dont own YYH
sorry about the long wait! here's the next chapter.
warning: sad
Chapt. 51
A Death Followed by Tears
"You think you can send the ruler of Reikai to Hell?! That's absurd!" Enma laughs. "You are a very funny demon, child. But even that won't save your life."
I snarl at him with bared fangs. Blood oozed between my clenched teeth, for I would not cough it up. It seeped out of my wounds and ran slowly in the cracks of the floor. I was in no position to make threats, but I did anyway. Though I had a surplus of energy, I was using most of it to keep Hiei and myself alive. Enma would not control my death, and I would not die here.
"Darkfire, just…let go," Hiei pleas to me. "Run, run away."
I turn on him. "I will not run!" I snap, blood gushing out. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and stare at him. "I won't leave you."
"You must live."
"And we shall."
"You can't save us both this time! You must save yourself!" he growls. "Stop worrying about other people. Can't you just think of yourself?"
"If I did that…none of you would be here now. I could've let you die that day, but I didn't. I could've let Yusuke die too, but I didn't. If I only thought of myself, Yukina would be dead too! But you wouldn't care, would you?"
His eyes widened before focusing into a glare.
You leave her out of this, Darkfire!
Why, because you want me to? You're so selfish!
I want you to live, how is that selfish?
Because only you know that I will die. The others don't know.
How do you know that?
If they did, Yusuke wouldn't have brought me here. I will not abandon those I love by running away. I will not abandon you, Hiei.
"Please," he whispers, "just run."
"No!" I scream. Throwing blades of hot fire at him, I aim for his shackles. When they melt, he falls to the floor. My wrists burn and sizzle.
"You fool!!" he shouts at me. Out of my right eye, I notice Enma nodding with his eyes. Just as I try to shout to Hiei, a blade goes through my left shoulder. Just as quickly as it had gone in, it is ripped out again.
"Darkfire!!"
"Hiei, I love you," I gasp. As I fall to the floor, my body automatically teleports to the forest where I train in, attempted to murder two people, saved said people, and go to more often than any other place in the world.
"Darkfire," the trees whisper. Vines and leaves and roots and branches gather about me. They transfer their energy to me, healing my bleeding wounds.
"Live," they whisper. "Live."
I fall asleep listening to them repeat that word.
"Hey, she's comin' to."
Painfully, I open my weary eyes. I look to my left and see Yusuke looking down at me, sorrow filling his eyes. To my right sat Kuwabara, he too showed hurt. I sit up slowly and meet Kurama. His emerald eyes are dull and sad; it pains me to look at them.
"What's wrong?" I ask them, touching my right shoulder gently.
"Hiei," Kuwabara whispers. He had not grown an inch. His hair was still as orange as ever, but it was cut in a more modern and practical style. His voice spoke with certainty and wisdom. And his eyes, they were no longer fixed into a hardened state. Right now they were very forlorn indeed.
"Hai," Yusuke agrees, looking to Kurama for support before turning his closed eyes to his hands.
"He committed seppuku," Kurama says slowly. His red hair had remained its length, but he held it back with a loose ponytail similar to Yusuke's. he was wearing a business blouse and tie.
Seppuku is to commit suicide, similar to what they did in the time of the samurai.
I choke back tears. "Why?"
"He thought you were dead because of him," Kuwabara whispers, unsure of what else to do.
"And…and he didn't…wait to find out?" I cry, stuttering through my gasps for air.
"He couldn't feel your energy signal," Yusuke put in, still holding his face in his hands. "None of us could."
"It was a protection mechanism that the forest did. It was just to protect me." I didn't know what to think any more. Hiei was dead because of me.
I can't take self-inflicted pain, you fool! Why did you have to do that to yourself?! Why?!?! Hiei!
I sobbed violently into my hands, praying that this was just a bad dream. But with each breath, the pain became more of a reality. I lost him, the man I loved. The second and the last. I would never love again…because all those that I did love, died.
I let Hiei go. I left him. I abandoned him without intention. I killed him.
"Would you like to see him?" Kurama asks me, tears spilling from his eyes.
I nod, for it was all I could do.
Silently, we walked to the room they had put Hiei in. It was strange being here again. I had been away for so long, I had almost forgotten what it looked like, the smell of the doors, the feel of the floor as I walked, and the color it held. But I could no longer see the vibrant colors. Everything was black and blood.
Kurama gently ushers me to the left and opens the door. I freeze in the doorway. Did I really want to see him again? Did I want to remember our last moments together? Did I want to feel that pain again? Tears begin to well in my eyes. I could hear the last words I spoke to him resounding in my ears. And him calling my name came just before. It hurt.
"You don't have to," Yusuke says to me, resting a hand on my shoulder.
"Oh, Yusuke!" I cry, throwing my arms around him. "He should've waited." His strong arms wrap around me in a brotherly way. I sob into his shoulder, never wanting to hurt again.
"Tomodachi, I know you'll find him," he whispers in my ear, holding me tighter. "You'll find him again."
I gently break from his comforting grasp and wander into the room. Kneeling beside Hiei, I push some strands of hair from his forehead. He wasn't so dangerous when he was sleeping. Except, this sleep you can't wake up from.
"Hiei!!" I howl. It was a long mournful howl, one that time couldn't help. A wound had opened and no one could fix it except for the one who created it. But he was dead.
Death would ease the pain.
