Disclaimer: I do not own any of the SM/YYH characters.
Tenshi's Notes: All right, I said I wasn't going to update this fic for a long time, but I'm shocked to see reviews still trickling in for it. I'll update this IF and only if I get enough reviews. By sufficient, I mean more than 10 reviews. I've been pretty disappointed with what has happened with "Again" and as of right now, I've lost interest in most of my fics. Given sufficient encouragement, I can be coaxed into posting regularly again.
Dedications: To Angel-chan, for always being there for me, my number one supporter and a wonderful friend! To Au-chan for always reading everything and encouraging me no matter what. To Usa-chan, kawaii-imouto that she is for always being so great to me. To all my imoutos who have gone missing in action, my chibi-self... well thanks! And always to my reviewers... arigatoo ^_^
********************
Chapter 4
The smile dropped off her face immediately as she found herself recognizing that familiar thudding deep in her blood. Freezing momentarily, she fought to regain her nerves and her wits that had scattered all over. As quick as the eye could blink, she was gone from where she was, and though temporarily caught unaware, Hiei was but mere seconds behind. Once again, Makoto cursed soundly at her slow reactions as she was left alone.
It threatened to overwhelm her once again, as she stared into the wild brown eyes of Urameshi Yuusuke. His long hair sprang from his scalp, adding to his almost crazed look. His body was wiry, filled with lean muscles, and his demon soul possessed power that could destroy her instantly. One of his ancestors had been one of the most powerful demons to ever roam the Makai, and at one point, managed to control one third of it. His eyes flashed over her, and Usagi could not move for once in her life. Something was threatening to take over her human self again as the blood pounded deep within her. Nestled within her body, a voice boomed from within, sounding only within her head. Surrender... you will never defeat him like this. Exercising the mental abilities that she had spent countless of years honing to perfection, she managed to tune out the voice, and push it back once again. Clasping her hands above her hand, she concentrated, willing the natural powers that flowed in her body to come to life. As she separated them to bring them to her sides, twin energy balls formed on her palms. Her eyes narrowing at Yuusuke, she gave a yell before firing it at him. She had known it would be a losing battle. She would never defeat him in her ningen state.
As he landed not too far away from the battling twosome, Hiei noted she had the highest level of skills he had ever seen in a ningen. But even still, Yuusuke was throwing merciless shot after shot upon her fragile body, delivering each blow with deadly intent. Frightened beyond belief, the black energy began crackling up his arm, and he felt the flames of the dark fire singe his flesh and the familiar tug of pain. That he could ignore. Usagi was losing the battle, and despite her best efforts, she would die if he didn't interfere soon enough. The two froze suddenly as if sensing the rise in energy in the air. Whirling around to look at him, the crazed look in her deep blue eyes almost unnerved him.
"Iie!! Don't do it!" she yelled out, as he caught his first glimpse of the injuries she had sustained. An obscene trail of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, trailing past the series of bruises that almost looked like splotches on her face. She had received a black eye from Yuusuke, and he felt an unfamiliar explosion of rage bursting within him as the energy flowing up within his arm crackled even further. Yuusuke leapt from where Usagi was and made his way over to the fire demon and in a series of swift movements, managed to land in a punch, throwing Hiei's concentration off.
Stunned, Hiei fell to the ground before he could unleash the black dragon and could only watch in horror as Usagi, following Yuusuke's movements, met up with a vicious blow in her gut and with his other arm, Yuusuke threw a fist in her face. She fell hard on the ground, still breathing, but badly injured. Yuusuke merely stood over Usagi, not delivering the deadly hit that would end her life. Instead a smirk came over his face as he took in the severely wounded blonde. "I will fight you once again when you allow yourself to become stronger than you are." With that cryptic remark, Yuusuke disappeared.
Hiei, ignoring the pain in his stomach, made his way to a battered Usagi, bleeding from various cuts, and god knows what internal injuries. She lay there stunned, a look of horror on her face. His heart lurched at the sight, and he couldn't even imagine the depths of pain she had to be feeling from her physical condition. Her eyes suddenly flew to his as he gently lifted her up.
"We need to get you some help," Hiei muttered gruffly. "One of your ningen doctors should be able to take care of this."
"Don't let them give me drugs that will put me to sleep, you understand??? Don't!" Her voice had risen to near hysteria and though he did not understand, he nodded. "Promise me, Hiei... promise me." She felt so weak, her body bruised beyond recognition as he made his way back to the Jeep. "I promise."
He had thought she would've fallen unconscious a while ago, but she proved him wrong. She remained awake every single painstaking moment to the hospital for almost three hours.
Makoto ended up driving the Jeep with the same ruthless efficiency that Usagi had driven with. Each bump that they hit brought a whimper of pain from her, and caused the expression of the man holding her to become even darker. She did not look good, and frankly, Makoto was having serious doubts as to whether or not Usagi was going to make it. Her face was ashen, pinched with agony, as she held back the cries she wanted to scream out though it wasn't so much the pain that affected her. Rather, it was the fact that Yuusuke had managed to beat her. Unused to losing, Usagi cursed herself, and viewed the injuries to her body as her just reward. She felt her eyes drift shut, but she managed to keep them open. Hiei tightened his jaw and stared at her poor broken body.
"Hiei, don't let me sleep okay? Please?" she pleaded as she placed her even tinier hand into his. It was starting already... she could feel it infiltrating her weakening defenses.
Startled, his eyes widened momentarily at the feel of her hand in his. Ignoring the sensations that spread through him, he concentrated on the fragile blonde in his arms. This was the second time she had mentioned not letting her sleep. What did she mean by it? Her eyelids were fluttering, and he knew that her body craved the rest that would allow it to heal. With super human strength, she forced them open once again.
"Please?" Her voice called out, as she stared at him with those cursed eyes of hers, eyes that could tear away at his own defenses and make him feel things he didn't want to feel. His own voice had gotten lost somewhere in his throat, so he settled for a nod. The tension in her body faded as her body relaxed with his agreement. Each time she had tried to close her eyes, Hiei had shaken her awake, yelled at her, and did everything in his power to stop her from doing so. She was growing weaker by the moment, and the damned drive just seemed like it would never end. He was feeling so frustrated and helpless, and his temper grew blacker by the minute. When they had finally arrived, Hiei just jumped out and ran right into the emergency room, ignoring the protests of the staff present. Making his way, he stopped right in front of a doctor, and glared at her. "You. Make her better," he ordered imperiously. The young woman took in the severely wounded girl in the short man's arms and frowned.
"Hurry... this way. We don't have much time to lose," she spoke softly as they made their way to an operating room.
Hiei put her down gently on the operating table and her eyes widened.
"Remember your promise... don't let them..." she uttered weakly. A few nurses came in and tried to get him out of the room. She made a sound of protest and clung on to his hand. "Stay with me, please."
Again, there was that word, that expression on her face, the tone in her voice. Powerless to resist, he nodded once again, never standing very far. The female doctor came in and looked a bit taken aback by the short man who was still in the operating room. The nurses merely shrugged, as if to say, we tried but we're not messing with him.
"You may only give her pills to ease her pain. If you give her medicine that will make her sleep, I will make sure that each and everyone of you dies slowly, and extremely painfully." And the deadly gleam in his eyes reassured his intent as the staff felt a deep chill go down their spines.
"We'll do our best to save her," the doctor spoke before moving ahead.
"I hope Usagi-san will be okay," Yukina said softly.
"She will pull through. She's strong," Kurama added, watching the tall brunette clench her jaw in frustration.
"It's been hours! And why could Hiei go with her when I couldn't?"
"Apparently, his presence was requested." Kurama replied. "Makoto-san, don't worry..."
The look she gave him said it all. She blamed herself. Guilt and pain shone from her deep green eyes, displaying the depths of her despair. If only I had reacted faster...I could've saved her.
Kurama frowned slightly at the sight before shaking his head. "Iie, you could not have saved her. Yuusuke is extremely powerful, and in his current form, his powers are devastating. Usagi was lucky that she didn't die, because Yuusuke could have ended her life right there and then. I think there exists some connection between the two that we cannot see." And Hiei... he must be feeling even worse than she is. He was actually there when Usagi got hurt. The guilt he must be feeling... I cannot imagine what you're going through my friend.
********************
Hiei felt as if they were tearing apart his insides, the guilt pounding away at him like there was no tomorrow. As they operated on Usagi, she merely looked at him with deadened eyes, like she had lost a part of herself. He had lost track of time and the doctor was suddenly by his side.
"We just need to take her away for a few moments, to get her changed and set up. I need to talk to you in the meantime, all right?"
"All right," he nodded though his eyes followed the slight figure that still stared at him as she was wheeled out of the room. Turning to the blue haired woman who stood in front of him, Hiei knew that she was the reason that Usagi was still alive. "Thank you, Doctor..."
"Mizuno. Ami Mizuno."
"Again, thank you Dr. Mizuno," he muttered gruffly, causing her to smile a little. For all his prickly nature, he obviously cared a lot about the young woman who she had just operated on. Something was nipping away at the back of her memory as she thought of the young woman. Silvery blonde hair and deep blue eyes... her patient had looked familiar, Ami thought to herself. But there was no time for stuff like this. She had to break the news to the man in front of her.
"Mr..."
"Hiei."
"Your friend will make a full recovery, no doubt about that. In fact, some of her wounds were already in the process of healing when we operated on her. Some of the destruction caused in her internal organs would have killed a lesser person."
The relief that shone on his face caused Ami to smile once again. "But I have other news," she added, which promptly caused a frown to reappear on his face. "It's neither good nor bad... it's just something I need to ask and tell you. Was she on any drugs?" she asked point-blank.
"Nani?!" he yelled out in confusion. Drugs? What drugs?
"We found unusually high traces of certain neurotransmitters and stimulants in her blood stream."
"I don't understand what you are saying," he said, furrowing his brow.
"What I mean is... she's been staying awake... for a long time now. She's been taking drugs of some sort to stop herself from falling asleep. I know what type of drug it is, and thankfully there are no side effects or addictions to it. From what I can see, it's purely on a voluntary basis."
Hiei appeared taken aback, staring at the woman blankly. Usagi was taking drugs? Nani? Remembering something, he asked, "You said there were some things you needed to tell me. What else is there?"
"I'm not sure if this will matter to you, but her blood is unusual."
"How so?"
"There are non-human DNA sequences in it."
If he thought he had been shocked before, this time, he was stunned. His brain felt so overwhelmed as he struggled to put all the information that he had received together. Usagi was taking drugs to stay awake. She had had that wild look in her eyes when she had dozed off for a moment. There was something strange going on between Yuusuke and Usagi. Her blood wasn't quite human. His eyes widened suddenly. It couldn't be...
"I was wondering if you could do me a favour, Dr. Mizuno..."
********************
"What happened here??" A furious voice yelled out as he stomped down the hospital hall. A young man, with brown hair and eyes and the word "Jr" on his forehead, not to mention a pacifier, marched over to the group. Dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt, dark blue top over it, camel pants and a red throw over his shoulders, he radiated anger and something else altogether.
"Koenma-sama?" Kuwabara called out in confusion, scratching his head. The young lord was usually so busy with his work that he rarely left his desk, and had a tendency to prefer his younger form. But in the ningenkai, he usually appeared in his teenage form. Most people were just a bit stunned by a three year-old kid with a pacifier speaking so eloquently.
"What just happened to Usagi????" he demanded the group imperiously. "I thought you were supposed to watch over her." Koenma caught sight of Makoto and frowned. "What are you doing here?" Without waiting for any real answers, he noted something odd about the group. "And where's Hiei?!"
"Yuusuke got to her," Kurama replied quietly.
"I know that... but how??"
"From what little Hiei told me, Yuusuke was just too powerful for her. And as for Hiei, he's with her right now."
Frowning slightly, Koenma appeared confused. "What's Hiei doing with her?"
"I don't know," Kurama replied. "But apparently Usagi requested Hiei's presence with her."
"She nearly died, Koenma-sama..." Yukina spoke softly, tears in her eyes for her friend.
"Hai I know that. It's only recently that I figured out so many things that I hadn't been able to see before."
"What do you mean?" Kurama asked curiously.
"Usagi's died once before, while trying to apprehend the last demon." Ignoring the gasps that went up in the group, he continued. "She somehow managed to avoid going through the normal procedures and went back into the ningenkai as if nothing happened. I just found her paperwork yesterday," he said with a sheepish look, and mumbled "under the table" before resuming. "And as it turns out, Usagi had been an orphan so we hadn't able to put two and two together until recently..."
Silence descended upon the room as Koenma continued speaking, draping the atmosphere with an eerie quality, as they all just stared at each other in horror and shock.