Chapter 11: Enter the Dragon: Taryuu.
Kanami wrung her hands nervously, opening the large steel door in front of her.
A massively muscular man sat crouched over in the room next to one of the coffin-looking simulation devices, wiping sweat from his curled black hair with a tattered white shirt. His large, blue, dragon-like ears gave a twitch from the sides of his head upon hearing the door. He looked up with deep ocean-blue eyes and smiled kindly, revealing a row of pointed, sharp teeth, "Back so soon?" His voice rumbled around the room, his long reptilian like tail giving a small wave.
Kanami's anxiety was through the roof; but she concealed it well, bowing her head respectfully, "Taryuu, sir.. There's been an accident.."
Taryuu's smile dropped into a deep frown as he rose heavily from where he was seated, "What kind of accident?"
"Will she be alright?" Keiko looked towards Kurama with tear-filled eyes, squeezing Kirazuki's limp hand in her own. Kira lay still in one of the many beds within Genkai's temple. Next to her bed was a large, grotesque looking pulsating plant, one very large vined thorn was stuck into her chest directly below her collarbone, while another was dug into her calf. This large plant helped to filter the remaining venom from her blood stream. Keiko had demanded she come as soon as Yusuke told her what had happened, "I didn't even get to say goodbye before she left…"
Kurama sighed; to be frank, he didn't have an answer. "At this point, we will have to wait and see. She did sustain a fairly excessive amount of muscle damage in her leg, with additional tissue damage around her foot. The venom caused her body temperature to rise very rapidly, while this may have aided in burning off some of the venom, she is naturally a cold temperatured being. We won't know the extent of this damage unless.. until she awakes."
Yusuke squeezed Keiko's shoulder reassuringly, "Hey, she'll be fine.." He tried to comfort, "She's way stronger than your average demon,"
Hiei sat on the windowsill, staring out into the night sky as the moon peeked itself over the tree line; growing irritable of Yusuke's optimism. Perhaps he could have crushed the reptile's head earlier, stopped some of the venom from entering; perhaps if Kurama had arrived just a few minutes earlier, she'd already be awake. He did know one thing for certain, if the fox's outlook was 'wait and see', it was entirely pointless to cling to hope. Even if she did wake, she would have extensive damage to her leg at the very least, perhaps even reduced brain function, her body wasn't meant to be as warm as it had been, at least not so quickly. The only solace was in the fact that she was still dreaming, or playing memories in her head; as Hiei's Jagan subtly glowed beneath the thin white fabric across his forehead.
" 'Yuu!" A pint-sized Kirazuki screamed happily, bouncing towards another small demonic child. He had short, curly black hair and large, dragon-like ears protruding from the sides of his head. A large blue tail jutted out from behind him; his pale cheeks turned instantly red, "Wanna go have fun?" She grinned mischievously, they were currently in the 'playroom' of the Reikai's compound, with bright yellow and red walls, colorful playmats and dozens of other children running about yelling.
Taryuu grinned in return, "Okay!" He whispered back as Kira reached out and grabbed his hand.
The only supervisors in the room were currently occupied breaking up a fight between a wind demon and an earth demon, removing rubble from both of their hair and cleaning small scrapes along their faces.
Kira and Ryuu crept quietly to the door, opening it only enough to squeeze their small bodies through, before taking off at a run down the hallway before them, laughing the entire way.
Koenma glanced nervously about his office, looking for some excuse, any excuse to not comply with these demands, "We can't just start letting you all roam about the Nin-"
A huge fist slammed itself on his desk, cracking the top to it, "I don't care! You either let me out, or I'll force my way out. You pick." Taryuu's voice echoed through the room, causing Koenma to jump and cry out in panic.
Once again, he was backed into a corner by his own creations. He sighed in defeat, "I shall arrange a portal…"
A teenaged Kirazuki laughed joyously, flipping herself backwards, landing with her hands out in front of her as pushed them forward, her Spirit Energy dancing around her magically, "Nice try!" She yelled out, as the massive wall of water in front of her froze over completely.
A tall, lanky Taryuu narrowed his eyes in her direction, "Damnit…" He muttered in defeat, hanging his head as his attack was halted in it's tracks.
Kira kindly smiled in return, "Perhaps some day,"
A loud, deep tone emitted around the cold metal room. Training was done for the day.
Yusuke and Kuwabara glanced at each other cautiously, both hearing the loud booming knock at the temple door, "Wonder who that could be.." Kuwabara muttered as Yusuke stood from beside Keiko, making his way down the long hallway to the front temple entrance.
Upon opening the door, Kanami stood behind a massive wall of a man, fiddling nervously with her shirt. Yusuke blinked in confusion, "Hi?" He questioned.
Taryuu ducked as he entered the temple, extending his hand out to Yusuke, "You must be the Spirit Detective," Yusuke took it wearily with a firm shake, "My name is Taryuu. I've come from Reikai.. Kira is one of my comrades," He explained nervously.
Yusuke nodded in understanding, "Follow me big guy,"
Kirazuki waved her hand above her in the giant dark room, creating a small light out of her spirit energy. She rolled to her side on the small green cot, covered only by a thin dark green blanket, "You awake?" She whispered towards the cot next to her.
Taryuu turned grudgingly to face her, squinting his eyes against the sudden light, "I am now, lady.." He whispered back.
Kira smiled apologetically, before gazing back at her little light, "Do you think we'll ever get out of here?" She asked somberly; it was her greatest dream to see the world outside of the Reikai's walls.
Taryuu smiled fondly in return, "One day we will be able to live for our purpose." He held a certain admiration for her dreams, her remarkable ability to cling to hope for almost 90 years, so far.
Kira closed her hand and the small light disappeared, her eyes slowly drifting shut as sleep overcame her; a tiny hopeful smile on her face.
Taryuu smiled sadly, watching Kira's unconscious body as Kurama brought him up to speed on what had happened, what was going on, and what they could expect. She looked so child-like in her sleep, "Can she hear?" He asked out of the blue.
Kurama hadn't a clue, but Hiei answered, finally speaking up for the first time from his windowsill, "No." Was his only reply.
Taryuu sighed, reaching a large hand over and fiddling with one of Kira's ears. "May I have a minute?"
Kurama nodded, standing up and looking wearily towards the fire demon, "Hiei.." He cautioned, but he didn't budge.
Taryuu glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, "Listen, I know-"
"It doesn't matter what you have to say," Hiei finally looked away from the window, still not moving to get up, his Jagan was still steadily glowing. You could cut the tension the tension in the room with a knife.
Taryuu's anger soared; that was the thing about dragon demons, they may be calm most of the time, but once something set off their temper, the fire was uncontrollable; he took a few heavy steps towards Hiei, "Do you have a prob-" He was cut short by a small, almost insignificant amount of irritation in his left shoulder blade, "What…" He stuttered, unable to see.
Kurama walked over and couldn't hide the smile on his face as he removed a very small, dime sized shard of ice from his back, holding it gingerly in his hand, he chuckled, "I would say that's a good sign."
Kira turned her forehead into Hiei's collarbone, "You smell nice," She grinned sheepishly in an attempt to compliment him, as if that would somehow make up for the fact she was using him for his own body heat.
"And you smell like wet dog," Hiei countered; she didn't really, but he wasn't going to let her think he was being too kind. He supposed it was his own fault for 'offering'.
"Then I take it ba-" Kira had started to raise her head to glare at him, but instead her nose had inadvertently traced the bridge of his own, coming face to face with the fire demon. She fully expected him to retreat with a snide comment; but he didn't. Kira stood completely frozen, her stomach twisted in a knot that seemed to run up her entire throat, she could hear her own heartbeat in her ears, it felt like it could've jumped out of her chest; had she not been able to feel his his breath on her cheeks, she would've thought she accidently froze him.
It was like the entire Ningenkai had stopped moving, paralyzed in time.