Satorisama- Thanks again for reading this. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I love reviews. They make me feel good....

PainfulxRecovery: thanks for reviewing again!! So... Daja and Hiei, eh? Id love to tell you when, but, where's the fun in that? J/k, its soon, so just hang on, it wont be too long because, lets face it, we're both romantic saps !!!


Chapter 10—The Calm Before the Storm

Kurama:

"God Damn it!!! Kurama, that stings like hell! The pain is almost worse than when I freaking got the stupid wound!"

I wince at the asperity of the sharp tongued voice. "Daja, the wound is quite deep. It needs to be cleaned with the antiseptic so it does not get infected."

"Yeah, well too bad!" She winces, shoving the bottle of antiseptic away from the gash in her stomach. She turns away and pouts, sticking her lower lip out just barely and crossing her arms across her chest in an almost childish way. I stop dead in awe. She is so innocent looking when she does that. She looks at me from the corner of her almond shaped eyes.

"What's your problem?" She inquires harshly, but I can hear the fear and nervousness in her voice. She is afraid of something. And it dawns on me, she is afraid of me; afraid I am going to reject her like many others have, and betray her as her own "family" did.

"It is nothing," I quickly say covering up my amusement. Daja frowns and turns my way with a look of uncertainty in her eyes.

"Fine, if it means so much to you, you can freaking send me to hell with your stupid, pain inflicting liquid." She removes the towel around her waist and leans to the right to expose the stab wound. I pour some of the alcohol onto a piece of gauze and gently press it to the destroyed flesh that has started to bleed a little again.

Daja's eyes immediately scrunch up and she recoils from my touch. She starts biting her lip and a trickle of blood drips down her chin from a single small cut on her flesh. Her hands turn into fists and she is trying her hardest to stay still and be quiet.

She lets out a small yelp as I remove the bloody gauze from her injury, and immediately moves to cover it with her hands.

I grab her wrists. "Don't touch it, that will only make it worse." Daja obeys and crosses her arms again after she wipes the blood off her chin.

"Arms up so I can wrap your stomach, please." I say considerately picking up a roll of sterile bandages. I also pick up some scissors to cut the cloth and some herbal ointment to make the wound heal faster. Daja raises her arms up and I have to avert my eyes to the bloody, but very clean gash on her abdomen. The way Daja is built is stunning. She's more muscular and toned than lean, and her curves are heightened by her petite physique. Her long hair drapes around her shoulders like a waterfall, but it is matted with blood and tangled from battle. It is still beautiful though...

It takes all my concentration to focus on the task at hand, and even then my mind wanders to other things. Some of the things are quite...well, sexual. Perspiration begins to form on my forehead, my breathing gets faster, and my heart is pounding so loud that I can barely hear my own thoughts. As I tie off the bandage and tuck the free ends into the folds, I glance up nervously and to my surprise meet to blue eyes that are full of concern.

"What's wrong Kurama?" Daja says, and I can almost see her running through a checklist of my unusual ailments—rapid breathing, flushed cheeks, trembling fingers, and sweaty palms just to name a few.

"I'm fine." I say, trying to block out everything besides cleaning Daja's injuries

Searching my face, she frowns. "Liar."

"Come on, I have to finish cleaning the gash on your thigh, too, and Koenma wants to see us as soon as he can." I answer quickly, trying to covertly change the subject.

She continues to look at me with a subtle disbelief in her eyes, but she allows me to avoid the subject. In response to me saying that I wanted to finish cleaning the gash on her thigh, however, she rips open a hole in her tattered and dirty pants, exposing at least a few inches of upper leg for me to inspect. Another wave of spontaneous sensuality hits me, and I again try to focus at the task at hand.

Ten minutes of silence pass as I dress the stab wound, and the antiseptic causes much less of a fuss this time around. The only visible indication that Daja feels the stinging sensation is how long ago her knuckles turned white from clenching her fists so tightly.

"Done." I say full of false cheer as I stand up and begin to put away the spare bandages and medical supplies. I still feel Daja's eyes on me, and I turn around to face her. She is staring at me with unreadable eyes.

All of a sudden she is clinging onto my waist, hugging me tightly. "Thank you," she whispers before letting me go and running out the door, down the hall, and out of my sight. Sighing, I notice my body has returned to normal, no more strange, lustful symptoms but only respect for Daja and what she is going to have to face and go through. I forgot to mention to her that Koenma was not pleased with her when he talked to me previously when I arrived with Daja in my arms and the rest of the detectives following close behind.

I feel so sorry for her, I note as I start to walk down the hall to Koenma's office. So sorry.


Daja:

So, I am sitting in the waiting room outside Koenma's office, when I am joined by Yusuke and his girlfriend Keiko, Kuwabara, and Botan. I don't feel up to talking, my heart's just not in it. My family... they are all dead. I as good as killed them by not doing anything to show loyalty to our alliance. I betrayed them all. I've failed them. I have failed them all...

"Daja, don't worry about it. You did what you had to do." Botan says putting her arm around my shoulders. She hugs me tightly, and that only serves to worsen the pain in my stomach because of that stupid hit I took from Sensou. Kurama, he did his best to make me feel better and I thank him for that, but his stupid liquid made it hurt more by opening up the wound again.

I look up and find Hiei leaning up against the wall in front of me, looking at me with an intense disinterest. His gaze pierces me and makes me very feel rejected, as if he was pushing me out of his life and into the icy cold brightness. I look back down and choke back the sobs that burn my throat.

"I-I have f-failed-d..." I stutter disgusted with myself. Botan pulls me closer and tries to make me feel better by trying changing the subject to something less depressing. I push her away and get up swiftly. I need no pity from a ferry girl who has never had any loss as great as mine. Her pity will kill me faster than my many enemies will.

I walk over to the window and collapse in the large armchair in the corner by the lone window in between the bookshelves filled to the top with assorted, leather-bound books. I am exhausted and I need to rest my mind and body really badly. I want to forget everything. I want to crawl into a hole and disappear for a few years. I want to go back to the way things were before, to when times were good, steals were easy, and my family was with me, forever marching by my side. I want to leave and travel back to the past. I want... I want to feel...

I've become so numb....


Keiko:

"Keiko, it's best you leave her alone. She gets to be very violent, you know what I mean." Yusuke whispers in my ear as I am about to get up to go talk to Yusuke's detective team's newest addition. I disregard his statement and walk over to the girl curled up in the armchair under the window. I sit on the arm of the chair, and when she doesn't respond, I sit more comfortably.

"Hello Daja, my name is Keiko Yukimora." When she doesn't respond again I continue on with a slightly one-sided conversation.

"I know what you must be going through." I say looking out the window remembering my own problems while trying to get Daja through her own issues.

I continue to stare out the window, not really expecting an answer from Daja. But I get one anyway.

"How so?"

The voice was soft, and barely audible, almost as if the speaker was not entirely talking to me at all.

Smiling gently, I continue trying to comfort Daja by answering her questions.

"I, too, have dealt with the pain of losing someone I cared for more than life itself." I didn't tell her that this person was Yusuke, but I had a feeling it did not really matter. Daja lifted her head up and looked at me with sad blue eyes.

"I see" was all she said but those two words conveyed more feeling than twelve Shakespearean sonnets in a quick succession. With that she sat up and looked at me with thankful eyes. I was the first to not immediately comfort her with I'm sorry for your losses, but I was the first to talk to her as if she still had some shred of humanity in her lost soul. I was the first since the fight to treat her as an equal, not as some thief, or some patient, or a detective, or a grieving girl.

After a few minutes of a comfortable silence, Koenma's ogre George comes out of the office to gather the detectives for a meeting. Botan and I sit worriedly on the couch as all five detectives file in, Yusuke first, and Daja last. Not at all reassuring, but strangely soothing to see everything done in such order and with precision.

"I think Koenma's mad," Botan says as the doors close to the office.

"I think so too." I whisper looking at the armchair where Daja had been sitting. Something is definitely not right....

It's the calm before the storm....


Satorisama: Hope you liked it. PLEASE REVIEW!!! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!

Hmm, i think i might do a preview for the next chapter. Change the endnote up a little bit, you know? Be on the edge.


PREVIEW for PART II Chapter 10-Reassignment:

"I did my best, but I couldn't help them."

She frowns and slams her fists into my desk. "Yeah!?! Well your best wasn't good enough. It wasn't NEARLY good enough."