Hearts Held Captive

Chapter Four:

People from all three worlds slowly filtered into the ballroom. Their mouths dropped as their eyes tried to drink in the décor, but instead they were drowned in it. The ceiling was made of crystal and as the sun was already dipping below the horizon, the first stars were emerging from their sleep to take their rightful place in the sky. Such an endless expanse contained in on room, or perhaps, a room contained in an endless expanse. Each person had their own perception. The women glided across the floor of mirrored tiles that reflected them, bedazzled in their dresses and jewels as if to make war with the beauty of the starlight above them.

At the far end of the room was the orchestra. They blew warm air into their instruments and sent soft whispers of drum rolls and chirping crickets through the room. Soon the music would coat the room warm like honey, sweet and thick. The guests filed him, dropping off their gifts at the side table near the entrance. To left was the refreshments table. A fountain of red wine bloomed and bubbled on the white satin table cloth. Glasses were lined up and soon the caterers were out mingling amongst the early guests with their trays of fine foods and drinks to make hearts light.

The tables surrounded the open dance area. They too were clothed in rich white satin. A vase of red roses were placed in the center of each one, paired with a set of sweet scented candles. Hanging from the crystal ceiling were chandeliers, hand carved and crafted that lit the room with and ethereal glow.

"It's so beautiful." Keiko breathed in wonder. "I never knew there was a room like this in Koenma's palace." She walked slowly at Yusuke's side, her arm linked with his as she admired the room.

"I can't believe he thinks his birthday is important enough for him to use this room." Yusuke said as he admired the woman he was escorting. She looked lovely, a dark dress of green clung graciously around her.

"Come on, let's go to our table and wait for everyone else." Keiko said excitedly as she tugged at the sleeve of his tuxedo. He allowed himself to be dragged along through the crowd. She waved at Kuwabara, already comfortably seated in his outrageous blue tux.

"Kuwabara, you look like a powder puff, you know that?" Yusuke shot out as he leaned back into the cherry wood seat. Keiko stood beside him, tapping her foot impatiently. "Aren't you going to sit down Keiko?"

She frowned at him. "Maybe if my escort would pull out my chair for me like any other decent gentlemen would." She watched him sit up, but didn't give him a chance to redeem himself. She threw the chair out from under the table, sat in it and scooted back in.

"See? Was that so hard?" Yusuke asked.

"I wish I had a glass of wine to dump on your head, Yusuke. You're lucky I don't." Keiko responded scathingly.

"Yusuke you need to learn how to romance a woman. You're being rude and you're her date." Kuwabara said with his eyes glittering with visions of Botan…and Hinageshi and every other pretty girl who wasn't taken. He nudged Yusuke with his elbow. "Why don't you go get Keiko a drink?" He whispered covertly.

"Why? So she can empty it on me?" He glanced at her and she glared back. He turned back to Kuwabara. "Well why don't you get a suit that doesn't make you look like a cloud that just blew in from Candyland?"

Kuwabara slammed his fist down on the table. "Shut up Urameshi. You're lucky we're at a classy party or else I'd kick your ass right here!"

A few old youkai from the far west turned and stared at them. Keiko was staring off into the distance, Kuwabara had backed out of his chair and left it turned over on the ground, and Yusuke was trying to restrain himself from strangling.

"Oh dear," said a fragile looking woman. She adjusted her spectacles on the tip of her nose. She spun back around and whispered to her gaudily dressed friends. "Perhaps we should move tables…"

Yusuke ignored them. "Alright, I'm going to get drinks. I think we're all gonna need them before tonight is over." Yusuke shook his head left to find a caterer carrying around a tray of wine.

Keiko was drumming her fingers on the table ferociously. "Why is Yusuke such a jerk? Sometimes he's great and other times he's Yusuke. Why? Why? Why?" She seethed to Kuwabara.

"I think it's because he's stupid." He said evenly. "Face it, Keiko. You're in love with an idiot."

Keiko sighed. "Yeah…how did that happen?" They sat in contemplative silence for a moment before bursting into laughter.

Yusuke approached with his hands full with wine glasses. "What's so funny?" The pair didn't acknowledge him, and only continued to laugh. "Yeah. I don't like this." He stood there dumbly for a moment and looked at the empty chairs. He decided to ignore their chuckles and posed the question, "Where are Botan and Hinageshi?"

"Quit pushing me!" Botan yelled, her voice carried down the empty hall as she clawed at the doorway to keep from exiting the room. Hinageshi was behind her, heaving all of her weight against her fellow ferry girl.

"Quit being so difficult. I worked so hard on your hair, I lent you my dress, you had better go to that party!" She began to pry Botan's fingers from the frame of the door, while still leaning against her to push into the corridor. "Everyone is waiting. Let's go already. You're making me miss it too!" Hinageshi continued to whine until she had succeeded in her task and sent Botan sprawling into the center of the hall.

"I'm going to be miserable tonight." Botan's lips curled downward in a frown as her body language left her mood exposed to anyone who took a look at her.

"Well at least you'll look gorgeous!" Exclaimed Hinageshi as she grabbed her wrist and began to run full speed down the hall. Botan followed clumsily like an unwilling dog on a leash.

Kurama knelt on the earth of Rekai in a hidden corner outside the palace, tending to a planting, urging it to grow with soft words and the energy sent from his fingertips. It rose from the seed in the ground at his command, stretched out and let its leaves unfurl like welcome mats. Hiei stood beside him looking around in an uninterested manner.

"I don't think we're here for landscaping purposes, Kurama." Hiei commented. "So what are you doing?"

Kurama took a small vial out for his coat pocket and plucked a leaf from the stem of the plant. "I'm extracting poison." He then squeezed all of the liquid into the vial, inserted the stopper, and placed the item back into his coat. "I'd rather avoid bloodshed this time. I still feel sick from the last assignment."

"Hn. I suppose that is acceptable. She'll end up the same anyway, maybe a little prettier at her funeral, but that's all." Hiei replied. He pulled out their invitations and continued to speak. "I assume it won't cause her much pain"

Kurama shook his head in agreement, "That's the point. It will be like going to sleep and not waking up. I'm sick of death."

"She'll still be dead. Pretending she's only sleeping won't help you deal with what they have turned us into. We're mindless killers, Kurama. We are pawns. Blood or a lack of it doesn't change what we have done and what we will continue to do. I have killed before and taken pleasure in it, but I prefer to kill for my own whims and for my own reasons. You were like me once, before you had to flee to Ningenkai. It's ironic," Hiei said bitterly, "a race so doomed to destroy each other is the race that has crushed the cruelty out of you and turned your heart from stone to something that is still alive as we speak."

"I sometimes fear that my heart is too alive." Kurama said quietly as he let the plant slowly wilt away into the soil as if it had never been. He watched it die and covered its remains with dirt.

"Don't be afraid of it. That was a choice you made. Mine was made for me the moment I was conceived. I never let my heart return, but killed it continuously, even now."

"Do you regret it?"

"I don't know. I look at her. Everyday I look at her and wonder." Hiei stopped speaking. He could feel Kurama's eyes on him, scrutinizing his words and poking holes in his logic. The kitsune knew as he did that Hiei only wished his heart was dead. The Forbidden Child couldn't bear to face his own transformation brought about by the discovery of his only remaining family, Yukina. He then looked Kurama dead in the face and tossed an invitation at him. "I think that's enough conversation for now."

Kurama caught with ease and opened it. He decided to comply with the sudden closure on the topic and left it behind as if it never were. "I've been wondering, how we got these in the first place." He walked beside Hiei around the front door of the palace.

"I killed a messenger in Ningenkai and pried the envelopes from his cold, dead fingers." He said casually.

Kurama would have laughed if Hiei had been joking. Truth be told, he wasn't.

They continued to casually walk towards the entrance, filtering in with the other arrivals. They melted in seamlessly with the aid of their formal apparel and the great crowd that surrounded them. Flashing their invitations at the guard by the door then stepped into the great hall and followed the line of people into the ballroom.

Kurama let his eyes take in details of the room. He didn't bother looking for familiar faces; he didn't want to see any in the first place. Hiei didn't bother to taken in the scenery, he merely waited. As a man carrying a tray of wine glasses passed by and hestealthily snatched one off it without any indication of his actions, then took a sip and licked his lips.

"I suppose this will suffice." He turned and began to walk away from Kurama.

"Where are you going?"

"I was told I had to keep watch on you, fox. That doesn't mean I have to be seen at this ridiculous social gathering." He didn't bother to say more before he slipped into the masses until he literally disappeared from view.

Kurama sighed, unsure of what to do next. He merely wandered aimlessly until he found another door that led to a separate hall. His eyes darted to the left then to the right, seeing no one he was satisfied and sank to the floor.

"It's going to be a long night." He said as he took the vial from his pocket and held it up to the streaks of light that escaped the ballroom. "Sometimes I just wish it wouldn't end."

"Botan! Hinageshi!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "You two look beautiful!"

He almost threw the table over as he jumped out of his seat. He scrambled to pull out her seat, while Yusuke suffered a piercing glare from his date. Botan nodded while she tried to subdue the soft crimson flushing in her cheeks, and sat primly in the chair while Kuwabara scooted her in until the her stomach hit the table.

"Um, thank you Kuwabara." She laughed forcefully as she pushed herself away from the table to gain some breathing room. She grinned as he tried to do the same or Hinageshi.

"I'll go get us some drinks!" He sped away without allowing anyone to object.

"Geez, I hope they didn't drug the wine." Yusuke said as he set his glass down.

Kuwabara returned and conversation continued as it normally did. Insults flew to and fro between the boys. The girls exchanged looks of aggravation as well as information on trivial matters and humorous stories. Botan was both connected and disconnected from her table. Her attention was in and out, not loyal to any subject. She would close her eyes as the music would swell, open them as she heard Keiko's hand hit Yusuke's cheek. She would smile in response to all of them, but had not the faintest idea what she was smiling about. She was more of a ghost on this night than on any other.

Botan stared across the wide expanse of the room, searching for him. "Does anyone know where Koenma is?" They all looked at her and shook there heads. She stared back at them. They knew. "It's his party after all. I think it's pretty ridiculous if he isn't even here for his own birthday." She hoped it would cover up her weakness, but she could see it didn't.

I'm pathetic.

"I don't really think it matters anyway. We'd have more fun without him, right Hinageshi?" Keiko prodded.

"Of course. That's a rhetorical question." The red head smiled brightly at Botan.

Fake. Fake. Fake.

"Yeah, he's always acting like something just crawled up his ass and died." Yusuke added.

Well…I can't deny that, so why do I feel this way?

Botan sighed. "I'm going to the restroom. I'll be back in a little while, so please don't get up." She left the table in a hurry, pushing past dancing couples and groups of people enveloped in conversation. So much satin, so many sequins, everything was twinkling, but couldn't give a genuine smile for her life.

She brushed her soft curls from her eyes haphazardly. She continued to move at her frantic rate until she ran full speed into someone. She looked up, preparing to apologize, but smiled when she saw kind eyes staring down at her.

"K-Koenma-sama." She stammered as her tried to keep her heart from jumping. "H-happy birthday sir."

A look in his eyes changed, to something warm, like light from a small fire in the summertime. He opened his arms and smiled. Botan was unsure of what to do. She had never received a welcome like this before. Just as she finally decided she would meet his embrace, someone else flew into his arms.

"Ayame!" He shouted as he swung her around. After a few revolutions and her playful hits on his arm, he set her down on the floor. Botan coughed to discreetly turn his attention back to her. "Oh yes, Botan. You don't need to be running through here like this. It's dangerous."

Her grin wavered, but she forced it to sustain. "Of course sir. I apologize." She was about to continue on her way when he stopped her again.

"One more thing," He called out to her as she froze in hope, "I need those papers filed by noon tomorrow okay?" He waited for her nod and walked away from Botan, thoughts of her no more significant than the dust they had wiped away from the floors of the room earlier that week.

She walked quickly out of the room, keeping her eyes down as she tried to keep her sobs from being audible of the four movement piece the orchestra was playing. She heard people make comments about her as she brushed past their shoulders and arms. She nearly collided with a caterer before she reached the door that led to the hall. She slammed it shut, but no one would hear it anyway, it was far too loud in the room. She leaned her head against it and took a shaky breath of air into her lungs.

She kicked the door in frustration, then spun around on her heels and leaned against the wall while slowly sinking down to the floor. She turned her head only to meet another pair of eyes. A noise of surprise escaped her throat as she fell backwards in an attempt to back away. The young man she had been sitting next to rose and extended his hand to her. She took it shyly, trying not to meet those eyes that had startled her so. They were so beautiful, but they weren't jewels. She couldn't compare them to emeralds or jade. When she saw them, it made her think of the spring time when everything was new and alive, when the grass was the softest and the earth had a rich and lovely scent.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

She still wasn't sure.

Author's Note:

Not too bad of a wait compared to last time. I hope I keep this stuff up. I hope even more that you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry for the cliff hanger, but this was a page longer than the usual ones I post, so I hope you find that a treat. Enjoy it and please leave a review, they make me all happy inside. And if you know anyone who would like this story, please share. ;) Haha, have a wonderful life and I'll be back again within a week or two I hope.

Love,

Reika