dont own YYH


Chapt. 27

"I Don't Want Your Sympathy"

A light buzzing fills my ears. Slowly, I open my tired eyes. The room is the one from yesterday. I'm on the bed.

"Oh, good! You're awake!" a gentle voice rejoices. I look to my left and see Yukina standing in the doorway. "I'll tell the others straight away." She smiles warmly and turns back out of the room.

"Thank goodness you're ok!" Botan sighed, the first to enter.

"Yes, you had us worried," Keiko adds.

"And you kept mumbling and thrashing about in your sleep," Kuwabara says with concern.

"I'm fine now," I assure them.

Kurama enters with a small mirror. "Here." I try to grasp it, but fail. He holds it up in front of my face.

In the mirror a familiar stranger was looking back at me. It was the me from the shadows! Silver-gray hair that stuck out on the left in a funny way; the big black bangs; the red diamond shaped jewel below my left eye; the ruby red studs in my human-like ears. Shock spread over my face.

"My ears!" I cry, feeling my head with my right hand.

"Yea, but you wanna see the coolest thing?!" Kuwabara exclaimed, rushing to the bedside. He gently flipped me over and tugged on something.

"Oww!" I yelp, for whatever he was pulling, was attached to me. I look back and see a midnight fox tail in his grasp. It flickers madly. "Let go!"

He does. It sways back and forth, like it had a mind of its own.

"Great, I get a tail but I can't keep my ears," I groan. "Why can't I ever have both?!"

"Calm down, you'll hurt yourself again, kid," Shizuru said, turning me back on my back.

"Where's Hiei?"

Sad faces turn to the floor.

"Well?"

The faces turn farther from me.

"He's alive isn't he? Tell me!" I demand.

"He's alive, but I don't know for how long," Yusuke spoke, looking at me with a solemn face. His brown, carefree eyes stare at me with sadness and pain flashing through them.

"I do." I roll from the bed, ignoring the searing pain the coursed through my body when I hit the floor. I push myself into a three-legged crawling position; my left arm wouldn't work. I crawl, very slowly, for the door.

"You shouldn't move," Kurama says, resting a hand on my shoulder.

I shoot him a hard glare.

"You'd go to him too if you were in my position," I growl.

He backs off and stands back up. I continue to make my way for the door.

"At least let someone help you," Botan pleads.

I stop and stare at the floor.

"No," I say shakily, "it's my fault he's hurt. And it'll be my fault he survives."

"It's not –"

"Yes it is!" I snap, hiding the tears dripping from my face. "I wasn't strong enough to keep him from getting hurt. I wasn't strong enough to keep my charms from being canceled by other charm users. So, yes, it is my fault."

I crawl through the doorway and make my way around the couches. Hiei was on the clean one. I sit before his face.

"Hiei, I'm so sorry. I shoulda been stronger." I gently push his hair from his face. His bandana glows. His jagan glows.

Curiosity starts to get the better of me. I'd seen it before, but I liked to look at it. Carefully, I reach behind his head and untie the little knot. I pull the white cloth from his forehead.

There it was. Open and seeing. The purple iris sparkled under the light. Jaganshi, one with third eye. How could this be considered "The Evil Eye", when the person who carries it is good?

Because the person who carries it is not good.

Yes you are Hiei. You are a good person.

Heh, does a good person kill innocent people?

I don't care about your past. But I do care about your future.

Hiei jerks in a sudden pain. His face distorts with this pain as he writhes.

"Hiei, Hiei! Just hold on!" I hold my hand under his nose. No air. I take his squirming body in my arms. "Just hold on a moment longer." The same deep aura that had surrounded Kurama and me after the match is summoned again. New blood spits on the floor.

"Stop, please," he gasps.

"Not until I heal you," I argue. A pointed object makes contact with my stomach. The aura fades as I gasp for air.

"I said stop," Hiei growls, rubbing his elbow.

"Why?" I breathe.

"I don't want your sympathy," he answers simply.

I snort at his pathetic answer.

"And I don't want to see you die trying to save everybody in the room when they get a paper cut!" he says sternly.

"Those aren't paper cuts," I argue, pointing to his bandaged torso.

"They're nothing to worry about."

"You couldn't breathe! You may not care about your life, but there are people here who do."

"No one cares about a murderer," he scoffs.

"Yukina does!" I throw back.

He shoots a death glare my way.

"You may not like that fact, but it's true, Hiei. You do have friends that care. Deal with it."

Hiei narrows his eyes as he continues his glare.

"She's right y' know," Yusuke says, gently plashing a hand on Hiei's tender shoulder.

Hiei turns his glare to Yusuke.

"Come on you guys. Let's play nice, please?" Yukina pleads, stepping between Yusuke and Hiei.

Hiei's eyes soften and he looks away. "Fine, but I won't like it."

"Yea, save you're fighting for the ring," a female growls.

Everyone turns to the door, except me.

"I guess. But Osadyro, could ya get off the ceiling? It's gunna fall in as it is," I smirk, staring at my batty friend. You see, she was part vampire. All eyes turn to the ceiling. Osadyro flips down easily, barely making a sound when she hits the floor.

"You look like you been chewed up and spit out," she chuckles, petting my earless head. "And you got a new 'do too."

I pull from her hand the best I can. "Yea, well, I don't like it. I got human ears now."

"Ain't nothin' wrong with human ears," she scolds.

"Besides, you traded ears for a tail," Kuwabara adds, sitting down beside me and batting at my flickering tail.

"Yea, it's cool, but I want both. Like Yo-Ko."

"You don't look so hot either Hiei," Osadyro says, changing the subject.

"Hn," he replies smugly.

"He won't let me heal him," I say, pulling my tail from Kazuma.

"I don't need your sympathy," Hiei growls, turning his back to me.

"I'm not being sympathetic, I'm trying to save you," I argue.

"By risking your own life?"

"Yes, if I must."

"Will you stop beating yourself up about that! It's not your fault that there are people out there that are stronger than you! You don't have to sacrifice yourself because of it," he yells, turning on me angrily.

I look down at my knees.

"Another person's life is never more important than your own."

I glare at him. "You wouldn't know. You have no idea what it feels like to save a life that's more important than your own. Everyone's life is more important than mine." I jump to my feet and stomp to the bedroom, ignoring the immense pain that shot through my body as I did. I slam the door behind me.

"Now look at what you've done Hiei," a voice scolds from the other room.

"Yea, all she ever did was try to be nice to you," another voice adds.

There's a knock at the hotel door. The squeaky door is opened and shut.

"Is da wolf/fox 'ere? Me an' Icy be wantin' to say our congrats ta her victory," the Wind Master says happily.

"And to see how her wounds are doing," Touya adds (Icy, hehe). "How are your wounds Kurama?"

"Only minor scratches," Kurama says.

"You look like crap, 'Ragon Boy," Jin says, probably to Hiei.

"Shove it," Hiei snarls.

"'Ey, that be uncalled fer!"

"You think that was uncalled for? Well, wait 'til you feel this," Hiei retorts.

Skin hits skin.

"Hey, now! Cut that out Hiei," a female yells.

There's a small scuffle.

Curious now as to what was happening, I open the door. Yusuke was roughly restraining Hiei, and Touya and Kurama were holding Jin back. Blood was dripping from Hiei, while Jin had a small trickle of blood coming from his nose.

"Ya did't have ta 'it me! I were jus' sayin'!" Jin argued, trying to free himself.

"Well, ya didn't have to say anything!" Hiei snaps.

"Boys, please," Botan says, stepping between them.

Pain flashes through Hiei's eyes.

"Yusuke, Hiei's hurt," I call from the door.

"Ya think?"

"No, Yusuke, he's bleeding again," I say, walking up to him.

Yusuke looks at the small pool of blood that I point to.

"I see," he says nonchalantly. He lets Hiei go and Hiei immediately goes after Jin again. I grab his arm and twist it so he's facing me. He holds back the urge to yelp in pain.

"Shut up, sit still, and stop pickin' fights," I command, pushing him onto the couch.

"You can't tell me what to do onna," he growls.

"Wanna bet?" I snarl, pressing on a bleeding wound.

He tenses under the pain.

"Now, lay down and shut up," I instruct, gently pushing him down. I carefully start to unwrap his bloody bandages. The wounds were a purplish color, pus oozing from some of them. A few were an ugly black or brownish. His back had the deep gash, which was now a dark purplish and oozing, and the little cuts from the ice, which were just red or pink.

"Most of these are infected already," I say sadly.

"But Kurama used herbs to prevent that," Yukina protests.

"These aren't natural infections. More like they were made by a poison." I pull a white cloth from a medical bag on the arm of the couch. Carefully and gently, I start to dab the gash on his back. Again, Hiei tensed up.

"I know it hurts," I whisper, continuing to dab. "But, once it's all done, you'll be able to fight the next bout with us. And I promise that I won't heal you next time. Unless you ask, that is. That'll work, right?" I continue to talk to him a low, soothing voice. His body tenses and relaxes every time I touch a wound and take the cloth away.

I tell him more about my mother and father. How my mother was a great illusionist, one of the best in the land. How, when she moved to the wolf clan with my father, she would teach the wolves the way of illusion. She was well respected. I told him about my father's great ability to create new energies. How he could turn the energy of a rabid dog from a horrid black to a light green. I told him of the many attacks my father knew and taught. He was well respected too.

The other's had left Hiei and me to ourselves. Kurama lingered nearby, in case I needed help, playing cards with Osadyro and Touya. Jin, Kuwabara, and Yusuke were doing something in the bedroom, laughing heartily every now and then. The girls had gone out shopping or to get dinner or something like that. The old lady had stayed behind and was listening intently to our one-sided conversation on the arm of the couch.

"You family sounds very interesting," she finally said in a raspy voice.

"They were killed by a panther demon," I reply, looking up at the woman.

"Sorry to hear that," she says, nimbly hoping off the arm. "You're a nice girl, Hiei's lucky to have someone like you around," she continues, walking up behind me.

"Thank you ma'am," I reply kindly, respecting the elderly woman.

"Genkai, please. I don't like such formalities," she smirks, laughing slightly.