Author's Notes: Eep! Since I took so horribly long to update, I'll shut my yap and get on with da show. Oh yeah, and it's really long, too. Lucky you.
This is the first chapter with a Jagan Vision. Of what these visions are of, Hiei doesn't know until he figures it out. Same goes for you. =P
Last-minute-note: since FF.net decided to take out all the pretty markers, I used a --oO&Oo-- border instead.
Roxy-the-wolf-demon: Hint of yaoi-ness? What hint of yaoi-ness? THIS is a hint of yaoi-ness! grab Hiei and Kurama and shove them together into a closet I DIDN'T DO IT!
bountyhunter: Thanks for the review! And yes, you want to read this chapter – I think it's gonna be the best one in this part. Mwahaha. And Touya? Sorry, I support Jin/Touya... though there'll be none of that 'til the sequel.
Kurosaisei: Thank you for all the Japanese lessons!
Madame Arrow Foxfire: Hehe... KURAMA IN A BRA! Well, I really don't think the villain character has Yomi or Karasu's personality- that's what makes deciding hard for me. He's well... more outright, more brash... yet brilliant... kinda like the Toguro brothers.
Aww, less reviews than before... I hope more people review for this chapter – I think this one really deserves it.
Warnings: Lotsa blood. Lotsa murder. Lots of dramatic Hiei moments, and even a random Hiei/Kurama and Hiei/Karasu power struggle that you have to think about 'til your brain hurts to understand. Then there's always that one random tree that has to be killed. Poor tree.
---------------Zephyr-------------
The water pours harder now, cascading down the window in steady rhythms. The thunder roars outside, the same kind that woke me last night. The luminosity of Karasu's violet-indigo eyes still seem to ring in Kurama's forest green ones every time he steals a glance at me. I'd be inclined to believe Karasu possessed him, if not for the fact that the kitsune would never let the crow possess him... either way. Even now, as Kurama turns to me, I see a flicker of familiar indigo ice.
"Hiei," he starts hesitantly, "about last night...."
"Forget about it," I snap back, rubbing my eyes with the base of my pales, trying to rub out the terrifying afterimage of Karasu – one hand raised, my sword in his neck – and trying to ignore Kurama's slightly worried stare.
"How... how can I? It was... absolutely... terrifying..." he whispers, voice shaking on the last word. He lets out a sigh, collapsing onto a nearby wall. "How can you live like this every day?" he groans, rubbing his eyes. I look up, seeing his mournful gaze, his wrists propped against his forehead, eyes downcast deep in thought.
"I can't," I answer simply. "Someday I won't live in this terror... rather... not live at all."
"What?" he hisses sharply, dropping his hands from their perch.
"Not by my own hand," I continue, "I've decided... that that isn't quite the end of my existence that I've looked for. Rather... I've decided... to take up a method you suggested.
"I... what? When did... oh!" He eyes suddenly widened. "Hiei, don -- never mind! Which one?"
"To battle until my death," I whisper. "I have so much to avenge, so much misery to return to their bestowers. A cyclone of destruction I'll be, strewing bodies everywhere... ...always a zephyr...."
Kurama watches still, violet/green eyes wide, lips slightly parted, evidently trying to speak; but that ability betrays him, leaving him with nothing but incoherent stuttering. "Oh... but, Hiei, I thought... didn't you... why... but that fatigue... Karasu... your pains... and the afterlife, what of...? And... but... even when Koenma—OH HIEI, CAN'T YOU SEE YOU'RE THROWING AWAY EVERYONE'S MERCY?!"
"Mercy? What mercy?" I reply bitterly. "Haven't I already explained that to you, fox? Or are you so simple-minded that I need to repeat my explanation? Or perhaps, Karasu did something to your mind. Hn. Not hard to believe, with violet glinting... glinting away in YOUR eyes!" I draw my sword. "Do I need to rid you of that presence?"
A week ago Kurama was calm. He would've simply drawn out a daisy to restrain me.
But today, he runs. He runs screaming and sobbing, completely hysterical, pushing a startled Yusuke aside. I can hear the clatter and yelps of various objects in his way, dead, alive, or inanimate, all crashing to the floor with a background of eerie silence. Then there's a loud shriek, then a sobs, with murmurs in the background. Yusuke, head turned toward the room, watches quietly, giving me a glare before walking swiftly and silently down the hall.
In the midst of the confusion, I leapt to the far end of the lounge, lifting a window and stalking out into the rainy night.
I would've been a genius to come up with that plan. But the truth is... I didn't. Something told me to take Kurama with me. Perhaps I had overestimated the fragility of his mind.
But in any case, as I slosh through the mud past a window, I come to the main room. I look in the window briefly to find the kitsune on the floor, shaking, a semicircle of being around him. I stop for a second, and he jerks up quickly to look at me, the crowd around him jumping slightly at this sudden motion. For a split second, we meet eyes -- the violet probing into me, asking me questions, but the green...
The green was looking at me in a mixture of pity, sorrow, and insanity.
I break the contact quickly and run away from the grand palace with all that my legs can provide.
And right now, with adrenaline surging through every fiber of my soul, I find that I'm running so fast that I can't even see where I'm going, until the solid Reikai dirt give way, and I'm falling, smashing into the ground below, heart pounding, eyes dilated. A chill passes through the air, and I shiver slightly, feeling the cold, wet sensation of a Reikai spring rain. I lay here breathing. Shaking. Scared.
In the distance I see a flash of lightening. I hear the rumble of thunder. I hear the winds picking up.
I hear the pain-filled crack of a tree splitting, dying as a bolt pierces its heart.
And I lay there, my sanity cracking, my hope splitting, my soul dying.
--oO&Oo--
It was not the sun that woke me, but stillness. Shifting slightly, I blink, looking about. This expanse seems so foreign... where am I? In the distance, I can make out a thin spire, breaking into the ring of clouds above it.
Reikai palace. Last night I had left it. Slipped. Laid there pathetically as he rain dripped on already sodden and muddy clothes.
I can still feel the dampness in the thin material, a mixture of dew, rainwater, and what appears to be blood... perhaps from the impact. Looking down, I can see a light red mixture in the ground below.
And I'm dazed. My memory snaps at me, the blood-curling memory of those indigo eyes... icy spherical daggers piercing my every sensible thought... mixed with empty green eyes... I shudder. That was why I ran... and I do not wish to bring it back.
I look behind me. A cliff. I walk along the edge, keeping my eyes on the path. Wandering.
The third is closed. And it.... it's looking within my soul. Wandering within the dark abysses of my mind.
Slowly this landscape in front of me turns into nothing but darkness... and my third vision clouds reality.
--oOVisionOo--
"Mama! Mama!" a small, blue-haired girl giggles, running around crazily in circles. "You can't catch me! Hehehehe...." It's a small child with pretty eyes, the colors like violets in the spring, just bloomed and filled with light. I smile softly. This must be Yukina's past... so she lived a happy life? Good for her. At least she hasn't suffered as I had.
A woman chases after her, laughing. My mother perhaps? No... I have no right to call her my mother. She's Yukina's mother... hers alone. "Ah, will you ever grown up?" she chastised, lightly clutching the little girl's arms. Her face turns serious. "But come now, we are not permitted here."
The girl resists a little before groaning, "Okay...." Her mother starts going off in one direction, Yukina running after her, little short legs and pudgy feet pattering in the grass.
If this is Koorime Isle, it is truly a beautiful place, unlike any other location in Makai. Trees line the path's sides, shrubbery healthy and abundant. Giggles of the child echo through the forest.
I gaze skyward for a moment, watching the clouds go by over Koorime Isle. So beautiful, innocent, naïve...
Suddenly, a scream below. I look down quickly, finding the mother on the ground, blood staining the perfect grass around her. Yukina screams, running away, only to be tripped by the slippery grass. A blue ogre with a spear grins as the girl screams again, clumsily picking herself up and stumbling away, only to crash into a tree and tumble onto the grass, silent in defeat.
A blue ogre... a blonde blue ogre... where have I seen one before?
"You!" a voice pierces through the air. "TRESPASSER!!!"
The ogre quickly spears the dead carcass and runs, but is quickly stopped by a floating baby in blue. "You have trespassed into the gardens of ME, Prince Koenma!"
Blue ogre blinks and stutters, "Ko-oenma!"
"That's Koenma-SAMA!! And you're trespassing!" he eyes the carcass. "And you've committed murder!"
The ogre drops the spear and bows.
The girl screams.
Koenma turns around, seeing Yukina by the tree, shaking. "A lone girl?" He looks back at the carcass. "Ogres... so ruthless! Killing mothers and children... I sentence you to death!"
"NO!" the ogre screeches. "I'LL WORK FOR YOU!! I'LL KISS YOUR SHOES!!! I'LL... I'll...."
"Fine then... work for me for the rest of your life..." Koenma muses, chuckling. "Well, go clean up my room now." The ogre grumbles and stumbles away toward the castle. "Now... as for you..." Koenma floats slowly over to Yukina. Yukina ducks behind the tree as the prince approaches her. "Hmm...."
Yukina cries, clinging to the tree and sobbing with all her might. Koenma's eyes soften as he approaches her, patting her back.
Something's amiss here.
Something's wrong...
--oOEnd VisionOo--[1]
Show me more...! I urge the Jagan, but the black resides to the dirt road beneath my feet, bumping and jostling along. Yukina... Hina... is that how she got here? Is that why Yukina is with Koenma? But then...
Yukina cries, clinging to the tree and sobbing with all her might.
...
Something's wrong with that scene... I can't place it...
...cries... sobbing with all her might...
...the tears... they were wet and slippery against her cheeks...
If it wasn't Yukina, then, who could it be? And why would the Jagan show me... that? I'm not in love, am I? And if I were... I certainly don't love any blue-haired violet-eyed girls... or rather, any girls at all. Hmm. There's a thought.
I sigh. I'm too tired to care. The ground is constant. Clumps aligned to the same places along the road. Repetitive. Predictable. To some degree, I wish life were in the same, repetitive pattern.
Even if it were a cycle, of pain, at least I would know what comes next.
Slowly, I life my gaze to the horizon. The sign of unpredictability... accursed...! I look farther up. And then... yes, it is accursed.
Koorime Isle.
--oOflashbackOo--
It is my earliest memory. People around a fire. Fire in their eyes. Yet their hearts are chilled. Chilled with ice. Chilled with superstition. And most of all, chilled with images of myself.
"We must rid ourselves of him," one murmured. "It is a curse upon our land."
I gurgled in protest. Mother screamed, "NO!"
"Be quiet, Hina!" another snapped. "It is not your place to decide!"
She quieted, holding the sole form of Yukina in her arms. I yelled and hissed hatefully from my prison in the elder's arms. I lurched and bit the nearest person. She yelped, drawing away from me. I was allowed to fall; to simply lie there by the fire.
The drop was brief; the wait in silence was longer.
I lay there, screaming obscenities in a language none nkew.
Finally, the lead elder picked me up by the legs. "Certainly, this is a sign that he must be punished." A murmur of agreement. My mothers cry of protest.
"No... my Hiei... Hiei..."
Hiei. So that would be my name.
Another Koorime woman picks me up. She's young. "Ruri.... can we trust you to carry out this ritual?"
"Yes... yes I can," Ruri confirmed monotonously.
"No... oh Ruri... spare the child...." With that, Hina wept.
It took 13 long strides of Ruri's legs to reach the cliff.
I squirmed in my blanket, looking down, then promptly stilled as I saw the long drop that awaited me. "Shh... still Hiei..." Ruri whispered. I watched her in fright as she balanced me with one hand, digging her other into her pocket, withdrawing a luminous blue gem. "Your mother wanted you to have... this."
"Gurgh?" I gurgled, clenching the gem in my hand.
"Yes it's yours," she whispered, gently working the loop of twine around my head. "And if you ever return... you may wreak upon these elders the chaos that they have inflicted upon you."
With that, the arms below dropped as I plummeted below.
The drop was brief.
The pain afterwards lasted...
--oOend flashbackOo--[2]
Déjà vu is the only thought that crosses my mind as I stare up at the floating isle above. Blue. Icy. Cold. The thought of abandonment from before shivers through me again. 13 strides. The cold heat of the fire. One last tear... I hold up my mother's tear, watching it catch the aura of the island in its fragile aqua luminescence. It was not really her last tear... but at the least, it was the first tear ever bestowed for me. The first... and the last.
And the wind blowing off the island is cold. So cold.
I pocket the gem and jump onto the island, the ground catching firmly below my feet. "It is time to repay those who started my misery!"
--oO&Oo--[3]
Blood. Blood.
That is the only thought registering in my mind. The only thought echoing across this small, cold island. In the midst of this chilling isle, there is blood, the only warmth – ironically, the only warmth from those whose hearts were chilled.
Chilled with ice. Chilled with superstition. And most of all, chilled with images of myself.
The bodies lay, scattered, the houses protruding from the blood-soaked ground. This wasteland is a wasteland once more. The dead is no longer limited to the cemetery.
No more tear gems shall ever be made.[4]
And I have no remorse for what I have done.
--oO&TBC
[1] That was fun. Anyhoo, this is just part 1 of the complete vision. Part 2 of the vision... I'll stick it somewhere in this fic before part 4 of this fic.
[2] Since no one really gave me many details on Hiei's past or how Koorime Isle looked, I had to go by what I knew. Feel free to correct me via review!
[3] Not in the mood to write a bloodbath. Well, I will... just not the actual killing. Haha, did I ruin your day?
[4] Umm... if Yukina ever cries, I think Hiei's gonna crush all the gems. So there.
--oO&Oo--
Endnotes: Yay for me! crushes Writer's Block I'M FREE!!!
Kurama: No you aren't. lugging in Writer's Block
R Amythest: OO WHAT?!
Hiei: NO MORE TORTURING ME! grabs the Writer's Block from Kurama and slams me with it on my head
R Amythest: XX TT NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!