Sorry everyone! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I was so busy, that I was unable to write anything! I really wanted to post this chapter sooner, just too busy. Sorry!
By the way, in addition to my apologies, I would like to dedicate this chapter to my faithful reviewers! You guys give me that fuzzy warm feeling (insert smiley face...for some reason I can't make any faces! No asterisks or carrot signs...-sniff-). Anyway, thank you Lil Rose Angel, anime baby 06080, Pai 927, AnneMarieh, PrincessKrystal01, and trunksgirl85.
Chapter 3: Diversions
Hiei sprinted uneasily towards the glowing bird. The smoke emanating from the bird was ominous and thus he decided not to run exceedingly fast. If this bird was of the demon world, then perhaps it would disappear if it sensed Hiei's presence. Better yet, this bird may know of a portal to spirit world. Kuwabara thought the bird on his windowsill was sent from Yukina, so the bird must have arrived here, in human world, somehow.
Of course, all these thoughts did not cross Hiei's mind. He was too fixated and flabbergasted by the coincidence. The pure fear pumped through the demon's body, forcing him to continue chasing the possible bird demon.
Yukina, Yukina! He desperately thought. I must find her!
Ignoring his earlier precautions, the demon leaped onto a wall which closed off Yusuke's school. He ran along the cement fence, attempting to catch up to the bird insistent flying. Quickly, he reached the end of the wall, only to leap forward to a nearby tree. Soon, the demon was sprinting and bouncing across house roofs, trees, and streetlights. Streets and parks quickly flashed by in the scenery as the bird, with Hiei close behind, flew onward.
The annoying pigeon ducked left, leaving a trail of red smoke. The demon instantly ducked under the trees in the park, in hopes of finding the bird. Instead, he found, white stones lying across the grass. He was not in the park, but a graveyard.
His heart grew cold, despite his fiery hide, thinking that the bird led him here, of all places. He grudgingly made his way across the grass glancing at each human name. Kneeling down at every tombstone, he caressed the stone indentations.
Midoriko Mizuka
1950-2000
Aoi Ryunoka
1910-1990
Usagi Kuchi
1940-2001
....and the list went on and on. More random, Japanese human names. More marble gravestones. But nothing significant to him. Hiei began to ponder whether the bird he saw was even real. Or maybe it was more cunning than he thought. Maybe it released smoke to lead him here as a diversion, while the bird flew in the opposite direction.
He sighed and slowly gazed across the ethereal field. A twinge of sadness enveloped him. Not for the deaths of course. But for the loss of his skills. Why did he hesitate in the beginning? He probably would have found and caught the bird by now if he had not acted so stubbornly. All this time in human world must be making him soft. However more importantly, he failed.
His legs beneath him gave way, as Hiei plopped himself onto the grass. He covered his eyes with his forearm and hoped that his earlier dream would come true. At least then he was physically in demon world, instead of stupidly dwelling in a human cemetery.
The grass beneath him was soft and comforted Hiei. It melted his thoughts of the bird, but upset Hiei more. Even the souls of the dead made Hiei feel the presence of home. Why did he screw up everything?
His thoughts burned in his head. He never thought of such things before. Before he met Yukina. Well, to be more precise, before Yukina met Hiei. On that day, when Togoro first made his appearance. He never talked to his sister before that moment. All the events that followed brought him torture. First with Kurama, Botan, and Yusuke taunting him relentlessly. Second, with Yukina constantly asking Hiei of the whereabouts of her brother, who unbeknownst to her was the demon himself. Lastly, with Hiei's new conscience. He never gave his crimes second thought. Technically he still did not feel guilt over the crimes themselves. However, it was his crimes and evil deeds which made Hiei afraid to confess his secret to Yukina. She did not need to know of her murderous brother, or of their past.
The pain which he felt was unimportant and should not be placed on Yukina's shoulders.
However the philosophy about his sister soon physically hurt Hiei's head. His skull burned with an intoxicating fire. Phennix's words scorched through his mind.
She deserves better, Hiei.
The exact words from his nightmare. Hiei tossed over on the grass, grabbing his skull.
"Stop it, stop it!" He screeched, unwittingly rolling down the hill. The tangible pain was insurmountable.
She needs you more than ever.
Find her in person. Speak to her. She needs you...
Crunch was the noise Hiei made when he smashed into the tall tombstone at the foot of the hill. His back throbbed, lying against the now cracked cement. The pain from his head, somehow made the demon physically weaker, and thus the fall's sting resonated through Hiei's body.
She needs you!
The fleeting words faded along with the fire in his head at last. With the original pain gone, his other wounds soon diminished. However, it left Hiei with a sense of grogginess. He could sense sleep begin to pull him.
The fear of another possible nightmare containing Phennix forced Hiei to blink his eyes open.
The red bird from earlier was perched on his knee, tilting its head and gazing into Hiei's eyes. It chirped, attempting to comfort the fire demon, but to no avail. Hiei was too exhausted to sneer back or angrily hit the bird.
It was the size of a sparrow but was apparently not of the human world. Though the bird possessed characteristics of a regular bird, a strange spirit signal emanated from it. The sparrow chirped again as it edged its way closer to Hiei's face. Close enough to touch, the bird pecked Hiei continuously.
Annoyed, the demon regained his strength to swat the sparrow away. However, the bird returned to its exact previous location. The sparrow sang, chirped, and made as much noise as possible to awake the fallen demon.
He sighed with fatigue but edged to his feet, despite his sore limbs. The bird appeared cheerful at this and flew around Hiei. It quickly soared past Hiei, but the demon did not follow. He ignored the bird and walked in the opposite direction.
Surprised, the bird returned to Hiei's shoulder. It pecked his neck, and this time, Hiei did not show aggression. The sparrow, realizing the technique failed, spiraled around Hiei, trying to receive his attention. Hiei gazed at the bird, now floating in front of him, with a tired, uneasy look. Yukina, he thought. Nodding his head to show approval of the bird, Hiei followed the sparrow.
It once again soared past Hiei, but this time the demon pursued. The two made their way through and out the graveyard. Chirping, the bird immensely increased its speed, flying across the street.
The demon looked forward to see the bird enter a building. Curious, he past the street and climbed up several flights of stairs. At last, he reached the edifice. Grudgingly pulling the door handle, he realized was entering a library.
The books were overflowing on the shelves, and a musty smell escaped the entrance. Hiei cautiously entered the library, in search of the bird.
He quickly saw the bird perched on one of the bookshelves. Acknowledging the demon, the sparrow flew down and into a different section of the library. Intrigued, Hiei ran to follow the bird. Left, right, right, left, right...... and on and on. The shelves were endless and as Hiei continued into the heart of the library, the smell grew exponentially.
After several minutes of ducking in and around the different rows, Hiei reached a dead-end wall. A concerned visage appeared on his face as he searched for the bird, which he was following endlessly. The demon turned around, disappointed and slightly angry, to find Yukina's ribbon acting as a bookmark in one of the books.
Gasping, he snatched the book into his hands. Carefully inspecting the text, he noticed the ribbon was accompanied by a red feather. The novel itself was large and heavy. Its pages were yellowed with occasional painted pictures. The letters were in cursive and elegant. With parts in kanji other in hiragana. Only a bibliography in the back of the book was translated into English. After flipping through its pages, he caressed the red cover. Pegasus, a griffon, and other fantastical creatures were illustrated upon it.
At last, he opened the page to where Yukina's ribbon was placed. However, before he could inspect the picture and text within, a voice startled him. He quickly thrust the book shut.
"Hiei? I never thought to find you here," The red haired boy chuckled slightly.
"Kurama? What are you doing here?!"
The fox laughed heartily at the response. "This is a library Hiei. Don't you think I would spend my time here? I spend nearly all my time in books. I, however, am interested as to why you are here, amongst these books."
Hiei opened his mouth to make a retort, but surprisingly nothing came. He was still in physical pain after his cemetery experience, and tired of conversation after his encounter with Kuwabara.
"Well, then, may I ask what book you are holding in your hands?" He taunted and pointed, oblivious to his friend's plight.
"Nothing." Hiei sneered and turned slightly away from Kurama.
"Really?" The fox demon smirked and snatched the old text. "Looks like a mythology book. I never knew you were interested in this type of thing." Kurama flipped the pages in self amusement and awe of the book. He marveled at its contents and intriguing pictures. "Not just Greek or Roman, but Celtic as well. How interesting!"
Hiei raised his eyebrow at Kurama trance and shrugged his shoulders. "Can I have it back now?"
"Wait a second Hiei. Can you even read this?"
"WHAT?! Are you doubting my intelligence?!" He gasped.
"No, no. Of course not. I know full well that you can read demonic text. However, I would assume you are unaware of kanji characters," Kurama stated, but then smiled, seeing Hiei's embarrassed expression. "You really can't read it?"
"Of course I can!"
Slightly amused, Kurama opened the book to the page with Yukina's ribbon. "Ok, here is a test then." He turned the book to face Hiei, and pointed at the heading of the new chapter. "All you have to do is tell me what this one letter is. Only this one. Forget about the other characters in the title. I would think this would be easy for you Hiei."
Hiei peered into the book and glared at the character which lay above Kurama's finger. It had four strokes in it and appeared very simple. One diagonal stroke that was pointing down on the left side (and up on the right). Extending out of the major stroke, a smaller one pointed downwards to the right. The two remaining strokes were on either side of the middle picture.
"Humph. This is idiotic. I don't need some stupid test!"
"I knew you couldn't read," Kurama laughed. "For the record, this character means fire. See the title in its entirety, I can't make out. Something about fire and ice. I am not sure."
Intrigued, Hiei turned to look at the book. However, Kurama had it facing himself. The fire demon walked behind Kurama to see the boy interpreting the text. Kurama flipped the pages back and forth. "I was never really that good at kanji. There are way too many characters. Oh hey, look at this."
Both demons gazed with awe at the gorgeous portrait of a phoenix. Hiei was now certain that all of this was not a coincidence. His dream, Phennix, the bird, this book... all of it was related and pointing to Yukina.
"This chapter. I need you to translate for me!" He demanded, pointing at the yellow pages.
"???" Kurama eyed his friend with awkward curiosity. "Only if you tell me what you're doing and why."
"Doing? Absolutely nothing..... I am just... uh..."
"Spare me the excuse. I know you're hiding something and you better tell me what it is."
A/N: Yay! Finally this chapter is completed! So tell me what you think. Good, bad? Boring, exciting? ...oh and, you guys like this length or should the chapter be longer?
Thanks for your feedback guys, and I will try to post on time next week.
PS. Just thought I would give some quick insight. Those random names on the tombstones.... The first name means green child (well the last part has something to do with water), the second name means blue dragon's fire (I think...sort of), and the last one means rabbit lips. I know, really random, but hey I couldn't think of anything exceptionally good.
PPS. Just so you guys know, Yukina will appear in either the next chapter or the one after that. So stay tuned please!