Yes, yes, poor Hiei. I'm so horrible to him. I take away his girlfriends, I try to kill him...
I couldn't wait! I wanted to post it! I love this chapter. Mmmm angsty goodness.
I don't know, Hiei doesn't really angst. He's just such a badass, I seem to be the only one that doesn't hold an opinion that he's one big softy. So putting him in this situation doesn't really seem like such a big deal as it does someone who would freak out and be terrified. But either way.
Poor Hiei
Hiei comes to with a monstrous headache. This is dulled by his pain tolerance, but even so, it hurts to open his eyes or move his head.
"He's come 'round!" someone crows. He finds himself wanting to hurt something, just to make him feel better and relieve some stress. What happened hasn't come back, yet, but he's not worried about that part. He's worried about killing whoever that is.
A rough hand touches his face, and instantly, every muscle in his whole body twitches violently, starting for his sword, or to put himself into a defensive stance, but all it does is lift his feet clear off the ground and send bolts of pain all through his whole body. He hadn't noticed the chains securing him to the wall. Damn Makai steel. Harder to break with youki. Me'ran could do it, or if he had a way to send it against reiki, it would break, but his own pulling wouldn't allow for it.
Then, in one big rush, he remembers. He was watching Me'ran with his Jagan, which wasn't uncommon, considering his constant fears for her safety (damn human brat), and wanting to know what she was up to, and he saw her kiss Kurama. Or Kurama kissing her, anyway, she allowed him that, but she didn't kiss back, his rational mind said at the time, but he wasn't listening to his rational mind. All he really wanted to do was kill the fucking traitorous fox.
And then there was a larger demon that landed there. Hiei wasn't sure what he wanted, but he went to confront him before she got herself hurt.
And then... It all went into a blur, and there was an impact on his head and it all went black.
There's a creature on the floor, a gnomish demon. He's smaller than even Hiei is, and he's ugly.
That's all Hiei takes into consideration before he conjures a fire into his fists and attempts to pull himself free of the shackles holding him to the wall.
"You don't remember me, do you?" asks the gnome on the floor. Hiei tries to kick at him, ignoring his comment. No, Hiei doesn't remember him, but that's not important. The kicking does nothing but jerk his bare foot back to the wall with the momentum, bringing his heel painfully into the masonry. The gnome fuck chuckles. "I didn't think you would, you've killed thousands, from what I've heard of you. I didn't even wind up on the wrong end of your blade, I couldn't ask you to remember me, or my parents."
Hiei pulls again, this time, trying to slide his hand out of the shackles. Something he's learned in the years of his life, shackles do not typically work for people his size unless they were made specifically for demons of his size. His hand slides out easily after he presses it to the wall and wriggles his hand just right. He reaches for the little bastard standing in front of him, overwhelmed with how pissed he is. Bastard, how dare he imprison me!?
His other hand comes out even more easily with his first hand to hold the shackle steady, but as soon as he gets it free, sharp spears are thrust into the parts of his chest not holding anything important (according to Me'ran's teaching) and they pin him back to the wall. He breaks off one's spear and jams it into his throat, sending it all the way through the flesh, and he takes the blade out of his shoulder and throws it into the second one's face.
After the first two, no one comes in. He hears the sounds of metal slamming into the floor, and then a door slams, and he's left in the cell, ankles still chained to the walls. Again, rage fills his whole body, and he feels his youki flare in himself, and he uses it to its full extent, taking the rage out on the door. The wood's been sealed off, warded, so many that he can't even see the wood through it, and the bars in front of the door are just as warded. He sends his fire at it, but they survive well enough. Hiei continues burning the whole room, the few things that aren't stone or Makai steel bursting into flames and everything that is stone or Makai steel beginning to heat up and turn red, effectively turning the cell into an oven.
Hiei fights until he feels himself drained almost beyond using the dragon. So, naturally, to avoid this, he calls on the power of the dragon and sends it at the room to thrash and see if he can make the room crumble. It doesn't work. The seals do not damage it, but it can't get through them. He directs it at himself and consumes it, and he starts trying to attack everything, leaving all kinds of dents and scars and burns on the walls, but no openings appear.
When this finally wears off and he's exhausted, he sits on the floor on his knees. He's not sure how long it's been. It feels like days. He's pretty sure it's been at least one day. He's fought all he can, and no one's helped him, or even opened the door.
Hiei collapses, finally, onto the still-hot floor, but he does not sleep. He can't sleep, now.
And after a while, the door creaks open. He gets to his feet. He's already exhausted, but that doesn't mean he can't keep fighting.
He's attacked. Several men and women, guards, he guesses, lots of them. He fights them off. Without his sword, this is difficult, but he keeps going, fighting, all fists and feet and elbows and fire, but he's so worn down that after enough of them gang up on him, he is successfully pinned down. Shackles and wards and rope, but he's finally bound. His arms are folded behind his back and twisted up violently so that his fingers are brushing the nape of his neck with the backs of his hands touching, and his elbows are touching, and they're held close to his body, not only by the position, but also by a seal going all the way around his chest and arms and wrists. There's a collar on his neck with two chains leading off it, one in front and one in back. The one in front is looped to a ring in the floor. His knees have been bound to his chest in a similar fashion to his arms, with a rope going under the softs of his knees and wrapping all the way around his torso and each leg, and his ankles have been chained together closely.
All in all, he can't move.
This doesn't keep him from trying. As the guards move away, some nursing burn wounds the size of his head, one checks the tightness and effectiveness of all the bonds and chains and ropes and seals. As he checks the collar, Hiei bites his hand firmly. He tastes blood before the guard punches him in the head hard enough to jar his jaw loose. Someone else braces himself over Hiei's back and seizes his chin. Hiei thrashes as well as he can (He has to fight for every motion, probably the effect of the seal), but whoever that is over him is attached to him firmly. Someone else moves closer with a small vial in his hand, but Hiei thrashes, closing his lips with his teeth so hard that he tastes his own blood, until the bastard drops it.
He fights off three more vials of whatever that potion is, until they finally give up, leaving him on the floor, bound helplessly. He despairs for a moment. He tries to use the Jagan, but there's a seal over the kekkai headband, in addition to the kekkai headband itself, so he can't use it. He wants to seek out Me'ran, or Kurama, or someone that can help him, but he can't. He responds to this helplessness and despair by trying harder to break himself free. He hurts himself, twisting and straining the muscles in his arms, but ignores the damage.
And he does this for what feels like an eternity. Now and then, he'll stop fighting, but then someone tries to pour whatever that is in the vial into his mouth and his struggles begin anew.
Until, finally, he stops, and they stop... It feels like it's been months he's been down here. He knows it's only been a few days at most, but he's worn down, and he doesn't feel well, anymore, and the Jagan is commanding him to sleep, forcing him to recuperate. He doesn't want to. He can't sleep, yet, but he can't fight it. His eyes flutter shut, and his head falls. He picks it back up, but this is short lived.
Goddammit! No! is the last thought before his forehead touches the cold stone floor and he is forced into sleep by exhaustion and fatigue.
He wakes up as he swallows an ice cold formula by reflex, to save himself from drowning. Almost instantly, he regrets the action, and he wills himself to throw up, but already moving is even harder than it was before, after they put the seals on him. He feels it, but it's slow. And then it gets faster, after a little while, and his system is flooded by the cold feeling. Goosebumps rise all over his skin, almost reminding him of when Me'ran touches him. He twists and writhes, trying every method heard of to make himself sick, but none of them work. His mind is starting to cloud, and his eyes are either closed, or he's gone blind. His body goes on its own, he feels, the pain of the shackles and the straining muscles in his arms, though at best, it's distant, and he's only half-aware of the motions or the pain.
He hears himself moan, but he's not sure why. He thinks he might be in more pain than he's aware of.
For some reason, his mind, in its despair, he guesses, reaches out. He remembers, for some reason, the feeling of cool skin on his, her dully clawed fingers running through his hair and scratching his scalp in the most soothing way he's ever felt. He wonders who that might be, for a little bit, completely forgetting the "her" he knows he's thinking about, the fair-skinned woman laying under him with her mane of hair spread out under her wildly smiling face, and the way the moon highlights the lines of muscle on her body, and the way even he can feel her heartbeat when she lays herself over him after making love.
"Me'ran!" his voice gasps. He's only half-aware of it, but he knows he said it, and that's the "her" that he's remembering. His rational mind, what of it remains (not a lot) clings to her memory. If this is killing him, whatever it's doing to him, whatever it is, he can't let it. He has to see her again. He can't let it keep her away from him. He can't let that fucking fox have her, and he can't leave her without him. He remembers how, when he was cold to her, or when he was angry with her after she asked him what his story was, she began to wither, almost immediately. He can't let her be like that again, not this time.
He hears a high pitched cackle, and he feels things touching him, but he can't fight them off. He feels that everything's been cut off. All his senses are refusing to report, like it's not getting to his brain properly. He can only sort of hear, he can't smell or taste anything. He's blind, too, but that doesn't mean much. He can feel half of the stuff going on around him, the shackles and ropes and seals, and someone poking and prodding at him. His arm moves before he wills it to, but that just hurts. He wishes Me'ran was here, he catches himself thinking. Damn human girl, never was good for a fight or for anything he wanted, but she was exactly what he needed, sometimes, and he was never as ashamed of help from her as he was of Kurama's, because he always knew that she would never judge him, while Kurama would always have that part of him that was arrogant and snide. His mouth calls her name again, again, outside his command or will.
Dammit!
Slowly but surely, his senses finish dying. He's not sure if he's dead or not, but he doesn't become spirit. He's still in his body. He can't feel anything, he can't hear anything, he can't see anything, he can't smell anything, he can't even taste anything.
He can, however, think.
"Fucking hell" is about the only thing that comes to mind.
