A/N: Hello once again, Dearest Readers!
Not much to say here other than hope you enjoy it!
Symbols Guide:
* : Written by CM; She writes for Akari and Hiei
3 : Written by Star (supposed to be the 'heart' symbol, but FF doesn't like the 'less-than' sign, so it's a 3 instead); She writes for Toriko/Shikiyoku and Kurama
~!**!~ : A universal transition between scenes or characters, sometimes used to indicate a passage of time, but most often used to transition between major scenes that are happening. As the story progresses, this will evolve into mainly separating the (usually two) scenes happening between authors/characters.
As a general rule, anything in italics is thoughts.
Unless it's used in a sentence like this, which merely indicates emphasis.
"Quotations are usually reserved specifically for telepathic dialogue being transmitted from one being to another, but sometimes this can also mean a character isn't being careful about what they're thinking and anyone with telepathy in the nearby vicinity can listen in without taking any effort."
The only exception to that last rule is for the Shiba Inu dog, Nabu. All of his "spoken" dialogue will be in italics and quotations, but is communicated through body language or dog-like noises, so unless a character is able to translate those they are unlikely to pick up on what he is saying any more than the average person might understand his general moods like aggression (bared teeth, ears back) or excitement (wagging tail).
Previously on Yu Yu Hakusho!
Otento manages to escape the grasp of the gang, but not before injuring Toriko.
Back in Koenma's office, the group learns that there is a demon running around Human World pretending to be Youko Kurama,
and Otento is assisting him.
Afterwards, Akari and Nabu head to the park and Botan takes Toriko home.
However, Koenma calls Botan back and Hiei appears, called by the bond between he and Toriko.
Maneshi talks Hiei through cauterizing her wounds and then the cat takes to healing her,
but there was a virus that the blades were laced with that are eating away at her power.
Only Shikiyoku will be capable of fighting the virus off, but it is a matter of convincing her to do so.
In the end, it is Toriko herself who manages to draw Shikiyoku out and Shikiyoku turns her thoughts to Hiei to get his attention...
Hiei sat back with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes closed in irritation and slight disappointment. He waited, though he held little to no patience within himself at all. Part of him doubted that Shikiyoku would comply and simply emerge, but there was a part of him that figured she'd just need to think about it. Of course, there wasn't much time, so he kept watching Toriko, gauging whether he would have to reconnect with her and force her out, though he didn't know if it was possible. He'd never tried before.
His eyes were glued on Toriko, watching her breathing as Maneshi continued to lick at the wounds. He ignored the cat, watching Toriko, waiting for any sign of change.
And then suddenly, he felt an odd feeling sweep over him. His eyes widened as he recognized the feeling of another mind beckoning to him, calling for his attention. He searched the planes of the girl's face for changes, but nothing changed other than his thoughts about them. For a moment, he didn't recognize the shift in his thoughts, his calm demeanor masking them entirely. But after a moment, he realized that this must be how she grabbed his attention when necessary. He realized it could be her power, and a small part of him boiled at the thought.
Immediately, his mind touched hers. "That's not necessary." he said quickly, teeth grinding only a bit. "What is it? Decide to play along?" *
She pouted at him from with her mind, "Well, I can't exactly call to you in the conventional sense. I don't remember our pact so it won't let me."
She shifted gears, her words steely and cold as if she spoke through gritted teeth, "And let me make one thing perfectly clear to you, flame-boy: I am NOT doing this for YOU. Not because you asked me, not because you are suddenly acting as if you want me to. Because if I was doing anything for you, it'd be letting myself die so that you would be rid of me, since you seem to find your prospects with me so utterly distasteful."
If she were standing in front of him, she would have been pointing at him and spitting the words out like so much venom. As it were, she primly let go of her mental barrage and went to business, "Now, if I'm needed so very badly, I'm not sure what exactly prevented you from removing my seals. You would do well to remember their presence should any actual emergency arise. I can do little here within their prison should they still be in place." 3
Hiei raised a brow at Shikiyoku, but said nothing at her words of him not being the reason she decided to live. Normally, he would have sneered and made more than just a few more snide comments, but there was a part in him that said he didn't have the time to play games anymore. It held his lips glued together, listening quietly, obediently, as she spoke of her seals.
Yes, he had remembered them, but for some reason, he hadn't thought them much of an issue. He supposed his own emotions had masked his rationality enough to keep him from considering the thought again. So, without even a simple response, Hiei withdrew once more, leaving her alone in her consciousness as he returned to the bedroom he had been sitting in. His eyes focused after a moment, and merely because it was easier, he moved and turned Toriko so that she lay on her stomach, face buried in the pillow, but in such a way that it was turned enough to earn oxygen as she breathed. He didn't care at the moment about her comfort. He merely began pulling pins from her head, remembering where each and every one was.
It didn't surprise him that they had been replaced in the exact same places as before; it must have been an extreme sense of routine, having gotten accustomed to placing them in a very precise way. In moments, they were all in his hand, and he had removed her glasses as well, setting everything over on the stand by the bed and pulling her so that she lay on her back again.
He stood back, waiting with arms crossed over his chest. *
Maneshi voiced a small bit of kitty-protest at his work being disrupted, but his eyes widened as he watched Hiei remove the bobby pins almost within the same instant that he turned the girl over, pulling her back.
From within, Shikiyoku could feel her energy becoming more and more free, though this time since she was already awake and aware, she had full control by the time she found she could open her eyes and push herself sitting onto the bed. That was her first mistake
The entire time, it had been Toriko carrying the pain of the virus, and her body's nervous system took a brief reboot before slamming Shikiyoku with the same agony Toriko had been baring.
Shikiyoku found herself staring up at the ceiling not a half second after she rose, her mind going into a brief black-out so that she did not remember falling back down. She immediately cringed at the pain that tore through her bones and muscles, most specifically sucking away her demonic energy. She had more than enough to spare, but the feeling was so foreign and alien that it was all she could do to take a few ragged breaths while her brain caught up with the sensation.
"Wh..." She took another breath before being able to continue, "What's happening?" Her voice sounded odd to her own ears. "Kamis, my shoulder hurts." She followed up just as quickly, wishing she had the strength to reach over and clutch at it.
Maneshi moved back to it and began cleaning it again.
She shuddered as the final piece fell into place and she felt the deathly chill that lingered across her entire body. That was perhaps the most sapping aspect of all, her perception of the cold one akin to the life, and as a result heat, draining out of her one shiver at a time. 3
Hiei wasn't surprised when Shikiyoku emerged with complete control and sat up, nor was he surprised when she fell right back down again, eyes blankly staring up at the ceiling. He waited, watching her gather her thoughts and gauge the situation, the amount of pain he suddenly realized she hadn't been aware of. He hadn't thought of Toriko being the one bearing it all.
He seemed to be underestimating a lot recently.
"It's ill advised that you move," he said slowly, not caring if he sounded like a smartass. As soon as the question left her lips, he had his own open to respond with information, all that he knew had happened. "A demon visited Toriko earlier tonight. Before he left, and before I could even attack, he struck her- your- shoulder with three blades. I myself hadn't seen them, but I assume they were coated with a catalyst. A catalyst for a virus that now is spreading through your body, killing you from the inside out. I sealed the wounds on your shoulder so that you would not bleed out both blood and energy, but that's all it seems I can do." He paused, eyeing her slowly. "You have to fight it yourself." *
Shikiyoku opened one eye half-mast and regarded Hiei thoughtfully as he spoke, though she almost as quickly shut it, silently grumbling within her mind something in relation to Toriko's earlier comment about the fire demon being passably attractive. At just the sight of him and the sound of his voice, her heart skipped a beat as if she were half her actual age and with twenty times less the experience. She immediately dismissed it as cabin fever, having been locked up for so long, but it did stir her demonic energy a bit in the excitement before she could fight it back down, rebelling against her inherent nature for his sake and willing her scent and energy away, though simultaneously causing herself more pain.
She shivered again at the cold as he kept going, but felt odd at Hiei's willingness to pass along what he knew and unsure if a voiced expression of her thanks would be permissible to him. Or if he would even accept it.
The pain of the virus washed over her mind in wave after wave of agony once he stopped and she clenched her teeth together before a thought suddenly occurred. She could not speak for another handful of ragged breaths, but she gathered strength and then did so.
"Say...say something else." She ordered of him. "If you want to help," She added almost apologetically for what she knew to have sounded like a harsh demand, "Say something. Anything. ...please..." 3
Hiei raised a brow in slight confusion at the sudden demand, and he took in her expression that continued to grow riddled with more and more pain. He wondered if the thoughts of the virus made her feel the pain more prominently, and as she continued to practically beg for something else to be said, he mentally scrambled. Contrary to his inner thoughts, his expression turned blank, as if he were thinking of nothing more than "uh…", which was completely opposite of how he was, but exactly how he felt. What would he say that would console her? No, maybe it didn't have to be consolation?
He cleared his throat and released a small breath. He thought some more before deciding to go with something small. "The cat is interesting." *
Shikiyoku's laugh was pained and airy, not lasting longer than a second or two, her lips parting in a small smile.
"I...I have no idea where she got him." She admitted, unable to recall the memory as Toriko held it.
At his being the subject of their conversation, Maneshi paused in mid-lick to regard them both before going back to his work, close to the last portion of what had been the third gash.
"She found me." He spoke into the air so they could both hear him. "She rescued me." He clarified after a pause.
His eyes flickered over to Shikiyoku's face, his skin prickling with the awareness that she was in much more pain than she should have been at this stage of the virus, also knowing that her plea for conversation was a cry for distraction. And as macabre as he knew his thoughts were on the matter being what she was, it should have been a simple, if masochistic matter to twist the pain she felt into pleasure. Something else was going on, but he did not know what. 3
Hiei was a bit taken aback by the laugh he earned, but showed no signs of it on his features. He simply stared at her, watching her for any signs of her energy winning out- or failing, though he didn't want to consider it for reasons even he didn't understand. He frowned slightly, then nearly jumped when Maneshi's voice entered the conversation. He looked to the cat, raising a brow. He wanted to know more of the story, but didn't want to distract the cat from his healing, or so he assumed it was.
So he turned to Toriko- or rather, Shikiyoku- again, and eyed her carefully. "You said before that you do not remember our pact. Why is that?" *
"The simple answer is that I am not the one who made it with you, in the strictest sense." She paused for another breath, "Toriko offered it and I had little to nothing to do with it."
Maneshi finished his job and sat back to examine it, bending over twice more to cover places he did not think were done well enough before finally heaving a sigh. The pain in Shikiyoku's voice drew his gaze back to her face once more and he frowned, sensing something else that he hadn't considered before.
"Yoku! What are you doing?" He aimed at her, a bit of desperation creeping into his voice.
She did little else to acknowledge she heard him but opening her eyes slightly and looking over at him before closing them again.
"I have a question for you." She said aloud to Hiei, "How exactly did the pact come about?" 3
Hiei frowned, stalled a little by glancing at the cat. He eyed Maneshi curiously before turning back to Shikiyoku. He eyed her as well, as if her question was loaded with dangerous ammunition. But, he didn't lie; he felt that he couldn't, as if he were physically restrained from doing so. "She was attacked by a demon who's been around. I happened to be nearby when her energy went berserk." He paused, thinking back, the memory still a bit vague though he remembered most of the circumstances after the demon's leave. There were still small holes, but nothing of importance he deduced. "As defenseless as she is, I interfered. When I was about to leave, however, she convinced me to stay, to make sure he did not return." *
Shikiyoku sighed, "I vaguely remember something of that night. And as we are one in the same, so is our defenselessness. Our energy is only to coerce, not attack. The more we try to use it offensively, the more it coerces whoever is within our grasp. This is a problem, as I'm sure you witnessed, for which there is no solution."
As soon as she finished speaking, Maneshi spoke to her again, his eyes still staring in her direction, "What do you think you're doing?" He demanded, "You cannot continue this, this nonsense!"
Her eyes opened again, less so than before, a cloud of pain over her forehead, but said nothing as she glanced his way, her eyes flickering reflexively at Hiei before fluttering shut again.
"You have to let go. If you keep it up, you're only prolonging your agony."
"Then so be it!" Shikiyoku barked at him. "Not another word out of you!"
Maneshi visibly cringed back from her silent outburst. 3
Hiei raised a brow at the female, listening idly as she spoke, his eyes slowly moving around the room instead. He was searching for something, but he didn't know what. Perhaps another distraction topic? Probably. He gave a scoff though, glancing back at her again. "Understatement," he grumbled in reply to her speaking about her little problem. Of course, he said nothing more on the subject and glanced around again, frowning. He felt like something just wasn't right. As if he were missing something, perhaps even forgetting something. He loathed the feeling.
He turned to look at Maneshi, to see if the cat had any clues, and found himself watching the eye contact the feline made with Shikiyoku. He recognized the eye contact and the sparks that basically flew between them in the air, telling him of the mental connection going on there. It was something he could easily pick out, for obvious reasons.
"What aren't you telling?" *
"She-"
"Nothing."
"She's-"
"Nothing." Both of Shikiyoku's answers came much too quickly, the second one more harsh and accompanied by opening her eyes to stare at him.
The pair glared at one another, Maneshi's fur bristling at the challenge, though he remained thoroughly composed otherwise, seated near her arm on his haunches.
"I'm going to tell him. You know this."
"No. You're not." She narrowed her eyes at him, thinking her words between them so that Hiei could not listen in, "You do and I'll strangle you."
"You can't even lift your arms at this point, much less strangle me with them." He growled, sending his own thoughts into the air as he had been the whole time, wanting Hiei to get at least part of the conversation, "And soon, you're not even going to be able to hear him, so it won't much matter anyway, now WILL IT?"
She did not answer him, but the two reverted back to their staring contest, Shikiyoku's arm twitching once, but otherwise remaining next to her body on the bed. She shivered with cold and her eyes drew closed once more, her brow deeply etched with pain. 3
Hiei scowled at the one side of the conversation he could hear. He waited for more, but nothing more was given to him, and that made his irritation levels sky rocket into actual anger. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but he found himself assuming that something completely ridiculous was going on. He thought for a moment before rounding on Shikiyoku, arms crossed and eyes hard.
"Allowing oneself to die by means of preventable virus is a coward's way out. I'd rather die by the hands of a demon in a war." His tone was calm, but his voice was rough with his irritation, sounding as if he were almost speaking to a child. Well, that's exactly how he felt about the situation, since he was repeating himself over and over. *
"I have no intention of dying, you fool." Shikiyoku's eyes remained closed, but she grimaced before she got the pain under control again, "If I was going to die, I wouldn't have come out, now would I?"
She took another set of ragged breaths. She laughed as her mind played back his comment about the war. "My place in a 'war' is a much different one from yours. I am the part of the war that does not take place on the field of battle. If I wanted to die, to that field I would go."
"Drop it, Maneshi. He doesn't need to know." Her last thought got projected towards the cat, whom she'd felt wishing to speak again.
"But you're prolonging the virus this way! If you would let your energy go-"
"If I let my energy go, I'll just do things I regret, I'm sure."
Maneshi did not speak for a moment, the tip of his tail twitching.
"You are a different woman than I remember, Yoku."
"Yeah, well, blame my other half."
"You could blaze through the virus-"
"And take half the pain. Yeah, yeah, whatever. Stop bothering me about it." She began speaking to herself, though Maneshi was still able to hear most of what she said, "...already confused by him. ...doesn't need any more excuse to..." 3
A small huff left Hiei's lips and his eyes shifted to the side, his scowl still on his face. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he believed her when she said she had no intentions of dying. He looked around the room, thinking to himself for a bit; hadn't the cat said she could deal with it in a moment's notice? The thought made his frown deepen and his brows furrow a little, but he didn't say anything about it. He figured that, if she wanted to live, she'd deal with the virus in any way she saw fit. If she didn't want to simply blow it over, then he would let her do as she pleased. He'd done his job, after all. He didn't feel the need for another lecture, or to push her about anything like he had earlier. He didn't feel that he should be too worried, not that he would admit he ever was.
"How long will this take?" he suddenly asked, turning his eyes to her again to convey his calmness. *
"It should have been over in a matter of a quarter of an hour, if not much less." Maneshi's tail lashed.
"Shut UP, cat." Shikiyoku said between clenched teeth.
"As it is, she could take as long as the great part of the night."
"Shut. UP." Her eyes flew open and she glared at him before they fluttered back closed again, a horrible shiver of cold trembling her entire body and she grew very still and silent. 3
Hiei frowned only slightly more at this revelation, but again, he found himself wary of pushing the matter. He didn't know why, he just did. He thought for a second more, watching her closely. He wouldn't push her on the matter, and he wouldn't lecture her; quite frankly, he was tired. It'd been an off day and he had been roaming town, looking for the demon all day, only for this to happen. He wasn't exactly energized at the moment.
"Whatever floats your boat," he said casually, mimicking a human phrase simply because he couldn't think of anything else he could say about it.
As he continued to watch her, he noted the shivers that continued to wrack her body, and the effect this most recent one had on the woman. He raised a brow and then gave a small sound of resignation. He turned and let himself sit on the floor with his back against the edge of the bed. He waited for a moment, speculating how much he should spare, and then let a small amount of his energy become known in the room with the intent of helping her warm up a bit. He wouldn't know if it worked, but at least he wouldn't be useless. *
Maneshi sighed as he watched Shikiyoku fight her illness for another second, feeling Hiei's energy coming back into the room. With his cat-eyes he watched the tendrils weave their way into the air before settling above the body on the bed. The temperature did not change much around him, but he knew the area near her would be that much warmer for it.
As if to drive home the point that he did not approve of her recent decisions, Maneshi tromped over her legs and leapt off the bed, his first instinct having been to warm her with his own body and an instinct he decided to snub because of her own stubbornness.
He pranced over and wound himself underneath Hiei's legs, letting a small murl into the air while he did so and yawning as he came out the other side of them, turning back to the fire demon to place his paws on the humanoid's thigh and look over at him, already deciding on where he would next choose to settle down should this lap reject his presence. 3
Hiei let out a slow breath through his lips, stifling a yawn he didn't want to show. He sat still for a moment, not sure if he was exactly comfortable, but at the same time, not wanting to get comfortable enough to sleep. So, for a moment, he watched Maneshi wind himself around the fire demon, all the while setting his energy on an almost cruise-control setting, so that if he did fall asleep, it wouldn't get too hot in the room.
Finally, as Maneshi's paw touched his thigh, Hiei decided how he'd get comfortable. Slowly, he extended his left leg, deciding if the cat wanted to lay on his thigh, he could. He let his right elbow rest casually on his right knee, and then his head fell back to touch the mattress of the bed, supporting the weight of his head easily and in an oddly comfortable way. He didn't say anything to the person he glanced at for a moment. He merely let his own eyes slide shut, his ears listening to the ragged breathing of Shikiyoku. *
When Maneshi realized the fire demon wasn't going to push him away, he started purring and hopped over the lowered thigh onto the small bit of floor between Hiei's leg. He turned in a circle until he had his rear and tail almost underneath Hiei's other knee, lifting his front onto Hiei's thigh and settling down with his head raised royally as a cat will in a sphinx-like position with his front paws laying on top of Hiei's thigh.
He closed his eyes, his motor rumbling pleasantly at the warmth of the demon beneath him, opening one eye briefly to check on Shikiyoku before closing it and projecting a question into her mind that only she could hear.
"...why?" He knew she heard him, feeling her consciousness slowly considering how to answer the question, but at first she said nothing.
"You know why." She finally broke their mutual silence.
"But, I want to hear it from you." He replied calmly.
A wave of a sigh brushed over Maneshi's link with her.
"Truthfully?" She didn't even need to wait for his affirmative wash of emotion. "My imprisonment has changed me that much, I'm sorry to say. It's mentally trying to be isolated for nearly fifteen years and..."
She paused, struggling to get the words out and admitting what Maneshi wanted her to, "And I suppose that I am terribly afraid of driving him away."
Maneshi considered her answer, one that he'd already so much as guessed, "So you would suppress the very nature of your brand of demon, bringing untold amounts of pain onto yourself as a result, doubled by the fact that if you let your energy go the virus would run its course and eat through that energy all the faster until it killed itself, simply because you like him?"
Amusement poured over their mental connection. Hers.
"It sounds so pathetic when you put it that way."
"Well, it should sound pathetic. You're a seductress with the ability to have anyone, and as a by-product anything, but you hold back that ability where he is concerned simply because you want him to like you? It makes no logical sense."
"It is nigh impossible for me to have a true friend, cat. They are all spoils of my abilities. Is it unthinkable that perhaps I wish to have someone like me despite, or perhaps in spite of that?"
"Yes. It is unthinkable. It's not what you are."
"What am I then, cat? Old? Beyond the carnal desires that overtakes all demons in their first thousand years of life? Perhaps I am tired of who I am." She mumbled the next part almost to herself, "Perhaps Toriko and I are not all that different."
"You are strange. Influence his mind in the most trivial of ways and in an instant be rid of your sickness. The Yoku I heard of would not have hesitated to use others for her own needs."
"The Yoku you heard of had not been trapped within a near-human for going on fifteen years."
Maneshi did not disagree, but he still found her reasons trying and illogical. "Suit yourself." And he knew she would. 3
Hiei listened to the different sounds in the room; the purring of the cat on his thigh, the ragged breathing of the woman behind his head, the ticking of the clock on the wall, even the wind that had begun to howl outside. Each of these things began to add up to become a nighttime symphony, a small lullaby almost for the fire demon. Were it not for the occasional itch on his face or the random sounds of creatures he could hear outside, he likely would have gone to sleep in a moment's notice.
Instead, as he listened to this song of the night, he picked out the sounds he rarely heard, such as the purring and the clock. He could hear an odd sound outside that he had heard once or twice, and after a moment, he figured out it sounded much like the night birds of Demon world, and he deduced that it was an owl that called into the wind. He could still make out the occasional dog barking down the street, the occasional sound of other creatures nestling about in the trees as well, each settling in for the remainder of the night like Hiei was. And each sound added to the song, lulling him to sleep almost.
"Wake me should you grow uncomfortable," he said suddenly, shattering the silence as he referred to his energy. Of course, he didn't doubt she'd alarm him if his energy became overbearing. He simply had felt the need to say it aloud, and now that he had, he felt his mind clear all over again, and it was almost too hard to keep from sleeping. *
The night wore on, but sleep did not come for Shikiyoku, nor did she let it come. She could still feel the fire demon nearby and had she let herself sleep she would not have been able to control her energy, suppress it away as she currently did so that he was left entirely out of her influence. Without direct access to her demon energy, the virus had to be fed only a little at a time and the process was slow, and painstakingly so.
~!**!~
"Hiei!" Maneshi called desperately, "Hiei, wake up!" Maneshi dipped his head down to Shikiyoku's cheek and licked at a bead of sweat, his eyes wide with worry.
He had woken up not minutes ago and quietly slipped from Hiei's lap so as not to disturb the fire demon's rest to check on Shikiyoku, but she had not responded to anything he tried to say to her, and even now as he pressed a paw onto the bare skin of her shoulder, the first time gently then with more and more pressure, but she did not respond.
Her breathing was still ragged, but the expression on her face seemed serene, otherworldly.
"Yoku, please...please say something. Please talk to me." Maneshi licked at her cheek twice more, unsettled by the sheen of sweat covering her body that belied her still-freezing skin. When he touched her mind with his own, she did not respond. He could feel her there, her consciousness drifting just above sleep, but she did not react to him, almost as if she could not feel his presence within her. 3
Hiei could feel someone beckoning to him, could just hear a voice. He ignored it, too deep into sleep to care for the outside world at this moment. But it continued to call to him. And as he heard it again, a small part of his brain registered the feeling of panic behind it. He stirred only slightly, his head turning to the side and he let out a sigh in his sleep. A sigh of exasperation. He didn't want to wake up.
Again, it called for him, and this time, he registered who it was. Immediately, he remembered where he was and the circumstances of the night. And, with the remembrance, his eyes snapped open and he sat up straight, head no longer resting on the soft mattress.
"What is it?" he asked, pushing himself to his feet and turning to assess the situation. His energy still blanketed the room, yet he could see the cold sweat on the girl's face. He blinked; how long had he slept? It didn't matter, not right now. *
"She...she won't respond." Maneshi patted his paw on her skin to demonstrate that she did not appear to notice, though he continued, "This I expect. But for her mind to not hear me...?" He fell away, at a loss for words. 3
Hiei scowled and immediately opened his conscious to the woman, but still kept it open to Maneshi as well, in case he continued talking. He assessed the consciousness he touched, not really sure what to expect or do. "Shikiyoku," he called calmly, yet firmly, as if ordering her to answer. *
Maneshi scooted closer to Shikiyoku's head and examined her face. Any former trace of pain was gone. He did not seem particularly surprised by the revelation, and brought his nose close to her cheek, sniffing experimentally at her skin. He could feel the cold coming off of her in waves and his nose twitched at the uncomfortableness of the sensation, his whiskers brushing against her face. He glanced over at Hiei who stood over them, waiting to see if Hiei had any more luck, but it did not appear as if she heard Hiei either, as she remained laying just as unresponsive as before. 3
Hiei scowled not only internally, conveying his disappointment through his thoughts, but also on his face. No response had been given, and he wasn't sure he would be able to get her attention like he had earlier that night. Again, he called to her, repeating her name in a much louder tone.
Simultaneously, his eyes moved to Maneshi, his mind split between the cat and Shikiyoku. He still waited for a response that he didn't expect to receive. "I do not believe she hears me. Any suggestions?" *
"Why wouldn't I be able to hear you?" Shikiyoku opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling.
At least...she assumed she was staring up at the ceiling, but there wasn't anything there. In fact, her vision appeared to be just as dark as it had been when her eyes were closed.
She blinked once, slowly reopening to the same darkness as before. And for that matter, as a bit of panic began to rise in her mind, she knew there was no way they had moved her, but she had no sensation of lying down on her bed anymore. She could hardly even tell she was lying down at all. She could feel in her muscles a willingness to move, but at the same time could not herself move them besides her most basic of functions, such as breath, and the blink of her eyes, the moving of her lips to speak.
"..." Maneshi acted as if he was going to say something, but drew a blank at first, lowering his head to her ear and releasing an experimental 'meow' from his throat.
"What do you want, cat?" Shikiyoku frowned again.
"I...I did not think of that." Maneshi informed Hiei, feeling rather sheepish at the development. 3
Hiei severed his connection with her consciousness as soon as her voice shattered the actual silence of the room. He eyed her with scrutiny, curious about the developments before him. When Maneshi meowed in her ear and Shikiyoku reacted with slight irritation, he almost chuckled. Almost. Instead, he simply scoffed and crossed his arms, glaring at the cat with a hard gaze. "You woke me for nothing?" he grumbled, but he let it go and turned to the demoness. "You didn't respond to telepathy. And by the way your eyes are open but glossed, I can assume you see nothing? Why are you taking so long to rid yourself of the ridiculous virus?" *
"The longer you allow it to run its course, the more of your senses you will lose." Maneshi said into the air before he realized she couldn't hear him. He grumbled to himself, "We can only hope you don't take so long as to make the changes permanent." He made a noise of irritation at her as he sat back on his haunches and regarded her with an expression of distaste. "Pathetic."
Shikiyoku regarded the first of Hiei's comments with a quizzical expression, thinking that she neither heard or felt any telepathy, and she didn't bother affirming her blindness, which he already knew.
"I didn't know there was some kind of timetable for this sort of thing." She responded to his final question with a dry humor. 3
Hiei released the loudest scoff he could muster into the air, his chest puffing up in irritation. Maneshi had said a few things that he had already assumed were possible, but he hadn't thought she'd take so long to fight off the virus. So, in response to her remark, he repeated Maneshi's words with a firm tone.
"The longer you wait, the more of your senses you will lose. Take too long, and it will be a permanent change. I don't know how you feel about it, but a demon without his or her most basic senses is a useless demon. Again, why are you delaying?" *
Had Shikiyoku been able to feel it, she would have gotten a hitch as her heart fumbled at the 'permanent' part of Hiei's words. That had not been a factor she realized she was dealing with. Given her thoughts about who she was truly fighting for, she did not feel as if even Toriko would be pleased to awaken to darkness or something of the like. On the plus side, she felt no pain at holding her demonic powers at bay any longer. So, that was a plus.
From within, she examined the virus and its progress as she slowly fed it her demonic energy, biding her time until it over-gorged and ate itself out of existence, as she somehow felt now that it would. Her problem now was her inability to tell how close it was to dying out, but should she feed it her energy in any larger amount, it would mean releasing her grip on her nature. But if she could gather enough power to take it out in one fatal swoop...
No, she did not wish to risk the youngling at this close of a range, and her caution was well-met by the rattling of their pact within her brain at even considering it. If she ended up overwhelming him, that could just as easily claim her life in the stead of the virus. The pact also protested at her when she thought to ask him to leave, her own life not out of danger. And again when she considered feeding the virus faster.
"Well, then what am I supposed to do?!" She yelled to herself, the result of which was a voiced growl of frustration that rumbling from her chest.
"Because I have to." Shikiyoku said finally, earning herself a derisive sneer from Maneshi that she could hear him release. "My other options are...limited. And difficult to even consider." She added, thinking of the pact she held with the fire demon which gave her conflicting opinions on anything she could do in the matter. 3
Another scoff, another huff, and another level of irritation being achieved. He wasn't sure if she was only making excuses, or what, but he was growing tired of it. Hiei thought for a moment, musing over what could possibly be keeping her from letting her energy destroy the virus. He didn't see why she didn't just let it go and-
It clicked, and he released another scoff and let his eyes land on her face again. "I'm in the way," he said casually, as if he didn't care about himself being the problem. A sneer colored his features. "And the pact guarantees death if I am touched by your energy at a specific amount." His arms uncrossed and his hands slid into the pockets of his cloak, his eyes turning to the window. Then the door. He was conflicted, confused. If he left, she could fight off the virus. However, if he left, he wouldn't know if it actually worked.
Another scoff left his lips. "I'll return when your energy leaves," he decided, turning and walking to the window. "If anything goes wrong, contact me," he said to Maneshi through his telepathy, not hesitating in opening the window and moving to the closest tree, leaving it open for easier access. *
Maneshi watched him go, eyes glittering in the near-darkness of the room, curling up on the bed and beginning to clean his paws, keeping vigil over Shikiyoku.
Her awareness of his presence, even through their bond, was skewed via her inability to feel anything, but she heard the window open and when she assumed Hiei had left through it, she released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and stared blankly up at the ceiling again.
She recalled the time he'd set her free on accident, all at once. Her energy had been contained within herself, where it normally would have filled an entire room, transmitted only through her eyes and hair, the two strongest places that she usually emitted her powers. This time, though, it was likely her energy would erupt outward. She took a deep breath.
"No time like the present." She grimaced, hoping that her luck would hold and there would not be anyone from the Spirit World nearby that would recognize her energy's signature.
Rather like ripping off a band-aid, Shikiyoku let go of her demonic energy all at once and it exploded from her body into the room. Even without her true demonic form, she could feel its expansiveness as she had not in a long time, a shimmer of power settling over her entire body, reglossing her eyes, tingling from her scalp to her toes.
Empowered now, she sat up, blinking her vision back into existence, and swung her legs over the side of the bed to stand in the midst of it all.
Everything returned to her at the same time, her strength, her senses, her true nature and desires as a demoness, her inhibitions freed, ones that had been locked away behind a vault of false pretense and foolish human-like emotions, ones that she now threw away.
Shikiyoku licked her lips as she stood there for a moment, all her powers very nearly returned to her, all her former passion and glory blasting back into her mind, and then she collapsed to one knee, clutching at her side as the energy she released into the room got sucked back into her body. She could feel the virus ravenously consuming her unfettered power.
And then it stopped.
As in the time before when Hiei released her, her energy brimmed underneath her skin, but did not overflow or leak or spill, her power hidden to all but herself.
Shikiyoku got back to her feet and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. There were humans out there, her eyes came open and flickered towards the open window, the curtains billowing in a chilled breeze. And she felt no denizens of Spirit World nearby. In fact, she wondered if they had given up on her completely, and it was that thought which finalized her decision.
For a reason she could not explain, she felt strongly against leaving through the open window. Her eyes glanced around the room and then she left through the door, her bare feet making no noise.
She opened a second door directly across the hall, entering a bedroom very similar to the one she left, though mirrored, complete with unopened window, a state she silently rectified before slipping out of it and landing steadily on both feet on a well-trimmed lawn.
The smell of the humans she knew had to be nearby only increased her excitement and she took off, the desire to captivate one, to hold one, to know their desires as no one ever could, all of these things at the forefront of her mind with her fear of capture rationalized away. They were so weak, so easily influenced that it hardly seemed worth the bother, but after fifteen years of being imprisoned away, she wanted to. She needed to. They were all she felt nearby anyway. And she reveled in it, dashing off at a demonic speed, her strength suiting a demon with her years under their belt, her nose flaring as a few warm droplets of rain started to kiss her skin and the ground flashed beneath her feet as she ran. 3
Hiei had gotten comfortable in a tree easily, head back against the bark. He hadn't stayed near the window, since he had figured her energy would be immense, but he was still within the immediate area, just outside the fenceline of the house. He had stretched himself lazily along the branch, waiting casually, listening to his surroundings. He had no thoughts of sleep at this point; he'd been awakened too abruptly for even a chance to think about the prospect.
And that is where he waited, listening to a small amount of thunder rumble in the distance and rain pitter patter down the leaves. It wasn't raining very hard, so he didn't mind the water that fell around him. As long as it didn't touch him, he was fine.
He waited for a good amount of time, eyes shut casually, calmly. When he felt it was time to check in, he stood up and slowly made his way back to the window he had left through. And when he got there, he frowned at the empty room. His eyes scoured what he could see from outside, eyeing Maneshi skeptically. After his moment's hesitation, he slipped into the house, listening for movement in the rest of the place. None was heard.
"Where is she?" he demanded from the cat, glaring down at him. The cat looked up from his licking, tongue still slightly sticking out of his mouth. He twitched his ears at him then continued about his business. "You let her leave?" he accused, suddenly very angry and worried. "You're the lowest of fools!"
Akari sighed and tossed the ball again, watching it bounce across the wet ground, sloshing mud everywhere, just like the pounding of Nabu's feet in the mud. Despite her tiredness and her thoughts over the evening, a soft smile was on her face, her eyes fondly following the small dog that she had grown attached to. "You're getting slow, Nabu," she called teasingly, chuckling when he barked a meaningless bark back at her. He retrieved the tennis ball and ran his way back, drool dripping and mixing with the rain that coated his fur.
"Again!" he yipped around the ball, dropping it at her feet. And, like she had done for the past hour, Akari bent over and picked it up, ignoring the slobber. "You sure?"
"Definitely! Throw it! Throw it!"
Akari tossed the ball in the air, toying with it herself. "But I like the ball too. Are you going to throw it for me?"
"That isn't possible Akari!"
Another chuckle left her and she relented for the hundredth time, throwing the ball so it bounced off of a tree. When it collided with the pup's head, she let out a joyous laugh and tossed her head back. "Your reflexes are lacking. We need to go home soon so you can sleep and I can change."
"But I'm not tired."
"You will be once I stop throwing the ball." *
~!**!~
Maneshi took another pass at his face with his dampened paw before responding.
"I am no fool, Hiei Jaganshi. She was perfectly fine after the virus ran its course. She's likely run off to despoil a few worthless humans. It's been fifteen years since her captivity, after all. A long time for someone like her."
He had continued licking at his paw, switching to the other in the middle of his explanation and rubbing the other side of his face with it as well. "She's old enough to know how to stay out of trouble, and more than capable of seducing her way out of anything if she doesn't." He gave the cat equivalent of a shrug with a dismissive flick of the end of his tail and kept washing himself.
~!**!~
The paths along the park would have been dangerous for someone to run along with the slippery rain and the occasional splash of mud that littered them. For a demon, they were hardly noticeable.
For the first time in a long while, Shikiyoku appreciated the wind that rushed through her hair, and she did pause for a moment and turn her face up to the sky underneath a break in the trees, a few droplets of water tapping against her skin, slipping onto her bare shoulder where her uniform had been torn and pathing downwards.
When she pulled her attention back to the lightly wooded area around her, she caught the scent of a human not more than twenty yards away. A young one. Her eyes easily saw through the night air to spot a male sitting on a wooden bench with his face to the sky and she could barely contain herself, speeding at him and tackling him with enough force that the bench popped out of its concrete supports, cracking loudly and slamming into the ground, sending the two of them toppling over the back of it as it gave way to roll once along the ground a few feet from it, Shikiyoku ending up on top of him and straddling his chest with her hands on either side of his head. She peered down into his face, a smile wide on her lips as she reached up and tucked one side of her hair behind an ear, catching his eyes in her own and seeing his expression shift from the shock and pain of what he'd just experienced to a smile that mirrored her own.
She leaned down to one side of his face, her lips nearly touching his ears as she whispered, "What do you desire?" 3
Akari watched Nabu's small form bound around, trying to catch the still rolling, half-bouncing ball. She couldn't help the smile that continued to grow on her features- one she had only shown to the small creature that had somehow wedged his way into her life. Normally, she would be impatient, ready to get out of the rain and into a dry outfit and curl into bed, like a normal canine demon, but Nabu seemed to stretch her patience, keep her waiting, but she didn't mind it.
"Nabu," she called to the dog who now lay in the mud, chewing on the ball enthusiastically. "Come on, it's time to go. I need dry clothes." She swung her arm, flinging water to the side as it dripped down her long sleeves, soaked to the bone. Her hair, though in a ponytail, stuck to her face and neck, letting the droplets trail down her face. When he didn't respond, she finally sighed. "If you don't come on, I'm leaving you here." she warned, and immediately his head shot up, ears perked and a look of worry on his doggy face. She turned to leave, emphasizing her point.
"Akari, don't leave! I was just playing!"
She ignored the dog as she walked, not too worried about leaving him behind. Her slow saunter would be enough to let him catch up. But as she walked, she took in her surroundings. There were shadows that crawled across the wet ground, courtesy of the streetlamps nearby and Akari's night-like vision. The wind blew the leaves of the nearby trees around and around, but not in a way that worried her of a dangerous storm. She could feel the presence of a human or two, but they weren't within her immediate sight, so she wasn't worried about being questioned either, and walked about her merry way.
By the time Nabu caught up, ball in his mouth, she was halfway to the exit of the park, continuously wiping water from her face. "Took you long enough," she grumbled, her smile gone and irritation suddenly present from the water she was now extremely aware of falling on her. She was ready to be in a nice, warm shelter that-
A sound caught her attention, and her head whipped to the right, searching for the source of the crunch of wood. She hadn't felt a demonic aura, and yet still she figured there was no way a human could create a sound like that. Her ears searched for anymore sound, her eyes looking for anything out of the norm. And then she spotted the couple sprawled out on the ground, a broken bench beside them. Her eyes widened at the sight before narrowing, and she steered her steps in the direction, not liking the sheen she could see radiating from the woman.
"Hey!" she called, her tone demanding and voice booming. "You're causing problems." *
At the sound of another approaching, then speaking across the rain at her, Shikiyoku lifted her head up from where she had just whispered into the mesmerized human's ear, but she stayed where she sat as she replied without looking away from him, her own voice ringing out enough for the intruder to hear.
"Mm. I see no problems here." Her head tilted to the side as she asked the man under he, "Do you?"
He violently shook his head 'no,' his arms bent at the elbows and his hands resting on her thighs over the skirt of her school uniform. 3
Akari stopped dead in her tracks when she recognized the uniform, and then soon after, the face of the girl wearing it. She looked down at her own uniform, and then back up at Toriko, eyes narrowed. This wasn't the actual Toriko, that was for sure. That girl wouldn't have been able to break a bench, nor would she have likely even thought of the idea. And she'd never seen the girl throw herself at another person. A sneer formed on her features.
"You don't know me, do you?" she asked suddenly, wanting to confirm her own suspicions. *
"I don't care." Her eyes still did not leave the human. "Though if you're planning on becoming the problem around here, I might have a thing or two to say about it." 3
"Well, you see, here's the thing," Akari began, a hand immediately planting on her hip. "You're in my park, a demon, throwing herself at a human and, somehow, you look like someone I have spoken to once or twice." With this, her head tilted to the side, a smile settling on her features. "But, if you'd like to try your power on me, go ahead," she said casually, having already deduced the ability this demon had. *
"You know, it's the strangest thing. You claim this is your park, and yet I've lived here for over fifteen years, and you know, I've never so much as seen you around." Shikiyoku reached down and ran her fingers thoughtfully through the hair of the human underneath her just above his ear, tracing his jawline as she spoke.
"I highly doubt you even know the name of this place." She made it clear by her lack of eye contact that she had no interest in 'trying' any sort of power out on this puffed-up youngling making a territory claim. Given their age difference, Shikiyoku remained unconcerned, her attention almost fully held by the quivering of the human within her capture. 3
Akari felt Nabu press the side of his body against her leg, and she glanced down to see him trembling, wide eyes on the demon Toriko look-alike. Her eyes narrowed; Nabu's instincts were probably sharper than her own at the moment, since he was hyper and more awake. Her eyes turned back to the demoness and the human, thinking quickly even as the demon spoke. And an idea surfaced; if she couldn't get through with words, she had no choice.
Her eyes searched the grounds around her, finding shadows galore, and a small twitch of her lips accompanied her thoughts before her expression became a mask of calm control. She let her energy flow a bit faster, a bit more freely through her body, centering on her hands and her mind. Her eyes stayed locked, concentrated on the demon and not allowing the shadows to touch the human as they moved towards the duo. They wound around the woman's ankle, and as Akari gripped her fist, the shadows gripped at her, marking the skin with what Akari would know to be a chill close to that of one from Death. "Last warning." *
"You're trying my patience, child. Consider this your last warning." Shikiyoku's voice never rose above her usual velvety purr, and she kept tracing her finger over the cheek of her human captive, "I would suggest that you take the advice of your trembling little friend there and fear me just a little more than you are right now. Fear is quite healthy for demons who wish to live to see their first century through." 3
Akari released a sigh; honestly, she didn't want to fight. She didn't want to use her energy that could lead someone like Kurama, or hell, Otento, in her direction. But, this demon was using a human for her own desires. Akari had encountered only one demon like this one, and she hadn't enjoyed the energy that had been thrown about the room at that time. It had been painful to her, as all Illusion-like energy was to her.
Without a second thought, though, she willed the shadow to solidify into an actual ribbon, and it pulled the demon away, dragging her so that it hung her by the ankle, strapped to a nearby tree trunk. "I suggest you leave," she said to the human man, glaring at him. "It's in your best interest." She didn't know what would happen next, but she sure as heck didn't want a human's death on her hands.
~!**!~
Hiei was practically flying, his feet feeling as if they weren't touching the ground at all. He was moving just as fast as he could, following the energy he could feel fluxing at a nearby park; he hadn't thought anyone would be there so late at night.
When he rounded the corner and veered into the open expanse of land, his eyes were met with a peculiar scene that left him confused and, at the same time, angry. Toriko, or Shikiyoku he figured, was suspended upside down by a single black tendril, back against a tree. And Akari was standing a few yards away, shadows moving around her feet like silk, waiting to be dispensed into what the fire demon could only see as a fight. Yet no marked were on either demon.
So, without another thought, he stepped into view of both demons, a little to the left of Akari, arms by his sides, a single hand wielding his Katana for good measure. "And just what is going on?" *
Shikiyoku suddenly found herself without her captivated human in sight, the world turned upside down after dragging her away, and she felt the bark of the tree almost tearing into her clothing from behind.
Within seconds of her movement stopping, a flash of dangerous anger at being torn from her prey manifested in a bolt of energy that she shot at the female demon responsible for her predicament, at the same time in which she caught the human's gaze in her own and compelled him to come forward.
The human arrived just as Shikiyoku found herself freed, his arms open to catch her, and as the bindings disappeared, she pushed away from the tree in such a way that she landed in his outstretched hands, one arm behind her back and the other beneath her knees, easily able to hold up her small frame.
Ignoring the arrival of the fire demon, Shikiyoku caught the gaze of the female demon she'd just hit, beckoning her forward until she stood within arms reach, then having her take one last step.
Shikiyoku's next words were almost inaudible and she leaned closer to the other demon ever-so-slightly, "What do you desire, worm?" 3
Akari had obliged, a hand to her head as the pounding intensified after being hit by the energy. Her expression was a grimace, but her eyes stayed locked on the demoness's. She stood a foot away from the demon, or less, and waited for the words she knew she'd hear. And as soon as the question was out, Akari spoke truthfully. "I ask that you remove yourself from the premises and leave the human be," she replied tartly, calmly, as if unaffected, when in truth, she could feel the change in her mind, just under the pain. "And I desire the release of this ridiculous game of yours." *
"That's the best you've got?" Shikiyoku said, louder now. "Pity. I plan on doing little to none of those things, unfortunately for you. Care to try again?" 3
A frown tugged at her lips, and she took a step back to regard the demoness again. "I desire…" she began, a sudden flash of memory taking over her vision, adding pain that wasn't actually there. This demon was the same as that one had been, perhaps even knew her. And she wanted to get away, quickly, and at the same time, strike a nerve. "You should know that I've met your kind before." she said casually, through gritted teeth. The pain she felt was like fire in her brain, and the ghostly feel of knives slicing her skin on her shoulders and arms were even worse. "She died in front of me. Her name, I do not know, but she whispered about the last of her kind, saying she hoped a woman by the name of Shiki had found a place to be." Suddenly, her expression grew dark and she met the gaze of this woman again, intent on at least striking a nerve in hopes of gaining an opening. But the smirk disappeared as the vivid memory overtook her, coating her vision with the dark room filled with demons. "She was gutted right in front of me. I have a feeling you might be Shiki?" she spoke, though her voice sounded very far away from her. "She said she had left a child, and hoped you found it someday." *
Shikiyoku's face did not change from its amused expression as the youngling in front of her recounted her pitiful recollection, tapping the girl's nose once with the tip of her finger when she finished, "You may have met one of us before, but your example of our kind must have been a weak one indeed to have been spewing such nonsense. We tend to disassociate with one another for obvious conflict-of-interest reasons."
Here she glanced lustfully up at the human who still held her. "He claimed to want to have her first, she claimed to want to have her first, it can get messy. There is little 'love' within our own ranks."
She turned back to the other female, "Whoever it was probably deserved to be gutted in the first place by the sound of it. If what you're saying is even truth." She smiled, "As I said before: I don't care. But you would do wise to think next time before interfering with one of us." She gave the girl a wink, "They will not be as forgiving as I," Her eyes narrowed, "And I will not be as forgiving a second time." She primly looked away and lifted her nose a little higher into the air. "I tire of you."
Without a word, the human put her down on the ground, though it was still undecided as to whether she spoke to the girl or him.
Shikiyoku stepped lightly around the taller girl, releasing her hold on both her and the human as she left them behind. Without a word, she approached Hiei and grabbed his hand as she walked past, pulling him along with her as she left. 3
Hiei had merely looked on in amusement as the scene unfurled, his katana placed away after he realized the situation. He hadn't cared when he realized that the woman was in no immediate danger. Instead, he had been more entertained than he likely should have, and that had left him standing on the side as a simple onlooker, filled with curiosity and amusement. He hadn't wanted to intrude at all. There hadn't been a reason to.
But when the scene was suddenly wrapped up and he was being dragged away, he was actually taken aback a bit. He simply let the woman take hold of him and lead him, narrowed eyes filled with confusion locked on her.
"You're ridiculous."
~!**!~
Akari hadn't been surprised by the reaction she'd been given. Actually, she didn't know why she expected anything other than the careless words of someone who likely didn't even really know the woman who had been killed. But for some reason, she couldn't tear her mind away from the mental image, the mental pain that she knew wasn't actually there, but added to her physical pain that was being inflicted by the clashing energies, hers naturally fighting the demoness' off in a painful war. She hadn't dealt with this type of energy in a decade, and it was very evident as it released her from her pain and she let out a very ragged breath of relief. Her eyes focused and followed the woman as she left, Hiei in tow, and her mind became blank. Quiet. Her body numb.
It shouldn't have affected her as much as it had, but she felt her knees go weak and her shoulders go slack. Before she knew it, she was on the ground, held up by a pair of arms that she didn't recognize. Faintly, Nabu's confused voice entered her mind, but she understood nothing and felt darkness sweep over her. *
Jaganshi - (wiki) Master of the Evil Eye
Thanks for reading! Bless your face. If you sneezed during this chapter, bless you. Peace off! -Star