Man, I really just love to torture Hiei don't I? I don't know why, I just always see to do it. I'm just an angst lover I guess and well, quite frankly Hiei is the angstyest character there is. Angsty…is that a word…my spell checker doesn't seem to think so. :P ON WITH THE FIC!
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Kurama lunged at the shadow, which oddly didn't move. He brought his whip down hard, intending to slice the assassin in half and end the fight quickly. A red line appeared down the very middle of the shadow's being. Then the two halves began to fall apart and promptly disappeared.
"An astro body!" he growled under his breath, whirling around and searching the surrounding trees for the real body.
"You realized it much quicker than the imiko did," the shadow's deep voice drifted over him. Kurama spun around once more, all the more infuriated by the insult to his lover's abilities of deduction. Again the whip bisected the shadow, and again the astro body vanished.
"Come out and fight me!" Kurama screamed at the sky. He didn't have time for this!
"Now, now, don't get upset," the shadow's voice came again. Another astro body was disposed of.
"I already told you they won't hurt your dear imiko…yet," the voice continued. The whip sliced through yet another astro body.
"Besides, what point is there to hurrying through this? Even if you weren't busy with me, you couldn't help the imiko."
Kurama paused in his attack on the fifth astro shadow.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked, liquid gold pools glaring coolly.
"Think about it, my dear fox," the shadow stated in its oddly conversational manner of speaking. "The Koorime homeland is very well hidden. The imiko had to have a Jagan implanted just to find it. How do you intend to get there?"
The anger left Kurama completely. How could he have overlooked something like that? Of course he had no way of finding the Koorime's island on his own. The only other option was to have someone who had been there before take him. Yukina was out of the question. Not only was she an outcast from the Koorime for leaving her home, but the fact that they had taken Hiei prisoner would surly be dangerously suspicious to her. No, she was an absolute last resort. But that only left…
"You've been to the Koorime homeland, have you not?" he questioned the shadow. Again he felt more than saw the smirk rise to the shadow's hidden face.
"Yes. I have."
Kurama contemplated his options for a moment. Asking this assassin for help, especially after he had hurt Hiei, almost made him physically sick. But on the other hand, he had to get there to help Hiei. He clenched his fists. Youko was not going to like this.
"What do you want?"
"Want? In return for what?" the shadow questioned, obviously already knowing the answer but wanting to hear Kurama say it. Kurama swallowed thickly. Youko was struggling again, a migraine pulsing against his right temple at the inner screams.
"In return for showing me the way to the Koorime homeland," Kurama forced himself to say.
"You could never give me what I want," the shadow said seriously.
"Try me," Kurama dared him, meeting his yellow eyes with a steady stare of gold that was slowly morphing once again to emerald.
"The head of the prince of Reikai," the shadow stated as if he were asking for something as innocent as a balloon animal.
"WHAT!" Kurama stared at him, completely stunned. He couldn't have hard that right. The shadow wanted Koenma's head?
"I warned you," the feeling of the shadow's smirk came again. "I'll tell you what," the shadow continued after a moment, "I'll let you think about it. When you decide who is more important—the imiko or the Reikai brat—come to the tavern in the shadow of the Akuma Mountains. Ask for Anei." And with that the shadow was gone.
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Hiei awoke before he even realized he had fallen asleep. At first he didn't know where he was, and then the horrifying details came rushing back. He wasn't sure how long he had been here. A day? More? Less? There were no windows in his cold little room and so telling time was almost impossible. They had given him food, as promised, and though it wasn't enough to completely dispel the ever-present hunger pains, but it did quell them slightly.
He sat up slowly, his back aching. He was no longer locked down to the table, but he was in shackles that only gave him enough freedom to sit up. He sighed, frustrated. If only he could reach his ki! He could summon his fire and burn his way out of here. Or he could use his Jagan to reach the fox. He liked the latter idea much more. He had to get out of here, there was no mistake about that, but somehow just touching the fox's mind with his was something even more important to him. He had never been dependant on anyone else before…but now was different. He felt starved for the fox's attention. Even worse, the hormones raging through his body were beginning to make him crave more than just food, and the way he was shackled he couldn't even do anything about the problem himself. Bitterly he suspected the Elders planned it that way. Just one more form of torment.
He heard the door opening and his eyes flew to it, ready to take his anger out on whoever came through the door. The being that timidly entered, however, made the anger die abruptly. It was Rui. He hadn't seen her since the Elders had come in together, however long ago that was. She looked scared, no doubt afraid of being caught in Hiei's cell. She also seemed tired and Hiei wondered what kind of punishment she must have served for speaking out in his defense.
He watched silently as she closed and locked the door and then approached him slowly. They locked eyes and just stared at each other for a moment. She seemed unsure of what to do now. And then, as though coming out of a trance, she dropped her eyes and began to rummage through the folds of her kimono.
"Here," she produced a loaf of bread and some kind of meat that resembled a ningen salami. Hiei's eyes widened slightly as he snatched the food. Almost without thinking he began to devour it in a rather animalistic fashion. After a few moments of this he was aware that Rui was still standing there, watching him. Swallowing hard, he just barely managed to get his mouthful of meat and bread down without choking.
"Thank you," he said sincerely, turning to look her in the eye. She smiled at him and nodded. He turned back and began to eat again. Perhaps not all the Koorime were bad. There were those few (Yukina…Rui…Hina…) who were not like the others.