He crouched on the branch studying the demon that sat on the stump a hundred yards away.
His narrowed eyes scanned the area nearby for a moment before returning to the sea green haired male.
There was no question that it was a trap. The lack of obvious support would have screamed it to him alone. It was also communicated through the creature's unconcerned air. He idly played with a knife as he waited.
It was that knife the heavy scent of blood, Shizuru's blood, came from.
If not for his more deeply ingrained instincts he would have already attacked the miscreant. He would have made the demon pay for the simple act of having that knife. He would have struck fast and hard without thought of caution.
That coil still moved restlessly inside of him, urging him to spill blood for blood. To make the arrogant bastard scream for the harm that had to have been caused to acquire that thin sheen on the blade.
He would soon enough, there was no doubt in his mind that urge would be given in to in one way or another.
"I know you are there." the unknown demon said loudly spinning the knife in his hand, "I am Hisao."
He discarded his cloak and launched himself at the demon from the tree, katana in hand. Hisao moved at the last moment but not in enough time to avoid having the blade slice into the length of his arm. It was not a deep wound but it was enough for the smell of his blood to overpower the older scent of Shizuru's.
It was nowhere near the amount that he required for appeasment but it did send a flush of satisfaction through him.
The knife he had been playing with fell to the ground as Hisao faced him.
"Knowing your name changes nothing." he informed him smirking.
"That was hardly done with true intent to kill. Why injure if your desire was different?" Hisao asked seeming unaffected by the wound, "We both know why you do. Why her hopes that you will end my life will not come about. I assure you they are well founded, those doubts in your mind. My lord Tsuneo is impossible to track. I am your only link to her."
The quick fire attack had served its purpose. It had gotten him close enough to know Hisao had been in Shizuru's company recently. That wisp of her scent on him was no accidental thing.
He tended to rely more on his senses then he did on anything else. Words were to easy to manipulate, to prove false with. Scents and other physical attributes rarely lied. Which was why he had originally considered Shizuru's want to hear something out loud to be a curious and difficult need.
"She intended your death?" he repeated a little confused by the statement.
The arrival of the other three caused him to step back a pace. Hisao looked over the group with only mild interest. There was to little reaction to what amounted to a gathering of major power.
He knew his own reputation was well known. Adding Kurama and Yusuke should have inspired some alarm no matter who it was that met with them. This Hisao was either extremely arrogant or had reason to be so nonchalant.
"That human is difficult to manage. If it were not for Tsuneo's interest in her she would have been dead already by my hand several times." Hisao informed them.
He tensed at the threat in the demon's voice. It was no small thing, the hate that laced those words. Shizuru had made a true enemy of this demon.
Knowing her it was done with deliberate intent.
"Why is Tsuneo so centered on Shizuru?" Kurama demanded.
He glanced at the fox demon willing for him to take over. This was more Kurama's element then his own. He was not incapable of garnering information but his skills were not on par with the red head's.
To him it was redundant to ask that question. That Tsuneo had Shizuru was the point to him. The reason did not matter in the least.
Hisao's brow furrowed, "That is a very interesting question. I have no doubt there is reason behind it. It is not my concern. This however is. I have been charged with finding a manner in which to gain her cooperation for my lord. Any one of you will do just that. The four of you will ensure it."
"Her cooperation..." Kurama repeated then allowed a small smile to emerge, " You are expecting us to surrender to you. So that you may use us to help you. That is a very ambitious idea. Her blood is not proof of life."
"It is on you to decide," Hisao replied with a small shrug, "I have no issue with returning to Tsuneo empty handed. Of course I cannot guarantee that she will not continue to decline..."
"Shizuru is ill?" Kurama asked tension in his voice.
A dark smile lifted Hisao's lips, "Quite the difficulty is it not Kurama? How are you to know unless you do as I wish. Surrender and you will be taken to where she is."
"And place Hiei in the hands of those that want his death as well. You must think us fools." Kurama censured.
"I think you are enamored of the humans and choose companions poorly Kurama." Hisao corrected, "that you would continue in the company of these...creatures only shows that your own judgment is far from clear."
He did not miss that the scorn in Hisao's voice included him along with Yusuke and Kuwabara. In fact it was perfectly obvious that Hisao preferred to be speaking with Kurama then with him. That knowledge coupled with the scathing glance at him made his emotions flare wildly.
What he had spent a lifetime expecting from others was held in that hard gaze full of ridicule.
"We could just kick his ass and pound the information from him." Yusuke suggested hopefully.
"If you get my sister killed I'll..." Kuwabara began heatedly.
"She is safe." Hisao interrupted, "My lord wishes her to remain so."
"Yeah and how do we know you're telling the truth huh?!" Kuwabara exploded, "We aren't stupid! You don't get the shrimp just cause you want him! You're going to have to go through all of us before that happens!"
He actually turned to stare at Kuwabara stunned by the vehemence of his words.
It was not that he doubted the oaf's loyalty. He had recognized in Kuwabara an honor code that while naive in most aspects was worthy of respect to a degree. Once engaged there was no grey area for the large young man.
He had simply never heard it voiced in any manner that applied to him specifically.
Apparently he was not the only one taken aback by Kuwabara's statement. Kurama and Yusuke stared at him with open shock on their faces.
Kuwabara's face reddened, "What?!"
"His sentiments are shared by all of us." Kurama stated firmly turning back to Hisao.
"Yeah you want Hiei you better be able to take us all down. And you ain't got a hope in hell of doing that." Yusuke added stepping forward.
"Such loyalty," Hisao chuckled, "which you do not extend to her. Your concern while ever so touching means nothing. I see I've wasted my time with any of you. My lord will find it interesting to know her condition is apparently not a symptom of her being human."
"That is the second time you've referred to her physical condition. Why?" Kurama questioned.
"I see no reason to continue this conversation." Hisao said dismissively.
"Answer him." he demanded.
Hisao paused in the act of turning away from them, "She is cold. Each day seems to worsen the chill in her."
A wave of several emotions passed through him, his mind shifting into a complex set of thoughts that he was hard pressed to understand in that moment.
"They do have her." he said to the others.
He did not want to dwell on the tightening of that protective coil inside of him. He did not want to acknowledge the wedge of sickening fear that attempted to reside in his core.
"Are you certain?" Kurama insisted on asking.
He wanted to cast a scathing glance at the fox demon for the idiocy of the question but he was unable to take his eyes from Hisao.
If he allowed the demon to depart which of course was not going to happen or if they killed him even accidentally by attacking him the odds of finding Shizuru were greatly reduced.
It was either surrender to him or risk that her condition worsened enough to take her life.
Everything inside of him instantly and violently rejected the idea of surrender in an almost painful manner. At the same time he was just as urgently against anything that held the potential of her death.
He found he could not dwell on that concept without his core being abruptly hollow, without the sense of anticipated loss threatening to steal his breath from him.
"I will go with you." he capitulated through clenched teeth while his inner self snarled in denial.
"Hiei!" Yusuke and Kurama chorused.
"It is this or leave her to their ministrations." He growled at them returning his katana to its scabbard.
Hisao was smirking at him again, that contempt still apparent on his face. He wanted to rip that look from his face. He wanted to feel bones breaking beneath his knuckles. To fill the air with the scent of Hisao's fresh blood.
He did none of those things, restraining himself to the point that he felt he was choking on those impulses.
"Count me in too." Kuwabara added a heartbeat later.
That was no surprise he had already known those words would come from him. That Hisao would not be leaving empty handed even if he had not given in when he had.
"Can't have the dummy showing me up." Yusuke sighed heavily looking at Kurama, "Even I know this is stupid."
"That has never stopped any of us before." Kurama replied shaking his head.
There was a rustle in the area around them. Numerous demons emerged from the thick foliage at some unseen signal from Hisao. Some of Hisao's confidence could be explained by the numbers involved. He could have conceivably escaped with these thrown in the way of him doing so.
"Bind them so that we can be done with this." Hisao instructed.
It was not easy for him. It rivaled any other major struggle he had endured in his life to allow what was happening.
He had to force himself not to react as two of them grabbed his arms and forced them behind his back. It took every ounce of concentration he was capable of not to struggle against those restraining hands, his fists balling tightly enough for him to feel his nails digging deeply into his palms as shackles were locked around his wrists.
By the time it was finished which in reality took no more then a few seconds he felt drained from the effort. The tension in him so strong it had his body shaking with its power.
At the same time he knew it would lead to her, to Shizuru and her possible survival. He could not separate the instinct to assure her continued existence from his own sense of self preservation. To him it seemed one in the same and he was stunned by the complexities of it.
Thankfully Hisao provided him with a distraction to his warring emotional state. The demon approached Kurama closely. The instant Hisao stepped within his personal space Kurama stiffened in what he knew to be considerable rage.
"My lord will be pleased that you cooperated. If you play your part intelligently you and these two others may survive this." Hisao stated.
"I've always found it fascinating that lower life forms have the ability for their bodies to continue even after their ability to thrive has been severed." Kurama commented in a voice that had a strange deepening of tone to it that he knew to be Youko in nature.
Hisao's eyes narrowed, "Is that a threat I should understand?"
"No." Kurama answered him coldly, "you have lost the ability to understand such simple concepts. Rest assured Hisao your body only continues in the guise of life because it cannot acknowledge that it has ceased to be capable of it. That will be corrected in time. You will end if not by Hiei's hand then by my own and in a way that will rival any death I have brought about before this moment."
Hisao stepped away from Kurama appearing as if he were holding back from attacking the red head. Kurama held his gaze for those long moments before Hisao turned his back on him and walked away.
They were shoved roughly together as the group readied to leave the area.
"What was that Kurama?!" Yusuke hissed at the red head.
He was curious about the exchange as well which only became enhanced when Kurama glanced at him displaying golden eyes that almost glowed with his rage.
"There is blood...on his breath." Kurama informed them tightly.
