In Time, Death
By Alesyira
Summary: One should never poke a dragon, sleeping or not, unless permission has been granted first.
Author's Note: omg, this chapter was NOT PLANNED and it JUST HAPPENED and I'm NOT disappointed. I don't even know what the heck these guys are up to sometimes - it just ends up this way! Enjoy?
to poke a sleeping dragon
Hiei took a seat next to the small kitchen table and watched as the other two tucked groceries away in cabinets and the refrigerator. ‟So, no more of my memories. Would you like me to use my imagination, instead?"
Shippo choked on a laugh and nearly dropped a package of rice. ‟You could always borrow some of mine," he offered with a grin.
Kagome groaned. ‟No, that might actually be worse if any of the stories I've heard are true."
Shippo handed her a tea kettle to fill with water as Hiei laced his fingers together, a frown forming on his lips. ‟Are you even interested in finding the key, to fixing whatever this is that is wrong?"
Kagome furrowed her brows as she looked at him with surprise. ‟Yes, of course!"
"Then some kind of allowances should be made. We have determined that the problem is not just the kitsune suggestion."
Shippo perched on the countertop, watching as she set the kettle on the stove and clicked the burner on high. "I'm not sure if I'm more glad or worried."
*You might want to reserve judgment. This issue might be more serious and widespread than either of us know.*
Shippo briefly glanced at her, remembering the calls he'd made a few days prior to ask for help from Sesshoumaru and Hu. He met Hiei's eyes and realized he might know more than he was letting on. What was he not telling them?
Hiei touched a hand to his chin as he considered their options. ‟Your responses to different kinds of magic seem to indicate that certain forms of attack result in you losing control, while others have a smaller, less pronounced effect."
Shippo pulled three cups from a cabinet and rinsed the dust from them before setting them on the table. Was he not saying more because he didn't know for certain, or because he didn't want them to worry? Surely he wouldn't hide helpful information when it came to her safety. He opened a box of assorted teas and placed it on the table for the others to pick their preferred blend.
Hiei glanced at Shippo with a short sigh before turning his attention to Kagome and the kettle she extended to fill his cup. ‟I get the impression that the jewel wants the magic that is being used against you. Maybe it's some immeasurable cursed artifact greed, or it could be a natural reaction to try and bolster defense."
She hummed in agreement as she poured. ‟Those ideas make some sense."
Shippo smartly waited until she'd set the hot container back on the stove before adding in an idea of his own. ‟Maybe it's related to that four souls legend, and the jewel really wants you to have a foursome," he teased.
She stared at him like he'd grown an extra head as he herded her back to the table with a grin.
Hiei blinked and pulled his communicator from his pocket. ‟Should I call Kurama, or will you?" he asked with total seriousness. ‟Or maybe I can call Koenma instead. I'm sure he'd love to be included."
Shippo's grin melted into a frown as he glared at Hiei. He wasn't supposed to encourage this kind of behavior! She was going to end up having some kind of panic attack.
Kagome waved her hands in dismay as she stared between the two of them. ‟No, no, that's a terrible idea!"
‟What, the foursome or the suggested participants?"
She hid her face in her hands. ‟Both!"
He laughed and poked her in the side as the intercom buzzed to announce their takeout had arrived.
Several boxes of fragrant foods were arranged on a tray before he shooed the others out the balcony door. With perfect sunshine and a subtle breeze, the roof was an ideal place to eat and relax, high enough to be out of sight of any prying eyes.
Shippo eyed Hiei in contemplation. ‟I wasn't sure if you'd be a sweets or spices kinda guy, so I got a little of both."
Hiei peered down into a box of chicken and picked up a sauced-slick morsel with his chopsticks. "When we connect and use the power of the jewel, we have used the power for ourselves, boosting some aspect of our own ability for our own ends. Reading minds does not inflict magic on another, so before today, I've never directly used my power on Kagome while we were connected. I've used it on you to take control of your magic and turn it against you," he pointed his piece of chicken at Shippo with a smirk before adding on, "and you have used your magic on me."
Shippo leaned back in the sunshine and threaded his fingers behind his head, a grin creeping over his lips as he thought about some of his previous antics against Hiei's magic. The food wasn't going anywhere, so he closed his eyes against the bright sunlight and lounged in the warmth, crossing his legs at the ankles with a deep, relaxed sigh.
Hiei's fire was always so temptingly close, and he hadn't had nearly enough time practicing his newest skill. So temptingly close... and a little strange looking, today. His fingers twitched as he followed the flickering element swirling within Hiei's spirit. Odd little sparks flashed intermittently as his focus slid through the burning warmth. A disturbingly familiar violet that didn't belong twisted out of sight at the edge of his awareness.
Shippo sat up in sudden alarm and looked at Hiei, who had been ignoring his prodding while he nibbled at the edge of a piece of spicy chicken. His attention was riveted to Kagome's chopsticks as she poked around in a container for some choice bit of food.
He narrowed his eyes in sudden suspicion, reached out for Hiei's fire magic, and squeezed.
Hiei choked out a gasp and the chopsticks holding half-eaten chicken fell from stilled fingertips.
Kagome froze under the sudden onslaught of Hiei's aura flaring wildly out of control, and without moving she turned wary eyes in his direction. He watched her, motionless, a slow curl of smoke slipping between his parted lips. She shivered at the expression on his face, turned just far enough that Shippo couldn't see the glowing, empty gaze.
Her magic rose in defense of the visible threat, sparking brightly in the air as shining pink suffused her hands.
The twisting violet that didn't belong had exploded into activity, buzzing through Hiei's mind like a thunderstorm. Shippo felt his heart sink. Perhaps his intuition had been spot-on, but the hasty action to find out if he was right had been a very bad idea. He waited, watching for the first sign of what Hiei might do.
They were at a breathless standstill for an entire minute. Hiei's magic rose from his skin in visible waves of shimmering heat as he stared at her.
‟Hiei?" she eventually spoke, tensing as he flinched at the sound of her voice. A low growl rumbled through the air. ‟Hiei, it's alright," she whispered, carefully holding her ground as she watched him. She clearly remembered the last time he'd been on edge and she'd tried to retreat from him. He'd been on her in a flash. She could probably escape him if she could remove her seal, but he was mere feet away and looked ready to kill something.
Shippo knew he had to do something to draw his attention from her. He rolled quietly to his feet and called his name, readying a stance to defend against the inevitable attack. Hiei did not turn his gaze away from Kagome, so he edged sideways until Hiei could see him.
Hiei's burning, empty gaze snapped in his direction like a magnet and his lips pulled back in a snarl before he launched himself forward.
Shippo cursed and dodged away from Kagome, feeling the swipe of a burning hand miss his arm by inches as Hiei turned to follow and lost his footing against the smooth tile roof.
Kagome gasped as Hiei slid several feet in the wrong direction, then kicked off a pipe to throw himself at Shippo again. ‟Shippo, what did you do?"
‟Fuck, nothing! I was just—" He dodged a black flaming fist aimed squarely for his chest and Hiei rolled past him with a snarl. ‟Damnit, I wasn't expecting him to—" Hiei flashed past him and caught him in the chin with clawed fingertips, leaving a set of three red lines that felt like they were on fire. Shippo gasped in shock and pressed a hand to his face.
Hiei flipped in the air to launch another attack and Shippo reached out for the burning magic, yanking him off-course before slamming him into the rooftop with enough force to shake the building. He held him pressed against the tiles as he mentally scrambled for a way to diffuse the situation without causing permanent damage, but Hiei used brute strength and sheer willpower to get back to his feet and flashed impossibly fast out of Shippo's sight.
The little black blur collided with his back and knocked the two of them to the ground. Shippo twisted sharply to the left to catch hold of Hiei's arm as it slashed forward for another cutting blow of his curled fingers.
The attacks weren't planned or precise, just brutally swift strikes laced with his unbridled magic. Scorch marks littered the roof as the two scuffled, completely ignoring Kagome as she stood there with her hands over her mouth in shock. Shippo rolled over him as Hiei reared back and grappled for control, teeth flashing as he bit Shippo's arm.
‟Kami— fuck, stop!" He grabbed a handful of Hiei's hair and knocked his head against the roof twice in a vain attempt to get him to release the grip of his teeth.
‟Kagome, shit, I need you to—" he gasped as Hiei's knee caught him in the groin and barely held on to the flailing male beneath him. ‟Zap him for fuck's sake!" he shouted, his arm still caught in Hiei's mouth. He wrapped his limbs around Hiei's and fought to hold him still while Hiei wrenched against his grip with bloodied growls.
Kagome rushed forward and pressed burning hands to whatever she could touch in the rolling tangle of limbs. Hiei's voice cracked with a hissing snarl and the pair jerked sideways, knocking her from her feet so that she tumbled to the ground with them.
Someone caught her hair and pulled sharply. She shrieked in anger and blindly grabbed the offender's wrist with a hand flaring bright with her magic. She didn't want to kill anyone, but in the struggle to subdue such unexpected violence, someone was bound to get hurt. She poured more magic into the limb beneath her hands. The flailing of bodies and pulling against her hair slowed, then stopped.
Hiei gasped and relaxed in Shippo's hold, blinking against the glare of the sun blinding him, wondering at the stinging pain ripping through him and the taste of burning blood in his mouth.
‟Can you please let go of my hair?" Kagome's irritated voice sounded from somewhere near his left. He unclenched his fingers, realizing he had a fistful of her locks caught in his grip.
He licked his lips and swallowed back the coppery taste. He was almost afraid to ask. ‟What happened?"
Kagome got to her feet and glared down at both of them. ‟I was enjoying my lunch when someone did something and ruined the whole thing." She flicked her fingertips in the direction of their scattered food boxes.
Shippo thumped the back of his head against the roof as he relaxed. ‟I saw something weird in his magic and then I stupidly tested a theory," he muttered as he caught his breath, his arm still wrapped around Hiei's torso as he laid half-pinned beneath the hybrid's lax form. ‟I did not see that coming."
Hiei grunted and closed his eyes in disbelief. ‟Consider yourself lucky I didn't have the mindset to use the sword."
‟I can't believe you did that," Kagome frowned, poking through the overturned boxes of food to see if anything was salvageable. She picked up one container and threw a glare over her shoulder at the both of them, then took the stairs back down to Shippo's apartment.
‟I hope whatever is wrong with you isn't fucking contagious," he grumbled. ‟Brain parasites. Whole fucking world going to hell in a hand-basket. Damnit, my arm hurts." Shippo sat up and pushed Hiei off of him, clutching the bloody limb. Maybe if he begged with an extra cute expression, Kagome would help him fix it.
Hiei rolled to his side, watching as Shippo stood with a grimace. ‟I hope you aren't actually angry at me. You brought that on yourself by messing around with my magic again."
‟Yeah, well, you did the damage." He shook his arm and blood flicked down his arm, spattering along the rooftop. He sighed and put pressure on the wound as he made his way to the stairs.
Hiei narrowed his eyes, feeling like he would probably regret the next five minutes. "Wait. Gimme your damned arm."
Shippo turned back and scowled at him. "Why? Need to bite off a little bit more?"
"Don't make me bind you. Come back here. Sit."
Shippo sneered at him, well beyond irritated. "Ooh, threatening me with horny memories, are you now?"
Hiei glared. ‟Do not mistake my intentions for anything other than honorable."
Shippo stared at him for a moment, weighing his options with a long sigh. He begrudgingly walked back to him and plopped onto the tile. Hiei knelt in front of him and carefully reached for the injured limb, his wary eyes on Shippo's guarded expression.
"It was your fault this happened, but…" Hiei muttered, grasping his wrist and turning the arm gently to peer at the punctures left by his short fangs. It was a wonder that he hadn't done more damage. Either he'd been going easy on the fox in his mindlessness or Shippo was stronger than he appeared. "I will not unintentionally wound an ally and abandon them to their own recovery if it's in my power to fix."
He drew the limb to his mouth, his eyes flicking up to look the fox in the face. "If you want to keep your arm, do not move," he warned. This could be incredibly dangerous, but he wanted to try. He took a deep breath, sampling subtle scents in the air as he brushed his mind, tasting Shippo's trepidation and curiosity.
He tapped the edge of his tongue against the first puncture, picking up a fresh trace of the blood that sizzled against his mouth. "Hey, you didn't lick Kagome for this," Shippo complained.
He dragged the flat of his tongue along one line of marks, holding the arm tighter as Shippo hissed and twitched in discomfort. He swallowed and exhaled over the wound, feeling the icy chill of his magic dripping from his lips to curl against the ragged punctures.
*She wasn't bleeding,* he explained as he repeated the action along the other edge. A tiny urge to bite him again nudged at his thoughts, but he pushed it away. *You taste like her,* he commented after the second long swipe of his tongue.
Shippo watched, transfixed at the sight of that pink tongue tracing along his skin. He shuddered and leaned forward an inch as he luxuriated in that smoky scent, wondering if Hiei tasted as good as he smelled. Kagome might know. But then again, Kagome might be the only one who would ever know. A tiny sigh escaped his chest as he watched and savored the brief contact of calloused fingers along his skin and the irritable elemental's mouth on his arm.
Hiei picked up the interesting turn in his thoughts as the icy magic spilled forth, curling into the wound and pulling it shut. Still holding the arm, he tilted his head up to peer at his half-lidded gaze, then licked his lip to wipe away the last trace of the kitsune's burning blood. Shippo's eyes followed it like a magnet.
*How long has it been?*
"She..." He swallowed, staring at him with shallow breaths and parted lips. ‟…Just went downstairs a few minutes ago."
Hiei kept his hold on the arm and leaned further into his space, speaking aloud this time. "How long has it been?"
Hiei's woodsmoke scent had been tempered with something new and interesting, reminiscent of an odd herb he'd found once while poking around the wilds of the north. He didn't know him well enough yet to know what it might mean, but he could wager a guess. ‟Don't tease me," he whispered, staring at the mouth inches from his. He wondered how disappointed Kagome might be if he licked at that spot of blood, right there. It was important to not be messy, after all.
Hiei edged a little bit closer, his eyes on the cuts along Shippo's chin. His eyes slid shut as his tongue traced the edge of his jaw, catching the tiniest hint of blood before he exhaled gently against the skin, his magic spilling forth to force the wound to heal. He pulled back an inch to peer at his handiwork, then hummed in approval and and stood abruptly. ‟Might want to order more food."
Shippo blinked at the suddenly empty space in front of him.
*You said you'd make the first move. I guess you're all talk.*
Shippo choked and stumbled to his feet, staring around him in confusion. What the fuck? The rooftop was an absolute disaster with spilled food boxes, scorch marks, and gouges that tore up large swathes of the tile work.
He was alone.
AN: please review if you're enjoying? :( it takes like five seconds to say "thanks for the update' or something equally short just to let me know you aren't going o_O at the weirdness my brain comes up with... Yes, I broke Hiei. With good reason. TBC.