Hiei woke up at the first sign of dawn. He glanced at some carcasses of demons who had intruded on his slumber. He looked around wondering where to go. 'Strange...' he thought. He belonged in Makai, but had no home. No where to go... while in Ningenkai he could go to several places: Yusuke's home, Kurama's, and if need be, Kuwabara's place.
Running through the tree tops he pondered where to go. His eyes narrowed and he leapt from a tree, dodging a rei blast. He looked down to see a gang of demons. One of them, an ugly serpant, picked up his scent and stared at Hiei. "He... musssst be the vixxxxen'ssss paaarrtnerrr. Sssshould we kill him too bossss?" A large leapord stared at Hiei before nodding. "Vixen? Partner?" Hiei wondered aloud. His sword lashed through three demons, the snake and two bear-like fiends.
"Give us back our jewels." demanded a gorilla. Hiei glared at him with annoyed eyes. "I'm nobody's partner." he said. "You have the vixen's scent on you." snarled the leapord. 'Vixen's scent?' Hiei ran at the gorilla and beheaded him. Before he could land ivory claws scratched open his abdomen. Hiei flinched and fell. Quickly he rolled over and sat up. Blood gushed from his wound. He reached for his sword.... It was gone!
"Is this what you're looking for?" the leapord asked. He held up Hiei's sword. His fist tightened around it. The sound of cracking metal reached Hiei's ears. "Hands off!" A large bag fell next to Hiei and his sword clattered to the ground. The leapord roared, trying to smack away the fox that dug her claws into his arms. 'It's... the she-fox?' Hiei wondered.
Finally the leapord's paws slapped the she-fox to the ground. He spotted the bag and made his way over to Hiei. Hiei created a fireball for defense until the leapord turned around trying to slash at its back. Hiei glanced at the bag and realized that it was the she-fox's steal. He smirked until a question entered his mind.
"Get off me, wretch!" He made one more swipe and knocked her to the ground. It was then Hiei noticed that she had kicked his sword to him during the confusion of battle. He grabbed it and smirked at his reflection on the blade. It tilted slightly and showed the fox-girl. In two quick movements Hiei was up and sliced the sword into the leapord. The leapord turned and clawed up Hiei's right arm. Time seemed to stop that instant. His weak point had been revealed! Hiei dropped to his feet and watched the bandages fall to the ground, the mark of the Makai dragon showing. He had a thought of using it on the insolent beast, but that would risk the vixen's life and his own.
A punch to his adbomenom snapped him to attention. Hiei fell back and saw that even more blood was gushing out and running down his waist and legs. Hiei's eyes widened slightly as the leapord raised his claws to strike again. They widened even more as the fox had 'his' sword and slashed the arm off. Hiei made a mental note to thank her later. 'Wait... mental note? Thanking? What amd I thinking!?' Hiei mentally shook himself, trying to clear his head. The she-fox landed lightly in front of Hiei. She glanced at him from over her shoulder. 'Did she... just smile at me?' asked Hiei silently. Without missing a beat she leapt and used her own claws to cut off the leapord's remaining arm.
"Remember, it was you who chose to fight." she whispered with a smirk across her face. Seconds later the leapord's head fell to the ground. She stared at Hiei's blade before wiping the blood onto the leapord's fur to clean it off. Satisfied she sheathed it and walked to him. Hiei watched her kneel before him. He took his katana from her silently and put it beside him while continuing to stare at her.
"Sorry..." she whispered. Hiei double-blinked. 'Sorry? For what?' Hiei wondered. "You got involved." she answered his thoughts. "Because of me you got hurt." Hiei stared at her in disbelief. 'She cares that I got hurt?' The she-fox moved her gaze from Hiei's eyes to his cut-open stomach. "You put up a touch exterior, but all you have is a bleeding heart." Hiei stated with a snarl. She stunned him with her gentle laughter. "Maybe... well, no. But it pains me to see someone innocent get injured on my welfare." She stood up and grabbed her steal then his sword, then tucked both into her belt. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked her. "Can you walk?" she asked, ignoring his question. Hiei looked her up and down suspiciously. "Why?"
She grinned slyly. A slight smile that showed a few of her sharp fangs with a gleam of micheviousness in her eyes. A strike of warning ran up Hiei's spine. She laughed and pulled him to his feet. Hiei's arm was taken and pulled around her shoulder. He pulled it back. "I can walk." he said. He started forward to prove his point buuuuut his adbomen was screaming in pain and he nearly fell like a fool.
She glided forward and grabbed him by the shirt and put a hand to his upper chest while being careful not to disturb the wound so that she could keep him from falling. Hiei waited for her to say some kind of sappy insult. "Thought you could walk" or "Is that the way you walk?" but not "Are you okay?" Hiei stood up straight and nodded with what dignity he had left. Instead of asking for an apology she began walking, supporting Hiei. "Where are you taking me?" he asked. She looked at him before replying, "Somewhere so I can heal you."
They walked for about two hours... Having to stop so Hiei could rest, even when he told her that he didn't need to. "Vixen, let's go. I told you I'm no so weak as to need to rest." he would complain. She just smiled at her new nickname and told him, "I know your stamina is strong. But we have to let the injury be stationary time to time." Then they would go on. As dark approached Hiei looked around. No shelter was in sigh. All that was around them was trees, a large rock with overgrown vines, Makai plants, and a stream. "Vixen, why do you stop? We are nowhere." She grinned and took Hiei over to the rock. She pulled the vines away and revealed it to be a secret cave. As Hiei entered he saw it as dug into the ground.
"Vixen, where are we?" he asked. "Say hello to tonight's shelter." She helped him sit and returned his sword. She grabbed a box nearby and pulled out some herbs. Immediantly she got to work. "Stay still, we'll have to remove the shirt without upsetting your blood flow." Hiei's heart skipped a beat. Two beats... "What? Why?" he asked rather quickly. "So I can apply the medicine. It won't help if it just gets on your clothes." She slowly peeled off his shirt from his stomach. She pulled his torso forward and pulled it over and off his head. Now he could clearly see the injury. It didn't bother him to be shirtless, he had lost his shirt in battle many of times. But it was about her saying and doing so that put a unrecongnizable emotion in him.
Hiei sat still and silent as he watched the vixen at work. Before long she smiled and patted his shoulder. "You're all right." she said as if Hiei didn't already know. Next she pulled out some bandages. "I'm going to need you to scoot up." she said. Hiei blinked and repeated "Scoot... up?" like he didn't know hat it meant. She nodded. She sat next to him, to the front on his right side and began to pat the ground in front of her.
Now Hiei had seen this before: Hiei watched as Kurama sat on the floor, a thing he called a "hair brush" in his hand. He was "babysitting", whatever the hell that meant, his little cousin. "Sit down, now. Let me braid your hair like your mother wants." The little human whelp sat where he had patted the floor with her back to him. Then Kurama took her hair in his hands and began to tie it in an odd pattern.
"Hello?" asked the vixen. Her hand was waving in his face. "Come on, I'll bandage you up." Cautiously he shuffled up to her and allowed her to move back and forth around him, rolling the bandage over his stomach, then around his back. While she studied her work he studied her. "Done." she said. He looked down and was pleased to find it securely wrapped. Afterwords she took the remaining bandgae and tore it with her fangs to tear it away from the rest. "How do you feel?" Hiei nodded in satisfaction. She pulled off some more of the white wrapping. "I bet you'll want some for your arm. That's why you had it on before." Hiei stared at his arm. A black flamed dragon spiraled around his arm. Without being told to the vixen wrapped his arm up.
"Vixen..." Hiei murmered. "Why are you helping me? I'm your rival." She laughed and tied the knot to his arm bandage. "Because you were innocent and attacked. If you had been killed by my fault I couldn't forgive myself." she answered. Hiei stared at her dumbfounded. She held up a short bandage. "Your headband... looks scuffed up, want a new one?" Hiei's crimson eyes looked up and saw his headband drooping. He accepted the new cloth. "Can I..." the vixen started, a light blush gave her cheeks a pink tint. Hiei stared at her not knowing what she was wanting. Her voiced died low as she spoke in a whisper, "See? your Jagan?" Hiei's eyes widened at such a request. 'Why!? What the!?' he shouted in his thoughts."What for?" he asked as calm as ever. "I've heard so much... but never seen one." Hiei wondered why she suddenly seemed shy. He smirked, if she wanted to see then let's let her see. His intention to scare her grew eagerly. Slowly he pulled away his headband. Agonizingly slow the Jagan opened to stare at her.
"Wow..." she breathed. "You aren't scared? Why don't you scream?" he demanded. She stared at him quizzically. "Why would I?" she asked. He didn't know. Silence took over and she pulled out her bag. She opened it and dumped out several jewels. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and multi-colored topazes came toppling out. Hiei blinked with suprise. So many jewels in such a small bag! She picked up a shimmering purple jewel and held it up. "Pretty... matches your eye." Hiei stared at it. She smiled at him. "Your Jagan; this stone is called an amethyst. I'll treasure it always." She slid the jewel up her sleeve. Hiei blushed slightly. "Why treasure that?:" he asked. "Because it reminds me of you. And I'll always remember how you helped me out back there." Then she pushed half of the pile towards him. "Yours." she announced.
"Why are you giving this to me?" Hiei asked. She raked her fingers through her pile casually. After a small amount of time she replied casually, "For all your trouble." She stretched out and layed down. Pushing her gems away she scooped his up, put them in the bag, and handed it to him. Her eyes closed before she told him, "It's getting late; you should rest." Hiei sat in the corner and closed his eyes, his Jagan watched her a moment before also closing.
Just as Hiei fell into la-la land he felt something. With sleep nagging at him he chose to ignore it. Next he felt something press up against him then a thing wrap around him. Instantly all three eyes opened. The vix had curled up to him, not touching his wound, and wrapped an arm around him. Her eyes were closed and she rested her head on his chest. "Vixen!?" he shouted hysterically. She sat up and stared at him with wide eyes. "What!?" He blinked, maybe she didn't but he enjoyed his personal space. "What in the seven hells were you doing!?" She yawned and scratched an ear, not understanding. "You! Cuddling! Me? Vixen!!!" She giggled. "Listen, it's not what you may be thinking. It gets cold here. And with your lack of clothing you would certainly freeze. So I'm warming you." Hiei blushed.
"What do you care?" She sighed and answered, "If I helped you this much just to let you freeze to death my efforts will be wasted. And... I kinda grown to like you." She winked Hiei's face lighted up like one of those trees with the stupid ball dealys and silver stuff and the lightning in glass hanging from it during the winter. (Hiei's impression of a Christmas tree) She laughed and layed on him again. "Vixen..." he warned.
"I have a name." she said. "Huh?" he asked not hearing her. "My name, it's Kageri." She told him and nuzzled into his chest. He started to say something but Kageri spoke first. "It means depression upon one's good intentions. Just like me..." Hiei's stomach lurched. 'Her? Depression? She's the strangest demoness I've ever known.' He rested his arms around her and his chin on her head. "Not to me."
Kageri would have stared at him but she didn't want him to move. While he was at it he might as well say, "Thank you." That wasn't so hard. "For helping me." Okay, that's quite far enough. "No problem."
The night was cold, freezing cold, even Koorime cold. During the night Hiei, unbeknowest to himself, pulled Kageri closer to him him. He woke up once and noticed she was getting the worst of the chill, covering him and all. He turned sideways to they were even, then used his fire strength to warm them. 'It's not like I care if she freezes or not.' Hiei thought bitterly. 'I have to keep myself alive... and I guess she could come in handy. She did tend my wounds after all... What!? Did she place a spell on me? What am I doing! talking to myself!?' Hiei yelled in his mind. He closed his eyes wanting to shut out all his thoughts.