Hey y'all, here's your new chapter! I am proud to present a Hiei/Reiko moment! Yea!
Gothic-ember- glad you liked it!
Reiocu- I forgive you but please keep it up with the updates I like to know if people like what I'm writing
xXDaRkNeSs RoSeInEsSxX - I hope you continue to read into this and enjoy!
Standard disclaimers apply
Chapter Seventeen
(Hiei)
It was several weeks later and Reiko was still having frequent panic attacks, refusing to talk to anyone and not eating properly. Genkai was incensed with her because she had withdrawn from any form of contact and her wounds were not showing any sign of really healing. Yukina was almost positive that Reiko wasn't getting better because she was there and I was just sick of having to deal with all these emotional females. Day in and day out all that Reiko would do was stare at a spot on the wall or sleep and when she slept she would wake up drenched in sweat from nightmares.
Right now it was about midnight and I was wandering around the house sick of being confined to Reiko's room while she just slept. It had rained yesterday so everything was wet outside and it seemed to glimmer in the light of the full moon. Hearing a noise from Yukina's room I slipped in to find her tossing and turning in her sleep. Placing my hand on her forehead I entered her thoughts and found she was dreaming about what that scumbag had done to her when he had locked her up. Deftly I conjured an image of myself and had it stop them and take her away without killing anyone because I knew how much she hated death.
Pulling out I found her smiling slightly as she relaxed and went on to more peaceful dreams. Exiting the room I headed for Reiko's quarters to make sure she wasn't trying to off herself or something. When I entered her room I found her standing in front of the biggest window in her chamber looking out at the night. She was wearing a pair of baggy black sweatpants and a large black zip-up hooded sweatshirt that at certain angles made her appear like she was (rail thin) or made her look chubby. Her right hand was pressed against the glass making the fact that her middle finger was crooked more visible. Sighing softly she turned around and came face to face with me.
"Why are you out of bed?" I growled I was getting sick of Genkai yelling at me for her wounds not healing fast enough. It only took me a moment to recognize her deer in the headlights look. Her eyes widened and she took a step back so the small of her back hit the sill of the window. Fear flashed through her eyes as her breath hitched and she began the all too familiar cycle of a panic attack. Her whole body trembled and I could see her pulse fluttering at, at least twice its normal speed on the column of her throat. Irritation mixed with sympathy and pity filled me as she began to hyperventilate and sweat beaded on her forehead.
I had two options; I could deal with this myself or go and get Genkai. Dealing with it myself was a daunting thing because I'd probably end up throttling her due to her reaction to me. If I got Genkai, Reiko would never learn to trust me or figure out at least I wasn't going to kill her for being out of bed. Deciding on the first choice I pulled a brown paper bag from the back pocket of my pants, I kept one on hand incase something like this happened. With practiced ease I grabbed her shoulder and pressed her down into a sitting position and pushed her head down in-between her legs. With a snap I opened the lunch bag and clamped it over her mouth and nose.
Anticipating her next move, which would be to rip the bag away, I intercepted her hands and grabbed both of her wrists in one hand. Immediately she started struggling and whimpering, which informed me that I was scaring her shitless. Releasing her hands I was instantly hit with a closed fist and then an open hand. Gritting my teeth I concentrated on making sure the bag remained over her airways so her breathing would slow down. Much to my surprise I noticed she was breathing more regularly than before but the downside was she was hitting harder. One of her fists glanced off my Jagan eye and I fell to the floor gasping in pain as I was momentarily incapacitated.
"How…dare…you!" she huffed out trying to catch her breath. Lying there I ticked off the many different ways I could kill her right here and now. I could suffocate her with her pillow, choke her to death, break her neck, bash her head in, fry her or rip her heart out.
"If you applied as much energy to overcoming your fears as you did to bludgeoning me to death you'd be cured," I commented sarcastically.
"It's not like they're rational!" she snapped and I glanced at her to see her usually lifeless eyes were blazing with anger. "If it were up to me and I had the necessary tools I'd-"
"What? Kill me?" I demanded and watched her flush a deeper shade of red in her anger. "I'm your 'protector.' I'm the only thing that's keeping the bad guys off your skinny little ass."
"I never asked for a protector," she hissed shoving her glasses further up on her nose.
"Do you think I want to waste my time on a spoiled little princess?" I raised an eyebrow at her as I sat up.
"I am not a spoiled little princess, if I was I'd have guards who'd execute you for touching me," she replied glaring at me.
"I think your head isn't screwed on right," I informed her.
"I think-" she began
"For once," I interrupted. "Now shut up and go to bed." I stood and watched her fight to get up and go over to her bed. I knew she was still injured and that she hurt a lot so I picked her up and brought her over to the bed and set her down. "Think about this question tonight and every other night and day of your life: Do you want them to win? Because if you keep letting what they did to you control you then they have won."
(time elapse)
The next day she was back to silence but there was something different about her, in the way she held herself and she seemed to actually be in the same reality of everyone else. Instead of pushing at her food she ate most of what was given to her, she picked up one of the books that Yukina and Keiko had brought her and read through it lingering over certain parts. She still had panic attacks but not as many and none of them were sparked by me to my surprise. At times when I walked into the room all she noticed was that I was a guy she would flinch but then pull her self back together. It was rather amazing that just yelling at her had elicited such a drastic change. If all she needed was a challenge to focus on that wasn't hard to do, to give her.
Something that was very new was that at random moments she would cry out and grab her head muttering in an unknown language. Genkai told me that she believed them to be Reiko remembering things from her time at the Palace of the Doomed and trying to cope with them. During those spaces of time where she was fighting with herself she would shed many tears and rock back and forth. Nothing could pull her from these periods of reverie as her past was flaunted to her behind her closed lids. Most nights I would find her sitting at the window staring outside as if she was trying to escape from both her dreams and the house. It was easy to understand why she would be getting cagey she had been in this place for a little over a month and a half and had yet to breathe fresh air. She might not be locked in a pit filled with slime and bugs but she was still confined to about two rooms; it was only one step up on the ladder.
Entering her room I walked over to her, she was reading a ningen book with her glasses pushed up on top of her head. Without bothering to warn her I snatched the book away and placed it on the floor in such a way that she wouldn't lose her place. For a minute or two Reiko sat there with a hand splayed over the base of her throat trying to keep her breathing normal. When she was done and about to open her mouth to say something I threw the jacket I had been holding into her face. Instantly she ripped it off her face and looked at it and then at me her eyes full of questions.
"Put it on," I commanded and watched her shrug her shoulders and slip it on. It was a little baggy on her but that was to be expected, she was a stick and it was Shizuru's. With ease I picked her up and she squeaked before wrapping her arms around me in a death lock and going as stiff as a board.
"Would you mind not trying to choke the life out of me? I'm not going to drop you but if you continue to cut off my air passage I'll collapse and take you with me." Quite quickly her grip loosened but she still remained tense and her back ramrod straight, it was an improvement so I didn't complain.
"Where are we going?" Reiko whispered and I glanced down at her face to find her extremely expressive eyes wide with not really fear but edginess and nervousness.
"Where do you think?" I answered her question with a question to try and get her to not be so anxious.
"I don't know." She relaxed her body and buried her face in the crook of my neck, for some reason this action caused something in me to melt a little. She was so helpless and there was really nothing she could do about it. Coming to the door I opened it and stepped outside into the fresh early summer air. A light breeze was blowing, it teased our hair and caressed our faces. Carefully I set her down on the soft green grass and stepped back to observe her reaction.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head back exposing her throat as she absorbed the feeling of being outside. Inhaling deeply she took in a lungful of the pure untainted air and savored it. The sun lit up her skin revealing how pale it was making her look wraith like almost. Birds sang as the wind whispered and the foliage swayed gently in rhythm with it all. A new sound blended with it, the sound of Reiko's laughter. It was deep and throaty, it relayed the intense joy she was feeling just sitting in the sun for the first time in almost six months.
"As the third sun sets and the first moon rises,
Understanding comes with it.
The trees and wind whisper:
To know our secrets is to know you,
Until you accept every part of your being,
You cannot truly comprehend.
Open your heart and soul,
Believe in love and have hope.
Once you can do this,
You hold the key of happiness." She then opened her eyes and smiled at me this soft, small smile as thanks for taking her out here as she continued to hum the tune. When she was done she turned back to me her eyes glittering with tears of happiness. Slowly she lifted her arm up and held her hand out to me.
"Hmm?" I raised an eyebrow as I took her hand.
"Can you do me a favor?" she asked her voice barely above a murmur.
"What?" I tightened my grip on her hand as I prepared to pull her up into a standing position.
"I want to stand up and twirl around but I don't want to damage my feet any more then they already are, could you…" she blushed bright red from what I guessed was embarrassment. "I feel so stupid…could you…spin me around?" She ducked her head immediately as I tried to comprehend what she wanted, she wanted me to pick her up and spin her around. Why the hell would she want that? "Never mind, it was a stupid request…" Even though she said that I could tell she really wanted to be whirled around.
Without much effort I pulled her up and contemplated how to do this, the best hold would be to wrap my arms around her right under her armpits. Then I would lean back slightly and rotate very fast. In one smooth movement I positioned my arms in the aforementioned position and began spinning around. There was one breathless moment when I thought she might panic but instead she grabbed on to me and laughed for the second time that day. Happiness made her glow and she seemed content, almost normal.
I hope you enjoyed and please read and review!
