Disclaimer: If I owned Yu Yu Hakusho, then I would be Hiei's girlfriend!
^___^ But I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. ;_; *Is crying*
To Sanosuke Hidane: For someone that's in a body cast, you're very hyper. Or maybe it's because of my fic! Or maybe all your compliments have just gotten to my head and in reality you've just had waaaaay to much coffee.
To Reno Spiegel: Hmmm, yes, I could see why it would be hard for you to grasp some of the terms. Believe it or not, *whispers* I haven't seen past the Four Saint Beasts episodes either! I'm totally winging it here (or spending an insane amount of time researching this show). Don't tell anyone! . . . Wait a $%@# minute. Other people can read this, can't they? Darn it.
To Black Gem: O.O I'm sneaky?! COOL! I'm going to go steal from my little sister now and get my gameboy back because I'm sneaky! *One hour later and Lady BDF is bloody and bruised* You little liar! But I'm glad you like the fic.
To Jen: -^___^- You're reviews are the high point of every chapter for me!
To mizustarangel: . . . That's quite a few exclamation marks, but I'm glad you get it now!
To Yukiko-sama: Actually, I'm already trying to write a book. That's kind of why it takes so long for me to update. Thank you for the high praise though, I love it!
To Lady Light: I love the warm, fuzzy feeling I get from your compliments!
To Queen Death Dragon: O.O You're not going to threaten me?! Woohoo! Yayness galore! Glad you like this story, but it'll take me for-freakin'- ever to update YYH and the Random Spell. Its times like these I'm glad you won't kill me over little things like updates . . . right?
To Sheep: More money then Bill Gates . . . wow. That's quite a bit of flames. Glad you like the story and I hope people remember their sanity next time they read your fics.
To Tetsuo-Shima: Hey! I'm not *that* bad with my updating! *Notices all reviewers are looking in another direction or rolling their eyes* --' Okay, I'll try to update more. Glad you like the story!
To LilyKitsune: I'm honored to be on your favorite list. HAPPY DAY! Go ME! THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!
To celestria: Thank you! Whenever I write fan fiction, I always make sure I have the character down because I HATE OOC! OOC is *not* cool people! So, I'm glad you think I keep them in character!
To Ox King: I'm so happy you love my story! I simply *love* input and compliments!
To bubblesluvsveggie: Yep. It was definitely abrupt, as you so put it. From my experience (which isn't saying a lot since I'm only thirteen) love can be like a sledgehammer sometimes. One second you're just sitting there and BAM! You're seeing stars, er, hearts.
To Alex Warlorn: *Blink, blink* Ooooh! That's what you meant! I got a completely different vibe from your review. Well, yeah, Yusuke will find out eventually and Kurama will probably be the most understanding, but Keiko is . . . looking into the situation so much that she can't really see the obvious. You know what I mean? Sorry if I was offense or anything before. In truth, I kind of like it when people ask about things like this, but must of this stuff I *have* thought about and will be answered in later chapters. So don't worry you're lil' head!
To SSJ Inuyasha: Aw, thank you! I'll reveal who the girl in the dreams is in later chapters (Is there an echo in here? Or am I just saying that a lot?) and as for the name, THANK YOU! It took me a freakin' hour to find the Japanese name for Spirit Detective! I'm NOT going to use anymore Japanese terms though, because I don't want to confuse anyone/destroy my computer in frustration.
To Danger Kitty #1: I know, I know. Sometimes I just can't type anymore and I have to cut the chapters short. If you prefer, I could take even *longer* to update . . . but I don't think I need more people hounding me.
To LadyBlushaLot: Doust thou think me witty? Aw, that's so nice of you! And as for replying to my reviewers, well, if people have the time to write lovely reviews about my stories, then I have enough time to at least say thank you. But that's just my insane logic.
To DeMoNic GigGles: ^___^ Thank you! As for the words, here is why there messed up. 1) My spell-check is devil spawn 2) I need to start taking the time to edit my stories and 3) my actual spelling is . . . crap for a lack of a less insulting term.
To Kyra Windwood: Methinks that dream was wack too. But . . . it'll make more sense in later chapters. (There's an echo in here!)
To BlackFire13: --' Hiei's fans are so . . . faithful. ^^ Just kidding, but, just so you know, our fav fire demon hasn't lost it quite yet.
To hieitheone13: Um, no these are all my ideas. All the person who requested this story said was 'make it a Hiei/Keiko story'. So . . . I concocted a plot to get them together. Thank you for the compliments and as for the offer of me being in your story . . . um, I not so sure that's a good idea. You see, people tend to mess up my personality because I change it so often when on the computer. So, whenever people write about me in stories, it's not really me, it's a crazy OC with my name. Just leave me to screw with people's minds, okay? Thanks for the reviews!
To Water Guardian: -^___^- What can I say? You're so wonderful for writing these nice compliments!
To Ale-Bloody-Roses: My dear, shibby friend, I love it when you review my stories! ^^v And love it even more when you update your own! Ugh, we both suck at the whole routine-updating thing, don't we? Well, at least we don't get graded on that! As for Kurama getting drunk, umm, I'm sure it's physically possible for him to get drunk, but I don't think he would. I mean, it's Kurama! He's *perfect*! Except for the fact he wears pink clothes. Pink clothes are a big no-no for guys, in my opinion. He should wear red, or emerald green or just something else besides that *evil* color! A friend of mine thought he was a girl when she first saw him, and of course, I hit her over the head for you Ale. And no, I don't know why homework is important either. It's a cosmic mystery we'll probably never know the answer too . . . *Twilight Zone music plays in the background*
To FallenStardust: I'm shocked at how many people like this fic! Thank you so much for the compliments!
To keyone ryou: *Takes sugar coated Hiei and his kanata* I have the sudden urge to update! Thank you!
To Alexandris Roses: Thanks!
To lia-goddess: School is always evil! And thank you for reviewing; I honestly don't care if you can't do it right away. The fact that you *did* is enough for me. And you are too kawaii Hiei-sama!
To J-sama: Squeal! Those are wonderful ideas! I think they might make better sequels though. I mean, those ideas could go on for chapters and chapters, and then I'd never get to the romance! I'll think about it. Your ideas rock and thank you for reviewing!
To Diddums: Hey, you reviewed and didn't flame! That's enough for me. You get twenty super demon points for giving this fic a chance!
To asian princess 61: Glad you like. Nope, it wouldn't be Hiei if he *willingly* did something like that, but if he was *forced* . . . then that's a completely different story!
To fluffywolfy: -^___^- Yet another person caught in the spell of this seemingly normal fic. I'm glad you like this story so much! And please don't hurt me . . . something about writing when you're half dead just irritates me, ya know?
To rogue solus: O.O I have servants?! Cool. Well, as for the confused-fire- one, he'll being going through a *lot* worse . . . MUHAHAHA*cough*HAHAHA!
To Raine Roa: --''''' Hey! I try to update as frequently as possible! It's just that this story is sooooooo hard to write sometimes!
To Lady.CaT-eyes/K: Aww, did I scare you? Sorry if I did! *Eyes get all big and shiny* Well, thanks for reviewing!
SECERTS IN MY BLOOD, CHAPTER 10
The glowing red had died down to an ash like gray. All the light from the embers were gone and morning would soon be there. All the inhabitants of the forest who were not night dwellers would awaken soon. One diurnal creature was not asleep though.
"HA!"
One cobra demon was very much awake and kicking the crap out of a nearby tree. It seemed that, the more active she was, the less she thought about her hormones gone berserk, and the desires of those hormones. Of course, the first few punches and kicks had been badly done, she had even fallen down a few times, but now could at least hit something and stay in the correct stance, for now.
That is what the problem had been all along. Keiko needed to have something solid to hit. Otherwise, the momentum would send her flying face first into the ground. Hiei had forgotten this because he had perfected his style of fighting over many, many years and had no use for going over the basics. More advanced moves were a combination of simple ones. So practicing for him, would have been rather silly. Thus, he had forgotten the proper way to go about basic training.
Keiko however, was another manner. Having not yet learnt the basics, she needed to practice them. Unfortunately, she had no instructor, and was slowly changing the stances to better befit her own body. This might have actually been a good thing. For you see, every demon has their own style of fighting deeply embedded in their genetic code. It is more primal, natural and easier to learn then an invented fight style. Heritage fighting, as it was called, had one major flaw though. The flaw, being that unless the demon using it was much more powerful then their opponent, it was very weak against all other fighting forms.
Why is it weak? Well, if you look closely at the demon's gait, body shape and personality, one could anticipate the other demon's next move quite easily. That is why an invented fighting style is better. You never know what move they might use, or if they tweaked any of the moves.
But at this point in time, Keiko just being able to hit something was impressive. She now moved from kicking to punching. She was doing quite well and, to her astonishment, hitting the tree had no affect whatsoever on her body. One would think the bark would destroy her skin, but it was as if she had an invisible shield protecting her.
Several hours later, the sun was high in the sky and Keiko needed to stop, or else she would collapse where she stood.
"Just . . . one more . . . time." Keiko said to herself.
Keiko drew her hand back and smashed it into the already smashed up tree trunk. Much to her utter shock, it hurt like hell.
"YYYYEEEEOOOOWWWWCCCHHH!"
Then the cobra demon proceeded to scream every single profanity known to man, demon and God into the silent Makai forest. If any young demons had been listening, they would most certainly be scarred for life.
"What happened?!" Thought Keiko once she had regained control of her mouth and checked out her knuckles, which looked like they had been put in a meat grinder.
She couldn't figure it out. How come this didn't happen the first time, when she punched the tree to vent her anger? How come it hadn't happened all the other times?
Keiko decided she would think about it later. Her vision was blurry and her head hurt from all the exercise. Add all this to the fact that she was out of breath, sore and exceedingly tired, Keiko quickly found herself asleep.
Thankfully, her sleep was dreamless, but another individual was not so lucky.
Hiei bolted upright in the tree he was in. It had been another 'dream'. In his personal opinion, 'nightmare from hell' was a better term. The fire demon crossed his legs and looked down on the other members of the Spirit Detectives beneath him. With a touch of envy he watched them sleep and in Kuwabara's case, snore peacefully. Hiei noted with disgust that Kuwabara was supposed to be keeping watch. Moron, he was going to get them all killed one day.
Hiei turned and leaned against the tree. The sky was a bright orange, seeing as how the sun was about to set. They slept during the day because they assumed Bazikori would be nocturnal. Most demons were prone to darkness and besides, they didn't want to be ambushed in their sleep.
The fire demon looked down again when he heard a small moan. It came from Yusuke. It didn't surprise Hiei. Kurama had 'informed' him that Keiko had gone missing and even though her mother assured everyone she was visiting a relative, Yusuke had this gut feeling something was wrong.
Briefly Hiei pondered on why Keiko's mother had made up that lie. How could she know that Keiko was, supposedly, going to be alright? The fire demon scowled at himself for actually being concerned about the cobra demoness. Then again she was, in a way, his student. If she got killed on her own . . . what would that say about him?
Yes, that is the only reason he care, Hiei thought. The fire demon decided not to go back to sleep. First off, he might have more dreams, second, *somebody* needed to watch out for Bazikori and his minions.
Unfortunately, Hiei had nothing to do and his mind began to wander. It seemed, awake or asleep, his dreams would always manage to haunt him. He began to relive the most recent of his dreams.
Hiei was once again dressed in the red and gold garb. He was once again without his kanata. But the place was different this time. It was a beach. The sand was a pure white and the water a clear bluish-green that glowed. You could see the floor, even though it was nighttime. The sky itself was a dark blue with a pale blue at the horizon. A silvery-white crescent moon hung in the sky; it seemed much larger then usual. The stars were only white in the center, on the edges they shown radiant shades of orange, red and purple.
The palm trees behind him brushed their leaves together as a wonderfully warm breeze swept through them. It was perfectly silent after that, until the water started to froth. Hiei watched with fascination as the water continued to bubble higher and higher till it was almost as tall as him. Then the water went back down and in its stead, was a girl.
She wore a strapless green dress that looked as though it was made of fish scales. It barely reached her knees and had tiny aqua shells line the hem of the dress. The girl had a necklace made of pearls and shiny lavender shells. Also, she still had a mask on. This one was light purple with deep violet snake like sea monsters sewn on the edges. Hiei recognized her.
"You!"
"Hello, Hiei." Replied the girl, as she began to walk over.
"Stay. Where. You. Are." Growled Hiei, glad he could control his body this time.
"Alright." Said the girl, taking no offense.
Hiei relaxed a bit, but didn't let his guard down. They were four feet apart. Now he could get some questions answered.
"Where am I?" Asked Hiei
"Somewhere. I myself don't know exactly where here is." She answered.
"Why am I here?"
"You're here because you preformed the ritual." Said the girl, turning away slightly as she spoke.
"What ritual?" Asked Hiei, her vague answers beginning to annoy him.
"*The* ritual. I cannot tell you more." Responded the girl.
"But you know more." Said Hiei.
"I might." Said the girl slyly.
"Then tell me." Demanded Hiei
"Hmm," Said the girl, considering, "Only if . . . you catch me!"
Hiei growled as he girl sped down the beach, but then smirked. Had he been human, Hiei wouldn't even have a chance of catching her, but he was a demon. A fast demon. He raced down the beach in about the same amount of time it took someone to blink, visibly taking the girl by surprise. He was about to grab her, when she turned into mist.
The fire demon stood there, perplexed. Then he heard giggling. Behind him, some distance away was the girl, now solid and giggling as she ran. This continued for a quite some time. Hiei would chase the girl; the girl would turn into mist, and then reappear, then the chase would begin anew.
One might think this angered Hiei. It did, but only a little. Mainly, he was amused, even though he wouldn't ever admit it. The fire demon enjoyed the chase, it was the first time in many years someone could avoid being caught by him, even if the technique of evasion was an odd one.
It had to end though, and it did.
The girl, whose giggles had turned into shrieks of laughter, was not watching where she was going. A rather large shell just happened to be in her path at the time and she tripped over it. She would have fallen on the ground had Hiei not taken the opportunity and grabbed her arm. He had to wait until her laughter peeled down to small fits of hushed giggles to get a straight answer out of the girl.
"What is the ritual?" Asked Hiei.
"Oh fine." Said the girl, rather disappointed he wouldn't laugh at least once, "Come closer, I have to whisper it, or else we'll both have to leave this place."
Hiei leaned closer to her face and she insisted he lean closer still. This process continued until Hiei didn't think it possible for them to be any closer.
"Okay . . . the ritual is . . ." Whispered the girl.
She let the answer hang for a second or two and Hiei opened his mouth to ask her 'politely' to continue. Then the little temptress did the unbelievable.
She kissed him.
For a minute, Hiei was too shocked to do anything. Finally he got himself together and pushed her away.
"Aww, don't be mean. I know you enjoyed it." Said the girl with a lusty wink he could see through the mask, "See you tomorrow." And then she turned into mist.
Hiei stood there stupefied; he could have been a statue for all that he moved. Then he woke up.
The fire demon growled at his stupidity. How could have acted like he did? It didn't make any sense! But neither did that girl. At first she resembled a normal person and the way she kissed was oddly familiar, but now . . .
And then there was the 'See you tomorrow' comment. That was what truly had him worried. What in seven hells had that poison done to him? He couldn't sleep because some imaginary girl his own twisted subconscious and some poison had made up tormented him!
Hiei decided he was going to be look-out a lot more often and think less. Which was going to be hard, seeing as how brooding and sleeping was what he did in his vast amounts of spare time.
In another part of the Makai forest, much later . . .
Keiko woke up and groaned. Her back was sore from sleeping on the ground. She got up and stretched, wincing as she worked the kinks out of her muscles. She then looked at her fist, it was completely healed. She flexed her fingers a bit. No pain at all.
Keiko was going to the stream in order to wash up, when she had the most wonderful idea.
Why not go look for a hot spring?
Her muscles were practically screaming 'Yes, find a hot spring!'. Well, a hot spring couldn't be *too* far away. Hiei said she should stay put, but it wasn't as if she was going outside the forest.
Keiko dashed off, her muscles protesting the strain her new demon speed was placing on them. She wasn't anywhere near as fast as Hiei, but she was much faster then she had been when she was human. Keiko looked around the landscape; all she saw were colors that swirled together, like a runny watercolor painting.
Slowing down a bit, Keiko searched with her eyes for heat. Snakes saw things differently then humans, they saw things by how much heat something radiated. That's how they found their prey. Keiko discovered this interesting little fact when she had been staring at the embers in the near dead fire. Anything that was warm had a sparkly white aura surrounding it. She could block it out if she wanted, she could also make it intensify.
That is what she did now; she intensified her heat-vision so any steam would become very noticeable. Keiko lost time of how long she had been running; all she could think of was her first hot bath in weeks, even though it felt like centuries.
Something extremely white and sparkly caught her eyes just then. Keiko screeched to a halt and then headed in the direction of the steam. The smell of minerals reached her nose, it was much stronger then it had been when she was human. It didn't matter though; all Keiko wanted was warm water to bath in.
The demoness finally reached the spring. Keiko almost cried with joy as she took off her clothes and lowered herself into the deliciously hot waters. It was almost as nice as Hiei's cloak had been. For a while, Keiko just leaned back and enjoyed the warmth, and then she started to think.
Keiko glanced down at her formally wounded hand. How had it been able to hit the tree before without getting hurt, and then suddenly, have the rules change?
"It doesn't make any sense!" Said Keiko, slamming her fist down on the rock.
The rock cracked and crumbled under her fist. Keiko stared at the stone she had reduced to gravel and then at her hand. The fist glowed green for about two seconds before going back to normal.
"What the hell?" Whispered Keiko.
Her hand had just glowed green. Keiko waved her hand around a bit, made a fist with it once or twice and it still didn't glow green. What the heck was going on? The cobra demon closed her eyes and tried to remember if her hand had ever glowed green before.
Flashes of her transformation from human to demon came to mind, and she remembered the eerie green aura that had surrounded her. Could it be the same that was on her fist? It might. But that still didn't tell her what the green light was!
Keiko formed a fist again as she growled in anger. She was tired of all these mysterious happenings. She then witnessed her hand be surrounded by the phantom green energy. However, as soon as she started to really study the green illumination of her hand, it disappeared.
This time, Keiko decided to sigh in frustration rather than vent it on another defenseless rock. She just knew there was some sort of connection with her hand shining green when it did. There had to be some sort of trigger for when it happened, like her transformations . . .
"Like my transformations." Muttered Keiko.
This 'theory' of hers didn't exactly help. Like everything else about her demon heritage, she knew dangerously little about her transformations. Keiko wished Hiei was here, for more reasons then one.
"Why am I thinking about him?" Thought Keiko as she blushed and slumped even further into the water.
Yet another complication in her life. The fire demon. No matter what she did, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself that she did not love him, her thoughts would at some point always be drawn back to those fiendish fantasies.
"Where are all these-these- feelings coming from?!" Said Keiko, unaware of how utterly ridiculous she looked, what with having a conversation by herself.
Wait a second, feelings! That was it! Every time she transformed or glowed or did anything out of the ordinary, it always happened when she was experiencing strong emotions.
Now she was getting somewhere. To test if this hypothesis was true, Keiko thought of something that made her angry, the steel wings, seeing as that emotion was what caused the energy to appear most often.
As predicted, her hand soon had the shimmering green aura wrapped around it. Keiko continued reliving upsetting thoughts until she could barely see her hand through the opaque emerald mist that had engulfed it. The cobra demon then stopped remembering so she could look at the partially solidified energy that would be gone in less then three seconds.
It didn't go away though, it stayed on her hand. Keiko was content to simply look at it for a period of time, but the energy soon began to sting her hand. The cobra demon tried to dissipate it by thinking pleasant thoughts, mainly of Hiei, much to her embarrassment, but the energy remained firmly attached to her hand.
The energy was now started to burn. Keiko tried putting her hand in water, but it had no effect on the now incredibly painful energy. Finally, Keiko resorted to trying to throw it off and it actually worked! The circle of energy morphed into a crudely shape semi circle before hitting a tree.
Keiko felt her jaw drop as the cloud of green mist hit the tree and completely obliterated a three feet wide, one foot deep, section of the trunk.
"Oh . . . wow." Said Keiko.
The 'green energy' was apparently that 'spirit energy' Yusuke and Kuwabara were always talking about when they thought she wasn't listening. Actually, they never talked about it, they argued about whose was stronger.
Well, Keiko now knew that she had a rather powerful energy attack, and it was probably toxic as well as powerful, seeing as the wood around the hole was burning still. She didn't even use the command word, which is what Yusuke and Kuwabara always had to say before they could use their spirit attacks. She had just done the action.
Keiko flexed her hand for the twentieth time today probably and accepted this new surprise as she had some many others lately. She wasn't displeased though, this spirit weapon could come in handy one day.
"Who tressspasssesss Bazikori'sss watersss?" Hissed a voice from not to far away.
Like today for instance.
"Who isss in my land?" Growled the voice, now much closer.
Keiko quickly got out of the hot spring and hurriedly put her clothes back on.
"Child of sssnake, what isss your busssinesss here?" Said the voice, now with a body.
The speaker had a lizard-like body with something resembling a male human head on it where a lizard's should have been. The creature was as long as a tree was tall and it had murky brown skin that seemed to be covered in a kind of horrifyingly ugly scabs. Around the monster's shoulders were two beings that looked like weasels with scales and a blood red medallion. Keiko almost thought she could see skulls and other bones in deep ruby center of the jewel. The red eyes of the weasel creatures glowed with malice and one cackled in a grating, metallic voice.
"None, I'm leaving." Said Keiko, not wanting to fight this very large demon.
"Snake child, you have been in Lord Bazikori's territory for many hours. You're stench is everywhere. You cannot challenge Lord Bazikori and then walk away. No, no, no, that would be very improper." Said the other weasel animal in a sickly sweet voice that made Keiko shiver.
Taking advantage of Keiko's momentary lapse of attention, the lizard beast lazily wrapped a tail around her and brutally smashed her into a tree. The jarring impact made Keiko open her mouth in a silent scream of pain, but the crash had stolen the breath from her lungs, making it impossible to vocalize her immense hurt.
The lizard demon looked at his new play toy with a frown of annoyance. She wasn't much fun. Only one hit and already she was having trouble moving. Bazikori raised his tail high in the air and let Keiko drop to the ground with the satisfying 'thud' that could only be attained when flesh hit earth. He had expected more from her; she radiated the potential of great power. But that was his folly. What else could he expect from a member of a species he had thought extinct?
Keiko felt as though lightening had struck her. This was her first real fight. It would of course have to be a demon that outclassed her and it was typical that she didn't have enough training to even survive, let alone win. She could barely move and she hadn't even hit him yet! Not like she had a chance to, but regardless of that, she was still in quite a bit of trouble. She couldn't even change into her true demon form she was hurt so badly.
"Weak demoness, get up." Commanded Bazikori.
But Keiko stayed down. She had a plan, that and the fact she couldn't feel her feet kept her from getting up. Bazikori was growing impatient and started to approach the cobra demon. As he walked toward her, he picked up the smell of blood. He grinned. She must have gotten a laceration from the bark on the tree. The lizard beast was now right next to Keiko; he kneeled down until he was eye level with her. Bazikori expected to see fear and pain in those acid green eyes, but he didn't. Her face had an eerily clam demeanor, most likely from spending too much time with Hiei. Then Keiko grinned, showing two large fangs with her now purplish-red blood on them. She had punctured her own lips.
The lizard tried to step back, but it was too late. In the form of a true serpent, Keiko spat her blood into his eyes. The acid ate away at the eyes, the skin, everything it touched. Bazikori screamed and thrashed, trying to rid himself of the cobra demon's poisonous blood. Keiko pulled her body away from his and tried to think of her next move, if her blood didn't kill the monster.
"C-lever demon-ess. You ha-ve tempo-rarily blin-ded Lord Bazi-kori. But he has the Gem of Caxix, the poi-son will not ki-ll him." Said the weasel creature with the almost computerized sounding voice and metallic laugh.
Keiko tried to calm down and think about the situation rationally. It was rather hard to do, seeing as how Bazikori was rapidly regaining his sight, but she managed it.
She couldn't us poison because he was, for the most part, immune. She couldn't scratch, use teeth or punch because if she got close enough he would attack with his giant claws, teeth and tail. This was definitely a good time to use her spirit energy attack. She only wished it was more powerful.
"I mussst know your name before I dessstroy you demoness." Said the now seeing Bazikori.
"It's . . . Kobra, with a 'K' and you're not going to kill me. I'm going to kill you." Said Keiko, trying to buy time in order to much her attack stronger. Also, she believed it would be unwise to give her true name.
Bazikori was done waiting and that last comment had insulted him. He charged at the girl. Keiko then unleashed her power on him.
"AAAAARGH!" Screeched Bazikori, the entire front of his face charred black.
Keiko would have been tempted to jump up and dance for joy, had she been able to move her legs. That attack most certainly would kill the vile beast, Bazikori. She was wrong though. In front of her very eyes, Bazikori was healing. The charred skin became red burns, and then brown, then the burns simply disappeared.
Bazikori laughed at the demoness when her eyes went wide at his quick healing abilities. He stomped over to her and picked her up, by the neck with his tail. He watched her struggle and try to summon her spirit energy again. It didn't matter if she hit him again. The gem of Caxix would heal him every time.
Keiko was once again surrounded by red fog and was having trouble thinking. Combining this with the lack of oxygen her body was receiving, things did not look good, especially without Hiei wasn't here to save her this time.
Keiko was still pooling the energy in her hand, even though it was draining the life from her. Better she at least try to save herself then accept her fate willingly. Keiko had finally gathered the last of her energy in one of her hands. All she had to do was throw it and maybe, she could escape.
"Hedditcaa." Whispered a voice in her head.
It wasn't really a voice; it was more of a feeling, instinct maybe. Whatever it was, the 'feeling' obviously wanted her to speak the strange word.
"H-He-HEDDITCAA!" Screamed Keiko, with more force then she believed possible.
She then flung the energy at Bazikori. The energy was in the form of a rather large boomerang with blades at the edges. The acid green spirit weapon flew at the shocked Bazikori and made a clean cut across his neck, taking off his head, also one of the weasel things. Keiko felt the tail tighten for a moment and then release her, letting her plummet to the ground.
The boomerang, called Hedditcaa, came back to Keiko, like all boomerangs do, and dissipated in her hand. Keiko then hit the ground, still conscious even though she ought to be unconscious.
To Keiko's disbelief, she felt her wounds knit themselves back together; her entire body was healing itself in a matter of minutes! Even if she was a demon, this was not natural.
After about ten minutes, Keiko sat up, fully healed, and felt something in her hand. It was the Gem of Caxix. Hedditcaa must have brought it back to her. The gem used to be a deep red, but now it was a deep violet. Keiko could still see skulls and other bones in the gem though, but the gem had still changed colors, which confused Keiko. She ignored this for now in order to study the rest of the necklace. The chain was a dark grey and plain. The back the gem was set in was also dark grey. Around the edges of the gem, where the dark grey border was, there were small spikes.
Despite the jewel's morbid appearance, it was beautiful beyond comparison. Keiko put the gem around her neck. She might as well keep the spoils of her victory. The cobra demon then looked back at the now dead lord Bazikori. The absence of a head and the amount of red blood bathing the ground made her stomach twist. So sickening was the sight that Keiko had to run away from the body so she wouldn't throw up.
Keiko was back at Hiei and her's original campsite around night fall. Keiko had discovered that the hot springs had actually been a fair distance away from the campsite. She caught some fish and thought about the gem as her food cooked. This gem was very powerful; it had the power to heal wounds, even fatal ones, in a matter of minutes. Keiko was lucky that Hedditcaa had brought back the jewel. Otherwise, she would be dead right now.
Keiko ate her meal and stared into the fire. She wished Hiei was there with her. Even though he probably wouldn't talk with her, his presence was enough. Just him, the person who knew her biggest secret, the one she now trusted most, just him sitting by her side was enough. It would be pleasant if he would talk with her though, it would be even more pleasant if he would wrap his arms around her and . . .
"Not again." Thought Keiko.
Again with her thoughts of romance. A hopeless romance, mind you. Hiei would never love her. He might like her though, as a friend. Keiko sighed. She was just going to have to be content with that alone. Beside, this was most likely a crush, puppy love. It would go away and her reluctant friendship with Hiei would remain unscathed.
Thoughts being settled for the time being, Keiko lay down by the fire and fingered the Gem of Caxix, waiting for sleep to come. Drowsily Keiko realized dawn would be here soon and that her eyes had all that night been adjusted to the dim light before falling asleep.
Other diurnal creatures had also spent the entire night awake and, coincidentally, were at the same springs Keiko had been in a while back.
"Oh master Bazikori! She killed you master!" Cried the weasel like demon.
The spirit detectives watched the creature with a look of bewilderment. His master was dead, but he did not cry for his own flesh and blood, that was lying dead by its side.
"Did that thing say 'Bazikori'?" Asked Kuwabara of Yusuke.
Yusuke nodded in response, but kept his eyes on the small demon.
"Who killed your master?" Asked Kurama.
"A demoness named Kobra." Hissed the creature with venom.
"I've never heard of her." Said Kurama.
"But I tell you, she is real!" Cried the demon.
"And I do not doubt that. Come, you need to go to spirit world for questioning." Said Kurama, holding a hand out for the small beast.
The demon looked scared, if he went to spirit world, he would most likely be punished. The demon snapped his small teeth at Kurama and then, simply disappeared.
"Guys, we just lost the witness. Koenma's going to freak out." Said Yusuke, who could already hear the baby God's unending, rants.
"We have another complication. There is nothing here on the body that could be the toddler's." Said Hiei, who was over by the body.
"Say what?!" Yelled Kuwabara.
"Are you sure, Hiei?" Asked Yusuke in a 'please-say-its-there' tone.
"We could sense it if it was." Said Hiei.
Yusuke looked at the communication mirror in his hand. He really didn't want to call Boton and tell her an unknown demon had the heirloom. He had to though, she would scream at him much more if he waited until later. Yusuke opened up the communication mirror.
"Hello Yusuke, Boton here! Did you find Bazikori?" Said the cheerful Boton.
"Um, yeah. We found the guy but . . ." Mumbled Yusuke.
A few minutes later, a load shriek of "WHAT?!" could be hear through the forest. Then came several more hysterical screams. Finally it stopped and Boton could speak without causing an earthquake again.
"Alright, I'll tell Koenma what happened and you boys can go back to your normal lives for a bit. I'll see if there is any information on Kobra or if I can find out what the object that was stolen is. Just keep your eyes open." Said Boton.
"Great, just great." Said Yusuke.
"I, for one, am ready to depart from the Makai. Yusuke, Kuwabara, you'll probably want to come. How about you Hiei?" Asked Kurama, but the fire demon was already gone.
Lady BDF: Damn. Sixteen freakin' pages. You had better review!
To Sanosuke Hidane: For someone that's in a body cast, you're very hyper. Or maybe it's because of my fic! Or maybe all your compliments have just gotten to my head and in reality you've just had waaaaay to much coffee.
To Reno Spiegel: Hmmm, yes, I could see why it would be hard for you to grasp some of the terms. Believe it or not, *whispers* I haven't seen past the Four Saint Beasts episodes either! I'm totally winging it here (or spending an insane amount of time researching this show). Don't tell anyone! . . . Wait a $%@# minute. Other people can read this, can't they? Darn it.
To Black Gem: O.O I'm sneaky?! COOL! I'm going to go steal from my little sister now and get my gameboy back because I'm sneaky! *One hour later and Lady BDF is bloody and bruised* You little liar! But I'm glad you like the fic.
To Jen: -^___^- You're reviews are the high point of every chapter for me!
To mizustarangel: . . . That's quite a few exclamation marks, but I'm glad you get it now!
To Yukiko-sama: Actually, I'm already trying to write a book. That's kind of why it takes so long for me to update. Thank you for the high praise though, I love it!
To Lady Light: I love the warm, fuzzy feeling I get from your compliments!
To Queen Death Dragon: O.O You're not going to threaten me?! Woohoo! Yayness galore! Glad you like this story, but it'll take me for-freakin'- ever to update YYH and the Random Spell. Its times like these I'm glad you won't kill me over little things like updates . . . right?
To Sheep: More money then Bill Gates . . . wow. That's quite a bit of flames. Glad you like the story and I hope people remember their sanity next time they read your fics.
To Tetsuo-Shima: Hey! I'm not *that* bad with my updating! *Notices all reviewers are looking in another direction or rolling their eyes* --' Okay, I'll try to update more. Glad you like the story!
To LilyKitsune: I'm honored to be on your favorite list. HAPPY DAY! Go ME! THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!
To celestria: Thank you! Whenever I write fan fiction, I always make sure I have the character down because I HATE OOC! OOC is *not* cool people! So, I'm glad you think I keep them in character!
To Ox King: I'm so happy you love my story! I simply *love* input and compliments!
To bubblesluvsveggie: Yep. It was definitely abrupt, as you so put it. From my experience (which isn't saying a lot since I'm only thirteen) love can be like a sledgehammer sometimes. One second you're just sitting there and BAM! You're seeing stars, er, hearts.
To Alex Warlorn: *Blink, blink* Ooooh! That's what you meant! I got a completely different vibe from your review. Well, yeah, Yusuke will find out eventually and Kurama will probably be the most understanding, but Keiko is . . . looking into the situation so much that she can't really see the obvious. You know what I mean? Sorry if I was offense or anything before. In truth, I kind of like it when people ask about things like this, but must of this stuff I *have* thought about and will be answered in later chapters. So don't worry you're lil' head!
To SSJ Inuyasha: Aw, thank you! I'll reveal who the girl in the dreams is in later chapters (Is there an echo in here? Or am I just saying that a lot?) and as for the name, THANK YOU! It took me a freakin' hour to find the Japanese name for Spirit Detective! I'm NOT going to use anymore Japanese terms though, because I don't want to confuse anyone/destroy my computer in frustration.
To Danger Kitty #1: I know, I know. Sometimes I just can't type anymore and I have to cut the chapters short. If you prefer, I could take even *longer* to update . . . but I don't think I need more people hounding me.
To LadyBlushaLot: Doust thou think me witty? Aw, that's so nice of you! And as for replying to my reviewers, well, if people have the time to write lovely reviews about my stories, then I have enough time to at least say thank you. But that's just my insane logic.
To DeMoNic GigGles: ^___^ Thank you! As for the words, here is why there messed up. 1) My spell-check is devil spawn 2) I need to start taking the time to edit my stories and 3) my actual spelling is . . . crap for a lack of a less insulting term.
To Kyra Windwood: Methinks that dream was wack too. But . . . it'll make more sense in later chapters. (There's an echo in here!)
To BlackFire13: --' Hiei's fans are so . . . faithful. ^^ Just kidding, but, just so you know, our fav fire demon hasn't lost it quite yet.
To hieitheone13: Um, no these are all my ideas. All the person who requested this story said was 'make it a Hiei/Keiko story'. So . . . I concocted a plot to get them together. Thank you for the compliments and as for the offer of me being in your story . . . um, I not so sure that's a good idea. You see, people tend to mess up my personality because I change it so often when on the computer. So, whenever people write about me in stories, it's not really me, it's a crazy OC with my name. Just leave me to screw with people's minds, okay? Thanks for the reviews!
To Water Guardian: -^___^- What can I say? You're so wonderful for writing these nice compliments!
To Ale-Bloody-Roses: My dear, shibby friend, I love it when you review my stories! ^^v And love it even more when you update your own! Ugh, we both suck at the whole routine-updating thing, don't we? Well, at least we don't get graded on that! As for Kurama getting drunk, umm, I'm sure it's physically possible for him to get drunk, but I don't think he would. I mean, it's Kurama! He's *perfect*! Except for the fact he wears pink clothes. Pink clothes are a big no-no for guys, in my opinion. He should wear red, or emerald green or just something else besides that *evil* color! A friend of mine thought he was a girl when she first saw him, and of course, I hit her over the head for you Ale. And no, I don't know why homework is important either. It's a cosmic mystery we'll probably never know the answer too . . . *Twilight Zone music plays in the background*
To FallenStardust: I'm shocked at how many people like this fic! Thank you so much for the compliments!
To keyone ryou: *Takes sugar coated Hiei and his kanata* I have the sudden urge to update! Thank you!
To Alexandris Roses: Thanks!
To lia-goddess: School is always evil! And thank you for reviewing; I honestly don't care if you can't do it right away. The fact that you *did* is enough for me. And you are too kawaii Hiei-sama!
To J-sama: Squeal! Those are wonderful ideas! I think they might make better sequels though. I mean, those ideas could go on for chapters and chapters, and then I'd never get to the romance! I'll think about it. Your ideas rock and thank you for reviewing!
To Diddums: Hey, you reviewed and didn't flame! That's enough for me. You get twenty super demon points for giving this fic a chance!
To asian princess 61: Glad you like. Nope, it wouldn't be Hiei if he *willingly* did something like that, but if he was *forced* . . . then that's a completely different story!
To fluffywolfy: -^___^- Yet another person caught in the spell of this seemingly normal fic. I'm glad you like this story so much! And please don't hurt me . . . something about writing when you're half dead just irritates me, ya know?
To rogue solus: O.O I have servants?! Cool. Well, as for the confused-fire- one, he'll being going through a *lot* worse . . . MUHAHAHA*cough*HAHAHA!
To Raine Roa: --''''' Hey! I try to update as frequently as possible! It's just that this story is sooooooo hard to write sometimes!
To Lady.CaT-eyes/K: Aww, did I scare you? Sorry if I did! *Eyes get all big and shiny* Well, thanks for reviewing!
SECERTS IN MY BLOOD, CHAPTER 10
The glowing red had died down to an ash like gray. All the light from the embers were gone and morning would soon be there. All the inhabitants of the forest who were not night dwellers would awaken soon. One diurnal creature was not asleep though.
"HA!"
One cobra demon was very much awake and kicking the crap out of a nearby tree. It seemed that, the more active she was, the less she thought about her hormones gone berserk, and the desires of those hormones. Of course, the first few punches and kicks had been badly done, she had even fallen down a few times, but now could at least hit something and stay in the correct stance, for now.
That is what the problem had been all along. Keiko needed to have something solid to hit. Otherwise, the momentum would send her flying face first into the ground. Hiei had forgotten this because he had perfected his style of fighting over many, many years and had no use for going over the basics. More advanced moves were a combination of simple ones. So practicing for him, would have been rather silly. Thus, he had forgotten the proper way to go about basic training.
Keiko however, was another manner. Having not yet learnt the basics, she needed to practice them. Unfortunately, she had no instructor, and was slowly changing the stances to better befit her own body. This might have actually been a good thing. For you see, every demon has their own style of fighting deeply embedded in their genetic code. It is more primal, natural and easier to learn then an invented fight style. Heritage fighting, as it was called, had one major flaw though. The flaw, being that unless the demon using it was much more powerful then their opponent, it was very weak against all other fighting forms.
Why is it weak? Well, if you look closely at the demon's gait, body shape and personality, one could anticipate the other demon's next move quite easily. That is why an invented fighting style is better. You never know what move they might use, or if they tweaked any of the moves.
But at this point in time, Keiko just being able to hit something was impressive. She now moved from kicking to punching. She was doing quite well and, to her astonishment, hitting the tree had no affect whatsoever on her body. One would think the bark would destroy her skin, but it was as if she had an invisible shield protecting her.
Several hours later, the sun was high in the sky and Keiko needed to stop, or else she would collapse where she stood.
"Just . . . one more . . . time." Keiko said to herself.
Keiko drew her hand back and smashed it into the already smashed up tree trunk. Much to her utter shock, it hurt like hell.
"YYYYEEEEOOOOWWWWCCCHHH!"
Then the cobra demon proceeded to scream every single profanity known to man, demon and God into the silent Makai forest. If any young demons had been listening, they would most certainly be scarred for life.
"What happened?!" Thought Keiko once she had regained control of her mouth and checked out her knuckles, which looked like they had been put in a meat grinder.
She couldn't figure it out. How come this didn't happen the first time, when she punched the tree to vent her anger? How come it hadn't happened all the other times?
Keiko decided she would think about it later. Her vision was blurry and her head hurt from all the exercise. Add all this to the fact that she was out of breath, sore and exceedingly tired, Keiko quickly found herself asleep.
Thankfully, her sleep was dreamless, but another individual was not so lucky.
Hiei bolted upright in the tree he was in. It had been another 'dream'. In his personal opinion, 'nightmare from hell' was a better term. The fire demon crossed his legs and looked down on the other members of the Spirit Detectives beneath him. With a touch of envy he watched them sleep and in Kuwabara's case, snore peacefully. Hiei noted with disgust that Kuwabara was supposed to be keeping watch. Moron, he was going to get them all killed one day.
Hiei turned and leaned against the tree. The sky was a bright orange, seeing as how the sun was about to set. They slept during the day because they assumed Bazikori would be nocturnal. Most demons were prone to darkness and besides, they didn't want to be ambushed in their sleep.
The fire demon looked down again when he heard a small moan. It came from Yusuke. It didn't surprise Hiei. Kurama had 'informed' him that Keiko had gone missing and even though her mother assured everyone she was visiting a relative, Yusuke had this gut feeling something was wrong.
Briefly Hiei pondered on why Keiko's mother had made up that lie. How could she know that Keiko was, supposedly, going to be alright? The fire demon scowled at himself for actually being concerned about the cobra demoness. Then again she was, in a way, his student. If she got killed on her own . . . what would that say about him?
Yes, that is the only reason he care, Hiei thought. The fire demon decided not to go back to sleep. First off, he might have more dreams, second, *somebody* needed to watch out for Bazikori and his minions.
Unfortunately, Hiei had nothing to do and his mind began to wander. It seemed, awake or asleep, his dreams would always manage to haunt him. He began to relive the most recent of his dreams.
Hiei was once again dressed in the red and gold garb. He was once again without his kanata. But the place was different this time. It was a beach. The sand was a pure white and the water a clear bluish-green that glowed. You could see the floor, even though it was nighttime. The sky itself was a dark blue with a pale blue at the horizon. A silvery-white crescent moon hung in the sky; it seemed much larger then usual. The stars were only white in the center, on the edges they shown radiant shades of orange, red and purple.
The palm trees behind him brushed their leaves together as a wonderfully warm breeze swept through them. It was perfectly silent after that, until the water started to froth. Hiei watched with fascination as the water continued to bubble higher and higher till it was almost as tall as him. Then the water went back down and in its stead, was a girl.
She wore a strapless green dress that looked as though it was made of fish scales. It barely reached her knees and had tiny aqua shells line the hem of the dress. The girl had a necklace made of pearls and shiny lavender shells. Also, she still had a mask on. This one was light purple with deep violet snake like sea monsters sewn on the edges. Hiei recognized her.
"You!"
"Hello, Hiei." Replied the girl, as she began to walk over.
"Stay. Where. You. Are." Growled Hiei, glad he could control his body this time.
"Alright." Said the girl, taking no offense.
Hiei relaxed a bit, but didn't let his guard down. They were four feet apart. Now he could get some questions answered.
"Where am I?" Asked Hiei
"Somewhere. I myself don't know exactly where here is." She answered.
"Why am I here?"
"You're here because you preformed the ritual." Said the girl, turning away slightly as she spoke.
"What ritual?" Asked Hiei, her vague answers beginning to annoy him.
"*The* ritual. I cannot tell you more." Responded the girl.
"But you know more." Said Hiei.
"I might." Said the girl slyly.
"Then tell me." Demanded Hiei
"Hmm," Said the girl, considering, "Only if . . . you catch me!"
Hiei growled as he girl sped down the beach, but then smirked. Had he been human, Hiei wouldn't even have a chance of catching her, but he was a demon. A fast demon. He raced down the beach in about the same amount of time it took someone to blink, visibly taking the girl by surprise. He was about to grab her, when she turned into mist.
The fire demon stood there, perplexed. Then he heard giggling. Behind him, some distance away was the girl, now solid and giggling as she ran. This continued for a quite some time. Hiei would chase the girl; the girl would turn into mist, and then reappear, then the chase would begin anew.
One might think this angered Hiei. It did, but only a little. Mainly, he was amused, even though he wouldn't ever admit it. The fire demon enjoyed the chase, it was the first time in many years someone could avoid being caught by him, even if the technique of evasion was an odd one.
It had to end though, and it did.
The girl, whose giggles had turned into shrieks of laughter, was not watching where she was going. A rather large shell just happened to be in her path at the time and she tripped over it. She would have fallen on the ground had Hiei not taken the opportunity and grabbed her arm. He had to wait until her laughter peeled down to small fits of hushed giggles to get a straight answer out of the girl.
"What is the ritual?" Asked Hiei.
"Oh fine." Said the girl, rather disappointed he wouldn't laugh at least once, "Come closer, I have to whisper it, or else we'll both have to leave this place."
Hiei leaned closer to her face and she insisted he lean closer still. This process continued until Hiei didn't think it possible for them to be any closer.
"Okay . . . the ritual is . . ." Whispered the girl.
She let the answer hang for a second or two and Hiei opened his mouth to ask her 'politely' to continue. Then the little temptress did the unbelievable.
She kissed him.
For a minute, Hiei was too shocked to do anything. Finally he got himself together and pushed her away.
"Aww, don't be mean. I know you enjoyed it." Said the girl with a lusty wink he could see through the mask, "See you tomorrow." And then she turned into mist.
Hiei stood there stupefied; he could have been a statue for all that he moved. Then he woke up.
The fire demon growled at his stupidity. How could have acted like he did? It didn't make any sense! But neither did that girl. At first she resembled a normal person and the way she kissed was oddly familiar, but now . . .
And then there was the 'See you tomorrow' comment. That was what truly had him worried. What in seven hells had that poison done to him? He couldn't sleep because some imaginary girl his own twisted subconscious and some poison had made up tormented him!
Hiei decided he was going to be look-out a lot more often and think less. Which was going to be hard, seeing as how brooding and sleeping was what he did in his vast amounts of spare time.
In another part of the Makai forest, much later . . .
Keiko woke up and groaned. Her back was sore from sleeping on the ground. She got up and stretched, wincing as she worked the kinks out of her muscles. She then looked at her fist, it was completely healed. She flexed her fingers a bit. No pain at all.
Keiko was going to the stream in order to wash up, when she had the most wonderful idea.
Why not go look for a hot spring?
Her muscles were practically screaming 'Yes, find a hot spring!'. Well, a hot spring couldn't be *too* far away. Hiei said she should stay put, but it wasn't as if she was going outside the forest.
Keiko dashed off, her muscles protesting the strain her new demon speed was placing on them. She wasn't anywhere near as fast as Hiei, but she was much faster then she had been when she was human. Keiko looked around the landscape; all she saw were colors that swirled together, like a runny watercolor painting.
Slowing down a bit, Keiko searched with her eyes for heat. Snakes saw things differently then humans, they saw things by how much heat something radiated. That's how they found their prey. Keiko discovered this interesting little fact when she had been staring at the embers in the near dead fire. Anything that was warm had a sparkly white aura surrounding it. She could block it out if she wanted, she could also make it intensify.
That is what she did now; she intensified her heat-vision so any steam would become very noticeable. Keiko lost time of how long she had been running; all she could think of was her first hot bath in weeks, even though it felt like centuries.
Something extremely white and sparkly caught her eyes just then. Keiko screeched to a halt and then headed in the direction of the steam. The smell of minerals reached her nose, it was much stronger then it had been when she was human. It didn't matter though; all Keiko wanted was warm water to bath in.
The demoness finally reached the spring. Keiko almost cried with joy as she took off her clothes and lowered herself into the deliciously hot waters. It was almost as nice as Hiei's cloak had been. For a while, Keiko just leaned back and enjoyed the warmth, and then she started to think.
Keiko glanced down at her formally wounded hand. How had it been able to hit the tree before without getting hurt, and then suddenly, have the rules change?
"It doesn't make any sense!" Said Keiko, slamming her fist down on the rock.
The rock cracked and crumbled under her fist. Keiko stared at the stone she had reduced to gravel and then at her hand. The fist glowed green for about two seconds before going back to normal.
"What the hell?" Whispered Keiko.
Her hand had just glowed green. Keiko waved her hand around a bit, made a fist with it once or twice and it still didn't glow green. What the heck was going on? The cobra demon closed her eyes and tried to remember if her hand had ever glowed green before.
Flashes of her transformation from human to demon came to mind, and she remembered the eerie green aura that had surrounded her. Could it be the same that was on her fist? It might. But that still didn't tell her what the green light was!
Keiko formed a fist again as she growled in anger. She was tired of all these mysterious happenings. She then witnessed her hand be surrounded by the phantom green energy. However, as soon as she started to really study the green illumination of her hand, it disappeared.
This time, Keiko decided to sigh in frustration rather than vent it on another defenseless rock. She just knew there was some sort of connection with her hand shining green when it did. There had to be some sort of trigger for when it happened, like her transformations . . .
"Like my transformations." Muttered Keiko.
This 'theory' of hers didn't exactly help. Like everything else about her demon heritage, she knew dangerously little about her transformations. Keiko wished Hiei was here, for more reasons then one.
"Why am I thinking about him?" Thought Keiko as she blushed and slumped even further into the water.
Yet another complication in her life. The fire demon. No matter what she did, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself that she did not love him, her thoughts would at some point always be drawn back to those fiendish fantasies.
"Where are all these-these- feelings coming from?!" Said Keiko, unaware of how utterly ridiculous she looked, what with having a conversation by herself.
Wait a second, feelings! That was it! Every time she transformed or glowed or did anything out of the ordinary, it always happened when she was experiencing strong emotions.
Now she was getting somewhere. To test if this hypothesis was true, Keiko thought of something that made her angry, the steel wings, seeing as that emotion was what caused the energy to appear most often.
As predicted, her hand soon had the shimmering green aura wrapped around it. Keiko continued reliving upsetting thoughts until she could barely see her hand through the opaque emerald mist that had engulfed it. The cobra demon then stopped remembering so she could look at the partially solidified energy that would be gone in less then three seconds.
It didn't go away though, it stayed on her hand. Keiko was content to simply look at it for a period of time, but the energy soon began to sting her hand. The cobra demon tried to dissipate it by thinking pleasant thoughts, mainly of Hiei, much to her embarrassment, but the energy remained firmly attached to her hand.
The energy was now started to burn. Keiko tried putting her hand in water, but it had no effect on the now incredibly painful energy. Finally, Keiko resorted to trying to throw it off and it actually worked! The circle of energy morphed into a crudely shape semi circle before hitting a tree.
Keiko felt her jaw drop as the cloud of green mist hit the tree and completely obliterated a three feet wide, one foot deep, section of the trunk.
"Oh . . . wow." Said Keiko.
The 'green energy' was apparently that 'spirit energy' Yusuke and Kuwabara were always talking about when they thought she wasn't listening. Actually, they never talked about it, they argued about whose was stronger.
Well, Keiko now knew that she had a rather powerful energy attack, and it was probably toxic as well as powerful, seeing as the wood around the hole was burning still. She didn't even use the command word, which is what Yusuke and Kuwabara always had to say before they could use their spirit attacks. She had just done the action.
Keiko flexed her hand for the twentieth time today probably and accepted this new surprise as she had some many others lately. She wasn't displeased though, this spirit weapon could come in handy one day.
"Who tressspasssesss Bazikori'sss watersss?" Hissed a voice from not to far away.
Like today for instance.
"Who isss in my land?" Growled the voice, now much closer.
Keiko quickly got out of the hot spring and hurriedly put her clothes back on.
"Child of sssnake, what isss your busssinesss here?" Said the voice, now with a body.
The speaker had a lizard-like body with something resembling a male human head on it where a lizard's should have been. The creature was as long as a tree was tall and it had murky brown skin that seemed to be covered in a kind of horrifyingly ugly scabs. Around the monster's shoulders were two beings that looked like weasels with scales and a blood red medallion. Keiko almost thought she could see skulls and other bones in deep ruby center of the jewel. The red eyes of the weasel creatures glowed with malice and one cackled in a grating, metallic voice.
"None, I'm leaving." Said Keiko, not wanting to fight this very large demon.
"Snake child, you have been in Lord Bazikori's territory for many hours. You're stench is everywhere. You cannot challenge Lord Bazikori and then walk away. No, no, no, that would be very improper." Said the other weasel animal in a sickly sweet voice that made Keiko shiver.
Taking advantage of Keiko's momentary lapse of attention, the lizard beast lazily wrapped a tail around her and brutally smashed her into a tree. The jarring impact made Keiko open her mouth in a silent scream of pain, but the crash had stolen the breath from her lungs, making it impossible to vocalize her immense hurt.
The lizard demon looked at his new play toy with a frown of annoyance. She wasn't much fun. Only one hit and already she was having trouble moving. Bazikori raised his tail high in the air and let Keiko drop to the ground with the satisfying 'thud' that could only be attained when flesh hit earth. He had expected more from her; she radiated the potential of great power. But that was his folly. What else could he expect from a member of a species he had thought extinct?
Keiko felt as though lightening had struck her. This was her first real fight. It would of course have to be a demon that outclassed her and it was typical that she didn't have enough training to even survive, let alone win. She could barely move and she hadn't even hit him yet! Not like she had a chance to, but regardless of that, she was still in quite a bit of trouble. She couldn't even change into her true demon form she was hurt so badly.
"Weak demoness, get up." Commanded Bazikori.
But Keiko stayed down. She had a plan, that and the fact she couldn't feel her feet kept her from getting up. Bazikori was growing impatient and started to approach the cobra demon. As he walked toward her, he picked up the smell of blood. He grinned. She must have gotten a laceration from the bark on the tree. The lizard beast was now right next to Keiko; he kneeled down until he was eye level with her. Bazikori expected to see fear and pain in those acid green eyes, but he didn't. Her face had an eerily clam demeanor, most likely from spending too much time with Hiei. Then Keiko grinned, showing two large fangs with her now purplish-red blood on them. She had punctured her own lips.
The lizard tried to step back, but it was too late. In the form of a true serpent, Keiko spat her blood into his eyes. The acid ate away at the eyes, the skin, everything it touched. Bazikori screamed and thrashed, trying to rid himself of the cobra demon's poisonous blood. Keiko pulled her body away from his and tried to think of her next move, if her blood didn't kill the monster.
"C-lever demon-ess. You ha-ve tempo-rarily blin-ded Lord Bazi-kori. But he has the Gem of Caxix, the poi-son will not ki-ll him." Said the weasel creature with the almost computerized sounding voice and metallic laugh.
Keiko tried to calm down and think about the situation rationally. It was rather hard to do, seeing as how Bazikori was rapidly regaining his sight, but she managed it.
She couldn't us poison because he was, for the most part, immune. She couldn't scratch, use teeth or punch because if she got close enough he would attack with his giant claws, teeth and tail. This was definitely a good time to use her spirit energy attack. She only wished it was more powerful.
"I mussst know your name before I dessstroy you demoness." Said the now seeing Bazikori.
"It's . . . Kobra, with a 'K' and you're not going to kill me. I'm going to kill you." Said Keiko, trying to buy time in order to much her attack stronger. Also, she believed it would be unwise to give her true name.
Bazikori was done waiting and that last comment had insulted him. He charged at the girl. Keiko then unleashed her power on him.
"AAAAARGH!" Screeched Bazikori, the entire front of his face charred black.
Keiko would have been tempted to jump up and dance for joy, had she been able to move her legs. That attack most certainly would kill the vile beast, Bazikori. She was wrong though. In front of her very eyes, Bazikori was healing. The charred skin became red burns, and then brown, then the burns simply disappeared.
Bazikori laughed at the demoness when her eyes went wide at his quick healing abilities. He stomped over to her and picked her up, by the neck with his tail. He watched her struggle and try to summon her spirit energy again. It didn't matter if she hit him again. The gem of Caxix would heal him every time.
Keiko was once again surrounded by red fog and was having trouble thinking. Combining this with the lack of oxygen her body was receiving, things did not look good, especially without Hiei wasn't here to save her this time.
Keiko was still pooling the energy in her hand, even though it was draining the life from her. Better she at least try to save herself then accept her fate willingly. Keiko had finally gathered the last of her energy in one of her hands. All she had to do was throw it and maybe, she could escape.
"Hedditcaa." Whispered a voice in her head.
It wasn't really a voice; it was more of a feeling, instinct maybe. Whatever it was, the 'feeling' obviously wanted her to speak the strange word.
"H-He-HEDDITCAA!" Screamed Keiko, with more force then she believed possible.
She then flung the energy at Bazikori. The energy was in the form of a rather large boomerang with blades at the edges. The acid green spirit weapon flew at the shocked Bazikori and made a clean cut across his neck, taking off his head, also one of the weasel things. Keiko felt the tail tighten for a moment and then release her, letting her plummet to the ground.
The boomerang, called Hedditcaa, came back to Keiko, like all boomerangs do, and dissipated in her hand. Keiko then hit the ground, still conscious even though she ought to be unconscious.
To Keiko's disbelief, she felt her wounds knit themselves back together; her entire body was healing itself in a matter of minutes! Even if she was a demon, this was not natural.
After about ten minutes, Keiko sat up, fully healed, and felt something in her hand. It was the Gem of Caxix. Hedditcaa must have brought it back to her. The gem used to be a deep red, but now it was a deep violet. Keiko could still see skulls and other bones in the gem though, but the gem had still changed colors, which confused Keiko. She ignored this for now in order to study the rest of the necklace. The chain was a dark grey and plain. The back the gem was set in was also dark grey. Around the edges of the gem, where the dark grey border was, there were small spikes.
Despite the jewel's morbid appearance, it was beautiful beyond comparison. Keiko put the gem around her neck. She might as well keep the spoils of her victory. The cobra demon then looked back at the now dead lord Bazikori. The absence of a head and the amount of red blood bathing the ground made her stomach twist. So sickening was the sight that Keiko had to run away from the body so she wouldn't throw up.
Keiko was back at Hiei and her's original campsite around night fall. Keiko had discovered that the hot springs had actually been a fair distance away from the campsite. She caught some fish and thought about the gem as her food cooked. This gem was very powerful; it had the power to heal wounds, even fatal ones, in a matter of minutes. Keiko was lucky that Hedditcaa had brought back the jewel. Otherwise, she would be dead right now.
Keiko ate her meal and stared into the fire. She wished Hiei was there with her. Even though he probably wouldn't talk with her, his presence was enough. Just him, the person who knew her biggest secret, the one she now trusted most, just him sitting by her side was enough. It would be pleasant if he would talk with her though, it would be even more pleasant if he would wrap his arms around her and . . .
"Not again." Thought Keiko.
Again with her thoughts of romance. A hopeless romance, mind you. Hiei would never love her. He might like her though, as a friend. Keiko sighed. She was just going to have to be content with that alone. Beside, this was most likely a crush, puppy love. It would go away and her reluctant friendship with Hiei would remain unscathed.
Thoughts being settled for the time being, Keiko lay down by the fire and fingered the Gem of Caxix, waiting for sleep to come. Drowsily Keiko realized dawn would be here soon and that her eyes had all that night been adjusted to the dim light before falling asleep.
Other diurnal creatures had also spent the entire night awake and, coincidentally, were at the same springs Keiko had been in a while back.
"Oh master Bazikori! She killed you master!" Cried the weasel like demon.
The spirit detectives watched the creature with a look of bewilderment. His master was dead, but he did not cry for his own flesh and blood, that was lying dead by its side.
"Did that thing say 'Bazikori'?" Asked Kuwabara of Yusuke.
Yusuke nodded in response, but kept his eyes on the small demon.
"Who killed your master?" Asked Kurama.
"A demoness named Kobra." Hissed the creature with venom.
"I've never heard of her." Said Kurama.
"But I tell you, she is real!" Cried the demon.
"And I do not doubt that. Come, you need to go to spirit world for questioning." Said Kurama, holding a hand out for the small beast.
The demon looked scared, if he went to spirit world, he would most likely be punished. The demon snapped his small teeth at Kurama and then, simply disappeared.
"Guys, we just lost the witness. Koenma's going to freak out." Said Yusuke, who could already hear the baby God's unending, rants.
"We have another complication. There is nothing here on the body that could be the toddler's." Said Hiei, who was over by the body.
"Say what?!" Yelled Kuwabara.
"Are you sure, Hiei?" Asked Yusuke in a 'please-say-its-there' tone.
"We could sense it if it was." Said Hiei.
Yusuke looked at the communication mirror in his hand. He really didn't want to call Boton and tell her an unknown demon had the heirloom. He had to though, she would scream at him much more if he waited until later. Yusuke opened up the communication mirror.
"Hello Yusuke, Boton here! Did you find Bazikori?" Said the cheerful Boton.
"Um, yeah. We found the guy but . . ." Mumbled Yusuke.
A few minutes later, a load shriek of "WHAT?!" could be hear through the forest. Then came several more hysterical screams. Finally it stopped and Boton could speak without causing an earthquake again.
"Alright, I'll tell Koenma what happened and you boys can go back to your normal lives for a bit. I'll see if there is any information on Kobra or if I can find out what the object that was stolen is. Just keep your eyes open." Said Boton.
"Great, just great." Said Yusuke.
"I, for one, am ready to depart from the Makai. Yusuke, Kuwabara, you'll probably want to come. How about you Hiei?" Asked Kurama, but the fire demon was already gone.
Lady BDF: Damn. Sixteen freakin' pages. You had better review!