Forgotten

Summary: "It's like… like I don't know who I am anymore. Who I belong to…." ANGSTY Hiei/OC.

Author's Notes: Yeah. This part may have a spoiler in it, if I've got my information right, so if you don't want to know what happens next in the anime, then turn your face away….

From the garish light of day,

Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light…

What? I'm a Phan; I can get away with it….

I'm kind of unsure about this part. I think that Hiei stays in Makai after the end of the series, but I've only seen up to episode 100 (and no one seems to have summarized episodes 101-112… grr). So what I'm going to do is write this part as if he did stay with Mukuro, and I'll change it if I find out otherwise. If anyone knows how the series ends (or where I can find some good episode summaries), please let me know via the email address in my profile. Well, time to thank the reviewers.

samuraiduck27: Thanks for the encouragement! I'll try not to dissappoint you.

demonchild22: Thanks for reviewing both chapters! I hope you keep reading the fic.

Moojuice Nne: twitch I'm trying to picture the whole party dress thing. Anyways, thanks for helping me with my writer's block.

And now, on with the fic!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Aren't you shocked?

Part Three: Music of the Night


"Akiko Mishimi," Kurama muttered to himself, "you certainly are hard to find." The red haired kitsune leaned against the trunk of one of the great trees in the park, examining the license carefully, frowning. A week he'd had this girl's license, and he still hadn't found her anywhere in the city. And no one seemed to where she was or even who she was, save her father, but Kurama preferred not to think about that. He let out a sigh. For God's sake, he couldn't have just imagined her, could he? The kitsune was about to give up and go home when his ears picked up a rustling in the tree limbs above his head.

"What're you doing here?" Kurama inquired. "I thought you were never going to come back to ningenkai, Hiei."

The tree branches gave a final rustle as a black clad figure leapt from the upper limbs and landed expertly on the ground in front of the thoroughly unsurprised kitsune.

"Believe me, if I had a choice, I wouldn't waste my time here," the figure responded in an icy baritone voice.

Kurama cocked an eyebrow quizzically. "Might I ask what the situation is?"

Crimson eyes stared at the kitsune frigidly. "Mukuro is dead," Hiei said his voice devoid of any feeling, sympathetic or otherwise.

"That's sudden," the kitsune responded. "She was murdered?"

"Probably," Hiei stated simply.

"How does that affect you?"

"The vast majority of Makai thinks that I killed her."

"…Did you?"

Kurama received a less-than-amiable look from the other yokai. "How does this make you have to return to the human world?" the red head asked curiously. "I'd think you'd be able to handle whatever attackers that'd come after you."

"You forget that my death would mean that Mukuro's territory is free game," Hiei responded grimly. "Almost all of Makai is after my blood."

"I see," Kurama muttered. "Who's running the territory while you're here?"

"No one I'll have any trouble getting rid of," Hiei responded forebodingly.

The kitsune turned this statement over in his mind briefly. It wasn't a pleasant situation, but he supposed that it would be good for Hiei to be back in this world for a time. If for no other reason than so Kurama could torment the fire yokai about his sister…. After a minute's silence, a thought occurred to Kurama. "Hiei," he began carefully.

The fire yokai gave the slightest "Hn," to acknowledge that he had heard his name.

"I wonder… would you help me find someone?"

Hiei raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "I'm here five minutes, and you already have errands for me to run?" He observed Kurama for a short time before saying, "Who are you looking for?"

The kitsune handed Hiei the license. "I want to find this girl," he said. "Do you think you could find her?"

"Of course I can find her," Hiei scoffed tossing the license back to the red head. "Don't see why anyone would want to find her. But so long as I'm stuck here…." The yokai disappeared in a flash of black.

Kurama frowned. Hiei was sure to find Akiko. As to whether or not she'd ever be seen alive again….


Steam rose from the surface of her coffee as she stepped out of the diner into the cold darkness. Akiko took a sip of the liquid, reveling in the temporary warmth it produced. She'd enjoy it while she could; that was the last of her money. And without some identification… well, she was up a creek; that was for sure.

Sighing, Akiko took another sip of coffee and strode down the sidewalk to the public playground. The weather was getting colder still; she could see her breath condensing in the air. Street lamps were the only outlets of light in the playground. Akiko ambled over to the rusted swings, plopping down into one of them, and carefully snaking her arms around the chains, styrofoam cup still in hand. That was how he found her.

It didn't take long to track her down, especially not with his eyes. He'd followed her since she left the diner; he thought she'd go to the playground: there weren't many other places for her to go this late. She was all alone… if he acted now, he could bring her back easily. And he would've done just that, if he hadn't sensed another presence—a yokai—watching the girl as well.

"Damn it," he hissed as he melted into the night.

He'd just have to keep watching her from afar.


Hiei examined Akiko from the top of a tree near the swings. Yes, this was he girl Kurama had wanted to find, though he still didn't understand the kitsune's interest in her: as far as Hiei could tell, she was completely normal. Boring, even. Then again, the kitsune's reasons were none of his business. 'Might as well get this over with,' he thought, perturbed. In a flash, he was standing beside the swings, his hands behind his back.

"Do you want something?" she inquired distantly, her eyes focused on her coffee cup. Instinctual fear was sinking in: this situation was a bit too much like a previous one than she was comfortable with. But she'd sooner take a knife to her heart than admit to her terror.

He frowned at her demeanor. "Someone I know asked me to find you," he replied solemnly. "You'll have to come with me, and be sure to keep up, because there's no way that I'm going through the trouble of tracking you down again."

Well, this guy was a right gentleman, wasn't he? Akiko glared, still focusing on her coffee cup. "I don't want to go with you," she stated wryly, standing up and striding to the entrance of the playground. "You can tell whoever sent you that I said tough luck."

The yokai was suddenly reminded why he was so eager to stay in Makai. Rolling his eyes, Hiei effortlessly beat the girl to the gate and blocked her exit. "Listen, onna," he began threateningly, "I really have no issues with killing you. But like I said, there's someone looking for you, and I told him I'd find you. You can either come willingly, or I can make you come with me."

For the briefest of instants, the girl looked shocked. But she regained composure quickly. "No way am I going with you," she stated, tossing the empty styrofoam cup into the trash can.

Once again, the yokai rolled his eyes impatiently. "Fine," he muttered, more to himself than the girl. "Fine, make things more difficult, then."

Akiko opened her mouth to comment, but forgot what she was going to say. Possibly because it just wasn't important and slipped her mind, but more likely because her feet were no longer on the ground.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screeched, her legs kicking in midair—she had been tossed over the yokai's shoulder. "Put me down!"

"Damn humans," the fire yokai sighed as he and the girl vanished into the night.


Sending Hiei had been a bad idea, Kurama determined. He should've thought of that from the beginning, really. After all, he knew better than most how volatile Hiei was.

"Yep, bad idea," the kitsune sighed.

"What was a bad idea?" Hiei's indifferent tone questioned, as he—with the girl still slung over his shoulder—approached Kurama.

Kurama stared at the sight before him for a time, taking in the absurdity of it.

"What?" Hiei questioned, tossing the girl less than gently to the ground.

The kitsune winced slightly as the girl landed. "I'm sorry about him," Kurama apologized sympathetically, helping Akiko to her feet. "He's not quite what you'd call a people person."

"So I gathered," the girl replied with a dark glare in the fire yokai's direction. After dusting the dirt off her clothes, she looked up at Kurama's face. Cocking an eyebrow she asked, "You're the one who was looking for me?"

Smiling, Kurama nodded. "I wanted to give this back to you," he said, handing her the license.

She opened her mouth, intending to thank him, but found herself asking, "You sent the sadist to find me just so you could give me my driver's license back?"

"No," the kitsune said seriously. "I wanted to find you because I thought you needed help. You're not in the best of situations."

Hiei kept up a front of not listening, but he was taking note of everything that was being said now.

The girl narrowed her eyes. "What do you know about my 'situation'?"

"I know that you ran away from home," Kurama responded. "I presume that's because your father abused you?"

Akiko turned away from him. "That's none of your business," she said frigidly.

"No, no it's not," Kurama admitted. "But even so, I want to help you out."

"Can you give me a place to stay?" the girl questioned.

Kurama frowned. "No. I can't do that. But I'm sure Hiei knows of somewhere warm. He can look after you tonight."

Hiei immediately forgot his feigned deafness. "What?"

"My parents will ask too many questions," Kurama responded gravely. "She's safer with you."

"What the hell am I supposed to do with her?" Hiei demanded angrily.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll come up with something," Kurama smiled, leaving the girl and the yokai alone.

"Damn him," Hiei hissed, "always getting me involved with stupid humans…."



Author's Notes: Well. That was fun. I hope I did better with this chapter than I did with chapter two shudders. I don't know if the part that begins with "It didn't take long..." was clear. Hmm. Let me know what you guys think about that, please. Anyway, I did an outline of this fic, and from what I've got now, it's going to be eleven chapters long. Like I said earlier, I've already got the last chapter written, so I can easily finish this thing. But how well it's written and how quickly it's completed will depend on my review numbers. It would be doing me a great favor to recommend this story to others insert innocent smile. Well, I'll start chapter four this weekend—it may take a bit longer, though: this next week will be pretty busy. Anywho, thanks for reading! Please review!