Standard Disclaimers Apply

Chapter Six

(Hiei)

Running over to where Reiko had herself pressed up against a wall, I shoved my way through the crowd around her. She was a pale, kind of milky white, her hands were clenched into fists, and she was trembling violently. Coming up in front of her I called to her telepathically as I cupped her face in my hands, feeling how clammy it was against them.

'I'm here, Yokio can't get to you,' I murmured brushing hair off her face. 'My hands are on your face.'

'Hiei?' Her voice was weak, but it was there.

'Lift up your arms, and you'll be able to touch me,' I told her. She slowly lifted up her arms, and touched my shoulders with her hands before trailing them up to caress my face.

"It is you," Reiko choked out before she laid her head on my chest and slid her arms back down to wrap around my neck as she shook with suppressed sobs and tears.

"Come on, let's go back to the room," I picked her up slowly so she could shift into a comfortable position.

X-X-X-X-X

Reiko was lying on the bed staring straight ahead I was sitting next to her. She had reverted back to her normal form, her hair white and eyes all mixed up like her emotions. Quietly I stood up, and walked over to her bag to pull out a pair of flannel pajama bottoms, and a white spaghetti strap shirt. Sitting back down I pulled off her sandals, and tugged off all of her toe rings, carefully placing them on the bedside table.

"Reiko, I'm going to take you to the bathroom so you can change," I said softly picking her up, and heading for the bathroom where I set her down on the closed toilet. I set the clothes next to her, and left.

Out in the main room I laid down on one of the beds to wait, it didn't take me long to realize that she wasn't going to be doing anything. Sighing, I went back to the bathroom expecting to find her in the same position, surprisingly she wasn't. Instead she had drawn her knees up and was gently rocking herself back and forth. I approached her without her noticing and lightly touched her shoulder. Instantly she tensed up, her muscles bunching up under my hand in a silent warning of attack.

"Reiko?" I murmured, and all the fight went out of her. She unfolded her limbs slowly, running a hand through her hair. After a moment of rubbing her face, she looked up at me, her eyes almost vacant.

"What?" I silently assessed her and she followed my lead, dropping her chin to her chest. The clothes that had fit her perfectly before, hung loosely on her frame and already a few of her rings had fallen to the floor. Shrugging carelessly, she yanked off her shirt, revealing more scars, none of them very little. After that she seemed to lose energy and just sat there, caressing the back of her neck.

"What happened?" I picked up her right hand, and slid off all of her rings, bangles and the armband then did the same to the left side.

"They came back, they always do," she sighed as I removed her earrings. Reiko still appeared dead as I helped her to her feet, and with little difficulty yanked off her once skintight pants. Once that was done I held out her shirt, hoping she could do that. Tiredly she reached out and turned her back to me as she pulled the article of clothing on. I was left staring at the oddity on the back of her neck.

It was a Jagan eye that was aqua colored, and wide open staring at me. Deciding it would be best not to say anything I grasped her by the elbow and steered her into the bedroom. I had no idea why I was being this nice to her, the only other person I would even remotely consider being this kind to was my own sister. I had just met this vulnerable girl, and suddenly became her champion. It was unfathomable to me, but something inside me was pushing me forward, it kept telling to help her. I think I needed to have my head examined.

'Hiei?' her mental voice was feeble and shaky as she collapsed onto the bed.

'Yes?' I replied.

'I'm sorry, so sorry.' I could hear the tears.

'What for?' I asked.

'For putting you in this situation, for dragging you around, for my own selfish purposes and that now I don't know what to do! I don't know what is true anymore! I don't know if they are lying to me or if they are truly sad. I can't figure it out! I'm sorry.' Reiko then curled up into a ball, shivering and I think crying. I was at a loss of what to do, she obviously thought everything was her fault, but what was I supposed to do? What did I want whenever I made a mistake? That was obvious. Comfort.

Reaching down I pulled off my shoes and discarded my cloak; this would be a once in a lifetime kinda thing. Something glistened on the floor, I bent down and picked it up, it was a teardrop shaped aqua colored crystal. But Reiko wasn't an ice apparition. Looking at her I realized that this must have been something she wished for as a child, a fantasy turned reality. Though who would want to cry these damn things was beyond me. I sank onto the bed behind her, and laid my hand on her shoulder.

"What are doing? Why are you still here?" Reiko croaked her voice choked with tears.

"Why would I leave?" I answered.

"Everyone else has," was the response.

"Do you want me to leave?" I questioned, and watched her shake her head no.

"I'm so tired, I don't know if I can go on, or if I even want to," she said out of the blue a few moments later, her voice muffled.

'Why?' I asked switching to telepathy in a hope to get her to calm down.

'Nothing is as how it was supposed to be. Taro was supposed to be a mean, uncaring man who hated everyone. He was supposed to be disgustingly ugly, greedy, and nasty. But no, he loves his wife, his children, and mourns for his lost daughter who he never got to really know. Who I thought he had thrown away.' Reiko's voice was weary as if she was way too old, and had seen too much, with memories like those I could understand. 'Midori was supposed to be a malicious, hideous woman who detested everything, and had a bad temper. The children were supposed to be spoiled and vicious.'

'Why?' I questioned.

'So I could hate them. Hate them with all my heart,' Reiko curled up into an even tighter ball.

'Why?' I inquired.

'Because they had the life I couldn't. Because I thought no one wanted me. Because I wasn't found. Because I wasn't loved.' She uncurled herself and sat up. She brushed crystal tears from her clothes, and I picked a few off of her.

'Why does it matter if they are happy and you're not?' I tilted her face so she was looking me in the eyes and not at the small gem in her hands.

'Because I was supposed to be happy then, I should have grown up with that kind of love,' Reiko muttered. 'Taro and Midori are my parents. I am Sumiko. I've lived my whole life knowing that they hadn't wanted me, that they had lived on happy without me and had more children. But is that really true? How am I to find the truth? How am I to sort out the lies? I should just leave them to their lives. They don't need baggage like me. I only ever bring pain.' She closed her eyes, but I had still seen the stark pain in them, the sort of betrayal that never left.

'I was thrown away as well.' I gently stroked her cheek as her breath caught and she swayed toward me.

'I don't think I can face them again. How am I to justify my existence? I am not the little girl that they wanted. I am warped.' Reiko sighed heavily. 'I feel so tired,' she yawned. 'Maybe, just maybe I won't wake up; I'll just cease to be.' And with that she slumped into my arms, asleep before her head came to rest on my shoulder.

(Taro)

"Goodnight pumpkin," Mikki said kissing Yumiko on the forehead. "And that means you actually have to sleep, no reading." She looked at the brown haired imp sternly, but love lit her eyes.

"Mom, I'm going to be sixteen, I should be allowed to stay up past nine-thirty." Yumiko groaned.

"I'm the one who's in charge around here, and you better listen to me or you'll get nothing on your birthday. I'll pawn it off for my own gain."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Yumiko sighed.

"Goodnight Yumi," I kissed my child on the forehead as well. "Listen to your mother."

"I will Daddy," Yumiko replied, watching me with eyes that were far too old for a sixteen year old. I wished I knew what type of apparition she was. Raiden was easy to figure out, but my little princess, she was unreadable. She was a fox like me, but I knew she wasn't a mood apparition.

"Goodnight to you my little pup," she bid our son in the next room. Ruffling Yumiko's hair I flicked off her light on my way out and closed the door. I passed Mikki on my way to say goodnight to Raiden and gave her a quick hug.

"Night Raiden," I popped my head in. He really didn't appreciate sappy things; it rubbed him the wrong way. That's what you get with a kid who is a wolf demon and thunder apparition. In the background I heard his CD player emitting the sounds of the beach at night.

"Night," he answered. I didn't bother to turn out his light; he would do so in a moment, or risk the wrath of his mother.

Walking out into the hall I went to the first floor where Mikki was keeping an eye on the last of the guests. She had already herded most of the drunks either to bed or off the property.

"Taro!" A man yelled coming over to me, it was Yokio. He was a lower class demon who had been turned such from a human. He was one who sought out immortality, he was a coward if I had ever seen one

"Hello Yokio," I greeted. I had never liked Yokio, he killed his parents before I could ever meet them.

"How are you doing?" he asked and I shrugged. I know it wasn't very polite, but I didn't feel like dealing with him. "Do you know who that brown haired girl was? She totally flipped out when she saw me, talk about weird!" I made a noncommittal sound, which sounded like a growl.

"Taro, I need some help over here!" Mikki called and I sighed in relief, leaving the other behind. Thank god, I wouldn't have to suffer through guarded conversation that would make my teeth hurt.

"Yes?" I looked down at Mikki.

"Yeah?" I asked hooking my arm around her waist.

"I need you to track down which room Rei is staying in because she collapsed earlier, and I want to check in on her tomorrow." Mikki was collecting trash, and running a washcloth over the tables as she spoke. She was no longer in her party clothes, but instead in a casual pair of blue jeans, and a baggy sweatshirt.

"Of course I can, but how am I to know that you aren't going up there to seduce her boyfriend?" I queried, my tone dead serious, but I was teasing. "I mean, you were looking at him like he was fresh meat."

"TARO!" Mikki shrieked smacking me on the back, forcing the breath from my body.

"Je-je-jesus!" I gasped

"I'm sorry Taro but you shouldn't make remarks like that!" Mikki primly reminded me.

"The book's on the table in the front room," I told her.

"I thought I told you to look it up?" Mikki demanded then rolled her eyes. "Never mind, I can handle it. I know that you men are supposed to have sufficient amounts of blood to keep all of your anatomy working, but it seems that when your dick and brain both come into play at the same time, one of them always fails." She moved away, heading for the front room, muttering under her breath about stupid males.

"Where Taro? I can't find it!" I heard Mikki yell from the house a few minutes later. Sighing softly, I made my way through the house to where Mikki was in the front room.

"Right here," I steered her to the table and dug the book out from under all of the party gifts Yumiko and Raiden had been given. Quickly I flipped to the page where Rei's name was. "And here is her room." I pointed to it.

"Taro, do you think that she's ok?" Mikki asked, and I wasn't sure if she was talking about our first daughter as she often did or that vulnerable child she had encountered earlier.

"I don't know," I answered honestly.

The Next Day

Standing outside of the door that led to Rei and Hiei's room, Mikki reached up and rapped her knuckles on it. The door was opened by the guy who had been with Rei last night, his black hair stood straight up and there was a shock of white in it. He wore a pair of black pants, and was sitting on the bed next to Rei, whose brown hair was in a braid but stray hairs curled around her face.

She smiled wearily at us, and I got the impression that she hadn't slept very well last night. I had run into the same problem with dreams of the past coming in to haunt my normally peaceful sleep. Her blue eyes were shadowed, but still alert.

"What are you doing here?" she murmured, rolling something in between two fingers.

"Are you alright? I heard that you had an incident at the party and was worried for you," Mikki confessed going over to her and sitting down next to her.

"I'm fine," Rei muttered and tried to put the lie into her smile, but failed miserably "Hiei can you tell me where I put my glasses?" The guy, Hiei pulled her glasses from his pocket and handed them to her. It was strange, but I hadn't noticed her wearing glasses the night before. I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it quickly, I should wait. Maybe there was nothing wrong, but keeping things on the down low was always the best.

"Thanks." She slipped them on, and rubbed her temples as if trying to rid herself of a horrible headache.

"What happened?" Mikki asked clasping Rei's hands in hers.

"I just met someone who reminded me of something I would rather forget," Rei admitted her eyes expressing everything she wasn't saying.

"Sometimes you have to remember before you can forget," Mikki shared kindly.

"Well maybe, but I don't like it," Rei mumbled.

"Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it isn't true," Mikki said firmly. "Oh, sorry, look at me, treating you as if you were still a child. I hope that you feel better soon, but if you don't, do not feel pressured to come to the gift giving ceremony this afternoon."

"Ok," Rei agreed, and my wife stood up.

"If you need anything, feel free to ask." Mikki turned so she missed the terrible longing and heart wrenching pain that flashed through the girl's eyes.

"Ok," she whispered, and I made a note to check out this Rei girl's file.

REVIEWS!