort through the mess that it was.
"How could King Enma do that! He's supposed to protect people!" Botan raged, slamming her hands down on Koenma's desk.
"He is protecting," Koenma thought furiously, "in his own way. If there's no one else that knows about the location of the Winter's Essence, then the ice maidens are safe. One life compared to the lives of an entire race."
Botan glared at him, "So you think it's better if Yuki died too?!"
"No! I don't!" Koenma argued, "I don't believe my father is correct in this either, which is why she's still alive!"
Botan settled down with a pout, "I still can't believe King Enma would do this. This is ridiculous! What about Hiei?!"
"We can't tell Hiei about this. We can't tell any of them. Those were the terms that my father set." Koenma sighed in defeat.
"Why not? She already doesn't know where the essence is!" Botan turned furiously again.
"I'm not sure, but I think it's because he's afraid that being with them will spur her memories." Koenma contemplated, "I don't think he erased her memories. He just sealed them. There's a chance that they might come back if she's too close to her past."
Botan was silent, thinking about Hiei spending his entire lifetime trying to find the girl that he loves when she was so close…
"Maybe it's better this way." Koenma grumbled, let out a cry of frustration.
Botan glared, "How is anything better this way?!"
Koenma answered warily, "The memories she lost weren't exactly good memories."
Botan fell silent. She had noticed how trusting and kind the Yuki that slept just rooms away from them now was compared to before. The first time Yuki had started living with them, she was suspicious and untrusting with all of them, sometimes bordering on cold indifference. With her memories gone, she was a different person...a better person.
"But what about Hiei?" Botan sighed sadly.
"He will have to learn to give up." Koenma murmurred.
"And just when he had fallen in love with her…" Botan wiped away a few tears and sniffled.
"It's better this way." Koenma said again, as both of them silently accepted the cruel fate that had been tossed their way.
It had been a month already and there was still no sign of Yukihime. Hiei slammed his fist against the tree he sat on, huffing from overexerting his jagan again. Truthfully, his jagan had started hurting a lot since yesterday from overuse. Still, he pushed himself again today, biting back the pain. He closed his jagan and bandaged it again. He couldn't understand why he couldn't find her. He had searched almost every inch of demon world and human world. She was absolutely nowhere to be found. The only explanation he could think of was that they had set up barriers like the one Yukina had been locked in. He cursed. What use was his stupid third eye if he couldn't even find the one girl that he would give anything to meet again.
He heard footsteps and knew it was Yusuke. It had become routine for Yusuke to come bring him home when dinner time arrived. Yusuke saw his hunched back and knew that today had been yet another disappointment. It hurt Yusuke to see his friend tearing himself apart like this. He walked over to Hiei and forced him to turn towards him. Before Hiei could protest, Yusuke ripped the bandage off his jagan eye. His eyes narrowed.
"You know you can't keep doing this, Hiei." Yusuke said seriously, "Your eye's bleeding."
Hiei snatched away the bandage and tied it back in place again, "It doesn't matter. This eye isn't doing what it's supposed to do."
"You can't keep punishing yourself like this!" Yusuke argued, "You've already searched through the entire demon and human world multiple times already. If she's not there, that can only mean that someone is keeping a barrier up."
"If there's a chance that that barrier is taken down, then I will be there when it does." Hiei huffed, dizzy from overexertion.
Yusuke took Hiei's arm again to help support his suicidal friend, "Please, just take tomorrow off. Let your eye rest."
Hiei was silent. He felt battered and drained of spirit energy. Truthfully, he couldn't sleep at nights either. Everytime he tried to rest, his mind would just replay the scene when she died. Each time, he'd wake with tears streaming down his face. It was starting to take its toll on his body, mentally and physically.
Kurama was waiting for them outside again. He saw the defeated expression on their faces and gave a small smile, "Dinner's ready." Yusuke flashed a replying grin, though it was dim compared to before. Team Urameshi just wasn't what it used to be. Hiei limped into the house and was greeted by a blinding grin from Botan.
"Hey Hiei! How's it going!" Botan exclaimed. Hiei ignored her. Yusuke gave her a glare.
"Read the mood." Kuwabara grimaced. Botan's energy visibly dropped a few levels. She frowned guiltily.
"Hiei, maybe you should...give up?" Botan said tentatively. Hiei immediately turned on her in rage.
"I am not giving up!" Hiei snarled vehemently.
"I know you like her, but this is...you're destroying yourself, Hiei!" Botan cried, "Everyone's falling apart, we're falling apart. It's just not worth it!"
"How can you say that, Botan?" Yusuke glared, "I thought you of all people would understand!"
Botan defended, "I do, but-
Yusuke cut in, "Botan, just stop."
Botan cried silently, her shoulders shaking while she sobbed. She knew they would not stop looking for her, but this…this she had not wanted. This she would not have wanted on anyone. Kurama put an arm around her shoulder and lead her out to the living room where he sat her down with a box of tissues.
"I'm sorry, Botan." Kurama smiled sadly, "Everyone's just on edge right now."
Botan shook her head feverishly, sobbing harder, "I-I know that th-they're sad but...th-they're hurting themselves!" She sobbed, blowing her nose on the tissue Kurama handed her.
"I know. I tried convincing Hiei to rest, but he won't listen." Kurama sighed worriedly, "I don't think he's been sleeping either."
"Even K-Keiko's worried." Botan continued, "Sh-she said Yusuke h-has been really di-different." Kurama rubbed useless circles into her back silently. When Botan finally calmed down enough to not drip snot everywhere, she headed back into the dining room silently, not willing to look any of them in the eye.
They hadn't touched the food that lay cold on the table. Yusuke had pulled of Hiei's bandage and Botan gasped when she saw that the jagan eye was completely bloodshot and it was bleeding from the corners, leaving red blood trails that went down his face. She bit back another sob.
Taking a deep breath, Botan couldn't take it anymore, "Minami Dai Ichi Koukou (South First High School). Koenma has a mission for you all there. Hiei, you have to go." Hiei opened his mouth to argue, but was cut off by Botan.
"You're going!" She screamed at him at the loudest volume anyone has heard from her, then she ran out the door, leaving three confused and one irritated Team Urameshi member behind.
I usually don't write this, but thank you to AliceJr for reviewing! :) You're my first reviewer, so I was really happy to know that someone actually likes my work! I'm sorry for the rape scene, there really won't be anymore! I promise! xD I hope you'll like the rest of the story!
