Here you go...next chapter. Just to let you all know this one is dealing with Reiko and how she's faring and how she's getting through her issues and healing. Of course Hiei is very important in this. Oh and by the way...

I'M ON VACATION! LOT'S OF WRITING TIME!(for a week)

xXDaRkNeSs RoSeInEsSxX - here's the update...hope you like

Crazedcandie- I forgive you, but you better keep on reviewing! I'm glad you like how Reiko is doing, I try to keep her on her toes...hee hee

Gothic-ember- I'm glad you thought it was kawaii, that's what I was aiming for. I looooved the end! I had so much fun writing that!

Chapter Eighteen

(Reiko)

"Reiko!" Looking up from my book I found Yukina and Shizuru standing in the doorway of my room a wheelchair in tow. "We're going to take you to the mall so you can get some new clothes."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" I motioned to my baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants, they were old and well worn but they were comfy.

"You look like a bag lady," Shizuru told me, honest to the bone.

"It'll be fun!" Yukina beamed at me and I got the feeling that this had been her idea all along, down to the wheelchair.

"I need my wallet," I stated swinging my legs over the side of the bed. "I won't let you guys pay for everything."

"Got it," Yukina sang holding it up. "I knew you'd want it." Nodding slowly I waited for them to wheel my ride over so I could get into it. I didn't particularly enjoy the idea of being dependent on these two for the rest of the day but I guess I would have to deal with it. I was still not supposed to walk around a lot because my feet and the rest of me was still getting better. Genkai and Yukina, three times a week would force their healing powers on my body. It was exhausting to them and me; my body didn't want to heal so healing was draining work even if they did most of the work.

"Ok Hiei, come and get her!" Shizuru smiled at the look of confusion on my face, "There's no way we could haul your butt down all those stairs in a wheelchair, that's why we've enlisted Hiei." Hiei came in my jacket in hand just like he always did when he was coming in to take me out for our time outside. Silently I slipped into the light coat and held my arms out knowing what was going to happen next. Carefully and effortlessly my protector lifted me up and headed out of the house. Once I was safely in the back if Shizuru's car and buckled in Hiei closed the door and was about to leave Shizuru spoke up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hiei looked at her quizzically, "You are the girl's protector, therefore you have to go everywhere with her. Get in the car." Rolling his eyes Hiei got into the car taking the seat next to me in the back. Yukina and Shizuru were sitting in the front; they turned on music and commenced planning where they were going to take us. About twenty minutes later I was taken out of the car, placed in my wheelchair and pushed into the mall. It was exactly ten when we went through the doors. Instantly they zeroed in on one of the biggest department stores in the place.

"What size are you Reiko?" Yukina asked as she checked out the size on a cutsy little top.

"Umm, Hiei, can you check the tag on my sweatshirt?" I obligingly bent my head forward so he could have access to it.

"We don't want that!" Shizuru broke in. "That thing is obviously waaay too big, try for a size two maybe."

"Actually if you want it to fit halfway decently you'd want to get a size zero," I told them smiling sweetly.

"Thank you!" Yukina then began pulling things off the rack left and right along with Shizuru. Long sleeved, short sleeved, no sleeved, pants, skirts, shorts and skorts all were piled on me. Never did they ask me what I thought, they asked Hiei, the saleslady and each other but never me. Finally we reached the dressing rooms and I had tons of clothes to try on and it was decided that both of them would help me switch around the outfits.

"What do you want to try on first?" Yukina questioned.

"I don't even know what you picked out!" I exclaimed eyeing the pile.

"Well than how about this one?" I was presented with a pair of ripped blue jeans, a red tube top and a thick brown belt with a metal butterfly buckle.

"Or this one!" A frilly pink dress was held up a pair of heels included.

"That one!" I pointed to the jeans even though I didn't want anything that showed my scars it was much better than the dress. There was no way I was getting a dress and skirts were completely out of the picture. A small struggle ensued as they got me out of the clothes I was wearing and into the new outfit.

"What do you think?" Shizuru demanded and I could tell from her possessive tone that she had picked it out. The shirt clung to my small frame accenting what little curves I had and the jeans were the same way, it looked nice but it showed a lot of my scars. Opening my mouth to tell them that I didn't quite know, Shizuru cut me off by throwing open the door and yelling for Hiei to: "Shag your duff over here!" He walked in a bored look on his face.

"Are you done yet?" He demanded before I was toted out for his inspection.

"Do you like it?" Yukina asked and he scrutinized me carefully from head to toe taking in how I looked.

"It needs a good pair of shoes but other than that it's fine." He then walked out and I felt as if I had been betrayed, was he in on this? Was he having fun watching me be dressed up and displayed like a Barbie? Life was so unfair! I had no allies!

One and a Half Hours and 300 Dollars Later

Hiei had been sent to the car with all the clothes from that store while they ushered me into another clothes store because now they knew what my taste was. They knew I didn't want any skirts; I didn't want any heels, no short shorts and no make-up. I don't know if they were ignoring me or were just deaf but they didn't listen to my opinions on colors. It might have to do with the fact that I preferred dark colors like black and they were picking up things like pink, light blue, pastel greens and crap like that. I tried to explain to them that I utterly detested any type of pastel but yet again they ignored me. By the time Hiei had arrived I was being crammed into outfit after outfit and paraded before the saleslady and half the store. Everything I said yes to they said no and vice versa, it sucked.

In that store I burned about two hundred bucks before being moved on to a cheesy accessory store. Bracelets, necklaces, earrings, ear cuffs and rings were what we bought, I liked the ear cuffs and they actually allowed me to spend my money the way I wanted to, sort of. Next I was dragged to a shoe store where we bought a pair of comfortable sneakers, clogs and boots, no heels. Hiei had to make multiple trips to the car so we weren't too weighed down.

At two o-clock Shizuru bought us lunch at a nice American style sit down restaurant. Hiei had a steak with mashed potatoes, a beer (which Shizuru had to order because the waiter didn't think he was old enough) and some beans, which he didn't eat; Yukina had the salad bar with a milkshake; Shizuru had a seafood platter with a soda and I had the chicken finger platter with an extra order of French fries. Shizuru and Yukina talked to me and tried to get me to talk but I was exhausted from being carted from one store to the next. Being surrounded by so many people was starting to wear on me and I was having trouble concentrating on anything.

"What's wrong?" Hiei asked and I looked at him startled at the fact that he understood what was going on.

"It's just so crowded." I shrugged and smiled at him weakly before turning to my half-empty plate and began to push around my leftover food.

"Reiko and I are going outside for a breath of fresh air," Hiei informed Shizuru and Yukina before he stood up and drained his beer. Setting down my fork I pulled the lever that released the brake and Hiei navigated me outside into the parking lot where I could away from it all. Once outside I was given reign of my chair so I wheeled over to a secluded spot where there was a bench for Hiei to sit on.

"Thank you so much," I breathed out massaging my head. "It was getting to be too much."

"Don't worry about it." Hiei sat down on the bench and we stayed there in a companionable silence but all that was in me tainted it. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted to tell someone but no one would understand. A few times I opened my mouth to say something but it never came out. All too soon he stood up and I followed him back to the restaurant where we met back up with the other two.

"What do you want to do now? There's a good bookstore just over there," Shizuru suggested pointing at it and I agreed. I needed to catch up on my reading. A little while later we left and went back to Genkai's where I retreated to my bed and curled up under my covers. I needed sleep; I needed to recuperate from crawling out of my safety boundaries. No one bothered me and I slipped into a deep sleep.


"Mommy?" I walked into the house, it was to quiet, someone should be home. Pulling off my coat I ventured further into the house looking for any signs of my mother or father. Alcohol bottle littered the floor from last night's drinking binge, the one that had given me my black eye. The clock in the hall was ticking loudly, much too loudly. Something was wrong. Then it hit me.

The stench of blood.

It invaded all of my senses working deep to implant itself in my memory. Turning the corner I found myself in the doorway of the kitchen my parents corpses in front of me. Brains and blood painted the room interesting colors. Bile rose up and I hit the ground and puked up my lunch.

My stomach heaved as I brought up what little I had eaten before my drinking binge to try and rid myself of the memories. It never worked. Never. I was the best in my class at everything. Math, drinking, English, getting bloodied up, history, carving up my body and the list went on. Aki and Akio were worse then my parents. I wasn't theirs so why would they care about me? Nothing I did was good enough.

"You are nothing!" It was Hiroshi, his grey eyes blazed at me as he advanced toward me. I couldn't let him hurt me and my baby. Groping around me for anything to protect myself my hands landed on the knife on the counter behind me. As he raised his fist to strike me I reacted burying the knife deep in his heart.

"Momma!" Jomei screamed I could barely see him in the water.

"Hold on!" I flung myself into the fast river and swam hard for my son, my only reason for living. I reached him easily and caught hold of him. Someone was at the edge of the river reaching out for me. I handed them Jomei but as I grasped for their hand I missed and was swept away over the waterfall to my death.

I was covered in bugs; they were crawling all over me. Slipping into every pore. Climbing down my throat. Under my skin. Screams were ripped from me. Glass shoved into my feet. Snapping bones. Fists connecting with flesh. The crack of a whip. Poisons searing through me. I was suffocating on bugs. Biting me. Eating me alive.

"HIEI!" I yelled jerking up and frantically scraping at the bugs creeping over my body. They had infested my bed. No where was safe. Coughing hard I tried to expel them from me. Ripping at my skin I struggled to get them out of me. "GET THEM OFF!"

"Reiko! Reiko, stop!" Someone was trying to stop me. They were holding me down. Inhaling sharply I caught the scent of Hiei. It was my protector. He would save me.

"They're all over me! Get them off!" I fought to regain possession of my arms so I could rid myself of these horrible things.

"Do you trust me?" He asked and I nodded squirming due to the bugs all over me. I was lifted and carried over somewhere. Hiei set me down and pulled off my t-shirt that was crawling with the nasty critters. Strong confident hands brushed the insects off of me and untangled them from my hair. A new fresh shirt was pulled on over my head to cover me up while my tainted pants were taken off and then the remaining bugs were removed. Hiei helped me into a new pair of pj bottoms and then lifted me up to take me back to my bed.

"I don't want to go back to bed," I whimpered burrowing closer to him. "I can't escape them when I'm asleep!"

"You can't escape what?" Hiei asked stopping.

"The memories."


There ya go! You all better update! I might be mean and not post if I don't get five reviews! You never know so ya'll better review! beware of my insanity!