Hiei didn't budge as he watched the golden blast came nearer and nearer.
"I deserve it…""Damn it! Spirit gun!"
The blast of blue spirit energy knocked the golden blast back, heading straight on for its owner.
Naiya didn't notice as the golden fire head back for her. Her head had dropped slightly due to the large amount of energy she released. At the very last minute, she looked up, only to receive the blast directly at her.
"No! Naiya!"Naiya gasped in pain as the blast hit her. She was sent flying back, cracking through several trees before her body collapsed on the ground.
Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama gave each other a glance when the black figure immediately flitted after the fallen dragon. The three of them quickly went after the fire apparition only to find him lifting a full dragon in his arms.
Luckily, Naiya was not in her full size. If she were, Hiei would have trouble carrying her. She had reverted to her dragon form after passing out and was now a full dragon the size of a rather large dog.
Hiei glanced worriedly at the dragon in his arms. A small trickle of blood dripped from its mouth. Lacerations and bruises covered its blacks scales. Even the face is injured. One thin red line cut across the right eye. The dragon is barely breathing.
Yusuke winced as he saw the damage on the dragon. Even though she was their opponent, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
"Oh dear!" The amethyst-eyed ferry girl appeared beside the Reikai Tantei on her oar. "She's in a bad shape. Here, let me take her."
Hiei reluctantly passed the unconscious dragon to Botan. Botan shuddered inwardly when Hiei shot her a warning glare. A glare that said she will be responsible if anything happen to the little dragon.
"I will take her to the infirmary at Spirit world while you guys round up the rest of the thieves." Botan quickly arranged herself and the dragon on her oar to make sure they don't fall off before heading for Reikai.
"Come on" Yusuke awkwardly broke the silence. "Let's go after the rest."
Naiya resisted the urge to groan as she stirred. Her whole body ached like hell. Opening one golden eye, she surveyed her surroundings before slowly pushing herself up. "I'm still in my dragon form…"
Naiya mused as she straightened herself. Bandages wrapped around several places. Someone had cleaned the dirt and dried blood off. Closing the opened eye, Naiya concentrated as she slowly shifted back to her more human form.
As she was about to open her eyes, Naiya muffled a gasp when pain shot through her right eye. She clapped one hand over the said eye, gently applying pressure to it. Grimacing, she navigated her way to a door and opened it to find it the entrance to a bathroom.
"…" Naiya looked apathetically at her reflection as she removed her hand. Tracing the long, thin scar, Naiya bit her lip when she realized it would probably stay there for life.
Her eyes widened in surprise when she felt liquid dripped down on the hand tracing the wound.
"Why am I crying? …Just because of this?"Her other hand gripped the edge of the sink tightly. The hand previously on the scar clenched itself. Snarling under her breath, Naiya raised the clenched fist and slammed it into the mirror, shattering it into a million pieces.
"Who cares! I deserve it anyway!"Naiya withdrew her now bloody fist. She sighed and went back to the room she woke up in and sat down on the floor. She wasn't angry because of the wound over her eye. It was because of how it got there.
"I tried to kill him…" Naiya whispered softly. A wave of relief flooded over her that the blast had hit her instead. Her defense was much stronger than Hiei, the only thing she advantage she has over him.
Guilt filled every inch of her when she realized the blast might have killed her childhood friend if it had hit him. "What is wrong with me!" Naiya screamed out in her mind.
"Naiya?"
Her head shot up to find a floating toddler in front of her, slightly behind him were the spirit detectives.
And Hiei…
"What?" She snarled out harshly before standing up unsteadily. Using the wall behind her for support, she growled and swatted away Kurama's hand when he reached his hand out to help her.
"I don't need your help"
"Ahem!" The floating toddler cleared his throat importantly. "Let me introduce myself. My name is-"
"I already know who you are. So skip the introduction."
"Fine. Let me introduce to you my spirit detectives. Or better yet, why don't you boys introduce yourselves?"
"Let me start! I'm the great Kazuma Kuwabara! I'm the toughest pun-" The tallest guy announced proudly. He was about to go on before the one with slicked up hair interrupted him.
"The name's Yusuke Urameshi."
"My name is Kurama. Pleasure to meet you Naiya."
"Hn"
"That's Hiei" Yusuke, Kuwabara and Koenma automatically said in unison.
For a few minutes, the odd group just stared at each other, sizing each other up.
-Yusuke's thoughts-
"She don't look that dangerous now that she's caught. Man, she's so tiny! She isn't even taller than Hiei!"
-Kuwabara's thoughts-
"I still don't trust her. She still has the dark and evil aura around her."
-Kurama's thoughts-
"She appears cold and untrusting. Yet, her eyes held sadness as well as a broken look. Exactly like Hiei's when I spoke to him. Interesting…"
-Koenma's thoughts-
"A dragon. Very interesting. Young but powerful. She'll be a great asset on if she's on our side."
-Hiei's thoughts-
"She looked the same, yet so different. The lively, caring persona of her is gone. Am I the cause of it? …"
"Naiya?" Koenma's voice rang out, jerking all of them out of their thoughts.
"What happened to the rest of the thieves?" Her cold voice spoke up. Her eyes glowed with distrust as she glared at the company before her.
"We lost them" Yusuke muttered and grinned sheepishly.
Naiya smirked, at least she don't have to worry for them. For now that is.
"Naiya, you have two options," Koenma announced importantly. "You can join the team and help take down the rest of the thieves."
Naiya's hands curled into fists; do Koenma honestly think she's going to take down the band of thieves? The band she was part of?
"What about the other option?"
"Death"
For a moment, Naiya was silent. Betray her fellow thieves, or die?
"I'll choose…"
Four pairs of eyes stared intently at her as she paused. The last one, a pair of red orbs simply looked elsewhere, portraying coldness.
Hiei thought as he shot a glance at the little dragon. He knew for a fact that Naiya will never betray her fellow thieves. No matter how much she disliked some of the thieves, she will never spill on them.
"Which means she will choose…"A/N: Alright, a lot of readers are gonna kill me for leaving it here…But hey, I just couldn't help it…lol. Oh well, hope you guys like this chapter despite it's shortness and the cliffy.
BlueWater26: Glad you like it…as for the exciting part, a relationship with Hiei rarely translates as dull right? Thanks to his attitude and personality….
Silent Storm 2000: Yet another cliffy in this fic…must be rather annoying huh? I'll try to stop ending chapters like that though….
Tigersmt.334: I think leo's not really a bad guy…just too uhm…possessive…oh well, and no, I'm no genius … you wouldn't believe the huge list of things I'm not good at . …Thanks for the compliment though….
Kiwadoi seiitsu: Sorry…I hate cliffys when I read other ppl fics too…but heh…I just cant help leaving some chapters in a cliffy p….
Shadestar: Ok, ok, here's your update…hope you enjoy it…
4-is-lovely: I don't really get the part on procrastinators…u mind elaborating it for me? I'm that dense…sorry…TT…
The Shadows Hide All: Lol, its okay if you don't choose…I just wanted to know…I hate indecisiveness too...might be the fact I'm an indecisive person …I can never decide on something…lol…irrelevant isn't it…oh well, hope you like this update…
The Squabbit: I want my reviewers to feel appreciated…after all, they are taking their time to review this fic…and sorry I couldn't update sooner…lots of stuff to do, not to mention I kinda got writer's block…sigh….
Jingenji: Thank you…I'll try to write and update as soon as possible...please update your fics as soon as possible as well? I really want to know what's going to happen next…Thanks…
HieiFan666: It's rather hard for them to work their things out… as you can see, their personality changed since they last met…hey, if you have any ideas, please tell me! I need help…TT….
Yuki Amida: I don't think Naiya will kill him no matter how much she hates him…but hey, p, who knows? …just have to wait and see….
Seeyu: Lol, yup…sucks to be her ne? …
ToCOrNot 77: Thank you. Heh, I haven't made up my mind whether to kill or not, although main characters normally don't die…but what the heck….anyway, thanks for reviewing
Insaneningen14: Kovu's cute isn't he? He got the bad boy's look yet he is just so darn adorable…lol, remind you of a certain apparition?
Alright, that's it for this chapter. Again, I'm sorry for the slow update and the shortness of this chapter. Forgive me!
-Lene