Inner Needs
CHAPTER TEN: SHARD DETECTOR
Kurama groaned and cracked his eyes open to find himself in the far corner of the cave once more. He tried to sit up and found that his hands had been tied together again. Looking over his shoulder he gasped when he saw the wards that were wrapped tightly around the ropes that bound him again.
"That will keep you from getting the ropes off again." The demon spoke from a large rock that he was sitting on. "I forgot you were a kitsune. Tricky little demons you are."
Kurama dragged his eyes up and to meet the coal black ones of his captor. The pain was gone, but the weakness that the pains caused. There was no way that he could take on the grinning demon now. With a quiet whimper he pushed himself up against the cold wall of the cavern.
"P-please." He whispered in a cracking voice. "Leave me alone. I have nothing to offer you."
The demon threw his head and laughed evilly. The sound sent shivers down Kurama's back. He wanted nothing more then to get out of this cave and run until he could no longer.
"That's where you're wrong." The demon's voice broke through his thoughts once more. "You do have something offer me. Well not me, but some other lucky demon. Now tell me about this jewel."
Kurama's eyes widened as fear raced like ice through his veins. The jewel, not the jewel. That small pink gem was dangerous, he knew that now, and telling this demon about it couldn't bring anything good about.
"No." He shook his head weakly, sending his silver hair bouncing around his face. "Not the jewel. It's wrong."
The demon frowned and leapt from his spot on the rock, landing hard in front of the weakened fox. His lips were pulled back over his sharp teeth in a dangerous snarl. He reached out and grabbed the loose white fabric of Kurama's shirt and pulled him forward.
"It's best not to lie to me fox." He hissed. "Your life is in my hands at the moment. So tell me what you have to do with the Shikon no Tama."
Kurama groaned quietly but delved into how he had first come across the jewel and how he had ended up nothing more then a weak mass of flesh in feudal Japan. His captor sat in silence, listening to every word the kitsune had to say. When the fox was done telling his story, the demon smiled.
"Very good." The demon chuckled. He turned his black eyes on the kitsune and gave him a tiny grin before running his fingers gently down the fox's cheek. "You can call me Nori, and I've changed my mind. I won't sell you to some human. I'll get more selling you to a greedy demon as their own personal shard detector."
Kurama let out a tiny gasp as he jerked away from Nori. His fingers were like ice and his words even colder. A tiny whimper escaped him as he tried to curl in on himself.
"Oh don't worry." Nori stood and took a step back away from the fox. "I'll make sure you are taken very good care of my green eyed kitsune."
With that Nori left to start his task of finding a list of buyers for the shard detector. Kurama sat against the wall wide eyed. Green eyed kitsune? That meant his transformation wasn't completer. But what was holding Youko back entirely?
He gently laid down on the cold ground and sniffed lightly. What was going on with him? All he wanted to do was go home and forget that he had ever found that damn jewel shard. A tear gently rolled down his cheek as he drifted off into a restless sleep.
~*~
Kagome jerked to a stop, causing Miroku and Sango to crash into her back. Inu Yasha, who was a few steps ahead growled as he turned to face the frozen girl. No one noticed that up in the tree, Hiei had come to a quick stop as well.
"What's your problem now Kagome." Inu Yasha barked, walking over to the still girl. "Did you forget something?"
Kagome shook her slowly and scanned the area around them. She felt it. The presence of a jewel shard. But she couldn't tell from where. Her gaze flitted through the woods, trying to find movement, but she couldn't even see an unusual shadow. Where was it?
"Kagome?" Miroku asked quietly.
"GET DOWN!!"
Suddenly Kagome and Miroku found themselves knocked to the ground. They faintly heard a cry of pain, before their senses came rushing back. Kagome looked up and saw Hiei's face leaning over her. His crimson eyes were shut tight, his face pinched in pain.
"Hiei!" She yelped, quickly sitting up and looking the small fire demon over. "Are you all right?"
Hiei growled and shoved her to the ground roughly. He pushed himself to his legs and quickly pulled his katana from his sheath. When he turned Kagome gasped at what she saw. A strip of ice ran up his back, his shirt torn open to reveal the frozen flesh. There was an ice demon hiding somewhere in the forest. And they had a jewel shard.
There was a loud roar as a creature burst forth from the underbrush that surrounded them. It had light blue skin and green hair. The creature's eyes were narrow, the black irises glinting with anger. It lunged towards Hiei, growling loudly.
"Give it to me!" The demon screamed, tackling the fire demon to ground.
Hiei growled loudly. The damn wards. This fight would have been over before it began if it weren't for the wards that that damn monk had placed on him. His power over fire would easily beat the ice of this demon if he could access it.
A sudden pain flashed through him as he realized the ice demon had clamped onto his side. The thin layer of ice was now beginning to spread, covering a large portion of his stomach and raising towards his chest. With an angered snarl he lashed out, slamming the demon in the side of the head with the hilt of his katana. The ice demon let out a howl of pain and rolled off him.
Hiei jumped up panting harshly. He winced as his hand shot to his side where the ice had him trapped. His ki was dropping drastically, the ice taking over the fire quickly. He could feel the weariness creeping up on him already. He grimaced and raised his katana towards the ice demon. He wasn't going down unless the ice demon fell first.
"Careful!" He heard the ningen girl call suddenly. "He's got a jewel shard!"
Hiei looked over at her, the confusion clear in his face. That spilt second was all the ice demon needed. With an angered cry he hurled a ball of ice at the fire demon. Hiei turned back quickly, but not quick enough. The ice ball collided with his chest, sending him flying backwards. He hit the ground with a gasping cry. The ice demon took his chance and lunged. But Hiei saw this attack coming. He grabbed his katana tightly in both hands and thrust it forward meeting the ice demon half way.
The demon made a gasping sound as the tip of Hiei's katana broke through the skin on his back. Kagome let out horrified shriek and buried her face in a blushing Inu Yasha's kimono. Miroku's eyes were wide while Sango looked at him with an almost respective gaze.
Hiei grunted and tossed the body aside. He pulled his katana free from the demon's chest and sheathed it quickly. The fire demon was about to turn and walk away when he noticed an odd glowing coming from the demon's shoulder. He kneeled down and easily plucked a shard that looked identical to the one that Kurama had found. Walking over to the trembling ningen girl he held the jewel out.
"I think this is what you wanted me to get." His voice came out weaker then he wished it too.
"Are you all right Hiei?" Sango noticed the fatigue in the fire demon's voice. A fight of that caliber shouldn't tire a demon out. Something had to be wrong. The fire demon's fingers went to the ice that was beginning to melt off his side and shivered.
"Hn." He grunted. "I'm fine. I'm not going to die saving a group of ningen's and one hanyou. It's not worth it."
"Then why did you allow that freezer freak to whip you half pint!?" Inu Yasha growled, his pride not allowing the fire demon to get away with insulting him.
"It's these damn wards." Hiei shrugged. "If they weren't there, that demon wouldn't have been allowed to lay a hand on me."
But the demon slayer wasn't so easily swayed. She knew too much of demon's and there workings to think that the fire demon's wounds were harmless. Normally fire had the upper hand against ice, but when the fire is smothered by a thin layer of ice, it quickly goes out. And Sango could see the droop of Hiei's lids and the involuntary shiver that ran up and down his spine.
"But it did." She pointed out, a finger poking in the direction of his iced side. "And I don't think those wounds are as harmless as you're letting them on to be. At least not for a demon of your status."
Hiei growled and slapped her hand away. His tiring red eyes locked on her face as a snarl rose up in him.
"You know nothing about me." He hissed in a dangerous voice. "These wounds are-"
Hiei was cut off when everything suddenly swirled in front of him. His vision went fuzzy and his blood began to pump in his ears. He was hardly aware of the shocked cries around him as he dropped to one knee. He was cold, too cold. Shivers racked his body, causing him to tremble violently. His teeth clacked together, chattering loudly in his own ears. He needed warmth, any kind of heat. But because of the wards he couldn't tap into the fire within himself. He let out a miserable groan and sagged forward against a warm body. The person held him out at arms length and he moaned at the sudden lack of warmth.
"What the hell is wrong with him?!" Inu Yasha screamed, holding the fire demon out away from his body. Hiei moaned loudly, a shiver running down his spine.
"He's a fire demon." Sango replied. "They normally have a higher body temperature then normal. So when they cold it effects them drastically. And because of the wards he can't access his own powers to keep himself warm."
Hiei slumped farther forward. Kagome let out a tiny sound when she saw the fire demon's lips were turning blue. His red eyes slid open for a second staring blankly at nothing before sliding shut again. He whimpered softly, the sound more horrible then anything any of them had heard in a while.
"Can't you just take the ward off and let him warm himself up?" Kagome pleaded with Miroku. "He's going to freeze to death and it's 70 degrees out!"
"I wish I could." Miroku sighed. "But at this point his body's need for warmth will go into overdrive and he'll fry himself. It'd be too dangerous to attempt."
"Well we have to do something!" Kagome cried. "He got this saving us!"
There was a sudden fluttering as Inu Yasha removed his kimono and wrapped it around the trembling fire demon. The three human's raised there brows but said nothing of the dog demon's unusual act of kindness. He glared up at their gawking and snarled.
"What are you standing around for?" He snapped. "Do something to help him!"
The three humans looked around for a second trying desperately to find something they could use to help warm up the freezing demon. Sango's eyes landed on the tiny fox demon and feline fire demon. Her eyes lit up as she ran over too the two tiny demons.
"Shippo! Kilala!" She cried. The two demons jerked to look at her. "Quickly, Shippo light a fire. Kilala, you lie down next to him and use you fur and ki to heat him up. Does anybody have anything warmer then Inu Yasha's kimono?"
Kagome's eyes brightened and she darted to her over stuffed bag. Riffling through her usually unneeded things, she yanked out a large fluffy sleeping bag. Normally Sango would question how she fit that ridiculous thing in there, but this time she was just happy to see it. Kagome rolled it out on the ground and unzipped the side. Inu Yasha lifted the tiny demon up and deposited him into the sleeping bag's warmth, kimono and all. He quickly zipped the bag up and nodded at Shippo before motioning at the pile of wood Miroku had dropped nearby. The tiny kitsune nodded and jumped into the air.
"Fox fire!" He yelped, a bright blue flame sporting out and catching the wood. The fire quickly spread over the logs and pretty soon a large fire was roaring, the heat smoldering on their faces. Sango turned towards Kilala who immediately grew to her larger form. Fire sparked around his feet as he pranced over to the group.
"Why'd he bother fighting if he knew his weakness?" Inu Yasha grumped crossing his arms over his chest and scooting away from the alarming warmth of the fire. "I could have taken that freezing blowhard."
"He's a full bloodied demon." Sango snapped. "His pride wouldn't allow himself to be saved by hanyou. He'd rather die fighting then have you save his ass is my guess."
Inu Yasha growled and turned away. Sango narrowed her eyes but dropped the argument. She turned to her feline companion.
"Kilala, lie down beside him," She ordered. "On top of him if you have to. Do whatever you can to warm him up."
Kilala purred and curled up around the trembling fire demon. Said demon groaned and curled up into a tight ball, trying to get his remaining body heat to rush through him again. Shippo crept over to the group and whimpered softly. Kagome sighed and bent down to pick up the frightened kitsune.
"Is he going to be all right?" He asked in a soft voice.
Sango looked up and smiled softly.
"I believe so." The demon slayer answered in a gentle tone. "I think he may be to stubborn to die like this."
Now did you think I could let Hiei's trip to find Kurama be all sun and rainbows? Most certainly not!
I have a lot of requests for Naraku to be the one to buy Kurama from Nori (I apologize for the name, I suck at them). Well I'm not saying it will be him, but I'm not isn't either. I will say that it will be a familiar demon from the Inu Yasha series.
So be prepared, because next chapter will be auction for Kurama and will Hiei recover in time to save his kitsune friend? You'll just have to wait and find out!
So in the meantime please review!!