Authoress's Notes: Yup, evil schoolish hell chewed me up again. Tat-chan said this is the best fic I ever wrote O.o really?! This takes the LEAST effort to write ^^;; You can see how stressy my life is, evidently... well, I'm not rambling on this time, on with the fic!

Warnings: just plain bloody this chapter, profanity. And that's it, for now. Later, there MAY be shounen-ai, mentions of rape, (nothing graphic, really, they're just barely hinting! And that's only if you're a pervet!) genocide, suicide, body mutilation, and generally, things Hiei would do without a second thought. (Quote Botan: Hiei is powerful, and completely ruthless!) Eh, that wasn't pointing toward the suicide thing, but whatever.

*~*~*Dripping*~*~*

It's taunting me.

For hours I stare at the small sprout, willing it to get me out, build a bridge to the Makai portal or something of the like. It's not moving. I growl and flick it, hoping that would encourage it to grow. Instead, it's flung into the ocean. I watch silently as it's swept out. Suddenly, I curse. I could've ate that, it'd be nice and wet... maybe I could swim out and get it? Mortal weakness... also mine? Delirium really is overcoming my senses...

Instead of going after it, I search the shoreline for more plants. Nothing. My last bit of nutrition was gone. I scan the horizon again, wondering if that hallucinated ship was still there. Nothing except the lethal sea and the flailing wind. For no particular reason, I walk by the shoreline. Maybe its because I feel something, or maybe because I smell edible substances. But all that comes from my wandering is exhaustion, and that isn't good.

Precious minutes pass, and I still haven't found a landmass or a separating sea. And beside that, this walking has made my mouth drier than before. Splash. Lick. Drip... that water is out to taunt me. "Drink me!" I can almost hear it say. Yes I'm thirsty, but I won't give in. But I know eventually its persuasion will overcome my common sense, and I'll just fall victim to death earlier. What a lame, weak death. The water's challenging me, I can feel it. I'm not about to cower to its power, nor shall I force myself to engage in such an insane sport.

And just now, I discover how powerful boredom is. I find myself once again wasting Youki to evaporate my nemesis. I know I'm messing with the water level. It's one part of having control of Earth. Though I think this action won't affect much anyhow.

My muscles are going to collapse, I know it. I lay down, face up. There are dark clouds above me. I still don't completely understand this phenomena... in the Makai, the sky was always a shade of red, though the thunderstorms look brilliant with its vivid streaks of blue against a dark velvet-looking red curtain of cloud. But here, the color changes. On sunny days there were clear crystal skies- too hopeful if you ask me; and on stormy days it was a dark gray blanket, wrapping, tormenting... yet before my domination I had learned that the blanket, too, is an important part of ningen life.

My mind is fuzzy. I know I'm not going to be able to stay awake much longer.... While it is true I've only been awake for roughly 5 hours, sleeping with those dreams never refresh me. I wake up with the same amount of energy that I had earlier. Yet I always fall victim...

~*~

A whip of thorns, a blue ray, and a yellow, jagged beam all lash at me. I am unable to dodge all three, I'm hit by two, avoiding the blue ray, but there is a cracking sound, and that, too hits me. Blood is running over my skin in torrents, the sword underneath my chin, and the whip loosely around me, so the thorns did not touch, but I couldn't move in fear that they do.

"Hiei," Kurama murmurs softly by angrily. "Not only do you kill me, but you murder my creations as well!" He tightened the whip ever-so-slightly so the tips of the thorns pierced me, but not enough to injure me seriously.

"Hn, I have a feeling that's not the reason you're doing this..." I snap, attempting to grab my sword without jabbing myself with thorns. But my attempts only succeeded in drawing more blood.

Kurama smirks slightly so that he looked like the sadistic Youko Kurama he had been centuries ago, in my opinion a better person- ruthless, and not so uselessly emotional. "No, you've already gotten your punishment for the plant. Had you been the least bit humane, it would've grown and formed a bridge straight to the breech in the Makai barrier. Sort of like the spirit egg Koenma gave Yusuke. (" But he doesn't know about that!" Yusuke protested.) You see, it's my idea of a trial. Needless to say, you failed desperately."

I growl. "Baka kitsune!"

Then his face drew a blank, ever-so-calm and devoid of any emotion; no anger, no happiness or glee, just... relaxation. "And because of that, I think we'll have to... well, declare that you're basically 'dead meat,' as the ningen saying goes." He turns his back and tightened the whip slightly. I grit my teeth as the thorns pierce even further. "Yusuke, Kuwabara, you can taunt him now." Kurama tosses the whip handle carelessly aside and walks into darkness.

Yusuke gives me a hard glare. "I think I know exxaaaaactly what'll get to ya."

Kuwabara waltzes out of the haze holding the hand of Yukina. I mentally gasp. She has on one of her fiercest glares, fists clenched and a low growl in her throat. "Kiisama," she mutters lowly. She steps closer to me, hand on her hip, her vivid red eyes showing no trace of the innocent orbs that used to rest there, but a pure inferno. "I understood that you were misunderstood as a child, but now... think you deserve every bit of torture you're getting!"

I wheeze as the thorns are tightened to the level of squeezing me to death as Yukina pulls on the whip. "Baka onna," I gasp, "puta![1] You traitor!" Damn that kitsune and his pretty flower tricks, these thorns hurt more than some of the sharpest knives!

"Traitor? Me?" She gives a cold laugh. "I think that would be you, Hiei. Domina-" Her reply is cut off as Kurama whispers urgently in her ear. She nods, then focuses her attention back on me. "I'll be back!" They vanish....

*~*

I'm faintly aware I'm back on 'Earth.' The sand is red... and I'm soaked in the same liquid. I can see my arm, it has cone-shaped holes in it. I'm too weak to lick it. And it's raining, an effect of my evaporation, I guess. But I'm also too drained to gather some of that precious liquid. Instead it combines with my blood and drips off my skin. Splashing into the sand below.

Suddenly, I sense something. Even without my Jagan, I can sense powerful Youki energy. I'm not sure, but I think it's an animal spirit. It's rather far away. Good. I frown and try to locate it. It's coming from... the sea? The boat's there again.... And the energy's definitely there. I'm too weak to fight, or even get up for the matter. But... damn Kurama and his little revenge crew I think I'm going to pass out again...

~*~

Wow, this is different. It's all sunny, and I'm on one of those ningen 'beaches.' I'm laying on the sand, licking sweet snow.[2] Kurama's... giggling? And he's standing above me, not with a smirk, but with laughing eyes and a definite grin. Not a sadistic one, either. And next I'll see dancing bears and a Hawk Youkai attaching himself to a wolf, right?

"Hiei! I don't see WHAT you have against the water!" he laughs, and drags me out of my comfortable position and drags me into the water. Splash. Urg, it's so uselessly WET! I don't see the point of the ningen exercise 'swimming.' Next thing I know, Yusuke's dragging me out. He and Kurama are having some sort of tug-of-war... I'm the rope.

"Let me go! Both of you! Hn, useless ningens!" Kurama simply laughs and starts... hugging me? Yusuke drags me out of his grip and away from the sea, though. For which, I must say, I'm thankful. "Ningen courting games?"

"Ningens? We are certainly not ningens," a seagull drawls...

*~*

I'm awake, but I don't want to open my eyes. For some strange reason, I want to go back to that beach dreamland....

*~*~*TBC

[1] Yes, that's a long string of Japanese. Translated, it's:

"Dumbass woman," I gasp, "bitch! You traitor!"

Ah, the glory of profanity...

[2] Couldn't help but add that. I think the way Hiei shows his affection for ice cream is very kawaii. ^_^

*~*~*

Endnote: Yes, I know it's shorter than the last chapter. And Tat, please don't tell me it's worse! I wasn't under much pressure. And besides, I finally decided a whole bunch of things to add to the plot. So chapters will come out much faster now! ^^

Review, they help even more! Give me some ideas, too. Not about the seagull person, though, I already got the next few chapters planned. I'm typing chapter three right now, ya see!