Blindness
By Gozilla
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi there! Thank you so much to all of you who read and/or reviewed the last chapter! Your reviews are my incentive to write! Thank you again! ^- ^
BTW, this is my first attempt on romance (well, only slightly). As I am nowhere near a romantic person myself, please bear with me if it is not successful. ^-^
Just for your information, the pairing for the fic will be Hiei x Mukuro (surprise, surprise...). ^-^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: I don't own anything (except for the cute little Blackie, please don't take it away from me) and I don't have anything. So don't sue me!!
Please excuse my poor English!
Enjoy!
Reviews are welcomed!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"crap" - conversation
*crap* - thoughts
(crap) - author's note
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 2 : Something's very wrong
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Early the next morning~
~Beside the stream~
The fire demon slowly regained consciousness. Disoriented, he opened his eyes. He found himself lying on the ground, covered with a layer of sweat. His head felt like it was going to split into half.
He pulled his arm out of the water and looked at the wound. The swelling and the burning feeling had been significantly reduced. However, the wound didn't seem to be healing at all, as blood still leaking from it.
The fire demon struggled to get on his feet. He also fell to the ground as a heavy dizziness struck him. Everything seemed blurred. He shook his head to clear his mind and his vision.
Finally, after around 10 minutes or so, Hiei was able to stand up and started walking back to the castle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~30 minutes later~
~Inside Mukuro's mobile castle~
Mukuro walked slowly towards Hiei's bedroom, which was located at the end of the corridor. She was worried as she could barely sense the youki of the fire demon.
"Hiei." she knocked on the door, no response. "I am coming in." carefully, she opened the door and entered the room. The room was dark as all the windows were covered by curtains.
It took a while before Mukuro's eyes adjusted to the darkness. Her eyes widened as she saw a small limped figure lying beside the bed, unmoving.
"Hiei!" she ran to the small figure on the floor and held him with her arms.
The fire demon was covered with sweat, his eyes half-opened and out- focused.
"Hiei! Wake up!" Mukuro shouted, with a slight and rare tone of fear in her voice, shaking the fire demon.
The fire demon's eye slowly focused on the face in front of him. "Mukuro?" he murmured as he struggled to sit up. Hiei held a hand onto his head, the headache was getting more and more severe, "What happened?"
The warlord stood and looked at the fire demon, who sat leaning against the side of the bed, "I should be the one asking the question. What is going on? You look terrible."
"I am fine." Hiei lied, "I just fell off the bed."
Mukuro looked at the fire demon, knowing that he was lying. She frowned as she looked at the fire demon's damaged arm, noticing that the wound showed no sign of healing. *This is strange. Hiei is one of the people I know whose body can recover very quickly.* she thought, looking more closely to the wound, *Fortunately there is no sign of poison. But why is he so weak? I have never seen his youki decreasing in such rate.*
The fire demon struggled to stand up, "I will go to the Ningenkai and find Yukina. She will be able to heal the wound." said Hiei, having difficulty to balance with the heavy dizziness and splitting headache in his head.
The warlord caught the fire demon before he fell to the floor, "I am coming with you."
Hiei struggled against Mukuro's hold, "I told you I am fine. I can take care of myself. I don't need anyone to baby-sit me."
"I am not baby-sitting anyone." Mukuro said, determined, "I want to pay a visit to Raizen's descendent, Yusuke. Remember that Genki said that I can ask Yusuke to join the investigation team for his detective expertise. So it is you who are accompanying me to the Ningenkai as a guide."
Unable to argue, Hiei sighed and allowed Mukuro to put his undamaged arm around her shoulder, supporting his balance, and ran to the nearest portal to the Ningenkai.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Two hours later~
~Around noon~
~In the front yard of Genkai's temple~
Kurama, Yusuke, Kawabara and Yukina waited anxiously outside of the temple. About half an hour ago, they all sensed the approach of an extremely powerful youkai from one of the portals connected to Makai.
The Reikai Tanteis rushed to gather in Genkai's temple immediately. They later recognised it was one of the warlords of Makai, Mukuro. Under her powerful youki, they also sensed the presence of a weak but familiar youki, their fire demon friend's ki.
From the low level of Hiei's ki, they knew he was probably badly injured. Yukina held Blackie, her twin brother's reikai beast, which was a small dragon with black and white strip pattern over its body, in her arms.
The dragon was not in good shape either, it seemed exhausted and lied still in its half-mistress's arms. Ever since Yukina injected her ice power into the dragon in the fight with the water demon Akana, the dragon had absorbed part of her heart and soul. As a result, she became Blackie's half- mistress. The dragon, in turn, reflected the conditions of both the twins' hearts and souls.
Yukina stroke dragon gently, nervousness built inside her heart as the dragon did not response to her touch, which would normally made it very happy. She knew that, since she had shared her heart and soul in the dragon with her brother, the dragon did not completely reflect the fire demon's conditions, but to a much lesser extent. She knew Hiei was in a much worse condition than the dragon's.
After seemingly a long wait, a tall figure appeared at the front gate of the temple, with a small limped figure hanging beside it.
"Hiei!" "Oniisan!" the group shouted as they rushed towards the two figures. The fire demon was unconscious and did not response to his friends' and his sister's call.
Yukina inspected the wound on her brother's left forearm, which was nasty and still bleeding. Kawabara helped the koorime to bring the fire demon inside the temple for treatment.
Mukuro, Kurama and Yusuke watched the three disappeared behind the door. Kurama turned to the warlord, "What happened?"
Mukuro kept her glaze to the room where the fire demon was, "Someone was trying to assassinate me last night. Hiei blocked the attack and got injured. Somehow the wound did not heal and his conditions worsened dramatically overnight. But I saw no sign of poison. I guess it is due to some kind of infection to the wound."
"Is that so..." Kurama followed the warlord's glaze, a bad feeling lingered his mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~30 minutes later~
~Inside the living room of Genkai's temple~
Mukuro, Kurama and Yusuke sat silently on the floor, waiting for the koorime's return.
Kawabara slide opened the door and entered the room, closely followed by the koorime.
"How's he?" Yusuke asked, he frowned as he saw the worried expression on the faces of the orange-hair boy and the koorime.
"I have healed the wound on oniisan's forearm." Yukina replied, tears threatened to escape from her eyes, "But there was no improvement in his condition. He slips in and out of unconsciousness and he is developing a high fever. I need to go and take care of him. Please excuse me." she bowed and left the room.
No word was exchanged. Kawabara sighed and sat beside Yusuke.
"This is unusual." it was Kurama who broke the silence, "This is not the first time Hiei got injured and it does not seem serious to me. How can such a small wound causes such a serious infection?" he turned to look at the warlord.
Yusuke and Kawabara also turned to Mukuro, waiting for any further clues.
Mukuro closed her eyes and sighed, "I have no idea. The only thing I know is that it is very likely that the assassins were sent by Hirota, as he always wanted to get rid of me."
Kurama inhaled deeply at the mention of the name of the lord of fire. The two ningens looked at the youko. "You know the name?" Yusuke asked.
"Yes, I do." Kurama looked to the ground, running through his memories, "Hirota, also known as the lord of shadow. He is the most powerful shadow demon in Makai. He is famous for his brutality. He kills anyone who gets in his way. He is a tyrant, thirty of absolute power over the whole Makai."
Kurama turned to Mukuro, "There were rumours that he was involved in the ultimate battle for the right to rule Makai. He lost the battle and the demon world was then divided among the three warlords, Reizen, Yumi and you, Mukuro, who ended up in a tie in the battle. Hirota disappeared ever since. Some people said he died but others said that he is waiting for a chance to fight back."
"Correct." Mukuro said, "There are reports of minor rebel activities in the far west part of Makai, where Hirota is hiding. Genki suspected that it was him who is behind all these activities and asked me to form an investigation team in this regard. Hiei was on the team list. But it seems that he is in no condition for the mission."
"Yusuke," Mukuro turned to the Reikai detective, "I want you to help me on this case. We need to find out what are his plans and if he is behind the assassination as soon as possible."
"No problem!" Yusuke shouted, jumping to his feet, "I will give this shadow demon a good punch in his face if he is the one responsible for the assassination! Let's don't waste any more time! Let's go!"
Yusuke and Mukuro charged out of the room. The warlord turned and looked at the room where the fire demon was staying before disappearing into the forest with the Reikai detective.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Around mid-night~
~Inside a room of Genkai's temple~
Yukina wiped the shivering body of the fire demon with a clean cloth and water. The fire demon had developed a dangerously high fever, despite the fact that the wound on his forearm was healed. He panted heavily and moaned as if he was having nightmares.
Worries filled the eyes of the koorime when she left the room for some fresh clean water.
Just as the kooirme left the room, the fire demon slowly opened his eyes. With the moonlight, all he could see was a blur and the twisted image of the ceiling.
*What is going on with me?* he thought before falling back to unconsciousness again, not knowing that it would be the last time he could see light for a long time...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of Chapter 2
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Please feel free to review and comment!
By Gozilla
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi there! Thank you so much to all of you who read and/or reviewed the last chapter! Your reviews are my incentive to write! Thank you again! ^- ^
BTW, this is my first attempt on romance (well, only slightly). As I am nowhere near a romantic person myself, please bear with me if it is not successful. ^-^
Just for your information, the pairing for the fic will be Hiei x Mukuro (surprise, surprise...). ^-^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: I don't own anything (except for the cute little Blackie, please don't take it away from me) and I don't have anything. So don't sue me!!
Please excuse my poor English!
Enjoy!
Reviews are welcomed!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"crap" - conversation
*crap* - thoughts
(crap) - author's note
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 2 : Something's very wrong
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Early the next morning~
~Beside the stream~
The fire demon slowly regained consciousness. Disoriented, he opened his eyes. He found himself lying on the ground, covered with a layer of sweat. His head felt like it was going to split into half.
He pulled his arm out of the water and looked at the wound. The swelling and the burning feeling had been significantly reduced. However, the wound didn't seem to be healing at all, as blood still leaking from it.
The fire demon struggled to get on his feet. He also fell to the ground as a heavy dizziness struck him. Everything seemed blurred. He shook his head to clear his mind and his vision.
Finally, after around 10 minutes or so, Hiei was able to stand up and started walking back to the castle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~30 minutes later~
~Inside Mukuro's mobile castle~
Mukuro walked slowly towards Hiei's bedroom, which was located at the end of the corridor. She was worried as she could barely sense the youki of the fire demon.
"Hiei." she knocked on the door, no response. "I am coming in." carefully, she opened the door and entered the room. The room was dark as all the windows were covered by curtains.
It took a while before Mukuro's eyes adjusted to the darkness. Her eyes widened as she saw a small limped figure lying beside the bed, unmoving.
"Hiei!" she ran to the small figure on the floor and held him with her arms.
The fire demon was covered with sweat, his eyes half-opened and out- focused.
"Hiei! Wake up!" Mukuro shouted, with a slight and rare tone of fear in her voice, shaking the fire demon.
The fire demon's eye slowly focused on the face in front of him. "Mukuro?" he murmured as he struggled to sit up. Hiei held a hand onto his head, the headache was getting more and more severe, "What happened?"
The warlord stood and looked at the fire demon, who sat leaning against the side of the bed, "I should be the one asking the question. What is going on? You look terrible."
"I am fine." Hiei lied, "I just fell off the bed."
Mukuro looked at the fire demon, knowing that he was lying. She frowned as she looked at the fire demon's damaged arm, noticing that the wound showed no sign of healing. *This is strange. Hiei is one of the people I know whose body can recover very quickly.* she thought, looking more closely to the wound, *Fortunately there is no sign of poison. But why is he so weak? I have never seen his youki decreasing in such rate.*
The fire demon struggled to stand up, "I will go to the Ningenkai and find Yukina. She will be able to heal the wound." said Hiei, having difficulty to balance with the heavy dizziness and splitting headache in his head.
The warlord caught the fire demon before he fell to the floor, "I am coming with you."
Hiei struggled against Mukuro's hold, "I told you I am fine. I can take care of myself. I don't need anyone to baby-sit me."
"I am not baby-sitting anyone." Mukuro said, determined, "I want to pay a visit to Raizen's descendent, Yusuke. Remember that Genki said that I can ask Yusuke to join the investigation team for his detective expertise. So it is you who are accompanying me to the Ningenkai as a guide."
Unable to argue, Hiei sighed and allowed Mukuro to put his undamaged arm around her shoulder, supporting his balance, and ran to the nearest portal to the Ningenkai.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Two hours later~
~Around noon~
~In the front yard of Genkai's temple~
Kurama, Yusuke, Kawabara and Yukina waited anxiously outside of the temple. About half an hour ago, they all sensed the approach of an extremely powerful youkai from one of the portals connected to Makai.
The Reikai Tanteis rushed to gather in Genkai's temple immediately. They later recognised it was one of the warlords of Makai, Mukuro. Under her powerful youki, they also sensed the presence of a weak but familiar youki, their fire demon friend's ki.
From the low level of Hiei's ki, they knew he was probably badly injured. Yukina held Blackie, her twin brother's reikai beast, which was a small dragon with black and white strip pattern over its body, in her arms.
The dragon was not in good shape either, it seemed exhausted and lied still in its half-mistress's arms. Ever since Yukina injected her ice power into the dragon in the fight with the water demon Akana, the dragon had absorbed part of her heart and soul. As a result, she became Blackie's half- mistress. The dragon, in turn, reflected the conditions of both the twins' hearts and souls.
Yukina stroke dragon gently, nervousness built inside her heart as the dragon did not response to her touch, which would normally made it very happy. She knew that, since she had shared her heart and soul in the dragon with her brother, the dragon did not completely reflect the fire demon's conditions, but to a much lesser extent. She knew Hiei was in a much worse condition than the dragon's.
After seemingly a long wait, a tall figure appeared at the front gate of the temple, with a small limped figure hanging beside it.
"Hiei!" "Oniisan!" the group shouted as they rushed towards the two figures. The fire demon was unconscious and did not response to his friends' and his sister's call.
Yukina inspected the wound on her brother's left forearm, which was nasty and still bleeding. Kawabara helped the koorime to bring the fire demon inside the temple for treatment.
Mukuro, Kurama and Yusuke watched the three disappeared behind the door. Kurama turned to the warlord, "What happened?"
Mukuro kept her glaze to the room where the fire demon was, "Someone was trying to assassinate me last night. Hiei blocked the attack and got injured. Somehow the wound did not heal and his conditions worsened dramatically overnight. But I saw no sign of poison. I guess it is due to some kind of infection to the wound."
"Is that so..." Kurama followed the warlord's glaze, a bad feeling lingered his mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~30 minutes later~
~Inside the living room of Genkai's temple~
Mukuro, Kurama and Yusuke sat silently on the floor, waiting for the koorime's return.
Kawabara slide opened the door and entered the room, closely followed by the koorime.
"How's he?" Yusuke asked, he frowned as he saw the worried expression on the faces of the orange-hair boy and the koorime.
"I have healed the wound on oniisan's forearm." Yukina replied, tears threatened to escape from her eyes, "But there was no improvement in his condition. He slips in and out of unconsciousness and he is developing a high fever. I need to go and take care of him. Please excuse me." she bowed and left the room.
No word was exchanged. Kawabara sighed and sat beside Yusuke.
"This is unusual." it was Kurama who broke the silence, "This is not the first time Hiei got injured and it does not seem serious to me. How can such a small wound causes such a serious infection?" he turned to look at the warlord.
Yusuke and Kawabara also turned to Mukuro, waiting for any further clues.
Mukuro closed her eyes and sighed, "I have no idea. The only thing I know is that it is very likely that the assassins were sent by Hirota, as he always wanted to get rid of me."
Kurama inhaled deeply at the mention of the name of the lord of fire. The two ningens looked at the youko. "You know the name?" Yusuke asked.
"Yes, I do." Kurama looked to the ground, running through his memories, "Hirota, also known as the lord of shadow. He is the most powerful shadow demon in Makai. He is famous for his brutality. He kills anyone who gets in his way. He is a tyrant, thirty of absolute power over the whole Makai."
Kurama turned to Mukuro, "There were rumours that he was involved in the ultimate battle for the right to rule Makai. He lost the battle and the demon world was then divided among the three warlords, Reizen, Yumi and you, Mukuro, who ended up in a tie in the battle. Hirota disappeared ever since. Some people said he died but others said that he is waiting for a chance to fight back."
"Correct." Mukuro said, "There are reports of minor rebel activities in the far west part of Makai, where Hirota is hiding. Genki suspected that it was him who is behind all these activities and asked me to form an investigation team in this regard. Hiei was on the team list. But it seems that he is in no condition for the mission."
"Yusuke," Mukuro turned to the Reikai detective, "I want you to help me on this case. We need to find out what are his plans and if he is behind the assassination as soon as possible."
"No problem!" Yusuke shouted, jumping to his feet, "I will give this shadow demon a good punch in his face if he is the one responsible for the assassination! Let's don't waste any more time! Let's go!"
Yusuke and Mukuro charged out of the room. The warlord turned and looked at the room where the fire demon was staying before disappearing into the forest with the Reikai detective.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Around mid-night~
~Inside a room of Genkai's temple~
Yukina wiped the shivering body of the fire demon with a clean cloth and water. The fire demon had developed a dangerously high fever, despite the fact that the wound on his forearm was healed. He panted heavily and moaned as if he was having nightmares.
Worries filled the eyes of the koorime when she left the room for some fresh clean water.
Just as the kooirme left the room, the fire demon slowly opened his eyes. With the moonlight, all he could see was a blur and the twisted image of the ceiling.
*What is going on with me?* he thought before falling back to unconsciousness again, not knowing that it would be the last time he could see light for a long time...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of Chapter 2
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Please feel free to review and comment!