In Time, Death
By Alesyira
Summary: Or, the one where Kagome is rescued, but probably not the way Hiei had expected to be rescuing her.
Author's Note: this chapter has one reference to book1 (the sealing of the jewel) and several references to events in book 2 (stuff that happens around and after the chapter titled 'trinket'). Also, see end for note on the section marked **
The Rescue that Went Awry
After two hours of backtracking, crossing his own path, and setting a few small fires for good measure, he finally arrived at the base of the shrine steps. He took his time heading up the stairs, savoring the gentle sting of her magic as it slipped around him, welcoming his return.
Hiei caught the shortest glimpse of her annoying kitsune friend flashing across the treetops to the west as he neared the torii. He stared in confusion at his hasty departure, casting out his senses for anything out of the ordinary. Shippo would never abandon the shrine in a moment of danger, but perhaps there was something wrong nearby?
His concern growing, he jumped up the last of the stairs and landed in the middle of the moonlit courtyard. Nothing was amiss, and the shrine's protections were still holding strong.
Her magic flared unexpectedly, drawing his attention to the second floor of her home. What the hell?
He leapt to her windowsill and peered inside, shocked to find her sitting on the floor, bound to the edge of her bed with a gag stuffed in her mouth. He could sense an additional barrier around her room. His gaze briefly flicked back in the direction the kitsune had fled.
What the fuck had he been doing?
His scent was all over the room like usual, but there was an edge to it that he'd picked up a handful of times in the past that said sex was on the brain. The only thing stopping him from immediately chasing the bastard down to eviscerate him was the fact that Kagome was still fully clothed and appeared unharmed despite her distraught expression. He slipped into her room a moment before she spotted him. She had tears in her lashes as her muffled voice made a noise that might have been his name.
"What the hell did he do to you?" he muttered, drawing his sword to cut through the bindings that fastened her to the bed. Her hands flashed up to the gag in her mouth to rip it free with a gasp of relief before she threw herself at him.
He barely got his sword out of the way in time as she collided with his chest, knocking him backwards into the closet door with a barrier-muffled thump as she pressed herself to him in desperation.
"Kago-mmph," her mouth unerringly found his, cutting off his intention to ask her what had happened.
His mind blanked and he dropped his sword on the floor to free his hands for her neck and waist. She moaned into his mouth and slid her tongue against his, their teeth clicking as she reached and stroked and tasted him with frantic, wild abandon.
She licked inside his mouth and nicked the edge of her tongue along one of his short fangs. Her blood burned on his lips and sizzled against his tongue as he tasted the tiny cut. He swallowed, surprised at the sensation that chilled past his throat, like she'd sucked the fire right out of his chest. That's new.
Her thoughts were a blur of copper and woodsmoke, strong arms and panting breaths. The desperate longing blazed higher once she had him in her grasp. She wanted to breathe him in, sink into his warmth and never let go. His teeth were sharp, his tongue so hot as it slid against hers. Her mouth watered, and she wanted to drink him in.
He had something she needed, something she craved**. Unable to put a name to it, she started with the simpler things that made sense.
She needed more skin.
They needed less clothes.
This was what she'd wanted, wasn't it?
One of her hands fisted roughly in his hair and the other yanked at his shirt until she could slide her hand inside to trace the muscles of his chest. She wanted to touch everything, to explore with her fingers and lips and teeth. He shuddered in her grip.
She leaned into him to press their bodies flush, crushing her breasts against his chest as he gasped against her mouth. Talk about a welcome back, he thought as she briefly sucked his lower lip into her mouth, sending a jolt of lust straight to his groin.
Her mind was open to him, but where he'd expected to find joy at their reunion or thanks for the rescue, he could sense nothing but an unnatural fog of desire hazing anything coherent. Immediately concerned, his focus dove into her mind and evaded the stabs of her need trickling through their connection.
She could feel his ardor fading, which would not do at all. She sharply nipped his lip and slid her mouth against his with a whine of protest at his sudden inactivity.
He growled in irritation and pulled her harshly against him, dipping his hand into her hair to yank her head back so he could run his lips and teeth along her jaw. She sighed as he responded, complacent in his arms as his mouth slid back to hers, absently tasting her lips and tongue, using her distraction to delve into her mind for the root of the strangeness that had overcome her.
She needed him to need her like she needed him. Something was missing, a gap in her heart, a void in her skull. Something was … wrong.
She felt him inside her mind, the heat of his brushing thoughts now insistently prodding with his razor-sharp focus slashing through the traces of lust he had just moments before. It was natural to follow him back to the dark recesses of his mind, where his flames burned under tight control, his passion reined in under the pressing weight of his concern for her.
Something was wrong.
She squeezed her eyes shut as his lips branded a scalding line across her jaw. She shuddered in sudden revulsion as he found something in her mind, and her natural reaction was to call forth her power in defense.
He flinched as the magic briefly blinded his Jagan but did not pull away, sealing his mouth to hers as he continued to sift through her mind.
She gasped against his lips as she dug her fingers into his hair, and he could feel her struggle against whatever it was that had sent her down this path of momentary madness as she shuddered in his arms. Her magic flared again, this time with greater intensity that made him hiss against the stinging burn.
*Kagome,* he pushed with his mind, pulling her face away from his with a firm grip in her hair. Her pale neck arched before his eyes and she shivered with damp and swollen lips.
Her eyelids fluttered as her gaze drifted upwards, another pulse of her magic sizzling through his skin. She sucked in deep, steadying breaths of air as he felt the fog lift and her vision cleared. She drooped in his arms as her eyes slid closed, tears leaking from the corners.
"This is impossible," she muttered, her voice cracking.
"What did he do to you?"
Her hands crept up to his shoulders as her eyes cracked open, seeking out his glowing crimson gaze in the dimness of her room. She shook her head. "He was trying to help."
"How is tying you to your bed and leaving you in such a state helping?" he growled, his grip tightening around her.
Her lips curled into a tiny smile. "You wouldn't believe it if I told you."
An odd memory flashed through her thoughts. He watched a strange-looking little man tell her about a dark friend that had broken open some power. She tensed in his arms, searching his eyes with sudden suspicion. She tried to pull free but he held tight, refusing to allow her to break that connection that allowed him into her thoughts.
Her hands caught fire against his shoulders and he jerked against her grip, barely holding back a hiss of pain. He prodded quickly for any kind of information that might explain what the hell was suddenly worrying her, but her power flashed again, shutting him out of her mind.
A chill crept down his neck at the rising fury in her expression. He searched her eyes in confusion as she stared at him in growing alarm, and he reluctantly let her go, allowing her to shove herself away from him. She backed up to stand near the window, her hands burning with bright pink flame as she held them in front of her defensively.
He hoped he hadn't done something to make her think she'd be safer jumping to the courtyard a few dozen feet below. She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth with a grimace. Whatever had upset her did not sit well with the fact that they'd just been kissing. Her eyes shimmered with hurt as she looked to him for the answer to a question she didn't want to ask.
She flinched backwards as he took a step toward her. "What is wrong?" he asked. She hadn't been this uncertain of him since the first time they'd met.
"What is it that you want from me, Hiei?"
His eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, what do I want? You're the one that just attacked me. I should be asking what you want."
Her hand drifted to her side, resting absently over a spot just above her hip. "You were the one to break the seal. Why did you do it? What do you want from me?"
He looked at her in confusion for the smallest of moments before he understood what she was talking about. "But I didn't - how could I have - those were miko seals."
She stared at him for a long moment, her suspicion growing. "The only people who knew those were miko seals were Shippo and one other person who has been long dead. I never told you about… How could you possibly know that?"
He sighed in exasperation, but the fire in her hands flared brighter as she grew angry. "Kagome, the day we first connected… something happened with time. I was trapped for what seemed like weeks in some strange time slip with nothing to do but explore your mind. I know everything you had ever known up until that moment. Your memories became my memories."
And as he thought back to how she'd constructed those miko seals with Kikyo, something stood out as wrong. "There was a snag," he murmured, thinking back to the time between her desperate attempt to save the great tree and when she'd suddenly been possessed by power that belonged to someone else. "I didn't know what it was I was looking for or what I was looking at."
His fingers brushed the center of his forehead, where the Jagan eye was hidden behind a pale fold of fabric. ‟I spotted something interesting that might have held a clue about what you were hiding from us, and there was a snag in its protections. Kurama surprised me just as I was looking through the gap, and then…"
His eyebrows furrowed at the strange thought she'd had in that moment between wakefulness and the oblivion of sleep: someone on the team must have done something to help her feel better and rest. "None of us did anything to heal you after you'd saved the tree." His eyes widened in sudden comprehension of that night's sequence of events. "If I broke the seal, then that means I'm directly responsible for your possession and all the misery that has brought you."
Her brows furrowed as she took a step closer to him, shaking her head in denial. "No, the only one responsible for the possession was the one doing the possessing. And she had been trapped for so long, I doubt she truly understood anything other than gaining freedom and seeking revenge."
He looked down at his hand. He hadn't known what would happen, but he'd potentially risked everything to stop something infinitely dangerous that had been unleashed on the wilds of Makai. The burn from her magic had lingered in the skin of his arm for some time afterwards, angry red with a scattering of raw blisters. He'd been pleasantly surprised when they'd connected and the power now coursing through her swept away every single one of his injuries.
"Kagome, if I'd truly meant to take your power or cause trouble with it, why the hell would I risk my life to return your damned magic to you? Even tree-sama warned me that if I wasn't honest with my intentions, your magic would kill me."
He looked up to meet her gaze, and she searched his eyes as she worried her lip between her teeth. He wasn't sure what he needed to do to get her to trust his intentions. "It's true that there are things I want that I do not have. But I will earn them." He moved away from her wall and carefully stepped around her with his hands stuffed in his pockets. "I want your trust. If I have not yet earned it, I will leave until your fox comes back."
"Wait," she reached out to take hold of his sleeve. "You're right. There have been too many opportunities…" She stepped closer to him and caught his other sleeve in her free hand. She looked up to meet his gaze. "Either you've earned your trust, or you're running a very long con." Narrowing her eyes, she continued. "If you've seen my memories, then you know the lengths I'll go to make things right."
He nodded, his eyes closing as he quietly reveled in the sting of her flaring magic. She probably didn't even realize she was doing it, but her threat was clear. He hated to admit how nice it felt.
"Stay?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper, inches from his face.
His lips twitched as he opened his eyes to look at her cautious expression. Something must be seriously wrong with him that he'd want to smile. She released his sleeves as he pulled his hands from his pockets to rest them gently on her waist, and she pressed her face to his shoulder and muttered, "You can't leave without your sword, anyways."
His gaze slid sideways to his weapon he'd dropped on her floor. He let out a short breath—an almost-laugh—that he'd been so neglectful. "You make me forget myself," he admitted.
She turned her face to gaze in the direction of her open window. "I hope you can forget some of those things you saw in my memories." She didn't dare look at him, and he could sense her unease growing. "You really saw everything?"
He shrugged before carefully sliding his arms around her waist and back. "Knowing the capability of your enemy is just as important as knowing your allies." He leaned his face closer to brush his lips against her ear. "I know enough to never use it against you unless you want me to."
She shivered and clutched his shoulders. "And here I was, thinking that Shippo was the one with his mind in the gutter."
He pulled away to hold her at arm's length with a disbelieving shake of the head. "Woman, I merely meant I know your favorite things in case I ever need an effective bribe."
"Oh." She blinked at him, a blush spreading across her cheeks.
He tilted his head to look her over. ‟You returned earlier than I'd expected you to. I saw some of Koenma's memories of you the day he gave you the communicator."
She turned scarlet and dropped her gaze.
He hummed and gave her a thoughtful look, his fingers twitching against her sides. ‟I might need to break his arms for doing things without your permission." He carefully pulled her back to him, unsure of how much she'd allow. When she sighed and leaned against him, he looped an arm under her legs and slid down her wall to hold her curled form in his lap.
‟I imagine that many things have happened since you left us."
She slumped against his chest, relaxing into his warmth with her face on his shoulder as she stared into the darkness of her room. "I've been gone for a while. Things happened. Learned stuff. Weaknesses discovered." She paused and closed her eyes in embarrassment. ‟It was his idea that being tied up would stop me from attacking him like I just did to you."
Amusement trickled through his thoughts at the lengths the kitsune had gone to in trying to avoid compromising his friendship with the girl.
Her hand on his shoulder squeezed once. "It's not funny." He held his breath in brief surprise. How much could she pick up from him? "I think…" she paused, a shiver wracking her form. "I think my magic did something to him."
Hiei stroked a warm hand down her back. She relaxed further, sighing in bliss at the heat radiating from him.
"He'll tell you about it when he's ready," he murmured, rolling his head back to rest against the closet door.
"I hope he's okay. I really unleashed on him," she whispered.
"He'll survive. I spotted him leaving on the way here, and he was very much alive."
She shifted slightly to settle more comfortably against him and rubbed her face on his shoulder with a soft sigh. "Are you staying?"
He draped his arms around her waist, trapping her against him. He wondered how long she'd lounge in his arms before falling back into her shy and blushing behavior once more. "Did you want me to leave?"
The corner of her mouth twitched at the familiar conversation flow. "No."
He sighed, feeling her grow drowsy in his grip. "I will take his place until he collects himself enough to come back." She hummed against him, shifting again to find a more comfortable position. He enjoyed holding her like this, but he knew two things would certainly happen if she stayed where she was for much longer.
She would end up with a sore neck for sleeping awkwardly, but more importantly for him, every shift against his lap began to feel a little too nice and he was on the verge of becoming less comfortable for either of them.
"You will probably appreciate sleeping in your bed tonight," he said quietly.
She picked up her head and looked around the room before turning her face toward his, inches from her own. She blinked at their closeness and he felt her breath catch as she stared.
Her eyes searched his before flicking briefly down to his lips. "You'll… stay?"
He quietly huffed in amusement. "I'll even cuddle." His fingers tickled up her spine as he contemplated pulling her toward him. Her eyes slid shut at the sensation and she sighed.
He'd have patience. He'd wait until she came to him on her own, without the effects of some weird magic forcing her to act out of character. "Pajamas," he reminded her.
She opened her eyes and smiled softly as her fingers gently gripped his shoulders. He helped her stand, his face feeling warm as she reluctantly let him go to put on the soft outfit she normally slept in. She was gone longer than usual and he watched her light lingering in the upstairs bathroom as a quiet shimmer of frazzled magic.
He rolled his eyes. After what she'd just done to him, he'd expected either a moment of maidenly panic or acceptance that it was fine.
Perhaps she needed more time to let go of the first and realize the second.
When she crept into her room a half hour later, he knew without a doubt she'd reverted to her shy state. He sighed. Perhaps he should suggest the kitsune reattempt whatever he'd been trying to help her with earlier. He stood and waved at her bed, indicating she should lie down first, and she shuffled over with a grimace.
He dropped his hand on the top of her head with a serious look. "I once heard someone claim they do not bite as a means to ease worry."
She looked at him in confusion as he paused.
"I cannot assure you of such a thing," he murmured, "because that would be lying."
Surprised at his admission, she laughed.
AN: welcome to the new readers, and thank you to my long-term readers for sticking around. I hope this second half of book3 is a fun adventure for you all :)
AN2: ** In this scene, important note that I can't just leave hanging until the chapters get around to explaining what the heck is wrong with Kagome: she was not craving sex. Something else is nagging at her during those moments of madness. If this were a complete story, I'd let you just read on and find out, but that might still be weeks away still and I don't want readers thinking Kagome's turned ultra-horny lmao. I'll remove this note later.
