Please read Disclaimer in Prelude.
Title: Firebird Sweet C35: The Dragon In The Cave
Author: JaganshiKenshin
Genre: Action/Adventure, Humor, and Beyond
Rating: T
Summary: Still weak from the poison, Hiei faces a new crisis.
"I didn't think you would die so easily!"
Firebird Sweet C35: Hell Week (The Dragon In The Cave, part five)
by
Kenshin
With thousands of trees and many acres to choose from, Yoyougi Kouen presented an irresistible target for city-dwellers. On a spring day, it was likely to be crowded. But as the sun strove without success to burn a hole through the overcast sky, Kurama was relieved to note that people stayed away in droves.
Kuwabara still combed the city for Hiei, and Yuusuke had joined Kurama to search the park for the ailing fire demon.
Kurama half-wondered why they hadn't gotten a ransom note; surely Hiei hadn't vanished under his own steam, given his shaky condition.
He also hoped Kaasan would be all right at home with the twins, because a near-frantic Shay-san had insisted on accompanying Kurama. "I'm dressed," she assured him, flicking aside her short jacket to reveal a small-caliber Beretta Cheetah.
Kurama supposed the palm-sized black gun was a good idea, although more of a back-up than anything else, and possibly giving Shay-san a false sense of security. He, too, had armed himself: a fresh and untainted rosebud, along with a few select seeds and---other equipment.
Yuusuke, of course, was capable of handling himself, but the brooding silence in which he walked seemed worlds apart from his usual upbeat demeanor. Each passing minute raised concerns that Hiei was not in the park at all, but Kurama had an inside track.
They cut across a great swath of plush green lawn, scattered with sparsely populated paths and benches. Ahead by some 25 yards lay a cluster of scrubby ginkgo trees, dominated by one towering pine. And though Kurama sensed no youki there, he could indeed sense his potential sister-in-law's anguish.
High above such human concerns, but not quite high enough to ride the thermals, hovered a small gray hawk. Maybe it would do the world a favor and, instead of its usual prey of sparrows, lunch on some unsuspecting jaki.
"I couldn't bear to drag Hiei off the couch last night." Shay-san glanced at the trees. "Maybe I should have stayed with him. Maybe none of this would have happened if I---"
"You did the right thing," Kurama assured her. "Without a decent night's rest, how can you help anyone?"
But she hurried ahead as if his words pained her, and Yuusuke turned to Kurama, his dark brows stitched with concern.
"Hiei used to be fond of sitting up there." Kurama aimed his voice at her retreating back, eyeing the evergreen spire stamped dark against the sky. When she did not slow down, Kurama loped toward the tree, Yuusuke on his heels, and soon closed the distance between them.
Shay-san craned her neck to peer into the pine's dense, resin-scented branches. "Hiei?"
No reply. Kurama had expected none. He laid his palm against the rough bark. No trace of ki, however faint.
The hawk, having no luck either, dipped, hunting prey.
"Hiei's a pretty tough customer." Yuusuke put out a hand, stopped just short of brushing Shay-san's shoulder.
"Is there any sense in looking through the entire park?" Her voice a taut silver wire strung with worry, she did not wait for a response, but sprinted toward open ground. "I'd better get back and stay with the kids."
But when Kurama would have followed, Yuusuke stopped him. "No Hiei?"
"None." Kurama kept his eyes on Shay-san in the distance.
"Don't like this," muttered Yuusuke.
"I assure you, I like it even less."
"You want me to keep feeding her all this chin-up crap or you want me to tell her the truth?"
Startled, Kurama turned his attention to Yuusuke. "And what truth would that be?" He flicked his gaze back to Shay-san. She had slowed to a walk, both hands thrust into her pockets.
"Hiei coulda wandered off somewhere to die."
"Yuusuke!"
But admittedly, Yuusuke had just given voice to Kurama's own fears. To speak them aloud seemed to tempt the fates, make it more real.
His gaze on the ground, Yuusuke muttered, "You're the one who keeps saying nobody survives Two-Hearts poison."
"And you're the one who always keeps a cheerful outlook! If Hiei was going to die he'd have done so instantly! Above all, I don't want to further panic Shay-san----"
What happened next occurred with such lightning speed that they had no time to react.
Shay-san screamed. Kurama lifted his head; Yuusuke spun.
The hawk had changed course. Folding its wings, it made a plummeting dive onto the girl.
0-0-0-0-0
It was the voices that woke him.
Someone with an odd accent Hiei couldn't place was saying, "You cover the Boss, got it?"
A deeper voice replied, "Got it."
The odor of flint strong in his nostrils, Hiei could not feel his katana at his back, nor the Rosary round his neck.
But he could feel jagged strata of rock press the side of his face, and pain that lit him head to toe.
There was also the lingering stench of old youki---and a stronger smell of fresh demons.
"And you two," the accented voice continued, "You're sure you got him?"
"We got him." The answer came in tandem, much closer to Hiei's ears. His arms tingled, as if asleep. When he tried to move them, wire bit both wrists, and Hiei discovered his arms had been bound behind his back.
That was never a good sign.
"Car's returning to the warehouse," continued the foreign voice. "Chopper's outside. I don't want any more screw-ups."
"Think he'll remember the ride?" The deeper voice, from approximately the same location as the accented one, held a distinct tinge of worry.
"Who cares if he does?" said a higher voice, close to Hiei's ears. "He ain't leavin' here alive."
"Watch it," cautioned the accent. "He's coming around."
Hiei pried one eye open---to a scene out of a monster movie.
He lay on his belly in a cave. A streak of milk-pale light splashed the floor, indicating that the mouth of the cave could not be far. Some fifteen feet in front of him, a blue oni pressed its back to the wall. A human male about the size of someone Hiei knew, but had forgotten, stood beside the oni.
The blue oni was reminiscent of Jorge Saotome, lacking Jorge's civilized demeanor. Jammed into the floor before it was a single smoking torch whose flickering orange light added only somewhat to the illumination.
Behind the human and the oni, a smaller figure was wreathed in shadow, as if light itself fled before it.
Hiei wondered if this was the same cave from which he had rousted the trio of raptor-type demons, a lifetime ago.
Someone was laughing, a low bubbling laugh like lava flowing from a volcano. "Get the little bastard to his feet."
A clawed hand snaked round Hiei's gauntlet wrist. Another circled his left, yanking back and up until Hiei's arms strained in their sockets. "Take your paws off me," he said, but no words managed to come out. Irritating.
With another painful heave, they hauled Hiei to his feet, but his legs gave out and he sank back to his knees.
"That's fine," snickered the higher voice, near his left. "You oughta be on your knees, meeting a king."
King, wondered Hiei, and swiveled his aching head. Two nearly-identical oni, distinguished only by color, held him captive. Even in the dim torchlight that reluctantly painted the cave, Hiei could distinguish the purple cast of the oni on his gauntlet arm from the red cast of the oni on his left. Both reminded Hiei of that mediocrity, Gouki---heavy-maned, horned, at least 7 feet of solid muscle.
This cave didn't resemble any palace Hiei had ever heard about, but it did mean he was close to---
Close to somewhere he knew. If only his brain would function. "How did I get here?"
The purple oni snapped, "Shut up, you."
The human seemed familiar, but Hiei's memory would not supply a name. Though the torch alternately chased and embraced shadow, playing illusion with the man's shape, it revealed he was once strongly built, and while starved hollows marked his cheeks, he was still big-boned. Brown hair scraped back into a cascading tail accentuated his broad jaw and narrow forehead. The human gave Hiei a troubled look. "Face the shadow!" he barked.
So. This was the owner of the oddly-accented voice. Clearly foreign, as were his features.
Grabbing Hiei by the hair, the purple oni forced him to look into the shadow. The crunch of boots on granite heralded an emerging figure.
"Bow to the King," demanded the red oni.
The personage they called 'King' was also heavy and powerful, though not much taller than Hiei. He strode forward on short, thick legs, with ham-hock arms ending in clawed hands. His barrel chest and midsection bulged over tight black pants. A sulfuric youki surrounded him, an aura reeking of poison and decay.
He stopped, flicked a look at Hiei with black eyes---all three of them.
Two of his eyes were in the usual place. The vertical third eye, shining like polished obsidian, was in the same place Hiei had installed his Jagan. It was slitted, as if lazy or tired.
Old Dragon, Hiei immediately named him, though he did not know why. The entire scenario, with its eerie torchlight and primordial cave reeking of youkai, had the feeling of a dream.
Old Dragon spoke. "Been lookin' for me, ain't ya? Well, here I am."
Hiei blinked. "Who are you?"
"S'matter?" Old Dragon grinned, exposing fangs that were yellowed like ancient ivory. "Don'cha recognize yer father?"
0-0-0-0-0
Before Kurama could shout a warning, Shay-san dropped, rolled, and came up on one knee, firing. She snapped off shot after shot but the bird, with twin advantages of slim profile and moving-target speed, darted away unhurt.
Turning in mid-air, the hawk hammered down. Already on the run, Yuusuke at his side, Kurama felt like he was moving in slow motion, everything around him accelerating to light-speed.
The bird struck Shay-san's left arm, then soared back aloft.
Now---while she's in the clear, thought Kurama, dropping to slam a fist into the ground. His ki poured through the grass near Shay-san, shot three razor-sharp stalks skyward in pursuit of the bird. This was risky in itself; the blades could easily injure girl as well as hawk. And not only were there limits to what Kurama could attempt in front of witnesses, but his power was still not at a hundred percent.
The hawk juked, avoiding Kurama's attack. Rising, Kurama pressed toward the girl.
Dead shot though Shay-san might be, with a dancer's reflexes, the attacking hawk dodged her bullets. Kurama watched in horror as the hawk folded its wings, and dropped like a bomb.
Yuusuke bolted past him, shouting.
Hiei was gone; of that Kurama was now painfully certain. Never mind that he felt none of his friend's ki. With sinking heart, Kurama knew that if Hiei had sensed the attack, he would have risen from the dead to protect Shay-san.
Yuusuke cut the ground with enormous strides, but the hawk struck again, then darted out of range.
It's going for her Dragon arm, Kurama realized. Damn it, the enemy---they tracked us here!
Shay-san recoiled, her sleeve in bloodied shreds. Worse, the impact knocked the gun from her hands; it flew spinning sidewise, and landed beyond her reach.
0-0-0-0-0
I'm your father. That's what the demon had said.
"No." This could not be Hiei's father. The voice sounded far different from the tall, elegant Stranger's, and far different from Hiei's own: coarse and jagged, with an unpleasant rasp that spoke of coiling scales. The thick accent, grating to the ear, rang of the lowest Makai dialect.
Most people have no idea what their own voices sound like to others. Without being able to remember how or why, Hiei knew he had been obliged to listen to his voice over and over again. There were elements in it that made him cringe, but he knew he did not sound like that: not like the pudding-thick rumble emanating from the ungainly figure before him.
Neither did the blue-black hair look as it had the other times his father came to him. It was short and coarse, sticking out from the flat-browed head in every direction.
But there was no mistaking the white starburst, identical to Hiei's own, almost like a crown.
"You look different from before," mused Hiei.
"Different?" Old Dragon lifted an eyebrow.
"When you came and talked to me," Hiei explained. "You know, outside the..." He frowned, groping for images and words. "Outside the house. And those other times."
Old Dragon exchanged glances with his pet human. "What's he blabberin' about?"
The human shrugged. "He wasn't hit all that hard. Maybe it's still the poison."
Poison? Hiei looked on, struggling to grasp what this had to do with him.
"Maybe." The one they referred to as a King gave the human a shrewd glance. "Since he didn't up an' die, guess he inherited some of my resistance."
Hiei blinked. His gaze brushed that of the pet human; pressure rose in his throat. I know you, he thought.
The human looked away, but the demon's black glare pierced Hiei. "You! Y'took somethin' from me---somethin' that shoulda been mine. An' I'm gonna make you pay."
Hiei wondered what trinket he might have stolen from this creature, in his former occupation of thief. Had this demon been watching over him, the way Hiei himself watched over Yukina? "You were keeping an eye on me?"
"Three," laughed the red oni. The demon king gave it a snarl, then continued speaking. How he'd blown through the Makai barrier to track Hiei. How he'd monitored him.
All the while Hiei nodded, pretending to understand. This demon king claimed to be his father. So Hiei would listen as best he could, with his spinning head and cottony mouth and eyes still searing.
"That's right---watchin' over ya." Old Dragon licked his lips as though savoring carrion. "Over that fox-boy an' the punk kid an' the dummy an' the Russky. An' that Spellcaster. Who d'ya think's been playin' ya all this time?"
The demons in the cave chuckled. The human did not join in.
"Gave ya more chances 'n' you deserve. Cost me some good men, too. An' that fox-boy, he fought me. But now he's gonna pay. Yer all gonna pay. Who d'ya think snatched ya from yer own house? Who snuffed yer friends? Who gave the poisoned rose t'the fox-boy? Who stuck yer woman in that building?"
That last bit of narrative finally hit Hiei, like a bucket of cold water to the face. Penetrating his brain-fog, it allowed him to think again with pitiless clarity: My firebird. That building. The explosion.
"Playing around?" Hiei stared at Old Dragon. "Is that what you call it?"
The demon shrugged. "Hadda see what yer made of."
"I don't understand. You wanted me to stop you?"
Old Dragon chuckled. "Naah. Figured you might at least try, though. Figured I'd hafta up the ante some."
Hiei studied the demon claiming to be his father. He tried to rise, but Old Dragon's Jagan opened a bit, and a flare of power glued Hiei's knees to the ground.
Ante? Frowning in concentration, Hiei raised one shoulder to try to scrub the haze from his eyes. "I don't understand what you want."
There was a change in Old Dragon's swaggering demeanor. The clawed hands opened and closed. "Your mother," he rumbled. "She shoulda been there, waitin' for me."
Hina? Did he mean Hina?
Kaasan was his mother now. She had said so. Did this demon mean to harm Kaasan? "I won't let you," Hiei whispered.
"Chief," wheedled the red oni, "Lemme make him speak up!"
Chief! Hiei lifted his head. Another arc of memory jolted him as the human met his gaze, and again looked away.
The Boss Demon! Carlos---! The man behind his firebird's kidnaping, the man behind the murder of----
---of Hiei's friends. He could not recall their names.
Old Dragon spoke. "All this time y'been thumbin' yer nose at me. Gotta give ya points fer toughness, but that ain't gonna stop me. They're good as dead---everyone close t' ya."
So. This creature who identified himself as a father wanted to kill not only Hiei, but those he held dear. Hiei did not question the justice of the statement, nor try to talk the demon out of it. He accepted, as he always had with any situation, no matter how brutal.
But acceptance did not mean compliance. "I won't let you!" Not Yuusuke and Keiko and Kaasan. Not Kurama, Kuwabara, Yukina, his twins.
His firebird.
Hiei recognized his own capacity for violence. Indeed, killing was his job. He had sent countless enemies to meet their maker. He would do so again if need arose.
But to destroy one's own offspring---
He pictured CeeCee's laughing face, her arms perpetually held out to the world. Michael's quiet, thoughtful gray eyes. Michael and Cecilia, flesh of my flesh. I can't let him! I can't! But...
His blood is in me, Hiei thought, regarding the corrupt figure. His poisoned blood. At birth, I burned, flesh of his flesh. The sins of the fathers, visited upon the sons.
Would he become like his father? Turn upon his own children? Hunt them down as though they were game animals, destroy that to which he had given life?
No. In the innermost chambers of his heart, where he bore his secret name, Hiei knew he would not. He would die first.
As Old Dragon had planned.
Hiei thought of Shay-san. What once seemed a chance meeting now seemed the unfolding of fate itself. My firebird: she changed me. My idiot beloved. She thinks I don't listen. But I listen. And learn.
"I don't see how you're going to accomplish any of this, my Lord Demon" Hiei told him. Lacing his voice with refinement, using the highest strata of honorific, was a slap to Old Dragon's face. "You've made a botch of it so far."
Old Dragon's eyes flashed. He jerked his head.
Still holding onto him, both red and purple oni drew back and simultaneously clocked Hiei. The floor spun beneath him. He collapsed, tasting his own blood. Their jeers rang against his skull like an iron bell, but with a convulsion of muscle and sinew, Hiei lurched to his feet. "I won't let you!"
Carlos drew near the demon; the 'King' spared him a single withering glance before returning his attention to Hiei. "How ya gonna stop me? My Jagan ain't no stupid implant, and it's ten times stronger 'n' yours."
Old Dragon's Jagan. Unlike Hiei's own violet eye: small, vertical, black as his heart. For a moment, it filled Hiei's vision, froze him, held him captive.
The purple oni threw back its head and roared in delight. It aimed a kick that caught Hiei under the chin and slammed him backward. Skipping like a pebble over water, Hiei crashed and tumbled against the granite cave floor.
0-0-0-0-0
The hawk's last attack had disarmed Shay-san, but despite her wounds she rose to scramble for her gun. As if on cue, the hawk folded its wings again.
Suddenly, Yuusuke was there, pushing her down, but on hands and knees, she kept rummaging for her gun, glancing over her shoulder at the hawk.
Kurama studied the bird as it hovered, its keen yellow gaze intent on the fallen girl.
Folding its wings, it plummeted.
The bird was fast, Yuusuke faster. He snapped up both hands; a white ball of Rei-energy gathered like a tiny star in the tip of his shooting finger.
The speed of its dive tore away the hawk's keening cry.
Shay-san dropped flat, groping frantically for the Beretta that lay just beyond the reach of her outstretched fingertips.
"Rei-gun!" Snarling out his attack, Yuusuke took aim.
"Yuusuke, no!" And before Yuusuke could make the shot, Kurama leapt, knocking the boy aside.
0-0-0-0-0
Easily twice Hiei's size, the purple oni hauled Hiei to his feet, backhanded him into the jagged wall.
Hiei felt bone crunch. A howl of pain tore across the cave.
But it did not come from Hiei. At the last second he had spun, managing to sink his fangs into the oni's leg; the force of its own blow doubled the damage.
That wiped the grin off its face. The oni, a good chunk missing from its leg, lay cursing and bleeding.
Ignoring the feel of the cutting wire, ignoring pain, Hiei ripped free of his bonds, spat a mouthful of bone chips and gristle and wiped his face with the back of one hand. "Old Dragon! You prey on the weak---but Lermontov thwarted you! He gave his life to save Ibuki, and now she's out of your reach!"
Old Dragon's face contorted in rage.
The purple oni lumbered to its feet. The red snatched at Hiei, missed. Freezing from the aftereffects of Two-Hearts, bone-sick, nauseated, shaking, Hiei scorned the clamor in his physical body, and gathered himself for battle.
The purple oni charged. Dodging, Hiei hammered straight for Old Dragon.
"Bring it!" Old Dragon roared, his arms spread as if welcoming a lover.
"Get him out of here!" Carlos shouted. "I'll fire up the Robbie. Cover him! Go, go, go!" Then he bolted from the cave.
"Gotcha, Chief!" At Carlos' command, the purple oni left off its attack to guard the Boss. Both red and blue oni converged, grabbed him, tugged him toward the exit, but Old Dragon wanted to stay and fight.
He wants a fight? He's got it. Hiei sprang. The blue oni scooped up the torch, slammed it into Hiei head-on. The impact of iron-hard wood crunched against his jaw.
Stars exploded across his eyes. He tumbled away, the wall striking his back, knocking the breath from him. Somehow he gained his feet, dove for Old Dragon again.
"Lemme go!" Old Dragon struggled to free himself from the grip of the oni. "Think I can't handle a runt like him?"
But the oni were powerful and insistent. Getting the demon under control, they turned him, hauled him toward the exit.
Snarling, he wrenched free, spun back to face Hiei.
Almost there, Hiei promised. Your throat. My hands.
Changing course, Hiei took advantage of his speed and stature, zooming in low, scattering oni like bowling pins. He leapt for his quarry in one deadly arc.
A suspended moment, Hiei inches from victory, startled oni too far from Old Dragon to protect him.
There was a special corner of hell reserved for baby-killers, and Hiei would be happy to send Old Dragon there. I won't let you hurt my family! I'll rip the Jagan from your skull first!
Grinning, Old Dragon raised his head, as if he could read Hiei's mind and welcomed the challenge. The vertical lids of his Jagan slid apart, slow and obscene. His obsidian gaze opened, struck Hiei point-blank.
And then the black Jagan was beaming white light into him, filling his consciousness, crowding out thought, memory, revenge, conquering every inch of space, greedily seeking more, spreading a tidal wave of poison, ripping his skull with a cascade of agony that tasted like copper in the back of his throat.
Retching, he fought it, but his eyes rolled up in his head, and his muscles turned to water. With a final shiver, Hiei crashed over into darkness and cold.
From someplace far away came the thudding roar of helicopter blades. And the feathery brushstroke of wings against his cheek.
(To be continued: In the cave and in the park, who will survive?)
-30-