I'm baaaaack! Even though no one is reveiwing (which is very rude to the author, reading but not reveiwing) I'm going to upload a few more chapters now. There won't be a Wingthorn: Come what may, it turned out too short, so I added it on to A Miko's Heart, The next one in the series is going to be Skye's Legacy. sniffle Can you guess what that means? No! Don't! Save it for when you read it.
Rose here, signing out.
Chapter eight Past
Fury does not change what is already past.
Hiei walked away from the bloody scene behind him, his fury for Kurama gone. He still couldn't believe it, but there was nothing he could do about it, was there? He betrayed me, he brought Koenma's people to hunt me.
Or did he, he said that the little blue girl had nothing to do with Koenma. He paused, hand on the hilt of his Katana. A car was approaching him, and he was too close, far to close to the dead men. Coming from that direction as well.
"You are under arrest." He heard from behind him, and from in front of him. He knew that the human police were surrounding him. He drew his Katana, then, and prepared to fight his way out. He felt as small bubble of glee at that, and knew he shouldn't. But that didn't keep him from thinking it.
"You think waving that sword around will make us let you go?" one of them barked, laughing shortly.
"Katana." Hiei muttered, and grinned with malice. He jumped forward, sweeping the katana through the speaking officer's throat. He slit another officer's throat as well, before they went into action, threatening to shoot.
"Hn. You humans are so pathetic." he sneered, killing one last officer on the way out. Just his little way of making sure they remembered him.
"Kurama." A voice came from the door that was now, once again, ajar, distracting him from his earth energy practice. When he nodded to acknowledge Lord Koenma's presence, in his teenage form, Koenma nodded back.
"I have another assignment for you, for when you are feeling better." Kurama's mouth went dry, and if Koenma saw him pale, he showed no sign of it. "It's bad business, this, but one of the Spirit Detectives has, well, changed his mind about where he stands. You know the drill."
"Hiei." He whispered, unable to speak any louder. Koenma nodded, studying him with pity. Kurama was getting really, really sick of pity.
"He's been arrested by the humans, in a rare burst of brilliance."
"It's not like Hiei to allow himself to be caught." Kurama noted tiredly. He knew now what his assignment was, and had to tell Koenma he wouldn't do it.
"No, it's not. He killed the officers instead. Your assignment is to bring down the dangerous murderer. No human officers would be able to do it." Koenma sighed, seeing the problem in asking someone to kill a best friend.
"I…can't."
"That's what I thought you would say. I'll put it down to being sick, but this is the final assignment to make up for all the harm you did as a demon bandit. When you get better, do the assignment. Don't cross me, you will regret it if you do." Without a word of farewell, he left, and Kurama let him go.
He was lonely, and that was probably the real problem. Sick and bedridden, he was all alone. Tai had died of the Pox two days past, and Kurama missed him terribly. Hiei…Hiei, why would you think I'd ever, ever betray you? Alut'tum wouldn't even come back, he was sure. Not after that.
The only one he had left was Skye, never mind that he was dreaming about her now. He sighed, fervently hoping that this was all a fever dream, for he knew how vivid those could be. He lay down on his low cot, and went to sleep, tossing and turning in the throes of another dream.
He was well, entirely well. No more rash from the pox, no more fever, nothing. All was better. It must have been a dream then, but it was so vivid. He sat up, and looked around, seeing only the place where they had stopped for the night.
"Hiei? Are you alright?" he called, afraid for his friend, and hoping he could still count him as one. He stood shakily, sweating in apprehension, and touched Hiei's shoulder where he slept. One touch should have been enough to wake the wary fighter, normally he knew it would have been.
He shook Hiei again, desperation welling up. "Hiei, please, get up." he pleaded. "Don't leave me here. I promised…" He turned Hiei over, and nearly cried when he saw his friend was still breathing.
He was covered with the Pox, and his breath rattled horribly in his throat. Hiei's forehead was burning when Kurama checked it, and he knew his friend was in trouble. It hadn't been a dream! Maybe it had been a foretelling? Possibly.
He rolled Yusuke over, and cringed when he saw the Pox waging war against him as well. Keiko! Keiko was traveling with them too, she was a woman, she would know what to do!
He tapped her on the shoulder, then tried to shake he awake. She was so covered with blanket, she might as well be in a chrysalis. He moved the blanket, and closed his eyes in pain when he saw the disease in her.
He got up, and began to run, run to find a village, with a Miko. Maybe even one called Wingthorn, Vinerose, or Windstorm. Silverbough, even, would be enough. He had to see someone familiar!
He literally ran, then, into a woman clothed in Miko garments. He looked up, almost afraid to see the skin, afraid it would be marked and scarred by the Pox. It wasn't, it was Silverbough.
"Come." she rasped, her voice sounding dry and weary, not even entirely alive. She led him back to the camp sight, where he checked on Hiei.
He was dead.
Kurama fell to his knees then, his tears watering the ground that craved moisture so. "No, please, not Hiei." he cried.
Hiei danced around him then, not his body, but his spirit. Where was Botan to take him to the Spirit World? Why wasn't she here to guide him to Reikai?
"…So sweet, so warm. Warm as the beating heart that stills." The voice was louder this time, louder than ever before, now that it was coming from a spirit's throat. His heart pounding, Kurama moved the cloth to take one last look at his best friend.
It wasn't Hiei.
It was Skye. And now the spirit dancing around him wasn't Hiei either, not the one he had befriended. It was a green demon, covered in eyes and radiating malice. It was Hiei, and he was back to the way he had been before he met Kurama.
"BLOOD SO RED, SO SWEET, SO WARM! WARM AS THE BEATING HEART THAT STILLS! KILLS! KILL THE HEART TO STILL THE MIND! KILL THE INNOCENT TO KILL THE HEART! KILL THE HEART, AND BE FREE AT LAST!" Hiei was screaming, pounding on his back to make him listen.
"What have you done, Hiei?" Kurama cried, falling to the ground, and silently weeping with anguish.
"WHY?" It wasn't his voice, it wasn't the voice of any human or demon. It was warped and thunderous. It was the voice of a great king whose empire was destroyed, the voice of a woman who's child is murdered. The scream of a dog, kicked and torn, lying in the gutter alone. It was a sound of betrayal and eternal agony, one that echoed long after it stopped speaking. It screamed in his mind, wiping out all happy thoughts in it's flood of sorrow.
It stayed, even when he fell to the ground, wishing the disease would take him too.