Hi guys, Hina here! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out but I faced a serious bout of writer's block, we had visitors over for the holidays, and I caught a cold. So, pick whichever excuse you like best and enjoy the chapter! Thanks for all the reviews ya'll sent while I was on my miniature vacation and don't worry: The next chapter should be finished within a week and then I'll start in on the third after that! So, ciao and enjoy!
Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Flame-Brains Meet
Well, after Hiei left to fight against the rat, I mean Zeru, I walked back to the others, having a silent panic attack. I moved to Kurama's side, as Kuwabara and Boton stood near the wall, oblivious to my rapidly beating heart and suddenly sweaty palms.
"He's going to hurt himself. I know he's going to hurt himself. I know he's going to hurt himself. I just know he's going to hurt himself." I muttered under my breath as my hands twitched at my side, my eyes following his silent and slow form into the ring. Kurama dropped his hand down to grasp mine, as he leaned towards my ear.
"Saying he will won't make it true." Kurama muttered in that sage I'm-so-wise-and-old-and-smart-so-I'll-instruct-the-young wipper snapper voice. I rolled my eyes as I cocked my head to the side, giving him my famous disdainful look, which I got from him.
"Now, I don't need that! That is a platitude that happens to be in the same category as 'Don't worry', which is also one of the stupidest things you can say to a girl who's boyfriend is about to set on fire and then probably eaten over a slow barbecue! Besides, saying he WON'T won't make it come true." I said with a frown while Kurama rolled his eyes, apparently having more faith in my darling then I did. Well, I DID have faith in him, thank you very much! But Hiei is a vertically challenged man with an ego the size of the empire state building and a mouth so large he could fit both his feet and mine and still have room for desert! I KNEW he was going to hurt himself! Anyway. Hiei stood in front of Zeru, who looked coldly disinterested in the whole life or death tournament thing, his eyes lighting with a passionate fire.
"I know a great deal about your technique. Last night, you harnessed heat energy at such a great measure, it resembled a knife cut but one of the edges was sloppily melted. You have you're flaws." Hiei said with a smug smile that I always knew was going to get him into trouble one of these days. Okay, now THAT is smart! Let's insult the guy we're about to fight and who could possible kill us! Yep, that's so smart…I think Hiei does it on purpose to make up for his lack of height. Make his insults bigger then his shirt size and he feels good about himself. (Gosh, I hope my precious little angel isn't reading this. Oh hey, did the room temperature just get hotter? HIEI?) Well, after that CUTE little insult, Zeru's eyes grew even colder, if that was even possible, and he glared over at Hiei, who SO didn't looked afraid.
"Ah yes, my flaws, but I believe you have your own. I don't think I want advice from someone who has to use a fake eye!" Zeru said and I winced as my eyes slipped shut for a moment. MAJOR INSULT ALERT! RAGING HIEI ALERT! BET I'LL HAVE TO USE KUWABARA AS A HUMAN SHIELD ALERT!
"Dead man walking!" I muttered under my breath, thinking Zeru could have said ANYTHING else under the sun expect THAT! Hiei's eyes glowed in fury as the ref shouted 'fight'. As soon as she spoke, they were off! Zeru's arm suddenly shot up and he fired a huge fireball at Hiei, who barley even blinked.
"MOVE, HIEI! OR DO YOU WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT A DISCO INFERNO IS??!?!" I screeched a second before Hiei leaped into the air and dodged to the right, shooting me a dry look.
"I think I remember how to move out of the way, Siri. Just sit back and enjoy the show." Hiei thought at me, using his Jaggan to get into my mind as Zeru sent three more flying balls of death towards MAH MAN who just dodged them, doing back flips and twirls and pirouettes and leaps and hops…I KNEW dragging Hiei to the ballet against his will and tying him to a chair was a good idea. Zeru shot more fireballs at Hiei, who dodged them like GREASED LIGHTENING, always keeping out of harms way. After a minute, Zeru stopped the lights show (Which was good, cause I had taken out my sunglasses and sun block just a moment ago) and Hiei landed in front of him, not even panting.
"You're so quiet all of a sudden! Too scared to notice any of my supposed flaws?" Zeru asked with a hint of sadistic amusement. EVIL! Hiei didn't look scared or anything else, just stared impassively up at him, no reaction present.
"Actually…I'm board." Hiei said coolly as I sighed half dreamily and half in exasperation. Hiei's attitude problem was going to get him into serious trouble, one of these days. Either he and Yusuke are going to form their own punk band or else he's going to get set on fire…whichever one comes first, of course! Zeru glared at him even more, really, really ticked off at this point. Mah darling has that effect on people, ya know!
"Actually, you're dead!" Zeru shouted and raised his arms up to the sky with a groan, fire shooting off of him. Oh good heavens! He's a psycho pyromaniac and was about to torch my man! AUGH! My mind went into overdrive, trying to figure out how I could rescue my darling if he needed it. Goodness forbid I leap into the ring right now to rescue him…he'd kill Zeru then set me on fire for interfering. Kuwabara's loud, annoying whistle distracted me from my thoughts.
"Boy, this guy's kind of crazy, if ya ask me!" Kuwabara said as he looked at all that fire with a worried expression. I wondered briefly if he was worried about Hiei or worried that Zeru would win and torch him? But then again, I guess being burnt to death didn't sound too ideal. I nodded my head in agreement, but didn't turn my gaze from Hiei or Zeru. Suddenly, Zeru's body started to turn a deep red color as he started smoldering and glowing like a red-hot poker. COOL! Maybe he'd set himself on fire and save Hiei the trouble. Speaking of Hiei, he didn't seem too bothered by all of this burning and smoking, but then IT happened. Zeru's entire body relaxed and he turned towards Hiei, right about the same time I started to get a seriously bad feeling. He held up his hand and rushed at Hiei, streaking across the arena before I could barely blink and before Hiei could dodge. He punched Hiei straight in the stomach and my baby's entire body lit up in white flames! Hiei moaned and started to sink to the ground, but Zeru's brutality didn't end there. He suddenly lit up his hand in a different kind of flame/light and struck Hiei once more. The results…yuck. Hiei's entire body was thrown up yet again and set on fire! He fell to the ground with another moan and landed with a sickening thud…just lying there.
"HIEI!!!!!" I screamed as my hands leap to my face, my eyes wide with horror. Hiei wasn't moving, wasn't getting up, he wasn't coming to my rescue because my heart in my chest hurt enough to kill me. I could feel dreaded tears fill my eyes, but I blinked rapidly as a plan began to form in my mind. Hiei COULDN'T be dead! He was a Fire Apparition for Pete's sake! I turned on my heel, my face pale but my mind sharp and colored. Kuwabara's face looked like he had just seen a pig fly, Yusuke was snoring in sorrow, Kurama looked shocked and concerned, Boton's hands were covering her face, and Renku just looked disturbed. I leaped forward, running towards Renku and dragging him with me towards my backpack. Kurama's hand shot out towards my arm as I moved.
"Siri, I…" Kurama started to say, a serious and sad note in his voice, but I cut him off as I turned around, my eyes blazing furiously.
"DON'T say it! He is NOT dead! My BABY would NEVER die and leave me ALL ALONE! He's just…RESTING!" I snarled with an unnatural anger in my voice, before I turned on my heel, stalking off towards my backpack. Beside my backpack was a couple items like water bottles, a couple of unmarked bottles, and two buckets. Don't ask how I smuggled all that in….I have my ways. Renku looked up at me expectantly.
"I don't think the dude is dead either, Siri. How can a flame-brain be set on fire? So, what do we do now?" He asked, which was very perceptive of him. I smiled in satisfaction, Renku having just proved that I was NOT insane…well, not THAT insane, I should say. I grinned and pointed at one of the buckets that sat next to the unmarked bottles.
"Fill that bucket up with those bottles, I'll handle these." I said and started filling my bucket up, glancing up as I did. Hiei was still on fire and smoking, Zeru was standing there as Koto began to slowly climb to ten, and the rest of the gang was going between watching me and watching the smoking pile of Hiei-ness. I glanced down as I finished filling my bucket and grinned, determined to get Hiei up and at umm', as he was NOT dead. Hiei promised me, a very long time ago, that he loved me more then any woman on earth and would never abandon me, never leave me. And Hiei is a man of his word, his word is his bond, which is why I knew he was not dead. I hoisted my water and stalked towards the ring, a mean glint in my eye as I glanced over at Zeru, who was watching me closely. I stuck my tongue out at him before I got close enough and tossed the entire contents of water onto Hiei, effectively putting out the fire as steam rose from his body but he didn't move. Now, I didn't think Hiei would leap up and start fighting at that, but I kinda hoped. No matter! Hiei'd get up when he was ready to. I turned and ran back to Renku and he handed me the bucket, which I took as I leaned forward to whisper something in his ear. He nodded with a grin as I ran back to the ring, this time heading towards where Zeru stood, just as Koto reached FIVE. I knew I had enough time to go through with my plan. Before Zeru could move or do anything, I tossed the contents of my bucket onto him, watching with an evil satisfaction as he became completely drenched. He didn't even blink, just stared at me with that dry, EVIL look in his eyes.
"Water? I'm not the one dead and smoking…I believe that would be your boyfriend. Though I have no idea why a proud Fire Demon would waste his time on a pathetic, loser human." Zeru said dryly with a snooty frown, making my hair stand on end as I seriously considered forgetting about ALL the rules and leaping into the ring and strangling him. But I controlled myself enough to grin sadistically up at him, seeing some dark humor in all of this that he didn't.
"Ooh, I'M the loser human? YOU'RE the idiot who can't tell the difference between water and GASOLINE! HIT IT, RENKU!" I shouted and Renku tossed a match as Zeru, who went up with a huge burst of flames. HA! TAKE THAT YOU WEASLY LITTLE RAT! I watched in satisfaction as the flames swallowed his face, as Renku stood beside me with wide eyes.
"Ah, I love the scent of Zeru barbecuing in the morning!" I said with a smug smile, realistically knowing that even if by some chance miracle the flames killed Zeru, it wouldn't bring Hiei back if he was dead. BUT HE WASN'T! I'd know! It's one of dem girly things, I tell ya! So, I had a brief moment of insane victory before all the flames that surrounded the flame brain went out with a POOF! He stood there, arms still crossed, that smug indifferent little frown on his face. I sighed a second before he spoke, feeling regretful that I didn't go with my first idea: Jumping into the ring and beating him to death with my own two fists.
"You really thought you could burn me to death? Well, I didn't expect a pathetic human like you to understand what being a Flame Demon meant." Zeru said in that cold voice that made me want to RIPE HIS TONGUE OUT AND FEED IT TO MY RABID BUNNIES OF DOOOOM! I sighed tiredly and raised a hand to massage my temple, thinking I should maybe try something else, when something pretty neat happened. There was a moment of shuddering silence and then, a quiet but deadly voice spoke.
"Siren wasn't far off in planning your demise, but the flames that will burn you to your agonizing death are far from human." A cool, cocky, completely cute, and sexy voice growled in the silence, making the hair on the back of my neck rise up. I jerked my head around to stare over towards the spot on the side of the ring where Hiei's body had been. BUT IT WASN'T THERE! He was standing upright and looking absolutely fine and death free!
"AUGH! HIEI! HIEI I KNEW YOU COULDN'T BE DEAD!" I screeched and started leaping around the outside of the ring like a mad woman, laughing and gloating shamelessly. I shot a glance in Kurama's direction that was smug enough to get me killed before I skipped back towards Renku.
"Told ya he'd live!" I said with a decisive smile as I crossed my arms, thinking I could now watch the rest of the match in peace. Hiei was now standing up and looking absolute furious and he was looking straight at a VERY surprised, horrified, and scared looking Zeru. Can we spell SWEET SWEET revenge?
"How could you still be alive? I hit you with my best firebombs! You were just on the floor, on fire! How on earth did you survive?" Zeru asked in amazement; Hiei laughed at him, but it was a biter-sounding thing. Obviously, he was mad and with very good reason! I know I'D be a little miffed if someone tried to set me on fire. Suddenly, the bandana covering Hiei's Jaggan burned in a bright blue light and disintegrated. COOL! His Jaggan was now in full view and, if possible, didn't look very happy.
"I believe we've already covered that." Hiei said coldly, as his body stated to glow in a black and purplish energy. I glanced around, cursing my luck for not brining my video camera. If he was about to roast Zeru, I wanted to video tape it and sell it online! I was about to scream something that would sound an awful lot like, say, "TOLD YOU HE WASN'T DEAD! NOW YER GONNA DIE, BUSTER! NAN NAN NAN NAN!" But Hiei spoke before I could.
"The Dragon of the Darkness Flame." Hiei stated in a powerfuly firm voice. I knew this must be some kind of attack or something. But, ya really think I knew what it was? NOPE! Hey, I barely know the name of my own attacks, let alone others. Besides, do they all have to have names? I just normally attack with out saying something like: SUPER COOL BUNNIES OF DARKNESS RUNNING THROUGH FLOWERED MEADOWS WITH BLUE FLASHES OF LIGHT AND SWORD…GO! Now, Kuwabara, Renku, and Botan looked just like I felt: Completely and utterly confused. But Kurama looked utterly amazed and shocked. I guess he knew. Figures.
"I don't believe it's true! He's going to attempt the Darkness technique!" Kurama cried, looking up at Hiei and the massive energy he was gathering. I gasped theatrically as my hands leapt to my mouth.
"The Darkness technique! The Darkness technique! Oh no, not the Darkness technique! Anything but that! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES, SAVE THE CHILDREN, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" I screeched theatrically and threw myself at Kuwabara, who was nearest, knocking him over as I sat atop his chest. He grunted painfully since I was probably sitting on one of his injures or something. Whoops, my bad.
"Siri! Do you even KNOW what the whatever technique is?" Kuwabara growled as he pushed me off of him, sitting up as I sat down next to him and Renku, ready to enjoy the show.
"Nope! Not a clue. How's about you filling us in, Mr. Encyclopedia?" I asked staring up at Kurama, who was so shocked at all of this darkness whatever that he didn't even look indigent at my name. Darn! Oh well, I'd get him next time.
"The Dragon of the Darkness Flame. It's a legendary attack that only the strongest, and completely reckless people attempt. As of yet, no one has really managed to control the attack. Hiei is going to try to call out the Dragon of the Darkness Flame from the pits of Sprit World. It's an incredible dangerous technique that could end up killing our friend and us…or worse." Kurama said, looking grim. Of course! Hiei's about to try some incredible insanely wickedly hard and unstable technique that could kill us all. Fits his personality perfectly, if you ask me. Kuwabara looked a bit confused, which is normal, but he seemed to understand the fact that this was powerful, dangerous, and deadly. I mentally prayed that Hiei wouldn't do anything so reckless that he got himself killed. Of course, I knew this could be a prayer in vain, since Hiei ALWAYS got himself into trouble. But he couldn't get himself killed! That was Yusuke's job. Now, Zeru had obviously heard of this Bunny or Dragon of the Darkness Flame thing, because he was starting to tremble and back away from Hiei. Hiei was now glowing with dark energy and the entire stadium was dimming and getting darker and I had a feeling it wasn't because the evil bad guys forgot to pay the electric bill. Well now, I couldn't entirely blame Zeru for getting freaked. If Hiei had been pointing that thing at me…well, I'd be running in the opposite direction as fast as I could manage. Hiei's arm was starting to glow and power was focusing into the palm of his hand, turning it into a purply pink color. Hiei decided to speak to/threaten Zeru; you know, in case him standing there glowing purple wasn't scary enough.
"I have the power to pull you into oblivion; I assume just my right arm will do. You should never have insulted the Jaggan Eye because, in a way, it has it's own mind and loathes disrespect. And you really should never have insulted my girlfriend, because I have a mind of my own and it's a dark thing when devising punishments for little cretins like you." Hiei growled in a fierce voice, making my face heat up as I flushed pink with pleasure that he thought of me. I considered shouting "THANKS FOR THE SHOUTOUT" but thought better of it. I mean, Hiei was glowing and power was flowing and I'm making corny rhymes…DOOM was in the air! Man, everyone's turning creepy nowadays! I hope Kuwy-kun stays the same; he's the only one not acting insane, creepy, or just plain weird. Finally, it seems Hiei was ready to perform the creepy little attack of his.
"DRAGON…OF…THE…DARKNESS…FLAME!" Hiei cried as he swung his arm up and around to point straight at Zeru. His shirt, which was already mangled, tore completely off as a huge…black…THING shot out of his arm. It was a giant black dragon! (Gee, maybe that's how they got the name? Duh) It shot across the arena towards Zeru as I screamed at the noise and darkness and power. I leaped behind Kuwabara, who tried to hide behind me, and Renku leaped up to wrap his arms around my neck, which nearly strangled me as Boton grabbed Kuwabara's arm and the pile of us staggered towards Kurama. Just as the dragon plowed into a terrified Zeru and rammed him into the wall, we rammed into Kurama and all of us ended up sprawled out on the floor. We all managed to raise our heads to see Hiei standing there, his arm still outstretched, looking almost surprised he managed the attack. But his arm looked horrible burnt! Ah well, just meant I could play nurse with him later on. Koto, who apparently jumped ship during the attack, returned to comment.
"WOW! That was…amazing! But, where's Zeru?" She asked, looking all around. She then turned around and followed the smoky trail the Dragon left. On the wall to the stadium there was a black ash-like outline. I'm guessing that was what was left of Zeru. Creepy…like something out of The Ring. I made a mental note to stay on Hiei's good side from now on. (Yes he DOES have a good side…it's in him somewhere.)
"Well, there's his outline at least. And he's not in the ring…" Koto stated unnecessarily, as if we couldn't see that for ourselves. Hiei lowered his arm as he looked around him with a strange look.
"Oh, believe me, he's not coming back." Hiei said coldly, which, in a weird way, freaked me out and made me want to kiss him all at the same time. Koto nodded, looking rather nervous and confused.
"Well, yes, that I guess counting to ten would be rather ridicules. Okay, so let's give it up for Hiei!" Koto called out cheerfully and the crowd was silent as they watched the Fire Demon, MY Fire Demon, walked confidently out of the ring, leaving his opponent still smeared against the wall.