To Break the Chain

Kohari: Hopefully the computer problems with uploading have...disappeared. This next chapter is in honor of...teachers. Yeah...teachers. Without teachers, who would teach the doctors what they need to know to help us? So...yeah. Enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 9

The blow never came. She opened one of eyes cautiously, both of which had been shut tightly in preparation for her end. Hiei lifted her chin towards him, forcing her to look him in the eyes, as though he were looking for something. In his eyes, Kohari saw not love, not friendship, but passion for destruction. She saw a dark past, of which she'd never know anything. She remained silent while all this occurred, not daring to take her eyes off his.

After a few moments, he thrust her away and stood up. She didn't move from that position. He called out, "Guards!" and a few soldiers answered the summons, getting to their destination as swiftly as humanly possible so as not to make their "master" impatient, which was not a pretty sight. When they arrived, they nodded their heads slightly to acknowledge the apparition's superiority.

"Take her away," Hiei commanded, referring to the broken Kohari, who was listening to the whole scene. They were going to torture Blitz information out of her before they did away with her, she knew (or so she thinks). "I think The Room should be appropriate," he continued, putting an emphasis on "the room."

'That must be what they call the torture chamber," Kohari thought. 'Wonder what they'll do to me...'

The guards opened their mouths, as if to object, but their employer (yeah, right, like he pays them) snapped at them before they had a chance to speak, "Is there a problem, gentlemen?" His voice was dangerously nice, striking fear into his minions. He answered, "That's what I thought," in his usual evil voice as they stammered "no" and shook their heads. Then, before they could cause further anger, they secured her.

'Well, it's over,' Kohari thought sadly, terrified of what they planned to do with her. 'It seems we reunite sooner than expected, huh, Dmitri?'

It is virtually impossible to describe her surprise when she was dragged into not a room with countless torture devices, not a prison cell, but a bedroom fit for a princess. The ruffians that had been ordered to deposit her there tossed her in, shutting the door immediately afterwards and promptly locked it. She knelt on the ground in slight confusion when she noticed a sheet of paper on the bureau (dresser).

It read: "This is where you shall henceforth spend your evenings. You will be escorted to and from all destinations. Otherwise you shall remain in the room appointed to you, which you shall be shown to in the morning. Pleasant nightmares."

So he had foreseen this. And she had been drawn into his trap as a feline to catnip. She remembered what the eccentric elder lady from the village had told her prior to her journey. It was right after Kohari had completed her apprenticeship under her that she had decided to leave the village. Her last words rang in her ears:

"Thine heart is pure, but thine head is hard, young grasshopper. Thy ignorance shalt forever amuse thineself and others."

Oh, yeah. She was an idiot. And she was sure more than one person laughing at her. She wondered where the old lady was now...

Yusuke gasped for oxygen as he dug himself from under what was left of the control room. Kuwabara and Kurama followed suit. Todd and Mal were nowhere to be found.

"Oh, man. Shorty's gotten a heckuva lot stronger," Kuwabara complained, rubbing a sore spot on the back of his head.

"I agree. He wasn't like this until-"Kurama started, but Yusuke cut him off.

"The forest!"

"I remember something about trees, too!" Kuwabara cried out, stupidly.

"Shall we investigate?" Kurama suggested. The other two nodded.

Note: Remember, this is an alternate universe kind of thing. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama's memories were changed, but not erased. Now, their memories have returned up until the forest, which was, in this time, a month ago. Understand? No? Oh, well.

Malhavoc, also free of the rocks' prison, knew what had truly happened to the "wench behind the Blitz." He couldn't stop the ambush on Todd, but he was fully aware that Kohari wouldn't take the death of her friend sitting down. She would want revenge. Well, he couldn't prevent her from challenging the apparition, but he sensed that she wouldn't use her full potential. And that would be her downfall.

Even if she herself didn't realize that she was in love with Hiei, he could tell that this was the truth. It would keep her from dealing him what she deemed his appropriate punishment. She would have trouble even hitting him, he hypothesized.

All this he thought as he made his way to the mansion. He wouldn't kill Kohari, of that he was certain. She was too valuable as the second-in-command of the Blitz; the potential leader. The problem wasn't in finding her, but in infiltrating Hiei's stronghold so that he could find her.

The doors were heavily guarded, and he could see no easy entrance. This was a situation where his appearance would come in very handy. He retreated temporarily back to the city to find a perfect disguise.

The guards were astounded to see a child, baseball cap, jeans, baseball t-shirt, and all, wander to their location.

"Hey. Beat it, kid," an officer barked. The youngster licked a lemon-flavored (NO DIRTY THOUGHTS!) lollipop, hardly phased by this rude remark.

"I have to go to the bathroom." This "child" of which is spoken is none other than Mal. His voice was a higher pitch, perfected so that it made him seem at least half of his age, if not a third. It easily fooled the buffoons.

"Go in some bushes or something," the same guard replied gruffly.

"Okay." Mal lightly stepped to some shrubs a few feet away, acting as though he was about to carry out this suggestion.

"Not there!" he (the soldier) blurted out, dropping his tough-guy, bad-ass attitude. He smacked himself on the forehead. "Fine. I'll take you inside. Hey, boys, keep watch for me, wouldja?" The others nodded. "Come on, kid."

"Okay." The guard led him through the doors and down a few hallways. At least he had gotten in. Now, how to find Kohari...He'd have to ditch this goon, first, before he could do any serious searching.

Time to turn up the innocence a bit. "Hey, how old are you? I'm seven. Do you have any kids? Do you like ketchup? I like ketchup. Ketchup is good for you. That's what Mommy said before Hiei's men took her away. Yep, that's what she said. Ketchup is good for you. Mustard's good for you, too. Do you like mustard? I like mustard..." and went on and on, not pausing in between questions, which were very close. Almost like they were one word. This ticked the soldier off.

"Would you shut up?!" he thundered. The "kid" was silent for a moment, pretending to be horribly frightened. After a few moments, Mal spoke again, in as meek a voice as possible.

"Where's the bathroom?" The officer sighed in exasperation. He was probably going to get a huge demotion for this. But it's better than letting the kid pee on the bushes and ruin Hiei's garden.

The soldier led him to some restrooms. He turned his back politely as Mal unzipped his trousers and did his business. If he hadn't, he probably would've found out quickly that this was no child. Singing could be heard, intensifying his headache. What kind of stupid kid sings "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" while pissing?

Before he could ponder this further, he received a knock on the head, passing into unconsciousness. "Pathetic." His pants were obviously back on.

Mal wandered out of the bathrooms a few moments later, darning the uniform of the officer now dreaming peacefully on the tiled floor, drooling all over it. "Now to find Kohari."

Kohari: That's all I'm gonna do for now. I was gonna write a lot more, but I know you were anxious for an update. Never have I received so many reviews for one chapter. I feel so loved. I'm sorry you had to wait so long for this. Please review again for me! Thankies! Byes! (Yippers! Sweet snow!)