Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters. I merely have a few rights to my OC Tora, other antagonist OCs and this story!
Chapter 10 – Soft Landing
Written by: Amber M
Do you know who your friends are…?
Can you really trust them…?
Pass one wrong judgment and it could mean your demise…
I wonder if Yomi is mixed up with the current Ten of Makai business…
"Oh, Hiei, there you are."
Hiei looked up from the floor and raised a brow. "I can imagine how hard it must've been to find me while pruning in a tub."
"How did you know I was in the tub!"
"The towel on your head, fool. Unless you're experimenting with fashion again, I can safely guess that you just came from a luxurious bath."
Botan frowned, a brow twitching. She sighed and then said, "If you're done, I can tell you when your bath time is. You're scheduled for… wait…" The grim reaper's visage twisted in thought. Then she smiled. "Oh, yes! Now I remember. Um, 5:00 to 6:00, after Kurama."
"Hn, the fureasei baka actually agreed to go last?"
"Well, she did say that 'in this case, the filthiest should be granted priority'," Botan paraphrased, mimicking Tora in an exaggerated way. She lifted the deep frown back up and added, "I doubt she would have insinuated herself to be filthier than you."
Hiei narrowed his eyes.
"Um… I'm only stating what she was probably inferring by that!" she quickly said.
"Did Kurama already go up?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, that he did! Ah! They don't have a brush or a hair drier! What am I going to… Oh, there has to be one somewhere…" the blue-haired girl said distraughtly as she pulled things out of cabinets and drawers.
Hiei rolled his eyes and then walked out of the room again. He ambled unhurriedly down the hall and then found an open window he could sit in. Flitting up to it, he shrugged up against the cold stone and gazed out onto the horizon. There was still daylight left, the sky emblazoned by stripes of white and dark gray clouds. Off in the farthest distance there was a hint of reddish orange. They would be heading in that direction come morning.
The colors became more golden as he stared longer. He could see Tora's eyes appearing in his mind…
Oh wait…
Actually she was just sitting across from him now.
A growl rumbled in the back of his throat. "What do you want?"
The fureasei shrugged uncaringly. "I dunno…"
"If you're not going to start giving me answers then I suggest you leave."
"Answers to what questions?"
Hiei smirked. "What questions? Alright, here's the first one: what exactly is a fureasei demon?"
Tora sighed and closed her eyes. Ah, it wouldn't take too long to explain… She took a breath and then started, "A long ways back, a little over two thousand years ago, the fureasei kind were a flourishing breed of demons. But they weren't like the other demons of Makai. They actually had a few characteristics of Reikai beings, kind of like this Yusuke Urameshi I've heard about only not quite as balanced. The fureasei were born into the S-class, destructive even as infants. They didn't need mobility to bring about torture and death to people who were thousands of miles away… That was thanks to this peculiar 'spirit energy' they could utilize even as a baby. And as you know, most demons are born evil…"
Hiei smiled wryly as Tora went on, "…So, Reikai had to do something about these powerful demons. They immediately established a vast kingdom for them, a place impervious to outsiders unless permitted access by the fureasei. They were long kept ignorant to the outside world, never even knew what the Ningenkai or Reikai were. At some point, they allowed a feeble demon into their kingdom as a rare gesture of kindness…"
Hiei listened expectantly. The silence dragged, then he tapped a finger impatiently and said, "And?"
"Well… he was a wolf youkai named Kawaakari," Tora muttered. She looked up at Hiei and continued, "He started living in the fureasei kingdom as the only non-fureasei demon there. About a hundred years later, he led an onslaught of the fureasei… very few survived."
"Why would he do that?"
"Not sure… but the fureasei's killers called themselves the Ten of Makai."
"They've been around that long?"
Tora nodded. "A lot of them died in that attack too."
"If these fureasei could murder as infants, how is it so many were killed?"
"The Ten of Makai were aided by another race, Ooras, which they'd enslaved. In that battle, they drew powers from the Ooras as they fought. Plus, in all the confusion, some fureasei killed their own kind by mistake—it wasn't hard to do and their mistakes were unfixable."
Silence fell upon them, Hiei watching Tora pondering distantly. After a minute, he asked, "How did you get a jagan eye? Are you not a pureblooded fureasei?"
Tora smiled. "What? You don't think I could've possibly survived getting it surgically?" The fire demon didn't say anything. Tora sighed and looked to the ground. "Yeah… my father was a jaganshi."
"You were a Ten of Makai member once, weren't you?" Hiei asked quietly, not entirely sure of himself but believing it true nonetheless. The lack of response seemed to be his answer. "Why would you join a group that once murdered most of your people?"
Tora smiled thinly then let herself fall out the window, her eyes closed serenely. Hiei leaned over to see the girl land on her feet unharmed and stroll down the alley below. He raised a brow and flattened back against the sill again.
Before he could drift into thought, he could just see Yomi over the edge of one of the shorter buildings next to the inn. He was standing near the edge of the town, speaking to a pair of average looking demons.
Or maybe they were not so average at all…
Swiftly Hiei got up and flitted to another building to get a closer look.
"Are you feeling better, Kurama?" Botan asked brightly, now reading a book set on her lap. The red head had just descended from the roof.
Kurama looked up and smiled softly. "Yeah, much better. I'm surprised how clean the bath tub actually was."
Botan grinned. "Well, actually, it wasn't… It was practically filled to the brim with sand! It was fairly easy to clean up though."
The red head nodded and quietly sat back on his bed. Something seemed off about him… Botan lifted the book up to eye level and carefully peered over the top at him. He kind of looked like a person suffering from aftershock of a traumatic event.
Botan lowered the book, her brows creased into a frown. "Are you alright, Kurama?"
Kurama flinched and looked over to her dazedly. "Huh?"
"You seem kind of… I don't know… confused, maybe? What were you thinking about?"
"Oh, it's nothing really," he said with a smile.
Botan frowned. Then she sighed, looking solemnly to the floor. "Kurama… There is something wrong… You've been aloof lately… You're hiding something aren't you?"
"No, really, Botan it's just—"
"It has to do with your connection with the Ten of Makai… right?"
The red head's jaw was left agape. He wasn't sure what to say.
"You… were a Ten of Makai, weren't you?"
"Youko was," he corrected quietly, moving his eyes to the open green book on his blankets.
A long silence followed. Botan scrutinized the brooding expression that darkened Kurama's features. She felt it was time to drop the subject. "Oh! You know what? I forgot about dinner!" she burst suddenly. The red head's eyes widened at her. "I'll go ask the landlord to order us something good. I don't think he'll mind. I would get it myself but walking about this town is dangerous and all, huh? Alright, I'll just get to it, then!"
She practically skipped out of the room (out of nervousness). When the door was closed behind her, her smiled immediately dropped. Something was seriously hurting in her chest.
Was she that afraid for Kurama? Of course she was worried about him but…
There was more to it than that…
A building that was decorated with odd leonine gargoyles jutting out from the sides of the top floor was nearest to Yomi. Hiei stood atop one of the statues' backs, peering over its head at the conversation occurring below while remaining unseen by the conversers.
"…Be that as it may, Yomi, it does not change the fact he betrayed you in a most disgraceful way years ago—just like he betrayed us."
Yomi was talking to two demons hiding beneath gray cloaks. The one who'd just spoken was a woman with a snaky voice. Her pale hands were creepily held out before her, regularly twisting together as she spoke.
Unbeknownst to Hiei, a few pebbles broke loose beneath the statue he was standing on.
"Believe me, I haven't forgotten," said Yomi, "But I've got more important things to deal with then lingering on things long past…"
"Is that so? Hm…"
The other cloaked demon twitched jerkily. "Gah! Let's just get out of here… I have to go find a damn healer for these burns," he growled.
Hiei's expression went flat. Usotsuki. Botan had proudly retold what she did to escape the panther and wolf youkais about three or four times as they traveled through the deserts. Usotsuki seemed to be one with an affinity for getting burned.
"Don't be so rude, fool… Ahem, Yomi… I do wish you'd reconsider. At least… give it some thought?"
Yomi sighed. "There's nothing to—"
"Think about it. We'll find you again in… two days. Alright?" the snaky sounding woman said. When Yomi made no reply, she turned to Usotsuki. "Fine, then, let's go you whining buffoon."
"Are you sure we should just leave? Yomi, just agree and—"
"Shut up, you bumbling idiot! He has to make the decision on his own! Besides, you said you wanted to leave!"
Usotsuki growled. "Whatever! It's just that there isn't much time! What about—"
"Shush! Do you hear that?"
Hiei's brows arched up then he could feel the surface begin to move beneath him. Quickly he darted back away, moving just in time as the leonine gargoyle collapsed.
Varied demon voices barked at once, shouting at whoever had just nearly crushed them with the statue. But luckily no one had seen the fire demon.
Hiei returned to the group's room at the inn, finding it empty. He checked the ugly demon head clock on the wall to see that it was his turn to use the bath. All he'd need was ten minutes. The idea of anyone needing an hour just sitting about, getting wrinkly without purpose was ludicrous. Who needed to soak in a tub that long?
Apparently the Grim Reaper, Hiei thought carelessly while he went up the stairs with a towel draped over his shoulder. Actually the fire demon could spend the rest of his hour just sitting on the rooftop by himself. Alone time seemed to have become quickly scarce recently.
Tiredly the jaganshi hung his towel on a hook jutting from the back of one of the screens and pulled off his long jacket.
Yeah, he could use the rest of his fifty minutes just to think about absolutely nothing. Against his will, his mind had been bombarded with too many thoughts in the passed hours. It was about time he just shut it off for a while…
Next, he pulled off the long boots and the remainder of his clothing until he was in nothing but his birthday suit (and headband). He finally started to walk around the screen to the bath when he stepped on a bar of soap…
His legs flung out behind him and he was thrust headfirst into the bowl shaped bathtub. When he jerked his head back out, he spit out a mouthful of water and then his eyes slowly widened. Bit by bit he turned his head and there he could see a familiar fureasei demon staring back at him, paler than a deathly moon.
For a moment their eyes were just frozen in each other's terrified gaze and then…
Although he'd hardly intended it, his eyes flitted southward for an extremely short trice. Unfortunately the equally quick female jaganshi didn't fail to catch it.
Tora's face quickly regained color with a rosy tinge. Her teeth gritted together and she quickly reached over to snap a hand across his face.
Hiei was temporarily blinded by the water that'd been accompanied by the rude strike. He growled, wiping it from his eyes. "What the hell was that for?" he snarled but when he reopened his eyes, Tora was already stalking off with her towel wrapped tightly around herself.
An expression that was mixed of anger and confusion twisted on his face and then he hauled himself out of the water.
With his own towel secured around his waist he hurried down the stairs after her. The door that separated the roof from the room came back at him unexpectedly, thumping against his forehead and then opening again. His jagan eye pulsed with pain. Angrier than ever, he pushed open the offending door and stepped in.
"You know, I really didn't take you for a hentai, Hiei!" Tora fumed, whirling on the fire demon as he entered.
Disbelief flashed across his face. "What! I'm not the one who just couldn't wait to take a bath so I had to steal another person's time!"
"I didn't steal anything! You were the one who intruded!"
"So, why didn't you lock the door!"
"There AREN'T any locks baka! But I suppose a hentai wouldn't notice that would they?"
"I'm NOT a hentai!"
The door to the room opened and in came a happily conversing Kurama and Botan. They immediately went quiet at the peculiar sight.
"E-eh… W-we're not walking in on um… something, are we?" Botan said nervously.
"You always have to have things your way, don't you!" Tora continued, oblivious to the other two.
"What the hell are you talking about? Don't pretend you know more about me than you do!"
Kurama and Botan sweat-dropped.
"Just couldn't wait another hour so you just waltz right in because you're the big, bad Hiei!"
"Grr! Where's my katana? I'll stake you a thousand times before… Wait, why the hell would I wait another hour? This girl said I had 5:00 to 6:00!" Hiei snarled while pointing at the grim reaper.
Botan shrunk back against the doorway, another sweat drop rolling down her forehead. "Uh-oh…"
"5' to… What? No, I had 5' to 6'. You were scheduled last for 6' to 7'…"
"Botan!" both of the jaganshi demons growled.
"Eh… heh, heh, heh…" It wasn't like she'd done it intentionally! Oh… I'm going to hear about this one for a long… painful while…
Gladly the mishap was shortly dealt with and two hours later, the outside had become dark but for the stars brightening up the Makai sky—a rare thing to occur. Hiei was curled up in one of the windows of their room, clean and clothed and mostly having pushed the recent happening out of his mind. Tora was lounging on her bed, absently drum rolling her fingers against the rough wool blanket tucked beneath her. Kurama was sitting at the one desk in the room, reading the same green book from earlier.
Botan then came through the door, hugging a brown paper bag in each arm. "Okay! I got our dinners from the landlord!"
"Is it poisoned?" Hiei asked flatly, not taking his eyes from the view outside.
"Oh, he didn't cook it personally. He requested the meal from one of the best eateries in town, specially prepared for us!"
"That's reassuring," Tora muttered.
Botan sighed, drooping down.
"I'm sure the food's fine. If you two are worried, I'll try it first," Kurama said to the cranky jaganshi demons, finally putting down the book.
The spirit girl smiled and went to taking out the food. Though something was still bugging her…
During their meal, she kept a worried eye on the red head.
AN: Grr… stupid CN! They brought back YYH but I have to watch it at 2 freakin' 30 am! (sighs) Guess I'm gonna have to figure out how to set a record timer thingy on my VCR… if it has that. Mine's actually a "hand-me-down" VCR, heh…
Yeah, I decided to post this chappy earlier! Since, I finished the next one. Dude, you guys have gotta REVIEW! Pretty please! CC or words of encouragement please! Come on, I know you're out there!
Hiei: You're so weak.
Wolf: Hey! It's nice to get nice feed back, you know?
Hiei: I hope you're not going to start saying that after every sentence.
Wolf: Huh? You mean "you know"?
Hiei: (twitches)
Wolf: (evil grin spreads on her face)
Hiei: Don't even think about it.