Hiei was only half surprised when he saw the keeper coming to his small home early in the morning. Hiei groggily served the man coffee and sat down at the small, two person table.
The older man, sighed before he began, "You and that Mr. Sakyo know each other." It was not a question.
Hiei took only a second before speaking. "I have met him before, yes."
"Where?" the keeper was not in a playful mood for banter.
"When I lived in the capital for a time," Hiei answered.
"Hayato City?" the keeper asked, naming the capital. Hiei nodded. "What did he do there? He had to have done something to be as wealthy as he seems."
Hiei felt irked at the idea of explaining it. "He's a procurer of sorts. He hires and trains mostly men as bounty hunters and takes a cut of the profits. He also trains fighters for the fighting pits. Tends to push them both heavily into debt to him so they are forced to work for him until the debt is repaid. Some of the pit fighters die trying."
The keeper scowled. "That sounds illegal," he stated.
Hiei shrugged and shook his head. "Some get out of it."
The keeper looked at him, studying him. "You got out."
Hiei's nose twitched, hating how he managed to guess that. "Someone took an interest in me and paid off the other debtor, not Sakyo, but a friend of his."
"Who was that someone?" the keeper asked.
"Someone not worth getting drunk with," Hiei vaguely mumbled.
The keeper kept silent, sipping from him coffee and waiting for Hiei to say more. When he did not, the asked, "what does a man like Mr. Sakyo do with women he collects?"
Hiei felt uncomfortable revealing that. "Few go into the fighting pits and far between end up becoming bounty hunters."
"Then what do they end up becoming?" the keeper pressed.
"Prostitutes," he admitted. "Sakyo prefers to take those women and make them high end prostitutes for the wealthy. Men in the capital, even elvish men, visit a time or two. He does what he does with the men, drives them into debt with him and makes them work it off."
The keeper pounded his fist against the table, making his cup jump. "He means to do that to Nanashi," he stated. "I won't allow that to happen. Either option."
Hiei studying him discreetly. "It's likely what happened to her mother-" He stopped when he saw the keeper shake his head vigorously. "That's not what happened to her mother."
The keeper looked down, keeping his eyes trained on the cup in front of him. He had a secret. A secret he wanted to share, but could not, for whatever reason.
"You know what happened to her mother," Hiei stated with unknown certainty. "But you can't say why. A blood bond curse?" he asked. The keeper sat still and said nothing. "If it's a blood bond curse, you can't say what you were enchanted not to say, for pain of death of you and anyone else who is a blood relative of yours."
The keeper brought his fist up to his mouth, biting his knuckle. Hiei watched him. He had seen someone do an eerily similar mannerism before.
When it clicked in his mind, he gasped. "How-"
"Don't say it out loud," the keeper pleaded.
"I can, even if you can't. You're still bound to the curse, even if I figure it out," Hiei reasoned. "But she doesn't even look like you." The keeper was broader, stockier, and darker in complexion. "Let me guess, part of the curse?"
"You can read minds, can't you?" the keeper asked. "Will that affect- affect the curse? Trigger it?"
"Mildly, even though you technically aren't telling me. The two of you may get ill," Hiei warned.
The keeper huffed. "Don't then. But please, get her out of here and away from that monster Sakyo. Before she became your apprentice, she wanted to run off to Hayato City to be with her cousin Yusuke. Get her there, get her to him. Or marry her yourself so Sakyo won't want her anymore."
Hiei gasped at the bold permission the keeper just gave him. "I haven't looked at her like that." The keeper gave him a disbelieving look. "Not enough for something like that." The keeper still look him expectantly. "Why not just have her marry the sheppard. He wants her."
"He'll not protect her from the likes of her uncle or Sakyo. He's a wimp, which is why no woman in the town will marry him," the keeper challenged. "Just get her out of here."
"I can't leave the town without a protector like that," Hiei rebutted.
"You can if it keeps her safe," the keeper challenged. "We've managed before in this town."
"That's not-" he began.
"What does Sakyo have on you, anyway? You seem half ready to run from the moment he laid eyes on you," the keeper said.
"I have a bounty over my head," Hiei stated, not liking how the keeper was pushing this now.
"For what?" the keeper pressed.
"A crime I didn't commit," he insisted. "That's all I plan to say on that matter."
"Whatever it is you're accused of, you ran, didn't you?" Hiei hissed through his teeth, hating how the keeper was now in turn having his own revelation. "Instead of facing justice."
"There's no sense in seeking justice when there's none to be had," Hiei retorted. "It's not worth sticking around just to be shoved into jail for something I didn't do." The keeper seemed to mull over his words. "Sakyo could easily contact the team of bounty hunters down on me if I'm not careful. He threatened to do that if I interfered with him procuring Nanashi."
"Then you both ought to get out of here, sooner or later," the keeper said. "You name the time and place and I will get you both the supplies you need. You can take a boat, or go by horseback through the mountains. Which ever you prefer."
"I can't-" Hiei started.
The keeper slammed both of his fists down on the table. "You can't let him take her and enslave her. Her uncle will let it happen if Sakyo offers him enough money or threatens him. He's a paper tiger. He'll cave if enough pressure is put on him. He won't protect her if it means him risking himself."
Hiei was not sure what to say to that.