A/N: Hello once again, Fanficdotnet Lovelies!
Your friendly, neighborhood Star here, with another chapter for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
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 Youko/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.
[Anything written in italics inside square brackets is Youko speaking to Shuichi/Kurama inside their mind and is private conversation, unable to be picked up by telepathy.]
{Anything written in italics inside curly brackets is inner dialogue by Shuichi/Kurama to Youko, and is also private conversation, unable to be picked up by telepathy.}
"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).
The above rule also applies to Akari's old friend Isamu when he is in his dog-form.
Previously on Yu Yu Hakusho!
Exhausted by the amount of energy he lost to Shikiyoku's other form's hunger,
Hiei falls asleep next to her in the hot spring,
his head coming to rest atop hers and setting her energy buzzing at the contact.
It is only after a short nap he awakens and begins to move from the water,
starting to clothe himself, but becoming interesting in the state of his mark,
and realizing he had not particularly examined it before now.
Shikiyoku offers to give him an image of it,
and when he agrees, she places her palm over the hypocenter at his core.
The mark lights up with her energy, spiraling over much of his left side,
even extending down his waist to his thigh.
Slightly melancholy, Shikiyoku remembers she wishes it removed,
if only to protect him, fearful he might die because of association with her,
and feeling her heartache for the others who already passed away.
She reveals to him that she wants to remove all the markings,
in the hopes that no more would have to perish on her behalf.
Hiei affirms that he has no intention of leaving,
whatever she might wish or think,
and renders her speechless as he steps close,
her energy buzzing around her at his proximity.
Even as she tries to convince him otherwise,
he informs her that none of the prospective Consorts
will leave until she decides who is to stay.
~!**!~
Leaving the room where Akari killed Takeo behind,
Kurama carries the female demon back to her room,
and upon arriving, draws her up a bath.
While she is lounging in said bath,
Kurama ponders on whether or not Yomi has realized
that Shikiyoku is the same demon of which Youko had been Champion
even while Yomi was still part of Youko's gang.
Meanwhile, Akari slips out of her body again,
her soul wandering the hallways,
even as Kurama enters the bathroom to retrieve her.
She meets Takeo and pulls herself away as if in a dream,
threatening Kurama as she "awakens" to leave,
and informing him that she had not been anywhere.
Kurama has by this time pieced together the fact that
her soul is not entirely tethered to her body,
but he finds that her lying to him stings more,
and he leaves her to her own devices in the bath.
When she attempts to placate him,
he acts as if he is upset with her,
angry, though he makes motions to her that he is not,
attempting to fool Yomi into thinking she does not mean anything to her,
and thus protecting her from being used as a pawn.
He encounters Yomi as he leaves her room,
solidifying his "feelings" towards Akari by acting as if he were over her.
He and Akari sleep in separate rooms that night,
but he is awaiting her at the training room in the morning,
where she informs him in no uncertain terms that she will not be entering that room again...
Yomi is nothing compared to that thing. He doesn't scare me.
With the thought, her chin lifted just a little higher in the air in a show of defiance, of stubborn denial of going inside. She didn't reply verbally. She didn't have to.
Yomi is nothing to that thing. And if there's a chance that anyone thinks they'll get me there again….
I'll prove them wrong. *
He hadn't even bothered to look up at her, but he thought he would give her one last chance.
"You're positive you won't go in willingly? On your own two feet?"
~!**!~
It wasn't just Otento.
Shikiyoku looked away from the fire demon.
Taka had died saving her. Douji had died because of her. They all three had been just as unwilling to part.
Just like the last three are unwilling to part.
"It's not just me that-" ...that decides who is to stay. Her mouth closed after she cut herself off.
It doesn't matter.
You can't convince him.
That much was clear.
All you can do is hope he gets convinced before-
Shikiyoku's teeth bit into the skin behind her bottom lip, trying to vanquish the thought.
All at once Shikiyoku had thrown her arms around to encircle Hiei's midsection, bracing them against his back, her cheek against his chest as a couple of tears leaked out from her eyes before she could stop them as she slammed her lids shut.
The emotion caught in her throat and made her next words croak out of her lips in a harsh whisper.
"...but I don't want you to die." 3
Hiei saw the motion before she'd moved, her muscles coiling for the movement, and he let his arms open for her, wrapping around her shoulders when she slammed into him, causing the slightest rock backwards before he caught his balance again. One hand moved to rest on the side of her head, holding it against his chest as he lowered his head towards hers, nose just brushing a few hairs atop her cranium as his eyelids slid shut.
"Then I won't." he mumbled into her hair, sending the strands fluttering with his breath. "I never planned to in the first place."
~!**!~
Akari's whole body tensed, making the bottle in her hand crinkle a little as her grip tightened and she set her weight heavier on her feet, bracing herself.
"No." The word was just as defiant as the lift of her chin, her eyes flashing at him.
You'll have to drag me. *
Can't say I didn't offer.
Kurama gave a little shrug as if he didn't care, or like he knew her answer before she gave it to him.
Moving swiftly enough that she wouldn't be able to react, he had her by the waist and quite literally threw her atop his shoulder, her legs hanging down over his chest and her torso going back next to his ear.
Giving a long-suffering sigh as he moved for the door, he reached out with the arm not encircling the waist of the demon he carried and twisted the knob.
~!**!~
Shikiyoku clutched at him tighter for a moment, though she let out this huffy breath that might have been a laugh if it hadn't gotten strangled by all the tightness in her throat and come out more like a sob.
"You don't-" Her chest heaved and broke the sentence, "Plan to die, Jaganshi. It doesn't- ...work like that." 3
"Precisely. You couldn't have planned for their deaths any more than I could plan for my own."
He kept his arms wrapped around her, not giving her the chance to step away even if she wanted to. He gave a small sound akin to a sigh.
~!**!~
The barest of sounds left Akari's lips as she was tossed over Kurama's shoulder, her eyes widening and her hands quickly bracing against his back, one still holding the water bottle, the other flat against his back. She heard the door open, and she could have sworn she felt her core stop, the image of the creature flashing across her mind and causing both arms to suddenly fly out, grabbing at the wall with the best grip she could manage.
"No." she hissed, bound and determined to try everything she could think of.
Because the air in that room made her skin form goosebumps, and she almost thought she could feel the energy she'd felt that day. *
Kurama only stopped because he felt the slight resistance from behind him that threatened to slip her out of his grip.
"Really? Are we going to be this way about it? You try my patience, pup." He gave an experimental tug.
She...wasn't going in without a fight.
And really, that just made the show of it all the better.
He supposed he felt bad about it...somewhere. But there was this other part of him enjoying it way too much.
"You're only making it harder on yourself." He gave a sigh that appeared to reflect his tolerance growing thin and stepped as far into the room as possible, which was hardly even one 'step' in the frame.
Had this been anywhere else, he would have just started tickling her.
As it was, he had a reputation to maintain.
The bulbs around the inside of the doorframe had lit up when he stepped in, and just as the last of them did so, a handful of vines snaked silently down from the overhanging canopy and wrapped around Akari's legs up just past her knees.
It wouldn't have mattered if she struggled against them.
This allowed Kurama to step out from under her, leaving the vines taunt enough that it was clear they would pull her into the air as soon as he commanded.
"Last chance." He turned to face her, watching with deadened, unamused eyes.
~!**!~
She wanted to say something about patterns. About predictions. The others all died that way and...
About how she meant he didn't get the priviledge to plan to die because he didn't get to die.
Or something.
There's no convincing him.
She held her breath for a moment, then let out an exasperated sigh.
Shikiyoku gave the slightest pull as if to look up at his face, but feeling his hands and arms, she instead settled further into his embrace.
"You have got to be the worst person to try and have an argument with." The sentence came out mumbled, and had he not kept his arms around her there would have been a half-hearted glare into his eyes before saying as much. 3
"Hn." Hiei's lips twitched just a little, amused at her observation. He wasn't one for letting others win arguments often. Though, he wasn't even sure he considered this an argument. Slight disagreement, maybe.
Heh. Slight.
"I thought you knew that already."
~!**!~
Akari tried to come up with something witty to rebut his comment about her trying his patience, but really she couldn't think of anything worth voicing. Nothing that wouldn't make her sound like a moron- she already looked like one. No need to complete the image.
Her grip did tighten a little when Kurama gave a tug and another sigh. She was so close to being-
She felt the vines snake their way around her legs, and her eyes widened with the silent threat of being suspended high in the air, likely upside down. She wouldn't be able to talk her way out of it with this one.
She gave a growl.
I don't…
Room. I don't like it.
Heights…
I..
She made a sound of consternation and squeezed her eyes shut. "You and your stupid whips." she grumbled, followed shortly after with a hard swallow. Heights. Room.
Crap.
I don't want to.
…
Either way, it seemed, she was going in that room. She released a groan and let her grip loosen, fingers unfurling from the doorframe slowly.
I hate you. *
"I guess I'm doing it for you, then." Kurama noted, waving a hand in the direction of the arms that were stretched out to the frame of the door.
Seemingly out of nowhere, long strands of sweet-smelling grass appeared wrapped around her forearms, forcing them together and ensuring that she let go.
The taut vines shot upwards like a sling with Akari in tow and Kurama calmly turned his back to shut the door behind them.
~!**!~
"Well, I feel like I've said it before." Shikiyoku admitted in a grumble. "Apparently I've forgotten." 3
Hiei opened his eyes to peer down at Shikiyoku, his head raising so that his breath no longer disturbed the strands of hair atop her head. He kept his eyes on her, studying what he could see of her face.
He almost taunted her about what all she'd forgotten, but for some reason, he didn't really feel as if he wanted to taunt her.
Perhaps it was because she'd forgotten him, and he didn't want to think about it.
He didn't reply.
~!**!~
She heard him speak, and her hands released the doorframe, only for her arms to be bound together and her body to be jerked upwards. Her breath caught in her throat, catching the sound that nearly left her as her eyelids slammed shut against the upward force.
She heard her water bottle hit the floor, and in the back of her mind wished she'd held on to it, for a projectile weapon.
"I was letting go you ass!" Akari suddenly screamed, finding herself swaying as she hung upside down, arms hanging over- below?- her head. She opened her eyes for a split second, only to close them again as her stomach fluttered at the height.
I hate you right now. So much. *
Once the door had been shut, Kurama paid no attention to her for a moment, slipping off his coat to hang it on the knob and walking over to the Speakers plant and tapping at it with a finger.
The low murmurings that started coming from it sounded exactly like he and Akari, the sounds of fighting, an argument.
Perfect.
They would be projected as if coming from inside the room, but were actually being fed into the wall.
Kurama calmly took his time to walk over to where Akari hung and looked up at her, arms folded over his chest.
"I know." His eyes finally glittered, "But I thought you could do with some more green."
~!**!~
Just act as if everything is fine. Like he's fixed it. Like it'll all be okay now.
...what would you say if that were really the case?
"Thanks for reminding me," Shikiyoku started, her lips fighting a smile as she added, "About how fierce you are, flame-boy." 3
Hiei raised a brow at Shikiyoku, eyes searching her face for a moment as she spoke. His lips even twitched a little, but his expression settled into a calm one again.
Hn.
He suddenly leaned down, eyes still on her.
"You should take me more seriously." His tone was calm, but his volume low, as if he didn't want anyone else in the area to hear. And this time, when his lips twitched, it was to pull them up in a sidelong smirk. "I'm not here simply to be fierce." Though it seems to help.
~!**!~
The gentle swaying back and forth was unnerving, and the feeling of her hair touching her arms was even more so as she hung upside-down. Akari swallowed again, slowly bringing her eyes open as a sound or two caught her attention.
Voices.
My voice?
Her eyes landed on Kurama, looking small from this height and-
Her eyes closed tightly again.
"I get it, let me down!" There was no mistaking the edge in her voice that hinted the beginnings of a shrill. "You've had your fun!" *
"Learned your lesson, then?" Kurama asked as the vines slowly lowered her down in his direction where he stood in the middle of the path, along either side of it blooming flowers lining the way with their soft light.
The rest of the room was rather dark, but there was a liveness to it: rustlings of plantlife, whispers of leaves.
He stopped her when she still swayed in the air two or three feet above his head.
~!**!~
There had been, since he made her blush, the same buzzing feeling happening underneath her skin, and she had turned to look up at Hiei just before he started speaking, becoming much too aware all at once that she stood there in only a towel pressed up against a warm, shirtless fire demon.
And the fact that he leaned closer made it...worse. Much worse.
Better?
No, definitely worse.
Because all of that so-called control you thought you had?
...out the window.
She just said the first thing that popped into her head as she looked up at him, thoughts scattered as the tingling at her scalp increased, shifting her arms a little almost as if she wanted to let him go, suddenly aware-like everything else-of the smooth strength of his back.
"I don't even know what that means." She grumbled, feeling herself turn more red the closer he got, head leaning slightly away from him. As well as she could manage, anyway. 3
Hiei let amusement glisten in his eyes as he watched Shikiyoku's face brighten in color and warm with the blood that rushed to her face. He also noted that she didn't look away from him, even though she did lean away from him.
Which made it even better.
"Hn."
He merely continued to stare in the same way he always did.
~!**!~
Akari could feel herself being lowered, but she didn't dare open her eyes to look. She knew he wouldn't just drop her, but there was still that strong part of her that feared the fall anyway. Dogs are not meant for heights.
"If that lesson is that I don't like greenery as much, then yes." She paused, voice lowering as she began to feel a bit more relaxed, no longer feeling as if she had to watch her words. "But you almost saw some green." Her stomach gave a little flop again, as if to emphasize her point.
She swallowed and let her eyelids come open to stare at Kurama when she was stilled, the only motion being that of the slight sway. Her head was beginning to pound with the blood that was rushing downward.
"I've also learned you're not a fun challenge. Let me down now, please?" *
"Not a fan?" He pursed his lips together, "And you know, it's a pity, because I think you'd look absolutely ravishing in only greenery."
He let her down farther, until her face was even with his own and he could look into her eyes, giving her the slightest grin.
~!**!~
You-
I-
She blinked once, finding it strange to be mesmerized by his eyes, unable to look away or think or anything, and wondering if this was how it felt from the other side.
Shikiyoku almost wanted to tell him to stop it, but she wasn't even sure herself what exactly she meant for him to stop.
Forcing her gaze to lower, her chin following suit just enough to tear her gaze away, to look to the side, she let out an uncertain breath.
"Why are you...looking at me like that?"
Shouldn't you ask him what it means first? 3
Hiei waited, watching her reaction calmly even as she dipped her head and turned her eyes so that he could not see them. The gleam in his own gaze brightened in amusement when he was sure she wouldn't look.
Oh how he enjoyed being able to do this when he'd noticed none of the others could.
Why is that?
Her question almost flew right over his head, unheard. But he reigned himself from his thoughts and raised a brow.
"Should I be looking at you in a different way?"
~!**!~
Akari frowned slightly, thinking hard. All greenery. Why does that ring a bell?
And then she huffed at him, eyes suddenly flashing at him. "You and your remarks." I don't know how to respond to them. "No, I'm not a fan of being upside down, of hanging in the air, of anything of that sort. Heights are not for dogs."
Poison Ivy? Was that it?
"You know, with that hair of yours, you would look better in only greenery." Her lips suddenly twisted into a grin of mischief. *
"While that may be true," Kurama began, "...while that is true, I'm fairly certain our dear Master Yomi wouldn't approve in the change of uniform."
~!**!~
Shikiyoku blinked as she kept her gaze to the side, unsure if it was his eyes keeping her mesmerized or somehow her own.
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, then quickly shifted back away again, her head turning even just a little further. 3
No answer?
Hiei sneered at the prospect and had to swallow a little sound that might have bloomed into a scoff. Or a chuckle. He didn't know, and since he didn't often make the second noise, he didn't want to find out.
Not that he didn't like the noise, he just…
Not many people have heard it.
None, actually.
He shoved the thought away and stood upright again, lips holding that sneer as he continued to stare, wondering what she'd do next.
~!**!~
Akari's mouth opened, then closed, and opened again when Kurama's lips let out the words Master Yomi. And then she was smiling again at the rest of what he'd said. "Hm. Too bad."
She turned her head to look up at the vines still holding her. "Is there any particular reason why you're letting every drop of blood in my system run to my brain?" She dropped her head again to meet Kurama's gaze once more, feeling the color in her face growing brighter and brighter, the pounding getting louder and louder. *
Kurama stepped up to Akari, taking a hold of her wrists and pushing them over her head until they came to rest in front of her lap, and holding them there.
"Quite possibly." He replied amiably as he moved even closer, reaching out with his free hand to bury it in her hair near the back of her neck, holding her face steady. "Maybe it's part of your training. You wouldn't know. Perhaps Yomi is quite specific in how you are to be handled."
He let his cheek brush down hers until he got far enough to nuzzle his nose near her ear.
"I missed you last night," He murmured unhappily, almost a complaint. "I hated it."
~!**!~
She still didn't have an answer for his earlier question.
If you don't stop it, I'm gonna do...something.
Not that she had the slightest notion as to what.
...not that she wanted him to stop.
That thought was new. Did she find this attention of his pleasing, if just a little?
"Do you...enjoy torturing me?" She didn't look up at him, feeling his piercing, fiery gaze locked on her face and unsure what would happen if she met with those eyes again.
The little sparks that had earlier been sent skittering across her head when he slept against her were now dancing visibly over her wherever the two of them touched, be it her shoulders where his arms were, across the towel smooshed between them where neither could see, or even on her arms where she still had them pressed up along either side of the spine of his back. 3
Hiei had noticed the odd feeling of something touching his skin, making the hairs on his arms stand up and his skin to tingle here and there. But he hadn't seen the source until a little sparkle flew where he could see his arm touching her shoulder, his hand still lightly touching her hair- not to hold her in place, but simply because he could.
By the time she had voiced her question, he'd become aware of each little flash of energy, though his eyes never left her face. He moved his hand away from her head after a moment, taking a lock of her hair between his fingers and rolling the strands between his forefinger and thumb. And a second or two later he released the strand to let it fall where it had previously been resting.
"Torture?" he echoed, raising a brow briefly before it too settled back into the neutral zone. "I wasn't aware."
~!**!~
Akari made a small sound in the back of her throat, not fighting Kurama as he moved her arms. She eyed the look on his face as he spoke, until she no longer could see his face when his cheek rubbed against hers, his hand keeping her steady.
You're having too much fun.
She hummed at the redhead after a moment of silence, her lips twitching just a little. Her eyelids closed and she sighed a little. "Makes two of us, hm?" Had she been able to do so, she would have turned her head and planted her lips to his cheek.
But, honestly, she didn't want to remove the contact already in place.
….Even if her head was hurting. *
Kurama slowly had the vines lower her further until he had her in his arms, then they unwound themselves from around her legs, the restraints at her arms pulling apart and then disappearing. He took a moment just standing there, looking into her face, then he leaned forward and planted a kiss near the top of her forehead.
~!**!~
Shikiyoku didn't feel him playing with her hair, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel a strange spark in the midst of her hair that sat for a moment-in his fingers?-and then separated into two, one going up towards her scalp the other flying in the opposite direction to the end.
He didn't really have to answer the question directly. It was answer enough that he hadn't pulled away yet.
...it was also answer enough that she hadn't tried to pull away herself.
Granted, she wasn't all that sure she could.
And while that irked her, at the same time she couldn't help but...enjoy it herself.
The irksome portion of her did shift though, her arms moving down towards his waist to hold onto one another while around him and sending more flashes up to her shoulders with each movement.
She narrowed her eyes up at him and tried to look as unamused as possible.
"Not. Fair." 3
Hiei became aware of every single little flash, every single little spark that both visibly and invisibly shot between their persons, up her arms when she moved, along her hair when he'd touched it, even where his arm wrapped around her, the sensation moving through the towel.
..Which he'd forgotten about until that moment.
When she spoke, though, it pulled his attention away from the thought and brought amusement full-force to the forefront of his mind again. Fair?
The stare she issued up at him made him scoff just a little and his sneer turning into an amused smirk.
"I don't…" he began, voice lowering into a murmur after a moment, "have a reputation for fairness."
~!**!~
Oh thank the lord and all that is good!
She felt instant relief when she was lowered into Kurama's grasp, the blood that had been rushing to her head now rushing back the way it had come, making her squeeze her eyelids together against the dots that danced in her vision.
"You're a pain," she grumbled as she slid her arms up and over his shoulders, pausing when his lips touched her forehead before moving her chin to his shoulder, lips touching the space below his ear. "Stupid fox." *
Kurama let out a good-natured laugh and pressed his cheek against her nearest one as best he could.
"I'm always a pain. And I'm always, apparently, stupid. You really should try and find some other adjectives. I'm much more than just those two things, as I'm certain you know." He paused. "Or do you?"
~!**!~
Shikiyoku's mouth opened as she took a breath, appeared to consider something and let her mouth close.
It opened against with that same look and she worked her jaw around.
"Reputation aside, I can't rightly decide if it's good or bad for me." Her lips pursed together as her scalp tingled and released energy into the air over which she had no control. 3
Hiei waited for a response, half thinking he wouldn't get one. He did, however, find that her initial speechlessness was absolutely priceless. It was another one of those things he'd noticed none of the others seemed able to do.
At least, not when around him. Separate means something else entirely.
When she did speak up, he raised both brows at her for a moment, and slowly leaned forward again.
"Do you want me to let you go?"
~!**!~
"Of course I know," Akari replied calmly, smiling. "I have a list, if you didn't remember that part." Too many to list at this very moment. "Those two just happen to be the ones I use verbally."
She paused, pulling her face away so she could peer into his, eyeing him calmly. "And just so you know, that list is always growing."
Sometimes not in the nicest of ways, but those never stay. Not long, anyway.
Her eyes suddenly roved the room, searching for anything that would be out of the norm. She couldn't exactly see every nook and cranny of the room, but that didn't mean she wasn't able to check those darkened corners, those hidden walls. And while she found nothing- rather, nobody- she still didn't like the room she stood in.
Or.. was held in.
Whatever.
"Those talking plants of yours are rather disconcerting." She suddenly said, though her lips gave a smile. "How'd you do that anyway?" Her eyes turned back to him. *
Kurama's smile grew further, though his lips didn't part enough to see his teeth.
If he had been able to reach a finger out and touch the tip of her nose, he would have, but seeing as how both arms were otherwise occupied at that exact moment, he instead leaned forward and briefly brush his nose to hers in a similar manner as to how he intended to do with a hand.
"Trade secret. A rather good creation, I might humbly add. We can speak freely here."
~!**!~
Every muscle in Shikiyoku's body froze up when he grew closer and she only blinked at him as a flutter of energy sparkled through her eyes.
I...
I don't...
...know? Or...no?
Her lips came apart again, and there was the slightest hint of a smirk at the edges of them. When she spoke, her voice was low and the corners of the room would not have been able to hear her.
"Do you...enjoy...life on the edge, fire-prince?"
Taking your life into your own hands?
"Because I certainly have no control here."
As if you didn't already know. 3
Throughout the pause in the room, Hiei continued to stare, only blinking very quickly once when one of his eyes had gotten an itch. And by the time that itch passed, his stare had locked again and Shikiyoku was speaking, asking a question that he figured she should have known the answer to.
Of course he did. Otherwise he wouldn't be where he was today.
"I occasionally like a nap too."
Yes, I'm aware.
His grip on her loosened, silently giving her the chance to step away if she wanted to.
~!**!~
"I'd already guessed that much, considering the Poison Ivy topic." Akari's lips spread further, showing her teeth as she gave a quiet little laugh. I'm glad. I hated not being able to say whatever I wanted. "Love what you did with the place, might I add. Very… floral, mister Flowers." *
Kurama let his eyes rove over what they could see of the place from where he stood.
"Mm. It's not terrible." He allowed, at last landing on the word, "Functional. It serves the purpose it needs."
This time when he looked at her, it was with a more concerned glance.
"There are...plenty of places to sit. Or lay down. But I...hadn't moved because..." He took a breath, "You don't have to tell me exactly what happened, because I know just about as much as everyone else in the facility but..." He let out a sigh.
~!**!~
You know I could...live with this sort of feeling of helplessness. It's much, much nicer than what I've been feeling lately.
Shikiyoku's gaze lost the dismay and perplexity at her situation, letting herself be taken in by Hiei's stare, which seemed to make the room around her disappear, as well as all of her other concerns and apprehensions about what the future might hold, until all she could see was the fire blazing in his red eyes, and for the first time since her energy had started going out of control, she relaxed.
"...thank you."
Her grip had loosened as well, but her appreciation was most certainly not for the opportunity to step away, if it wasn't obvious by how she didn't take it. 3
Hiei felt her muscles loosen and the tautness in her body release, her arms around his midsection also loosening their grip, but her feet didn't even take a step as if to take his offer. Which made him tilt his head to the side a little and quirk a brow in amusement.
When he spoke, his voice was as low as hers had been earlier, only heard by the one who it was aimed to. "Don't forget this time, woman."
~!**!~
Akari kept her internal reaction contained, her expression carefully holding that small smile and a curious raise of her brow when he spoke. Inside, she flinched a little out of nervousness, almost afraid that if she thought about it, then what she knew wasn't in the room would suddenly be in the room.
Though, the rational part of her brain knew better. Knew that it wasn't really the room she didn't like, but the fact that she'd been in it when she'd thrown her hand through Takeo's chest and-
…
Wait.
Takeo had been there too. She'd pulled away from him, pulled her hand and almost his heart from his chest in her panic.
She blinked, and her eyes focused on Kurama again.
"And what do the people in the facility say?" she asked, suddenly curious of what they knew, and what they didn't know. Of what might have been falsified, and what might have been stretched. At least then, she might be able to start somewhere instead of fumbling for where to begin. *
"Considering all the trouble we had closing the portal? Quite a lot." Kurama told her. "None of them know you're responsible for it, though. Except Yomi. And me." He paused, "And Youko."
~!**!~
"...I..."
The blush had lessened, but bloomed all over again at his words and her eyes flicked away briefly before rejoining his, and in that instant she found all the things he had been holding at bay crashing into her mind.
Why won't you listen to me? And just go away?
She knew that wasn't really what she wanted. But was that what it was going to take?
What do I have to do? Push you to it?
She let the hint of the smirk from before return, changing whatever it had been she was going to say, "Maybe I enjoy being reminded?"
If I want him to go, to let me take the mark away...then why do I keep saying stupid stuff like that? 3
There was a moment where Hiei could feel the change, the shift in the way Shikiyoku held herself, the way she looked to the side and the gleam that had been there taking a different shine than before. And when she turned that gaze back, accompanied with a smirk and a teasing string of words, he could still see it, that change, behind her gaze. Churning the wheels, but in the opposite direction than previously. Backtracking.
His stare remained unwavering, unchanging, and he didn't reply.
Stop that.
He did, however, tighten his hold on her again, keeping her in place since she didn't seem willing to step away.
~!**!~
"Portal?" Akari's lips pursed, not liking the sound of that word. That still doesn't help me on where to start, since I have no idea what that means.
Again, she thought about Takeo being with her when she'd fled from the thing. And after a moment, her eyes closed. Of course. Death.
I ran from death.
That thought pulled the most strangled, choked little laugh.
I ran from death! And I can roam the building as a fricken spirit because of it! And a portal. And-
What else have I not put together yet?
Takeo walking the halls. I never would have thought a fricken ghost would actually exists on these planes. Of all things, demons and monsters and things the humans feared, and I didn't consider ghosts? Walking the streets and stuff.
There was a moment where all thoughts stopped and her eyes opened.
And she released another laugh, similar to the one before.
I sound like a middle-school girl who's been tossed into a new world of monsters. Stupid. *
Kurama studied Akari's face, but said nothing about whatever she was thinking, instead letting his expression brighten, "Ah! Yes. Portal. You wouldn't know anything about that would you? I'm not surprised you haven't heard the others talking about it. Everyone is fairly shook up."
He started to walk, the path he took still lined on either side with the flowers that glowed when he stepped forward, but went dark once he had gone by.
"Yomi..." Kurama began as if he were going to go into exposition and suddenly frowned.
As far as Kurama knew, everyone and their siblings on the eighth layer knew about the giant portal that had opened up on the first layer. Knew about the fight Youko and Hiei and Kafu and all the others had gotten into. Perhaps not quite knowing the details. Like about how Youko believed it was the death of Otento by Shikiyoku that opened the thing.
Another thought passed over his mind and his momentary distraction lessened.
He had briefly been concerned Yomi had hidden his knowledge of Shikiyoku from Kurama, leaving the fox in the dark and watching each and every reaction he had to Mukuro's letter.
But no one actually knew that was Shikiyoku. She was completely different now, in looks if not in name. And unless someone was close enough for her to engage her powers upon, they never would have guessed.
And especially not since she spent the portion of the battle that had caught the public's eye in pain form, ripping her way through the undead masses trying to get to the portal to...to fetch Taka back.
If that were even possible.
Didn't matter.
All that mattered is somehow Mukuro had figured out Shikiyoku was the name of the demon with the darkened-yellow energy, and it didn't appear as if Yomi had put two and two together yet. Or...two and four, in regards to Youko knowing her.
And none of them should know the fact that Shikiyoku was responsible anyway. Just like no one knew of Akari's connection to the much smaller one that had opened in the room.
That thought brought him back around, realizing he had taken several steps in silence.
"Sorry." He apologized, repeating, "The portal," and gathering his thoughts back to the conversation at hand, "I was at ground zero when the very first one opened. Let me tell you what I know, and you can take from it what you don't know.
"It seems that stepping inbetween is actually what is starting to be referred to as stepping into the Tenth Layer, and is in fact The Veil, which is all that is left separating the living from the dead at this point, given that whatever job Spirit World held in that venture is being dissolved as quickly as Spirit World itself. That which keeps the living and the dead apart is very quickly crumbling down around us, and this entire ordeal is in direct relation to the union of the three worlds.
"Shikiyoku murdered Otento, tore him to pieces really, and if my guess is correct, his blood was the finishing touch for a ritual someone was trying to complete to tear an opening in the Veil and allow the dead to invade Earth. A portal opened a mile high in the city as a result of his death and Youko and Hiei and several others drove them back."
Here he frowned, "No, that isn't exactly right. The portal began closing, and any dead left able to stand began retreating into it. I haven't the slightest idea why the portal started to close, but neither do I know the ritual involved in opening it. It's something I've never come across before.
He looked at Akari for a moment before turning his eyes back to the path, "As you might have gleaned at this point, Takeo's blood opened a small portal here. In this room. No one actually knows that you killed him except Yomi, who is the only person I told when I examined Takeo's body. He realizes it is not strictly because of you that the portal opened, otherwise you would have had a much harder time of it when you woke, but he has been trying to recreate the circumstances by gathering lesser demons and killing them in cold blood.
"Anyway, the portal stayed open an even shorter amount of time than the one in the city, and was only as tall as the ceiling in the room, but there were quite a few demons lost on either side, both among the invaders as well as the defenders. The battle is partly how the room came to be so full of plant-life as I was one of the ones nearest and covering the hole actually did prevent many more demons from coming through."
Kurama gave a little shrug, "Yomi let me keep it this way since he considers it my element and I convinced him to let me take Takeo's place. Yomi doesn't realize, and neither have I told him, that the death has to not only take place inbetween, but be the finishing touch to a ritual that Youko has never heard of or encountered before. It means there is someone else involved with the openings."
He glanced down at her again, "Yomi does want to make sure you can actually move through the Tenth Layer, though. It is rather essential to the reason you're here in the first place."
~!**!~
When he didn't answer, only staring at her as he had been, Shikiyoku felt this space around her stomach tighten and she blinked up at him, unable to tell what he thought, if anything, about her attempt to...
To what? Lighten the mood?
Her core felt as if it fluttered, sending another shimmering wave of energy into her veins that now set her skin with that strange, pearlescent appearance that beckoned to be touched.
While her own arms remained more slack than his became, the sparks that continued to occasionally flit across the top of them did not lessen, and while her lips had parted just a little it was not because she had anything to say, or rather, not because she could think of anything to say. 3
Hiei stared for a few more moments before his eyes turned up and away from her, looking around the room briefly before turning that same stare back down to Shikiyoku again. This time, when he stared, the gleam in his eyes was a little dimmer, his thoughts churning a little.
"I prefer the Crimson." he suddenly said, his lips twitching in mild amusement as he recalled the Jade Hall. The walls lined with green. And he knew from the conversation with the other demon that the only difference in the rooms and such was the color and the name. He simply preferred the color of fire to the color of grass or leaves.
...That was Kurama's thing.
~!**!~
Akari's thoughts had been put on pause when Kurama spoke up, her eyes focusing on him instead of the images in her head. And when he didn't go on, she momentarily delved into her thoughts again, frowning to herself.
I literally ran from Death. The dead. I was dead, for a little while. And then I jerked myself back, tore myself away and away from the in-between. Away from that thing.
...No wonder I hurt so bad when I woke up. And why I am capable of wandering the halls as only a spirit.
Kurama spoke up again, and Akari was quick to listen, her thoughts staying at the edge of her consciousness, at the edge of her tongue even, as he began explaining. Telling her things she hadn't been told of. Informing her of things that were likely purposely kept from her. And as he went on to say that the inbetween was the Tenth layer, her frown deepened.
A lot to take in.
A portal that opened by ritual, completed by the death of someone in the inbetween. Which she'd supplied.
But that also means someone was paying very close attention to everything in the inbetween, of every person going in and out of it.
And she was expected to go back.
To the inbetween. Possibly to death if something happened. And likely back to the thing she'd run from and refused to go back to in the first place.
It would be death.
She suddenly felt very, very calm.
"Yomi, just so you know, doesn't scare me."
She didn't mean to say the words. They just sort of tumbled out, her thoughts all jumbled despite her calmness. Too many things to keep track of at once.
Which caused the sudden change in topic.
"When you showed up that day, was I breathing? Was I alive?" Because I'm not sure what happened after fleeing. *
Kurama appeared amused by her declaration about Youko's former right-hand man, but he didn't respond to it.
"You were in very much the same state you have been when I presume you've been taking a stroll around the halls without your body." He didn't actually have to come out and say that he had been worried beyond belief at finding her that way in the room, because the emotions that he had at that time kept locked away were now free to dance over his features, to turn his brow down and cause him to frown at the remembrance.
He quickly changed the subject, "My personal reservations about Yomi being unable to replicate the process also include the timing.
"While he does not know the death must occur inbetween, as both your body and Takeo's were found outside the Tenth Layer for whatever reason, neither have there been any reports of other portals being opened, and while I don't think it's terribly often someone is murdered in the Veil, that seems to indicate to me that this third party, the one preparing the ritual itself, hasn't the faintest idea why the rituals worked when they did, doesn't know that they need the blood of a fallen demon to complete the thing."
This time his frown was in relation to the prospect that he voiced, "And I am actually more concerned what will happen when they figure that part out."
~!**!~
And Youko preferred the Jade.
The thought flitted across her awareness containing no small amount of amusement at Hiei's proclamation.
"I know." She managed to say, a little bit of the attitude she had taken with Meijin sneaking onto her face, "Rule number two of diplomacy: never ask for what you actually want first. You always offer something more extravagant so that when you are turned down, you can offer what appears to be the less optimal choice, but what was in fact the thing you were after from the beginning." By the time she had finished, she appeared to have accepted the gleam in her eyes for just a moment, looking almost like it belonged there until she blinked and that moment was gone. 3
Hiei sneered at Shikiyoku as she began speaking, listening to each word she enunciated and finding himself more and more amused with her. He'd never cared for politics or anything of the sort. He usually just took what he wanted and dealt with what followed.
"I never cared for politics." he voiced before pulling his arms away, his fingers tightening around the cloak he'd forgotten he was holding in the hand behind her. He heard the material rustle as he pulled it from behind her, eyes still on her as he pulled it over his arms first.
~!**!~
Akari eyed the way his brows created crinkles and his lips turned down. And even as he changed the subject just as quickly as she had, she found her thoughts stuck. Circling a single image in her head and the thought of the portal opening. Of Takeo walking the halls and Kyu, who she hadn't seen since that first walk through the halls. Did that mean they were walking through the halls in the inbetween layer, instead of on this plane? Did that mean she visited the inbetween when her soul separated from her body and took a walk?
"I don't want it to happen." She voiced, tone small and eyes down to her hands when they came to rest on her stomach. "I don't want-"
That thing.
She couldn't bring herself to say it.
"It's not.. going to be pretty…" The thought of that thing, of Death coming here- was that even right, to call it as such?- and doing what it pleased.. It made fear creep up again, crack the calm that had settled for a minute or two. Who knew what it could do, what it would do. She'd been completely enveloped in energy that even now she felt could suffocate her if she thought about it too long. At first, she'd been awed by it and the expanse of it, how the energy had completely enveloped everything.
But she had a feeling that if she could feel Yomi's energy, it would be nothing to that. Not even a drop in an ocean of energy brought by that thing.
It can't come here. *
Kurama glanced down at Akari and then looked away, jostling her in his arms a little to get her attention back to him.
"You're not telling me things again." He murmured, speaking a little louder next, "And here I've gone and told you every nuance I've gathered so far." His expression became more mournful, pouting...even, playful, "If you don't tell me, how am I supposed to help you? I'm not Hiei, you know. I can't just read your mind."
~!**!~
When she started speaking, it almost appeared as if she didn't notice he had let go of her.
"Really? Well, everyone else can breathe a sigh of relief in that case, since you aren't keen to join in. You've already mastered the first rule, believe it or not." Her eyes shifted to the side and she grumbled almost inaudibly, "At least in regards to me." 3
Hiei pulled the cloak around himself and let it settle over his shoulders, the fabric making the barest of noise as it settled around his ankles with the lack of movement from him. His sneer widened to show his teeth, pointed canines that seemed to accentuate the mischievous gleam in his eyes. "I don't often have use for politics." He paused. "But it's amusing to see your display."
~!**!~
This isn't funny, fox.
Akari took a deep breath. She didn't know where to begin, or even if she could go into it all, but she let her eyes close and that breath leave her in a long sigh of preparation, of apprehension. And then she started where she figured he'd want her to.
"He made me mad, and I was cornered. Stuck, and without my energy I couldn't just fall into a shadow and get away. So I reacted in the only way I knew how." Her hand twitched as she recalled hearing her hand pierce the skin. "For that second, I'd forgotten that I would follow him. And by the time I remembered, my hand was around his heart." She paused, eyes opening a little. "It was kind of like passing out at first. Dark, and you couldn't feel anything."
She let her eyelids close again, and her lips simply moved on their own. She'd actually forgotten she was talking to someone, because in her mind she'd gone over and over it in the past few hours.
"And then everything was light, kind of like floating on air, and bright. There was this energy that enveloped everything, almost as if it was everything. As if that energy was a part of every single thing I could see. It was calm, inviting. Warm. Kind of like an outstretched hand. And there was this… thing. Sitting on a chair that it seemed to have melted into, or as if the chair was actually a part of him. It."
The image of the thing turning its head in her direction made her pause, words caught in her throat.
"It was huge, the thing sitting in the chair. There hadn't been anyone else there, except myself and Takeo, but it acted as if it had been looking at someone else. At first, I thought it was a statue, unmoving and... " How can I put its size into words? "Larger than life itself. So when it moved, I-"
She took a deep breath.
"I didn't want it to see me. I didn't want to see its face, even though everything around me said it was a calm thing. I didn't… I ran. I didn't want it to come near me, because that energy was suffocating, crushing."
Another pause and she realized she was shaking.
"I didn't want to know what it could do to me." *
Kurama went ahead and held her closer as he walked smoothly through the room, his path actually an aimless one never intended to get them anywhere, but instead to keep them moving.
Youko had absolutely no reference for what power she could have felt, or what the being might actually be.
Before answering Yomi's call, Kurama had paid a visit to Koenma, after the opening of the portal in the city. There was no precedent for something like that, though the former Prince of the Spirit World knew more acutely than anyone that the barriers between the living and the dead were much weaker now than they had ever been in the past.
And given the preparation he was having to do to make sure every denizen of his kingdom made the safe passage to the new world, there wasn't hardly time at all to devote to making sure the new world was safe. Their realm was dissolving into nothingness around their ears. It didn't even seem to be affecting the new world in any way, not in any physical way at least, not like Demon World, which had merged and created the layers.
Maybe Spirit World's disappearance affected things from the other side.
The problem with that would be the fact that no one, not even Koenma, had any idea what that meant.
After all, Spirit World was only a momentary resting place for those passing on, and even they didn't know what happened to a soul when it moved through their gates.
As Akari finished talking, Kurama leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead again, staying there long enough to feel the warm of her skin against them.
The portals are not opening from its side. They are opening from this side.
[The question is, who on this side has teamed up with the dead?]
{I have a feeling the three would-be kings haven't the slightest idea what they're getting themselves into.}
[I find myself strangely okay with that.]
~!**!~
Something clicked inside Shikiyoku's mind and her arms shot back from around Hiei to fall to her sides, feeling slightly irked that she hadn't noticed sooner that he released her.
"Don't often?" Shikiyoku repeated as she looked back up at him, her incredulous plain on her face. "Pff, what a liar you are, flame-boy. You use them all the time. You're using it right now." More grumbling, "Much to my conflicted-chagrin."
You like it. Don't be a liar too.
That's why I said conflicted.
You're not as conflicted as you'd like to pretend to be. 3
Hiei continued to sneer at Shikiyoku, eyes watching her as she voiced her disagreement. And really, he found it more and more amusing with each word she said. It was even more amusing to him that she continued to rotate between calling him fire prince and flame boy.
He gave a scoff and relieved her of his stare, turning his eyes up to the mirror that hung over them as if it had caught his attention.
"I've found it rather useful here and there. Amusing."
~!**!~
When Kurama's lips touched her forehead, her eyes came open to stare up at him, having actually forgotten he was there, that she'd been telling him what she'd been wanting to avoid telling anyone about. She took a moment to feel the contact on her forehead, to calm down, before she opened her mouth to speak.
"Yomi wouldn't even stand a chance. And I have no intention of helping it come here." She took a small breath, hands linking together to hide their shaking. "And if someone's trying to get it here, they're in over their heads too." *
Kurama took her first comment to respond to.
"Yomi's intentions with you are that you become adept at moving inbetween without the use of shadows. Nothing more. It is why you were recruited, it is part of the reason why I was recruited. He and the other two have been snatching up demons capable of doing so like they were going out of style. His goal has remained unchanged, and I would bet both Mukuro and Raizen still aim for it as well. They all believed that holding the throne in the Ninth Level of Demon World would give them power over the other levels, and they still think that same position is available even now.
"Until the merging, only residents of the Ninth Level were capable of freely traversing the other levels, and they coveted that knowledge so no one else would know. The rest of us were stopped at the Eighth and could not go further down. And when Mukuro and Raizen took over, it became the Seventh, because few dared to tread on their territory. Now that it is possible to slip between the layers, one can bypass whatever barrier it is that used to keep others out of the bottom-most layer, and move freely through all of them without having been born down there. That's why the three 'kings' started to gather everyone they could get their hands on. They still plan on invading the bottom layer, but now that they have a work around, it's become a standoff between them, each one waiting for the other to move, to mess up."
Kurama was...trying to distract her from her experience, which obvious still shook her up even just remembering about it.
~!**!~
Without the direct contact, the sparks of energy along the outside of her skin came to a halt.
She hadn't taken a single step back, but her arms did come up to fold over her chest and she gave him a half-hearted glare when he looked up.
Rule Number One: Always have the upper hand.
...dammit. 3
Hiei's eyes remained on the mirror overhead, eyeing the space he could see just between himself and Shikiyoku from such an angle. It was amusing still that she didn't step away, despite their lack of contact now. And he found he almost didn't recognize the expression he himself wore.
It wasn't the same expression he'd worn before this. Before being Marked.
Before becoming her Champion.
Odd how that worked. He hadn't even noticed until this moment.
"You sure you're not a fire demon?"
~!**!~
Akari pursed her lips a little at Kurama's explanation. What he was saying that if she succeeded and became useful to Yomi, she'd be expected to, in the very least, take the blind demon with her to another layer, and likely an army.
Not a single person could do that.
Could they?
That's a lot of work.
Her brows furrowed and she turned her head away, eyes looking around the room for a moment as she tried pushing images away.
Images she knew Kurama too was trying to distract her from.
"Aren't you tired of walking around yet?" she suddenly asked, not looking at him. "You don't have to, you know." *
"You're right." Kurama replied mischievously. "I don't have to, do I?"
He didn't stop.
~!**!~
At his question, Shikiyoku's confused colored her face plainly and even her arms, which had been tightly crossed together, shifted slightly relaxed.
Huh?
She blinked at him a couple of times.
"Why-" Huh? "...what makes you ask?" 3
Hiei's eyes turned down to Shikiyoku when she didn't answer, his eyes staring at her the same way he'd been staring before: unguarded, but unreadable. "Nothing."
He suddenly turned and moved for the scarf that lay on the floor still, expression neutral as if he hadn't said a word.
~!**!~
Akari let out a small sigh. "You're-"
The last time I said that he gave a stupid retort. ...Might as well try something different.
"-absolutely ridiculous."
And absolutely maddening. *
"You do realize if you said those words to anyone else in the world, much less this very building, they would look at you as if you had lost your mind."
Kurama ducked a little as he passed by some lower overhanging foliage, turning his upper body a little that Akari would not get hit in the face as they went.
~!**!~
When he gave her that-stupid-stare, he sent her veins buzzing all over again with a sudden influx of power, but when he turned away, she actually latched onto it this time and sent a puff of energy outwards that only stayed long enough to act as if it was only a second of invisible, blowing breeze, albeit one that contained the smell of her energy within it.
"Not good enough. And a lie. Why did you ask it?" She watched him as he picked up his things, her arms still crossed over her chest and her weight shifting until she had it all on her right foot. 3
He felt the energy pass over him, smelled it as it enveloped him, but he didn't pause as his fingers gathered the scarf and pulled it from the floor. He stood upright, a hand lazily throwing the scarf up and over his shoulders, wrapping it around his neck but not concealing every bit of the marking that had grown up and over where the material could cover.
He turned the stare onto her with a raised brow.
"Why?" he echoed, expression unchanging. "Your fierceness. Determination." He let his brows settle back into place. "Your will to fight."
He stood there, unmoving, no longer speaking, but still staring.
~!**!~
"Whoever said I had a whole mind to begin with?" She countered, hands unlinking so one could grab at his shirt as he ducked over her. "Also, might I add, I wouldn't say it to anyone else. Not in the way I say it to you." *
"I am not quite certain as to whether I should be insulted or pleased." Though the smile that played on his lips certainly said otherwise.
He continued moving deeper into the room and the foliage around them was closing in and growing thicker, but it was not so that it was claustrophobic by any means, only accepting them into a living embrace that seemed to create this air of privacy around them the farther they went.3
Thanks for reading! Bless your face. If you sneezed during this chapter, bless you. Peace off! BOOP! -Star