Sorry for the wait, I had a bad case of writer's block. See? -points to cement block remains and mallet- Anyway, sorry for the lack of lines to signal scene changes in the last chapter... the ones I put in must've been deleted. And, just so no one is confused, italics represent dreams, emphasis, flashbacks and individual thoughts from now on.
Excuse any spelling mistakes and such...I'm still stuck with WordPad...-whacks it-
::11::Dreams & Blood::
"I have the information. Low-class pawns are the easiest of prey..."
A cold, deep laugh rang through the shack as bright silver tresses swung with the tall man's smooth, elegant movements. His furry silver ears twitched, swiveling foreward towards the pale, red-eyed man in front of him.
"You've proven very useful, Kurama. Don't think your ef-"
"I suggest your mentality changes...I am not your subordinate, so do not speak to me as such. Remember, I am far superior to you in any aspect you may think of, Voldemort, the only reason you have my services is for your brand of magic," the kitsune's deep tones were laced with venom, spoken slowly so the wizard wouldn't miss a single word. His pride was not going to be compromised by a demon wannabe.
Voldemort looked slightly surprised at the domineering words, but shrugged it off. "Ah...so what did you get out of him, Kurama?"
"Lily and James Potter are using a charm to hide themselves," he gave the exact address of the Potters.
Voldemort's thin, pale lips spread into a sadistic smile as Kurama finished. "Is Pettigrew here?" he asked, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.
"Yes..." Kurama chuckled darkly, "tied up outside. My Snakevine is guarding him."
"Good. I may need him later."
"Oh, and Voldemort..."
"Yes?"
"I'm accompanying you...I want to see the power your magic will bring me..."
Brilliant emerald orbs shot open, only to have the blackness of night press in painfully. Blinking rapidly, he rubbed his temples with his calloused fingers, trying to adjust to the sudden darkness. The little shack had seemed so bright compared to this...
He pushed himself up into a sitting position, ignoring his blanket as it slid off his knees into a crumpled heep at his feet. Sighing, he hung his head in an exhausted manner, closing his eyes slowly as the details of the dream memory were called up from the recessses of his mind in vivid detail. He remembered the journey to the ningenkai - the kekkai wasn't as strong back then, it allowed middle-A class demons on down through, and Kurama hadn't gained any higher status than that, he was sure - he remembered the Potters' house, the flash of green light that destroyed it all, the screams...
He knew Koenma couldn't charge him with breaking any laws, either. Kurama hadn't technically killed Lily and James, despite the fact he deserved a life sentence in a Reikai prison cell.
He slid back down into his bed, pulling the covers tight around his shoulders when a piercing ring blared from the communicator on his nightstand.
Irritated, he reached up and snatched it off the smooth wooden surface, flipping it open to reveal Koenma.
"Sorry to bother you so early, Kurama, but this is urgent. Recent readings of the ningenkai stated that Voldemort is getting ready to send a whole wave of dementors and low-class demons into London! Harry Potter is not ready to face this yet on his own, his emotions aren't under enough control yet, and his powers are undeveloped. You and Yusuke will need to help fight the dementors off, and to do that..." Koenma let his sentence trail off as he chewed his pacifier compulsively.
Kurama's green eyes narrow, "Don't tell me...Koenma..."
"You'll need to tell him your secret."
"Koenma, Harry knowing I and Yusuke are demons could jeopardize this mission. I doubt Harry will be as trusting as Yusuke was when I divulged my true identity to him."
"You'll need to take that chance, because Harry cannot do this alone! Not even with his two other friends to help him, he needs stronger reinforcements!"
Kurama sighed, tiredly running his hand through his silky crimson lengths, "Very well. Christmas break starts tomorrow, so it will be a half-day. I will tell Harry after his classes."
"Good. And make sure Hiei knows the law about killing humans isn't lifted just because he's training Shizuru!"
Kurama actually had to smile at that comment. Hiei was not as tough as one would think when it came to his friends. He had too much honor for that - though he'd never admit it, especially since he constantly condemned Kuwabara's code. "Don't worry about Hiei, Koenma. Shizuru will be alright."
"Ok. Good night then!"
The communicator's screen blinked the still image of Koenma severel times before going black, emitting a soft whirring sound as it did so. Kurama set it back on his nightstand and settled back into bed, deciding to borrow Dumbledore's pensieve (sp?) in the morning. His mind felt more heavy and burdened than ever, and it wouldn't get any better when he had to face the boy he helped make an orphan.
Kurama glanced over at Kuwabara...and sweatdropped.
The boy had slept through the entire conversation.
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"Get up."
He prodded the woman's side with his black boot, folding his muscular arms across his chest and narrowing his blood red eyes. She didn't move a muscle - either because she was awake and didn't want him to know, or she was truly asleep - but it didn't matter either way, she was getting up and now. He had better things to do than train some weak human woman...well, not really, except patroling the castle grounds like Kurama had asked him to do time to time. But he didn't want to deal with someone like Shizuru at the moment.
"Now," he snarled lowly, roughly grabbing the back of her neck and jerking her into a sitting position.
Her coffee eyes popped open, immediately narrowing. "And what the hell do you think you're doing, Hiei?" she asked flatly.
"Get up," Hiei repeated, releasing her neck and standing up, looking down at her with critical eyes.
Irritated, Shizuru swept away the light, silky brown locks that had fallen into her face, tucking them behind her ear. She picked up a knee-length white bathrobe she kept by her bed and slipped her arms into the warm sleeves, tying it tightly around her waist.
Hiei pivoted swiftly on his heel and, without even sparing Shizuru a glance, walked right out the wooden door of Hagrid's shabby little hut to the blistering winter cold outside. The half-giant got up at 4:30 to go do his rounds around the Hogwarts grounds, and judging by the fact he wasn't here, Shizuru guessed it was at least past 4:30.
She snorted and pulled on the sneakers she kept by her bed, tying them up sloppily, not bothering with socks as she hurried to catch up to Hiei. All her clothes were in Kurama's office, so this was basically a morning routine: get into the castle before anyone else woke up, dress, shower, etc and then screw off for the rest of the day. She'd gotten here only yesterday, so today was officially the start of her training.
Joy.
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Shizuru nearly fell over when she saw the wall clock in Kurama's office.
4:56 AM.
Holy. Frickin'. Crap.
"Hiei..." she said weakly, gesturing to the clock with a disbelieving look on her face.
Hiei simply smirked and nodded, a sign that he was NOT mistaken to have gotten her up so early.
Shaking her head, Shizuru went into the closet and flipped open her suitcase, pulling out a pair of loose black sweatpants, a white T-shirt and a very loose but thick gray sweater to put over the shirt. It was freezing outside.
Kurama's bedroom was located in the room next to this one (his actual office), adjoined by a door. The door to his bathroom, however, was in his office, so she needn't tiptoe into the bedroom to change. Kuwabara slept on a sleeping bag in Kurama's bedroom, Hiei was supposed to sleep in Kurama's bedroom but usually ended up in trees, and Yusuke slept in the fifth year dorm. Shizuru, being the only femme, was stuck in Hagrid's cabin - Dumbledore just wouldn't allow her to sleep in the same room as two other boys (Kuwabara not counted, he IS her brother).
She changed as quickly as possible before following Hiei back outside. Her hair was now up in a high ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way, pulled back tightly so no bangs would fall in her eyes.
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Jumping smoothly into one of the trees on the outskirt of the Forbidden Forest, a loud crack was heard as he snapped off a branch. It was about an inch thick and a yard long, harsher than the bamboo "sword" he used on Kuwabara, but he'd already gone through some training beforehand. Shizuru needed to get powerful, quickly, and though she was a tough one, she hadn't gotten any training - formal or otherwise - before. So harsher methods were required in this case.
He landed silently on the snow-whitened ground below, the stick raised, clutched tightly in his calloused hand like a real sword.
Shizuru's right leg instinctively slid backwards to steady herself, and her eyes were fixed solely on Hiei. She didn't view him as one to care about hitting girls like Kazuma, and wasn't stupid enough to underestimate his strength based on stature.
Hiei rushed at her in a black blur she could barely see, and he smashed the stick hard into her stomach, sending her flying ten feet into the nearest tree.
Blood flowed freely over her tongue, the coppery smell and taste invading her senses and making her cough up even more of the thick red liquid. It dripped slowly down her chin, dotting her gray sweater crimson as she fought to stand up, but Hiei got there first. He swung a kick at her back, smashing her headfirst into the freezing snow.
"Your spirit energy is trying to come out, I can feel it!" Hiei snapped, his boot landing another kick, to her side this time.
A loud, sickening crack rang in both Hiei and Shizuru's ears, clearly saying something had snapped or cracked. Shizuru couldn't hold back the yelp of pain that shot out of her mouth, along with a good deal more blood. The snow beneath her was already stained a deep crimson, the red beginning to seep to the snow around the rest of her body so she was almost lying in a puddle of her own blood.
Her side was bleeding from Hiei's relentless kicks, and her back was skinned from the harsh tree bark slicing at her even though she had a thick sweater on...so where was this spirit energy she supposedly had?
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By this time, Kurama had already started his first class of 5th year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. He knew Hiei had taken Shizuru out to train, but even he couldn't see where. The fire-ice hybrid had chosen a place that could not be seen from a window in the castle, which was good, because the students needn't know about the foreign guests. Kuwabara, Hiei and the others had kept low profiles during their stay, only really exploring the castle and such during Hogsmeade weekends (which, because of Voldemort, the teachers escorted the students everywhere), but they had to be careful even then because second years on down weren't allowed to go.
However, he could faintly smell the coppery aroma of blood, and it was a human's...Shizuru was obviously getting a harsh treatment from Hiei, but Kurama knew it would be worse without Hiei's honor. Shizuru's life was in good hands, despite what she may think now.
"Alright, class, take out your wands..."
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She could barely move, what with the possibly broken rib and all. There was a chance it could just be cracked, but with the force from that kick, Shizuru doubted it.
She had managed to get up from her bloody puddle and face off with Hiei, though she had a gut feeling it wasn't her quick relfexes that'd gotten her back on her feet.
Her breath came in long, ragged gasps, but she refused to give up until she was knocked out. She was determined to at least show a LITTLE spirit energy in the first lesson.
Sighing, she tried to calm her body and muscles down. Every movement stung like the seven hells, but she tried her best to ignore the pain and stay in a balanced defensive stance, something she'd seen and remembered from the tournament.
"You have to control your spirit energy, Shizuru, don't expect it to come out on it's own!"
Shizuru scowled and spat out the blood pooling in her mouth, roughly wiping her chin and lips with the sleeve of her already heavily stained sweater.
"Your body knows this fight will not kill you, and is saving your energy for the healing process. I suggest you quickly take control of that and try to attack me!"
He was giving her clues, she just knew it! The problem was how to use them... He kept saying to 'control' it, which meant she had to find it somehow.
But no time for this as Hiei rushed at her again, this time he put on his full speed. Shizuru was barely able to see the black blur as he kneed her in the stomach, sending even more torrents of blood spurting from her mouth as she collapsed to the ground.
"Hn. You're weak," he said tonelessly.
She spat out droplets of blood, the coughing burning her already scratched up throat. But anger and resentment was boiling the blood left in her veins, and suddenly she felt warmth around her body.
Her coffee eyes widen as she looked at herself, a faint, thin pearl white aura was coursing around her, wild and uncontrolled, useless if she couldn't harness it properly.
Hiei smirked, "Good..."
::End Chapter::