Dragon's Sacrifice
Chapter 1: Rescue Mission
They were sprinting down the corridor with Hiei running ahead and scouting out the adjacent paths for any surprise attacks. If there were unfortunate souls staking out these dingy walkways, too bad for them, Hiei had never shown mercy in his life; because that was not the way to survive in Makai. Kurama was backup in case Hiei ran into anything he could not handle, however unlikely that was.
He slowed to a stop in front of the heavy wooden door that marked the reason they were here in the first place. It was an emergency mission issued by Koenma, Botan had been kidnapped. Yusuke and Kuwabara were taking out the big boss of the operation. Hiei and Kurama were in charge of the rescue stint; Kurama had insisted.
Hiei smirked as his accomplice caught up with him. Kurama was close to panic when Koenma had made the mission clear to them. The news had not elicited a huge physical response from him but his ki had risen noticeably. As if to mock the panicky fox he offered, in his rich timbre voice,
"After you…" bowing slightly and still smirking, all he received for his troubles was a dirty look from Kurama. With a deft flick of his wrist, Kurama slashed through the intimidating barrier with the unnaturally sharp thorns of his Rose Whip. The wood splintered and fell apart into innumerable fragments to reveal a chamber of females in the most disturbing plight.
Rows upon rows of human females chained to the walls. Most of them were bruised and battered with their clothes badly ripped. Their mission was to get Botan and clear out. Kurama, being the more sensitive of the two, seemed strangely unbothered by this; apparently too focused on his task of finding Botan. However, even more curious, was Hiei's irritation at what he was seeing. He stood firm at the doorway as Kurama rushed in to locate Botan. He kept his eyes downcast as he waited for Kurama. Suddenly, he snapped his head upwards. There was youki in the room, and it belonged to neither Kurama nor himself. He quickly scanned the sobbing females hanging from their manacles until he found the demon.
She was the only one who was quiet. She expressed no fear for her predicament and instead stared calmly back at him meeting his stern gaze without flinching. Her youki was weak, but it was a dead give away that she was not human. He stepped forward, opening his mouth to speak when Kurama rushed back over cradling Botan in his arms. He nodded to Hiei, signaling that they could leave. He nodded back and followed Kurama down the hallway, throwing one last glance over his shoulder at the mysterious youkai shackled to the wall.
~ A Few Hours Later…~
They were back at Genkai-baasan's temple getting themselves healed up with hers and Yukina's help. Well the ones who really needed healing in any case were Yusuke and Kuwabara. Kurama had gently laid Botan out on the futon and was presently dabbing a cool cloth over her brow, every ounce of attention focused on what he was doing. He startled slightly when Hiei placed a hand on his shoulder to call for his attention. He flashed Hiei a warm relieved smile and asked him what was the matter.
" Kurama," Hiei began, a frown creasing forehead, "back at the castle, did you notice anything unusual?" Kurama looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head in a negative. Then looking a dash sheepish, he added,
" But I was a little distracted at the time." Making slight hand gestures towards the sleeping Botan. Hiei growled in irritation. In a very snappish fashion, he informed Kurama,
"There was a youkai among the prisoners." Then, like a slow motion film in progress, Kurama's hand flew to his mouth as he gasped in shock. He just remembered something very important.
"Hiei! I forgot to tell you that Koenma said to retrieve her as well!"
"Kisama! It would do you good to remember details like that on a mission instead of being distracted by your emotions!" he punctuated the sentence with a growl before leaving the temple in a blur of black.
As he flitted from tree to tree, through the portal between Ningenkai and Makai, he barely paid attention to the changing scenery. He had other things on his mind. Just who was this girl and what did Koenma what her for? She didn't even seem that powerful…but most importantly was, why the hell was he so damned eager to re-engage the mission to save her?! He growled at himself before focusing on what he had to do.
His second visit to the castle was quiet, without all the fanfare, which was unavoidable if Yusuke and Kuwabara were to tag along. Sneaking in through one of the windows, he slipped passed the guards, using the shadows whenever possible to his advantage. The door was still in shambles scattered near the threshold, saving him the trouble of having to break it again. Quietly, he stepped into the room. It was quiet now. The prisoners it held captive were sleeping. Straightening slightly from his crouched positioning in the surrounding darkness, he crept slowly over to where he last remembered she was chained.
With only the weak illumination of the Makai moon as his source of light, he saw her out of the corner of his eye. In a flash, he was beside her. She really was a weak youkai, even with his presence so near, she had not sensed him. Her head was slumped forward and her long violet tresses curtained her face. She was sleeping in the position that she was chained; as were the other females. Sighing resignedly, he brought his hand up and slapped her lightly to wake her up. Sleepily she raised her head, and he watched fascinated. She opened her almond shaped eyes and stared back at him with unfocused silver orbs. Her small mouth opened to question his being there, but he quickly clamped his hand over her mouth. Hiei did not want any sound to give him away. Bringing his finger to his lips he signaled for her to be quiet. She nodded against his hand and he released his grip on her. In the blink of an eye, he had cut through her metal bonds with his sword, skill honed to perfection only derived from years of practice. She slumped forward into his arms, too weak from lack of nourishment, and he carried her out of the fortress, the way he came in.
She stopped by a nearby lake and put her down on the grass. In truth, he had cut her down from the wall, but had not released her bound hands. After a childhood like his in Makai, trusting someone new was not the smartest thing to do, no matter how unthreatening they seem; take Kurama for example, he could pass for an average human buy but is in fact a 1000-year old fox spirit, to mess around with him would be like dancing with death. He glared at her taking in her appearance slowly. She was petite, maybe even smaller sized than him, and that was a lot to say since he was a half-koorime. She had pale smooth skin, which was now decorated with dirt smudges. Her oval shaped face was framed by her incredibly long purple hair, and her undaunted silver eyes, just stared right back at him, as if daring him to do something cruel to her. His frown eased up a bit and he asked her in his deep voice,
" Who are you? And what were you doing there among the human captives?"
She looked stunned for a moment, as if not expecting him to be thus polite, especially after witnessing his gruff mannerism. Then she looked up at him and replied,
"My name is Yukiko. I was too weak to defend myself so I was rounded up with the rest of the humans when the slavers came." She shifted slightly which cause the rags she was wearing to slip off her shoulder. Hiei gasped and took a step back. On her right shoulder was the tattoo of a dragon's head. An ornately carved head of blue with menacing eyes like ice-chips, it seemed to watch him as though it was alive.
"Aoryuha…" he breathed out. Then suddenly snapping out of his revelation, he rushed forward jerking her to her feet with a yank of her chains. Growling slightly, he bent down and circled her slim waist with one arm and lifted her up. He was going to have a very important discussion with the very busy Koenma, whether he liked it or not. He did not like how things were falling into place, especially when his involvement seemed more and more blatant.
Heavy golden doors were thrown open with a resounding crash as the short fire demon strode into the Reikai prince's office with a dirty bundle slung over his right shoulder. George the blue oni came rushing in after him shouting in a panicked voice,
" You can't go in,Hiei-san! Koenma-sama is very busy right now!!" right before tripping over his own feet and sprawling on the floor right in front of Hiei, effectively blocking his advance unintentionally.
Without so much as an upward glance, the toddler's chewing on his pacifier intensified as he curtly dismissed his personal oni. All he while, never did he pause a moment in his furious stamping of reikai documents with his golden stamp. The piles of sheets and files on his desk never seemed to lessen all, only multiply in numbers.
His eyes rove over the papers' contents so fast that they threaten to roll right out of his sockets…Hiei mused in silence. He waited for a while before impatience began to gnaw at him. Shifting from foot to foot, he decided he had had enough of waiting and dropped his 'bundle' roughly to the floor, allowing it to land in an ungraceful heap. It was only when the so-called bundle emitted a startled "Eeep" did Koenma finally look up from his mounds of paperwork to acknowledge the other's presence.
" What is it now, hiei? I'm a very busy person, can't this wait for another time?" he asked, knowing full well that if anybody were to wait for him, no amount of lifetimes would suffice. Hiei smirked, arching one eyebrow, he let out smoothly,
"Oh nothing much, I only want to know why we were asked to rescue this." He punctuated his sentence with a kick to his bundle of rags and deep purple tresses.
"Hey!" she yelled irritated by his rough treatment, she managed to lash out and strike his foot, although with insufficient force. Immediately, he growled at her audacity to strike him. She shrank back from his sudden burst of warning ki, her eyes though defiant, were lined with fear. He smirked in satisfaction…exactly the effect I was hoping for, that'll teach her to learn her place…before returning to glare at Koenma.
By this time, Koenma had managed to find space enough for him to climb onto the table and part the towering mounds of white to allow himself a better view of the individual in question. Upon sighting the youkai by Hiei's feet his face immediately lit up.
"Ah…so you've met her, Hiei! She's the newest addition to the Reikai Tentei, so make sure you don't kick her around too much, she'll be a great help to you all!" he piped in delight before returning to his high-backed, cushioned office seat.
"That's impossible! Her youki is so low she could pass off as human." He scoffed. Once Koenma had gotten comfortable in his chair, he reached once more for his golden chop and replied in an off-handed manner,
" Which is why you're going to train her."
The whole of Reikai was shaken to its very roots by a thunderous "what".
The discussion had persisted somewhat to a lesser extent until it was finally brought to a closure with a threat, " you do it Hiei or you'll never be released from your parole as a Reikai Tentei." It was no joke on koenma's part and it definitely was not taken lightly by the fire demon either for his response was all of five minute's worth of continuous swearing.
TBC…
Author's rambling:
Please alert me to any mistakes I may have made in this fic, be they technical errors or OOC-ness. Thank you for your time taken in reading this fic and I apologise if you feel it was a waste of yours.