What? You thought I was done? Oh, no, my friends. Not yet. Not yet...
* * * * *
Cold as Fire
by Grace Musica
Chapter Fifteen
Dreams
* * * * *
Kuwabara awoke with a start. He leaned forward, holding his head in his hands. "What a dream!"
Was it a dream, Kazuma? Or a premonition?
Not noticing the fact that another voice had said this, he closed his eyes again, trying to remember it; unfortunately, the finer points evaded him, and he had wanted to forget the major points. So much BLOOD!
He lay flat on his back, looking up at the ceiling. "Something is wrong..."
* * * * *
Yusuke was dreaming, too. A dream just as bad as the one that had awoken his friend.
Unfortunately, wakefullness was not an option.
He was walking in a forest, one alive with Spirit Energy--possibly near Master Genkai's temple?--and it was pouring down rain. Not just a little bit of rain, rain so hard Yusuke could barely see his own hand in front of his face. He was cold, he was soaked to the bone, and he was pissed.
But something was calling him... A voice, maybe? Yusuke didn't know. All he knew for certain was that he was being drawn towards something, or someone out here.
Quite suddently, he stopped. His mere human eyes could just barely make out a body on the forest floor. Straining his eyes, he tried to see who it was.
He could smell blood. The air was thick with it--literally. Yusuke gasped in horror as he realized that the cold rain falling had turned into warm, sticky blood.
The forest was filling quickly with the substance. It was up to his ankles already, taking away leaves caught in its currents. In no time at all, it had swallowed the body, erasing it from his sight. As Yusuke cursed silently over the body, the water had risen to up to his knees. He tried to move, but found his feet were stuck to the ground in the awful water-blood-dirt combination.
Soon, the river of blood was up to his waist. It quickly asccended his body up his torso, over his shoulder, to his chin, over his head--
He awoke in a cold sweat, shaking all over. Gasping for breath, relieved at being free from the awful dream at last, he drew his knees up to his chest and put his forehead on his kneecaps... And heard a faint, soothing voice humming softly, and someone stroking his hair.
Snapping his head up, he saw a shadow of a girl sitting on the edge of his bed. She moved to sit cross-legged on the very end of his bed and smiled brightly at him. "Hey Yusuke." Her voice was soft, echoy, and hollow, but he knew it. It was Tensi's.
Yusuke stared at her. "What are you doing here?" he asked her softly, so as to not awaken his mother in the next room.
"You were having a bad dream. I just thought you'd like some comfort." Her smile softened as she winked at him. "Goodnight, Yusuke. No more bad dreams, you hear? And do me a favor--watch Hiei for me, please." With that, she dissapeared.
Yusuke laid back upon his bed and grinned. "Now, what ever was a girl like that doing with Hiei? I just don't see it."
* * * * *
"I'm sorry Yusuke, but I haven't seen Hiei all day today," Henageshi appologized the next afternoon. "I don't even know if he's still in his room or not."
"Kurama and Kuwabara are checking in there right now," the dark-haired boy replied. "I was just checking to see if you had seen him around. Thanks anyway." Yusuke turned and headed towards Hiei's room, but was met by Kurama halfway there. "What?"
"I found this in his room." Kurama handed Yusuke a small square of paper, a few odd characters scrawled on it. Yusuke couldn't make heads or tails of them.
"And all this means?"
"It means, "You were right, Kurama"... In the demon written language."
Yusuke would swear later that he heard his stomach drop down to about his knees. At the moment, however, he promptly panicked. "Where the hell is he?!"
* * * * *
The three decided to split ways, each taking a section of the woods surrounding the temple. In doing this, the enitre area would be searched. Kuwabara taking the right, Kurama the middle, and Yusuke the left, they set out. The situation was not looking good: Big, black thunderclouds had been threatening rain all day long, and were sparatically loosing their store of rain down on the populous below.
Kuwabara shivered to himself as the rain came pelting down on him once more. This is so creapy... Reminds me of that dream I had last night. I hope I don't find a body, I hope I don't find a body, I hope I don't find a body...
He never saw the root--it was almost as if the tree had a concious will of its own and lifted it right out of the ground, tripping the redhead. He fell with a hard 'thud', then slowly rose, winded and cursing to himself as he caught his breath.
"Damnit, that really fucking hurt. Ow, I'm gonna have a bruise there tomorrow..." Looking down, he noticed a fair-sized rock lying on the ground where he had fallen; it had made direct contact with his chest. Frustrated at himself, Hiei, the weather, the tree and the rock, he kicked the stone off to the side--
--And froze when he heard it come in contact with metal.
* * * * *
"GUYS! YOU'D BETTER GET HERE QUICK!"
The panicked tone in Kuwabara's voice made Kurama and Yusuke jump. Turning towards the sound, the two boys took off. They were at his side seconds after he had finished yelling. Yusuke stared at his friend, who had gone quite white. "What?!"
"Is he--is he--?" Kuwabara pointed to his left, staring wide-eyed over their heads. Naturally, the other two looked over, and were stunned at the sight that presented itself.
It was Hiei. He was lying face down on the leaf-strewn ground, a fine river of blood snaking its way though the muddy underfoot. His sword was grasped in his limp right hand, blood staining the entire blade.
The three stood rooted to the spot for a split-second as the realization hit them: It had been Hiei in their dream last night, that lifeless body that had been swallowed up by the blood flood.
Kurama was the first to come to his senses; maybe he was still just barely alive; maybe they could still save him. Rushing forward to his friend, he carefully and painstakingly flipped him over to his back, finding disapointment at the new sight revealed: A rip in his cape revealed a deep gash, the blood barely trickling out stickily as the antigens tried instictively to repair the damage. On Hiei's face was a look of peaceful content, much akin to that of a sleeping child.
Kurama shook his head. "We're too late," here, he looked back up at his friends. "He's cold."
* * * * *
* * * * *
Cold as Fire
by Grace Musica
Chapter Fifteen
Dreams
* * * * *
Kuwabara awoke with a start. He leaned forward, holding his head in his hands. "What a dream!"
Was it a dream, Kazuma? Or a premonition?
Not noticing the fact that another voice had said this, he closed his eyes again, trying to remember it; unfortunately, the finer points evaded him, and he had wanted to forget the major points. So much BLOOD!
He lay flat on his back, looking up at the ceiling. "Something is wrong..."
* * * * *
Yusuke was dreaming, too. A dream just as bad as the one that had awoken his friend.
Unfortunately, wakefullness was not an option.
He was walking in a forest, one alive with Spirit Energy--possibly near Master Genkai's temple?--and it was pouring down rain. Not just a little bit of rain, rain so hard Yusuke could barely see his own hand in front of his face. He was cold, he was soaked to the bone, and he was pissed.
But something was calling him... A voice, maybe? Yusuke didn't know. All he knew for certain was that he was being drawn towards something, or someone out here.
Quite suddently, he stopped. His mere human eyes could just barely make out a body on the forest floor. Straining his eyes, he tried to see who it was.
He could smell blood. The air was thick with it--literally. Yusuke gasped in horror as he realized that the cold rain falling had turned into warm, sticky blood.
The forest was filling quickly with the substance. It was up to his ankles already, taking away leaves caught in its currents. In no time at all, it had swallowed the body, erasing it from his sight. As Yusuke cursed silently over the body, the water had risen to up to his knees. He tried to move, but found his feet were stuck to the ground in the awful water-blood-dirt combination.
Soon, the river of blood was up to his waist. It quickly asccended his body up his torso, over his shoulder, to his chin, over his head--
He awoke in a cold sweat, shaking all over. Gasping for breath, relieved at being free from the awful dream at last, he drew his knees up to his chest and put his forehead on his kneecaps... And heard a faint, soothing voice humming softly, and someone stroking his hair.
Snapping his head up, he saw a shadow of a girl sitting on the edge of his bed. She moved to sit cross-legged on the very end of his bed and smiled brightly at him. "Hey Yusuke." Her voice was soft, echoy, and hollow, but he knew it. It was Tensi's.
Yusuke stared at her. "What are you doing here?" he asked her softly, so as to not awaken his mother in the next room.
"You were having a bad dream. I just thought you'd like some comfort." Her smile softened as she winked at him. "Goodnight, Yusuke. No more bad dreams, you hear? And do me a favor--watch Hiei for me, please." With that, she dissapeared.
Yusuke laid back upon his bed and grinned. "Now, what ever was a girl like that doing with Hiei? I just don't see it."
* * * * *
"I'm sorry Yusuke, but I haven't seen Hiei all day today," Henageshi appologized the next afternoon. "I don't even know if he's still in his room or not."
"Kurama and Kuwabara are checking in there right now," the dark-haired boy replied. "I was just checking to see if you had seen him around. Thanks anyway." Yusuke turned and headed towards Hiei's room, but was met by Kurama halfway there. "What?"
"I found this in his room." Kurama handed Yusuke a small square of paper, a few odd characters scrawled on it. Yusuke couldn't make heads or tails of them.
"And all this means?"
"It means, "You were right, Kurama"... In the demon written language."
Yusuke would swear later that he heard his stomach drop down to about his knees. At the moment, however, he promptly panicked. "Where the hell is he?!"
* * * * *
The three decided to split ways, each taking a section of the woods surrounding the temple. In doing this, the enitre area would be searched. Kuwabara taking the right, Kurama the middle, and Yusuke the left, they set out. The situation was not looking good: Big, black thunderclouds had been threatening rain all day long, and were sparatically loosing their store of rain down on the populous below.
Kuwabara shivered to himself as the rain came pelting down on him once more. This is so creapy... Reminds me of that dream I had last night. I hope I don't find a body, I hope I don't find a body, I hope I don't find a body...
He never saw the root--it was almost as if the tree had a concious will of its own and lifted it right out of the ground, tripping the redhead. He fell with a hard 'thud', then slowly rose, winded and cursing to himself as he caught his breath.
"Damnit, that really fucking hurt. Ow, I'm gonna have a bruise there tomorrow..." Looking down, he noticed a fair-sized rock lying on the ground where he had fallen; it had made direct contact with his chest. Frustrated at himself, Hiei, the weather, the tree and the rock, he kicked the stone off to the side--
--And froze when he heard it come in contact with metal.
* * * * *
"GUYS! YOU'D BETTER GET HERE QUICK!"
The panicked tone in Kuwabara's voice made Kurama and Yusuke jump. Turning towards the sound, the two boys took off. They were at his side seconds after he had finished yelling. Yusuke stared at his friend, who had gone quite white. "What?!"
"Is he--is he--?" Kuwabara pointed to his left, staring wide-eyed over their heads. Naturally, the other two looked over, and were stunned at the sight that presented itself.
It was Hiei. He was lying face down on the leaf-strewn ground, a fine river of blood snaking its way though the muddy underfoot. His sword was grasped in his limp right hand, blood staining the entire blade.
The three stood rooted to the spot for a split-second as the realization hit them: It had been Hiei in their dream last night, that lifeless body that had been swallowed up by the blood flood.
Kurama was the first to come to his senses; maybe he was still just barely alive; maybe they could still save him. Rushing forward to his friend, he carefully and painstakingly flipped him over to his back, finding disapointment at the new sight revealed: A rip in his cape revealed a deep gash, the blood barely trickling out stickily as the antigens tried instictively to repair the damage. On Hiei's face was a look of peaceful content, much akin to that of a sleeping child.
Kurama shook his head. "We're too late," here, he looked back up at his friends. "He's cold."
* * * * *