Random: Finally we have some action in this flick!

Kai: Its not a flick, its a story. And yo wrote it.

Random: Heh heh, oh yeah.........

Last Time:

She stiffened , a chill making its way down her spine. With a horrifying start, she knew that the one behind her was definitely not Hiei.

Chap.8

"Hello, Kalachi," a silk smooth voice hissed behind her, "Did you believe I would give up on so easily?"

"Who are you? Get your filthy hands off me!"

"Don't you remember me? Tsk, tsk. How could you forget your future husband?"

" What?! Who are you, you physco?! Are you a crazy person? I don't have a future husband! 'Cept maybe Hiei…" she said, mumbling the last sentence under her breath so the person behind her could not hear.

He whirled her around to face him. She shifted into a fighter's stance, preparing to attack. Smiling, the demon gripped her wrists, disabling her only way to find him.

"You shouldn't be grinning," she whispered threateningly, her eyes slitting.

"Oh? And why should I not be grinning when I now have what I came for?"

"Because," she smirked, "I might do this!"

Using his grip on her wrists against him, she pulled him down to her level and spit in his eye. He released his grasp in surprise and wiped his eyes. That was his second mistake. Mariko barreled forward and head-butted him in the stomach. He keeled over; clutching his abdomen. As he went down, she could see that he was still smiling.

"So," he said, straightening, "still as feisty as ever. But you are still coming with me, whether you like it or not."

The burning pain she had felt earlier in her skull returned, except it was two times as bad. She fell to the ground, clutching at her head and writhing in pain. The evil demon stood over her, moving his hands as if he was pinpointing something. More and more pain entered in other parts of her body. She felt as if she was on fire. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead. A scream ripped from her throat as the demon poured more power into intensifying the pain. Then, as suddenly as he started Mariko's torture, he stopped and smiled acidly down at her.

"Now, dear girl, you will not deny my any longer. You are coming with me!"

"Like hell she is!" growled a voice from the doorway.

Before the intruder could turn around, he flew into a wall; greenish blood oozing from a cut above his eye. Hiei glared at him with a thousand furies. Bending quickly, he placed Mariko's arm around his neck and shoulders and pulled her into a standing position. He noticed that, even though the intruding demon had never laid a hand on her, there was blood spilling from many cuts on her arms, legs, and head. She moaned and collapsed unconscious onto Hiei.

Seeing that Kurama was standing in the kitchen doorway, he quickly deposited the unconscious Mariko into his arms. As soon as he insured that Mariko was safe, he turned to the demon that was now standing against the opposing night.

"Who are you?" growled Hiei, stepping forward and drawing his katana.

"I am Taru and I have come for the girl," the impostor answered, adding the last part for good measure. (A/N: he is a very repetitive guy! Gah! Don't throw things at me! I'll stop interrupting!) (A/N: You know that I am lying, right?)

"She is not going to go with you!" snarled Hiei, lunging at Taru angrily, determined to slice him in two.

Taru had three seconds to figure out that he needed to move. With a scowl matching Hiei's he conjured up a bow and arrow to his hands. At this point, everyone else had come to see what the commotion was about. Seeing Taru and Hiei, Botan and Yukina were troubled into action.

"Oh no you don't!" fumed a furious Botan, "You are so not fighting in the kitchen this time! I am not cleaning it again!"

"Get out!" shouted Yukina, causing everyone to stare at her: they had never heard her raise her voice before.

"What?" she shrugged, "I do not want to have to clean this kitchen like we did after that last fight…"

"Yes Yuki," mumbled a dumbstruck Hiei.

He stormed outside, dragging Taru along behind him. He threw Taru on the ground and held him down with the butt end of his katana. Taru looked up at him with loathing and a suggestion of amusement dancing in his eyes.

"That wretched excuse of a koorime orders you around? And you listen?" mocked Taru, still on his back.

"That koorime would be my sister," Hiei replied sinisterly, turning his katana over and placing the blade at Taru's neck.

"Oh? And who might you be?"

"I am… Hiei Jaganshi" came the hesitant retort.

"Hiei Jaganshi? The famous killer and thief in the Makai? That was eventually captured by Yusuke Urameshi and forced to become a partner in the Reikei Tantei as a punishment?" Taru asked, astonished.

"How weak you have become!" Taru suddenly laughed, "Protecting that powerless youkai, the once legendary, all-powerful Kalachi!"

"Silence, you fool!" snapped Hiei, pressing the blade harder into Taru's neck.

" Tell me, Hiei. Do you love her? Have you been with these pathetic ningen fool long enough that you suffer from ningen emotions?" hissed Taru, "You've gone soft."

Taru's words stung a Hiei and he pulled back. Did he actually love Mariko? She was part human now; trapped in that ningen body. Taru took his chance to flit away. Yusuke and Kuwabara looked as if the lightning of realization and struck them.

"Wait…Hiei…is in love with…Mariko? And Mariko…loves him back?" Kuwabara asked stupidly.

"Of course, you fool," sneered Taru, "Hiei protects and saves her. He has warded off so many of my henchmen. He convinced her to drink the antidote Kurama made that counteracted the poison on their blades. It was not meant to kill her, though. The fools put too much on their blades and it became deadly to her and only to her. It was so close to bringing her to me. She is mine!"

"Hiei has been doing this?" choked out Yusuke between spurts of laughter, " What else have those two been doing?"

"Hm…" mumbled Taru, deciding to embarrass Mariko and Hiei further, "they were making out when they came through the portal and…"

Mariko, who had just woken up from where Kurama had laid her in the grass, cut him off. She stalked forward and slapped Taru across the face. He flew into a tree trunk, eyes wide in shock, and then sprawled on the ground. She started to advance in him again but this time he was ready. He focused his cold, black eyes on her and made quick hand motions as if he was squeezing the life from something.

Mariko dropped to her knees, gasping and clutching at her head. She bent forward, resting her forehead in the grass. She lay there, unmoving, for several seconds before she jerked upright. Her face was lifted to the sky, her arms opened wide, and her eyes rolled back into her head as an inhuman scream tore from her throat.

The scream lasted for a few minutes, blowing all except Taru back away from Mariko. Then her whole body went limp as she pitched forward to the ground. Hiei grabbed her before she hit. She lay there in his arms; him kneeling in the grass with his arms around her and her face buried in his chest as she sobbed.

"Oh God, Hiei! Hiei, make it go away! Make it all stop…" she cried, clinging to him in panic, pain, and fear.

"Ssshhh…it will be alright," he murmured, stroking her hair.

"No. NO!" she screamed, terrified of an unseen foe, "Get it out of my head! Make it stop, make it stop!!!"

"What are you doing to her?" shouted Yusuke with his fists clenched, anger replacing laughter on his face.

"She is living a nightmare in her mind. I am showing her the consequences of not coming with me," smiled Taru pleasantly, as if he was commenting on the weather.

Mariko's Nightmare

She was standing in a field, Taru stood opposite from her. She took a step away from him. Blood began pooling on the ground where she had stepped. Horrified, she saw Keiko and Yukina on the ground, slowly bleeding to death. Turning, she ran another way, just to find that Taru had plunged twin swords into Yusuke and Kuwabara. She turned again, still trying to run. Taru appeared in front of her with a dead and mangled Botan in his arms.

"No! No! Leave them alone!" Mariko screamed, tears blinding her eyes.

"Come to me."

"No! Why do you want me? Who are you?"

Taru grabbed her arm. She tried to strike him but he disappeared and reappeared with Kurama running toward him, whip out. The whip lashed out, only to have Taru turn it on him and slice him to death. Mariko sank into more blood with every step she took. Her friends' blood. Her own blood, seeping from her arms and legs. Innocent peoples' blood.

Hiei entered the clearing. She screamed at him to run away but to no avail. Taru grinned devilishly and turned to Hiei. He silently shot a blinding orb of energy at him. Hiei took three more steps before it hit him head on. Turning to Mariko, he stumbled forward and fell to the ground at her feet, dead and smoldering.

"Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed in horrifying awareness that this was all her fault.

"Yes, this is all because of your selfishness. All because you did not come with me!" Taru thundered, leering at her.

End Nightmare, Back in Reality

"Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mariko screamed aloud, her pupils dilating and spasms tearing through her body.

Hiei gently laid her down and stood. She curled up into the fetal position, not recognizing anyone or anything in the real world. (A/N: fetal position, YAY! (That was for Kai)) Hiei whole body was engulfed in a flaming aura. He took no thought as to what he was doing as he turned to Taru.

"Fist of the Mortal Flame!" he yelled, releasing his power. (A/N: is that right?)

Taru flew backwards again. He lay on the ground, bruised, scorched, and bleeding. He stood shakily and tore open a portal to the Makai to make his escape. Before going through, he turned to all of the YYH gang. Mariko looked up at him wearily, the nightmare receding from her mind.

"I will leave, but you are not rid of me. I will come back to claim my fiancé once and for all!" he snarled and was gone.

Hiei stood, immobilized. His katana slid from his grasp. He turned slowly, as if he was in a trance, and looked down at Mariko. Disbelief and pain flickered across his handsome features. Then, in a blur of black, he disappeared into the forest. Kurama and Keiko heaved Mariko up off the ground. She stumbled towards the dark woods.

"No!" she cried out, "No! Hiei, come back! Hiiiieeeiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The only answer to her anguished cries was her own echo coming back to her. Hiei…was…gone into the now fading day…

"Hiiiieeeiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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