A/N: Hello once again, Dearest Readers!
Onwards!
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!
Koenma asks Hiei to bring him Shikiyoku
as he has a mission to send her on in Demon World
and will grant her freedom from the warrant out for her arrest should she comply.
Toriko finds out about this later from Hiei,
but she informs him that Shikiyoku is gone.
~!**!~
Meanwhile, Youko is conversing with Akari
and Akari is on the verge of sleep when Youko abruptly stands,
informing her that the two of them are not alone...
"I know you're there." Youko took one step forward. "There's no point in hiding any longer."
"That body serves you well, Youko." The velvety voice from beyond the trees could not have belonged to anyone other than Otento, but he did not reveal himself at that moment.
Youko's stance shifted into a more defensive one, resting his weight near his toes in case he needed to make a quick movement.
"What do you want?" Youko's eyes shifted slightly, trying catch a glimpse of the intruder.
"I was just coming to check up on you, and I see you've made a friend."
Youko spun around as at last the voice seemed to clear and come from behind him.
Otento already had Akari in his grasp, one arm at her neck with a wicked dagger pressing against her skin, the other holding one of her arms twisted up into her back.
Youko's eyes narrowed dangerously, the glare aimed directly into Otento's purple eyes that seemed to grin with just as much recklessness back at the fox demon.
"Let. Her. Go."
"Unlikely." Otento seethed.
Youko reached one hand slowly up into his hair at the base of his neck, a deep growl resonating at a low pitch that rumbled gravely out of his chest.
"You wouldn't dare." Otento's gaze darkened, his grip on Akari tightening.
"Watch me."
There was a bending of the area next to Youko and Otento and a third demon appeared, quickly assessing the situation on either side of him.
"Problem?" He let one eyebrow raise as he regarded his companions.
~!**!~
Kurama wandered about the park aimlessly, his mind too much of a mess to consider going home now. He wasn't sure exactly how long he'd been out here, but he'd only just begun sorting through his thoughts in relation to Toriko's condition with any semblance of continuity and knew the time was not yet for sleep.
At first, the voices he heard seemed inconsequential, murmurs that he did not register, until he got pulled from his thoughts by a single word.
Youko.
Kurama broke into a run without hesitation, breaking through the trees with widened eyes taking in the scene before him.
Akari. Otento. The teleporting demon's back. And...Youko.
His core skipped a beat as he watched Youko reach up in a telltale manner that Kurama recognized, assessing that Akari had somehow gotten captured and they were going to do something to her, though he could only guess what.
Kurama's eyes grew larger when, as if in slow motion, he watched Youko remove his hand from his hair and pull it forward towards Akari, a plant starting to grow. A plant that made his core seemingly stop in its place.
They meant to kill her.
Kurama started running forward again, feeling his demonic energy straining desperately against the hold Otento still had around it. Out of habit, Kurama reached up into his own hair and removed a single rose-whip seed, clenching it in his hand while he ran as he jaw tightened when he could do nothing with it.
The plant Youko was manipulating continued to grow, bursting outwards towards Akari in a sudden rush of power.
"NO!" Kurama shouted, wrenching at the plant from somewhere inside himself as his demonic energy erupted out of its holding place and hummed coursing in his veins.
Several things happened almost at once.
Otento and the teleport demon both heard Kurama and their heads began turning to stare at him as if they'd only just now noticed his presence.
Youko remained dangerously fixated to the front for a moment longer until the plant started to backfire, ordered by Kurama's power to turn on its former master.
The vines of the thing bent backwards, turning around and piercing into Youko's skin.
That got his attention, the pain evident only after his complete and utter surprise aimed at the deadly plant he no longer had in his control.
Kurama could feel Youko's attempts to wrest power back from him, but Kurama would have none of it, overwhelming the seed with a constant feeding of his energy.
By this time he was only ten feet away, and his rose whip was in his hand almost as an afterthought while he brought the hand holding it up to his ear, his eyes expressing his intent to kill every last one of them.
Just as he let the whip go, the teleport demon's hands were already on Youko and Otento's shoulders and in that half a second that it took for the whip to shoot off towards Youko's neck, the three of them disappeared, the whip lashing into empty air before returning to Kurama's side as he stopped running where they had been moments before.
Kurama's eyes flashed dangerously into the night and he said nothing to Akari at first, his rage simmering, his full-blown wrath nigh-uncontainable as he could do nothing but stand there, chest rising and falling heavily.
~!**!~
Maneshi meowed again, louder this time.
Play with meeee.
He butted her back with his head.
"Maneshi, stop."
"Mrow."
Toriko lifted her arm and waved it at him without moving otherwise. He only had to duck his head for her to miss.
"Stop it." She said again, her weariness giving way to irritation.
"Mrow."
In a sudden burst of movement, Toriko sat up and Maneshi immediately pounced into her lap.
"Go away." She dumped him out of it and made a gesture as if to sweep him off the bed entirely, but he nimbly sidestepped her and returned.
"Leave." She glared at him.
"Mrow."
She dumped him back out onto the bed again and this time he stayed there, but glared right back.
"Out!" She pointed at the door.
"Mrow!" He did not move.
Toriko took another swipe at him, hoping to grab him in some way that would let her physically and forcefully remove him from the room, but he dodged again.
"Mrow!" 3
Hiei lightly bit his tongue to keep from making a small scoff at the commotion he could hear, still making no motion to look over at the duo who seemed to be having a battle of sorts. The small fact that it was Toriko being bothered, and not himself, was the most amusing of all.
But his amusement died away as darkness slowly began to overtake his mind, though he actually wanted to know the outcome of this small battle of will between the pair.
"Throw his toy," the fire demon suggested in a low mumble, referring to the mouse toy he'd seen here and there.
~!**!~
Akari's body had given a small, albeit physical jerk at the realization that the voice belonged to Otento, and she'd been laying around with the enemy. Sure, she'd thought of the possibility earlier, but she'd disregarded it. Why? Because he hadn't killed her on the spot.
Her eyes widened and her body stiffened, taking a single step backwards and into another body just as the voice cleared, revealing the demon to be behind her. Before she had any thought to react to, her arm was twisted painfully against her back and a cold, sleek metal was just touching the skin of her neck. Her entire body ceased all movements, her mind becoming a whirl of thoughts that even she didn't understand.
Panic made her core tremble simultaneously with her muscles, the strain of staying ultimately still in fear of the blade and the people around her intensifying her panicked need to get away. She was trapped, and the only thing she could register was that it was her own dang fault.
Puzzlement came next, with Youko's threat to Otento. Why would he fight his own comrade over her capture? It's a show, she told herself, eyes narrowing at the silver haired demon in front of her dangerously. Her energy continued to push at the hold over it, her teeth gnashing together as she tried to find a way out of such a predicament. He's wanting me to trust him, to kill me without problem.
The thought ghosted across the forefront of her mind, accompanied by more confusion. It was such an elaborate and useless trick. Even Otento seemed daunted by the possibility.
Her lips parted to release a small sound of warning at the plant she saw forming before her, uncertainty at the next few moments making it hard to judge what to do. Trust the demon who was threatening Otento, or fight them both, along with the demon who just appeared?
It didn't matter, either way, she'd likely die. That single thought made her body go cold, her eyes widening again at the motion the plant made. It moved almost as smoothly as water, slowly at first, and then several things happened at once.
A shout shattered the tense silence. The plant parted as if to go around her. Otento's body shifted just a touch.
She saw her opportunity in the realization that the voice was of a person intending to help. Her energy struggled as she snarled and took a step back, her entire body leaning into Otento to get away from the blade just as the plant before her recoiled, leaving her personal bubble of space.
With her free elbow jamming into the stomach of the demon holding her, her energy came loose in a desperate attempt to create a security blanket, her head snapping back against the person who held her captive.
And in the next moment, the hold on her was gone, and a millisecond later, so were the demons who had been surrounding her. She stood there, body shaking with the energy that now coursed through her veins and the panic she still felt rushing through her at an alarming rate.
He'd… he wasn't going to kill me.
The image of Youko's plant splitting in front of her made every ounce of panic disappear, replaced with complete and utter confusion. Simultaneously, she realized the threat was gone and relief hit her like a brick to the face.
The sudden shift made her knees buckle beneath her, and for an instant, her world spun and the ground rapidly rose to meet her. *
Kurama took no time in catching Akari as she began to sink next to him, rose whip simultaneously being slipped away once more as his arms caught her shoulders and he sunk to the ground with her.
"Akari. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Kurama knew without a doubt that he had not allowed the plant to touch her, but who knows what else had happened before he stepped onto the scene.
~!**!~
Toriko ignored Hiei's helpful suggestion as the mouse Maneshi played with was nowhere in sight, likely hidden beneath the couch.
The pair glared at one another before Toriko huffed out a breath of air at him and flopped back down on the bed.
Maneshi immediately trotted around her body and stuck his face up to her, whiskers tickling her face.
"Go bother him." Toriko suggested at a growl-level.
Maneshi lifted his head to stare over at Hiei, who appeared just as asleep as Toriko wished to be.
A flutter of movement caught the cat's eye and he whipped around into a crouch, his rear wiggling in the air as he gauged the distance between him and the movement.
He snapped into motion, dashing across the bed onto the carpet at a scramble to bat furiously at the edge of Hiei's cloak that hung freely down over the fire demon's leg before making a dime-turn and leaping back onto the bed to crouch facing the window once more.
Maneshi repeated the action again after a pause, ending up back on the bed, his eyes flitting up to Hiei's as he wriggled again. 3
Hiei's mind had become darkened with sleep, quiet. He no longer heard the struggle on the other side of the room, nor the sounds of the night outside the window his shoulder rested against. He made a small, sleepy huff as his body shifted only slightly, the foot that rested on the windowsill pressing against the opposite side of the frame than his back.
And then something caught his attention. His cloak moved, tightening over his leg just a fraction before resettling back into place again. He ignored it, at first believing to be imagining, even dreaming it. But the third time he felt the change, his mind was awake and his eyes were open, staring over at the cat that was crouched on the bed, tail twitching madly and body wriggling in place.
"I dare you."
~!**!~
Disoriented, Akari hadn't noticed she'd been caught until her knees gently touched the earth, her fingers just resting on the grass as her arms hung at her sides, her left shoulder throbbing slightly from the sudden release of pressure she'd earned.
Kurama's questions registered a second too late, and her eyes, still on the spot where Youko had stood, focused a bit more as her mind cleared only a fraction. "I'm okay." she tried to say, but it came out a garbled mumble of incoherency, her spinning thoughts making it hard to concentrate on anything but what she'd only just realized.
She blinked slowly, forcing her mind blank and forcing her eyes to move to the redhead next to her. She cleared her throat and repeated herself, this time her voice clear. "I'm fine. Just a little, uh, shaken." *
Kurama did not stop looking into her eyes, searching to see if there was any truth to what she said.
She did appear to be alright otherwise, besides "shaken" as she so aptly put it.
"They didn't hurt you?" He gently reached over and tipped her chin upwards, frowning as he saw a slight pool of crimson where he imagined a dagger had been pressed. He reached for it with his other hand and wiped his thumb across it, coming away with her blood on it, but seeing nothing more than a slight breaking of her skin where the blade had pressed too hard. He released her and searched her eyes again, his anger at the moment still having not passed enough for him to considering leaving.
~!**!~
Maneshi's wiggling stopped, his body freezing in place as he stared unblinkingly at Hiei. His claws, which had been up to that moment retracted, sunk slightly into the sheets as he prepared to launch himself forward again, his entire body strung taut.
As if a spring, Maneshi uncoiled and flew towards the carpet again, dashing underneath Hiei's foot and gathering his tiny body up again just as he started to turn back in order to make the jump all the way back to the bed where he ran full-tilt at the pillow, turning back again and skidding to a halt at the other edge of the bed, his eyes wild as he feet splayed apart to stop himself short of falling off completely.
After going still again, he dropped back into a crouch and locked his eyes on the edge of Hiei's cloak, which had moved again and caught his attention. He kneaded his front paws twice into the blankets as if preparing for another pass. 3
Hiei watched the cat's motions every step of the way, crimson flashing in the moonlight in challenge of the feline, who suddenly had him very amused. Sure, he'd been pulled from sleep, but he hadn't been that tired anyway. He could deal with lack of sleep.
As the cat shot away from him again, the fire demon's hand moved from his stomach to the edge of the windowsill, his fingers lightly grasping his cloak. He held it still for a minute, staring intently at the cat. Slowly at first, he slid the cloak up, then let it drop again. It moved, the end just touching the wall and swaying lightly. Then he decided to make it move in a jerky motion, and his fingers gripped at the cloth and pulled to the side, making it move like a creature trying to get away from its hunter.
And when the cat would come near, he would relinquish the cloak entirely in an attempt to make him hit the wall.
~!**!~
Akari held Kurama's gaze evenly now, even as he tilted her chin a little and wiped at the place where her skin stung just a little. She hadn't realized the blade had bit through her skin, so when she saw the blood on his thumb, she gave a mild shrug of indifference, as if it didn't matter.
"No," she finally answered, her eyes meeting his again. She could see the raw emotion there, and quite frankly, she found herself a little surprised by how strongly he had reacted to her predicament. "Thank you." *
Kurama could feel the tension strung all across his body and he visibly relaxed, his shoulders moving back into place as he forced his muscles to release the anger he felt.
As his mind cleared, he sat down on the grass, only having to rotate slightly and finish sitting the last few inches to the ground.
First Toriko. Now Akari.
Kurama felt that only now did he understand the recent attachment Hiei made to keeping watch over Toriko. Granted, Hiei had found her in a much more compromising position from what Kurama understood, but he felt that his own rage at their enemies' actions at Akari allowed him a burst of insight into what Hiei must have experienced.
They were cowardly, for certain. And that irked Kurama more than he would have liked to admit.
~!**!~
Maneshi's thoughts clouded over and instinct kicked in.
He was no longer a small, dark, housecat, preparing to pounce off of a bed, but his mind transported him into the rainforest where his sleek, black fur would be hidden in the undergrowth, and his powerful panther legs would gather up underneath him in preparation to strike at the prey who jostled around in the forest floor below.
He curled himself up almost completely compact in his crouch, his body writhing again as he loosened his muscles and kept them keen for his attack, eyes locked on the fluttering animal that remained innocent of the death from above that awaited it.
Maneshi's tail lashed once almost angrily in the air and then he took the jump, stretching his body out with his claws fully extended, intending to grab hold and begin tearing into the flesh of the beast. 3
The sneer that took over Hiei's features was one of triumph as Maneshi coiled up even tighter, body preparing to leap at the end of his fluttering cloak. His eyes flashed, figuring this would end the cat's bothersome behaviour if it went as he planned.
As soon as the cat came near, he reacted with the speed only a demon could have and retracted the cloak from the cat's reach, faster than the cat should be able to respond.
~!**!~
Akari watched Kurama visibly slump, his body lowering the rest of the way until he sat in the grass in front of her. She didn't move, staying on her knees with her hands still at her sides as she eyed him. Again, she thought about Youko, and for a moment, she considered telling Kurama, but decided against it since she herself didn't understand the prospect.
Her gaze clouded over as she recalled the moment with vivid detail, remembering how each leaf had parted in readiness to strike Otento. He'd been willing to fight his own team. Why, she still didn't understand.
A realization hit her and she was wrenched back to the present, eyes widening and hand moving swiftly up to her face, her energy moving through her body and to her hand, making a single shadow coil around her wrist. A small, euphoric laugh bubbled up from her lips as the shadow dissipated. "Well, that's one way to do it." *
Akari's sudden noise of pleasure pulled Kurama back to his surroundings, and the smile he had for her was indeed a smile, if a grim one.
It seemed they both were able to break through the limit placed on their energy, Akari in desperation to save her own life and Kurama...
He stared back down at the grass.
Kurama in order to save hers.
He wasn't quite sure what this meant and he remained silent.
~!**!~
Just as Maneshi could practically smell the bloody gore of the animal he was about to run-through, it disappeared and reality snapped back into place, the dark cloak fluttering out of his immediate view to reveal the wall of the house in his direct path.
His paws contacted first, taking the brunt of the trauma even as he bent his elbows to circumvent the damage elsewhere, and he managed to turn his face to the side so that instead of his nose slamming into the wall, it was his cheek, his ears flattening against his skull to prevent any injuries they might acquire in the process.
Toriko shot up in bed at the loud slam that reverberated in the room.
"What did you do?" She demanded of Hiei, her eyes narrowing at him when she did not initially see anything else but the smug look on his face that indicated something had happened just now and that blame for it likely rested on him.
Her eyes moved down just below his foot hanging from the windowsill in time to see Maneshi slump to the floor and it did not take much for her to form a conjecture about the circumstances.
She glared back at Hiei again. 3
Hiei, for the first time in a very, very long time, released a genuine snicker down at the cat before going quiet again, completely satisfied with himself for finding a way to silent the cat. Toriko, on the other hand, was glaring at him, which didn't actually do much of anything other than make him feel even more amused and triumphant.
"I did nothing more than remove my cloak from harm," he admitted, "everything else is circumstantial."
~!**!~
Akari's lips released another short giggle as the shadow reappeared, moving like a silk ribbon around and around her arm, causing goosebumps to trail along her skin with the chill that followed the contact. Perhaps strong emotion was all it took to break a hold like that, she thought. Again, the shadow dissipated into nothing and she considered toying with her illusion ability, but decided it wasn't absolutely necessary.
She finally shifted her weight so that her legs were no long under her, but crossed in front of her as she eyed the redhead with a look of consideration. She gave a small sigh, suddenly feeling deflated as she realized she'd ended up in the midst of trouble, and for the second time, had been practically rescued by another. "I apologize for the trouble. I seem to find it everywhere…" *
Instead of answering her, Kurama simply lifted his head to look at her and silently held out a hand, palm upwards, in her direction.
He said nothing at first, his face plain and revealing nothing of his intentions as he spoke up.
"I believe you have something of mine? May I see it, please?"
~!**!~
At first Toriko stayed speechless, clenching and unclenching her jaw as she tried not to let her lips move from their frown, though they threatened to twitch in the opposite direction and completely break what she knew to be a perfectly good glare.
"Why would you do something like that?" She sounded more put-out than she actually felt. 3
Hiei gave an offhanded shrug with only a single shoulder, not phased by her glare nor question. "To protect my cloak. Why else?" His reply was short, his tone even despite the flash that lit up his eyes with amusement. "It's a perfectly good material. Preserving it is highest on my list."
~!**!~
Akari blinked at Kurama's hand, unsure of what he was doing. She at first thought he was going to help her stand, but the fact that he himself didn't move to stand left her meeting his gaze curiously. She opened her mouth to inquire, but he spoke before she could.
And the realization of what he was referring to made her internally cringe in embarrassment, her mouth closing and eyes shifting to the side. How could she have forgotten it? She leaned to the side and slid a hand into her front pocket, retrieving the seed and dropping it into his palm without looking at him.
"I was going to give it back…" *
Kurama's face remained solemn, choosing not to reply to the girl who seemed a little flustered that he knew she had the seed that he now held in his palm.
With little effort, he grew it into a rose, letting the scent waft around them in the air as it rested in place. He placed his fingers about the stem and whirled it around once, its petals and leaves arcing gracefully outwards like a dancer in mid-pirouette.
He changed it back to seed form just for an instant before regrowing it once more and then passing it to Akari.
"No need. Keep it. You should be able to change it between forms as you please now."
Kurama stood up, hesitating before turning to go.
"You are no trouble. Please don't fool yourself into believing such a falsehood." At that he did turn away, hands in his pockets as another breeze swept through the park, lifting his hair as he walked off.
~!**!~
Toriko fought against smiling again, throwing her hands up in the air and lifting her eyes to the ceiling as if she gave up and proclaiming, "You're hopeless."
She went back to glaring at him, crossing her arms as her eyes locked with his.
"Come here." She ordered, pointing to the bit of floor next to her. 3
Hiei stared at Toriko, eyes following the gesture she gave as a sneer pulled at his lips again with her words. He chose not to respond to being called hopeless, since he saw no need to do so, and turned his eyes down to the fallen lump of fur below him. He assessed the still body for a moment, triumph again surfacing in his eyes.
But the moment Toriko ordered for his presence, he looked up again, sneer gone and eyes flashing again in challenge. But he didn't move. Not yet.
~!**!~
The smell wafted through the air, catching Akari by surprise enough to make her eyes slide over to Kurama again, watching as the rose continued to bloom into a full blossom. Curious, she watched as it again changed back into seed form, and a second later returned to the form of the flower. So that's the seed I had taken. She had guessed as much, but hadn't been one hundred percent sure.
Suddenly, it was being held out to her. Her eyes widened and she looked up at Kurama, hesitating as he spoke. Keep it?
Something in her reacted to the gesture, making her neck and ears warm up just a little as she reached out to take the rose, again not meeting Kurama's gaze. Her eyes stayed down on the rose carefully as he continued to speak, rendering her completely speechless even as she heard him turn to leave.
Only when his back was to her and he was a few feet away did she finally look up at him, her lips curling inward slightly as she tried and tried to come up with something to say, but only came up with nothing more than jumbled emotions. *
When he knew he was out of earshot, Kurama let loose a sigh and paused in the middle of the path for a moment, letting the air move across his face as he closed his eyes and lifted his chin farther up into the air.
That moment earlier where Akari's life had been in danger and he'd felt something snap replayed over and over in his mind, and as much as he tried to analyze it, something about it escaped him.
And something else about it felt very apparent.
Kurama started walking again, his mind jumbled just as much as it had been when he entered the park, but he somehow knew continuing to walk around there would not be helpful.
Not this time.
~!**!~
Hiei's expression was not lost on Toriko, but something inside of her rose up and blatantly ignored his stubbornness.
She was on her feet without further thought, next to Hiei in a single stride, and grabbing for the crook of his arm within a second. She yanked him off the window and plopped him down, seated, onto the bed where she had been until that moment.
"Now stay there." She growled, "And don't go causing any more trouble."
She turned back to Maneshi and lifted the cat into her arms, stalking out of the room and returning minutes later catless, shutting the door behind her and making sure it clicked, mumbling something to herself about keeping "the two of them separated." 3
Hiei hadn't known what had happened at first. One second, he was completely comfortable in the windowsill, and the next, a grumpy Toriko was pulling him by his arm, and he was seated on the bed, the girl grabbing the cat and leaving the room after a growled order to him.
He gave a huff of defiance, but otherwise made no reaction. He didn't move away, didn't relax, did nothing other than sit and stare at the door, waiting for her return. And when she was back, he scoffed at her mumbles, deciding he might as well get comfortable.
He leaned back until his feet were on the bed, knees bent as the bottom of his feet rested on the comforter and his back rested on the top of the blanket. His hands linked behind his head and he resigned himself to simply laying there.
"Ridiculous."
~!**!~
Akari watched Kurama retreat until he was lost from her sight, by which time she had looked down to the rose in her lap again. Both hands gingerly held the flower, slowly turning it over and over between her fingers.
Too many things played in her mind for her to be able to focus on just one, and it made her feel frustrated, flustered to the point where she released a heavy sigh and resigned herself to lifting the rose to her nostrils, taking a deep breath of the scent it permeated the air with.
After a few minutes, she gave up about trying to figure out her own emotions, her own jumbled thoughts, and she gave another sigh and pushed herself to stand, muscles still shaky but strong enough to support her.
"'kari… can we go home?" Akari glanced down at the dog she hadn't seen approach, ears drooping just as much as his eyes were, ball in front of him. "Where'd you get that?"
"Flowers."
"Oh."
Silence ensued and she offered a small smile at the rose, toying with it before she reached down to grab Nabu. "Let's go home." *
~!**!~
Toriko had already begun climbing onto the bed herself when he spoke up and she stopped to regard him primly.
"Yes. You are." She sniffed lightly. "I'm glad there is at least one thing we can both agree on."
She went ahead and finished getting on top of the blankets, her head hitting a pillow with a soft poof as her hair fanned about her profile for a moment before she grimaced and lifted her face up to grab at her hair and pull it out from under her, throwing it to the side where she would no longer lay on it.
Letting out a small sigh, she relaxed into the fluffiness of the bed and closed her eyes, one arm roguishly tossed up by her head and the other laying over her stomach. 3
Hiei scoffed at Toriko's response, but otherwise made no response. He merely turned away from her, rolling onto his side so that his back faced her, his arm supporting his head while the other simply lay over his stomach.
His eyes slid closed slowly, finally relaxing again now that the crazy, hyper cat was gone from the room. And quite frankly, the mattress underneath him was a contributing factor to the sudden complete relaxation of each and every muscle in his body. *
Toriko grimaced, a sudden flash of desire making her face scrunch together as she thought of home again.
She abruptly turned and buried her face in Hiei's back, pulling her hands up to her face to cover it as if being hidden would wipe away all her thoughts that rushed through her mind.
What did it look like? What did it smell like? Were there trees? Or butterflies?
Toriko squeezed her eyes together and tried to concentrate on Hiei's warmth, lying very still and trying to relax her body from head to feet.
It did work in a way after a while, at least in removing her thoughts from the realization that she would probably never get to see the one place she might be able to call home. 3
Hiei frowned to himself as pressure was applied to his back, and after only a moment's hesitation, he turned his head to catch a glimpse of Toriko hiding her face in his shoulders, but other than that, he couldn't exactly tell what was happening.
He rested his head back on his arm again and let his eyelids slide closed, thinking back to the conversation that had lead to them being here. She'd seemed so hopeful when he'd said home, and she'd seemed so defeated when the only way he knew of getting there required Shikiyoku. It was obvious the girl believed the demon to be gone from her, but something within him spoke against it, just whispering that she wasn't completely right.
But he wouldn't know. There seemed to be a complete lack in the bond he'd previously felt, always having underlay the other emotions he felt and his own awareness of everything else. It had given him direct access to the demoness who seemed to so easily capture his attention, and even keep it long enough to have him… well, in this position.
His frown deepened. How would she have left anyway? Was it even a possibility or…
His thoughts paused as he released a tired breath, almost a sigh, and shifted his body weight again. Toriko's presence was now completely in his awareness, unable to be ignored from the proximity. Why was she laying so close to him again? *
In desperation, Toriko reached inward again, even going so far as to silently call out within her mind.
Sh-Shiki? Her voice resounded hesitantly along the walls where the other side of her resided.
Toriko could feel herself as the prison around this particular space that she recognized to be the resting place of her other half. But there was nothing there.
Standing in that room, she thought back, sifting through her memories. The first of the last things she remembered was the stiffness, something she'd managed to skirt around asking anyone about, though she knew something had to have happened.
Before that, things were fuzzy and she only had a vague sense of knowing that Shiki had done...stuff? That seemed a little too broad.
After the large hunk of time she had no remembrance of came the virus that her other side had taken over for, but without knowledge of anything that happened inbetween, Toriko felt powerless to deduce the reason why her mind was devoid of its usual, steadfast presence.
But she had to know. Because if she could figure it out...if she could bring back that other side...they might be able to...they could...
"Hiei, what don't I remember?" She asked quietly. 3
Hiei didn't answer at first, taking a moment to figure out which train of thought Toriko was on. It wasn't a difficult thing, but it was something he himself was rather reluctant to speak about, for his own reasons. He hadn't even thought over it.
He knew there was likely a lot the girl didn't remember, aside from the dangerously traumatising events. Even so, he didn't wish to go down that road. Not now. He was just beginning to feel tired again.
"Elaborate," he said in a low voice muddled with sleepiness. "Stole Sweet Snow, if that's what you're referring to." *
Toriko made a grunt of protest, but fell silent, recognizing Hiei's tone to be one that meant she'd likely interrupted his journey into dreamland.
She knew he'd been there for probably everything her other side had been through and was likely, she felt, being difficult for the sake of being difficult as he was wont to do.
Not to mention the fact that "stealing sweet snow" didn't exactly help in explaining-
Wait, WHAT had he just said?!
She opened her mouth to protest, but closed it again. It didn't matter, and she didn't want to wake him. She ruefully considered how the "stealing" had worked out, finding herself a little more than put-out at the thought and wondering how much Hiei had instigated her other side. He seemed like the type to enable that sort of behavior.
Had Toriko's eyes been open, she would have rolled them heavenward.
She fought with considering pressing him further for events she could not recall in an effort to discover the reason why her mind was empty save for her own self. 3
Hiei was a bit surprised when she didn't say something right away, or even make any sort of indication that she'd heard what he'd said. So he released another tired puff of air and deflated, his mind again going blank in refusal over the topic.
But he knew the moment his words registered with her, because for a moment, the air in the room changed. Briefly, he was amused by the tense atmosphere, but it faded as he began to slip into sleep again. All he wanted now was to have a peaceful night's sleep, uninterrupted and dreamless.
Was that so much to ask for? *
~!**!~
A pair of mismatched eyes gleamed in the darkness of the house, the silence only a mask to be used as an advantage to the four padded feet that stalked upstairs towards the closed bedroom door.
Slipping past it was a simple matter, an advantage given to most felines, and this room's silence was intermittently broken by both the beating of two demonic hearts and the breathing, low and deep, of their owners.
Without so much as a noise, the tiny black body stalked forward again, landing softly on top of the bed and skirting the legs of the female laying nearby.
Instead, he stepped lightly onto the darker portion of the bed, his intent at the moment to leave the sleeper undisturbed, though as he placed one paw in front of the other and scaled first the thigh and then waist of the fire demon, his eyes gave away his wicked intent.
With perfect balance, Maneshi moved over Hiei's elbow to the upper part of his arm and hunched down, his head hanging over Hiei's shoulder, his sleek form easily able to maintain his position.
Unfortunately, it is often the best plans that get waylaid and as Maneshi perched on his front toes, he could feel the warmth of the fiery demon beneath him seeping upwards through the black cloak that felt soft underneath the pads of Maneshi's paws.
It made him drowsy and he blinked first one eye and then the other, his thoughts of revenge becoming muddled by the heat that wove over his skin in such a delightful manner.
His eyes slipped closed...
Maneshi could feel his tiny heart beating wildly in his chest as he ran, the voices behind him getting closer, their maliciousness unmistakable.
His four paws flew along the ground, his tail streaming out behind his body and his ears flat against his skull as the voices kept yelling about capture, detainment, and other things the cat found himself unable to comprehend over the flight his body had to maintain.
No matter how fast he ran though, it seemed almost as if he was not moving forward, unable to put any more distance between himself and those behind until suddenly he skidded to a stop as a pair of hands reached down to grasp him from the front.
Claws digging into the ground to stop himself faster as he kept moving forward, Maneshi scrambled to turn around and dash off the other direction, a large foot stomping down in his path which made him jump several feet up into the air, managing to force his trajectory backwards as he did so, but quickly becoming closed in on all sides by bodies or feet or hands, finding that he ran in a circle that decreased in size with each turn.
Without thinking, Maneshi's eyes flew open, his claws digging into the cloak beneath him as he could still see in his addled mind hands reaching for him that wished to crush him.
Letting the claws give him enough purchase to speed off as fast as he could manage, Maneshi tore himself away from the cloak, causing damage beneath him that he could not at the moment comprehend.
He streaked down to the bottom of the bed, clawing to a stop again at the edge which he saw as another person from his dream that wished to harm him. He dashed to go the other direction and leapt up into the air as another reached out to snatch him, his eyes wild and his breath coming furiously from his lungs. 3
It had been so peaceful, so quiet. His entire body had been so relaxed into the mattress, even leaning a little back into Toriko, who still had her body just touching his. Somewhere, in the back of his sleeping mind, he was aware of that fact, his body never moving to or away from her. And as he had liked, he wasn't dreaming.
Very suddenly, he felt pain bite at his shoulder, heard his cloak tear, and his eyes were open and he moved in a flash of instinct, a single hand reaching beneath the cloak he wore for his sword and the other grabbing at the blur that had caused his rude awakening.
A snarl left his lips defensively as his fingers enclosed around the tuft of fur at Maneshi's neck, holding him out at arm's length with a very dangerous and a very deadly glare. He didn't have to look to see the damage to his cloak or the three claw marks that made blood slowly rise to the surface of the skin. And he knew he didn't have to speak for his very last warning of danger to be heard, though it wasn't much of a warning anymore. *
At being caught, Maneshi yowled a horrible sound before letting his body go limp as being held by the scruff of his neck will do.
Toriko immediately shot up in bed, her mind crystal clear and taking in everything at once: Hiei's rage, bleeding skin, and torn cloak; Maneshi's half-lidded stare and huffing upper body.
If she had not been so immediately concerned for Maneshi's general well-being she might have found the situation justified, almost amusing, assuming Maneshi was exacting revenge on Hiei for Hiei's earlier misdemeanor involving the cat and his cloak.
However, seeing Hiei holding the cat who had been her truest companion for years in such a way, threatening it with a katana that would have proven to be overdoing the job, made Toriko's blood run cold and she could very nearly see the redness of the explosion of anger at the edges of her vision.
Within seconds of rising up, Toriko's eyes were narrowed at Hiei, and while she didn't think he would be able to hear her past his own obvious wrath, she spoke up anyway, giving him fair warning. But he would only get the one.
"Put him down, Hiei." Her tone came out icey and quiet, her words measured, articulated to the Nth degree, almost dripping with venom and laced with more danger in the sharpness of their soft execution than they would have been had she shouted at him from the top of her lungs.
One chance.
That's all he would get.
Toriko could feel her body trembling as she suddenly became aware that she held something back, a tide that pushed against her, waves that threatened to break and burst past her.
And all of it building up in Hiei's direction.3
Hiei's entire being, still muddled with sleep enough to make him even just a bit irrational, was filled with rage at the small creature. His immediate reaction, that of being attacked, had driven his instincts to overdrive, his katana drawn only from those instincts and held in such a way that the moonlight from outside flashed across the blade.
The slack body of the feline in his hand would be an easy thing to slice at. The small heart would be so simple to pierce with the blade in his hand…
Toriko's voice moved to his ears, but the words were almost lost to him, if the quiet warning hadn't gained his attention. He glanced back for a second before turning back to the cat, glaring deadly daggers of consideration at the sleek black furball.
And for the moment, he didn't know what to do, so he made no motion to move at all. *
At first Toriko felt only an odd trickling sensation coming from somewhere she could not identify, and before she could do anything to stop it, the trickle became a flood, as if that's all that had been needed.
Her entire body erupted into pins and needles, buzzing along her skin and the tide she previously held back burst forth out of her control and the last thing she felt was a vague sense of confusion as her vision closed in and Toriko blacked out.
"I SAID, put him DOWN!" The mass of fury built up within took tangible form as demonic energy able to be wielded and it flew the short distance between the two bodies sitting on the bed, blasting into the air and making her hair suddenly whoosh behind her head in the backdraft.
Her green eyes glared cruelly at Hiei as the energy did not so much as hit his body as be absorbed by it, the slight shimmer that settled over her skin being transmitted to envelop his.
In the aftermath, she sat there breathing heavily, her gaze no less dangerous and holding his, Hiei less than a foot away from where she had sat up on the bed.
The sudden expulsion of energy took everything she had and her eyes fluttered shut as she fell towards Hiei in a faint. 3
Hiei felt his lip curl up as his eyes flashed again at the cat, deciding at the last moment that his cloak was repairable and his skin would heal. He had been about to move, about to drop the cat, when an immense amount of energy hit him.
Crimson eyes widened and his body stilled all motions, going tense as his mind blanked out. Slowly, he turned to look at Toriko, meeting her gaze and recognizing the power that shimmered around her. He was completely captivated, his hand instinctively going slack and releasing the cat, letting Maneshi drop to his feet on the carpet.
He sat there for what felt like an eternity, meeting her gaze and a small part of him realizing he was at this woman's mercy. But the second he registered such a thought, her eyes were closing and her body was slumping, falling forward. He reacted out of pure instinct, catching her and slowly letting himself lower her limp form to the mattress. *
The instant Maneshi's feet hit the ground, he shot towards the corner of the room by the door and put his back to it, hunching down as small as he would go and watching the rest of the room with wide, gleaming eyes.
The visions from his nightmare were gone now, only to be replaced with a scene that he felt responsible for somewhere in his kitty-mind.
He froze in place, trying to bring as little attention to himself as possible in his dark corner, but carrying a vague sense of concern for the others in the room. He smelled blood, that he somehow knew he was accountable for, and his fur still stood on end from the burst of energy that left it feeling singed, though he had not been touched.
Meanwhile, only a couple of seconds passed on the bed where Toriko's body had passed out, but when the eyes slowly came open again with a blink and expression of disorientation, it was not in fact Toriko who woke up.
Shikiyoku blinked again and cringed, her mind fully awake, but her body exhausted from the energy she'd just expelled. Nearly all of it that had been regained since...
She remembered nothing between her attack just now on Hiei and falling asleep after he tended her wounds, and the disorientation she felt she associated with time having passed that she did not experience. In fact, she didn't even recall slumbering within Toriko's cage and she put a hand up to her forehead as she grimaced again, feeling an impending headache looming just behind her eyes. 3
Hiei sat in silence, hands still on Toriko's shoulders, eyes watching the face of the girl who lay with her head now on his upper leg, just above his knee. He was waiting for her to awaken, to tell him what she desired, or for her to ask what he wanted of her, which, at this moment, wasn't much of anything.
When her eyes opened slowly, he found himself searching her irises, though he didn't move a single muscle other than his own eyes. A part of him felt that if he moved, she would become angry, and thus he'd receive nothing more than admonishment from her. So he sat silently, watching, waiting. *
As Shikiyoku rubbed her eye with one hand, the other began readjusting to the almost complete darkness of the room, and for a moment she thought the gleaming eyes peering down at her were those of the cat. But they were much too far away, and for that matter, they were the same color, and actually they looked more like...Hiei's...eyes...
Shikiyoku stopped moving her hand, finding herself staring up from a strange angle into Hiei's face. She meant to open her mouth to say something, but she was pretty sure she just sat there in much the same way as he, her hand slowly lowering down so that she could make for certain she wasn't imagining things.
Yup. That was Hiei alright.
What was she supposed to do now? 3
Hiei stared, watching each and every motion of the person he'd caught a moment ago as she rubbed away at her face. He waited until her gaze met his, witnessing several emotions flit through her irises, before moving any other muscle.
His head tilted just a bit in curiosity. When he spoke, his voice was soft, but at the same time, gruff with the energy that had barrelled into him moments earlier. "You fainted." *
Shikiyoku felt like she needed to explain why she fainted, but for another moment it was all she could do to keep looking at him, the limited pale light from the moon that beamed in through the window giving her enough vision that she could see the details of his face quite well, as like most demons she had excellent low-light sight.
"I didn't even know I had that. Energy." She added, finding that her brain was having trouble stringing words together. She shut up before she made it worse. 3
Hiei raised a brow quizzically, realizing that this was not the same person who had… Wait, what had he been doing before? He couldn't remember at the moment. All he knew was that this was Shikiyoku, not Toriko.
As soon as her lips were touching, cutting off the small talk she'd carried on, he nodded. "Neither had I." Of course, he wasn't sure what else to say, since he couldn't exactly think straight. So he relapsed into silence again, eyes still searching each plane of her features. *
"No, I mean..." Shikiyoku began, then quickly retraced her steps and gave up on that direction, "I was gone." Well, that made a lot of sense, stupid.
Her eyes flicked off to the right as she tried to get her thoughts in order and she took a breath before speaking.
"All of that healing stuff," Oh great, now you really sound like an idiot, "I used everything up. I don't know where I went. It's like I didn't exist or something."
Come to think of it, she didn't really feel Toriko at the moment either. She had a vague sense that the "cage" was still in place oddly enough, but there was no...jailor, for lack of better term. 3
Hiei wasn't sure, at first, that he followed what Shikiyoku was saying. She'd been gone? Nonexistent? It didn't make much sense. But after a moment of silent contemplation, he realized that she had been describing the only thing that could explain the bond, or seemingly lack thereof.
He turned inward, finding the bond just as it should be, almost pulsating with the attention he gave it specifically. It hummed, saying that even though there was a slight disturbance, likely from the odd situation, all was well.
His eyes refocused and he was watching Shikiyoku again. "She said the same, or something similar, of you." *
"Maybe...maybe it was a sort of hibernation or something." Shikiyoku returned her gaze upwards, lost in thought. "I know I had no energy left. My sleep was so deep I must not have remembered anything."
She looked over at Hiei, frowning, "She said I was gone?" 3
Immediately, Hiei's lips parted in the answer he felt she needed of him. "She said you were no longer with her. I was unsure, but the bond has been missing, until now." His expression became neutral again, his eyebrow resettling back into place and his eyes finally moving away from her, to the opposite side of the room where he spied Maneshi.
Oh, that's what I forgot.
"I did no harm to the cat." *
As Hiei spoke, Shikiyoku reached inward again, coming away with no second presence, her brows drawing together in a deep frown.
She wasn't really sure how she felt about the other one not being there.
Shikiyoku didn't even heard Hiei's words as the realization that she was alone dawned on her.
"She's...gone."
For his part, Maneshi remained frozen in place, especially when he knew one of the others talked about him. He sincerely wished they would just forget he was there, as he had no desire to leave without making sure things were okay. 3
Hiei eyed the cat, every other sense of his trained on the demoness. He considered the furball for a moment before turned away from it, finding no immediate interest in the creature at the moment. It was a small animal not worth his attention.
"I don't think so." he replied suddenly, though not looking at her. "I don't believe you've experienced separation, especially since you've just swapped from her." He didn't know what made him think this, since he knew absolutely nothing about such a thing, but the words had formed before he'd stopped them, and now it didn't matter. *
Her eyes refocused in on Hiei. He sounded so sure of himself. But...
"But...she's not there." It wasn't as if she was trying to argue with him, but the emptiness that echoed where there had once been another personality settled over her stressfully.
What if Spirit World started looking for her? What if she couldn't get the seals to work again? If Toriko really wasn't there, they would have no problem in...
She was too old to let herself panic, but the desire was there, in the back of her mind. 3
Hiei gave a noncommittal shrug of a single shoulder, "She said the same when we talked about Koenma's offer." He paused there, thinking back to Toriko's own words of the disappearance of Shikiyoku, who was now obviously present.
But his mind wandered again, to the thought of home, and the desire to go bubbled up stronger than ever before. *
"Koenma's...offer?" Shikiyoku peered curiously into Hiei's face. 3
Hiei was automatically refocused on Shikiyoku with her query, suddenly realising that this demon had once asked of his desires. He'd been unsure then, with too many things going on for himself to be sure. He couldn't even remember if he'd given a proper answer.
"I desire to go home," he stated bluntly, eyes smoldering beneath the calm facade he wore. "And Koenma has offered an opportunity. But you're needed, otherwise I can't go." *
Shikiyoku considered Hiei with a very solemn expression, weighing heavily on his words and the feeling she could practically taste behind them.
If her Champion desired something, he was going to get it come hell or high water. It was her job to see to that. And she had every intention of doing said job.
All Shikiyoku did was nod once, her mind still fixated on how much Hiei believed he wanted this.
Home.
Wait.
Her eyes grew big, "You mean Demon World?" 3
The immense amount of emotion that swamped over Hiei at the nod of approval he received was almost too much, making his entire body relax- when had he become so tense?- and his gaze soften in relief. He'd thought she would say no, though he wasn't sure why.
Her voice sounded again, pulling him from his inwardly emotions and back to the present, images he hadn't meant to conjure up dissipating from his mind's eye for the moment. "Where else would I call home?" he inquired, genuinely confused by her query. *
Shikiyoku's head shifted slightly in the beginning of a negative shake, "No, I mean, Koenma...Demon World...what?"
The dots weren't connecting in her head.
"And what do I have to do with anything?" 3
If it were a possible thing, a lightbulb would have popped up over Hiei's head at the realization that Shikiyoku had no idea of the conversation he'd had with Toriko. He sat up a little straighter, preparing himself for the presentation of the information that he was about to dish out.
"Koenma has a lead on a demon that Otento has made contact with, but the type of energy they manipulate is something that only you, I presume, can counteract. Kurama and Akari have no access to their energy, and he knew of your presence within Toriko, and has requested assistance in order to gain a lead on Otento and, likely, gain some very useful information and get ahead." *
Shikiyoku felt her stomach drop as she realized Spirit World knew exactly where she was hiding.
Somewhere else in the not-so-freaked-out part of her brain she wondered how long they'd known and why they hadn't come for her yet.
She trembled once, she couldn't help it. The memory of the words on the warrant that she'd been told about made her shiver and long for Toriko's presence.
For all the good that her hiding had done for her. 3
Hiei noted the tremble that ran through Toriko's body and the discord that riddled her features, immediately realizing he hadn't told her the part she would need to hear in order for her to go along with it. "He included in his request that, should you decide to help, the warrant for your arrest would be thrown out, forgotten. You'd be free, in a sense." *
Thanks for reading! Bless your face. If you sneezed during this chapter, bless you. Peace off! -Star