Okay sorry this hasn't been updated in a bit but one of my best buddies got back from China. Yay! She's home from her roots. She taught me something that means, "I want your tofu," But it's sexual innuendo for I want to molest you-bwhahahahahahahaha...oh we're weird kids.
Yosh new revised version!
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EPISODE FOURTEEN: HIEI'S STORY
As Kuwabara, Kurama, and Yusuke walked on, the newly freed human was beginning to feel the toll of all the stress that had been laid upon him. At one point he just sort of slowed and sagged down, dragging his feet behind him looking weaker and more tired with each step. Kurama had grown a plant that would heal his arm up, but Kuwabara would still have that wound until the next day. But Kuwabara still felt weak…and he continued to walk slower, and slower, until he just full out collapsed, Yusuke catching him before Kuwabara's face could say hello to the mud. Kurama checked Kuwabara's pulse, and checked his eyes, and his chest and rib cage looking for any sort of damage. Kuwabara tried to say he was fine but wound up just letting out weak tired little mumbles that scared his two friends more. Kurama determined that Kuwabara was malnourished, and dehydrated. Batto had not been eating or drinking, or when he did it was not enough to keep Kuwabara's body healthy.
Kurama and Yusuke helped Kuwabara up, and half dragged him back to where they had made camp. Kuwabara's head lazily lifted up when her heard two soft gasps. He looked up seeing his mom and Dad standing there in awe looking at their son as if he was a vision.
With what little strength he had left, Kuwabara forced himself to walk over to them, and half collapsed on his father, his arms wrapped around him.
"Dad! Oh Dad…" Kuwabara gasped out hunger, thirst, and exhaustion forgotten for the moment.
Kazuma and Kari embraced there son, who smiled, and faded away into sleep, as Kari wept over him, and kissed his brow. Kuwabara was finally free, the hardest part, escaping from Sage, was over. Now they just had to kill Sage, and that seemed like a most enjoyable task.
Meanwhile…
Hiei grunted with pain as he tired to stand, but Mukuro was at his side in an instant, coolly ordering, "Don't move dumb ass."
Hiei glared at her, and flatly asked, "What are you doing here?"
Mukuro went back to a stew she was making, and replied, "Saving your ass apparently."
Hiei glared at her, and sighed. He loved that woman for all this. For the way that she acted, so cold and seemingly uncaring to the world, when in all reality, she saw the word for its ugliness and beauty. He let his gaze soften as he took in her form. She had followed him without question, something Hiei gladly would do for her. As he stared at her he could remember what Kuwabara had written in that letter…about him loving her. Well, Kuwabara was the psychic after all.
"Quit staring Hiei."
Hiei jumped and glared back at her, "I am not staring," he knew it was a lie, but admitting to staring could not be an option. Mukuro smiled at him, and casually tried the soup she'd been making for the past half hour. She pointed the ladle at Hiei's bandaged torso, and asked, "Care to explain that to me? And don't even think of saying it was just a scratch."
Hiei sat silently, hands gripping the covers that Mukuro had draped over his body. He thought hard about the past events, about what led him to this moment. Something in the pit of Hiei's stomach twisted as he remembered the tiny soul of Kazuma Kuwabara locked away within that jewel. And Hiei wondered if he'd let him down at all. After a moment of silence he finally said, "Kuwabara, the one I came to rescue stabbed me." Mukuro set the ladle in the stew looking at him, waiting for him to go on.
"But it wasn't Kuwabara...As I was stabbed, I saw Kuwabara's soul in a necklace. The one in Kuwabara's body called himself Batto."
Mukuro's brows lifted and she interrupted with, "Ah, Sage's son." Hiei looked at her, and she continued, knowing Hiei wanted to know more, "Sage's son was killed by a messenger of God himself, of so it's said. Batto was the one that found the gates of purgatory. He was going to search for the pure hearted human that could open the gates, when he was smote." Mukuro smiled shaking her head, "But I guess Batto's dear old father didn't want to lose his son and somehow kept his soul. It's not a hard task to do, fairly easy if you have the right things. I'm not too surprised, opening the gates was Sage's idea, Batto was too stupid to ever do anything for himself."
Hiei nodded, "But why open the gates of Purgatory, won't that kill us all? Even the ones in demon world?"
Mukuro nodded, "Yes, but at the same time, a new world, a darker world will be created. A new demon world that will overpower both the human world and Spirit world will be born from the ashes of the universe. Many demons can only dream of this, and the smarter ones have wanted the gates to be open for years, knowing that through their deaths will come a rebirth of a greater demon world."
Hiei raised his eyebrows, looking at her critically, "And you said you've thought of opening the gates?"
Mukuro smiled, "Yes, but I guess I'm not so smart as I'd like to think. I prefer living in the world I am now, rather than dying for a newer one."
Hiei smiled at her as she turned back to the stew, but then a look of panic crossed his face. "I have to tell Yusuke and Kurama not to kill Kuwabara. There is no doubt in my mind that they will try to kill him, to "free him," from this supposed, "brainwashing." But from what you've told me, that will never work. Sage will just keep putting his son's soul back inside Kuwabara's corpse, while Kuwabara deteriorates in that jewel."
Mukuro handed him a bowl of food, "Eat," she commanded.
He looked at her and though he accepted the bowl he set it aside, "Is he dead then, Kuwabara I mean…is he dead now that his soul is out of his body like that? Does that make him gone or can he still get back into his body."
Mukuro sighed, "He will need a lot of mental strength to break free from where ever he is imprisoned, but yes, his soul could return to his body. And as if he's dead…I don't really know. I believe he is technically dead, but since his body has been animated and not still, frozen from death I believe Kuwabara's soul if still strong and willing will be able to re-enter his body."
Hiei sighed, "Mental strength eh? Never mind then…There's no chance for him."
Mukuro looked at Hiei's face. Though to anyone else, it was the same passive face that he always wore, same dead monotone, same cruel jab like comment, she could see that he was truly upset.
"What about..." Hiei began, "What about a strong heart? He has that...In fact that seems to be what drives him."
Mukuro smiled, "His heart?" she looked ready to laugh, but sighed, "Maybe then...maybe with his heart he could break free from his imprisonment. If he is capable to open the gates because he's pure hearted, then maybe he's capable to break free from his imprisonment."
Hiei and Mukuro sat for a moment in silence when he reached for the bowl, but stopped before grabbing it. He turned to Mukuro, "Then couldn't he close it?" Mukuro looked at Hiei, who said again, "Then couldn't he close the gates Mukuro? If he can open them, couldn't he close them as well?"
Mukuro looked at Hiei and sighed, "Yes, but not so easily as it is to open them." She sighed, and drew closer to Hiei so that he could look her in her one perfect, eye. "Hiei, all your friend has to do is use his dimension cutting sword of this, that Jigan-to to open the gates, but to close it, he would have to sacrifice himself to Hell, and become part of the gates. That is a pain far worse than actually being in Hell, or Limbo, or any other punishment Yenma could slap on us. Becoming part of the gates, picks at your soul, as it tears at your body. Your body twists and burns away as you become a bar. Your flesh will rot and your soul will turn to dust, yet you are alive for every moment, for the rest of eternity." Mukuro sighed looking at Hiei, who seemed frozen to the very core from those words, "Pray that your friend does not open the gates, and does not figure out how to close them. Because if he is really pure hearted-"
"Then he would think nothing of throwing himself into the gates." Hiei finished.
He looked at the bowl and picked it up, the stew now cool. "I've known Kuwabara for years...even if technically I've only spent one year working beside him, it does not erase the fact that I know him. For all his stupid human faults, for his stupid frail body, I know him, and despite the bad taste it leaves in my mouth when I utter his name, I still know him. And he is one of the few people I know that would do something so foolish and filled with false bravado. I have to get to the others and warn them."
Mukuro caught his arm, "First, you have to eat, but later, as soon as you're done, I promise to help you get to your friends and tell them what you have told me, and I will tell them what I know." Hiei glared at her, but before he could speak, Mukuro placed a finger on his lips, "Hiei, I beat you in the Makai tournament, what makes you think I can't beat you now in your weakened state?" Hiei sighed, and began to eat the soup slowly. She smiled and nodded her head, and made herself her own bowl.
"This tastes terrible," Hiei muttered under his breath, receiving an eerily calm, "Fuck you," from Mukuro.
End of this chapter
that's it for now I hope you enjoyed it. Next Episode: Hiei reunites with the group, but just in time to witness...:insert something bad here: sorry can't tell you what it is!
