I know that I said it would be a while, but this story was just calling to me...I couldn't ignore it, could I???
Disclaimer: I do not own YYH or any of the characters in it. I do own Bronwyn and Hoku.
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*Always*
*Chapter One*
The pitch-black sky was littered with stars that shone brightly over the deserted road leading out of town.
Not a soul was to be seen. No cars driving down the usually heavily populated road, no people taking a leisurely stroll down the sidewalk. The only noise came from the flickering of the ancient street lamps situated on both sides of the streets, lighting the otherwise dark and cold street.
A head suddenly poked around the corner of a department building situated at the corner of the road. They glanced around nervously a few times, and then brought their head back behind the store for a moment.
Leaving the safety of the shadows, the figure began to slowly walk out into the middle of the street. Passing under a streetlight, you could see that she was a female, who looked to be around eighteen years of age, with long red hair and large brown eyes. Disappearing back into the dark, she abruptly stopped her pace and turned her head to look behind her, and seemed to grow angry when she could see that the area was empty.
Throwing her hands up, she ran back to the department store and came back out dragging another figure by the arm furiously. As the pair passed under the light once again, you could see that she was pulling along with her a boy who seemed to be the same age, with blond hair and small hazel eyes which were darting around nervously, as if he didn't know what he was supposed to be thinking.
"Come on, come on, come on!!! If you want me to help you with your assignment, then you have to come on!!" The girl shrieked, staring at the boy with angry eyes.
"O-okay...what w-was your name a-again?" He stuttered, too afraid of the task ahead of him to talk clearly.
"For the hundredth and first time, it's Bronwyn!!!" She screamed angrily.
As she yanked him fiercely down the sidewalk, his thoughts ventured to a speech that his master had given a while before his assignment had begun. He had been addressing the group of new recruits about the punishment of betrayal to him. He told them about a female assassin, one who had been working with him for six years, who chose her victim over her job, and paid for her choice with her own life. The women's name was Bronwyn. And he had been given the task to kill the demon that she had been incapable of killing three months ago.
Could this be the same women that he supposedly killed?...He thought as he glanced curiously at the women dragging him along behind her... And even if it was, why would she be offering to help me kill the demon that she gave her own life for???
"Um, e-excuse me, m-miss?" The young man asked nervously. Bronwyn turned her head angrily.
"What is it?" She snapped. "I'm doing you a big favor, helping you to kill this fire demon you're after. So you need to be grateful." She paused for a moment, just staring at him. "WELL, WHAT IS IT??"
"Oh, y-yes..." He whispered, a little stunned from her outburst, "W-well, I was just w-wondering if you h-have ever been an a-assassin before."
Bronwyn, who had turned her head back to the road for the moment, brought her head back around to look at the boy, and he could of sworn that he saw a flash of worry in her eyes for a second. But it was quickly replaced with a small laugh. "Of course not. Why would you ask such a stupid question?"
"W-well, my boss t-talked about k-killing a girl with y-your n-name. S-She g-gave her life for t-the demon I'm s-supposed to k-ill."
"Well, that's idiotic. First of all, If he killed her, than how could she still be alive, talking to you?" She said airily, even though the smallest trace of nervousness was in her voice. "Second of all, why I give my life for someone I'm about to help you kill?"
"Y-yeah, I h-had the s-same thought." He said, laughing quietly. I guess it's not the same person...
After several more minutes of walking, they finally reached the edge of the forest, where a small rickety park bench sat. Letting go of the boy's arm, Bronwyn took a seat on the bench and motioned for him to join her.
"Now, what was your name again?"
"H-Hoku."
She smiled slightly. "And who do you work for?"
"Z-Zink."
Hoku was sure that he saw her scowl at the name, but he dismissed it as his imagination. They sat in silence for a minute, before Hoku gained enough confidence to question her.
"Excuse m-me, Bronwyn, but w-what are we doing h-here?" He whispered nervously.
She closed her eyes. "I told the fire demon that he should meet me here. He'll probably be here soon." She whispered.
"Do you k-know him?"
"Yep. He thinks I'm his friend, but I hate the guy. Too stubborn for words." She groaned.
More silence.
Suddenly, a sound that resembled a knock on a wooden door echoed through the forest, and even though Hoku ignored it, Bronwyn's eyes perked up at the sound.
"He's almost here." She said quietly, pulling out her knife.
"W-What's going to h-happen? Does he k-know I'm h-here??" Hoku asked nervously. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out a pocket knife of his own. Bronwyn glanced at it for a moment.
"Did Zink give you that?" She asked suspiciously, with a slight tone of hate in her voice.
Hoku nodded slightly. The sight of the knife seemed to give him strength, igniting some sort of fire within him.
"I can't wait forever, women." He snarled, his stutter gone. Bronwyn noticed the sudden change in his personality.
"You okay?" She asked with a sense of worry, eyeing him nervously.
"No, Zink likes his victims killed fast and swift. This is taking way too long. Am I going to have to kill you as well?" He growled, holding up the knife to her face. As Bronwyn stared at the knife, she noticed a small engraving on the side of the handle. A delicate black word....hatred.
"The blood knife." She whispered softly.
"What was that?" Hoku whispered menacingly, the knife moving closer towards her face.
"Nothing. He'll be here soon, don't worry." She said smoothly.
Hoku brought the knife back cautiously, still grasping it tightly.
But after a few more minutes of waiting, he seemed to be on his last nerve. Wringing his hands around the handle, he reached forward and grabbed the collar of Bronwyn's shirt. "IF HE ISN'T HERE SOON, I'LL STAB YOU!!!"
A bright flash of light suddenly seemed to erupt from the trees , swiping down between Bronwyn and Hoku. Hoku fell off the bench onto the ground, and for a moment, all he could see were two dark shadows standing over him, whispering to each other.
"He was the easiest one yet..."
"I feel a little bad for him, though. Maybe we don't have to kill him....Just send him back to Zink."
As Hoku rubbed his eyes, he sat up and stared at the two people standing in front of him. His eyes fell on Bronwyn first, her arms crossed, and a smug smile on her face. His eyes then shifted over to the person standing beside her, a dark haired teenage boy wearing a black cloak, and staring at him with an angry expression. It took him a second to realize who it was....The fire demon, Hiei...He thought, remembering a picture he had seen.
Hiei brought his sword to the boy's neck. "You fell for it." He spoke simply.
"W-What?" The boy's stutter had returned, and Bronwyn noticed that he had dropped the knife on the ground.
Hoku's eyes moved over to Bronwyn. "I t-thought you...you..." He whispered, too confused to think straight.
"Quite the convincing liar, aren't I?" She spoke boldly. "If you're wondering, I actually am the Bronwyn that Zink thought he had killed. And unless you want to die like the others who have come after Hiei, I suggest you go back to Zink and tell him that it's going to take more than bakas like you to complete his dream of killing Hiei."
Too scared to think, Hoku nodded nervously and reached over to grab the knife, but Bronwyn had beat him to it. "I don't think so." She said, scrounging it up. The minute she touched it, she suddenly felt the strong urging to kill, the same one she had felt six years ago....she shook her head violently and threw the knife as far into the forest as she could. I hate that knife...
Hoku got up as fast as he possibly could, and began running in the opposite direction. Bronwyn and Hiei watched him go, and then he turned towards her. "Something seemed different about you when you touched that knife."
Bronwyn sighed. "Zink called it the blood knife. He gives it to all the newcomers. It fills them with an urge for blood, for death, so strong that they usually always follow through with their assignments." She paused for a second. "Do you want to go back to Kurama's house?"
Hiei nodded, and they began to walk in the direction of the kitsune's home....
******
"Well, here we are." Bronwyn said, as they approached the doorstep. "Goodnight." Leaning forward, she kissed him on the lips softly.
Though what was meant to be a goodnight kiss quickly turned into a longer kiss, and then a french-kiss....
"You know, if you wanted to do that, you could just come inside. I wouldn't mind staying up here." Kurama's amused voice floated down from the sky.
The two broke away from each other immediately and glanced up at the house to see Kurama's head sticking out of the second-story window, smiling at them.
"Are you spying on us?" Bronwyn asked angrily.
Kurama, starting to laugh, nodded.
She glanced back at Hiei with a blank expression on her face. "Excuse me." She opened the door to the household and disappeared inside. Hiei leaned on the door casually as he listened to Bronwyn stomping up the stairs, and then a low "ow!!" was heard.
"If you wanted to be alone, you could of just asked, you didn't have to kick me." Kurama's disgruntled voice floated from the window. Then Bronwyn came back down the stairs and appeared back at the door, an angry expression on her face.
"Now, that that's taken care of, where were we?" She asked, her furious look being replaced with a smile.
They began to kiss again.....
"Yuck!!! Get a room, would you???" A teenage boy was passing on the sidewalk, a disgusted look on his face. He glanced at Bronwyn, and then at Hiei. "Man, you could do a lot better than her." He laughed.
Bronwyn clenched her fists. "Why you little brat...." She left Hiei to run into the darkness after the teenager.
"Ouch!!! I hope you know that my dad's a lawyer, lady!!!" Hiei heard the boy cry after a minute.
"Yeah, yeah, just get!!! Shoo!!!" Bronwyn screamed, and the sound of pounding footsteps echoed as the boy began to run down the sidewalk. She returned to the doorstep, now looking tired instead of angry.
"Why don't we stop for tonight? SINCE EVERY DAMN PERSON IN THIS CITY SEEMS TO WANT TO INTERRUPT US!!" She screamed into the darkness, not really at anyone in particular.
Hiei sighed, and then nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay." She kissed him once again on the cheek and then watched as he walked away. She sighed also and entered the house. She passed Kurama on the stairs, wearing a slight grin. He opened his mouth to speak, but Bronwyn's death glare scared him so much that he decided against it.
"Don't you dare talk to me, you evil, EVIL..."
"I said I was sorry....." Kurama said quietly, holding up his hands protectively in front of him.
Her angry expression softened a bit. "It's okay. I'm going to bed." Waving a limp goodbye, she headed up to the bedroom, her head only filled with thoughts of how tired, how utterly exhausted she was....
Collapsing onto the bed the minute she entered the room, she pushed all thoughts from her mind and drifted of to sleep....
***
It seemed to be the same forest clearing from her last dream, Bronwyn noticed immediately as she glanced around at the green foliage surrounding her. She had seemed to have so many dreams taking place in the forest lately that it was getting a bit boring.
But after a minute of studying the area, she noticed that something seemed a little bit...different. Usually, her dreams in the forest had a hazy, unrealistic feeling to them, that made her realize right away that what she was experiencing wasn't really happening...
But, this dream seemed a lot more...real. It felt like she was actually there, that she could just reach out and feel her hand against the bark of the tree in front of her...
She suddenly noticed the two people standing in front of her. She recognized Hiei right away, who was saying something to the other person, whose face Bronwyn couldn't see, wearing an angry expression. She couldn't hear him, though. The voices seemed to be on mute.
She watched as the other person shook their head softly and unsheathed a large shimmering sword and brought the point to Hiei's head. Their body shook for a second, as if they were laughing, and they pulled the sword back.
Bronwyn realized after only a couple of seconds what was coming next. She looked back at Hiei with a desperate look on her face, waiting for him to move, run, pull his own sword out...but to her surprise, he didn't move at all, his eyes locked on the unknown person's sword.
They swiftly launched the sword forward, and it sliced into Hiei's chest.
Bronwyn clapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming, not believing in what she was seeing.
The attacker shoved Hiei to the ground fiercely, and then brought down the sword again, cutting into Hiei's neck.
Blood, so much blood...
Bronwyn looked away, tears welling up in her eyes. The realization that this was all a dream was getting smaller and smaller in her mind.
She shook her head furiously, trying to ignore the repeated stabbing motions she was hearing....
"No, no, no, no, no, no..." She repeated over and over again...
***
"NO!!!!"
Bronwyn sat up straight in bed, her body shaking violently all over.
She glanced around the dark room furiously, trying to comprehend that she was back in the bedroom, that what she had just witness hadn't really happened, was nothing more than a dream...It seemed so real...
After a few minutes, her breathing was starting to return to normal, and she could think straight again.
WHAT WAS THAT????
***
October 30
It's 2:00 in the morning, and I can't sleep anymore. I don't think I'll ever sleep again. I had a horrible dream, one that keeps running through my mind over and over again...
I watched as Hiei was stabbed over and over again by someone who I couldn't see. All this blood, going everywhere.....It was awful.
The one thing I don't understand, though, is why didn't Hiei move? Do something???? He just stood there and let himself be killed. He didn't even try to move. That confuses me...
I couldn't hear what they were saying, either, even though I did see that their mouths were moving, so I know that they were talking. What were they talking about?
And who was that other person????? So cruel....so brutal.....
I need to stop trying to analyze it. It was a stupid dream that I'll probably never have again. I need to just forget about it and get on with my life....
Then why did it seem so real???? Why did it seem like it was actually happening?????
I just don't get it.....
*Bronwyn*
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How was that for a beginning??? Good? Bad??
*Next Chapter*
During a training session with Hiei, Bronwyn collides with someone who she hasn't seen in almost three years....someone who she's always wanted to forget....someone who she wants to see burn in hell....and Hiei and Kurama actually LIKE him???
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