Chapter Three: Nightly Visitor
By Sha / #29 (Wednesday, May 18, 2005)
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It had only been a few days since Hiei had arrived in the feline-infested village... He was staying in a tent that the village elder (he had also learned that Taiki was the village elder, not to his surprise...) had some strong catmen built for their reluctant 'visitor'...
Hiei was really anxious to get out of the village, but had failed when he tried to run away twice... it was probably because he was still quite beat from his previous beatings before he ended up in the village that he failed to get away... He was really loathing the felines for wasting his precious time that he should be using to track down his sister and her kidnappers.
Miwa was still as annoying (actually, even more annoying, Hiei noticed) as she liked to follow him around and nag at him for giving everyone the cold shoulder... and one night he had caught her spying on him in his tent, and, of course, the following day he confronted her... and let's just say, he scared the living daylights out of her telling her to mind her own business and to leave him alone for the rest of his stay...
The poor frightened girl had began to avoid him now, which just amused Hiei, and Taiki who had noticed it, and was told what happened from Hiei.
What disgusted Hiei was that Taiki said that he thought that Miwa might've had a crush on Hiei, and admired him greatly...
Hiei didn't want anything to do with catdemons or relationships... he had had a previous 'girlfriend' (if he could call her that) who was a catdemon named Kathy (before he had his Jagan implanted)... the reason they had been together was because he saved her tail from a beating by a giant, tough Muscle-type demon... but that relationship wasn't anything important compared to his duties now.
Another annoyance was that Taiki, and his followers, were taking a pretty, darn long time to discuss what trials to put the fire demon through... Hiei had tried to listen to them a few times during their meetings, but was bored out of his mind and really ticked at how idiotic they were by going into a completely different discussion and making stupid jokes about things that had happened during their day...
Hiei finally gave up eavesdropping, and had a strong temptation to go and threaten Taiki (and his followers); telling them that either they really come up with worthy trials (which he doubted that their small brains could come up with), or just let him leave...
Hiei had also began to watch the village guards who guarded the village, so that he pretty much understood their routines, and he was hoping to come up with a brilliant plan to escape as soon as possible...
As Hiei laid in his straw mat bed in his tent; he was thinking of ways to get out of this place, and relaxing to the night sounds, as owls hooted far outside his tent, and wolves would howl once in a while beyond the village borders in the dark forests... and tonight, Hiei didn't hear any annoying villagers outside either thankfully.
Hiei amused himself by lifting his hand up in front of the candlelit lantern, and lazily moving it around to watch the shadows dancing upon the tent walls... and wondering if his sister was alright... he hoped, more then anything, that she was alright, or else he vowed that he would slaughter her kidnappers and their people, and maybe, just maybe, this entire village for getting in his way... even if it was ungrateful to the village elder and his granddaughter for taking care of him when he had been injured.
Hiei finally began to drift off to sleep; his right arm crossed over his stomach; with one knee rested up while the other hung off the side of the bed onto the dirt floor; he was breathing peacefully and softly... completely unaware of the nightly visitor right outside his tent...
The visitor silently slipped through the flapdoor, slowly making their way over to the resting demon, who looked as innocent and as helpless as a sleeping child...
The visitor, whom was completely cloaked in black, slipped a decaying, bony hand into it's other sleeve, taking a sharp-bladed dagger, resembling a razer, out; and placing it a few inches away from Hiei's pale cheek... it paused, breathing heavy; it's cold breath causing Hiei to shiver and whimper slightly as his eyelids tightened as if trying to close them deeper... then it slowly, lowered the dagger down to Hiei's neck; and was about to slit the fire demon's throat when Hiei's eyes opened suddenly, and he quickly gripped the monster's wrist, and a loud snap shot through the air as Hiei broke it, making the cloaked monster drop the blade but it had already cut into Hiei's shirt, leaving a deep cut on his shoulder that he ignored as he rose from his bed, giving his attacker the most deadiest glare.
"Who are you!" demanded Hiei in a loud whisper, as he wouldn't let go of the intruder's broken wrist... yet the cloaked monster never attempted to try and break away, nor did it even make a sound... except for it's unearthly, deep breathing; that was quickly filling the tent with a cold air; which Hiei noticed with a surprise at it.
The cloaked creature did absolutely nothing as Hiei quickly tore off it's cloak... Hiei ended up coughing as the cloak fell off, revealing some sort of dust cloud, that dissolved into a black smoke, and fled out through the flapdoor, making it wave wildly as the deathly smoke made it's way up into the night sky.
Hiei fell backwards on his bed, still coughing uncontrollably, and knocked down the lantern, which seemed to get caught on the smoke, and speaded a fire, which quickly crept up the tent wall... Hiei ran out of the tent, trying to catch fresh air before he suffocated from the thick smoke and his coughing...
Hiei's tent had been in right of the river bank that ran along the outskirts of the village, so the fire demon quickly gathered water in his palms, forcing a drink down his throat, which helped his lungs actually... then he quickly jumped back up to his feet, and turned to face the fire that was just spreading onto the elder's and his family's tent.
"NO!" Hiei sped into the tent; which already had a distinct burning smell coming from the other side of the tent where the old man, Taiki slept helplessly...
Hiei ran over, and woke up Miwa, who looked shocked and frightened to see him right now, and was about to scream when Hiei covered her mouth; as quickly as he could, he explained that a fire had started, and he needed her to wake up her mother and father right away, get out and warn the other villagers as fast as possible while he went and rescued her grandfather.
Miwa was still quite shaken as she watched Hiei dash off behind the curtain dividing the tent to where her grandfather was sound asleep, and then as it all clicked in her mind, she jumped up and got her parents up; and literally dragged them outside, where they saw the fire, and ran off to wake up their neighbors.
It didn't take long at all for the villagers to start working together to get the fire out, using pails and whatever else they could grab to get water over to the fire... while Miwa stood, outside her family's tent, completely shocked and scared about her grandfather's safety, praying that Hiei could save him before it was too late...
"Taiki!" Hiei scanned the dark, smoke-filled room, looking around the ground for his mat, where he should be sleeping... Hiei coughed; and covered up his mouth by pulling his shirt over it.
A loud and sick sounding coughing came from the other side of where Hiei stood; he turned to see Taiki trying to sit up, coughing terrible; as Hiei helped the elder up.
"I'm going to get you out of here." Hiei said, and picked the (rather heavy) old cat up; quickly carrying him through the rather huge tent as the spreading fire seem to anger and chase them along the walls, and finally Hiei and Taiki came out the other side just before the tent completely collapsed behind them.
"Grandpa!" Miwa hugged her grandfather, crying; and so did her parents; who also thanked Hiei, who stood, and just stared at the villagers putting out the fire... then he just fainted, falling on his side... and blacked out for a few hours...
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After those hours passed, Hiei woke up to find himself resting on a pallet, that felt of feathers inside; and he sat up... No one was around, but the flapdoor was pulled up with a rope to leave it open, and a soft breeze was coming in.
Hiei stood up, and realized that his cut arm was banaged up; he touched it, and flinched as it still hurt to touch.
"Rise and shine, handsome." Miwa smiled at him, carrying a basket of fruit and vegetables, setting them down on a wooden crate, as Hiei crossed his arms.
"Don't call me that." He told her coldly, and she just smiled at him... which was odd, as she should've barked back or glare and walk off.
"I'm so happy and grateful to you, Hiei." Miwa sat on the edge of the crate, with her hands holding on either side of the crate next to her.
"I did what had to be done." Hiei walked over to the open flapdoor, and sighed deeply, wishing that he could leave already.
"My grandfather is grateful, as are the whole village." Miwa jumped off the crate, and stood next to Hiei, much to his dismay.
"Hn." Hiei tilted his head, watching a few birds fly over the other tents, and land onto branches on the tree nearby.
"Well..." Miwa was still cheerful, and placed a hand on his shoulder, which he ignored. "They were so grateful that we've all decided to drop the village tradition this once, so you can go back on your mission."
Hiei looked at her, surprised, and almost smiled, but caught himself at the last minute; then just nodded.
Miwa smiled again, and walked off to the crate, sitting on it again, and taking an orange; and began to peel it.
"Hiei?" Miwa asked after a minute of silence, and Hiei looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "What... um, if I may ask... exactly is your mission?"
"..." Hiei looked stern again, and Miwa's tail dropped, as her ears lowered, waiting for him to snap at her, but he merely looked back outside.
"All I can tell you is, that it's very important to me... And you, nor your people could ever help with this, so what's the point in telling anyone?... But I am grateful to you and your grandfather for taking care of me for a while." With that, he walked off into the village, while she just stared after him, finally happy he was at least grateful to them.
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"So, this is farewell..." Taiki nodded to Hiei, as the whole village stood behind him. "We would've liked it if you had stayed for our thankyou ceremony, and dinner... but, you do have to do something far more important, so we let you go with the utmost gratitude."
Hiei nodded, and was amazed that the whole village bowed down before him, all uttering thanks to him.
"Hiei..." Miwa ran forward to stand in front of him. "Can't you stay for another night? Please?" She pleaded, but he shook his head.
"I must leave." Hiei turned, and Miwa sighed sadly.
"I wish I knew you better... We could've been great friends." Miwa said in a small and shy voice, then stood next to her grandfather, who was nodding.
"Maybe, but I doubt it." Hiei said coldly, walking off.
"Argh... what's with that guy? He's still as mean as ever!" Miwa sighed, rolling her eyes; wishing she could've been friends with him, then maybe he wouldn't be a jerk.
"Harharhah... That's the way of the warrior..." Taiki chuckled... and Miwa, and the whole village watched as the young warrior disappeared into the distant fog, knowing he would probably never return.
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To Be Continued...
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