Content Warning: death by electrocution
Chapter Twenty-Four
Prisoners of Our Own Making
"Can't he go any faster?" Hiei hissed through the receiver of the comm device Mukuro had set up in the communications tower. It wasn't the same as the humans' phones, but it did the same job.
"We're trying everything we can," Kurama replied on the other end. His tone was neutral, but his voice was strained.
"Where's Kuwabara?" he demanded. "He can do it faster than the kid." He'd been pacing the length of the tower for the last three hours. After the first nine where he bottled up his anxious energy, and accidentally punched Akihiko in the face when he'd interrupted Hiei at an inopportune moment, pacing was the next outlet for his anxious frustration. Now, everyone left him alone; he had the entire tower alone, except for Mukuro who watched him from her chair with a curious gleam in her eye. "And the barrier doesn't close until Friday. Bjorn must just be doing it wrong. We were foolish to allow ourselves to think he could be useful in important situations."
Kurama's tone hardened. "Hiei, I can assure you we're doing everything we can. It's like the barrier is locked. And Kuwabara is at the piers, along with Yusuke and Yukina. We didn't know Bjorn would have this issue."
Hiei felt a pang of guilt. Kuwabara was helping at least. Still, the sooner he could get there, the sooner this scare would be over.
As soon as he had the thought: the thought of finding Ashley using the power of the Jagan, his stomach twisted uncomfortably - a reaction he hadn't anticipated in the slightest.
Surely he'd used the Jagan to find Ashley before, right?
But now that he had thought about it, he couldn't remember using it on her at all. Or even entering her mind, for that matter. If he searched for her, would he even recognize her mind?
"I believe this is yours, Hiei," Mukuro said simply from her chair. Turning, he saw her hold out his mother's tear stone, the one he gave her all those years ago.
He didn't take it. Mukuro laid it on the table between them.
"I don't need it anymore," she continued. "And I believe it may have a new owner."
He'd decipher what she meant later. Instead, he pocketed the necklace without a word and turned back to the receiver.
She continued, even though his back was turned, "I meant what I said the other day, however. Remember that."
It was another two and a half hours before Bjorn managed to get any sort of portal constructed, even with help from Genkai. "Come through quickly, Hiei," Kurama said. Bjorn's hold on the barrier was tenuous and liable to snap at any moment.
Without a backward glance at Mukuro, Hiei sprinted through the portal at full speed. They'd never exchanged goodbyes, not in the traditional sense at least, both knowing they'd see the other again soon enough, and this visit wasn't about to start a new tradition.
Before he was completely through, the portal slipped and closed, and he felt the immediate severance of his scarf by the slight tug at his neck.
His scarlet glare at Bjorn left no room for mistakes. Bjorn, who was collapsed on the ground, panting. Even Genkai looked worse for the wear. A weariness filling her gaze that she rarely let anyone see.
"Ready?" Kurama asked, who stood just behind Hiei, his voice still strained.
Without so much as a nod, Hiei disappeared, sprinting ahead through the forest at a pace Kurama couldn't hope to keep up with, but he followed anyway.
'Where is she? What do we know?' He used the Jagan, open and blazing, the press the thought into Kurama's mind. Of the four, Kurama's mind felt the most familiar: he kept everyone at a distance, almost cold and bereft, but at the edges of his consciousness he kept his emotions for others.
'Yukina narrowed it down to the piers and ship channel.' Kurama replied easily. Hiei could tell he was falling behind, and tried to keep his pace slower than his maximum so they could communicate before distance severed the link. It killed him to move this slowly.
'Why Yukina?' Hiei snapped. 'I thought you said you'd keep her out of this.' He'd specifically asked Kurama to keep her out of this.
'She insisted; you try telling her no,' Kurama replied, matter-of-factly. 'Besides, it seems she's the only one who's really felt Ashley's energy besides you. She helped Ashley with it at the end of August. And with you stuck in Demon World…'
Hiei could put two pieces together. 'I'm going on ahead.'
Kurama merely passed his acceptance between the mental link and Hiei retracted it, pushing his energy toward his goal instead, and he increased his speed tenfold.
Hiei opened his Jagan toward Tokyo as he quickly grew closer. The looming mass sprawled in all directions, but he ignored the hundreds of thousands of people all clustered together and focused his mind on the ship channel straight ahead; picking out Yusuke was easy. Half human, half demon, his energy and his mind within his energy stood out easily, screaming to be heard over the chaos that was Tokyo on a sweltering Tuesday afternoon.
Kuwabara had always been harder, even though he was psychically inclined. It had to do with the fact that Yusuke's mind was the most similar to his own, between the two.
Hiei followed Yusuke's mind like a beacon, coming in hot, and only slowed down as he got close. His energy wasn't raised, but he still extended the Jagan's power to encompass the entire shipyard, just in case something was off.
Two energies flickered from inside one warehouse. One, feeble and dying like an ember about to be snuffed, the other stronger, but weak. Neither posed a threat.
Yusuke, right outside the warehouse, barely flinched as Hiei dropped to the ground next to him. Immediately, Hiei was hit with the scene in front of him: a smell lingered outside the building that reminded him of death, but it was mixed with something else that he couldn't place. Yusuke was rubbing the back of his neck in front of the double wooden doors of the warehouse, and beyond, off to the side of the building, Yukina was doubled over and hurling. Kuwabara, looking green himself, held back her hair with one hand, his other comforting against her back.
"H-Hey, short stuff," Kuwabara greeted him weakly, attempting for humor even among the seriousness of the situation.
Hiei was about to haul off a reprimand to Kuwabara, but Yusuke's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "You need to see what's in there."
"Is she here?" Turning back to Yusuke, Hiei could immediately see that even the ex-Detective looked worse for the wear. Was it just the smell affecting them? He'd smelled death enough that while it wasn't his favorite scent and he would prefer to remove himself from any situation that involved it, it wasn't overly shocking.
Yusuke removed his hand almost as soon as he'd placed it on Hiei's shoulder, knowing full well what might happen to his hand if he left it there for too long. "She was."
Shoving the doors open, Hiei was met with the most obscene smell - like burned flesh. It had been decades since he'd last smelled anything like it. He'd once lost control of his own ability in the first few years of his life and killed a good number of the bandits that had been raising him. The smell had lived in his dreams for months afterward. Eventually the memory faded, into nothing more than a piece of his history. He was a fire demon, after all. The smells that came with burning were part of him, and they were as familiar to him as his own power.
But the smell had strengthened significantly from the scorching September day, especially being contained within the metal building behind closed doors. It was a mix of burning hair and burning, rotting meat. It was as if the meat had been left outside in the weather and elements for long enough that it had begun to fester. Beyond that, the pungent scent of sewage filled the spaces in between the burned flesh, making his eyes water and his throat tighten.
No wonder Yukina was puking. It bothered him, who was used to burned scents. Anyone else who didn't have the history with burned things would be useless against this.
The scent itself sent his instincts into full alert mode. The warehouse itself was filled with boxes, all opened, like whomever had put them here had come back for the items inside the boxes but left the boxes themselves. Chains were attached to the floor in places, and chain link fencing completely separated parts of the warehouse from other parts.
Trying to breathe shallowly and think about the smell as little as possible, Hiei followed the scent to the back of the warehouse where it was strongest - it flipped his stomach - and approached the two prone forms lying across the concrete floor.
He easily found the source of the rotting meat smell.
One of the demons' skin was blackened and swollen in places. His body still smoked, small tendrils of it drifting lazily toward the ceiling. As Hiei got closer, he could see the forked and darkened skin that the electricity had made contact with as it tore through his body. It looked like he bore scars made from electricity itself.
The other was less damaged, but still bore the same electricity marks across his skin. His was mottled in places: black, green, purple stood out starkly against his fair skin, as he struggled to stay alive.
It was obvious that Ashley had done this work. Ashley. His Ashley. The power to take down two demons twice her size had risen to the surface and she'd had the courage to kill her enemies where they stood.
Pride and affection overtook him as he smirked. "Bad day?" he asked the demon still struggling for life. The other had already died.
The demon couldn't speak, and could barely breathe. His entire body shook as he tried to lift his head. Hiei had the urge to kill him, and unsheathed his sword, his stare unflinching from the demon.
A freezing hand landed on his wrist, grip like a vice.
One look over his shoulder told him that Yukina was behind him, hair tied back, and gaze sharp as ice. She still had a pallor to her skin, and it was obvious the stench was making her stomach turn again, but she was there, fighting every instinct to turn around.
The question must have shown in his face - his innocent sister, there beside him, staring at the demons on the ground in utter hatred. Who was this girl - no, woman - she'd become? Didn't she want to turn around? She shouldn't be there, shouldn't be seeing this.
"I've seen worse," she said simply, throwing his hand back and away from the wounded demon. Surprise floored Hiei. Anger laced through her entire body, making her stiff but purposeful. "Let me save this one so he won't die and I'll go with you to find her."
"Let him die; he's not worth your effort," Hiei spat instead.
Yukina glanced up at him beneath her teal bangs, a look of complete apathy. "I shouldn't have to tell you that he might be an excellent source of information."
"Now you sound like Kurama."
"That's because Kurama is usually right," Yusuke's voice appeared behind him. Kurama, in question, beside him, emerald gaze watering but narrowed against the stench and a cloth pressed against his nose and mouth.
Yukina worked quickly, Kurama taking over after a certain point to take him back to Genkai's so she could join Hiei. Once they reached outside, however, Kuwabara now tossing his cookies, Hiei turned away from Yukina. "You should stay here," he insisted, and disappeared, leaving Yukina behind.
He slowed once he reached a rooftop a few buildings over. The level of frustration that radiated from Yukina's place on the ground was enough to build trepidation, but he quickly forced that thought away. He had to find Ashley.
He released the Jagan's power so that it encompassed the entire shipyard, once more. He could feel Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara behind him, and Yukina approaching his building from the ground. Hundreds of workers kept to themselves several blocks over.
Ashely likely hadn't gotten very far, especially since this was the first time she'd really used her power. The day was hot enough that it exacerbated the stench inside the warehouse, but that demon likely hadn't been dead for even four hours. Sure enough, he found an unfamiliar energy several blocks over, fluttering like a candle caught in a breeze. Warmth spread from the energy's center, like the sun on a winter day, and the energy still crackled from being used so intensely.
A small smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Mukuro had been wrong. When faced with the Legion, Ashley hadn't run, not really. She'd fought back and killed her attackers. Her energy still thrummed with a potential of power.
He quickly closed the distance between where he stood and where Ashley had hidden herself: beneath one of the docks, as far up under the steel as she could manage without being too cramped. She had fitted herself between the curve of the earth and the dock itself, legs pulled to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs. Tears streaked sown her face, and her hair was a mess. A puddle of sick ran down the side of the rocky earth toward the sea just feet below. One wrong move and she'd land there herself.
Whatever Hiei had been expecting to see in her face, wasn't there at all. It was obvious she'd been crying, but he hadn't expected how terrified her stormy eyes gave away when she finally realized how close he was to her.
"No. No. No-" she began repeating over and over, trying to scoot away from Hiei, and narrowly missing the puddle of sick.
But this didn't make sense with the scene back at the warehouse. She'd effectively cut down her enemies. Yet, here she was, crying like a child.
Hiei barely had time to register his confusion before another person showed up next to him. Yukina's flash of teal hair was all he saw before she surpassed him and approached Ashley carefully.
Even though Ashley was still backing away, Yukina stopped a few feet from her, and much lower on the incline, and reached out a hand toward Ashley. "Hey, it's okay; it's okay. You're safe."
Her voice was quiet and peaceful, like the first snowfall of the season, and immediately Ashley was calmer. Not calm, per se, but calmer. Fresh tears welled in her eyes. "I don't want to hurt you."
"Have you ever wanted to hurt us before?" Hiei asked, having not moved from his place outside the underbelly of the dock.
Ashley's lips pressed into a line, a look of worried nerves overtaking her tears. She adopted a far-away look, as if she was trying to remember if she'd ever wanted to hurt them.
Hiei rolled his eyes. The question had been more rhetorical than anything. "Come on; come out. You're fine."
"Hiei." Yukina's tone caught his attention and chilled him to the bone. "I'll handle this. You can go."
Hiei rolled his eyes and turned away, giving Yukina room to work. Barely, he overheard Yukina say, "I've been right where you are now, and I hurt someone…" before her voice faded out under a foghorn suddenly belting through the silence. Shipmen yelled back and forth to one another, and above him, gulls squawked, but otherwise it was silent, especially here at this dock. No ship was docked here. They were on the edges of the shipyard.
A light breeze ruffled his hair and carried his sliced scarf. Looking down, it was no wonder Ashley was terrified of seeing him. He still wore the blood of the demons he'd handled back in Alaric on his clothes. Grime and dirt had built up over his clothes and skin, as well; he likely looked terrifying.
He heard Ashley's voice behind him, and turned to see Yukina guiding Ashley out of the hole she'd found for herself.
A moment passed, where Hiei and Ashley merely took each other in, standing apart as they were. The moment passed, however, as Ashley left Yukina's side and closed the distance to Hiei.
Enemy demon's blood or not, she wrapped her arms around his torso and buried her face in his chest.
What… what was he supposed to do? Was he supposed to wrap his arms around her as well? Should he push her away?
That was his first instinct, actually, but seeing the sad sort of smile on Yukina's face before she turned away, squashed that notion.
Carefully, and slowly, he wrapped his arms around her, as well.
She was like a little package of lightning, all wrapped up in with cardigans and music. She had survived this on her own, and that was no small feat. Genkai had been right, though he hated to admit it: they needed to know what had awoken inside Ashley. When he'd tested her back in May at that park she hadn't shown any inclination toward the psychic realm. That was obviously false, though he wasn't sure quite how she'd managed to foil his attempts.
They'd figure that out later.
As he touched her, he could feel her energy reaching toward the surface, toward his own. Warmth seeking warmth. She was nearly thrumming with it. Again, the memory of what she did to those demons rose in his mind, and pride filled his chest for this little human.
He didn't let her hang onto him for long. Ashley needed food and sleep and Yukina immediately offered her place. "She's not going home. At least not tonight. She'll stay with us," she decided immediately, without consulting Kuwabara.
Not for the second time that day, Hiei noticed there was some sort of tension beneath her posture, and beneath her kind words. An unseasonable chill touched the air around her, but Hiei brushed it off. She was likely just worried over her friend.
Ashley's dog was already at the flat, and circled Ashley's feet, nearly exploding with excitement. She got all the way to the couch before collapsing and hugging Knox to her chest, tears streaming down her face again. She needed to clean up, not collapse emotionally.
"I'm going to run patrols." Hiei announced to Kuwabara, Yukina already setting a kettle on the stove to boil water.
"Hey, it's okay," Kuwabara immediately protested, although softer so that Ashley wouldn't hear him. "Yusuke's got that covered."
Hiei stole a glance at Ashley, who had looked up anyway, aware of their conversation. He looked away, again, determination gritting his teeth. "No, I'm going to run patrols to see what I can find… I have information from Mukuro."
He didn't wait for a response from Kuwabara, and didn't glance at Ashley again or he would have seen her face break into tears once more.
He was halfway down the street when he heard her footfalls behind him, but he didn't stop. He had someone to visit.
"Hiei."
Her voice, chilled as a blizzard in the dead of winter, stopped him in his tracks. Danger! Screamed the shivers that fled up his spine. Instead, he turned toward her as she whispered a question that sounded like a promise, "How could you?"
Really, they were more alike when they were truly angry than any other time.
And seeing Yukina's anger reflected toward him was like staring death in the face.
He tried not to let it affect him. "What's that?"
Yukina, however, lit into him, "You drag her into this and then abandon her when she needs you. This isn't the same world as it was even ten years ago. I'd expect this from you then, but I didn't expect it from you now."
She was holding back. He could tell she was holding back. There was more she wanted to say. She had that same look that he had when he bit his tongue for the sake of others, and it killed him. Why did they have to be so similar? "What in the three worlds are you rambling about?" he asked instead.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "She wants for you to go to her, but she'll never admit it to you. Though, not that you would."
The accusation was scalding. "What's that supposed to mean?" Hiei growled, immediately on the defensive.
"Well, generally, when you're in a relationship, you care about the other person," she began. "You share when they hurt and when they're happy. And I know she wants that, but what do you want? She just lost her friend, and then you were gone longer than you said you would be, and I'm sure she was wondering if you left her, and now she's been through this. Stop stringing her along, Hiei. Either commit or back off. You'd both be much happier one way or another."
Hiei stared at his twin, understanding finally dawning. "You've talked to her."
Yukina scoffed. "We're friends, Hiei. Of course we talk. More than you, apparently."
If it was anyone else he would have bitten their head off. He would have given them such a lecture that they would wish for Hell itself to swallow them whole. But it was Yukina, and he couldn't.
"Things have been busy," he tried instead.
"That's a poor excuse. Busy or not, you never should have left her alone to face all of this herself." She turned, arms still crossed over her chest, and started walking away, only to call over her shoulder, "I'm taking her to Genkai's. I don't care if you come or not."
"I'll come!" he called back.
Yukina stopped just outside the door to their apartment building and turned. When had she grown up? No longer was she the short, sweet, innocent young child that he'd finally met over a human decade ago. Now, she was taller, leaner, the weight of childhood had melted off of her and left a woman in its place. Her red irises snapped cold, and her teal hair was braided over one shoulder. She'd long ago traded in the kimonos she'd once worn for something more modern: jeans, t-shirts, and vests.
Seeing her there, arms crossed, anger radiating off of her in chilly waves, it made him wonder: had he changed, too? In ways that he couldn't see?
She pronounced each world individually, and with emphasis, bringing him back to the present: "I don't care."
He didn't leave for a long time after that. Even hours later as the afternoon descended into a sunset of purples and oranges he sat in the tree outside Yukina's flat and watched them. Watched Yukina and the oaf - Kuwabara - cuddle on the western-style sofa, and watched Ashley take his bedroom that Yukina often made sure was ready for Hiei if he ever needed it.
Her hair was wet, and she was wearing some of Yukina's shorts and a t-shirt. She didn't settle down at first, instead going around to the different artifacts in the room and the closet, which was mostly bare, except for a few of his cloaks that he'd hung in the back. Hiei watched as she soundlessly took one from its hanger and brought it up to her face.
After a moment, she turned toward the bed, her dog waiting for her on it.
It took her a long time to lay down on that bed, but she eventually did, not even pulling the covers up over her form. Knox curled up behind her legs and she pulled Hiei's cloak to her, clutching it as if it was a lifeline.
He could see her tears from where he crouched, and revulsion overtook him, while a gnawing emptiness filled his chest. Here she was, this powerful being, able to take down enemies twice her size and power, and she was crying.
She was weak. How could he ever have felt pride for her?
But at the same time that he wanted to push her away, and leave and never have to look at Ashley again, something kept him in that tree. It was the desire to go inside and feel her against him. It was a desire to fight back against her enemies until she had nothing to cry about. He wanted to protect her, even though she'd once said she didn't need protecting, but right now, it was obvious she did.
It was an emotion more powerful than the revulsion, which was more confusing that anything he'd ever experienced.
Instead, he did the only thing he knew to do. Hiei fled from the tree, disappearing into the burgeoning night.
Genkai's was the first stop. She'd called in Botan to help heal the demon who'd been injured, but even after a few hours of healing, the demon still hadn't made it.
"He was burned internally too badly," Botan said outside the shrine. Hiei didn't want to go in and wake everyone and cause a fuss. "I did everything I could, but it wasn't enough. There was too much damage."
There was that weird pride for Ashley again, filling him like hot air.
He ignored it and pressed on. "Did he say anything before he died?" He kept his distance. Now that the demon was dead and there was no way to read his mind - he cursed himself that he hadn't thought to do that while at the warehouse; another waste of information - Hiei wanted to get whatever information Botan had to offer and then make a final stop at a certain Oblivion's house.
Mukuro had given him valuable information on Navia and the Legion, and he meant to use it as soon as possible.
"He was Legion," she shrugged helplessly. "That we know for sure. And he was mumbling something…"
When she didn't continue, Hiei prompted, "Mumbling something?"
She nodded vigorously. "Yeah, it was like he was asking for forgiveness. Something about not wanting to harm the girl – Ashley, obviously. He said something about…"
She trailed off again.
Hiei itched to shake her until she told him what she'd heard.
"It was something about it being a… a ploy? But I don't know what that means or how to make sense of it. Wait, Hiei!" She called out after him, but Hiei had already turned into the forest and let the shadows swallow him.
Emerging from the shadows, like a nightmare incarnate, eyes blazing like coals, Hiei closed in on Mako's hovel. He kicked down the door, not waiting to knock or for Mako to answer.
Hiei needed answers, and he needed them now.
Mako, who had been at the stove tending to a kettle, turned toward the intruder immediately, an obscenity flying from his lips.
Hiei immediately cornered Mako, shoving him against the wall and wrapping a hand around his throat.
"What do you know of the Legion?" Hiei roared. True fear shone in Mako's golden gaze.
"I-I know nothing!" He stammered.
That wasn't enough for Hiei. Not enough at all. Hiei threw him to the floor, frustration eating at him. His hand remained wrapped around the Oblivion's throat, but he lifted his spiritual energy until Mako struggled beneath it.
"She was taken by the Legion! You know anything about that?" Hiei growled, leaning over Mako's body.
Mako forced out the words, "Why would I? She's my English teacher!"
"You're an Oblivion," Hiei hissed with deadly precision. "This Navia - the leader of all of the Legion - she's an Oblivion."
Mako's tone and facial expression hardened immediately. "What are you insinuating?"
Hiei scoffed. "Obviously the link is too obvious for you. I'm well aware of how you Oblivions stick together, like the parasites you are."
"How many times do I have to tell you, Jaganashi?" Mako seethed with anger, but his struggling ceased. "I would rather die than be associated with that trash. I've told you before and I'll tell you again: read my mind since you don't believe me. I don't want a fight."
It was incredible. This Oblivion taunting him like this. All Oblivions wanted to destroy. It was in their traitorous blood.
Hiei tightened his grip, holding Mako in place even as he didn't struggle, and forcefully entered his mind, even as Mako didn't present the usual mental barriers that most did. The force Hiei used, he realized, was too much. It wasn't needed.
Mako relented to him, staying still beneath Hiei's hand as Hiei pushed through Mako's memories.
He'd lived in the Forest of Fools, grown up there. Two parents, and a younger sister. Memories flashed by of him playing with her, and her teasing him. Her name was on the tip of his tongue… Fuyu.
Years sped by. Typical of parents raising their young: Teaching them to fight, to harness their energy, to hunt, and how to raise a family. A family of Oblivions. It was too much.
His sister always loved to fight. That much was clear in Hiei's mind as he swam through the memories. Mako hung back, always afraid to hurt the other person. He would, on occasion, if someone beat up his sister, and would often be reprimanded for it. Their parents taught them both not to use their Oblivion power unless absolutely necessary. "People will hate you for it. Your safety is far greater than proving someone wrong."
"You can kill in an instant. You can bring worlds down. But you have to decide for yourself if that's who you want to be."
Moving through his memories, several years passed. Mako discovered his deep love for his childhood friend, Natori. He was also an Oblivion, and he also confessed his love. Many years of happiness ensued, and eventually Fuyu found love, too. She was a young woman, barely out of her childhood years, and started a budding family of her own.
Mako had run an errand, just a quick errand, to return to find his village in ruins. This memory, unlike the others, was faded, like Mako had tried again and again to forget it. The others had been brightly colored, and filled with emotion.
He did not come back to find his family whole and smiling and welcoming him home.
His village had been destroyed, his family slaughtered, even Fuyu's child had passed to the next world.
Natori's eyes still were open, and Mako pressed them closed, sobbing openly. Natori was supposed to go with him that day, but he'd caught a cold and decided to stay home.
"Well, what do we have here?" a voice purred from behind him. He didn't react in time to dodge the blow to his stomach, or the immediate kick to the head that followed.
"Your parents chose wrong, but we'll offer you the choice," the leader of the group of five knelt in front of Mako as he struggled to sit up, his ears ringing and blood flowing into his eyes.
"Who are you?"
The leader grinned toothily. "We're the Shono Legion. I'm not Shono, obviously, but we decided it was time to offer your village a place in the future. If you join us, you can change the world. We're going to Human World, to make us a new home for ourselves."
Mako didn't even hear the man. His gaze was still on Natori's still form just beyond.
Anger rose quickly, and his power rushed from his body.
It was only a moment later that the very area they had been standing on was gone in a blast that felled the trees around them down to their roots and cratered the earth beneath them.
Everything was gone.
His destroyed village, his burning home, his parents, his sister and her family, even Natori. The Legion's lackeys were gone, too. Reduced to nothing but ash.
Hiei watched in horror as the devastation racked through Mako. Now, he didn't even have bodies to properly lay to rest.
His power had done this. His anger. Himself.
He didn't trust his power, and looked on it with disdain and distrust. He hated using it. He could only destroy with it. What little he'd created had been taken from him.
He was terrible.
Several years passed. Mako wandered Demon World alone. Spent some time with the Hitomi clan, even went as far as Alaric, before ending up somewhere in the middle of it all.
That's when he met Takeshi.
Takeshi was kind. He listened. He never resorted to violence unless to protect. He loved his family, even though he was countless miles away. In Takeshi, Mako found forgiveness.
And later, love.
It was a love that was different than his first love with Natori. With Natori it had been a deep sort of understanding. This person, this man, had known him since they were children. They knew all the intricacies of the other, and who they were down to their very core.
With Takeshi, it was more intense. He showed Mako who he could be, pulled it from him, and became like the very breath within his lungs. Takeshi was passionate, and rocked Mako to his core.
Hiei saw Takeshi clearly. These memories were bright and clear. The clearest ones Mako had since his family was destroyed. He was large in a way that matched his height - where he was tall, he was also wide and thick with muscle. His skin was blue like midnight, and a black ponytail hung at the nape of his neck. Small canines peeked from his lower lip. It was obvious to Hiei just by looking at him, even if it was through memories, that Takeshi was a Strongarm. In each of Mako's newly sharp memories was Takeshi. He was Mako's entire life. They loved one another in a way that made Hiei envious, and they built a home together.
For the first time since Natori had died, Mako had found peace.
That was easily shattered, however, when a messenger came for Takeshi, delivering the news that his brother had been forcibly taken by the Legion.
Mako watched, helpless as Takeshi packed his things to head to Alaric - where the Legion was rumored to be - and find his brother.
"Please don't go," Mako begged for the hundredth time, trying not to cry and failing miserably.
His tone must have caught Takeshi's attention, because he stopped, placed the items in his hand into his bag, and closed the distance between himself and Mako. Large hands enveloped Mako's shoulders, and Takeshi dipped his forehead to Mako's. "Come with me," he pleaded, voice deep. He'd been asking for the last two days. But Mako couldn't imagine leaving his home and possibly never coming back. He'd done that once. He vowed he would never do that again. Even if it was for Takeshi.
Mako shook his head, tears flying. "You know I can't."
"Can't or won't?" Takeshi asked, letting Mako go and stepping away. "Maybe this should be the end. I have to go, and you won't come with me."
Mako couldn't find words.
"I think it should be, Mako. This is my brother. I have to go."
He looked up at Mako, as if pleading for him to understand, but the hopefulness in his gaze eventually broke. "I know if you had a chance to save Fuyu you would. You'd do it in a heartbeat."
"This is different," Mako tried to argue, but Takeshi cut him off.
"It's not, though," he was already shaking his head and pulled the drawstrings for his bag for close. "It's not."
"You're going to be chasing after terrorists. The same ones that killed my family," Mako cried, praying for Takeshi to understand. "I cannot go with you and see you killed, too."
Takeshi's face cleared, a neutral expression that sent shivers of terror through Mako. "Then, this is goodbye." Takeshi passed by Mako without pausing, only stopping as he crossed the threshold.
A brief flash of hope sprung through Mako - had Takeshi changed his mind?
"Don't wait for me."
Mako collapsed to the floor in anguish. Takeshi left Mako there, unable to move, sobbing, until finally, his stomach forced him to move and find food.
The rest were a blur of memories of trying to survive each and every day waiting in their home. With every knock at the door Mako became excited that it might be Takeshi having returned home. But every season that passed was a reminder that Takeshi wasn't coming home.
Eventually, Mako gained the courage to leave their home, too, and didn't look back.
He snuck through one of the barrier pockets, long after Koji had become King, and dodged the authorities in Human World. He found his love for music on a cold winter's night as he shivered beneath a window in Tokyo. It was at that time that he swore he would do everything he could to create something so wonderful as well.
Hiei read his memories through to the very present, where he stumbled back off of Mako. The kettle on the stove was screaming with steam. Mako laid there for a moment longer, against the floor of his tiny efficiency, until he found the desire to sit up.
Hiei clenched his jaw, unable to look at Mako directly.
"I'm sorry."
"What was that?"
Hiei glared. "Don't be a smart-ass."
"I'm not with the Legion," Mako repeated.
Hiei turned away; he had to move. "I can see that."
Silence reined between the two. Once enemies. Now… Hiei wasn't sure.
"So what now?" Mako eventually asked, standing and moving to the stove, where he lifted the kettle and poured the water into a mug.
Hiei wasn't sure, really. What came now? His number one lead had turned out to never want to fight or use his power, or really know anything about the Legion.
Something was coming; he could feel that as surely as he knew the sun would rise the next day. The Legion was building to something, even if he still didn't know what. The demon Ashley had mostly killed had said it was a ploy. What was a ploy? And what was the ploy covering up?
He shook his head, dismissing Mako's question and came back with one of his own. "If I'm ever not there," Hiei began, forcing the words out. "Will you protect her?"
Mako smiled a sad little sort of smile, still not looking at Hiei. He did, finally, meet Hiei's gaze as he lifted his mug, dunking a little packet of tea into the water.
"You must be desperate to ask an Oblivion who won't use his power for help," he said in a thoughtful sort of way. Paused. Then, "Of course I will."
- End of Chapter Twenty-Four -
Big thank yous to the people who reviewed last chapter! Guest, WithLoveSammiV, Lestatsgirl15, and also WhatWouldValeryDo on chapter seven. I'm so glad you're all enjoying it! Thank you so much for your comments! Also, HOLY COW but I've reached fifty favorites! THANK YOU SO MUCH. I never would have thought anyone would like the direction I've taken this fic in, especially when it started out as a 12-chapter fluff fic. I thought, "no one will read this; it's too niche." But thank you. Thank you so much.
I also have to give a shout out to Extra TM Anakin Skywalker. I tried updating my Scrivener program yesterday (which I use to write this beast of a fic) and it updated, but then it wouldn't open for me to use it. She was able to walk me through what I was doing and what I needed to do to fix the issue. If she hadn't, this chapter would have been much later.
Please note! I have updated the posting schedule on my profile. Originally, I was going to take July off for Camp Nanowrimo. I'm still going to write during it but I'm also going to be posting. Until then, though Chapter 25 will come out in two weeks, on June 30.
Also, I have to post some news that I've been putting off telling you all about. I've known this since chapter nine. DON'T PANIC: but I'm going to be splitting On Dating a Demon into three "parts." These parts, however, aren't really parts at all. They're the sequels to On Dating a Demon. I'm one of those people who, as soon as I hit "complete" on a fic, I will never finish the sequel if it's part of a different document, or in this case, a different story on my profile. My brain goes, "Derp! It's complete! I'm done!" So I have decided to split the sequels apart within the fic by labeling them as Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
I know many, many, many people don't like splitting fics into parts, but I hope you'll bear with me and my weird brain, anyway. In my head I don't refer to them as different "parts", but rather the stories that they are. I'm only calling them "parts" for FFnet's sake since I'll be leaving them within this same fic.
I've been putting off telling you guys until we got closer, but with this chapter, we're ten chapters away from the end of story one, ("part one"), and I'll be mentioning it more as we get closer, so I wanted to give everyone a heads up. I've already got the titles to the different stories ("parts") figured out, but I don't want to release them yet because they're MAJOR spoilers.
I do not own, in any way, the characters, places, or ideas of the Yu Yu Hakusho universe created by Yoshihiro Togashi. I only own my own characters and plot.