I Guess I Could Slow Down for Love

by Kodoku1991

They were told to go after her. But who is she? What is she? And why does he feel he must protect her? HieiOC -Slowly re-editing-

10. The First Battle

"Miyuki!"

I turned just in time to catch my bow staff, which I now held at the ready. I was about to fight for my life, and the lives of my kind.

Jin's glare intensified and she bent in to a fighting position. I knew from listening to her, and the way her armor was made, that she had no wings - despite that she was a kumori. So I knew I wouldn't have to deal with her flying.

She took offensive first, forcing me to duck, weave, and block all of her attacks. She didn't seem to have any weapons concealed on her body, so all I had to worry about was claws.

My feet were swept out from underneath me, and trying my hardest, I wasn't able to catch myself. I landed hard on my back. I was able to get my bo staff in front of me to stop Jin from clawing my face, but I wasn't strong enough to throw her off.

"Miyuki!"

I heard the sound of running. A quick glance revealed the boys were headed toward me. "No!" I yelled, "This is my fight, and I'm going to finish it." The boys stopped, but stood by, ready to help.

I managed to dig one end of my staff in to the floor, which put Jin off balance. Using the leverage it supplied me, I managed to shove her off and get quickly to my feet.

She dove at me as soon as she regained her balance. I dashed so that she slid in to the wall that had been just behind me. There was a sickening thud as she slid to the floor. She turned to me, her gold eyes flashing menacingly as blood formed a river from above her hairline. She dashed at me, and I replied with a well-placed kick to her gut, denting the metal of her armor.

After that happened, I realized something. Her breathing had quickened, shortened. Denting her armor was constricting her breathing, making her body have to work harder and exhausting her more quickly-

I wasn't paying attention, and she slashed me twice with her claws. My right shoulder and my left side were torn to shreds instantly. I cried out and put pressure on the side wound, feeling blood slipping between my fingers. She gave a short laugh, but was cut off by placing a hard kick to her chest, denting the metal there as well.

She had started to slow down. Her armor wasn't allowing her chest to expand with her breathing, making it tough to take in oxygen. I managed to get two more kicks in, one to the chest and one to the gut, before she collapsed. It was good timing, because the pain in my side was beginning to become too much. I sank to my knees, still clutching my side.

"I win," I gasped out.

"N-no," she stuttered before spitting up blood. "I won two-hundred years ago when I wiped out all of your kind."

My eyes must have been glowing red with all the anger I had right now.

She laughed, before letting another splatter of blood drip from her lips. "You're all alone now. I even killed your little boyfriend; remember? I know you were there when I sent the ookami's in to the male village. You had gone there for help, only to find that the carnage had continued."

With a growl, I dove at the kumori, ignoring my injuries. I felt two sets of arms hold me back. "Don't. You'll only hurt yourself more. Let Kurama take care of your wounds. We'll take care of her," Yusuke said calmly.

I sighed, closing my eyes and relaxing in the hanyou's and Kazuma's grip. "Fine."

I was sat down on the edge of one of the platforms, knowing I was in Kurama's capable hands.

"A word of advice to you: never fight in high heels," I laughed, managing a smile.

He smiled as well. I felt a soft, wet cloth dab at the cuts on my cheek, getting rid of the dried, blue blood. "These are too far healed all ready. I can't do anything to stop the scarring." He started working on my shoulder now. Those cuts were deep, not as deep as the ones on my side, but still quite deep. "I can't stop the scarring on any of them. I'm sorry, Miyuki; you're stuck with these scars." His eyes met mine sorrow clouding them.

I shrugged. "No big deal. As long as they do get infected, I'm happy." He shook his head slightly, the tips of his lips curved up. I winced slightly as he cleaned the wounds before tightly wrapping them.

When he finished, he helped me to my feet, though I barely spent a moment on them before I was lifted. "Nice to see you too, Hiei."

"Hn."

I rested against his body, tired and sore. My blue eyes slowly slid closed and my head fell against his shoulder. I didn't sleep though. I think they thought I was.

"What did Jin say to her, after the fight?"

"Miyuki had a boyfriend?"

"That's what she said. Wonder who it was?"

"It was two centuries ago. I bet she's over him."

"Let's ask her about it when she's wakes up."

"Let's."

One person said nothing. The fire demon's grip on me increased with every spoken sentence. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out. But I did wince slightly. His grip slacked, and my wounds stung less.

{You aren't asleep.}

I know.

{Are you listening to what they are saying?}

Yes.

{Is it true?}

No.

{So you never had a boyfriend?}

No, I haven't.

{Why aren't you going to say anything?}

If you haven't notice, it hurts to talk; stretches the fresh scars.

{So you're not going to set them straight?}

Tomorrow.

My body fell still in his arms as my senses lost feeling to the world.

A gentle hand brushed hair away from slowly opening eyes.

"Good morning. You woke up just in time for school," Kayko said, smiling slightly.

I sat up, yawning softly. "Why, what time is it?"

"Six thirty."

I slipped out of bed, stretching sore muscles. "What's my excuse for missing two weeks of school?"

"Car accident."

I nodded, heading in to the bathroom to change. I was still in the clothes from yesterday, minus the boots. I slipped out of the leather and pulled on the more comfortable cotton uniform. I could see, in the mirror, the dark scars that now slashed over my left side, right shoulder, and left cheek. The ones on my body were cover easily by the uniform, but the three long, scratch-like scars fanned across my cheek were dark against white skin. One from my temple, just missing my eye, stopping at my lips; the second from just above my ear and ending at my chin; the final one from the end of my jaw, coming to an end just before my trachea. I tore my eyes from my reflection, and finished getting ready.

Breakfast was uncomfortable. The boys, other than Hiei, wanted to question about what Jin had said.

"Hey, Mi. Can I ask you something?" Yusuke broke the silence.

I sighed softly. "If it's about what Jin said yesterday, I will answer questions after school." The boys fell silent. I rolled my eyes and headed for the portal.

"Hey, Konpaku, where have you been?"

I kept the left side of my face hidden from Aoto and Tadoa as they approached from the right. "I was in a car crash," I lied.

Tadoa leaned against the locker, brushing his black hair back from his eyes. "You don't look like it. No limp, no casts. Are you lying to us, Konpaku?"

I shook my head, closing my locker. My hair was hanging in my face, concealing any sign of the scars.

"Hey!" My arm was grabbed and I was whipped around to face the two boys, bad memories entering my mind. My eyes were wide with fear, and for a split second I worried if they had seen colors change. The two boys didn't seem to notice my eyes. They're own eyes were focused on the three dark scars that dashed along my cheek. I closed my eyes, hoping they were blue and that they hadn't seen anything.

"Again? What did I tell you two last time?"

The three of us jumped at the sound of Take's voice. Aoto let go of me and stepped back beside Tadoa. I backed away, my back hitting against the lockers. I tried to control my shaking hands, refusing to open my eyes.

"I'm ashamed of you two. My office, now," the older man snapped. "I'll be there after escorting Kousetsu-san to her class."

"Sir, that won't be needed. I'll take care of her."

"Jaganshi-san, yes, of course."

I felt a hand gently grasp my shoulder, and gently pulled me away from the lockers. {I've got you. Come on.}

I took a shaky step forward, but managed to stumble. I hit Hiei's shoulder, but still refused to open my eyes. I had heard the man and two boys leave, disappearing down the hallway.

{Come on.}

I shook my head and pushed away from Hiei. The only thing that was accomplished from that was dropping my books and stumbling again. I was still refusing to open my eyes.

{Open your eyes, and look at me. What's going on?} Hiei's arms slipped around me, keeping me from hitting the ground.

Again, I shook my head, my eyes still tightly shut. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself as my eyes began to sting.

{Onna, tell me.}

"D-don't let him touch me, please," I whimpered.

"Don't let who touch you?" Hiei pressed. He allowed me to kneel on the ground, and moved to kneel in front of me.

"H-he hurt me. Don't let him touch me," I repeated. I finally opened my eyes. I knew what colors they were. A thick ring of silvery-white, and the edges clouded in a deep brown.

The male's eyes widened. His glanced traveled off the side, not really focusing on anything. I could feel his hands on my shoulders, a soothing, but tight grip.

I closed my eyes again as I heard footsteps heading toward us. I worked on trying to stop shaking, but as long as those memories were in my mind, I couldn't.

I felt Hiei's grip tighten considerably. It took me a moment to realize why. He saw. He now knew what had happened.

The footsteps were now right down the hallway, heading quickly for us.

"What happened?" It was Kurama.

I barely listened to their conversation. I was brought out of my thoughts by the feeling of Hiei pulling me to my feet. "Come on. We're bringing you home." I gave a shaky nod. I wasn't steady enough to stay on my feet. I felt Hiei slip a supportive arm around my waist. I found I was leaning heavily on him, and he allowed me to. {I've got you now. That won't happen again. I won't let it.}

Thank you...

I was home, seated in the kitchen. Kurama had give me a mug of herbal tea, and had instructed me to drink it all, before leaving me to myself.

Hiei had disappeared soon after leaving me in Kurama's care. I'm not sure where he went, but I had a good feeling he went to Koenma's.

"Hey, Miyuki."

I glanced up at the speaker, nodding.

Yusuke slid in to the seat across from me. "You okay?"

I nodded again.

"You sure?"

Another nod.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?"

I shook my head.

"What was Jin talking about?"

My lips quirked into a soft smile. "Just to get this over with, I have never had a boyfriend. Jin was lying about that. To understand it, you need to know a bit more about our way of life. You see-"

"Miyuki, Yusuke, come on. Koenma is looking for us." I looked up at the sound of Kazuma's voice. I gave Yusuke an apologizing look before following after the Kuwabara.

On the other side of the portal, was Koenma's office. Hiei and Kurama were also there. All eyes were on me as we entered the room.

"Miyuki, I believe you owe us a few explanations," Koenma mused.

I bit my lip. "Do you have a map of my island?" I was handed a folded paper. Unfolding it revealed a crude map of the Isle of Speed Demons.

I spread it out on the desk, allowing everyone to come close to see. "I'll explain what Jin said first. But I have to explain a few other things for it to be understood." I pointed to the village on the western side of the island. "This is where the females lived, and over here," I pointed to the eastern village, "is where the males were. From the beginning, we've separated these tribes. Bad things happened if we lived together." I pointed to where the lighter green patches along the river were. "These are the dancing meadows, one for each village, though the males don't actually dance, they just tended to bask. They are on a higher elevation then the rest of the island, other than Mt. Neige-"

"Mt 'Neige'?"

I pointed to the white point on the northern part of the island. "It means 'Mount snow'. My home was at the base of Mt. Neige." I pointed to the small hut drawn at the base. I moved my finger to a small lighter green patch at the top of the island. "This is the burning meadow. And finally, down here," I pointed to the final light green square, "is the mating caves." I felt my cheeks heat up slightly. "The rest of the island is covered in forests."

"What does this have to do with your boyfriend?"

I sighed heavily at Yusuke's question. "To start off, Roul was not my boyfriend, not my mate, or anything like that."

"Miyuki and Roul, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Yusuke and Kazuma started to sing.

I shook my head and continued explaining, with Koenma's urging. "When males reach the age of eighteen, they are allowed to cross the river and watch the females dance. This gives them a chance to pick out their mates, or narrow down the search. Now, most males didn't believe that a female had survived being born on a full moon, so they didn't bother coming to the fields that night. But one male wanted to see if these rumors were true. His name was Roul. When I finished dancing that night, he came right up to me. He had seemed so sure of himself it was amazing. Over the next couple months, we had gotten closer. He actually started bringing his friends to meet me and watch me dance." I laughed softly. "But he was just like a little kid, even though he was only a few years older than me."

"What happened to him?"

"He was murdered during the raid of the male village," I answered.

The room was quiet.

"I believe you have something else to tell us, Miyuki. The reason Hiei and Kurama pulled you out of school early," Koenma reminded me.

I immediately closed my eyes and shook my head. "N-no." I didn't want to relive that, but it was too late. The memories were already flooding my mind again.

"Miyuki. You will tell us what got you so upset." The prince stood up, staring down at me.

My eyes began to sting. "No," I whimpered.

"Then Hiei will break in to your mind and tell us what he finds."

"He already knows!" I cried, shrinking back in to my chair. "He knows, he saw."

"Hiei?"

I felt the fire demon's hand land on my shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. "The male that was captured with Jin, known as Yukio," he paused, "He raped Miyuki."

I flinched and curled up tighter in to a ball, wrapping my arms around myself. "Don't let him hurt me again, please," I whispered.