Author's Note: Hey guys, THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING, the rating of this fic will be raised to 'M' BEFORE the next chapter is posted, so it will no longer appear in the regular list of updated YYH stories on this website. You have to either select 'M' in the filters, or search for it by name. Or save the link. Or add yourself to the followers list and get emails when I update! Any way you want to do it is cool by me (: I would just hate for you guys to think I disappeared when I didn't.
On with the story!
Chapter 10
Mina stood in the dusky clearing, practicing her movements. The muscles in her shoulders rippled as she lunged and parried, fighting an invisible enemy. Some of her hair had escaped her ponytail and was sticking to her face, but she paid it no mind.
Jumping through the air, she slashed down viciously, then aimed a kick off to the side in a blur. She landed lightly on her feet and immediately rolled forward, raising her sword above her head to meet an imaginary blow, before running and flipping in the air over another enemy, smoothly slitting through his throat before touching down again.
Breathing hard, she ran up the side of a nearby tree, diving backwards gracefully as she sliced through the air behind her, landing in a crouch and sliding her legs out to knock her foe on its back.
A cloud of birds took off from the tree she had just disturbed, cawing loudly as they beat their wings against the sunset.
Mina breathed in deeply and sheathed her sword in her new scabbard. It was getting dark. She would have to practice more tomorrow, until she was as agile as before with this added weight strapped to her side. Her stomach twinged with guilt as her fingers traced over the beautiful piece. Training had put the earlier argument with Mario out of her mind, but now it was there again.
Walking back to the clearing where they had eaten a tense and silent dinner, Mina threw herself down upon the ground next to the campfire, letting her muscles rest before she would bathe in the river. Glancing idly at the brooding lightning demon, she saw Mario was carving a flute out of petrified wood, his hands working methodically to slowly reveal the beautiful swirls of color under the rough exterior. 'There's a hell of a metaphor in there somewhere,' she thought quietly, looking away before he saw her.
When she couldn't take the silence anymore, Mina stood up, brushed off her pants, walked over to Mario and sat down next to him. For a while, she just watched his hands as they patiently carved the same spots over and over again. He was ignoring her.
Sighing, she took her hair out of its ponytail and turned so that she was facing him. She knew she would have to be the first to speak; he was too intense and proud to be the one to break the silence. "Mario," she started and then hesitated. How could she phrase this any better than last time?
She put her hand over his, stilling them. "I'm sorry for messing up everything I was trying to say earlier today." Mina bit her lip, wishing he would meet her gaze. "You're wrong to presume I don't know where my heart stands."
Mina could feel Mario's muscles tense under her hand. She forged on. "Because, I feel everything you feel, inside of me; I just can't express it out loud the way you can," she continued quietly, turning now to look up at the stars, too embarrassed to look at him anymore. "And when I tried, I ended up putting my foot in my mouth."
Mario set his carving tools down on one of the immense tree roots next to him and grabbed her hand instead, running his thumbs in idle circles on the sensitive skin. "I know," he said, his voice low and thoughtful. Mina sighed in relief. He had forgiven her.
She looked at him and her breath hitched as, this time, Mario finally met her gaze. She suddenly realized how close she was sitting next to him, after everything that had happened earlier in the day. There was a tangible electricity between them, and it had nothing to do with his powers. Mina lost herself in the depths of his dark eyes, futilely trying to think of what else there was to say. Maybe nothing needed to be said at all.
Mina let out a moan, turning in her sleep, the sheets tangling around her feet.
Mario startled her by yanking on her hand, and Mina let him pull her into his lap. His body was warm and his scent was as smoky as the campfire. One of his large hands raked through her hair, suddenly tightening and pulling on it deliciously, while the other snaked firmly around her waist and held her in place.
It was a fast change of pace, but it felt so good after having endured the tense silence. Mina reveled in the feeling of being held so tightly, as if he would never let her go. "You're mine," he whispered, his eyes searching hers. She was breathless.
Their lips met. Her nails dug into his shoulders and something deep in his throat hummed. Mario pulled her closer still, his hungry mouth leaving her lips and trailing from her jaw down the side of her neck. Her skin tasted like salt and it only made him harder.
Mina shifted in his lap, and they both moaned when she found the right spot. Her heart was beating a million miles per minute, and something animalistic was burning inside her. It was all completely new to her and yet it wasn't enough. She needed more.
Mina moaned loudly, "Unnnnnnngh-mmmmm…" Her legs kicked out until the blankets were off and cool air brushed against her heated skin, turning her face toward the open window. Her eyes were flickering behind her eyelids.
Mario pushed them forward, spreading Mina on the ground and planting himself on top of her. He was heavy but the weight felt good, reassuring. His mouth slipped from hers and began trailing down, his free hand unbuttoning her shirt, tracing the thin line of bare skin he had exposed, memorizing the smoothness of her skin with his tongue.
Mina felt awkward and exposed as he continued to slowly make his way down her front, unsure of what she was supposed to do now. "Come back," she breathed, wriggling down to meet his mouth with hers again. His worship of her body was too soft and gentle, the animal inside her roared as her cheeks flushed. She needed more.
Mario's mouth met hers again, using his knees to spread her legs further. His hardness pressed against her soft.
"Ohhhhhhhh!," Mina groaned in her sleep again, even louder than before. A piece of her hair fluttered with every breath she took.
Mario's hands were worshipping Mina's body. He was caressing her throat with his thumb, then he was stroking his fingers down gently between her breasts, then the warm palm of his hand was gliding smoothly down her stomach, finally stopping just an inch short of where she wanted his hand so badly. Needed his hand. Desperately. Her hips bucked up against him, yearning. Please!
"Dude, are you okay?" a loud voice asked.
Mina gasped and sat up, her eyes flying open. Her heart was beating hard in her chest, and she flushed as she realized the state she was in.
Glancing up at Kuwabara's concerned face, Mina swallowed. "Sorry. Um. People tell me I talk in my sleep sometimes." She laughed nervously, running a hand through her hair. The curtains on her window were swaying slightly, the cool night breeze brushing deliciously across her skin. All her senses were heightened.
Kuwabara nodded, yawning, his hangover looming over him. "Yeah, it sounded like you were having a nightmare."
Mina blushed furiously, grateful for the dark.
"Do you want some tea or anything?" he asked her, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
"No, that's okay, thanks though. I appreciate it," she smiled at him, flattening out the wrinkled sheet in her lap.
"Alright. Good night, Mina," he said, closing the door.
"Good night Kuwabara," she said, flopping back down.
She had been dreaming of Mario. Mina played idly with the thin bedsheet, frustrated. She hadn't thought of him in years, not since… And now… Why did he keep showing up in her head? Did it mean something? Aggravated, Mina flipped her pillow over and curled up on her side, trying to get back to sleep.
When Mina woke up again, the sun was high in the sky and she had forgotten all about the dream.
Sunday passed quickly. Everyone pretty much kept to themselves, though Sura seemed glued to Kurama's side. 'She's an odd girl,' Mina thought idly, watching the pair of demons leave to go take a stroll in the forest.
Yusuke waved an irritated hand in her face. "Hey, are you paying attention or not? You know, I'm not big on repeating myself!" He had lost a game of rock paper scissors to Kuwabara and was stuck teaching Mina how to use the video game controller.
Mina flushed and turned back to the frustrating contraption in her hands. A large part of her wanted to slice it in half with her sword, but she persisted.
Keiko and Botan made dinner for everybody that night.
Yusuke was uncharacteristically silent as he ate, glancing at the four demons when he thought they weren't looking. 'Well, three demons and one weirdo,' Mina thought bitterly, stabbing a dumpling as though it had done her a great personal injustice.
She glanced up and saw Yusuke look away from her. Clearly the ex-Spirit Detective didn't like that he was being left out of the action tomorrow.
'Don't know what he's so anxious about,' thought Mina, pretending she hadn't noticed and pouring herself another cup of tea, 'It's not as though we're solving Makai's problems tomorrow anyway. We're solving our own first.'
Her hands shook as she set the half-empty kettle down, and she automatically kept them hidden in her lap until they were steady again. Fear is a thing only to be indulged in privately. When she looked up, Mina found a familiar pair of red eyes on her. Damn. He didn't miss a thing. Yet it was also comforting, somehow.
After helping to wash the plates and put them away, Mina bid everyone an early night. No one protested; they all knew the portal was coming at the crack of dawn.
She went to her room, hopped up onto the windowsill and pulled herself agilely onto the roof. Mina sat down with her arms around her knees and took a deep breath, savoring the forest's night air as it wrapped around the temple.
The moon was full, and she could see bats soaring and diving in the far off distance.
She leaned back on her elbows and gazed at the human stars. It was silly, considering the horrors that might await her tomorrow, but she couldn't wait to see Makai's heavens again; unlike this polluted world, a night in Makai was always breathtaking. She was homesick. Could you be homesick for a world that isn't the one you came from, while trapped in the one that is? Mina sighed, rubbing her face with one hand.
A creak on the rooftop was her only warning, and somehow she knew he had done it on purpose, to avoid startling her. She bit down a smile at this thoughtfulness, keeping her eyes trained forward.
Hiei sat next to her, one leg bent and propping up his arm while the other was stuck straight out in front of him.
He didn't say anything.
He didn't have to.
Mina leaned all the way back against the roof, her feet dangling off the edge. Some time later, the fire demon copied her.
Goosebumps ran up her arms as she felt the heat coming off his arm mere inches away from hers. His eyes were peaceful, reflecting the stars above, and he seemed lost in his thoughts. A breeze swept over them, and Mina's cheeks turned pink as she realized he smelled quite good.
"We'll have to get up early tomorrow," Hiei said, his eyes still on the night sky.
The thought of returning to Makai sobered Mina, bringing her back to reality. She would finally find out what had happened to her family.
The girl set her jaw, her brown eyes full of determination. No matter what she saw tomorrow, she could deal with it. She always had. "Just promise me one thing," Mina said, her voice quiet. She rolled onto her side, one arm propping up her head and the other balancing her torso, facing Hiei.
The older demon glanced at her, his arms behind his head.
"If my family is… If they made it away from the Rebels safely, I know where they would hide. Please don't use your Jagan to look for them until we check there first," she asked, her eyes imploring as they searched his.
He seemed surprised. "It would be faster," he started, rolling onto his side as well, but she cut him off.
"I know," she whispered, looking down at the shingles that were supporting them. Then she looked back up, her eyes blazing with anger. "But if my loved ones are dead, I refuse to find out by having someone else tell me. I will see it for myself." The hand resting flat on the rooftop balled into a fist. It was the least she could do for them.
Hiei's gaze stayed on hers. "I understand," he said simply.
Mina let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She wanted to thank him, but the words got stuck in her throat. Something told her he already knew.
Hiei was still looking at her, and she flushed as she remembered that odd moment they had shared the night before, on the back patio, before the stupid boys literally came crashing in.
There was no one here to interrupt this time.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Hiei lowered his head toward Mina's, then stopped, his scarlet eyes searching hers. Mina didn't know what he was looking for there, but she hoped her eyes were holding up a big sign that said "YES". The corner of her lips quirked up in a small smile.
And then.
Sweet yearning.
Hiei's lips met hers.
It was so gentle. Just the faintest, briefest, most maddening breath of skin on skin.
His forearm brushed against hers, sending goosebumps down Mina's legs. She shivered. He drew back slightly, cautiously gazing at her face.
He was so close she could count his eyelashes.
The moon was reflected in his eyes.
Hiei made to pull back, uncertain, but then Mina pressed her lips against his before he had the chance. Stay. Oh please stay.
Dreamily, effortlessly, they laid back down against the roof, Hiei supporting himself on one arm as he held himself above her, their lips never breaking.
Mina looped her arms around his neck, and gasped when he lightly bit her lip. Hiei chuckled against her mouth, and kissed her deeply. One of his hands held her face tenderly; his fingers were rough with scars but his touch was exceedingly gentle.
Mina felt like she was floating. That exhilarating rush that comes when two people finally cross that implicit line into more was roaring through her.
The fire demon's hand left her cheek and trailed down her jaw, down her neck and across her collarbone, down the side of her arm. Hiei pulled away gently and looked down, reaching her hand with his and quietly interlinking their fingers.
Mina looked down at their joined hands, smiling, at the same time as Hiei sharply looked back up.
BANG! Their faces smashed into each other's.
Mina gasped and let go of Hiei's hand, pressing both her hands against her nose. "Ow, ow, ow," she said, laughing, embarrassed, and in quite a bit of pain.
"Agreed," muttered the equally embarrassed fire demon, holding his forehead.
They glanced at each other awkwardly. Mina started laughing again, looking away, unable to look at his face, where he had a red welt now.
Hiei sighed and laid back against the roof next to her. "This moment is never going to go properly," he muttered, taking her hand, weaving their fingers together again.
Mina laughed and scooted closer to him, her cheeks hurting from smiling so much. "At least Yusuke and Kuwabara aren't here this time," she quipped, tightening her grip on his hand.
Hiei snorted.
They glanced at each other at the same time. They were too lost in each other's eyes to see it, but a single shooting star streaked overhead.
They stayed on the roof all night, and Mina fell asleep with her face on Hiei's shoulder, his arm wrapped around her.
'Squashed under her, more like,' he thought, wincing as he shifted slightly and painful tingles reached his fingers. But she had been cold and he had endured a thousand times worse, and none of those had come with the benefit of watching a beautiful, completely crazy, enchanting young woman sleep next to him.
Hiei had a different girl in his bed every week in Makai, and never had he accidentally had his face smashed in by one before. He flushed again at the memory, embarrassed and glad that no one else had witnessed it. At least she had missed his Jagan, or he might have actually fallen off the roof. Yusuke and the loudmouth idiot would have never let him hear the end of it.
Mina shifted in her sleep and rubbed her face into his shoulder, one of her arms coming up and wrapping around his torso, a few soft tendrils of her wild hair falling into her face.
Hiei looked down at her pensively. He was used to sleeping with random beautiful women and ignoring them in the morning, tuning their inane chatter out as he showered and dressed, kicking them out when he was ready to leave. He didn't care what they thought of him afterwards.
But this one… What was the morning-after routine for two kisses and a clumsy head bash? He found himself at a loss.
A flash of light caught his attention. He looked up and watched the sun break its mighty beams across the horizon.
It was time.
Mina landed in a crouch next to Hiei. "Where are we," she asked, looking around, slightly nauseous.
The four of them had just jumped through the shimmering portal that Botan had opened, floating for an unnaturally long time with interdimensional wind whipping around their faces, until finally landing in what looked to be a fairly young forest. The trees were thin and spaced apart, and cheerful sunshine was pouring through in puddles and splashes. There were cliffs in the distance, but Mina didn't recognize them. She could just faintly make out the sounds of an ocean too.
"Hn. It appears the toddler has dropped us in Tourin," Hiei commented disdainfully. This meant they were hundreds of miles from Alaric.
"A wise decision on his part," said Kurama as he and Sura landed next to them. "Tourin is politically neutral right now, and anyone who felt us arrive will most likely leave us be."
Hiei shifted his glance at the fox demon. "So what exactly are the two of you doing here anyway? You never gave your reasons for needing to return to Makai, so soon after arriving in the human world." He eyed them suspiciously. Sura looked so familiar to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it and it was beginning to irritate the short demon.
Kurama smiled, lowering his head and closing his eyes. "Astute as ever, Hiei. I'm afraid Mina is not the only person who requires your assistance today." He glanced at Sura, giving her a nod of encouragement.
Sura took a deep breath and stepped forward slightly, meeting Hiei's eyes for the first time.
He frowned. He knew those sparkly clear eyes, damn it. But from where?
"Hiei," the shadow demoness began, then trailed off, uncertain. Clearing her throat, she tried again. "Kurama is right; I need your help. For the last six months, I have been searching desperately for my younger brother, who was taken from our house when our father died."
Mina's eyes widened in sympathy. 'I can't imagine going six months without information on Relle,' she thought, a pang in her stomach as she realized that a similar situation might still very well occur. She wrapped her arms around herself, eager to be on her way to Pike's Village. At the same time, part of her dreaded what she might find, and it was this part of her that kept her feet rooted to the ground.
Hiei's face remained blank.
Sura continued. "I have searched far and wide, using every technique at my disposal. As you probably know, shadow demons are generally good at finding information that others try to keep hidden," she said wryly, the ghost of a smile flashing across her face. "But I have failed thus far, and I am becoming desperate. Please, I…"she swallowed hard, "I beg you, if you could use your Jagan, you're the only person I know who possesses one, if you could look for him…" she trailed off, holding her breath, her eyes locked on his cool scarlet ones.
Hiei scoffed. "I don't know you. Why should I care?"
Hurt and anger flashed across Sura's face but she managed to control herself, bowing her head respectfully. So he didn't remember her. It was probably better that way. "Of course, you wouldn't. But I have tried everything else, Hiei, and I am at the end of my rope. And surely, it wouldn't be asking much of you?"
Hiei turned away. "Your sniveling story does not interest me. We all have to find our own paths to the things we desire."
Mina frowned. She knew Hiei was a hard man, one who had to attain everything he had by his own wits and strength. But surely, it would not encourage weakness to help another person?
Kurama intervened, placing a hand on Sura's elbow before she lost her threadbare temper. "Hiei," he said sternly. "I believe you know something of the pain that comes from searching desperately for a beloved sibling without success."
Sura blinked owlishly up at Kurama. This was something new. If only she had known this before; if she had, she could have forced Hiei to help her by threatening the life of this unknown sibling, rather than reaching out to Kurama. Unfortunately, the fire demon's mental defenses were superior to her innate powers. She stayed silent, watching the exchange.
Mina was astonished, and immediately wondered if it was a sister or a brother. She bit her lip, trying not to chuckle as she pictured what a sister of Hiei must look like. The cartoon image she saw in her mind's eye was basically a copy of the fire demon, with a grumpy expression and very long hair. She hid her smile, pretending to cough.
Hiei grit his teeth. Stupid fox, and the way his words always managed to worm their way into your head. "Yes and then I succeeded, by trying harder," he spat out, turning back to the group.
Kurama acknowledged this with a nod. "Yes, but by then she was in grave danger, and as you will recall, it was not you who arrived in time to stop her kidnappers."
The fox demon's face remained calm and pleasant as Hiei emitted a faint growl, his red eyes narrowing. "What is your point," he asked scathingly, his fists balled up in his cloak pockets.
Kurama smiled. "Only that sometimes we require the help of others to protect those whom we care about," the fox youkai said cheerfully.
Hiei growled louder, but stopped suddenly as Mina placed her hand on his arm cautiously. He stared at her hand wordlessly, not moving. "Hiei," she said quietly. "You have seen what a toll it has taken on me, not knowing what state my family is in, and I have only had to suffer this burden for a few days, not half a year. Please just help her," she said, her eyes meeting his. She was struck again by that odd feeling of time taking longer than usual. She blinked and focused, hoping he had heard her. Hoping he didn't feel she was crossing a line.
Hiei made an impatient noise and shrugged her hand off, stepping away slightly. "I can see you are all going to gang up on me about this," he snapped. "Fine. I will not waste further time arguing with fools."
Kurama chuckled. "Perish the thought," he commented lightly.
Hiei sent him a withering look and yanked his bandana off, closing his regular eyes as his violet Jagan slowly opened. "What is his name," he barked.
Sura jerked. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry. "Iro," she rasped, her legs feeling weak, tingles racing up her arm. It was finally happening. After so long, she was finally going to find her brother. "His name is Iro. He looks a bit like me, or so everyone says. He's 12," she finished, her voice tight. She tried to swallow.
Hiei frowned, his eyes still closed in concentration. He searched for an energy signature similar to Sura's, but to his annoyance he found that this included most of the shadow demons in Makai, and so he was forced to flash through them one by one, looking for someone matching Sura's description.
After five minutes of searching, Hiei's Jagan closed as his regular eyes opened. Mina and Kurama frowned; there was an odd look on Hiei's face, as though he'd seen something profoundly distasteful. It was gone in a flash, replaced by his usual, bored stare. "Your brother is in City Noir," he said, tying his bandana around his forehead again. "He is being kept in Sluzitsky's casino, as a slave."
Sura's eyes watered and her knees finally gave out. A location. She had an exact location. She could be there in hours. Her brain wanted to immediately race to the dark gambling city, but her legs had become completely unresponsive. 'Come on, get up!' her mind screamed.
Kurama quickly grabbed her elbows and held her up, feeling the young girl shake against him. "Thank you, Hiei," he said. "I propose Sura and I begin to make our way there, while you and Mina finish your business in Alaric. The two of you are faster than we are, and you should be able to catch up to us with relative ease."
Sura mumbled something. Kurama knelt down, letting her kneel on the ground next to him. "I'm afraid I didn't catch that," he said, his green eyes warm.
She lifted her head, blazing with energy again. "If I meld, I can be there in four hours. Three, if I push myself." Her brother was being kept as a slave. 'At least he's alive,' a voice in her head screamed joyfully. But she would not let him be enslaved another minute longer, another voice vowed.
Kurama frowned, his hands tightening slightly on her arms. "You haven't had sustenance in nearly a week, that would be an incredibly dangerous journey to take alone. Please, be wise."
Sura glanced briefly at Mina. "Actually, I'm quite full," she muttered to herself. Kurama caught the statement but Hiei and Mina did not. He frowned again.
"And what would you do once you got there? Storm the entire casino by yourself? We need a plan, Sura. Please, be reasonable."
Sura's mouth tightened but then she closed her eyes and the whirlwind of voices in her head slowly quieted down, and then disappeared altogether. She had regained control.
Sura opened her eyes and nodded. He was right. Standing up shakily, she looked at Hiei. "Did he… I mean… Did he look alright?" she asked nervously. Now that the initial giddiness of knowing where Iro was had passed, she felt exhausted.
Hiei met her eyes. He hesitated, seeming to pick his words with care, but his voice was as cold and relentless as a rushing river. "City Noir is a hovel, a pit for the darkest, cruelest, and most jaded demons of Makai," he said. "They gamble with money, slaves, property, and each other's lives, because they have all of it in excess and they are bored of typical entertainment. You can imagine that your brother has seen many unpleasant things in his time there, and his… countenance certainly seemed to suggest it. But physically, he appeared fine." The fire demon placed his hands in his pockets and walked away.
Mina hurried after him, her buttery leather boots whispering over the soft dirt and clumps of summer moss. "So where to first?" she asked nervously. She had a fairly decent mental map of Makai, and by her estimations they could reach Pike's Village an hour before they would reach Lord Mukuro's fortress.
Hiei glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. "You said you know where your family may be hiding. Is that in Pike's Village still?"
"Yes," Mina answered, her fists tightening again. The shelter…
Hiei nodded. "Then that is our first destination. Lead the way."
Mina smiled and took off, pushing full speed as dirt and grass kicked up behind her, gone in a flash.
Hiei bit back a grin of his own and raced after her, his muscles screaming pleasantly.
They slowed down as they reached the black archway, "PIKE'S VILLAGE" engraved in enormous white letters across the top. Mina smiled, despite herself. She was coming home.
Except that she wasn't. Or rather, this looked nothing like the village she had spent the last five years of her life in. Mina's breath hitched as she stopped, unable to take a step further, her eyes wide.
It was deserted.
All the shops and pubs were closed, with not a single person in sight.
It was deathly silent, and an eerie breeze wound its way between the empty buildings, raising the hairs on the back of Hiei's neck. This didn't feel like a town with any survivors. He shifted uncomfortably, his face blank.
Mina steeled herself, threw her shoulders back and started walking again, keeping her eyes firmly ahead and refusing to look at all the signs of abandonment around her. "They train the school children every few months, in case of an emergency, to go hide in an old underground shelter, right behind the school. If they're still here, that's where they'll be."
Hiei said nothing and walked quietly next to her, his hands in his pockets. It was oddly reminiscent of the time he had visited the Glacial Village; that, too, had been silent and creepy, though of the frigid maidens' own volition.
The silent pair continued down the cobblestones on Main Street, past the town's center, past the houses, until the street started getting narrower and shoots of grass began appearing between the stones. Finally, rounding a bend, they came across a small vegetable garden, and next to it stood the one story schoolhouse, its cheerful red clapboards tightly shut against the summer heat.
Mina quietly led them down a small dirt path that wound behind the schoolhouse, through a playground, until they reached a crumbling statue of Pike, the village founder. It was similar to the one in the main square, but this one stood atop a ten foot high block of cement that held an inscription in a lost language, and had clear signs of age.
"Is this where the shelter is?" Hiei asked, eying the statue skeptically. The base was tall, but it didn't look like it could an entire town's worth of refugees. Ten or twenty people, maybe, if they were all standing.
Mina nodded. "Yeah. No one knows what the inscription says, except maybe the Town Elders, but everyone knows to take shelter here if anything bad happens. Two years ago we had an awful, sudden snowstorm that came early in the season, and most of the town stayed here until it melted enough to use the roads again. The adults were worried because any crops that hadn't been harvested already would be lost, and anyone who hadn't made it to the shelter before the roads became unusable risked freezing to death in their homes, but the children didn't have school for two weeks, so they loved it," she said, smiling faintly at the memory of sitting on bunks and sipping hot cocoa with Relle. Korellina had sternly forced the child to keep doing her assignments while they stayed there, but made her warm, sweet drinks every day as compensation. Mina, of course, took a sibling tax.
Hiei nodded. He could see the happiness that lit up her eyes every time she mentioned her memories from this place. It didn't matter what the toddler lord or anyone else said, the fire demon decided; Makai was this girl's home.
Mina leapt nimbly up on top of the base, and started groping Pike's stone robes.
Hiei's eye twitched. "What exactly are you doing?"
Mina laughed, still feeling around Pike's inseam. "There's a handle here somewhere. I've never pulled it myself, but I've seen Elder Favil do it; it opens the entrance."
Hiei snorted. "And this handle is in your village founder's crotch?" Demon architects and their puns.
Mina laughed, turning to Hiei with a devilish glint in her eyes as her hands finally closed around the shaft. "Well, they do say there's only one way to a demon's heart," she joked, winking at the fire demon as she pushed down hard.
Hiei shook his head, fighting the blush that wanted to spread across his face. What was this girl doing to him?
Mina jumped off the base just in time, as it slowly creaked open. The opening was narrow, allowing only for a single file entrance. As Hiei stepped in after Mina, he saw that he had been entirely wrong; the base of the statue was not the shelter, it was merely above it. The space was claustrophobically small, encased in the same stone that Pike was carved out of, but there was a narrow staircase leading straight down at a stomach-turning steep incline, so far down that Hiei couldn't see the end of it in the pitch dark.
The fire demon followed her down cautiously, uncomfortable with every creak and moan of the ancient metal staircase, sensing Mina's energy to avoid bumping into her.
At last they reached the bottom, to find a small wooden door with cast iron hinges. It looked downright medieval, Hiei thought, and though his face remained impassive his skin was crawling as he fought the urge to look up and calculate how far underground they were. Surely if she had stayed here with her entire town for two weeks then they wouldn't run out of air, Hiei thought, but he sorely missed the open space of the forests he so favored, leaning against a tree and gazing at the enormous sky.
Mina took a deep breath and knocked loudly on the wooden door. For a long time, it seemed that nothing was moving down here except the swirls of dust that were making their eyes water.
And then—
"Who's there? Declare yourself at once!" commanded a booming voice. "We are armed, and prepared to fight off any intruders!"
Relief flooded through Mina's bones. It shook her so hard, she had to put a hand against the roughly carved wall, her knees going weak. Her eyes started watering, and she fought to maintain a normal voice. "Yata! Yata it's me, Mina! I'm here with a friend, I've come back!"
Almost at once, the heavy wooden door creaked open, spilling light into the corridor and momentarily blinding both of them.
"Mina?" asked the same voice, gentler this time. Squinting, Hiei saw a middle aged man with the broad shoulders of a warrior past his prime, a considerable belly, black hair, kind blue eyes and an extraordinary amount of nose hair.
Mina didn't hesitate and launched herself at him, her arms wrapping around his bulk, her eyes closed in a vain effort to stop the tears that threatened to overflow. Her body started shaking, try as she did to fight it.
"There now, it's alright," Yata said, his deep voice echoing in the small entrance space, rubbing the top of Mina's back with one hand. Hiei could see the ridges of retracted claws between the man's knuckles, and recalled Mina saying that her sister was a tiger demon. This must be her adopted father.
Yata glanced over the small girl's head at Hiei, but said nothing, turning back to Mina as she blabbered incoherently into his chest.
A beautiful demoness of roughly the same age as Yata came around the door, saw Mina and smiled tremendously, leaning against her mate and putting her arm around the girl. She had pale blue hair with a few streaks of grey in it, pinned tightly back into a neat bun, and eyes of the most stunning aqua, like an ocean that nature had selfishly kept hidden for itself. "Oh dear child, we were so worried what had become of you," she whispered, patting Mina's hair tenderly. Mina cried harder; a small, insignificant part of her was embarrassed to be so emotional in front of Hiei, but the rest of her didn't give a rat's ass. She was home. She was in the arms of her family. Only—
"MINA!" came the piercing shriek, and Mina tore herself from Yata and Korellina, opening her arms wide and scooping the beautiful child into her arms, turning in circles and making Relle laugh. She was alive. She was ALIVE!
Mina was sobbing openly and grinning and laughing and the world was a beautiful place all of a sudden. It was like the sun breaking through storm clouds, and her heart was humming.
Korellina dabbed delicately at the corners of her eyes with a lacy handkerchief. "Well now, we're like sardines in a can here." She laughed shakily, tucking the napkin back in her pocket. "Come inside, both of you," she added as she saw Hiei standing back uncertainly. The fire demon nodded respectfully at her and followed them inside, then stopped in his tracks, completely amazed.
It looked like an underground city. Up high above, there were enormous grated skylights, letting fresh air and sunshine into the shelter, giving the dizzying impression of standing at the bottom of a salt shaker. Hiei realized that these grates must be in the town's roads above, disguised as sewer lids, but far from feeling uncomfortable at being below ground anymore, he silently marveled at the builders' skill. It felt airy and cheerful, rather than the dark and dreary place the fire demon had been expecting. He wondered what they had done about the openings during the snowstorm Mina had mentioned, but even as he thought the question he saw a young man, eel demon by the looks of him, walk over to an enormous board of switches and pull on one of them, then run back to his friends laughing as they played cards in the now-shaded spot between their bunk beds, the grate above them having slid shut.
Mina walked over to him, the young tiger demon's arms wrapped tightly around her waist, and Hiei was startled at what a change had been wrought in her. Her shoulders were back and her posture was relaxed and comfortable, and her smile was unbelievably happy. Hiei wasn't a romantic, not by any means, but he thought he suddenly understood what those saps meant when they wrote that looking at their woman took their breath away. Though she wasn't his woman. 'Not yet,' said that irritating little voice in the back of his head. He ignored it.
"Hey," said Mina, stopping in front of him and putting her arm around the child that seemed glued to her. "Sorry for abandoning you for a bit," she smiled. She felt like an enormous burden had lifted off her shoulders. She felt like she could fly on this happiness.
Hiei shrugged, putting his arms in his pockets. "It is of no consequence to me. I'm glad you've found your family and they're safe."
Relle pulled away from Mina just enough to look up at the fire demon. Curiosity getting the better of the child, she unlinked her arms and stepped in front of Hiei, her large blue eyes, so similar to her mother's, pondering him.
Hiei stared back at her, deadpan, determined not to blink first. He grit his teeth as the moment dragged on. "What," he finally asked, glaring down at her. Damn children.
Relle grinned, completely at ease. "Are you my sister's boyfriend?" she asked unabashedly. Mina sputtered and turned several shades of red, before ending up at an impressive maroon. She made to grab Relle's arm and yank her away, but the little girl danced out of the way and kept her laughing eyes on Hiei.
Behind Mina, Yata and Korellina walked over, holding hands and with identical mischievous smirks on their faces. Hiei bit down a growl as he realized they must have put the child up to this. Damn parents. Not that he knew what it was like to have any.
Hiei decided the best course of action was silence. He crossed his arms and glared down at the girl stonily. She pouted and he fought the urge to smirk in victory; he was letting a freaking child play games with his head. He hoped fervently that Relle never met Kurama.
An elderly weasel demon that looked vaguely familiar to Hiei suddenly spotted him and hurried over, his weak chin wobbling as his expensive blue robes swished around him. "General Hiei!" he exclaimed, attracting the attention of other townspeople around him. Suddenly, there was a hush, and everyone's eyes seemed to be on Hiei and this old man. Mina finally grabbed Relle and pushed her away, back to her parents. "High Elder Favil," she bowed to him respectfully.
Now Hiei remembered. This simple-minded fool was the elder in charge of Pike's Village; he had blathered on about nothing in particular at the Summer Solstice feast while the fire demon and Mukuro both tuned him out, though Mukuro had at least pretended to listen.
"Excellent, most excellent," Favil cried as he reached Hiei, hobbled slightly in his old age but his eyes still sharp. "I assume your presence here means that our dear Lord Mukuro has decided on a course of action?" He folded his hands on his cane and waited.
Hiei's jaw clenched. Shit. He should have known that they would recognize him and expect an official statement. 'You owe me for this one, Mukuro,' he thought as he looked at the old man and pondered his words carefully.
His voice was as cold as ever. "Lord Mukuro has been in charge of these lands for a long time, and her number one priority is your wellbeing. She is touched to have such an outcry of support from her people, and honored beyond words that you would have her establish herself as a ruler again." He sounded bored, because he was.
Most of this was rolling off Hiei's tongue from constantly hearing Mukuro's diplomatic advising board repeat similar crap at every meeting he had been forced to attend since the Makai tournament; he had never listened to them, but after hearing the same shit for months on end, some of it had stuck around. "However, it is also upon her honor that she willingly gave up her right to rule these lands in exchange for competing in the tournament to rule all of Makai. Having always been an excellent ruler, she knew that she could enact beneficial changes to our entire world, but she also wanted to spare you from further bloodshed against Tourin and Gandara." Several people in the audience hissed and spat on the floor, listening raptly. "However, she fully acknowledges that she did not win in the tournament, King Enki did, and to ask her to go back on her word is to call her dishonorable."
Hiei had to raise his voice at the end as the demons started muttering ominously; clearly, they didn't like what they were hearing. Well, he had known that would be the case. If they did like it, there wouldn't be any Rebels in the first place.
"Well, thank you for that," muttered Favil, stomping away at an impressive speed. He joined a group of men in identical blue robes seated at a table on the far right of the shelter, and began having an intense discussion with them.
Mina came over to Hiei and gave him a look of sympathetic understanding. Coming from anyone else, this would have annoyed him immensely, but he was finding that his reactions were not the same around her.
She led him to the bunks where her family was staying, and sat on the edge of one, her family joining them. Hiei elected to remain standing.
"Well, that was pretty good, considering you made it up on the spot, son," said Yata, his arms crossed and staring at Hiei neutrally.
Hiei's jaws clenched, but the man was right. "I didn't have much of a choice," he admitted.
Korellina patted Yata on the knee. "Please, I've had enough of politics. Mina, you have to tell us what happened after those awful young men raided through here."
Briefly, Mina recapped everything that happened, leaving out that it was her who had sent out a distress signal in the first place, making it sound as though the SDF had been trying to subdue everybody, and completely omitting any mentions of her powers or 317 or her origins as a human of the Fujiwara family.
They were shocked to hear that she had been in human world this whole time.
"Well, that explains why I couldn't sense you," said Yata, shifting on the bed and causing it to groan under his weight. "I had feared the worst." He glanced at his mate, who nodded.
"What's it like?" asked Relle eagerly, sitting at Mina's feet and braiding a bracelet out of strings, holding the end between her toes.
Mina laughed. "Well, it's not that different really, once you get past the surface stuff. It's a bit smellier, and the technology they use is different, but there are nice people and rude ones, good food and jokes, just like here." She smiled and ruffled the girl's perfect brown curls. "There's no one like you, though, so our world definitely wins out."
"Have there been more rioters since then?" Hiei found himself asking. He leaned against the ladder of the bunk bed Mina was sitting on.
It was Relle who answered him. "Yeah," she said somewhat sadly, her fingers continuing to pluck the threads expertly. "You can always hear them stomping overhead and shouting, seems like there's more of them every day. Oh, and guess what Mina, Ruka ran off and joined them!"
Mina was stunned. "Favil's son, that sniveling git?"
Yata coughed loudly into his hand, clearly hiding laughter. He may not have been Mina's biological anything, but the old tiger demon couldn't deny being damn proud every time she left her would-be suitors in the dust after a sword match.
Korellina sent him a disapproving look, then turned back to Mina. "Yes, it's sad," she said, her eyes growing darker. "Many of the older children have expressed interest in joining the cause, you know what they're like, fight first and ask questions later."
Mina shook her head in disbelief. "I guess it's because I thought they hurt you guys and I've been removed from all of this, back in human world, but it seems crazy to me that the Rebels have so much support."
Yata leaned back against the bunk bed's railing, crossing his arms behind his head as he sighed thoughtfully, his belly expanding. "It makes sense if you think about it though. Alaric has always loved Mukuro, she's a damn fine ruler, and this Enki has never been heard of before and started his first thirty seconds in charge by wagging his finger at us and saying 'no more mischief in human world'. In a way, I can't find it in my heart to blame these young hotheads." He reached into his coat pocket for his pipe, then quelled under Korellina's pointed look. Turning to Hiei, he said in a hushed tone, "Favil was hoping you would say Mukuro is 100% behind the uprising, because then he could say his son has joined a noble cause, and by that I mean Ruka would have food and water and wouldn't be part of a band of idiots directly defying her orders."
Mina laughed and Hiei smirked. "So sorry to disappoint him," Hiei said, uncrossing his arms and putting them in his pockets, relaxing slightly.
Mina turned to Relle. "Alright, so now you guys know what happened to me. Your turn, how did you get out of that marketplace and into here?" She looked around suddenly. "And for that matter, where is Sidji, I have to thank him. I'm pretty sure he saved your life, little one."
Yata nodded. "That he did, and he's a good man for it. But I'm afraid he's out scouting with a small group of men right now, he probably saw you but didn't want to give away his position. The night this happened, we got here before Relle and Sidji did, and we thought for sure that you two girls would already be in here, what with your speed, Mina. Nearly had a heart attack when we saw that you weren't."
Mina gave him a sympathetic look and reached across to squeeze his hand comfortingly. "You know I would have been if I had any chance of it," she said, her eyes watering again.
"Oh man, enough crying," said Relle, making everyone laugh (or, in Hiei's case, bow his head in agreement and say "hn"). "Alright, I'll tell you what happened. Once those dirtbags-"
"Relle!" said Korellina sharply. Mina was amused to see that, come hell or high water, Korellina would always be the same: a well-mannered disciplinarian without a hair out of place. Her heart swelled in fondness for her, for all of them.
"Sorry," the young girl said sheepishly. "Um. Once those mean men started dragging you away, Sidji said that they're from Spirit World and we can't fight them, and he started running away while still holding me, toward the forest. I, um, I put up a bit of a fight," said the child in a dignified way. Mina smirked as she remembered the video from Reikai and the bloody mess that Relle had made of Sidji's arms.
"Anyway, Sidji was too strong for me and he kept running for ages, super deep into the forest. I don't think anyone ever goes in that far, it was dark and spooky, even though the sun hadn't set yet," Relle continued, obviously enjoying having everyone's attention. "And we waited for hours, hidden in some bushes, until my stomach was growling so loudly that Sidji said it didn't matter if we kept hiding, they would find us by the noises alone."
Mina snorted, but it wasn't really a laughing matter. Demons were people like any other, some were great, some were evil, and most of them fell in the middle and were decent. But one thing that most of them shared in common, and especially if they were joining militias to go after the rights they felt they had been stripped of, was absolutely hating pacifists. The middle ground doesn't exist for most demons; you're either comrades on the same side of the line, or enemies across it. If the Rebels found out that able-bodied demons like Sidji and others were hiding out here underground, rather than joining the cause, it would be outright warfare. A thrill of pure fear shot through Mina as she thought of Ruka, and what he might tell his new pals in exchange for rising through the ranks. She glanced at Hiei and somehow, instinctively, she just knew he was thinking the same thing.
Hiei turned to Yata. "If the Rebels find you here, will you be able to defend yourself? Or were you bluffing at the door?"
Yata harrumphed. "I don't bluff, boy. Actually, it's all thanks to Relle and Sidji that yes, we can defend ourselves if need be." There was a distinct note of pride in his voice.
Hiei turned to the young girl with a raised eyebrow.
Relle grinned back at him. "It was all my idea," she said proudly. "If you'd let me continue my story, you would know that!" She stuck her tongue out at him, making his eye twitch and his hand reflexively clench, but he stayed silent.
"Well, after Sidji said my stomach would give us away, we started sneaking back toward town. It was probably around midnight by that point, way past my bedtime!" She looked thrilled. "Anyway, he said we should head to the shelter, that mom and dad would be waiting for me there, but we couldn't take the main road, in case some of those, um, meanies had stayed around and were watching. So we were creeping around houses and through people's backyards, it was super cool, like we were spies or something."
Hiei felt like the universe was laughing at him today. The twitch in his eye would soon become permanent, he thought. But then he saw how Mina kept trying, and failing, to bite down a smile at the child's longwinded storytelling, and suddenly it didn't bother him nearly as much.
"Anyway, it was dark and I was exhausted and super sad that Mina was gone, so I wasn't really paying attention, but then I realized, I recognized where we were. We were in the alley right behind dad's shop, where he makes me hose the buckets off into the storm drain," she said, wrinkling her freckled nose.
Yata snorted, his nose hair fluttering in amusement. "So chores are what saved us all, well good, I'll be sure to remind you of that in the future. Parents are always right," he snickered, leaning back against the railing, trying to find a comfortable position for his aching back. Korellina absentmindedly started rubbing at the knot between his shoulder blades, and he smiled at her gratefully.
"Yeah, well," was the child's brilliant response, clearly dismayed that she had supported the usefulness of chores. "Anyway. I don't think Sidji realized where we were, he was too busy constantly looking around, down all the streets and up on all the rooftops, so I said, 'Hey, Sidji, that's dad's shop right there. If we're in danger, shouldn't we go in and grab some weapons?' He said I was a genius," she said proudly.
"They arrived here at one in the morning, both of them loaded down with enough swords and daggers to outfit a small army," Korellina said wryly.
Mina chuckled, watching her sister quietly return to braiding her bracelet. "That was some really smart thinking, Relle," she said, watching a flush of happiness spread on the child's cheeks. Most of the people in Pike's Village weren't battle-hardened warriors; they were simple people, using their powers to fulfill their role in society, as farmers or fishermen or craftspeople. 'At least armed with blades, they could put up a strong fight by sheer numbers,' she thought. 'Especially since there's only one, very narrow, entrance.'
Hiei read her mind and silently agreed. Staying in the shelter was Pike's Village's best bet right now.
With the mindreading powers that came from being a mother, Korellina glanced at them suspiciously and asked, "And what are you going to do now? Surely you're not going to leave us again." Her tone was that perfected mix of caring, commanding, and guilt-tripping, the one that always left Mina unable to meet the water demoness's eyes.
Relle gasped and looked up, letting the threads of her nearly-complete bracelet fall in her lap and tangle into each other. "No, you're staying, right?"
Mina's jaw clenched, and she looked down. Yusuke had more or less asked her the same thing (could that have really been just two days ago? It felt like a lifetime ago), and Mina still didn't know what to say.
Hiei said nothing, careful not to even glance at her. This had to be her decision. He had always strived to make his own decisions with the spirit detective's ridiculous missions once he was pardoned by Reikai, though, the one time he had declined to join in, during the Sensui mess, he had come back eventually, unable to forgo the prickling feeling in his chest that his friends (and the oaf) needed him. But still, he respected Mina enough to let this be her call. She was a young girl from Makai, with a peculiar past and impressive swordsmanship, but she had never signed up to be a fighter or a detective. Or a criminal on parole.
Mina sighed, pulling Relle up to sit on the bunk bed next to her, putting her arms on the child's shoulders. Relle refused to look at her. "Hey. Hey, come on now, look at me."
Relle sniffed and finally did, though her expression was mistrustful and her arms were crossed, the bracelet laying forgotten on the dusty floor.
Mina swallowed. "I need you to know that everything in me, every cell, every fiber of my being, is pleading inside of me to make the decision to stay here with you. Hide out from the bad guys, braid our hair like mermaids, read books together, and just forget all about the world upstairs, because it's someone else's problem, and someone else will take care of it."
Relle sniffed again, her eyes drying slightly, a shaky smile on her lips. "But that's not what you're going to do, is it." It wasn't a question this time. The child couldn't meet her eyes.
Mina sighed and pulled the girl into her arms. "Listen to me. Please, listen. I love you so very much, and I'm the luckiest person in the world to call myself a member of this family. But everything I just said I want to do with you, I don't want to just do that today, or for the next couple of weeks, or a few months. I want to be your big sister for our entire lives, Korellina Jr, and someone has to stand up to these Rebels, or else they're going to win, and we would have had those few weeks or months, but then we'd be robbed of all the rest of time we could have spent together. Everyone always thinks, 'Let someone else do it, not me,' but some people have to say, 'Yes, I'll do it, I'll be one of the few,' or else everything is lost."
Mina pulled back and gently held the young girl's chin, keeping her gaze. "I'm going to stop them, Relle. I swear it. And I'm going to do that so that we don't have to hide here like ants. So that they don't wreck our beautiful town. So that things are peaceful, and I never have to go away again."
Korellina Sr. was leaning against her mate and dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief again, while Yata honked his nose loudly into a large napkin.
Hiei felt an odd emotion, one he'd never really experienced before. He was proud. He'd been proud of himself many times of course; when he recovered to his previous power levels after the Jagan operation, when he located Yoko Kurama in the human world, when he mastered the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. But he couldn't really say that he'd ever been proud of anyone else before. It was a quiet flame inside of him, spurring him on. Everything Mina had said was true, and it was clear that, whatever her upbringing, she had the noble spirit of a warrior inside her. Maybe it had been there from the very beginning, instilled in her by her human father Fujiwara.
A small part of Hiei quietly wondered what it would feel like to say the same things to Yukina, but he squashed the thought almost immediately. Nonsense. Yukina wasn't a child and didn't need coddling; frankly, she didn't need a brother at all.
Relle bit her lip, and looked up at Mina, hesitantly. "But what if…" Her eyes welled up again. "What if they get you?" She wrapped her arms around herself.
Mina took in a shaky breath and schooled her face, slamming the gates on the emotions raging inside of her. "Then I expect you to be proud of me and honor my memory," she said simply.
Relle swallowed and nodded, wiping her tears away. "Of course," she said. Suddenly, her face lit up. "Hey, wait, if you're going to fight them, then you need a proper weapon!"
"What are you talking about, I have my swo-" The child was gone before Mina could even finish the sentence. Looking around, she saw that her adopted family was as perplexed as she was.
Moments later, Relle came racing back, dodging around the people that were walking in between their bunks, yelping "Excuse me" and "Sorry" repeatedly. She arrived at their bunk beds and proudly held out a long thin package to Mina, rolled tightly in leather and bound with twine.
Yata chuckled. "Yeah, that's fine by me," he said. "You put in the work, might as well reap the spoils at this point."
Mina gasped as she unrolled the leather. It was the exquisite sword, the one their mysterious customer had ordered via servant and asked Yata to fold the provided metal an extraordinary amount of times. This was probably the hardest, sharpest blade in all of Alaric, and it was made with metal so expensive that Yata had been saving every precious scrap he could for making pocketknives.
Hiei raised his eyebrows. That was one hell of a fine blade. His respect for Yata and Mina rose exponentially, seeing the beauty of their combined craftsmanship. The sword was too short for the fire demon, but it was the perfect length for Mina.
"I can't," she stuttered, gazing at it, enraptured. She tore her gaze away, looking at Yata. "What if the customer decides there's no time like the present to pick it up, given the current state of things? You'll be in so much trouble," she said, biting her lip. Her fingers itched to touch the sword but she waited, her resolve wavering.
Yata shrugged, stretching out his legs. "Actually, I was behind schedule, my damn back acting up, you know I can't sit hunched over that long. The pickup date was over two weeks ago, and I haven't heard anything."
Mina couldn't help it then. She ran her fingers over the blade, tracing the wavy patterns from where the metal had been folded repeatedly. It was perfectly balanced, and ridiculously sharp.
Mina grinned and expertly ran one finger lightly over the edge, right by the sword's tip. Almost instantly, it bit into her finger, and a small drop of scarlet blood glided down the blade in a perfectly straight sheen. First blood.
It was demon custom with a brand new sword, that the first blood it tasted was its owner's. The small smear then doesn't get wiped away until the sword is used on a real victim. It's tradition, and Mina had always felt that the meaning behind it was profound; owning a sword enables you to take life away, but every time you do, you are giving the sword a little of your own blood too – for surely, eventually, someone will spill yours in revenge.
Mina pulled out her usual sword, and tried to see if the new one would fit in the fancy leather scabbard. To her utter surprise, it was a perfect fit. 'Well, that settles it then, I guess it was just meant to be,' she thought happily, adding her old sword to the pile of weapons for the villagers.
Mina and Hiei stayed with her family for a few more hours, but around noon the fire demon started getting restless, and Mina knew it was time to go.
"I promise I'll come back," she smiled down at Relle, who was once again clinging to her waist. "I'm going to make the world a better place for you. I'm your hero, right?" she said, winking and laughing.
Relle nodded solemnly, letting go of Mina and taking her mother's hand. "You are," she said, clearly trying for a brave face.
Mina smiled, fighting back her own tears. She hadn't been lying when she said that everything inside of her, every particle of her soul, was screaming desperately to just forget the damn world and instead go lay down on a bunk and listen to Relle read and wonder what the cooks would make for dinner. Something welled up inside her, shouting that she didn't give a crap about the political bullshit being fought about, and that she just wanted to stay with her family and be selfish. Didn't she have that right?
But she swallowed hard.
And she went.
Author's Note: Whoo, that was awesome! My longest chapter yet, 22 pages in Word! I can't wait to hear what you guys thought of it! I love writing about Mina's family haha ^_^
P.S., a little bit of EXTRA CONTENT on my profile page: I have added a link to the full painting of MINA (done by Luis Royo, and a censored version of it (lol) is what I used as the cover image for this story), as well as another painting, also by Luis Royo, of SURA.
[FYI, Mr. Royo has no idea who I am and it just so happens that he paints these bada** girls that look just like my characters XD.]
So if you've been scratching your head and wondering what they look like, go take a look! Also, as a general note, I do add cool things to my profile as I come across them, on no particular schedule, so maybe glance over there once in a blue moon (:
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