Dragon's Sacrifice
Chapter 3: Preparation for Explanation
Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months. With each passing day, training intensified. Neither thought nor care was spared for the poor soul being trained, only that the task entrusted be completed, and completed perfectly.
"NO! You're still getting it wrong! AGAIN!" was probably the most common phrase Yukiko had heard in the past five months. If it was not her grip on the weapon that was wrong, it was her stance; if it was not her stance then it was the angle of her strike. If it was not any of these three then it was probably Hiei's bad mood and refusal to compliment her. The first four months had been backbreaking physical torture concentrated on building up her stamina and endurance. It was only in the last month or so he had switched to training her speed. In weaponry education, the basics were accomplished in the first two months. Focus had then been shifted to skill, technique and fluency in execution. Without a doubt the weapon in question was the sword, but from time to time he would break the monotony by teaching her hand-to-hand combat styles.
From Yukiko's point of view, the past five months had been nothing short of pure torture. To her it seemed like a mindless repetition of the testing her body's limits each day, before she broke down from exhaustion. She submitted herself to grueling physical activity for fear of losing her life since every bit of defiance on her part, was countered by a death threat from her trainer. Her nights were filled with exhaustion-induced slumber, which left no room for pleasant dreams or disturbing nightmares. It was a tough life to lead, but at least she knew she was getting stronger, even if she felt too fatigued to notice it.
~*~
As usual, she woke up at the crack of dawn, only to find that Hiei was already up before her. As usual, breakfast was carried out in the quiet fashion preferred by Hiei, which she had come to accept. As usual, training began with as little conversation exchanged as possible.
But when she returned from her twenty-by-twenty mile warm-up run, she saw Hiei already in the clearing with his back faced to her, talking to another individual who struck her as vaguely familiar.
"What is it this time?" Hiei asked in a gruff voice, clearly not liking the interference.
" I don't really know, I was just asked to pass you a message from Mukuro, Hiei-kun." The redheaded messenger replied, before looking up to flash her a brief smile. Yukiko grinned back before forcing her mouth into a straight line when Hiei turned around to acknowledge her presence. The good-looking messenger continued in his high alto voice,
"You don't have to worry about her, we can look after her…" Hiei shot him a glare and cut him off with a one-worded question,
"We?"
The slender red-head covered his mouth politely as he chuckled before answering Hiei's question,
"Yusuke felt that he needed a vacation, so he and Kuwa-chan are coming down later to join me."
"Chi!" Hiei snorted before finishing up his instructions, " make sure you guys don't make a mess of things." And then he disappeared before the other person could utter another word. The messenger's eyes briefly trailed after Hiei before they suddenly turned to fix themselves on Yukiko. By then she had already gotten her breathing under control and was looking forward to an explanation. The tall redhead moved gracefully towards her. She took in his measured steps, trying to recall where she had seen him before. He paused directly in front of her before offering his hand in a polite greeting. Ah, yes! He was the one who came with Hiei-sama that night to rescue the blue-haired slave…
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Kurama."
With the same polite gesture, she accepted his hand with a quick shake before stepping back to bow low in submission as she had been taught to do all her life. In her mind, the questions chased one another. Who is this Kurama? Can he be trusted? Why did Hiei…but her thoughts were cut off by Kurama's gentle voice,
"You must be Yukiko. You can relax now 'cause there won't be any training today, Hiei's got some important things to do." The last statement he had added as an afterthought. Perhaps a little extra information would help to loosen her up a bit. Unconsciously, the tight knot between her shoulders had eased up a bit as her posture relaxed, to such an extent, that she forgot to bite back her question.
" So what happens now?" she immediately gasped at her slip of tongue. If it were Hiei she was talking to, she would have gotten a face-full of scolding for questioning his actions. She cringed, clearly expecting the same response from Kurama. Instead she was rewarded with his laughter, which sounded very much like silver bells. When he had gotten his chuckling under control, and Yukiko was still staring wide eyed,
"My, my, aren't we the curious one? Well judging from your reaction I'm guessing that you've been put through hell under him. Am I right?" all she could do was nod mutedly. And he continued with ease, he had always been the eloquent one.
"Well worry not. Two of my associates will be joining me later and all four of us can enjoy a little picnic together until Hiei comes back. No stress at all." And not a moment too soon, the boisterous voices of two squabbling males could be heard in the distance.
"Wah! What do you mean my fault?! You're the one who wanted Keiko's cooking on the picnic menu!"
"Hey! But you're the one who made the slip and got us kicked out with nothing to eat!"
"AHEM!" Kurama cleared his throat loudly to get the attention of the other two teens who were currently trying to strangle each other and balance a picnic basket on one foot. Everything froze in mid-action, one could hear the crickets making their routine calls to one another. The dark-haired teen slowly unwound his fingers from orange-head's neck and scratched the back of his head, all the while grinning sheepishly.
"Yo! Kurama! We got the food!" the tall orange haired one yelled, holding up a rather damaged picnic basket.
"And it's in one piece amazingly!" Kurama added smilingly, not a note of sarcasm in his voice though the words made the intention apparent.
Still feeling a little awkward, she sat herself down next to Kurama amidst the new faces. What harm could there be? They are Hiei-sama's friends anyway… The boys continued with their conversation in their loud carefree voices, not at all pressuring Yukiko into talking. All were willing to wait for her to open up in her own time when she felt ready. And that was what made her feel even more at ease with them. From where she sat, it looked like it was turning out to be a very relaxing day…
~*~
Hiei stormed past the guards at the entrance of the fortress, where Mukuro lived, who hurriedly tried to pull themselves to attention for fear of what the fire demon might do. Feeling a pinch irritated that his training of Yukiko was interrupted. He swore that if it were for some stupid reason like another lost human, he would lash out at Mukuro. At this he had to smirk, he had not had a spar with Mukuro in quite a while. He always looked forward to those. Not only did she manage to push the limits of his capabilities, their spars always opened windows into her enigmatic personality. He knew so little about her, and yet he was the heir to her third of Makai, the whole idea was just too curious to not be questioned.
He threw open the heavy double doors with a fling of his hand. With sure steps he advanced towards Mukuro who was currently sitting leisurely on her divan with both her hand thrown over, resting on the back and her legs crossed. He stopped right in front of her, crossing his hands over his chest in defiance. When she offered no start to their discussion, his impatience got the better of him,
" What's all this about? And the explanation better be good…"
There was a poignant pause before she replied in tone of casual authority,
" I don't quite know Hiei, I'm just the messenger for Koenma. I was hoping you could tell me what's going on. And not to mention that strange girl you're keeping in your 'secret' hideout…" her sarcasm was not lost on Hiei, neither was the undercurrent of her promised threat if he did not give her a good explanation. It was part of his feral nature, he hated being threatened and he had no qualms about making his displeasure apparent to her in the form of an audible growl; after all he had taken a few of her ki blasts straight on and survived. From where he stood, it looked like it was going to be a long afternoon of tiring verbal exchange tinged with outbreaks of some training of his own…
Author's ramblings:
Erm same thing I guess, ooc-ness if any. Anything you like or don't like about it feel free to leave me a msg in the review list or email me personally I don't mind. I'm so sorry smth this short took so long to come, I've been really really busy. I'll try to upload as often as possible but I can't promise that It'll be frequent. Thank you so much for reading my work I appreciate the time you took!
Luv,
Knanaki