~High Voltage~
. . .
Chapter Ten: About Teilen
. . .
For the next few days
afterwards, Teilen trained nonstop, whether it was with Kurama or by herself.
She still hadn't had the chance to battle Yusuke yet, but figured she would
challenge him soon enough. Right now they needed to focus on defeating Khewew Hem-teh. And for Teilen,
the upcoming battle was to be a personal one...
It was four o'clock in the morning. Teilen was lying on her back
on her double bed, staring up at the ceiling. She'd had no use for the
blankets, so the bed looked as though it hadn't been used. The room was still
very dark, but a few birds were chirping outside. Teilen had gotten about three
or four hours of sleep. She knew that it was unhealthy for one to sleep as
little as she did, however sleeping never came easy to
her. When it did, it was full of dreams--reminders of a past that she would
rather just forget.
Turning her head slightly to
the left, she watched Botan sleeping in the other bed
across from her. Botan, in Teilen's
opinion, was quite possibly the most annoying one out of the whole bunch. She
was always either nagging Teilen about trying out human things or attempting to
get Teilen to have meaningless conversations with her.
Letting a small yawn escape
her, Teilen moved her head back so that she was staring at the ceiling once
again. At least now Kurama wouldn't be able to nag her about not sleeping. She
had barely moved from her spot for almost seven hours. For most of the time,
she'd been sleeping. During much of the time she'd been awake, she was in deep
thought; she had a lot on her mind. Especially since the battle against Khewew Hem-teh was
only a few days away. Teilen knew that she should tell the others everything
she knew about him, but she was putting it off; it wasn't something she really
wanted them to know, and depending on how things happened, she wouldn't have to
tell them a thing. As far as she was concerned, the less they knew about her,
the better.
Closing her eyes, Teilen was
surprised to feel as tired as she suddenly did, and before long she had fallen
asleep once again.
. . .
She had broken free again. Running down the halls, she was determined
not to get caught again. This time she was three years older and that much
stronger. Was she strong enough to get past them should they come after her?
She didn't know, but she figured it was worth a try. It was always worth a try.
She was never going to give up until she was free.
She turned the corner quickly,
not seeing anybody patrolling the halls, and promptly flattened herself against
the wall, hiding in the shadows. Over the years, she'd learned to hide like
this. Since it was dark, it was fairly simple to do. Slinking along the wall,
she tried to remember the way she thought would lead her to the exit. After
years of imprisonment, was she finally going to break free? She suddenly froze
as footsteps were heard a little ways down the hall. She waited, holding her
breath, as the demon eventually passed her and continued on ahead.
After
waiting a few seconds, she kept going in the same direction the demon had went. She realized that she could meet up with him further
down, but if she was correct, that was the right way to go.
Five minutes later, she was still looking for the exit. Where was it?
It had to be around here, she could have sworn it was nearby. But another five
minutes passed, and still nothing. The situation was getting dangerous. By now
the guards must have realized she was missing, and were looking for her. When--if--she was caught, the punishment would be harsh. The
last time she had gotten off easy, but this time... She shook it from thought.
There was no turning back now. The only thing to do was keep looking for a way
out.
She turned down another corner, when suddenly she felt a hand clamp
onto her shoulder. The hand squeezed hard, claws digging into her skin, giving
her three or four small puncture wounds. She didn't utter a sound, only gazed
up at her captor. It was one of the guards—a particularly ruthless-looking
demon, massive in size and scale.
"Up to
your old tricks, huh," he grunted in
a deep, scratchy voice. He
hauled her into the air, so that they could see eye-to-eye. "I don't
care for brats like you. You don't seem to be learning; maybe the punishments
aren't severe enough for you." He
licked his lips, as if enjoying the images of increasing her torture in his
mind.
"Wi
ib ne sat tew,"[1] she
spat at him. "One day, I will. Mark my words."
He
didn't understand what she said. "Whatever that meant, I'm going to
make sure you're tormented extra long for it!" He brought a fist down hard on top of her head, and she was knocked
out.
When she woke up, she found herself in an odd position. Tied. Her wrists bound together, arms over her head, hanging
from a wall by chains. She was at least ten feet off the ground. She was
confused and disoriented from the recent event, but she knew that this wasn't
the usual method of punishment. Something told her that this was to be much
worse. Looking around, she spotted the guard who had knocked her out standing
beside a large machine a few yards away. He noticed that she was awake, and
grinned wickedly.
"Good. I wanted you to be
wide awake for this..." He laughed
and pulled one of the levers on the machine.
She wondered what was going on, and almost instantly she felt a
burning, stinging pain rip through her entire body, causing her to spasm
involuntarily. She couldn't help but cry out, instinctively trying to double
over but couldn't because of the way she was tied down. The painful sensation
lasted about ten seconds, and then it stopped. After a two second break, it
began again. She screamed once more, spasming again,
and through watery eyes noticed the demon laughing at her; taking pleasure in
her pain. Gritting her teeth, she took the next wave without uttering a sound,
keeping every muscle as stiff as possible. There was no way she was going to
give him the satisfaction of watching her screaming and writhing from the pain.
But the longer this kept up, the more painful it got to endure, and she found
herself wishing for a quick death to put her out of her misery. Anything would
be better than this...
. . .
Teilen sat up fast, waking up
instantly. She found herself in a cold sweat, and shivering slightly. Taking a
few breaths, she tried to force the dream out of her mind. It wasn't important
right now, anyway. Teilen noticed that the room was now considerably brighter
than it was when she had fallen asleep. It must be close to eight o'clock. How could she have slept so late? She was
wasting valuable training time!
Glancing sideways, she noticed
that the bed beside her was empty. Even Botan was
already up. Teilen jumped off the bed, listening for signs of life in the next
room. She heard nothing. They must be out training. It looked like she was
going to be on her own today, which was just fine with her. She didn't feel
much like being nagged by Kurama some more anyway. She walked toward the door
and was about to leave the room when suddenly a movement from behind made her
whirl back around. "Ne-me?"[2] She gasped slightly in surprise when she saw
who was standing in the middle of the room.
He was very tall in stature and
muscular as well. His skin was dark blue in color, and his long, unkempt coarse
hair bright white. He was clothed in a simple outfit colored silver. He stared
at her with cold, intense eyes that matched the color of his clothing and
implied thoughts of malevolence. Grinning rancorously, he displayed the many
bright white fangs lining his mouth. One glance at him and Teilen knew that he
was the dreaded demon, Khewew Hem-teh.
She immediately took on a
fighting stance, and glared at the intruder. If it was a fight he wanted, then
he would certainly get one! But then as she watched him, she noticed him
flicker a couple times; much like a candle in the wind.
She realized then that it was just an image—he was not fully restored to life
and therefore not a threat to her just yet. He then surprised her by speaking.
His voice was deep, bitter, and seemed to resonate throughout the room:
"Redi
me ne a-ten sened, fen khered. Hesi. Ir tew ib ne re-a'-khet, tew ib
ne me-te."[3] His
evil grin turned into a scowl. So he did know that she and the Spirit
Detectives were after him.
"Wi ne-sep ded ma-baja ne
re-a'-khet,"[4] she was quick to respond, narrowing
her eyes at the demon. "Ini set tep!"[5] Deep down, she knew exactly what she was
getting herself into; but it didn't matter how strong Khewew Hem-teh
was. He had to be defeated by any means necessary, Koenma
had said, and Teilen had agreed to help out. She wasn't about to go back on her
word.
Khewew Hem-teh smirked; amused. "Me ter,"[6]
he replied. Seconds later, he vanished from the room as quickly as he had come,
leaving no trace of ever having been there at all.
Teilen relaxed, but only for a
second, because just then she noticed a certain vertically-challenged fire
demon standing in the corner of the room. She guessed that was the reason Khewew Hem-teh had
left so hastily; Hiei had seen him. "What are
you doing here?" She spat.
He glowered at her and chose to
ignore the question. "What the hell was that?"
Teilen had a smart remark all
ready for him, but faltered, realizing that she didn't have much of a choice
but to tell him. She would be looking pretty suspicious if she just told him to
shove off and mind his own business. "Khewew Hem-teh," she reluctantly responded
bitterly. When he continued to look at her expectantly, wanting a full
explanation, she sighed impatiently and kept talking. "His life isn't fully
restored yet. We still have a few days to prepare."
"Hn." Hiei didn't move from his spot.
"What do you want?"
She snapped, becoming annoyed with the fact that he wouldn't leave.
"What were you talking
about with him? And you'd better tell the truth; I'll know if you're lying to
me." His Jagan glowed blue beneath the white
bandana.
"Don't threaten me, Khewew Jeret! ...It
was nothing important anyhow. The wexa just thought
he would try and scare me out of killing him."
"Which brings me to the
next question: how does he know you?"
Teilen growled, "I don't
see why it's any of your business."
Hiei
growled back, "I don't see why I should trust you. Maybe you're working
with him against us."
"How dare you!"
Teilen shouted. "I wouldn't lower myself to that level, and besides, I
work alone."
Hiei
smirked, having realized that he'd struck a nerve. "So start
talking."
"Khewew
Hem-teh knows me because he is my father!"
Teilen angrily responded. "He's a lightning apparition, like me."
"No. You're
different," Hiei said, recalling the image of
Teilen in her demon form; she had been a much lighter blue than Khewew Hem-teh was.
"You're half human, aren't you?" He inquired in a mocking tone.
Teilen closed the distance
between the two of them so fast that it surprised even Hiei.
Before he could react, she had him by the cloak and slammed him into the wall.
"One more word about that and I'll make a lightning bolt split your head
in half," she upbraided him, through clenched teeth. "You dare make a
mockery out of me and it'll be the very last thing you ever do."
He grabbed her hands and ripped
them off of him. It was a fairly effortless action, considering he had the
advantage in strength. "Touch me again and consider yourself dead!"
He retorted, just as the door connecting the two rooms opened.
"What's going on?"
Kurama wondered, walking into the room. Teilen stepped away from Hiei, both of them glaring daggers at each other.
"Hn. Why don't you ask the daughter of Khewew Hem-teh?"
Hiei remarked.
"What?" Kurama's surprised eyes shifted to Teilen.
Teilen shot a look of utter
revulsion in Hiei's direction. "Wexa!" She snapped.
She turned swiftly and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her,
and for the second time in two days, it fell off its hinges seconds afterwards.
. . .
'That
stupid, bastard, wexa fire demon!' She thought
angrily. 'Just who does he think he is
anyway? Asking me questions like I owe him something, and then blurting out my
secret to Kurama...if I had wanted anyone else to know about that, I'd have
told them myself. Damn it, I don't want them to know me!' She clenched her
teeth and scowled at nobody in particular.
Life was so much easier for
Teilen when nobody knew her. Since agreeing to help with this mission, she was
expected to be social with those Spirit Detectives and share her knowledge with
them...and now she would probably have to explain her past to them as well. She
mentally cursed again, thinking that she should have never agreed to come in
the first place. None of them were going leave her alone after that fight with Hiei, and why should they? Of course they would be curious,
and even suspicious of her relation to Khewew Hem-teh. This was exactly the kind of situation that Teilen
had been hoping she wouldn't have to be in, and now here she was. This was all
Hiei's fault!
'If
he'd just kept his damn mouth shut...'
Teilen shifted positions. She
had been sitting on the edge of the hotel rooftop all day, cursing Hiei to Hell and fuming about the recent events, and now
the sun was beginning to set. The horizon was a mix of oranges, yellows, and
pinks. In the city below, shadows were taking the place of light. Humans were
hurrying home from their jobs, stopping to shop for groceries or for other
various errands, and the children gathered to play in the streets after a long,
tedious day of school. Teilen pulled herself from her thoughts and watched them
with interest for a while, being reminded once again of the fact that she was
half human herself. She was often reminded of this, and was constantly bothered
by it. She had always considered most humans to be weak and foolish. Ashamed of
belonging to a race that she typically tended to shun, Teilen was inclined to
look down upon those humans. She did have a little bit of respect for them,
though—as much as she would insult them, she was still one of them after all.
Hiei
had also found it necessary to poke fun at her lineage, which was another
reason why she felt like she hated him.
She was still furious about
what had happened a few days before, when he'd had the nerve to walk in on her
while she was using the shower. Then he had actually dared to comment on her
anatomy: "Well there was nothing worth seeing anyhow!" She knew that
this little remark had been aimed at her rather flat chest, and only served to
anger her further. Not that she cared about her size—that was least important
as far as she was concerned--but the fact that he had tried to insult her in
that manner was absolutely infuriating.
Hearing a slight noise that
sounded much like footsteps behind her, Teilen turned around to see the
ever-calm Kurama standing there; dressed in a blue denim jacket, a white polo
shirt and khaki pants. His long red hair waved gently in the slight wind.
Teilen gave him an 'oh-it's-just-you' look and turned back to stare at the
scenery ahead of her.
"I noticed you have been
up here all day," he commented, taking a few steps toward the edge of the
roof where she sat.
"Cut the small talk, I
know what you want. You—and everybody else—want to know about my relation to Khewew Hem-teh, am I
right?" She continued to gaze straight ahead, fixing her eyes on a small
human boy skipping down the sidewalk below.
"Yes, that is
correct," Kurama admitted.
"Huh." She watched
the little boy stumble and fall to the ground, scraping his knee in the
process. He cried out to his mother, who immediately rushed to his side.
Kurama noticed her watching the
little scene. "There is nothing wrong with being part human, Teilen. As
you can see, it is what I am now, and I do not mind it at all."
She sighed, deciding that he
was okay to talk to. Like she really had much of a choice
anyway. "My mother was a human. She was born in this very city and
so was I," she said, still not looking at him.
"Yes, I thought you were
an Egyptian," Kurama replied, as if confirming a suspicion.
Teilen nodded slowly. "My
father, Khewew Hem-teh, was
a terrible demon who used to go by the name of Jaiyu.
You have probably heard of him. He killed many demons and many more humans,
simply because he enjoyed taking life. Power was the one thing he valued above
all else, and he thrived on the people's fear of him. A long time ago he was
destroyed by the Spirit Detective preceding your Yusuke Urameshi.
He had escaped the Makai and ended up here, where he
raped a young Egyptian woman—the pharaoh's daughter, to be precise. Before he
was destroyed, some of the Egyptian people nicknamed him Khewew Hem-teh for 'evil slave', which was
meant to be a great insult, and put a curse on him. Meanwhile the woman went
through with the pregnancy and had the baby, but sensed evil in it. She
unwillingly kept the child for three years, fearing what her people would think
of her if she didn't. Finally, after realizing the destruction the child was
capable of, she decided to get rid of it. She rode out into the desert one
night with that child and abandoned it there, beside one of the pyramids, and
never looked back. The child was left to die in that spot, and would have if a
small band of demons hadn't come and taken it to the Makai
a few nights later," she finished. That was all she was willing to share
with him, and he didn't need to know the rest of her story anyway. She finally
looked over to Kurama. "I understand that you have to tell the others
about this, but make it brief. I don't want them to know any more than they
need to."
Kurama folded his arms across
his chest and closed his eyes, thoughtfully. "Of course.
Strange, though..."
"Ne-me?" Teilen cocked an eyebrow in questioning.
"What's strange?"
"You and Hiei seem to have a few things in common. He was also
abandoned as a child; although in his case, his mother did not wish to give him
up."
Upon hearing this, Teilen had
to remind herself that she hated Hiei and could never
feel sorry for him, though curiousity was nagging at
her again. "What happened?" She asked anyway, before she could stop
herself.
Kurama bowed his head, as if
trying to hide his expression. "You will have to ask him, I'm afraid. He
does not speak much of his past, even to me."
Teilen snorted, realizing what
Kurama was up to. "Forget it. You're just trying to get me to like him,
and it isn't going to work."
"I did not say you had to
like him, Teilen. I only wish for you to get along with him. I'm certain we
will have enough enemies to face outside our group without the two of you at
each other's throats."
Teilen thought about this for a
moment, and then smirked. "Well Kurama, if Hiei
is willing to apologize, then I am willing to try to get along with him."
She said this knowing full well that Hiei would not
want to apologize. If Kurama could get him to do that, she would be quite
impressed.
Kurama just nodded, accepting
the challenge. "Very well," he said. He turned around, with the
intention of going back to his room. "It would appear that I have some
work to do. Please come inside soon, Teilen," he added before he
disappeared down the stairs.
Teilen wondered why he cared so
much, but she was also curious about whether or not Hiei
would really apologize. She doubted that Kurama could get him to do it. That
fire apparition was even more stubborn than she was. Still, it was an amusing
thought.
. . .
"WHAT?" Hiei exploded, after having heard about Teilen's
'deal' from Kurama. They were alone in the guys' hotel room; Hiei sitting on the windowsill and Kurama standing a few
feet away from him, looking sly as ever. "Kurama!
Don't be a fool, there is no need for me to apologize
to anyone!" He glared at his kitsune friend, who
only stared back at him with an amused expression.
"Why Hiei,
it is only for the good of our team. I think it would be a wise choice to
apologize so that we may all get along with each other. The two of you are not
expected to be friends, of course."
Hiei
growled, "I see no reason why I should be the one to apologize when it's
obvious that she started it."
"Don't you think that
seems a bit childish?" Kurama questioned, earning himself a disgruntled
scowl from his comrade.
"Hn."
"It is very important that
everyone is on good terms with each other before we face this demon, Hiei, you know that. Besides," he added with a smirk,
"if you talk with her, you might find that you both are very much alike. I
just spoke with her a few minutes ago..."
"There is no need to
explain," Hiei said, cutting him off. "I
heard the whole conversation and her little story. She isn't going to recieve any sympathy from me, if that's what you're getting
at."
"Not at all," Kurama
answered, innocently. "I just thought that you might be able to relate to
her. Please consider apologizing, Hiei. I know that
you don't want to, but why not do it as a favor for the rest of us?"
Hiei
didn't like the sound of that, either. "Why would I do that?"
Kurama just chuckled. "I
thought you would say that. I suppose I could be more convincing if you
like..."
"Is that a threat?"
"Absolutely not," he
replied. "Just a thought, that's all." He turned around and exited
the room, leaving Hiei all by himself to ponder the
conversation.
Hiei
scowled again. He had no desire to apologize to Teilen when she was just as
much at fault as he. So what if he had walked in on her while she was in shower?
She had gotten her revenge for that minor mistake when she deliberately walked
in on him a few hours afterward. And he felt that his informing Kurama of her
relation to Khewew Hem-teh was
justified—she had no right to keep important information such as that to
herself. How did she expect them to trust her if she was keeping things from
them?
He had to admit, though, Kurama
had a point. If he and Teilen were not going to get along, it would only serve
to cause even more problems. But why did he have to apologize? He despised the
thought. She probably only wanted him to apologize so that she could watch him
suffer. He stubbornly wrestled with these thoughts for about an hour before
finally coming to a decision.
Hiei
growled in disgust and opened the window he sat next to, hating what he was
actually about to do. He made a mental note to himself to kill Kurama for this
later, and leapt out of the said window, shooting straight up and landing
neatly on the roof of the hotel. The cloudless night sky was now a deep blue,
and the moon clearly visible. Hiei could see Teilen
on the opposite side, sitting on the edge and staring blankly ahead, seeming to
be in deep thought. He was careful to make no sound as he approached her. When
he was about five feet from her he cleared his throat loudly, and was pleased
to see that he had startled her.
She whirled around and stood
up, staring at him with a surprised expression on her face. He could tell that
he was the last thing she had expected to see. She still wore the same low,
baggy black pants from the day they'd fought, but had traded the black shirt
for a white one that looked like it was just a long piece of cloth carelessly
wrapped around her top half, exposing even more of her well-toned abdomen. Hiei did his best to ignore this and continued to stand
there, hands shoved into his pockets, annoyed at what he had let Kurama talk
him into.
"What do you want?"
She finally asked, after a long pause while the two had stood and stared at
each other.
"Hn,"
he grunted. "I..." He mumbled the other words, and she could barely
hear him.
Amused, she smirked at him.
"What did you say?"
"I said I APOLOGIZE,
woman!" Hiei snapped back. He crossed his arms
and glared at her.
She kept looking at him with
the same amused expression, and suddenly she shocked him by smiling, of all
things. It was a small one, but a definite smile nonetheless, and it made her
deep blue eyes shine. Hiei then surprised himself by
actually liking it...then he mentally slapped himself and became angry. How
dare she find it funny! This was no laughing matter—he had been practically
forced to apologize because of that stupid fox, and now she was smiling about
it!
He scowled. "What's so
funny?"
The smile was erased from her
visage as quickly as it had appeared. "I just didn't think you would
actually do this. Kurama must be a miracle-worker."
"Hn."
"You probably
didn't mean it. I still hate you, Khewew Jeret." She smirked.
"And I return the
sentiment," he replied.
"I know. But like Kurama
said, we should put our differences aside for now. I can do that if you
can," she said in a taunting tone.
"Of course I can," he
scowled. Who did she think he was, a five year old?
"Good,
because I want a re-match." She narrowed her eyes at him.
"This time you're going to lose...it's just a shame that I won't be able
to kill you."
"Hn,"
Hiei grunted in reply. "We'll see about that.
Let's go—If you can keep up, that is." He
instantly disappeared after the last word left his mouth, speeding off to a
random place in the desert where the two of them could spar without
interruption.
Teilen watched him go and hung
back for a second longer. Maybe Kurama had been right about another thing—maybe
she should consider giving Hiei another chance. The
key word there was 'maybe'... Teilen leapt off the roof, following Hiei to wherever he was going.
. . .
Translations:
[6]Me ter
-- "In time"
[5]Ini set tep --
"Bring it on"
[4]Wi ne-sep ded ma-baja ne
re-a'-khet -- "I never say no to
battle"
[3]Redi me ne a-ten sened, fen khered. Hesi. Ir tew
ib ne
re-a'-khet, tew ib ne me-te
-- "Give in to your fear, weak child. Turn back. If you wish to battle,
you wish to die."
[2]Ne-me? -- "What?"
[1]Wi ib ne sat tew -- "I wish to
slaughter you"
. . .
AN: FINALLY! This chapter took me a while to write, and I'm sorry to
those of you who were left hanging. Blame school—I do. Anyway, this chapter may
be a little shorter than what I promised, but I just couldn't make it any
longer. I thought of writing about Hiei and Teilen's training session, but there will be plenty of that
in the next chapter. I love making those to bicker the way they do, I'm gonna be sad when they don't fight like that any more. Well
anyway, review! I need to know what people think!
Next Chapter: Fully Restored
