A/N: Ok so I had this whole damned story planned out. It was to have three parts: a prequel, a one-shot to accompany the prequel, and this. It was going to be this whole thing with a huge war in the prequel, a heartbroken song-fic thing in the one-shot, and this whole life after war thing. But noooo I decided against it so I have a one-shot written and I can't do anything with it. And I have the whole outline thing written for the prequel. So I might get those out sometime in the future. But for now, this is to be an entirely different story. Feh.
"I thought… no, I was certain, there was no doubt that our love would last forever. Only now, I'm finding that forever is a long, long time…to be wrong."
-Adrian, Season's Turning
Her features showed no sign of surprise. But the slightest smile graced her lips, and even with the multitude of bruises and scars, she was just as beautiful as he remembered.
With a shaky hand she reached up, and he closed his eyes at her soft touch. Oh how he had longed for this, and without thinking he closed his eyes.
He saw what he thought he'd never see again. And that same, once forgotten happiness filled his every being.
It was what he had always wanted, from the last day it had happened: his name to escape her lips. And at last, at long last he heard it once more, "Hiei…"
Where the Heart Is
Chapter 2: Lilies and Reflection
His eyes snapped open just in time to meet the lighting searing across the rain streaked window. And as he sat here on the windowsill, he realized it had been nothing more than a dream.
His gaze, though hesitant, moved to meet the sleeping form of the girl. Who was his mind trying to fool with that dream, anyway? She had fallen back into unconsciousness after his loss of control. And, she would no sooner remember him almost shouting her name than she would remember him. . .
His eyelids were heavy, and once again, he allowed them to close.
A blinding flash of light, and once again, he was standing in the seemingly abandoned warehouse. He had once liked it in here, the demonic aura was nearly as strong as that of demon world. Humans never strayed into the stronghold, once they got too close, they'd conveniently have a bad feeling and hurry away. It was the perfect hideaway for an organization such as theirs.
"I quit." He said, as if it would be that easy.
"And, why is that?" The voice was just as casual as his own, and the coldness of it was enough for even him to take warning.
"I'm not your slave. I'd rather kill on my own terms." He said. It annoyed him really, never being able to see who he was speaking to. It seemed ridiculous, it always had, to listen to nothing but a voice on the speaker. Oh how he had grown to loathe that speaker.
"We had an agreement, Hiei. You work for us, and in return, receive that Jagan eye of yours." Hiei growled, he knew very well of this deal of theirs.
"You lied to me! I no longer see the point in a deal." His fingers brushed his katana, an act that would prove to be nothing short of useless.
"Come now, if we didn't hide your sister from detection, we never would have gotten our hands on such a fighter." The voice continued when Hiei opened his mouth in rage, "And you would have had no chance to become half as strong as you are now."
"Now, now, Hiei, we know why you want out. And unless you take care of this little problem. . . we will."
The words echoed throughout the warehouse, and with another blinding flash, he was pulled, forcefully out of the scene.
Once again, the sound of the crashing rain met his ears and he opened groggy eyes. As it had turned out, it had been the knocks on the door that had awaken him.
"Hiei! I know you're in there, open up." The voice was female, and he could smell her scent mingled in that of the rain.
There were a few more angry pounds on the door, and the fire demon strode to the door reluctantly, pulling it open to yet another flash of light, here in the conscious world.
"Hiei!" The girl fell in, and he caught her with ease.
"Uhh… Hiei?" He blinked, and the scene was particularly different. The girl, Kagome stood in front of him, with the red haired fox princess staring serenely behind her.
He imagined he had had a rather shocked expression on his face. In embarrassment he dared not let show, he turned quickly, leading them into the little house. "What do you want?" He demanded broodingly.
"I brought flowers." She said cheerfully, holding out to him a small vase of fresh dew dropped lilies.
Flowers. What simple minded creatures humans were. Hiei rolled his eyes mentally, snatching the crystal vase from her hands, "That's all fine and dandy but you still haven't explained what you're doing here. You fools, this isn't a playhouse."
The girl ignored him, hurrying over beside the young woman lying still on the bed. "I still can't believe you took her in." She said, examining her.
Kurama's eyes, however, remained on Hiei, and the koorime shot a warning look at him. "I'm curious myself, Hiei." The fire demon sent him a glare which would probably make anything but Kurama shiver. He slammed the vase on the counter on which he was leaning on and folded his arms, pretending to find a sudden interest in the wooden floor.
"Hey, she's waking up!" Kagome exclaimed, motioning for the other two to come closer. Thankfully, the fox obliged with a rather knowing look at Hiei. The koorime stood his ground, watching with interest out of the corner of his eye.
The awaking girl let out a moan of pain, which was quite understandable considering the amount of wounds she had obtained.
"Hello. I see you're finally awake." The fox, who had repositioned beside the bed, said politely. Hiei had the distinct urge to roll his eyes.
"Wh-Where..?" She seemed to weak to find her words, and her voice rasped with difficulty. Hiei turned away, what was he doing? What was he thinking? He hadn't thought he'd ever have to face her again. And yet, it was becoming more and more difficult to keep a straight face.
"You're safe. It was lucky Hiei found you when he did." Kurama said gently, motioning to where the fire demon had instantly froze in his place.
She turned to him, and his eyes moved on their own to meet hers. "Thank you." She said weakly. It was a sincere statement, but as the same time, she didn't seem to happy of her predicament. She hadn't seemed to change since the time he had known her. And even now, he knew she hated, more then anything, to seem weak.
He looked at her for a moment, his mind scattering in dozens of different directions. Finally pulling his act together, he spoke. "It'd be foolish but you don't have to be here, you can leave if you want. I don't care."
"Hiei!" Kagome reprimanded, glowering at him. But it was of no use, the demon had already slammed the door behind him.
Sango watched him in sheer confusion. She was far to surprised by his antics for anger to kick in just yet. It wasn't, after all, as if she had asked to be saved.
"Don't worry about him." The red-head said, his kindness emanating off his every being. He smiled down at her politely. "Hiei's not as.. friendly as others." The girl next to him snorted, but smiled down at Sango quickly.
It was then that the memories of the previous night came flooding into her mind, as if she had been hit by a bulldozer. She flinched at the sight of her husband, the musky scent of his breath, his slurred, no longer gentle voice, and the shots of pain emanating from different areas of her body every second.
Hiei burst out of the cabin, slamming the door closed behind him by sheer instinct. His head pounded with suppressed emotions which he twisted so far beyond recognition that it was difficult for even he to tell what they were.
The koorime raced into the woods, swiftly drawing his sword as he did so. She was supposed to be out of his life. He slashed at incredible speed, the tree only falling easily when he was already quite far away. He was never supposed to see her again. Another slash, and a flock of birds screeched angrily at him as their sanctuary fell loudly to the ground. With agility far too quick for the human eye to see, he leaped up, now traveling from branch to branch, above the puddle ground. But was he happy to see her again? With a shot of rage, he brought his sword down along with his body, and with one downward motion, he easily split one of the thickest trees down the middle.
Of course he was.
Kirara had never been one to like climbing trees. However, what with her owner sending the largest falling, the ground wasn't exactly the safest place to be at the moment. Instead she perched herself on a fairly small tree. It didn't take much to hold her weight. She wasn't exactly safe in this position, so she remained standing, her tiny legs ready to leap when needed.
It seemed, however, he had finally stopped.
Caring, crimson cat-like eyes watched as he panted, exhausted, as any demon even of his level would be from his earlier burst of exertion. Although the little cat demon's thoughts couldn't be put into words that he'd ever be able to understand, she understood. The two had spent a lot of time together, and perhaps it was because she couldn't speak to him that he admired her company. Instead, she stayed by his side, fully ready to share with him the pain he had endured since the accident.
And although finally being able to see her original owner pleasured her to a certain degree. . . she understood very clearly his unease. She understood that her real owner, the girl called Sango, would never remember her face. And she understood the pain it had brought to her. . .
She understood the pain it brought to him.
The petite demon dropped from her branch, landing softly and almost soundlessly in front of her distraught keeper's hunched form. He didn't look up, instead his gaze remained focused on the ground as he continued to catch his breath.
Somehow, Kirara knew that just her presence near him helped. Neither were sure how or why, but for now, her place remained here. And so they remained in this position, silently sharing with each other the world of pain that came with even the slightest thought of the girl called Sango.
"Hiei's been out for a while, where could he have gone to?" Kagome asked quietly, so as not to disturb the girl who had recently fallen into another deep slumber. She wrung what was once a white towel out into the bowl of what quickly became bloodied water.
The fox demon gave her a warm smile, "You shouldn't worry, I'm sure he's ok." The girl nodded, hanging the towel on the side of the bowl.
"I can't say the same about her, though." She said, turning toward the girl sleeping on the small bed. "What do you think could have happened to her?"
Kurama didn't answer with words. There was nothing he could say, and he had a feeling that whatever he did say would only do to further Kagome's worries. Instead, he turned to the window, watching the rain that had just begun to fall. His kitsune nature cursed him with unbearable curiosity, and the current situation did nothing to help. Who was this girl? Where did she come from? What had happened to her?
And most importantly: Why would Hiei, of all people, bothered to save her?
She turned and smiled at him, her hands gently holding a bunch of fresh wildflowers. Behind her the sun shone brightly, and the wind picked up to play through her long loose locks. Her eyes glistened, and his nostrils were attacked by the sweet scent of the field of blossoms, bright and beautiful enough to fit a story book.
She liked flowers. She had always felt safe when they were around, just the smell of them calmed her.
Lilies. She loved lilies.
He knew this because he had spent much time trying to figure out what kind of atrocity a lily was. For her. "When mother was alive, she would fill the house with lilies. Just waking up to them made me feel safe." She had once said. The concept was silly to him, but he had to admire these lily things, for they brought a certain sparkle to her eyes as she spoke of them.
"Hn. Simple minded creature." He scoffed at her, nearly putting his nose up in arrogance.
"Stupid demon." She shot back, glaring at him something fierce. At this point he couldn't help but spare the slightest bit of a smile. That was it.
That was what drove him crazy. The slightest thing could make him smile as long as it was her doing it. It wasn't really that he enjoyed not smiling. It was just that he rarely found a reason to.
She smirked, blowing on some flower that looked like a white fuzzball so that a bunch of little white fuzzballs came flying at him.
But he was finding that with her. . . she was every reason to smile.
He had reached his home by the time he managed to bring himself back to the present. Kirara was by his side and he looked down only to receive a rather knowing look from her, one that clearly said, "I know you've been remembering. . .". "Shut up." The words were cold, but Kirara showed no signs of effect.
As he approached his door front, the voices on the other side of the thin door slid easily to his demonic ears. "Your husband?"
The voice was Kagome's, and unless Kurama had something he clearly wasn't sharing, process of elimination would point out that she could only be talking to her.
Hiei stopped frozen in his tracks, standing mere inches from his own door.
Her husband?
Husband?
The old woman's eyes slimmed as she broke eye contact with him, looking toward the ground. She looked very much like a doctor preparing to give his patient the news of his oncoming fatality. "Her father has already found a suitor." His blood ran cold, and everything in him was begging whatever higher power there was for it not to be true. "If you truly loved her, you'd just understand."
"Understand what?" He practically yelled, and at this point he didn't really care how he spoke to this woman.
She didn't recoil, she didn't cringe. She simply stood there, staring at the ground with her hands folded behind her hunched aged back. "Understand the life that Sango should have. Was meant to have." He stared at her, half in disbelief, and half in sheer understanding. She paused for a fair few seconds before looking up, locking her aging eyes with his own, "What future could you possibly give her?"
"Y-yes. . ." The girl's voice was weak, but she carried on, "I. . . He became angry with me."
"What? You mean he did this to you?" Kagome exclaimed, her eyes widening in horror. She stood up quickly, the stool she had been occupying sliding back with a shriek against the wooden flooring.
The girl shook her head as much as she was able to, which obviously caused her pain in itself. "You have to understand, he isn't a bad man. It. . . it was my fault, really."
"YOUR FAULT?"
"Yes, his work gives him a lot of stress and-"
"It doesn't matter! Under no circumstances should a man even think about hurting h-"
"Kagome, maybe you'd better calm down." Kurama warned gently, placing his hand on her shoulder. The girl grunted, but took her seat once more nevertheless.
Sango smiled lightly, her eyes softening considerably as she lightly fingered the design on the blanket.
"Listen, I know it looks bad, but please don't judge my husband. He's given me more than I could ever ask for. And, well, this is just something that's happened once. It was a mistake. A once in a lifetime mistake. So please. ."
Hiei stared at the ground beneath his feet as the rain began to fall harder, drenching his clothes and clinging them to his body. He paid no attention to this, instead he wallowed in his disbelief.
The thing that had drawn him to this human girl. What intrigued him. What made her different from any other foolish human girl. What made her Sango. That was the fire she had. The fire of a mighty tigress, independent and fierce.
Something within her had died, and it was clearly visible to him just with the words she now spoke of a man. Some bastard that did this to her. His blood felt as if it were beginning to boil inside of him as he thought of it.
And at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to wring the neck of the man who would dare lay even a finger on Sango.
There was no way to measure how long he stood there in the rain with these thoughts. Just listening to her.
Just listening to her speak of her husband. . . He knew-she was no longer Sango. Not only was she no longer his, she was no longer her's either. It sounded as if the tigress he had once admired had been caught, and caged as if she were a pet.
"I'd never let anyone own me." Her eyes flickered toward him, glaring fiercely at him a fire that just dared anyone to try.
Kurama sighed, did the little demon really expect his presence just on the other side of the door to go unnoticed? He had been standing there for a good ten minutes, and the girl called Sango had already fallen asleep.
"Poor thing. . .I can't believe. . .poor thing." Kagome had muttered the same phrases repetitively, whether she realized it or not. As she finished cleaning up, Kurama spoke softly to her, as to not wake the girl up.
"We'd better go." He said, flicking a knowing look at the door which he knew his friend was behind.
Sure enough, the now sopping wet demon appeared at the doorway, the door swinging out behind him. Without a word to his conscious guests, he trudged in.
Kagome looked from Kurama to Hiei and nodded wordlessly, and made her way toward the exit. The spirit fox looked at his friend, "We'll be back tomorrow."
The fire demon didn't bother to respond, much less even look at him. Instead, he plopped himself down on the windowsill, not caring the least bit about his dripping clothing.
Kurama gazed at him for a mere second before turning, and escorting Kagome into the stormy trail home. As the door closed Hiei let out a sigh, looking up to see Kirara climb effortlessly on the chair beside the bed, her watchful eyes on her former master.
The girl lay peacefully, her chest rising and falling with every sleeping breath she took. She still wasn't breathing correctly, the demon noted.
He wasn't sure whether to berate himself or not. He had promised himself once that he would never let anything happen to her. . . not that she would have liked the thought of that, of course. But after. . . after he lost her, was she really hers to protect?
He stood, his body moving without any commands he was aware he was even giving. Grabbing the vase of lilies, his legs brought him to her side.
The bruises on her once flawless skin. The broken bones and the jagged sounds in her troubled breathing.
"Just waking up to them made me feel so safe."
He shut his eyes, turning away from her after setting the vase of lilies on the bedside table.
They would be the first thing she experienced when she woke.
A/N: Agh. Just wanted to post this before I left to Maui. If you want to contact me or have any questions, my myspace is on the homepage of my info, and my aim is x juju bii . .. . don't ask about the sn, just. . .don't ask.
There are probably a bunch of mistakes in this, so sorry, I will fix them later, I promise.