It's been a while since I undated, though I don't know if you readers who have this story on alerts got the email that said that I updated the previous chapter since I didn't get the email I usually get when I update, if you didn't I've updated the previous chapter with the completed version of it so you came read it. Well anyway, on with the story...
Deep darkness, impenetrable, cloaked all of his sight, no beacon of light shined to guide him in the endless emptiness—he was all alone. Numbly, as though distant, he felt the pain—though maybe it was a trick of his memory, just a mere recollection of the pain he felt overwhelm his body before everything turned dark.
Was this death—a calm realm of shadows in which nothing could be seen or felt? If so—it wasn't all that terrible, in fact it seemed preferable to him, seeing as he done nothing in his life that could warrant reward and an awful lot that would warrant punishment. Not that any judgment would do him justice—the judge never lived his life, so how could he understand? He couldn't—nor would anyone even try to.
You're sure about that? A silent voice vibrated through the vacant surroundings, similar to one he had heard before, but calmer, more mature. There's been someone by you trying to understand you for the longest time—not to judge, just to know.
Hn, there's never been anyone like that.
You just never noticed through all of the distractions. The voice replied, and suddenly he felt as though two arms were pulling him into a tight comforting embrace, but everything remained encased in shadow, so he didn't see them.
Who?
You'll find out soon enough—when you least expect to.
Before he could respond in anyway the arms left and the darkness faded rapidly to gray, growing lighter and lighter until…
"Hiei! Thank god, you're awake!" Yusuke exclaimed staring down at the fire-demon who blinked his eyes as though trying to focus in his confusion.
"What happened?" Hiei asked, sitting up slowly, realizing faintly that he was inside Genkai's temple lying on a bed-mat.
"You collapsed, and wouldn't awaken so I brought you back here."
"Oh…where's Ku-chan?"
"Um…he's here…."
"Where here?"
"In the other room." Yusuke replied, his response triggering Hiei to stand up and hurry out of the room looking for Ku-chan. "Hiei, wait, you should know…."
Upon entering the room Ku-chan was in Hiei froze and stared ahead for a second before rushing forward eyes full of fiery indignation.
"What's the reason for having him leashed and tied up!" Hiei shouted, enraged at the sight of seeing the fox cub with a chain leash hooked to a collar around his neck, with the leash tied around a table leg.
"Hiei, he keeps trying to leave the temple, and while chasing after him might be amusing…" Yusuke looked as though it'd be the last thing he'd find amusing. "We have other things to worry about. I know it's not easy for you to sense auras in your current state, you may want to try." Yusuke finished a grim, agitated look on his face that also betrayed a sliver of fear.
"Hn. You still had no right to tie up Ku-chan—do you know what's it's like to be a captive! It's horrible!" Hiei growled, his red eyes gleaming dangerously enraged, ignoring the impatient urgency in Yusuke's eyes—in his anger he also failed to notice how Ku-chan snarled and growled, struggling to free himself from his confines, devoid of all warmth and compassion.
"Hiei…I…."
"It's terr…ah." Hiei gasped as a spasm of pain pulsated from his heart shooting to his limbs. "Ah…ah…."
"What's wrong?"
Breathing deeply, trying not to wince from the pain that now seemed to be fading, Hiei placed a hand on the table for balance, closing his eyes as a wave of dizziness came and went. Reassurance growing as the pain waned, Hiei sighed untying the leash from the table leg before turning back to a worried Yusuke.
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not, what was that about? You looked like you were in pain."
"I'm fine, detective." Hiei growled, annoyed at Yusuke's pestering even though it was done out of worry for the fire-demon—maybe he was being an idiot for not putting more stock to his body's warning signs of pain, but anyone who tried to get the fire-demon to admit his weakness right would be hard put to do so. For the moment Hiei stubbornly determined not to give any credit to his pain or weakness, because they did have other serious concerns to worry about. "Right now we need to find out where Karasu's soul is before he can figure out how to reincarnate…." The fire-demon stopped speaking as Yusuke's expression turned uncomfortable and anxious, as though he knew something dreadful that Hiei didn't. "What is it, detective?"
"It's too late for that."
"Too late?"
"Yes, I…you're lucky you can't sense auras at the moment or you would know…."
"Know what?" Hiei asked hesitantly, hoping that what he thought the detective meant wasn't true but somehow he knew it was.
"Karasu's alive, while I carried you back here I sensed his aura surge up from out of nowhere—I'd hoped it would vanish, but it's only become steadier since."
"And how long has he…?"
"At most fifteen minutes."
At that moment, before either demon could continue speaking, Ku-chan pulled excessively on his leash desperate for Hiei to let go, and apparently anxious to leave the temple. So determined to escape, Ku-chan, not getting anywhere by pulling against the leash, stopped, turned around and bit Hiei's hand, the shock of which caused the fire-demon to drop the leash, terribly surprised.
"What the hell? Ku-chan!" Hiei exclaimed, alarmed by such a display of aggression by the fox cub, holding his bitten hand with his unwounded one. Blood seeped out of the punctures created by the cub's teeth and pain throbbed from the bite—it had neither been a playful one, nor had it been a mildly impatient nip; it was a savage, uncaring attack, shocking both Yusuke and Hiei with its aggression.
"What's gotten into him?"
"Do you think he could've hated the leash that badly?" Yusuke asked stammering in surprise a little, unnerved himself over the bizarre occurrence—the fox cub had never been hostile to anyone like that his whole life—at least never had Yusuke seen him hostile. "He'd been like this for the past fifteen minutes, growling and trying to run into the forest, toward…." Yusuke explained, stepping down on the leash so that Ku-chan couldn't continue running, realizing the significance of his words only as he spoke them, and gasping as he determined where Ku-chan tried to run to. "It couldn't…."
"What? What is it, detective?" Hiei asked wrapping the bandana he wore out of habit around his forehead around his bitten hand.
"Ku-chan keeps trying to run toward where Karasu's aura signal is coming from—and he's been doing so ever since I sensed Karasu's aura surge."
"AH! You think he can sense…?"
"Yes, I'm sure he can—but he can't be a normal cub if he can do that."
"I…he could lead us to exactly where that bastard is—let's let him go and follow." Hiei suggested looking at Yusuke and then stared at Ku-chan who had stopped struggling at Hiei's words—as though he understood every word. Now Ku-chan waited patiently, his cold eyes gleaming with an unreadable emotion, though he kept looking at the leash and then to Hiei and Yusuke.
"Or we could walk him and let him lead the way by his own accord."
"Yes."
Meanwhile at the mansion, inside its gloomy walls, he, the black haired demon, stared straight ahead, a cold, calculating glimmer in his eyes.
"Yes, you better come here—I have some business with you. But…" Suddenly the odd gleam into those stoic eyes turned ruthful, sparkling. "I don't want him to come, too."
Please tell me what you think in your reviews, I appreciate it. ( I originaly planned for this part to be nine chapters like the previous one, but now I think I may have be at least fifteen now--fifteen because I have a thing with numbers in which the separate digits add up to 3, 6, or 9. I'm almost obsessed with those numbers.) Anyway, there's going to be one more sequel after this one, as well as a story explaining what Hiei did in the demon realm during the three years he was there. Then I may write a Youko/Kurounue story.