The spirit detectives stood in front of a large, old house. Even though it had seen better days it was indeed well taken care of.
"Well, are any of you idiot going to knock, or are you just going to stand there?" Hiei asked temperamentally.
"Oh… right…" Yusuke shook himself out of the shock of how large his house was and raised a fist, knock crisply twice on the old wood door.
The door was opened by a young woman, around Yusuke's height. Dressed in a sensible pair of slacks and a denim blouse she seemed older than she looked. Raven black hair was pulled back with a leather headband and she just smiled at them, inviting them in.
"You must be here to see Narue. She'll be down in a just a few minutes, in the mean time just sit down and make yourselves at home. Ah, Hiei, good to see you again," she nodded her head to him and left the entry way.
Slowly, they made their way into the nearest room. An expansive living room, it was filled with classical, old furniture and great antiques.
"THIS is Narue's house?" Yusuke asked, looking around, impressed.
"Yes, it is my house," Narue's voice called over to them and they turned around, surprised by what they saw. Dressed in a loose kimono of white, gold and pale green she looked rather worn. The Obi was casually tied on, not at all formal and she just made her way to them, wincing as she sat down.
To put it simply, they had seen her better. Her normally robust skin was now pale, the usual flush to her cheeks absent, replaced by a whitish pallor. Dark circles made her eyes looks sunken and almost dull.
"Hey… are you okay?" Yusuke suddenly asked her and she looked over, smiling feebly at him.
"Yeah… never better," she sighed, "You are more then welcome at my home in the meantime… I would have just gone to Reikai to continue training you... but I fear the travel would only make health collapse in on itself."
"What do you…" Kuwabarra was cut off as she then stood and nodded her head to them.
"I have to admit I'm a terrible hostess but I promise you I'll be feeling better tomorrow. I must leave for a while, feel free to roam the grounds," she replied and quietly left the room, quietly followed by Hiei…
The small demon found her sitting in her room, staring out the window with dead eyes, her breathing shallow and rapid.
"What have you done to yourself now?" he asked coldly, making his way into the spacious room to finally stop at the edge of the old iron bed.
"Nothing I can't handle…" her voice slowly died, gradually dimming to nothing.
"Hn. Obviously you can't. Look at you," Hiei nearly spat.
Narue just sighed, smiling weakly at him, apologetically. His crimson eyes fell upon her hands. Thick, snow white bandages wrapped around her palms, clumsily pinned to keep them from moving covered her dry skin.
"I never could wrap my own bandages," she laughed weakly. Hiei sighed and made his way to the small cabinet, pulling the oak doors open. Quietly he pulled out two rolls of bandages and a large stack of gauze.
"…'anks…"
Carefully he unwrapped the dressings, wincing as he saw the damage. Most of the skin had been ripped off her palms and then healed over. Emblazoned on the tender tissue of her palm were new seals in a deep, murky blue. Blood covered the flesh, making the skin seem to shine a creepy garnet color.
"Are you gonna lecture me?" she asked Hiei, almost like a little kid to it's father after breaking a lamp.
"No."
"Oh… alright-y… you're not mad?"
"No."
"Not at all?"
"No! Now stop asking me these pointless questions already!" and with that little outburst Hiei shot her an evil glare worthy of a gold medal… if they gave out medals for evil glares… heh…
"Sorry. I asked Genkai to look at the muscle damage and she said it shouldn't be too bad," Narue added quietly, knowing that the short demon heard her even though she could barely hear herself.
"Hn, if you insist on being so obstinate it's going to kill you one day," Hiei muttered, tightening the last bit of the bandage for her right hand.
"You mean like you did?" she asked. It was very slight but Hiei noticed the stiff, cold tone that was cleverly masked with a forced giggle.
"It was the only way. If it wasn't me, it'd be her, and that you couldn't be brought back," he reasoned, starting on her left hand's wrappings, placing a pad of fluffy white gauze on her palm to soak up the blood.
"Ya know, I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had never met him..." Narue sighed, looking down at the ring on her finger as Hiei covered it with bandages.
"Would I have been… I dunno, happier? I guess it's really pointless, if I hadn't come of my own free will they would have just dragged me there," she wondered wistfully, staring out the window at the garden.
"…" Hiei looked up at the young woman, surprised to see she looked rather gloomy, her eyes downcast and her brow furrowed.
"Heh, I'm sorry to bother you with this nonsense, Ototou-san," Narue suddenly said, breaking the small silence that had filled the room.
"You're not bothering me with this. He used to babble on like that too, the idiot," Hiei muttered, finishing up her left hand with the small metal clasp.
"Yeah, he was," Narue replied, giving him a feeble little smile before falling back onto her bed.
"I…" Hiei suddenly stopped, looking away from the pale girl.
"I… what?" she asked, rolling onto her side to see him.
"… Nothing. Get some sleep or you'll wear that ningen body of yours out," he muttered, walking out of the room as silent as he had come…
Night settled on the house fast and it was soon that the woman who answered the door led each of them to the large dining room, set up English style, like most of the house.
"You will be dining here, food will be brought out in just a minute. Lady Narue apologizes that she won't be dining with you, but she's exhausted the last of her energy and is now sleeping. She'll be better tomorrow. Lord Hiei, would you mind taking her up her dinner… if she's hungry," she nodded her head to the short demon.
"Hn, she won't be hungry," Hiei muttered, taking the tray of food away from the housekeeper and promptly leaving.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what exactly is wrong with Narue?" Kurama asked politely.
The woman looked over at him, pushing a few stray hairs away from her face, sighing.
"Lady Narue recently… went through a surgery… or sorts," she replied quietly, looking around to make sure that Hiei or Narue was nowhere to be seen.
"What kind of Surgery?" Kuwabarra asked, sitting down to eat.
"… I'm not allowed to tell you. If Lady Narue wants you to know, she'll tell you," she replied, giving them a pained smile and then leaving.
"Why is it that nobody ever tells us the truth?" Kuwabarra wondered out loud, picking at the soba noodles with his chop sticks…
"I have your food," Hiei stated as he walked into Narue's room.
"Food? Ugh, I'm not hungry…" Narue moaned, looking weakly away from him.
"You might not be hungry, doesn't mean you can just 'not eat'," Hiei replied, placing the tray on the desk nearby.
"Soba with vegetables in a spicy teriyaki sauce…" she muttered.
"You're going to eat."
"I can't. My hands are all busted up. I can barely touch my fingers together, let alone grasp them around chopsticks."
"Hn, you really are helpless now," Hiei grumbled, picking up the ebony chopsticks that were resting over the bowl.
"What are you doing?" Narue asked, pushing herself up to watch as Hiei picked up a small group of soba noodles with a miniature head of broccoli.
"Are you hung-" she was cut off as the bit of food was promptly shoved into her mouth.
"If you can't use your hands, then I'm forced to feed you. You're like ningen toddler," Hiei complained, letting go the food and pulling out the chopsticks, reaching over for some more food.
"Augh!" Narue gasped for air after swallowing the food, "Are you trying to- MPHF!" more food was shoved into her mouth.
"STOP IT, already! I'm not a kid!" she protested, glaring over at Hiei.
"Really, you act like it," Hiei retorted, jabbing another morsel of food down her throat.
It went on like this for a while, Narue and Hiei arguing while Hiei forced food down into her mouth. Finally, the bowl was mostly empty in less then fifteen minutes.
"Ugh, Hiei, force feeding me isn't going to help me!" Narue objected, glaring evilly at the chopsticks still held surprisingly delicately in his hands.
"You need food, and if you think you can die this easily, you have a lot to learn," Hiei replied, putting the utensils down.
"Heh… guess you're right… I hate this body…" she muttered, leaning back on the pillows.
"Then take off those damn seals."
"I… don't think I really can… I'm afraid to…" she murmured, falling asleep.
Sighing, Hiei picked up the tray and leaving Narue to her rest…
-YAY! Time to answer your reviews!
-Narue: Well, ShadeSpirit, we're all so excited that you can't wait for the next one, and lookie! You just finished with it! .
Trenity170: Heh, HieiFan666, sorry the side stories really are that long though, but hm… a black clad figure… sounds familiar, doesn't it? (looks over at Hiei) But how it is also really important to the present.
Kurama: Thank you KuwabaraMikey17 for approving of the chapter!
Trenity170: So thank you, all of you! And feel free to ask the character's questions if you want! They'll answer!
Hiei: We will? (looks over very bored)
Trenity170: Yup! (grins evilly at Hiei)
Narue: So thanks! Extra Kudos for people who begin to unravel this mystery! And please review, see ya next chappy!