Disclaimer: Oh bla bla bla.

Chapter 52: Soul Talk

Now, if I remember correctly, I should get down to the heart of his brain if I make several sharp turns. But, I have already made my way through a twisty windy passageway, and I've been finding lost memories spaced out randomly along this corridor. All of them feature particularly horrible moments in my teammate's life, some too horrible to describe. But no control room! It's like Hiei has no brain and that he acts entirely without reason!

It certainly would explain a lot...

All right, maybeI am being hard on him. Just looking at his memories makes me feel a bit sorry for him, though I am by no means ready to forgive him. He just said he used me as a TOOL. Indirectly, of course, but he still implied it. And I'm so sick of analyzing this, trying to find some explanation, and have only found out that he either really meant that stuff or he is under mind control, and I really hope it's the latter, for his sake. I don't know how I'd free him if it were true. But...

If it were mind control, I would have sensed it.

But...why Hiei? He was always so nice, in his own UNIQUE way...

Oh? There's some light down there. I hurry to follow it. It reminds me of Genkai's control room.

But with her room came a nasty scary sentinel plus many birds of prey. If at all possible, I'd prefer not to go through that again. I had nightmares for weeks.

And talking about Hiei, and judging by how dank his little brain is, I'd say that his are much worse.

I'm getting closer to the light. I realize it's coming from a room up ahead. This must be what Genkai told me was a Personality Room, a.k.a. the Soul Room, Subconscious Room, or the Control Room.

I run up and peer inside. It is very small cramped, and completely blackened like my old elementary school's cafeteria hamburgers.

In the center is Hiei. That's the only thing that's glowing.Well, in a sense. Ghost Hiei. Soul Hiei. It must have taken refuge here when I knocked out his physical body. I stride right over to the center of the glowing blackness where he sits quietly. I walk up and power up my left leg. When I am two centimeters away, I shoot forward and kick him the head with all my strength. To my surprise, he hardly reacts. He just glances up at me, and I get a chill from those eyes.

"Hiei, you are such a complete and utter asshole!" I kick him again. Still no reaction.

He looks up deliberately, and I see that cold emptiness again. "I don't exist to please you. Joining Sensu was the best decision of my life."

"Hiei," I say, intensely frustrated, "You have got to snap out of it. If you are even snapped into anything. C'mon. Don't you want to see me, or Kurama, or your friend Touya, or all the rest?"

"They mean nothing to me. Get out of my head now."

"What about Yukina? Your sister? She adores you, Hiei."

He stands up, baring his teeth. "Don't talk to me about her."

"So she's your weak spot? Well, she sure ain't gonna be happy to hear about this one. Hiei, a traitor to the cause."

"SHUT UP!"

"Shut up? I don't think I want to shut up. I'm going to keep talking until you either see the light or explode."

His eye twitches a lot. He's unable to find a response.

"You've failed her, Hiei," I say bluntly. "You've let down the only one who always believed in you. Your own sister."

"She watched me fall. She didn't...she didn't care...no one did."

"So is that what this is about? Revenge? You sicken me. Are you going to keep fighting for her, or are you going to betray her like the matron of your village?" I ask. "Do you want to see her thrown off a cliff, wondering if she'll make it? Do you want to watch that like she watched you? Do you want her to hate you as you hate the world for the wrongs you have suffered? Do you want her to hate you for watching her die?"

Well, I can't tell if he's snapping, but he's not doing anything to stop it. Better keep going. It does seem to be hitting something, though. His face looks like he just chewed up an orange peel.

"Let her feel what it's like to be abandoned in a harsh desert. Let's see how long she'll last, before the inevitable death. And when she dies, it'll be all…your…fault. You'll be trapped in your last image of her--falling off of a cliff, still loving you though you watched her die..." Everyone always said I had a true storyteller's voice. I never was impressed with that quality up till now. "She wouldn't betray you. Only you, you scumbag, would do something like that."

His limbs start to shake. "Sensu opened my eyes! ALL of them." He seems to be saying it to reassure himself rather than me.

"Come back." I say, in an unmistakable imitation of Yukina's timid voice. All I have to do is imitate a little pipsqueak that's probably afraid of ants.

Hiei just shakes his head tremblingly. "No...you're all wrong.."

At this point, I aim my kick considerably lower than what I did before. His eyes widen to the size of...well, grapefruits. He stands and bends over. He shakes out of pain.

My God, it must suck to be a guy.

Then, as my last resort, I whisper, "Ice cream, Hiei. Remember the sweet snow? Remember? You can have all that AND Yukina. Come now."

Hiei looks at me in a kinder way, which is still by now means friendly and the barrier between his mind and the corruption fades. And then the soul dissipates quickly.

I guess this means he must have regained consciousness. That's good. I realize with pang that since Hiei is now back in his body, I'll get attacked momentarily. I can already sense mental defenses springing up. I need to get out now, and fast.

I leave the strange black room, and, flying upward, reenter my little encased body. I erase the bubble protecting me, and notice that Hiei is stirring slightly. Man, is he going to have a headache later or what?

I turn into a 5-inch tall girl again and run into his pocket, grabbing out the medicine bottle, my feeling of hatred returning.(God, this thing is as big as I am.) Ice cream is the only thing that Hiei really loves, and he's really cold to everyone else. Even his own sweet little sister. Even me.

I pick up the medicine bottle furiously, "accidentally" kicking and stepping on Hiei's special spot as I leave. He yells in his sleep.

I could change back, but I'd stand out too much…screw it. I guess I will anyway. Now that I have the growth serum anyway...

WAIT A SECOND! THIS BOTTLE IS EMPTY! Sure enough, I notice a crack in the side of the bottle, running down the whole perimeter. When he fell, he must have fallen on top of it and...it shattered...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…

55555555555555555

A/N SCHOOL'S OUT! REVIEW!