Eh-heh, gomenasai, everyone. A very nice reader pointed out I had the 'authors only' option engaged in my settings for reviews. ^,.,^! Many, MANY apologies. That's fixed now, so feel free to review. =^,.,^= 'Scuse me while I go bang my head on a wall.

Starling: You're hopeless, fox-girl.

*Bang, bang, bang* Shut up, Starling. *Bang, bang, bang*

Chapter 12: A Dose of Rain

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"Higher Ups, but I hate rain," mutters Rei as she works at her loom. Outside her workshop's window, clouds pour water in nearly solid sheets onto the pounded earth below. "It contaminates every single space I slide into." She is referring to the fact that despite her escape into this place, the rain has followed her from the regular world of Nerima.

Lamps have been lit and are hung from the ceiling, water trapped between layers of glass to reflect the light into a greater range, sparkling off the Life Threads that are being woven on the Tapestry. For once, she has not bothered to change into her 'uniform', instead remaining in a comfortable pair of worn sweats that have faded from black to an odd grey.

Rising from her loom, Rei walks to her spinning wheel and sits down, foot pressing the pedal and starting the wheel's motion. A pale, pale substance begins gathering around her hands, a mist that gets dragged into a skein by the wheel as it goes round and round, transformed into a thread of moonlight by the time it wraps around the spindle. "Nothing good ever happens in the rain," she murmurs absently as she works, letting the mist draw slowly from her fingers. "All that happens is misery."

Soon her restlessness increases, forcing Rei up and into a pace that takes her around the workroom's perimeter. Flame flickers in the lamps and shatters into strands of her hair, the rich color holding the light until it too, glows. Literally, as a turn of Rei's head flicks her hair out to one side, leaving a trail of golden motes to vanish into the air. Soon the young Fate has grown too edgy to remain in this small space, and she storms out of the pocket dimension, slamming her room door behind her before turning around and going back in, this time into her mortal bedroom.

Moments later and she's out again, this time dressed in tight black jeans, black combat boots, a cherry red shirt with a low v-neck and long belled sleeves, and a swirling black hooded cape. Around her hips hangs a plate-link belt of polished silver, silver studs mark her boots, her jeans, her earlobes, and the collar around her neck. Her long hair is bound into a high unadorned ponytail, her lips are painted a bright red. Black leather bracers cover her shirt sleeves from wrist to nearly elbow, the silver-wire bracelet she's created a bright line on her left wrist. In short: she's gone assassin gothic.

"Prowling!" she calls to her parents as she stalks out the front door of the Kenobishi's home, pulling her hood up in time to save her from a face full of rain. It's not as bad in the mortal realm as it is in the meadow of Rei's workroom, but it's trying pretty hard. With a cranky growl, Rei strides off into the gloom.

****

Pain. Excruciating, reassuring pain. Excruciating because it damn well bloody hurts, frag it! Reassuring because it says the heart still beats, the lungs still breathe, and the blood just keeps leaking. Crap. Gotta stop the bleeding. Don't think I've ever been this beaten up before. Don't think--there's a grand idea. Maybe it'll make the pain disappear. Ow. Perhaps not.

Whimper. Why do they have to make these streets so hard? Every step jars my entire frame from soles of my feet to the crown of my head. But I've got to keep moving. Ow. Ow. Ow. Noise. Identify: cat. With bells. Chasing a girl that's shrieking in terror. Guess she doesn't like cats. Damn it, where's that new place she told me about?

Bolt of pain! Then even more when my body hits the ground after the first bolt is recognized as my left leg finally giving out. Crap. That's…not good. Really not good. Attempt to get up: failure. Vision--what's left of it--going dark. Guess I'm not gonna see the new dojo after all.

"Sorry…Rei."

****

The aforementioned protagonist is at this point sprinting down a strange street, cape streaming out behind her like wings, her whole body low to the ground as she dodges the odd pedestrian who was as foolhardy as she to brave the rain in the first place. No longer does she move as someone without a purpose, obviously, for she's locked on a familiar ki that is rapidly fading away. The silver thread around her wrist is pulsing faintly with the owner's vanishing ki, quickening Rei's pace until she's nearly flying.

The wail of an ambulance is her first clue to her destination, and she quickly heads that way, splashing up huge puddles and leaving black footprints to mark her passing. The ambulance is quickly joined by several police sirens and the motor Rei recognizes as the van for Channel 27 news. Impossibly, she speeds up.

She smells her target before she sees him since the rain is unable to completely wash away the scent of blood, and frankly, because there's a sizable crowd around him. "Threads of Life, pause your passage," she whispers, and flings one arm out, fingers splayed. Rainbow-colored threads materialize from her hand and the people's bodies, meeting in the middle and flashing. All mutterings and comments cease, chests do not rise in breath.

A single light leap takes her over the crowd and into its center, where a young man lies sprawled bleeding onto the asphalt. His face is a mass of cuts and bruises, and it is by the shock of bright green hair and tattered blue shirt that she recognizes him.

Holy shit! Hiei hears all the way from Yusuke's district. It's Kalerian!

****

Mental ears still ringing from that dismayed shout, Hiei experiences the uncomfortable sensation of someone shouting directly into his head. "Hiei! Oh, gods, Hiei!"

"What, onna?!"

"Get my dad to set up the candle-ring in the dojo! I'm not telepathic like you, I can't reach him!"

"Why should I? And stop shouting, onna."

A savage snarl reverberates through his skull. "Because if you don't then this boy will die!" With a flat-toned 'voice' Hiei contacts Mr. Kenobishi and then heads off to the dojo to satisfy the recently-increasing curiosity that's been plaguing him.

A few moments after he arrives, Rei comes flashing up with someone wrapped in her cloak, blood dripping through the heavy fabric and turning pink as it gets washed away in the pouring rain. Her father has already set up a circle of candlesticks with white beeswax candles on the dojo floor--there are no classes since few students care to brave this weather. With as gentle a touch as Hiei has ever seen, Rei sets her precious cargo down and unwraps the cape to reveal the most abused body he's ever seen, and that's saying quite a bit.

A flash suddenly comes into his head, as if someone is holding a camcorder and running with it. The boy is lying in a growing puddle of blood, a crowd of people standing around him and glowing a faint rainbow. Arms enter his vision, covered in blood-red fabric and black leather, and quickly wrap the boy in a heavy black cape, scooping him up and sending Hiei's view into a dizzying flip, and a familiar sensation as buildings blur into swatches of color. Hiei blinks when he realizes this is a memory flash from Rei, and he gives her a mental nudge.

Wide, startled green eyes meet his, and Hiei knows that Rei is by this point so stressed about the injured male that she is getting careless about her shielding. "Put your wards back up, fox-girl. I will not damage either of our honors by spying in your head now, despite how easy you are making it." Instantly those familiar iron-clad walls slam up around her mind and Hiei can no longer feel her thoughts brushing against his own shaken defenses.

"Thank you, Hiei, now take several large steps backwards. Your ki will be very distracting to the forces I'm about to unleash." Obligingly, he retreats to the far wall. Plenty of space, but he still wants to see what's going on. Rei stands above the boy, straddling his body, a foot on either side of his waist.

Spreading her arms and hands until they are parallel with the wooden floor, Rei flips her hands so they are palm-up and whispers, "Alight," and jerks her hands upwards. The candles flare into life, their flames nearly cherry-red with the infusion of ki Rei is investing. Energy spirals around the circle's edge, drawing the flames into a solid ring that forms a barrier knee-high off of the floor. Rei herself is alight with her aura becoming visible and beginning to flare, the same color as the flames. A faint, flickering aura begins to glow in response around the still body of the boy, and Rei smiles in relief to see him still alive.

"Ultimate Ogawa Secret Healing Technique," she whispers into the silence broken only by rushing flames, "Ring of Cleansing Flames." Hiei shields his face as the fire explodes and fills the room with a warm ruby glow. He can almost feel tiny hands tugging at his hair and he lowers his arm to find two pixie-like females looking at him with obvious interest. The koorime is fascinated, reaching out to touch the little flame-elementals--the first he's seen in a long time. A sharp tug in the energy and the two giggle and dart back to the center of the room where a swarm of their companions has already surrounded the still boy.

The blood that had been soaking into the floor's planks begins to foam, very like what happens when your pour hydrogen peroxide on a cut. The faint blue-green aura surrounding the boy shrinks a bit, then slowly begins pulsing with its source's heartbeat, growing outwards with every pulse until it fills the room as much as the red energy, forming a warm amber brown color that shifts and throbs with every breath and heartbeat.

Just before the pressure--as though the room is a balloon being inflated--reaches a point where Hiei is prepared to either flee or collapse under the intangible weight, it bleeds away into the two standing in the center of a circle of melted wax. Maroon eyes widen at the sight of a whole and very 'bishie' (Rei had giving him a lecture once on what defined a 'bishie') young man curled on his side with long green hair tumbling around his face and spreading across the floor in a silky puddle. Completely uninjured. Hiei is astounded--he's never seen anyone survive such extensive damage, let alone seen someone heal it without so much as a single scar.

No, the fire-apparition notices after a moment of careful study; the kid has one scar in the shape of a stylized feather on his right bicep, the one he isn't lying on. It almost looks like it was branded there. Expressionless he looks up at the girl still standing over her charge, dripping with sweat and trembling heavily.

"Thank…goodness," she manages before her knees buckle and Hiei leaps forward as she plunges into darkness.

****

Okay, I'm not hurting. That's either a really good sign or a really bad one, 'cause I'm either fixed up or dead. Please, let it be the first option. Sounds, identify: breathing, sleep pattern. No threat. Sound of a blade rattling in its sheath. Possible, most likely a threat. Do they allow swords in the Other World?

"Hn. Stop pretending you're asleep, ningen boy. Your shielding is terrible."

Open the eyes, wait for focus. First thing to register: sheets, blankets, really, really comfy mattress. Earth tones, warm. Interesting, good sign. Hot damn, I may still be alive after all!

"Of course you're still alive, baka ningen. My companion refused to allow you a glimpse of Koenma's realm." Locate source of voice: located. Boy in chair against wall, tipped back. Possible chance of disarming available if I can crack one of the two legs balancing the rest of the chair and the boy. Scornful maroon eyes assessing me. Hn. Interesting.

"Are you just going to keep chattering to yourself or are you actually going to employ the shields I can sense? You're shouting in my head, fool." Chair goes clunk as he lets the two other chair legs hit the floor. "And I am not so foolish as to allow you such an opportunity." Oopsie. Shields up, and the boy gives me another 'Hn.' "Much better." He rises, I blink.

"So, hey, where am I?" The kid pins me with a flat stare before leaving without a word. Shrug. Scanning the room. Huh, the stuff here kinda looks familiar…Alert! Ow, crap!

****

A low groan wakes Rei from a nicely dreamless, deep sleep, and she opens her eyes to find herself lying on her bed, with a cot set up beside her and someone sitting up holding his head. "Kalerian!" She half-leaps from her bed and glomps onto him, and the boy groans again, face contorting in pain.

"Ah, easy on the ribs, Rei! Just got 'em back from the shop, yanno?" She pulls back, contrite.

"Sorry, I should have known better. How are you feeling?"

"Alive. That's about as good as it gets, little fox." A much gentler hug from the wine-haired girl, and a relieved sigh.

"You had me so worried, 'Rian. I thought for sure I was going to lose you. I nearly did."

Kalerian pulls back a bit and gives her a merry smile. "Soul-twin, you can't lose me so easily. I'm much, much more stubborn than to let a few would-be fatal injuries keep me down long." He glances down at his intact body and smiles more calmly. "You're the one who put me back together, right? Healing techniques always sap your energy more than anything else."

Rei nods, swinging her legs over the edge of the cot and carefully standing. "Yes, I did. Nothing short of the Ring would have done it."

Kalerian whistles softly before attempting to stand himself. "That's a doozy, vixen. No wonder you were laid out." He manages to stand, and hastily grabs her shoulder as the world threatens to yank the ground out from under him. Rei quickly steadies him before helping him sit back down.

"Easy, 'Rian. Your body may be healed, but it needs time to register that and act accordingly, as do your own ki reserves. Mine've always recharged faster, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that part." The sky-eyed boy stretches himself back out on the cot and sighs resignedly. "So when do I get to see the dojo you told me about?"

Rei smiles at him. "As soon as you can walk without the world tilting." Her face turns more serious. "Kalerian, who did this to you? What did this to you?"

A grimace. "Some weird bird-guy. He looked human mostly, but he had wings and claws. I'd say he was at least thirty or forty years old. I gave as good as I got, though."

"Good for you," Rei says softly as he drops into sleep. She waits until his breathing smoothes out into a sleep-pattern before letting every last trace of false cheerfulness fall away. Had Hiei still been in the room, he would have heard her murmur worriedly, "They've started early."

************

Whee, a cliffie! I love doing those!

Starling: you really DO have a death-wish, doncha, Niana?

Only a little one. I just wish someone could at least give me a link to the Saffron chapters. This new character was essentially a stall that turned into a way to give Saffron's people an entrance.

Now for my reviewers!

RedCat: I can't tell you if they find out, cause that'd give away part of the story. And why not let heads roll? They're fun to bat around. As long as it's not mine, that is, cause then you'd never get the end of the story.

Starling: Macabre sense of humor you've got there, Niana.

I know, isn't it great? ^,.,^

Slade3: As much as I appreciate the effort you put into the reviews, bro, you don't need to review every single chapter when I upload a chunk. *hug* but thanks for the reviews. And yes, I do occasionally put in holes that I fill in later.

To everyone else: Read and Review, people! ^,.,^