-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-

CHAPTER FIFTY ONE: Umiko no Uta

Silence, that was all that echoed throughout the lands. An eerie reply to an unvoiced statement, a state of being that was chilling to the bone. My head ached like I had just taken a sledge hammer to the side of my face, and my body was in so much pain just remaining motionless that I began to wonder where I was now. I distinctly remember being locked in a burning room, for the first part. Secondly, I distinctly remember being locked in a room full of chains before. My head throbbed as I thought on those things sluggishly. Either there was something very wrong with me, or I was imagining things, either which, I didn't know about the likelihood of either. A cold chill ran through my already pained form, sending a shock of stabbing pain straight through my body. Slowly opening my eyes, I found myself looking up at a vaguely familiar ceiling, though my eyes were that blurry that it looked more like tones of grey against a black backdrop. I studied it for a few moments, hoping that the splattered feeling to my mind would begin to subside so I could take the rest of the pain without feeling like I was going to burst into tears.

I blinked slowly, beginning to remember that firey room flickering to a stone ceiling belonging to a cave of sorts. And there were people with me, people that I vaguely recognised, but I only saw the blurry form of one I couldn't seem to put a name to. I felt my mind ache as I put two and two together groggily, and I guessed that the firey room was a dream of some sort, and a far more vivid one at that. Maybe an illusion or something? I was clearly dying in that one, but why wasn't I beneath that black crystal tree again? Had something ... changed? I tried to drag myself upright, but I barely managed to lift myself a little before pure agony hit, and I was sent crumbling back to the ground. It was like my whole body was covered in injuries – and not just grazes, like burns or something – and it was just too painful to move.

"Oww ..." I felt my body say, but no voice came. Was my voice gone as well? I blinked slowly, feeling the throbbing in my head become a little worse. I frowned weakly, taking one long, deep breath, and in one motion, I swung myself upright with all my strength. I knew the burst of pain was coming before I even felt it, but that wasn't enough to stop me from letting out a gasp of pain. Carefully rearranging myself, I managed to remain upright, though the pain in my body doubled. A seering pain I could not rid myself of, I managed to push it aside as I looked down at my body. There was a blanket that covered most of my form, it was a dark black that showed up the bandages up my arms noticeably. I blinked, looking at the bandages intensely. All the skin of my arms, and even my hands, were covered, and I could see blood seeping through the bandages, slowly, but the bleeding must have been stemmed before I moved. I stared, trying to remember what happened for me to have so many bandages. What happened? Did I fall down a cliff or something? All I remember was being dragged through a mirror before that weird black, melting iron thing killed me.

A shadow to my right shifted slightly, dragging my pained attention from my painful body, and to who was standing right there. My gaze was still unfocused and blurry, and not in the least bit helpful, but as I looked up at who was there, I found myself feeling a little confused. A flash of an image appeared in my mind, a painful shock, but it was gone before I could even register what it was about. Though my eyes were a little more focused, I found myself looking up at the black-clad man that I had very little to do with at all, though my gut told me immediately, that he wasn't human. He watched me in silence, an appearing look of his usual disinterested look, though even with my blurry sight, I could still see the tiniest hints of mild surprise hidden within his expression.

"Hello." I tried to speak, but once again, my voice wasn't working, and I couldn't help but frown at that. My voicebox just didn't seem to be working. Great, How was I supposed to actually convey what I was trying to say, with no voice, and clearly no writing impliments around for me to use?

"I heard you." Came the voice of the fire apparition, a voice which I had only heard once, as far as I knew. I blinked, feeling a slow realisation overcome me as I blinked again. Koenma, if I remember rightly, told me that this one had been keeping tabs on my thoughts, which made him a telepath?

"Hn." I heard the man shift slightly, and I looked back at him after a few moments. Why was my mind working so slow? I was usually a lot quicker at piecing together coherrent thoughts. I looked around the cave slowly, trying to find something else other than this person standing next to me that was familiar. I couldn't see where we were, and I sure as hell couldn't see Barnette. I felt pure relief overcome me at that fact – maybe she ran off in a mad fury because she didn't have anyone to tear to shreds maybe? I blinked in surprise as I heard the being next to me exhale deeply, a sense of ... distaste about the tone? It was almost like a sigh of some sort.

"That's not the last you remember, is it, onna?" I blinked in shock, almost flinching, but I managed to stop myself from doing that from the knowledge of what avalanche of pain would meet me. Feeling a frown cross my face, I nodded slightly in response. What? Had I been out of it for a week again or something?

"Not quite." I heard him speak, and I felt my frown leave my face after a few moments. What? A month? I frowned down at the blanket over my lap after a few moments, thinking on that. What the hell had I missed?

Wondering upon this piece of information, while I subconsciously waited for an answer from the fire apparition, I found myself looking over at the entrance to the cave with my blurry gaze. At first I couldnt' see anything, and for a few moments, I was content with that, but as my gaze continue to clear, my weak eyes picked up something that made no sense to me whatsoever. The form of a sleeping human met my gaze, and as I felt my breath catch in my throat, I knew for a fact that something had gone completely wrong since that mission. Kuwabara was lying on the floor of the cave, severely injured, though alive never the less. They weren't supposed to know about the mission? Yusuke would have murdered Koenma for having me as bait! I felt myself flinch from flickering pain, and as the tiniest hints of movement came to my notice, my eyes zeroed in on the reflection shining from the polished surface of what looked to be a mirror of some sort. Topaz eyes met mine, an alarming sight considering that I should have been seeing my own. Long white-blue hair hung down the face that was reflected in the mirror, and as I felt all hints of my composure fade, I felt my right hand go to the bandages around my other wrist suddenly.

Can't trust it! See things that shouldn't exist! I thought frantically, my eyes immediately going to my wrist as I pulled the bandages free shakily, where I saw the severely burnt skin beneath. Though the flesh was most definitely damaged beyond belief, I could still see the skin, and, as I looked down at the scars that ran down the skin I could see, I slowly closed my eyes as I forced myself to take a deep breath.

"It's been more than a few hours since we were in that ruined church, hasn't it?" I questioned shakily after several moments, ignoring the fact that my voice wasn't working.

"Hn." I heard from where Hiei was standing, and I slowly opened my eyes after a few moments, eyeing that mirror loathingly. And yet I didn't remember anything at all.

"Why don't I remember anything afterwards then?" My mute voice asked, and, I felt a curious gaze hit my back after a few moments.

"You were dead." I felt my heart almost halt at that reply, and as a flash of burning white light flickered through my mind, an image of bloody snow flickered for just a moment. Wait – what? Dead? I managed to turn to look at the fire apparition, my eyes wide as pure horror took over my whole form. I couldn't have been dead! There's no way I was dead! King Enma would have never allowed me to be brought back, would he? The fire apparition, instead of answering my frantic thoughts, merely looked away from me bitterly, and began to walk out of the cave.

"Hey! Wait!" I felt myself shout, though no sound escaped me, and I got no response as he just continued walking. "You can't just tell me I died and walk off like that! That's not fair!" I dragged myself to my feet quickly, ignoring the pain as I fought to catch up! How could he just tell me that and walk away? Why? I don't even know what the hell I am or why everyone's trying to kill me and he tells me I've already died before? "Please! Don't leave me hanging like this! PLEASE!"I felt my legs threaten to give way as I stumbled foreward, barely avoiding Kuwabara as I stumbled past to try and catch up to him.

"Why're you getting so upset? You know it's the truth." Came a sinister voice in the back of my head, so suddenly I was startled to a halt.

"What?" I exclaimed, though my voice only echoed through my head.

"You died, all alone trapped in a mirror!" That voice echoed, a stabbing tone that shot straight through my heart. "And they didn't even try to look for you! They left you all alone!"

"Who are you? What do you want?" I almost shouted, frantically looking around the cave, so quickly that I almost felt dizzy. I couldn't see anything, nor could I hear anything else!

"You know who I am." That voice spoke, more mocking than before. "Or you did. Doesn't matter, I'm not going anywhere." I still couldn't see anything, and I felt my knees begin to shake as my panic began to increase. Where the hell was it? It had to be here somewhere! Left right, I couldn't see anything, only I could hear sinister laughter. My knees gave way on me, and I felt my body hit the stone ground hard, sending sharp and agonising pain shooting up my already pain-stricken legs. "You spent twenty long years locked up with me! I know you!" A black silhouette up on the tiniest of ledging in front of me grabbed my attention, striking pure horror into me – a black rabbit stared down at me, its white eyes showing nothing but pure bloodlust! "I am you! Whether you like it or not!"

"N-n-no – You're not-"

"I watched you die! I watched you scream when they took your papa away all those years ago. You remember that, don't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I felt myself almost shout out, my heart racing as that black rabbit seemed to grow more and more blood-thirsty.

"Meia isn't even your real name! You just called yourself that to forget what your family did to you!" The voice spoke, a cool tone despite the way it spoke those words. "Your precious papa was the only one that called you that, and yet you don't even try to remember him?"

"Stop! Get out-"

"You try and try, over and over again to act like you're somebody else." Came another voice, to my right, and I felt my breath catch in my throat as I hesitantly looked over. "But you're not somebody else." Another black rabbit stood just in the shadows, within sight, and I felt my breathing completely stop as I saw more black forms from the corner of my eye.

"Admit it, you're a scared little girl that can't accept that your papa died because of you."

"Stop it! Leave me alone!" I pleaded, looking around frantically as more and more black rabbits appeared around me.

"You killed him -"

"No! Go Away!" I pleaded breathlessly, shrinking back from the growing number of rabbits.

"And you're going to kill the rest of them, too."

"No more! Please! Stop!" I heard myself scream, and, as the whole floor became covered in blood-thirsty rabbits, I felt myself fall backwards. The back of my head hit the stone floor hard, dazing me for a few moments as my vision swam in amongst the dark black of the cave ceiling.

Silence, but for a few moments it seemed, an aching silence that struck straight through the soul.

"You're going to be responsible, even if you don't kill them yourself." The voice spoke, a fading sound that slowly began to blend into the black. "It's just a matter of when ..."