Nanashi ran up the stairs, taking two at time. Her heart was rattling and pounding in her chest by the time she reached Izo's room. She shut the door behind her, locking the door when she would rather turn around and join in the fight. She gave the door a soft punch. She turned back to Asa, "Hiei said you needed me to help with Kotone?" She watched her, hoping Asa would tell her to run back and join the fight.
Asa stared at her a little too long. "Yes I do, thank Great Mother. She be ready to deliver any minute now. She's fully dilated."
Nanashi looked from Asa to Kotone. Asa had a blanket wrapped around her best she could and still had full range of motion of her hands. Kotone looked panicked. Under her eyes and nose were red. She was shaking. Absolutely terrified. Nanashi stepped over to the bed, pushing the empty food tray away. She climbed next the girl, sitting on her hunches. She reached her hand over to Kotone's, trying to take hers in her hand. Kotone flinched away, pulling her hands away, shaking her head.
"I can touch you," Nanashi said. "It doesn't matter anyway. The huntresses, as I'm sure you can sense, are downstairs fighting with Hiei and the others. Anyone near enough to you, they can track."
Kotone brought her hands up to her face, sobbing. Nanashi kept her distance from the tear gems falling from her eyes. She took a steadying breath, looking over at Nanashi, shaking her head. She pushed Nanashi and then pointed over at Izo.
"Kotone," Asa said in a gentle voice, "do you want Nanashi to check on Izo now?"
Kotone scrunched up her face, nodding at Asa vigorously.
Asa shook her head. "Hiei told you..." she thought out loud. "Hiei told you all Izo needs now is rest. Nanashi can check on him later if need be."
Kotone glanced passed Nanashi, starring frightfully at the locked door. Nanashi went over to the unused chair parked at Izo's old desk. She dragged the chair over to the door, wedging it under the door. She shivered, feeling her growing colder. "It'll be alright." She summoned up the wind dragon on her neck briefly. "I can protect you three if need be."
Kotone shook her head, but then stopped suddenly, grabbing herself around the middle. She whined out airily, wincing.
Asa was down, checking her. "Your labor has started, the beginning of the end here. I know you're weak and you're scared, but you need to need to let your body do this now. It knows what to do. It's the best thing you can do right now."
Nanashi stepped over to the other side of the bed, standing near Asa. She looked out the closed window for a second, seeing icy fog outside. The window was large, opening outward through two separating panes. She stepped over to the window, locking the latch on it as well for good measure. She shivered, rubbing her hands over upper arms.
Asa sat on the bed next to Kotone, holding the mute's hand. Nothing happened, which made Nanashi fidget, pacing in the room back and forth. She strained to listen and to sense what was going on downstairs. She heard nothing, but sense a good amount. Three of the shinobi and one of the ice maidens energy levels had dwindled. Either they were dead or knocked out. Nanashi hoped only one of them were dead. Four were dwindling. Three were still strong, Hiei's stronger than most. His made her stomach flutter apprehensively at the intense sense of otherworldly heat. He would not do that... not in the castle... Nanashi relayed what she could sense, explaining what was happening the best she could.
Kotone cried out. Nanashi looked over at her. Asa knelt down. "You're starting. Push when your body tells you to," she advised.
Nanashi went to stand at the foot of the bed, ready to help as soon as Asa needed her. Her heart pounded in her ears. She sensed two energies split off from the other five. She did not like that at all. She voiced that, but Asa and Kotone were more focused on her going into labor.
"Push," Asa told her. Kotone whimpered. "That's it, that's it..." Asa suddenly went rigid, swearing unexpectedly. "Great Mother." She did not turn back, but Nanashi could tell she was talking to her. "Get Izo. Fly out the window."
Kotone cried out, drawing Asa's attention.
"What?" Nanashi asked, feeling her hands suddenly start to shake.
"Get Izo and get out! Now!" Asa turned her head around to order her. "An ice maiden has broken away from the fight. She might be coming this way."
"No," Nanashi said resolutely. She summoned her wind dragon up around her neck. It felt irked to feel the cold. "If a huntress is coming, I'm the only chance you have."
Just then the door knob raddled. Nanashi stared at the door, forcing herself to stay calm, even as the temperature in the room seemed to slowly eek down. A foot came to the door, kicking it open. It cracked the chair apart when the back met the seat. Jin was there. He looked relieved, but only for a split second. Kotone panted loudly in the background.
Jin looked at Nanashi though, shaking his head. "Get your son, and get out of here!" he shouted at her. "There's an ice maiden loose in the castle. I don't know where."
Nanashi looked between Asa and Jin. "You both just told me the same plan... It's Hiei's plan, isn't it?" she choked out.
Not waiting for an answer, she rushed over to Izo on the couch, yanking him by the arms off of it. She sensed movement behind her, making her flinch. Jin was behind her, grabbing Izo for her and tugging him to the base of the window.
Kotone cried out again, nearly drowning out the words Asa was saying to her. The room was getting uncomfortably cold.
Jin reached up to the window to unlock it. "Come with us," Nanashi rushed the request, hardly thinking when she said it.
Jin looked at her a little too long. He bent down, kissing her unexpectedly on the mouth. She leaned into him, kissing him back treasonously. Jin straightened up, forcing her to pull back and stand up by herself. "I wish I could, but my daughter's still down there." He suddenly went rigid. He shoved Nanashi down on top of Izo. He stepped away from her and stood in front of the bed, readying himself for a fight.
An ice maiden appeared in the doorway. Nanashi looked up, seeing her, and feeling uncomfortably cold. She stood up and reached for the window latch, wishing she had not locked it, wishing she had not distracted Jin so he could have unlocked it. Her numb fingers were nearly there when the ice maiden summoned ice in her hands and threw an icy breeze over to the window. The latch and the surrounding area around the window froze. Nanashi barely had time to get her hands away before they were frozen to the window. Nanashi punched at the ice, trying to crack it to get the window open. She heard Izo on the ground next to her groan. She glanced down at him for just a second.
"Mother..." he said, blinking up at her. He then closed his eyes and his head slumped against his arm.
She turned away from him, pounding harder and harder on the ice, cracking it, but not enough to get to the locked latch. She could hear Jin fighting with the ice maiden, feel the room continue to get colder, but she forced herself to stay focused on the window. She could also hear Kotone crying out. The window. She had to get the window open. Get it open. Get Izo. Get out. That was the plan, that was Hiei's plan. She hated the plan, but wanted to follow the plan.
When she heard Jin's muffled, strangled cry, she could not help it, she turned around. He was kneeling on the ground. The ice maiden's icy blue hand was over his mouth. His eyes locked on hers, a look so full of emotions she could barely register them. Then he closed his eyes and slumped. The ice maiden dropped her hold on him, looking pleased with herself. It disturb her to see it.
Nanashi turned back to the window, ice cracking widely now. She was able to tear away chunks of it, fingers numbly scrambling at the latch, getting it to flip.
Then she suddenly felt so cold she could not move. She dropped to her knees, wrapped her arms around her chest. Her wind dragon rose up to its full size, surrounding her, but now it felt overly frozen, even if she felt warmer.
'Mistress... I can't,' it rasped in her mind.
Nanashi felt her wind dragon pull away from the cold, sink back into her soul, unable to protect her. She felt iced over from the inside out, unable to turn around and look at the ice maiden attacking her. She had never experienced cold like this before.
"Not my daughter, you bitch!" she heard Asa shout.
"No," Nanashi's voice shook. The cold dissipated. She turned back to see Asa laying on the ground, shivering violently. The ice maiden stood over her, ice shooting from her hands. "No!" she panted out. She struggled to stand on her two feet in a much too wide stance. She tried to summon her wind dragon to stop the ice maiden from breathing, but all it could do was shiver from within her. Nanashi felt it drawing warmth from deep within herself, making her cold from in the very depths of her soul.
The ice maiden stopped, looking up at her. Her eyes were the same as Hiei's, expect the color was ice blue. So harsh, so vengeful looking. She sniffed the air. "Brother's wife?" she said, cocking her head over at Nanashi. "Surrender and I'll spar them here and now," she said, looking at Asa, Izo, and Kotone.
Kotone screamed, making Nanashi cast a glance at her. She was looking at Nanashi, shaking her head over and over. She pointed at the window. Then she closed her eyes and winced, hands coming to her hips.
"Very well," the ice maiden said, icy mist emanating from her hands. She directed it at Asa.
"No," Nanashi pleaded. She threw herself down over top of Asa, shielding her from the cold with her own self. She felt herself grow groggy and sluggish. Her eyes felt heavy. It was as if nothing but cold existed always and forever in the world. She felt like she could not shiver anymore.
"That'll do," the ice maiden commented proudly. The cold abruptly stopped flowing over her. "I'd kill you up here, but Brother needs stopped first before my sisters are killed by him. Maybe you can help stop him. I can take of the rest of them out later."
Nanashi felt frozen in place. A firm hand clasped her hair, yanking on it sharply. Nanashi cried out feebly, feeling the painful tug on her hair. The ice maiden dragged her out of the room by her hair, even as she tried to kick her way free, half too frozen to put up a fight. She felt her head bump against the ice maiden's sword sheathed on her hip. She kept trying to reach for the wind dragon, but it was still freezing in her soul, making every bit of her feel like chunks of hail held together by flesh.
Nanashi felt the ice maiden haul her to her feet and then felt the ground lurch out from under her feet. She struggled against the her, trying to tear her way free. She felt an even sharper pull on her hair, with her feet dangling midair. She saw she was hanging over the railing on the staircase's top landing. The floor of the front hall was well below her dangling legs. The ice maiden held her there by one hand on her hair. The other hand brought her ice cold sword biting into her exposed neck. Nanashi brought her hands up to the blade, trying to extricate herself from the blade. She was so cold, but warm enough to know her neck and and fingers were bleeding now.
She tried again to reach the wind dragon, cursing at it mentally for not helping her. That seemed to make it rally enough to allow her to breath in a sorts, even with the sword pressed against her neck.
"Drop your weapons, men!" The ice maiden called out. "Drop your weapons, or I'll drop her!"
Nanashi could barely see below out of the corner of her eye. Hiei dropped his sword, while Risho kept his rock sword up in his hands. "No," she strangled out. "Don't." She felt the ice maiden's grip on her hair loosen. The sword pressed up against her neck. She choked out a cry. She pulled her hands harder on the sword, trying to pull herself up. Her fingers, from what she could feel of them, ached dreadfully. Her grip was slick and wet.
"I said drop your weapons. I mean it!" The ice maiden shouted.
Risho shook his head, holding his rock sword up high. "Kill her. Kill a woman. See if I care," he declared.
Hiei turned on him for that, attacking Risho instead of the ice maidens in his fury. Risho never expected the betrayal. Hiei had him knocked out cold with his own hands before anyone or anything could stop him. Nanashi could hardly see the scene down below out of the corner of her eyes.
"He's dropped his weapon, let her go," he demanded. She saw underneath his headband, a faint lavender glow.
"On your knees," one of the ice maidens near him ordered.
Nanashi saw him do so, a blank look on his face, with just a hint of defiance. He looked up at her and then past her, his Jagan Eye glowing brighter, yet she did not feel his presence in her mind.
"Hands on the ground, hang your head low," the ice maiden near him ordered.
She heard the other ice maiden down there laugh gleefully when he did. "So compliant. All over a woman. Men have such extraordinary weaknesses." The ice maiden hefted her sword high in the air.
"No... no..." Nanashi choked out, kicking harder, trying again to summon up the wind dragon which was still half frozen within her. 'Great Mother,' she prayed. 'Help us, please. I'll do anything you want.'
What happened next happened so fast. Nanashi felt a domino effect happened behind her. Something knocked into the ice maiden holding her up, who in turn knocked into her. She felt the sword leave her neck and hands, and then a free falling sensation she knew would not last long. She felt a third thing slam into her with a desperate grunt and then a roll over the floor. The last thing she felt was a heavy weight pressed on top of her.
She felt disoriented, blinking to clear her vision. Hiei was on top of her. His face was pained, but he was still alive thankfully. She felt a shiver cut through her all of a sudden. It was artic cold down here in the front hall. She rolled out from under him. She wrapped her arms around her chest feebly, trying to curl up into a ball in an attempt to get warmer. Her fingers and neck snug, but she was too cold to care.
"No, come here," he winced out. He pulled her over, making her lay back down on her back. He pushed his upper body up, holding his weight up on his left arm. He looked down at her neck, making dread to imagine what the sword slice across it looked like. "Fuck," he swore. He held up his right hand. She could see black hellfire dancing across it. He had begun to summon his dragon, but had not quite finished it. He had some flames, but not the beast. Involuntarily, she kicked at him, trying to pull away from him. She made contact with one of his legs, making him gnash his teeth. "This is going to hurt, but you'll survive this way," he warned right before he brought his right hand around her neck.
She screamed hoarsely, feeling the black flames of hell bathe over the bleeding wound across her neck. Everything angelic in her resisted it. Her wounded hands wrapped around his wrist, trying to yank him off of her. Her hands burned as well, which did help staunch the bleeding in her fingers. She begged him over and over to let her go. At one point she heard herself beg him to kill her instead.
Finally, mercifully he let her go. Her neck burned and ached in a way that made her cringe right down to the depths of her soul. Her fingers just as well. She felt cold everywhere else in her body. Her face was wet. She had not realized she had not realized until just then she had been crying. She wiped at her face, wincing at the burns on her fingers. She felt herself start to shiver anew. Instinct strove her cling to Hiei as the closest source of warmth. He was sitting up. She wrapped her arms around his torso, wanting desperately to be warm in spite of the hellish burns on her inflicted on her body.
That was when she noticed he had a sword impaled through his upper leg. He was bleeding from both the entry wound and the exit wound. It was the sword from the ice maiden who had held her by the hair. He was sitting up, pale and sweating. His hands were on the sword, trying to extricate from his leg, grunting and panting in the process. He gave a hoarse cry of relief when he got it out. A lot more blood than she had expected gushed out from his leg when he did that. He pressed his right hand on the entry wound, gnashing his teeth as he burned there. He burned the exit wound as well. He then leaned his weight back against her. He was so warm, in spite of the fact that he had broken out into a cold sweat. He might have burned himself to stop the bleeding, but he still needed a healer for his leg due to the risk of internal bleeding. She still clung to him selfishly, shivering more than she thought possible. Her teeth rattled around in her mouth.
"You need a healer," she said through chattering teeth. "Maybe Izo or Asa..." she thought out loud desperately.
She then remembered the three ice maidens in the front hall with them. She looked up over at them. One of them was dead on the ground now. The other two where furiously dueling a new opponent at ridiculous speed. The two of them were now the ones fighting for their lives. The new opponent had feathery wings black as night, eyes equally dark, but long, light blue hair. He had an ice sword in his hands. She felt sick to her stomach at the sight of it.
"Izo..." she whimpered out.
Hiei panted, hand resting on his leg protectively. "I made him get up, I made him join the fight..." he admitted. "I told him you would die if he didn't." He shook his head. "I didn't think he would embrace the fall to do it."
Nanashi leaned her head against Hiei's shoulder and closed her eyes tightly, whimpering as pain flared in her neck. 'Great Mother... Great Hawk Spirit... please... please... no... not like this... bring him back to us...' she prayed fervently, unsure if the Great Hawk Spirit would even care to listen to her prayers ever since she refused to be a messenger for her. She straightened her head up, wincing as her neck moved. "We need to get out of here," she ruled. "He'll want to kill any around him, especially those who anger him, and also demons," she recalled from her own fall experience.
She forced herself to her feet, grabbed him from underneath his shoulders, and tried to pull him towards the stairs. She could only make it a few steps. She cried out as her burned skin came in contact with his. He gripped his leg, gnashing his teeth as she tried to drag him away. She dropped to her knees beside him. He tore at the pant leg, widening the tear from the sword there. A bruise and swelling was forming around the burned area.
One of the ice maiden screamed. Nanashi looked over in horror as Izo killed the one who had held her over the railing. He held her by the hair in one hand. He pushed the ice sword in his hand slowly into the back of her neck and out of the front of her neck, smirking as he did it.
"Get out, run," Hiei ordered her.
"No," she said, trying to drag him again. "He might try to kill you." She could not get very far before her legs gave out underneath her.
He gnashed his teeth. "You can't move me. Go. Before he turns on you."
"I'm angelic... he might not," she stated nervously.
She looked back over at Izo, fighting with the last ice maiden remaining. She almost pitied the huntress who was now fighting for her own life. Izo was toying with her, like he was enjoying her fear. Nanashi felt sick to her stomach. She highly doubted that neither she nor Hiei were in states to stop him from going on a killing spree like fallen angel before him had. They were spared deaths at the hands of the ice maidens, but now risked death at the hands of their own sons. Internally she cursed the Great Hawk Spirit for allowing such a thing to happen.