Arigato Gozaimasu for the reviews! I love my choice of words too! Glad you all enjoyed well here's another one! Eat up

(AN) I forgot to tell you how to pronounce Osina. 'O'... 'sin' as in a bad thing to do and 'a' sounds liku uh Hope that helped. Nomino's like Domino..with an 'N'.

Chapter 12: Confusing Mercy

Deep inside a large hut a small fire burned dimly. It provided little warmth for its occupants as they all huddled together around it. Outside a cold and bitter wind beat against the hut and the rest of the village. The wintry wind pounded hard on the walls as if testing for weaknesses. Nomino's men remained silent as they all diverted their gazes to each other and the blazing flame.

Nomino himself was siting brooding in a corner. His face wrought with anger and pain as he stared at the mangled body that lay before him. His Vacers. Somehow someone had fatally injured one and killed the other. He watched as the poor beast drew in what was most likely it's last breaths. He reached down with his pale hand and stroked the soft, blood-matted fur behind its ear.

It groaned pleading for him to end its pain. It could no longer feel anything except the heart wrenching pain of losing its mate. It whimpered loudly in hopes to be heard over the howling wind.

Nomino gritted his teeth in agony as he slowly gave into the Vacers pleas. He pulled out one of his short swords. He held the well-worn hilt firmly in his large hands. The light from the fire gleamed on its shiny surface making it look like a single beam of light.

He placed his other hand over the Vacers eyes and raised the blade up very slowly. He lowered his head said a few quick words and plunged the sword into its chest.

There was no whine, no struggle, nothing. The Vacer simply closed its eyes and died. Moments later its body began to fade away until there was nothing left save for the sword that was still imbedded in the cold wooden floor.

Nomino wiped his sword clean of the blood before placing it back in its sheath. He lifted his head up to reveal his cold blue eyes that seemed devoid of any emotion. He turned his lifeless stare on two of his men who sat a few feet behind where the Vacer had just been.

The younger one looked scared senseless as he looked up at Nomino through his ebony bangs. His bright yellow eyes filled with fear as they unwillingly locked on to Nomino's lifeless ones.

He gulped visibly as he tried to remain calm. He could feel his partners' own insecurities coming off of him in waves. Breathing heavily he opened his dry mouth to speak only to stop when Nomino waved his hand.

"I know this is not your doing Heros nor is it yours Zesto" Nomino said slowly. Zesto looked up for the first time his own gray eyes mirroring the fear in his friends' ownyellow ones.

The hut fell silent again as Nomino paused before continuing. "My Vacer did not perish because of his mortal wounds. He perished because he lost his mate, thus losing any desire to live."

The men around the fire watched intently still feeling the need to remain silent.

"Vacers do not die from mortal wounds, it's not possible. The only thing capable of killing a Vacer are the spiritual powers of a human being or a half-breed." He spat out the last words as he found the irony disgusting. His dark blue eyes no longer vacant of emotion began to overflow with an unrivaled rage.

Only one name came to mind as he stood there. Only one person could have the power to effortlessly kill a Vacer. The one person he desperately wanted and needed to fulfill his plan. The one woman that would very soon be his. He smiled evilly to himself as he imagined his life with her. He would make her pay for killing his pets by serving him. Hisyoung maiden his...

"Osina"

Osina woke with a start, her body drenched in sweat and her heart thumping against her chest. Her body was ensnared by the thick light blue quilts of her bed making it a very difficult task to get out. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply trying to calm her racing heart. She stuck her arms in front of her as she watched them shake.

She brought one unstable hand up to her forehead to check for a fever. It was the third night in a row she'd seen that face. His face. The horrible man that had taken Jinn from her more then a month ago. She remembered that night at the party like it was yesterday.

He was like some dark angel with his dark hypnotic eyes and his flawlessly tanned skin. All of that long dark hair held up in a ponytail as it's long strands cascaded down past his broad shoulders ending midway down his back.

She frowned at how quickly her mind had replicated him. It was as if he was standing right in front of her. In a sudden panic she sat up and looked around the room.

There was no one there save for herself and the birds that kept flocking around her window. With a heavy sigh she sat up and began the long process of untangling her sheets.

These nightmares needed to stop or she was going to suffer a serious case of sleep deprivation.

The sounds of forks scrapping against plates could be heard coming form the kitchen. The occasional burp or grunt made it sound like some form of strange music. The musicians were Yusuke and Kuwabara who were slopping the food into their mouths at the kitchen table.They had woken up bright and early hoping to find more toast but ended up with nothing. So they improvised a.k.a. made Kurama cook breakfast.

Across from them sat a very disgusted Kurama. No matter how many times he'd seen the boys 'eating' the shock never wore off. He watched as they continued to put large amounts of food into their mouths only to choke on it later.

He sighed throwing back his long red hair before standing to leave. One could only stomach their manners for so long. He halted outside the kitchen doors and placed his hands over his extremely sensative ears.

A high-pitched voice echoed off the mansion walls. Kurama winced as it continued to get louder and noticed he was not alone in his suffering.

On either side of him they stood clutching their own ears. Yusuke let out a string of profanities earning him a warning glare from Kurama as Kuwabara danced from side to side whimpering like a sick puppy.

Hiei sat quietly in his room trying his best to relax with little results. He had not left the room since his 'episode' a few days before. His inner voice was still screaming at him for that mistake but his stomach said otherwise. He turned his head towards his newly uncovered windows and watched in silence as a light blanket of snow fell to the Earth.

Without his knowing enjoying the world around him had become one of his most frequent habits. He blamed the onna for that and this strange feeling he seemed to carry around with him of late. More then anything else he felt himself growing warm just thinking about her. Not being use to the feeling he'd forced himself to stay in his room hoping it would subside.

It didn't it only grew worse with each passing day. It was this human form of his. His mind was still sharp but his heart was far to soft as was the body itself. He had not held feelings for anyone like this save for his mother and sister.

A loud screechy sound shattered his train of thought. It sounded like someone was strangling a cat near a microphone. Walking out of his room he cringed as it got louder. He traveled down stairs and followed the horrible sound. He walked all the way back to the bedrooms and found the rest of the guys looking around and holding their ears.

"What is all this racket and where is it coming from? growled Hiei in annoyance.

"We have not yet found the source Hiei" answered Kurama.

"Hey you guys I think I found the room" screamed Kuwabara as he opened the door.

Inside Botan was sitting at the end of a bed singing her heart out to some unknown song. She stopped and looked over at the boys curiously. "Is something wrong?" Her pink eyes watched them as they all fell to their knees in bliss.

"Hello, what's wrong and how dare you barge into my room without knocking!" questioned an irritated Botan.

Yusuke was the first to speak up and was anything but polite about it. "Your singing makes Kuwabara's snoring sound like a masterpiece."

"Are you kidding me Urameshi, her singing was worse then that stuff Genkai called music!" exclaimed Kuwabara.

The black haired teen nodded his head and smirked. "Yeah I guess your right, for once." The two of them were set into a fit of laughter at each other's insults.

Botan glared at them as she rolled up her sleeves until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Please don't take it personally Botan but your singing was not of the highest caliber." pleaded Kurama "As you are aware none of us are vocalist either." He smiled slightly as Botan lowered her hands to her side.

"Oh I guess your right but one of us can sing" Botan chirped as she looked down next to her on the floor. "Ashley-I mean Osina is a fantastic singer!"

All three guys stared and then slowly followed Botan's eye movements to the floor. There lay poor Osina unconscious on the floor. It didn't take them long to figure out what had happened.

The teen boys fell over laughing as Kurama shook his head in disappointment.

Hiei entered into the room to investigate why he could hear laughing all of a sudden. He stared at everyone and followed their line of site to find Osina laying in a motionless heap on the floor. A momentary feeling of dread took hold as an image of her lying in the forest came to him. He mentally shut the picture out and walked right past the cackling duo.

The vertically challenged Hiei strode past Kurama and right up to Botan as he slowly began to unsheathe his katana. Botan gulped and turned three shades whiter as he got closer. She was terrified of Hiei and he was all to aware of that fact.

He stopped directly infront of her giving her a very unfriendly gaze. He placed his katana back in it's sheathe and knelt down beside Osina's fallen form.

The poor girl lay in a mangled heap with swirls for eyes. Her arms and legs were layed about at odd angles and her hair could be compared to a ragmop. She was just unconcious. Hiei released the breath he had been holding and closed his eyes.

His next actions would come back to haunt him later. Had he known he might have thought twice before scooping up Osina's small body and carrying her out of the room.

All they could do was stare as they watched Hiei do the most un-Hiei thing imaginable. Their confused stares looked to one another for an explanation but even Kurama was speechless.

Slowly but surely Hiei trudged along. He wanted to kick himself repeatedly for what he had just done. His image was shattered and now he would never get a moments peace from them all. The frustration eventually subsided leaving him feeling a little empty. Determined not too look at the woman in his arms he kept his head high and continued walking.

Osina's room was less then a minute away and then he would be free. He was still mentally kicking himself and barely noticed her begining to stir. Bright red eyes watched as she moved a little and yawned, completely unware that she was being carried.

Her eyes fluttered slightly as they tried to adjust to the light. She sighed and snuggled up to whatever was so warm. She didn't remember her pillow ever smelling so nice before. She buried her face into it inhaling the intoxicating scent. Funny, it almost smelled like Hiei. She shurged and continued her aroma therapy and giggled, she felt like a little tipsy.

Hiei stopped dead when she began cuddling him. It took all of his will power to not drop her like a rock. The worst part was a small piece of him found it agreeable, very agreeable. Enogh so that he contemplated going to his own room.

Hiei's eye twitched violently as he realized what he had just been thinking. He needed no more persuading after that. He dropped her and ran off as fast as he could down the hallway.

"Ah" cried Osina as she hit the floor hard. "Wha...What hapened? Am I dead?" She sat up slowly and looked around for any signs of life. All she found was a small piece of her red blood-stained kimono.

"I thought I burned these." She stood up pocketed the fabric and finished the walk to her room feeling strangely cold. "I guess I was sleep walking."

Hiei stayed hidden in the shadows breathing hard from his sprint as he watched her go inside her room. He cursed under his breath when she found the small cloth. He silently pleaded that she wouldn't trace it back to him as he sneaked off to his room for an extended stay.

Tada! Fin! I got this one out in decent time, go me! As always a review for reading