Memoir
Summary: Sequel to "Forgotten." "Time really does change everything, doesn't it? Hard to believe I'm the same person." Hiei/OC
Author's notes: Wow, over 200 reviews. Thanks, folks. Anywho, to all of you who have been waiting for a longer chapter, this is it. The next one won't be this long, so don't get used to it. Well, that's really about all I have to say. I hope you guys like the chapter, and thanks again for the reviews.
Special thanks to my beta reader Moojuice Nne.
Italics indicates memories and dreams.
Chapter Nineteen: Lighthouse
His return to Makai had hardly been enjoyable: the Forbidden Child hadn't exactly been popular before, but, with Mukuro dead, it seemed even more of his fellow yokai harboured a fear of him.
Not that that upset him much—he preferred to be left unbothered.
Still, part of him missed having another living being around.
He found the other man midway through a fight. The other was skilled; even Hiei was mildly impressed. So he asked the other to join with him—after all, Hiei would eventually, he supposed, return to the human world; he'd need someone strong to watch over his territory while he was gone.
The other quickly agreed.
The other was Sangre.
They were never close, per say, in the way that friends—or even master and teacher—tend to be. But they were quite alike. Both quiet. Both cold.
Both vampiric.
Vampirism was common among Sangre's race, and Hiei's species was such a rarity in and of itself that who's to say his need for blood was abnormal.
But it was frightening.
Particularly to those who served the two yokai.
Yet, for all their similarities, the two of them had one distinct difference.
Honour.
Several times it came up and caused friction between the two of them, but they typically reached an agreement.
The last time, though….
The last time was different.
It was nearing dawn when Sangre returned to the fortress.
Hiei waited for him at the door.
"What were you doing?" Hiei said.
Sangre shrugged. "Does it matter?"
"Answer me."
"You're acting like you don't already know."
"You're right. I already know what you were doing."
"Then why ask?"
"You've already fed. Why seek more blood?"
Sangre glared at Hiei. "I don't see what the problem is. You feed on blood, too."
"Yes, but only when I need it. I don't kill unnecessarily."
"Which is a shame. With the extra powers you'd gain, you could be great. Greater than you are now."
"Innocent people don't deserve to be murdered. For any reason."
"I thought you were an assassin."
"I was. Was. Not anymore."
"You can't really believe that crap about sparing lives."
"I do."
"Well, then I suppose that makes you a fool."
"Not so much of one as you."
"I don't have to take this from you! I can leave—I can survive on my own; grow stronger."
"Yes, you can do that."
Sangre began to walk away, but Hiei stopped him.
"But I have to warn you—once you're outside my territory, you'll be my enemy. And my enemies don't tend to live very long."
Sangre stepped towards Hiei; their faces were mere inches apart.
The former partners studied each other momentarily. After a time, Sangre spoke.
"You'll regret this. I'll make you regret it."
"Ah, someone's coming already," Sangre smiled, running one hand down the side of Akiko's face. "What do you think of that, dear? Maybe I should drain you completely now. Make them think they were too late."
Akiko didn't respond. She had been Sangre's prisoner for two hours, and her captor had spent most of that time slicing open various parts of her body with his claws and allowing her to bleed so that he could feed on her.
Sangre's eyes narrowed at her silence. "Maybe you'd prefer them to watch you suffer."
Voices were heard from a distance.
"Best not to wait around for them," Sangre muttered to himself. He cut open his own hand, allowing drops of blood to fall onto the earth. The droplets of blood expanded and became the red and black yokai that had ambushed the Reikai tentai since they had first left Hiei's territory. Sangre then hoisted Akiko off the ground and shot off with her faster than could be seen.
"Damn it, how do we keep missing him?" Yusuke snarled, blasting his way though two of the red and black yokai.
No one answered him—the other three tentai were each occupied with their own slew of attackers.
Hiei sliced his way through the last of his assailants and raced off, following the now strong scent of Akiko's blood.
"Hey! Where the hell d'you think you're going without us?" Kuwabara called after the yokai. But it was no use—Hiei was already well out of the reach of Kuwabara's voice and gaining on Sangre.
Sangre awaited his former ally in the middle of a grassy valley just outside of the forest the tentai had traveled though. When he saw the fury on Hiei's face when the fire yokai arrived, Sangre felt a victorious smile tugging at his lips.
The two exchanged looks of intense loathing for a few moments before either spoke.
"Where is she?" Hiei demanded.
"Your manners have scarcely improved," Sangre acknowledged.
"Don't bullshit me, Sangre. What have you done with her? Where is she?"
"You shouldn't worry. She's alive and safe, more or less. For the moment, anyway."
Hiei made as though to come at Sangre, but Sangre's next words stopped him.
"You won't fight me. If you don't want me to have her killed now, you won't fight me."
Red and black yokai milled around Akiko, waiting for orders from their creator.
Akiko ran one hand along the scars that had begun to form on her arm. She was desperate.
She had to get away—with or without help.
There were eight or nine of the yokai scattered through the clearing Sangre had left her in.
No way she could fight that many….
She'd have to outthink them.
One of the yokai sliced off the head of one of his fellows and was then swiftly cut down by the remaining seven.
…It might be more difficult to get away from them than she'd expected.
Akiko slowly raised herself off the ground, wincing at the sting the stress caused on her scars.
"What're you doing?" one of the yokai hissed at her.
Two of the beasts approached her; Akiko took a few tentative steps back.
And collapsed into a heap on the grass.
"Leave her," one of the yokai ordered as the two nearest the girl made as though to lift her off the ground. "She's not a threat.
The two yokai left her limp form on the ground and joined the other five yokai at the far end of the clearing.
When the yokai's footsteps died away, Akiko slid open one eye. None of the yokai were watching her. She opened both eyes and pulled herself up into a crouching position.
They still weren't paying attention to her.
If she could stand without them noticing….
She did.
None of them were watching… maybe she could get past the trees.
She began backing towards the edge of the clearing, away from the group of yokai.
No one stopped her; she edged farther away—all the way to the cover of the trees. But it wasn't quite safe for her yet—she kept going, seeking her companions; it must've been them that Sangre had sensed coming for her. If she could find them, then she'd be safe.
Voiced alerted her that her absence had, indeed, been noticed.
"What the—where is she?"
Akiko, forgetting any form of plan she might have created and whatever pain she felt, started sprinting away desperately.
The voices of the yokai rose angrily, but none of them seemed to be coming any closer.
"Split up and look for her, damnit!" one of them yelled.
Akiko ran faster.
"Why should we do what you say? You're not in charge!"
Once again, the voices behind Akiko rose angrily. She thought of the two yokai that had already been killed.
The scene in the clearing was probably relatively bloody by now, if the yokai's previous display of irrational temper was any indication.
Once she believed herself to be safe, she slid into a sitting position, gasping for breath.
She could no longer hear the sounds of battle behind her, but she was almost certain that there was still one going on somewhere in the forest. Surely Hiei and the others had come across Sangre by now….
'They need to know I'm alright," Akiko thought desperately.
A surprised sounding voice echoed in her head in answer, sending her into a slight panic.
"Akiko? Is that you?"
Much as Hiei hated to admit it, Sangre was right—Hiei didn't dare attack as long as Akiko was at Sangre's mercy. And Sangre wasn't one not to pass his advantage. It seemed a bad situation indeed.
Until Hiei heard Akiko's voice in his mind.
"They need to know I'm alright."
Hiei hoped his face didn't reveal his shock at hearing Akiko's voice in his head. 'Akiko? Is that you?'
Akiko's astonished voice sounded once again. "Hiei? What—how—I mean—what're you doing in my head? Oh, God, this is weird. What's going--?"
'Later,' Hiei snapped. 'Are you all right?'
Still sounding confused, Akiko responded, "Well, I've been better, but I think I'm okay. I got away from the guards; I'm looking for all of you—where are you?"
'Somewhere you should stay away from. Just stay where you are for as long as you can—unless you see one of those yokai coming for you, don't move. Kurama and the others should be able to find you before too long."
"But—"
'Don't argue.'
"Fine, fine; I'll wait here," Akiko's voice answered reproachfully.
And the connection was broken.
"That's just like him to run off without us like that," Kuwabara mumbled as he, Yusuke and Kurama trekked through the woods in search of Sangre and Akiko.
"Yeah, well it's not like we couldn't have beaten those guys back there without him," Yusuke responded. "Besides, I think saving Akiko is probably a bigger deal to him that the rest of us. Definitely bigger than he lets on."
"Well, then I guess he'll be really pissed off when he finds out about this," said Kuwabara, smirking.
Yusuke blinked. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Well, I'm just saying he'll be mad when he finds out that we saved Akiko."
"What do you mean?" Kurama asked.
In response, Kuwabara pointed to a small silhouette curled up by the base of a tree.
"Is that—" Yusuke began.
Kurama answered him. "I think it is. Kuwabara must've sensed her energy signal."
"What can I say? I'm good."
The three young men raced over to the girl under the tree.
"Hey. Hey!" Kuwabara called.
Akiko's head snapped up, and a look of relief spread across her face.
When Kurama reached her, he helped lift her off the ground, surveying her scars. "You'll need some healing up. But there's no time for that right now. Come on, we've got to find Hiei and Sangre."
"You really have become weak," Sangre mocked, drawing a sword and circling Hiei. "Not even able to take a stab at me.
"So much has changed since the last time we fought each other. Do you remember that, Hiei?"
Hiei narrowed his eyes. "I remember your bloodlust. It'll be the end of you; you know that."
Sangre gave a mirthless laugh. "Call it what you want. I have to wonder," Sangre smirked, "why you didn't become a vampire like I did. It would've increased your strength ten fold. Even just that one human could do so much for you."
"There's so much that you just don't understand, Sangre," Hiei said, drawing his sword.
"Whatever you say," Sangre shrugged, falling into battle stance.
Sangre flung himself at Hiei, aiming for the fire yokai's heart; Hiei easily blocked the stroke. Sangre attempted to strike the other yokai once more, but was blocked yet again.
"Fight back," Sangre hissed, taking another swing at Hiei. "Fight me, damn you!"
Hiei dodged each stroke, and Sangre grew more and more furious. His blows went wide; Hiei easily parried the frenzied yokai's bombardments.
"I swear, I'll kill you," Sangre threatened.
Wordlessly, Hiei swung his katana upwards and pierced through Sangre's throat. Blood flooded from the wound and dribbled down the blade—Sangre's eyes widened in shock. When Hiei removed the sword, the vampire fell to his knees.
"There are things more important than power," Hiei said, glaring at the dying yokai. "That's something you were never able to understand."
Sangre's black eyes glowered at Hiei even as the yokai fell forward, muttering a faint, "Nothing's more important," before he landed face first on the ground and died.
"Hey… hey Akiko! Guys, something's wrong!"
Kuwabara caught Akiko as she fell into a faint.
Kurama and Yusuke ran to them.
"I think she's fine," Kurama said, after a moment's examination. "Just unconscious. She needs some rest."
"Who wouldn't after all this?" Yusuke questioned sardonically.
She saw Paciencia taking Itaka's hand; the angel was leading him out of the playground and into a tunnel of light.
At the gates, the little boy turned to face Akiko and, smiling, whispered a final message to her.
"Thank you."
Author's notes: Yeah. That's it for chapter nineteen. Chapter twenty is currently being beta read by my good friend Moojuice Nne. Kudos to her! Well, we're almost done here—only two chapters left! I hope you guys keep on reading. And, as always, please review!