The Welder of BlackFire:

Thorn's New Life-The Legend Lives

Chapter Twelve: The Coward

"So you didn't bring Yusuke and Kuwabara to come laugh as well? Really, Kurama, you disappoint me." Thorn walked into the clearing, making Kurama and Hiei look toward her. She was clothed in her skirt and short shirt, her supple calf-high boots silent on the thick foliage. She had pulled her hair back into a tight braid that fell to her waist and swayed over her back as she walked. She stopped and held her staff at her side as she placed her left hand on her hip. Kurama chuckled.

"Hiei's hardly come to laugh. With your speed not exactly, well, fast. He's come to help develop it into a higher skill level," Kurama explained.

"Hn," both Hiei and Thorn grunted.

"Let's get started. For the next month, with the exceptions on the days we have missions, we will start at dawn, here, beginning with your speed. Hiei will begin the day with you," Kurama continued. Thorn nodded.

"Lets get started," Hiei said. "First, I need to study your speed. Do a lap around the clearing." Thorn nodded, placing her staff against a tree. She did as she was told. Hiei shook his head when she was done.

"This is going to be a long month," he said as she stood in front of him, breathing heavily.

Later that day, after four hours of training with Hiei in speed skills, Thorn began training with Kurama. Her dodging was exquisite. By twisting at the last second, she managed to dodge nearly every attack. The ones she failed to avoid didn't even mark her. They both landed after an especially difficult attack.

"Tell me, how did you learn to dodge so well?" Kurama asked as they took a short break. She looked at him wearily.

"By watching. Eyes are far quicker than any weapon," she said hesitantly.

"But the way you dodged, I can't understand how you can twist to avoid such attacks within the second you have to do so."

"Agility. By manipulating muscles you can twist in any direction easily and quickly." Kurama thought on her answer a moment.

"I see," he finally said. He looked over to her. She was still breathing heavily, her hair, in its flexible braid that lay on her neck, was plastered to her face.

"Are you tired?" he asked. She shook her head, making her braid snake from one side of her back to the other.

"No," she gasped.

'She is clearly exhausted. But she's not saying anything,' Kurama thought. 'I could work her to literal death and I doubt she would say a word beforehand.'

"We're done for today. Come back tomorrow, dawn," the boy said. Thorn opened her mouth to protest, but her panting breaths made her mutilate her words into a choking cough.

*

Morning dawned bright and early. Birds flitted through the trees, their songs happy and crisp. Early morning rays of golden sun beamed through the tree branches and lightened the dark shadows of night. The clearing lay in a sun-kissed pool, ankle-high grass swaying slightly in a cool breeze. Hiei had arrived early that morning and sat waiting for Thorn to arrive. He had been helping Kurama train her for nearly three weeks now. Improvement had been immediate and was obvious to even the untrained eye. Kurama had noticed it the next day, after she had recovered from her bout of utter exhaustion.

Hiei had asked Kurama the night before what exactly had driven him to keep the girl around.

"I have a feeling that her trainer was an ancient dragon by the name of The Black Blaze," he had replied.

"The Black Blaze? But I thought he was killed long ago," Hiei had said, looking up. His eyes were wide with surprise.

"I did as well. But that attack, the one I told you I saw when she was disposing of the dead demons, was his signature move. It was called the Internal Fire. By forcing his fire energy into his opponent's body he could literally burn them from the inside out in seconds with only a small puff of smoke. It leaves no evidence behind that it was ever used," Kurama explained. "I never heard of him ever having an apprentice that learned his trade and so the only way I can think of her learning that technique was for him to teach her. But he was supposed to have been killed long ago. If he survived until just a few months ago, I want to now how and why he died."

"It seemed to me that you're depending a lot upon this girl talking," Hiei said with a grunt. "And it doesn't look like she's much for speaking."

"Give her time, Hiei. I'm sure that if we wait her out long enough, she's bound to let something slip. She is, after all, only human," Kurama had said.

'I don't know. She's cunning and smart. She doesn't act like she could ever let anything slip, she thinks things through too thoroughly for that, even when her anger seems to get the better of her,' Hiei thought, listening as leaves rustled in a sighing breeze.

Thorn walked into the clearing, watching for Hiei in the depths of the shadows. She spotted him immediately, even though he was hidden in the thick branches of a leafy tree. She walked into the clearing with confidence, watching him as he looked down on her. With a small whoosh he jumped down from the tree and stood in front of her, an ebony blur against the dark shadows. They stood looking at each other a moment without saying anything. The sun began to creep over the far-away horizon.

"We are training today, are we not?" Thorn asked about twenty minutes of silence.

"Yes," Hiei said. 'It was either her inpatients or her curiosity that got the better of her. Kurama might find it useful that she can be waited out,' he thought. Thorn looked at him, her face seemed to change, to darken. Her head jerked a few inches to the side, snapping her neat braid like a whip behind her.

"So you're a spy for Kurama? Well, now that I know that I'll be on my guard. Thank you for keeping your mind so open and free," she said with a hiss. BlackFire seethed, glowing bright and regal navy on her back. Hiei's expression remained blank. "Well now that I know that, I see that there is no reason for me to be in your debt any longer. You have gained more knowledge of me than I could possibly know."

"Wrong. I am no spy. Like you, I choose to work alone, and help no one. I never said...thought, that I would tell him. You assume too much," the fire youkai said, burrowing his hands deeper in his cloak's folds.

"I assume only what the evidence points to so clearly," she spat. "Where is Kurama? I will break this deal now."

"You are taking the coward's way out," Hiei said quietly.

"You call me a coward? You should not speak of such things, Hiei, when you yourself are such a coward, hiding behind that mask. You were so fearful that you caused yourself as much pain as having that Jagan eye put in to track down and keep watch over your sister. Then you are too much of a coward to tell her that you are her own brother, for whom she has put herself through much pain to find. You are the coward Hiei," she ranted, her voice rising. Hiei glared at her, surprise bright in his eyes, but anger in his features. He balled his fists and gritted his teeth, his body tense, ready to spring a deadly attack.

"How did you know that?" he snarled. She glared at him and crossed her arms, turning to leave.

"I'm leaving."

"I asked you a question," he said, his tone deadly and threatening. Thorn turned around.

"And I told you I was leaving," she said sharply. BlackFire hissed a vibrant song by her ear. An angry warning to Hiei, who paid it no heed.

In a flash he was in front of her, his eyes glowing dangerously. She looked at him, her eyes sparking silvery blue flames. She leapt into the trees, a blur in the morning light. Hiei cut her off as she landed on a thick branch. She seemed to growl and lept again, with the same results. Again and again she tried, but to no avail, he was much swifter. This went on for thirty minutes, until Thorn's lungs demanded a rest from the exercise.

"How did you know?" Hiei asked evenly, his rage contained as he crouched on a branch not far from her own.

"I know..many things, Hiei," she panted.

"Tell me," he growled.

"My magic told me," she said with a smug smile. Hiei watched her as her right foot shifted just a bit. She was getting ready to flee again.

"Don't go. I can see why Kurama wanted you to stay. You seemed to know a lot about us. From the turnamate, from our own lives. I knew there was something strange about you from the turnamate. You already knew exactly what was going to happen." Thorn did not reply, but continued to pant.

'Its pointless for me to run. I'm not fast enough. I'll have to fight,' Thorn thought. She looked around, careful not to let Hiei see her shifty actions, looking for the a place to battle that would suit her style best. 'It doesn't matter, with his speed I'll never reach it, even if I saw a good place,' she thought. Her eyes took a determined glare as she turned toward Hiei.

"I'll have to kill you for what you know," Hiei said seriously.

"You think that I'm not to be trusted? I knew such things for a long time Hiei. If I was going to use it to my advantage I would have done so already. I was a fool in my rage. I regret saying anything," she said. She bolted from her tree, leaping to another.

Thorn halted at the next branch, her eyes staring straight ahead of her with a blank expression. Hiei's katana lay just a mere inch from her throat. She was in a crouch on the branch, and to move was to ensure a slit throat.

"You will regret it even more once I kill you," Hiei said quietly. He stood on a branch beside her own, looking down on her. She smirked, but other than the twitching of her lips, she was frozen in place.

"BlackFire will not let me die. No matter what attack you pull. Dragon of the Darkness Flame could not kill us at our peak. With our combined power there is not an attack in the world that could kill us," she said, her voice thick with smugness. Hiei's sword inched closer, resting against her vulnerable neck.

"Would you like to bet on that?" he asked as the cool metal of his sword brushed her throat. Her smirk widened to a smile.

"I wouldn't only because BlackFire would kill you without hesitation and you still have a secret to tell Yukina. I wouldn't want to jeopardize an opportunity for you to do so, Hiei," she said calmly. Suddenly, without moving her upper-body, she kicked the sword from his hands. As its edge slid past her throat she grabbed its hilt, and turned it on its master. She looked at the off-guard youkai, who was nearly growling in his stupidity.

"You thought you had me, didn't you? I've said it before and I'll say it once again. People underestimate me far too often." Thorn's smile had grown as she watched the fire demon think. After about three minutes of silence, Thorn shifted in her crouch on the tree. Her hand ran over the blade of the sword, drawing blood from the heel of her hand. "But just to insure that you don't try to kill me in the future, I'll take a precautionary step. You should be honored. I've always killed before I've ever used this defense." Her blue energy streaked down the sharp edge with her blood, until the sword was engulfed in the bluish power. Within seconds, the energy, as well as the blood, had been absorbed.

Thorn threw the sword back to Hiei, who caught it easily.

"You shouldn't have done that, now I will kill you," he said. 'What did she do to it that made her so confident that I wouldn't kill her with it? She's starting to aggravate me with her smug attitude,' he thought as he readied himself for an attack. Thorn returned his stare with a smile as she straightened.

"You can try. But you wont be able to touch me for six hours. I've ensured that, and you sealed the deal when you touched that sword. I take my leave now. Don't follow me. At least, not until you're back to your true power. I'm sure that we will see each other again. I do not like to leave unhealthy arguments in my wake," Thorn said as she lept down from the tree. Hiei swung his sword as she disappeared down onto the earth, but he knew he would miss. He did. But there was a reluctance in his swing that he could not place. It was as if his sword suddenly had a mind of its own, and refused to come near the girl. He looked at the sword, which had emitted a low vibration and a barely noticeable amount of energy when he swung.

Hiei listened, but Thorn's footfalls were silent and her energy hidden.

"Damn," he cursed. "I should have killed her."

'But how did she know about Yukina? Its impossible. Only Kurama, Yusuke, Botan, Koenma, and the Ice Apparitions know. And I know for a fact that none of them would tell. Kurama, Yusuke, and Koenma can be trusted. Botan, if she values her life, didn't. And the Ice Apparitions wouldn't for shame. Unless. Her psychic powers are extremely strong. She could have looked into the minds of the weaker-minded and found out easily, without their knowing.' Hiei gritted his teeth. 'But she was right when she said that if she wanted to use the information against me that she had every opportunity. In the arena, in the hotel, the places were limitless with her mind speech. I wonder why she didn't use it as blackmail. But she has said, time and time again, that there is nothing anyone could give that should could not get on her own.'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Authoress' Note: yes, I know, it's a crappy chapter, but, hey, I do what I can! Besides, I've been obsessed with fanart for the past week. Its driving me insane!

Yusuke: I'll say. You've drawn Kurama twice, Hiei once, and done little doodles all over your math, global, and English notebooks! -waves notebooks-

J: -snatches them away- hey! Who said you could go through my stuff!

Kurama: -inconspicuously picks math notebook from her hand- Aoshi too?

J: -growl- damn you guys! -grabs for notebook-

Hiei- takes it from Kurama- hey, what's with the sadistic grin you gave me?

J: -reaches for it again, only to have it just out of reach- dammit, give it back! Besides, you always look sadistic before you use the Dragon of the darkness Flame!

Kurama: -going through notebook- I didn't know my hair was…pink.

J: -growl- damn you guys! And its not pink, its light red! I couldn't find a maroon colored pencil!

Kurama: you made Kuronue look….angry.

Kuronue: -pout-

J: -melt- aww -shakes head- he is angry! You just told him what he was doing was wrong! -snatches folder away- now, dammit all Hiei, gimme the notebook back!

Hiei: -still studying- you don't take many notes. At least, not about math.

J: -blush- -rips it away- that's none of your business! Anyway! Before everyone decided to go through all my artwork! I got a review!! ^_^

D(): here ya go!! Thank you for the review!

J: okay, review some more please!