Disclaimer: Don't own YYH or Osa. And I'll finally admit to not owning God and all his minions or Satan, though their thoughts and actions in this are mine. Don't like it? You'll get over it.

Chapter 35

Unbroken Promises

"Are you ready to die, Hokage?" Sugisaki huffed, pressing harder on the blades.

Hokage forced a smile. "I'm always ready. Can you kill me?"

The fire demon smirked, eyes flashing in the lightning. With great speed, he removed his right hand from his sword, pulled out a knife, and thrust it into Hokage's stomach. For a final touch, he twisted the blade sharply.

She trembled with pain, letting her blade fall away, pushing Sugisaki's away as well. Blood dribbled from her mouth and her eyes became unfocused. She fell into him, gripping his shirt so he couldn't push her away.

"Now, Hiei," she thought. "Do it now. Run me through."

"I…I can't," Hiei answered, voice trembling even in thought.

"You swore, Hiei. You swore to me."

Hiei clenched his jaw and gripped his sword hilt. He readied the blade and pushed off. "Damn you," he thought.

"Sugisaki," Hokage gasped. "Maybe…we'll meet again…in Hell. I'd like that." Her eyes grew wide as Hiei's blade slid into her back and through into Sugisaki. She coughed up blood.

Hiei pulled the katana out quickly. He caught Hokage as she fell, watching the Fire Lord hit the mud. "You're so stupid," he whispered in her ear, easing her to the ground. Hovering over her to shelter her from the hard rain, he stroked her face. "You'll be ok. You'll heal."

Hokage smiled and shook her head slightly. "No, Hiei. I can't heal. I was dying before this. I've been dead…for so long."

He bit his lip and closed his eyes. "I refuse to believe that."

"It doesn't matter…what you believe, Hiei. It's happening…whether you like it or not." She shivered and moaned.

"You can't die, Hokage. You can't. We just got started." He forced back his tears. "We've only just met."

"And I regret that. But if not today, then it would've been tomorrow…or the next."

"You can't leave me, Hokage. Not yet."

"I also made a promise. How else would I get an army from Hell?" She gasped for air and coughed up more blood.

Hiei held her close to him, trying to forget that she was dying.

"Love Tokiya for me, ok? Teach him all you know. Please. He's the only child I'll ever have. I want him to be yours, too. Please."

He nodded. "It's not fair."

"I know. But I've lived longer than was expected. I'm tired, Hiei-kun. So tired." She sighed long and easy. "It doesn't hurt so much anymore."

Hiei shuddered as his heart began to break.

"Don't cry for me, Hiei. Never cry." She closed her eyes. "And tell Yukina…what you've been…longing…to tell…her." A long sigh escaped her blue lips and she breathed no more.

The demon clenched her tightly to him, trying to find her warmth. "Don't leave me…I'm begging you. Please don't leave me, Hokage. Come back to me. I don't want to be alone anymore."

Osadyro froze, her heart being crushed. The chains were so tight, suffocating her, breaking her. She was immobilized. Her breathing was cut short; she couldn't think; her eyes wentin and out of focus. The only thing that kept her from being killed was the Soul Army.

And then, the crushing, binding chains fell away and vanished. She slid to the muck, felled by an invisible force. Knowing in her shattered heart that something terrible was wrong, but unable to comprehend what had happened. So she let the rain beat down upon her tired body, soaking her fur through to the bone.

Angel, too, felt this pain in his heart. Felt those suffocating chains. But his motion did not falter. He was not felled by this pain in his heart. Even when the chains he had helped build disappeared, he ignored that loss. He ignored the sadness tugging at his heart, still whole and painless. Just ignored it all.

"Darkfire, don't forget who you were before you came here," Raphael said, hugging her from behind.

"If I don't let go of that life, Raphael, I'll never make it here where I'm shunned instead of admired. I'm hated instead of adored," Darkfire answered, leaning into him.

"Who you were in life defines you. Can you just let it go?"

"I'm a freak of nature, dearest Raphael, I can do anything."

"And what will you do?"

"God created me to disobey, you know this. He says to keep the Order. I hate the Order."

"So you're going to destroy it?"

"Obliterate it. Send Heaven into chaos. This anger, this lust, compels me to." She closed her eyes and whispered, "You know you want it as much as I."

"Hokage," Hiei mumbled, still clinging to her dead body. "You can't be gone." "Of course she's not gone, dear Hiei. No one is ever really gone," Darkfire cooed.

"Hokage's dead! Can't you just go away?"

"I wish. But only in Hell will I be able to separate from her body. It sucks that way. Normally, I'd simply just go. But I made a deal. This is how it's made sure I go through with my part."

"You aren't making this any easier. Just stop talking."

"You can't escape the fact that she's dead. That she'll never hold you again. She'll never share your bed again."

"Just shut up! I know that, all right? But I don't want the memory to end. I don't want her to slip from my mind. She understood me…more than Kurama. When I said I was tired, she knew what I meant. She saw beyond my foolish pride, beyond the frozen walls around my heart. She knew." He kissed her cold neck, wishing he could find some comforting heat. But there was none, not even a little. "And now she's gone."

"I'm sorry it couldn't last longer, I truly am. If she had died before this night or after, you'd all be dead, too. She wanted you to live, Hiei. She always has. And so do I. We want you to live as long as it takes for you to find happiness. Don't give up now. Don't let her die in vain."

A weary soul emerged from the rain. It held out its hands towards Hokage, but Hiei didn't notice. Touching the demon's shoulder, it again reached for her body. But Hiei held her protectively. The soul's face distorted and it grunted.

"You must let her go, Hiei. She made a pact with the Devil, and he collects."

"I'm not ready to let her go."

"You can't hold on forever."

"I'm going to try."

"Stop being a child! You have friends who need an explanation, a child to take care of, and a sister to comfort and share secrets with! There's no time to grieve! And, Hiei, you have a note to find."

Hiei's jaw clinched and he gripped Hokage's corpse one last time. He let her fall to the mud and stood with his back to her. "Take her. Take her quickly."

The soul nodded and scooped her body up. It retreated quickly, calling to it all the other souls, the war won. The mass disappeared into the dark, tired and weary.

"Hiei, where's Hokage?" Kurama inquired, coming up behind his friend.

The little demon bit his lip and stared at the ground. "She's dead, Kurama. That was the plan all along. She died so we'd live." He whirred around and clung to Kurama's tattered and bloody shirt, hiding his face in the fox's chest. "She's dead, Kurama! I let her die! I couldn't save her! Hokage!"