A/N: Hello once again, Audience.
Whoops. Completely blanked on posting yesterday. My apologies.
Ciao for now!~
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 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.
(Words in italics and within parenthesis is dialogue between Hiei and Shikiyoku via the bond between them after Hiei becomes Shikiyoku's Consort. As soon as the 'thought' occurs, it can pass between them, and does not actually have to be formed into exact words-feelings and sensations can pass through as well-in order to be picked up and the meaning translated immediately by the other. For the sake of the coherence by the reader, words and sentences are used as normal. It cannot 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 Nabu Exception also applies to anyone when they are in an animal form, if the dialogue is in italics and quotations, unless stated otherwise.
Previously on Yu Yu Hakusho!
[Will be updated soon]
As the beverage moved passed her throat and into her stomach, quickly dispersing to its current purpose, which was to hopefully fuzz her mental capacity in such a way that she could no longer feel-or perhaps no longer cared about-the ugliness aimed at her from the other demons in the room, Shikiyoku felt her energy activating uncalled, following the buzz along her blood stream and sending tingles down her spine.
Tingles that very quickly ran back up it as she whipped her head in the other direction as if someone else had walked into the room from the door, and after a moment of pause turned back to stare almost blankly at Hiei.
Do what now?
She would have sworn he had said something in the bond about kissing her, which made her blink at him as she slowly came to understand the feeling that this time was so much stronger than the only other time she recalled the desire coming from him.
It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand and she swallowed, the hand on her drink twitching as if to do something about it, but in the space of the moment it was strange to consider the fact that he wanted to kiss her, instead of the other way around, the latter being a desire that she might have fulfilled on a whim just then, what with how her energy had started to discretely disperse into the air around them.
When she blinked the second time, she registered his actual comment within their bond and smiled.
Where would you be without me indeed.
(A feat? No. Simply an honor, my dearest Consort.)
She grew more contrite, turning back to her drink to consume more, her new tone a truly teasing one.
(Now, I can't rightly say that the honor has been all mine. After all, I am apparently well-loved, or so we've been told.) 3
Hiei watched Shikiyoku turn to look around the room before he himself turned to face the bar, the drink still at his lips as he continued to take sip after sip, all the while gathering his strength to keep his composure before he could turn back to her.
A few moments passed before he turned back to face the woman at his side, his drink half gone at that point, where he stared at her almost blankly. A brow raised slightly at her first comment, but then a hum of amusement sounded at the last.
(You've captured the hearts of many around here, as I've figured out.) He teased her, his stare turning to one that sparkled with amusement.
And yet somehow, you've decided I be worth your time. *
A second tankard replaced her already finished first.
(None of them would be seen with me in the state I am now.) She eyed him as she took another drink, giving a half-gesture around her to indicate their aloneness at the bar as if to say 'and where are they?' (And neither would you, if you were among them. I am a poor representation of what they once knew. And even more so since I am tainted.)
She turned her nose up again and added, as if she didn't know, (I for one am completely in the dark as to why you've decided I am worth your time.) 3
Hiei scoffed at Shikiyoku before turning to place his glass on the bar top, his elbow resting only a few inches from it as he turned to stare at her with unrelenting stubbornness. He said nothing, only watching, waiting to see what she'd say next.
Because really, he couldn't turn her down on it. If he hadn't met her before this point, it was likely he never would have cared one way or the other.
Then again, she knew of his own past, and how he had been- and still was- regarded in a similar fashion as she.
Foolish woman.
He did smirk at her though, again never saying a word. *
(After all-) She continued, sending her eyes across the room to the other demons who regarded her with no less contempt than when she or they entered. (I am and have been for quite some time now essentially the lowest of the low by their standards.)
Her lips twitched as if she might somehow smile at her drink when she turned back to it, fiddling with the lines of the red wood from which it was made.
(Brought down from my high horse and all.)
It wasn't necessarily something she specifically meant to communicate as it was much quieter than the rest, and tinged with a sad sort of amusement.
She finally let out a low chuckle.
(You're making self-pity very difficult for me when you stare like that.)
Among other things. 3
Hiei shifted to the edge of his stool, eyes focused on Shikiyoku as she spoke. And the more she said, the more she degraded herself, the more intense his stare became, accompanied with a sense of shut up you're not sliding across the bond. Over and over again.
Suddenly, his own nose lifted higher into the air, his mouth opening to say his opinion verbally where the others might hear.
"Their standards are rather low, if they don't quite see your potential, Enchantress. Skewed, really."
He paused, chin lowering so his smoldering, borderline angry stare might find her gaze again.
"They simply fear your potential." *
Shikiyoku finally laughed at him as his continued denial of her current state kept repeating in their bond, though she grew more quiet when he began to speak aloud.
"Where have I heard that before." She murmured, unable to meet his eyes and staring into her drink as her energy continued to shimmer into the air around them.
"A potential that has been squandered." A rather haughty third voice interrupted, a new group of demons entering the bar, led by what Shikiyoku knew at a glance to be a demon of high regard, and one that by the token on his meticulously clean fur-lined cloak was protected by the self-proclaimed Queen of the city herself.
Almost instinctively, the hand around Shikiyoku's drink slipped below the bar to rest on Hiei's leg next to her, the wrist with the bracelet coming up to gleam on the countertop as it circled her beverage in the other's place.
(It would be in our best interest that you not kill him.) 3
Hiei didn't so much as twitch when he was met with resistance, having known someone would speak up eventually. So he did turn to glance at the demon, noting the furs he wore and the crest that indicated Queen Rae.
(Should've burned her palace when I had the chance.)
Hiei's eyes gleamed with a sudden amusement at the other, his lips twitching only momentarily before his expression went serious.
"You forget that your death by her hand could very easily be during the best night of your life, or the most agonizing." He paused when Shikiyoku's hand touched his knee, but did not glance at her. He would not challenge this one, only wishing for him to think of what he was able to incite should he actually earn the ire of the woman next to him.
"Or, perhaps she could drive you to insanity with desire, than leave you with no way to satiate such thirst." His eyes flashed momentarily, as if imagining such a thing. "Except maybe death, because even by her own hands you would not be worth the bloodshed."
(If anyone's the lowest of the low, it would be this one.) *
Taking a miniscule breath through his nose, the newcomer gave a rather sadistic grin, assured as he was in his next statement.
"Fortunately for all of us, I'm certain you couldn't tell us anything about any of that." His eyes flashed dangerously. "As can't anyone in their right mind, I imagine. A seductress such as that would not be worth the time spent with her. It speaks to her lack of talent that she sought other avenues of power." Before anyone else could say anything, he looked at Kafu and began to move beyond them towards a table.
"I'm disappointed in how you've let the clientele sink so."
Kafu never looked up from where he stood wiping dry a glass.
"I'm sure your queen would quite agree." He replied mildly. "Wouldn't you say, Kuraku?"
Shikiyoku never let her hand lift from Hiei's leg, though her eyes shot back towards the bartender with a warning gaze that he, like Horu, completely ignored.
The other demon stopped in his tracks and opened his mouth as he turned back to fire something else at Kafu, but looked at Shikiyoku, then back at the white-haired demon behind the bar who appeared to be minding his own business, and his mouth closed, though instead of the usual fear, his eyes seething with hidden thoughts and he stuck his nose in the air and turned away, the group behind him brushing by the pair at the bar.
Staring straight ahead, Shikiyoku took another drink, but one of the demons in the posse came right up against her side and leaned down to speak directly into her ear, his words slithering in a manner that meant they moved no farther than her notice.
He's right, you know. But fortunately for me, I have never been in my right mind.
A sudden point of a dagger hidden by the folds of the demon's cloak bit into Shikiyoku's ribcage as he spoke into her ear, poised to pierce into her core.
Her expression did not change as she began to slowly lower the mug back down as the other demons who entered with the first continued to move past.
And I'm curious. He may not know what he's talking about, but he probably knows you. How much of it is true?
When she still did not answer the dagger pressed more insistently into her, and she let go of the tankard to lightly move her finger around the rim.
"I could teach you something now, if you'd like."
The suspicious narrowing of the demon's eyes meant the dagger stayed exactly where he had it, and just before he meant to thrust the metal into her, Shikiyoku slid out of her chair to face him, her skin turning ashen as her core flipped and she grew taller, her feet meeting the ground so that she stood over him, one hand grasping his wrist like a vise so that he could not get his dagger or himself away.
Her black hair lengthened and lost its color, her eyes grew a golden shade and became filled with darkness as she finished her shift, now at least a foot taller than her would-be attacker.
"Your first lesson-" Her voice crackled out of her throat, wicked and hoarse and the embodiment of the change in her body. "-is the best way to a demon's core."
Her other hand came up and found through the cloak the demon's torso, her fingers coming to rest against it.
"Which is up through his stomach-"
The demon's eyes widened as the sensation of such a stab broke into his mind.
"-and behind the ribcage-"
He didn't appear to be able to register much other than her words, the hand at his stomach glowing with a dark yellow energy.
"-until you find it."
The dagger in his grasp clattered to the floor, which got the attention of the other demons passing by, who notified their ringleader.
They all turned to watch the muted cries of the demon in pain, the ringleader with a rather mild expression on his face.
Shikiyoku dropped her hold on him and he curled up on the ground next to her as he recovered, and she turned to finally meet the original demon's gaze, who looked nonchalantly at the body of his ally on the ground.
He shrugged and turned away, "As I said, you shouldn't be touched."
Her first relatively coherent thought was regarding her clothing, which as the rest of the demons ignored her and the one she engaged scrambled away, she turned down to look at her arms.
"Not bad." Kafu allowed, he looking over her as well.
"Not as good as you were likely told." She graveled back.
The clothing had mostly held, though there were various semi-tears around her thighs and ribcage and the cuffs of the sleeves and pants had torn their seams.
"No. But better than standing there naked."
She only nodded and sat back down, reaching for her drink and shaking her head as if to clear the rest of her thoughts. 3
Hiei could sense it, the tension that came with the word Kuraku from the newcomers in the establishment. He knew that the word was associated with the other royalty in the realm, and that it meant treason against Rae- all of which he cared next to nothing about. But he also had a guess as to what could transpire next, as to what a demon who was dumb enough to test his luck would do after hearing Hiei's own proclamations.
So, when the demons moved to pass by, Hiei ignored them and turned to face the bar, drink in hand. He noted that one demon stopped, and for a moment considered intervening. But that moment passed as several thoughts occurred to the fire demon, who simply lifted his glass from the bar and took a sip.
When he finished his drink, the exchange still going on next to him, he motioned to Kafu for a refill even as he sensed a change coming from Shikiyoku, the bond alerting him to her feeling enough danger to switch forms, to revert to her taller, truer form to deal with the nuisance. He took another sip.
Only after Shikiyoku sat down in her stool again did Hiei look up, a brow raised in her direction as if asking if she'd enjoyed it. If he were honest, he'd rather her not have the blood on her hands, that he do the killing himself. It would have been satisfying though if she had done just what Hiei said she could have done.
She'd made her point enough, he knew.
(Here, have a drink.) He slid his glass her direction, swapping her drinks. *
Shikiyoku eyed the drink, face unreadable.
"Is that a proposition?"
She may have taken it in hand, but did not take a drink. 3
"Would you like it to be?"
Hiei turned to the bar again, as if uninterested in his surroundings, though he did send a glance at her from the corner of his eyes before turning away again. *
"Only if you know what the drink is offering."
She would have smiled, but the severity of the scars across her face and core did not allow her to do so. Instead she only stared down at the blue liquid with an expression that would have been considered disgust on anyone else, but for her was something of a neutral.
As she contemplated the drink, part of her long, white, sheenless hair fell over her shoulder between them and she regarded it was no small amount of contempt, reaching up to tuck it behind her ear.
Possibly in an attempt to change the subject, she spoke up again.
"I cannot kill, by the way. I never could, it was only through the Crusnik that I was able. And they're gone now." Her ribcage expanded with a silent breath. "So there really wouldn't be any bloodshed from me to begin with. Just for future reference in case you decide to defend my honor again." Her arm twitched as if to take a drink at the end of her statement, but she abstained and only sat staring into its azure depths. 3
Hiei raised a brow and turned to face Shikiyoku, leaving the tankard he'd taken from her on the counter, almost forgotten. He eyed the glass he'd slid to her, contemplating its contents as if he didn't actually know the meaning to this one.
"The drink offers that I be at your side, never wavering in loyalty. That I be cold to any other who wished to take me from you." He didn't so much as blink as he spoke, his gaze remaining on her. "I've learned quite a few meanings of the drinks over the years."
When she went on about being unable to kill, a smirk alighted his features for a moment, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "I never intended for you to do the killing, no matter how many you may have already killed yourself. I'd rather you rely on my hands for that when able." *
"So you would kill for me, would you?" She glanced over at him, face as unnervingly serene as always. "Even though it isn't your job anymore? That's terribly sweet of you. Are you certain you are who you say you are? No body snatcher taken your place? I don't think I quite remember the Hiei I once knew saying such fierce things."
Her thumb moved along the surface of the glass she held, tracking lines within the condensation, absolutely no hint of teasing in her darkly golden eyes as she wasn't capable of outwardly expressing it any longer. 3
Hiei watched her calmly, eyes turning down to the finger that roved the glass before returning to her face to trace the scars there. If there were others still in the room, he did not know of their presence any longer, instead finding himself enthralled by the tall demoness in the chair next to his.
Though, he did smirk at her dry taunts.
"The Hiei you knew before hadn't known what to do with himself, or you."
Sometimes I still don't know what to do with you.
Especially now.
….woman.
"Also, no body snatcher would be able to recreate my… Fierceness." *
Shikiyoku's now-white eyebrows rose higher on her face, as if to reply with 'and you do now?' The thought somehow interested her.
"Now with that," A single, long finger curled around the glass raised to point at him. "I can most certainly agree, little fire."
And she finally took a drink. 3
Hiei watched with satisfaction as Shikiyoku took a drink, his expression content with her reaction to his words. He mimicked her motion, grabbing hold of the tankard he'd almost forgotten and taking a drink of the contents. It was strong, stout, and most definitely Ogre's Blood.
He didn't mind the burn, though he definitely knew he'd been in bad shape had it been the very beginning of his drinking days.
Funny how it didn't so much bother him now, aside from the usual burn.
He set the tankard down, eyes still locked on her.
(And what will you be fulfilling for this one?) *
Shikiyoku widened in her eyes mock-surprise.
"You mean you don't know?" She lifted his glass to take another drink as she turned away, adding in a lower, conspiratory murmur, "Then you likely should have left it alone," before placing the cool rim to her lips and taking another sip. "You could get yourself in trouble that way." 3
Hiei's brows rose higher on his face before quickly settling back into place, his lips forming a curled grin. for a moment, he said nothing, as if he wouldn't share a joke that he found funnier than anything on the planet.
Then he turned serious.
"With you? Any day." *
Shikiyoku looked back over at him, glancing slowly up and down his seated form before moving her eyes to look at the drink he had put back onto the bar.
"I find myself unable to argue that either." She admitted, blinking and then staring back to the front again.
"As for the drink...technically I fulfill whatever it is that you desire for me to do." 3
Hiei eyed Shikiyoku, somewhat surprised that she hadn't named something that she wanted him to do, since as far as he knew the drink really had no actual meaning. He almost considered it no fun this way, but at the same time knew that if he were creative enough, it would be very fun.
He seemed to think for a moment, turning and resting his chin in his hand, eyes still on Shikiyoku's face as if it held all the answers.
And then a thought occurred to him.
"Tell me what you most desire, whether it be in this form or your more human one." *
"Something to give you." She replied instantly and without hesitation, her words as frank as the scars that covered her skin. Though she did not look at him. "Something you do not have. Something worthy of you. Perhaps something you would not ask for yourself, or would not think to ask for."
She blinked, the heart-shaped scar that curved around her lips throbbing for a moment.
"Otherwise, I am want for almost nothing." One of her shoulders raised and lowered in a shrug, and she continued more quietly, as if to herself. "I need little." 3
Hiei blinked at Shikiyoku, not having expected her answer to turn it all back unto him. And for the second time this night, he found that the door was wide open to ask of her what he truly wanted, and had known he'd wanted.
And even though he knew the answer, he knew she needed something he could ask of her, and right now, it was all he could think of.
And yet he still couldn't bring himself to ask it of her.
"I want you…" he paused, thinking of how to word this. "to kiss me twice." He paused, a finger lifting in the air to explain himself. "Once because you owe me many of them, and I quite enjoy each one. And once to change you back, because I don't like the bond's silence." *
While her expression did not change, Shikiyoku hadn't the slightest idea what he meant by twice until he continued, after which her eyes closed and her head lowered again, this time the air of hardness to her face softened, if only a little.
She suddenly recalled how much more talkative he used to get when he was drunk and could only imagine how much Kafu had to put up with over the many years.
In any case, she had the luxury of not particularly believing him given she had seen exactly how much of the Ogre's Blood he had consumed and that there was hardly a shot left in the glass.
"It's too bad you took my drink from me then, isn't it?" And without looking at him she lifted the glass he had slid her way up to finish off. She didn't even bother trying to understand what he meant by 'owe me many of them.' 3
Hiei raised a brow, finding himself disappointed that she did not grant it this time around. Than again, as she said, he had taken the tankard, instead of her offering it to him. He shook his head only slightly at her.
No fun at all.
He shifted around, scooting his stool closer to hers as if it might persuade her otherwise.
"It's a shame."
He finished off the drink with one swig, and motioned for another. *
"Truly."
A glass of what she had been drinking slid to take the place of her now-empty one.
...she did in fact feel the desire from him earlier, before the switch. Or at least that he wanted to kiss her. Perhaps the strangeness of such a thought is what prevented him.
...then again he had kissed her in his sleep too.
She shook her head, not trying to make sense of a demon that she had been so long removed from.
Even you have changed. She told herself.
"If I thought you meant it, I'd give you all the 'Ogre's Blood' you wanted. All two of them." She lifted the new tankard to her lips at a point where in her other form she might have done so to hide her grin. 3
Had any other demon issued a challenge, Hiei might have walked away this night. But, it being the person who was the reason he would have eventually walked away issuing the challenge, he found himself raising his brows as if to say oh yeah?
He shifted in his chair again, bringing it ever closer to Shikiyoku little by little until he sat almost up against her, his eyes looking up into her face.
(I can't lie in the bond. So here it is again.) He paused, taking a breath as if he might scream it to the heavens. (I want you. To kiss me. You were too far away, for far too long.) *
Shikiyoku looked over and down with an expressionless face as she realized what the little fire was doing: scooting as close as he could manage.
She turned to face him before he spoke, white hair whispering down her back as she moved, his barstool practically between her knees and her unable to resist her curiosity.
While she couldn't rightly say whether or not he could lie in their bond, she did sense the truth of his statements, fighting for a moment whether her soberness since having switched forms and his...not should factor in as her taking advantage of him.
For the first time since she had shifted, a sentiment crossed silently between them, tinged with uncertainty and amusement.
(You're drunk.)
She leaned over him anyway, as if she meant to whisper something in his ear. And she did.
"All you ever need do is ask."
Her other hand came up to rest the tips of gentle, if scarred fingers marred with the other heart-shaped marking etched into her skin at the death by her hand, at the bottom of his chin, the new bracelet there clinking together slightly at the movement.
And as she moved her lips away from his ear, she pressed a kiss on his cheek amidst the dark swirls of her mark upon him, then dropped her hand and began to pull away. 3
Hiei stilled only when Shikiyoku was close enough that he could feel her breath on his skin, his eyelids sliding closed at the sheer proximity between them and in anticipation. And he listened to what she said, though it brought a wry smile to his face at her words.
Because really, he hadn't ever thought of asking until this day. Before now, he'd always gotten his fill with turning her from one form to the other, and it had been all he needed.
But a lot had changed over the years.
So, when she moved to pull away, Hiei reacted, his hands flying from where they'd been planted on either side of the stool to catch her face in his grasp, reacting even quicker to turn his head and plant his lips against hers, the first time simply because he could. Then he pulled away an inch, said "There's one," and put them right back where they'd been, this time with the intention to shift her back. *
Without being able to sense his intentions in her current form, Shikiyoku found herself surprised when he did not let her pull away as she intended, but did nothing other than sit there with widened eyes, even when he pulled away.
The second kiss was less unexpected, and her eyes closed as her core gave a jolt and she felt the energy within her begin to whirl in response to his desire, the only one in this form that she could feel.
Everything about her pain form melted away, returning her to much the same shape she had been in before-aside from her clothing not returning to exactly the same shape it had been-including the unfiltered energy induced by the amount of drink she had consumed, a fact that awoke with her after her mind clicked back into place.
What the hell am I supposed to do with you? 3
The moment Shikiyoku returned to her more human form, Hiei pulled away, his eyes opening to reveal brightly shining irises and his lips turning up into a smug smirk. He held up two fingers between himself and her, declaring, "And that makes two."
Then, and only then did he turn to the bar again, taking his drink in his hand and taking another swig, as if nothing had ever transpired. *
Shikiyoku only blinked at him, even after he had released her, and as she started to turn back around in her chair did her head begin to shake a little.
"Kafu, I'm gonna need a lot more Ogre's Blood." 3
Hiei downed every drop of this tankard before he slammed it down onto the counter, proceeding to lean forward on his forearms as he turned to watch Shikiyoku in amusement. He waved Kafu away, telling him he didn't need anything else to drink- knowing that anything more would likely render him incapable of walking on his own.
And then a thought struck him, and he leaned back in his chair so fast that it tilted backwards, nearly rocking out from under him before he caught the edge of the bar and brought it back onto all fours, simultaneously turning to Shikiyoku.
"Let's go somewhere!" *
Half of her newly filled tankard was gone, but when Shikiyoku placed it back down on the bar, she couldn't say that she had actually heard anything Hiei said.
Her eyes appeared to be looking at nothing in particular, but her head was tilted in the direction of the Niiro's door.
"Mm? What?" She looked back at him, obviously unaware of what he had suggested, but knowing he spoke up. 3
Hiei watched Shikiyoku, practically bouncing in his seat as he waited for her answer. He gave a little motion in his chair when he realized she wasn't listening to him, but instead to what he thought might have been the door.
So when she finally turned to look at him, he tilted his head, but repeated himself anyway, much faster this time.
"Comeon, let'sgosomewhere." He paused, his curiosity grabbing at his attention. (What's outside?) *
Shikiyoku's eyes shifted towards the doorway again.
(Anywhere but here.)
She and Kafu exchanged a glance and then he returned his attention to the glass in his hands after making a gesture with his left hand.
Slipping out of her seat, Shikiyoku only barely took notice of the fact that her clothing had not quite managed to shrink down to her size this time, instead moving around to the side of the bar away from the main door and reaching out to open a door there and stepping into the darker alleyway.
The noise became more obvious once they were outside, and Shikiyoku reeled in place for a moment, blinking to try and clear herself of the desires of those that approached.
(Did you have somewhere in mind?) She glanced up at Hiei. 3
The fire demon nodded at Shikiyoku in excitement as she seemed willing to leave, his footsteps close behind hers as she lead the way through a side door. The moment they were outside, Hiei grabbed hold of Shikiyoku's hand and turned to circle the back of the building to guide her into the shadows, only looking back at her once with a sly smile.
(You'll see.)
When he picked up his pace, he turned around to tug her into his arms, taking off even faster towards his destination.
(You'll like it.) *
Even with the half a tankard she had managed before they left, Shikiyoku had sobered up considerably in such a short amount of time, and made no protest when Hiei picked a direction that wasn't out into the street, and none again when he picked her up and continued moving away from the Niiro.
(Okay.)
She reached up and circled her arms around his neck, tucking her head underneath his chin and closing her eyes, taking a deep breath of his scent and trying to shake the anxiety of what they had left behind. 3
(They don't even know we're gone.)
Hiei glanced down at Shikiyoku only briefly, his gaze lingering for only a moment before returning to the path ahead, at which point his moment of sobriety ended and the bond was filled with his unrelenting excitement at their destination.
And so he ran just as fast as his feet would allow him until they reached a valley, a familiar one at that, where trees populated the area over anything else.
And more importantly, fruit trees.
One of which Hiei made a mad dash towards before any of the other, taking no pause before quite literally leaping up into the branches where he shifted until he lounged comfortable with Shiki in his lap, one arm circling her, and the other reaching for two nearby fruits, plucking them from the tree and passing one to the woman he held.
(Here.) *
Shikiyoku knew it was a great deal of distance which Hiei covered, in an unsurprisingly short amount of time considering the size of the level, and yet she could not be anything other than thankful, and had at some point lifted her head to rest it on his shoulder with her forehead against his neck, watching with no small amount of peace the rest of the world flash by them.
Settling contentedly with Hiei, she accepted his offering.
(Well, you certainly weren't wrong.) 3
(I know.)
Hiei took a bite from his fruit, tasting the sweet, savory juices that burst in his mouth as he chewed. His eyes closed in content, suddenly feeling sober again as if he'd run all of the alcohol from his system.
(I visited here often, you know.) He let an image of himself in another tree similar to this one pass across the bond, and then a different image of him scaling the world tree after that one. (It's relaxing, to be away from other demons.) *
(I'm glad.) She leaned back into him, thoughtfully munching on a bit of fruit. (And yes, it...it certainly is.)
The image of the giant tree and him climbing it reminded Shikiyoku of her 'plan' to get them out of here.
(Just...don't climb too high, yeah?) 3
Hiei turned his eyes down to Shikiyoku, staring at her calmly, drinking in her features as he wondered just why. He brushed it away though, never really having wanted to climb higher than the lowest branches of the tree.
(The view is all I ever went for. The lowest branches serve just fine for that.)
He shifted a little lower on the branch, until he lay with his shoulders against the bark. (Would you protest to staying here for a while? Until Horu finds what we need?) *
Shikiyoku found herself glancing in the direction of the tree, in which the original races of birds called their home, thoughts briefly lingering on Taka before she sighed in a manner that expressed contentment and shifted along with Hiei as he further settled down, thinking some time away might calm the crowds. To which she was none to eager to return in any case.
(I would not protest in the slightest.)
~!**!~
They spent their time unbothered within the confines of Shikiyoku's first true home, among the trees which bore the differently flavored fruit.
Even after the encounter in the bar, and Hiei's pair of kisses, Shikiyoku couldn't rightly say he felt any different to her as a general rule, and she was able to dismiss his strange behavior as simply an anomaly of her return, a giddiness coupled with their drinks that she could say she had herself in equal measure, and one that for her may have waned at least in the regard that she was finally with him now and it set all the things right in her world.
On some level she did notice that he reached out to her more, sought her hand to hold it as they walked along on the rare occasion that they did, or caught her attention by physically touching her arm, or actually intentionally snuggled closer to her when they laid down to rest. Those moments continued to catch her off-guard, like she couldn't sense them coming and every time they happened she never expected it.
With her hair newly short though, the energy released when he did it remained minimal, mostly surging through her veins and making it difficult to only do as she thought he wished instead of what her nature wanted her to do, which was oftentimes more.
Even after all this time, she found herself tentative around him, hesitant to do anything other than respond in kind, to some extent walking on eggshells, as if the next time he grabbed ahold of her hand he would remember himself and flinch or turn brooding on her and she would lose whatever sort of progress she thought she might have made.
Progress towards what she hadn't a clue. Perhaps she one day wished to become truly comfortable with him, with being really herself around him and not feeling worried that she might in some way push him away by being overly...what had Renai called it? ...touchy-feely.
There was little doubting that she wanted that from Hiei, desired it perhaps more than anything else in her life, especially in this time alone that they had, which is why any time he did so she gratefully relaxed into whatever physical boundary he had let down, accepting it instead of pushing it. That desire though, it was that which Renai had so aptly explained by mentioning it being the reason why his Consort was his mate as well.
Frankly, the idea of even saying the word to Hiei seemed laughable, or perhaps frightening. Like just mentioning it would make him scamper away or wish he hadn't bonded with her or otherwise reject her. But every so often the thought lead her to Kasai, to his desire, and his awaiting question. And it made her realize how much even she wasn't ready for that. Not now, while they were still stuck on this level. 3
If he were honest, Hiei wouldn't have been able to tell just how long the pair of them remained in their quiet little world together. Taking the occasional stroll, munching on the fruit delicacies all around them, and in general simply enjoying one another's company. It had been a quaint time for him, where he would occasionally slip in moments where he would show his appreciation for the woman at his side, or where he would reach out to her in moments during the night when she didn't seem to be getting comfortable.
And really, she hadn't rejected him a single time, which told him she didn't mind his advances- if not enjoyed them. Yet he still felt the need to restrain himself here and there when he thought the Jagan might have intervened if it were active, every so often finding his eyes watching her and promptly turning them away before she seemed to notice.
Little by little, Hiei was beginning to see when she might pull away, on the very few instances she did so, and gauge what was acceptable and what seemed not. And for some reason, there were moments where it seemed the two of them tiptoed around one another, as if walking on hot coals to evade likely pushing the other away unintentionally.
He'd grown tired of such antics, and so when it was time to pull Shikiyoku into his arms for sleep this night, he did so without any hesitation whatsoever. He turned to lay on his side- the branch being wide enough in girth to allow five small demons to lay in a row- and curled himself around her, his arms at her middle and his nose finding her hair.
I make no apologies for my proximity, woman.
His arms tightened around her just a little, as if he thought she may roll away and fall from the tree's branches at any moment, before he finally stilled.
Surprisingly enough, the time it took him to fall asleep was even less than before, Shikiyoku's breathing a melody all its own that could lull just about any demon to sleep, he was sure. *
Shikiyoku lay quite comfortably in Hiei's arms, letting out a little sigh as she stared at his cloak. The warmth around her was unlike any she had ever felt before in her life and as she let her eyes close she couldn't think of anywhere else she would rather be.
The nightmare happened suddenly.
She had not slept since arriving on the Ninth Level nearly a week ago. The moments of restive mediation could only hold her for so long, and this time somewhere in the midst of floating between consciousness and unconsciousness, she unintentionally slipped beneath the surface of awareness.
And she found there what had been flirting along the edges of her vision ever since she encountered them.
The horde.
More than hundreds, more than thousands. Countless Infected who had been biding their time until the moment she fell asleep.
They chased her, they reached for her, their incessant noises invading every corner of her mind.
And she found herself running, but never growing further away, so that when they inevitably came upon her, her core lurched within her actual body lying there with Hiei on the tree branch, and as she pivoted within the dream to face them and their assault, she startled herself awake to find she had switched forms, so real had been their approach.
She felt her core pulsing angrily with the adrenaline of the promised battle that did not come, and shook her head to clear her vision until she could make out Hiei's form next to her, still breathing the deep inhale of sleep. 3
To Hiei, the beginnings of his slumber was calm and relaxing, deep and much-needed, as if he'd gone days without so much as a wink of rest. He did not dream initially, nor did he so much as even twitch in his sleep, his body lying utterly still next to one that wasn't quite as warm as he, and yet still somehow warm even to him.
The dream snuck up on him, really. It started out with simple darkness, with sounds ever so slowly creeping in- first insects buzzing, next wind whispering through leaves, followed by creatures scurrying by. There was a soft tune of breathing next to him in this dream, just as there was outside of it.
But that breathing seemed to slide away from his consciousness, and in the dream he did not know he had, Hiei thought that something, or maybe even someone, had begun to move away from him. Where he had once felt a warmth was now a chill where the wind met his cloak and flowed through the fabric, rustling it this way and that in a gentle breeze.
Where there had once been a lullaby for his own ears, now was silence.
He shifted about, and within the dream allowed his eyes to open. Rays of moonlight met him, only allowing a fraction of the world around him to become lit in its soft glow. He blinked to adjust to the darkness, and realized that there was nobody in the area.
At first, he was confused.
He shifted around some more until he sat upright from the ground, looking around himself as if he expected something to happen. He searched for the thing he felt was missing, only to realize that it was not a thing, but a person. A who instead of a what.
He stood just as fast as he could, dirt kicked up in all directions with the swift motion, and he spun round and round in place, searching for her, Searching for the one he had promised to stay beside. Searched for the one whose bond with his should have rang with her warmth, and instead was silent.
Dead quiet.
And without a thought, he took a shot in the dark and began running, trying to find some trace of her that might tell him where she may have gone, and where he may go to find her. *
Shikiyoku gave out a tiny sigh of resignation at first, unwilling to wake Hiei from his slumber just to change her back. And it wasn't as if she particularly minded at this point, especially considering every aspect of herself became more muted like this so she did not necessarily even have a chance to consider it a problem.
Hiei turning away from her was.
She realized he had grown restless within the last few moments, which had culminated in he shifting away from her, turning the other direction.
Almost out of instinct, she made a grab for him, just firm enough to prevent his falling, though in hindsight she reflected he would have to make another couple of turns to actually be in such danger.
But when he still twitched beneath her arm in an unsettled fashion, she finally murmured his name and gently pulled him back against her, her bottom arm scooping underneath him to curl around his stomach and the other already at his waist bending up underneath his arm to rest her palm against and spread her lithe fingers over his core.
When the mark did not react, she blinked, apparently in the habit of defaulting to that which always could calm him in the past and now finding that main thing unresponsive.
She hesitated, but repeated his name, as if it might pull him away from whatever disturbed him in his dream. 3
A hand snaked from the darkness around him and made a grab for his arm, pulling the fire demon to whip in that direction with wild eyes that searched for the source, a part of him hoping to see the smiling face of a woman he knew and wished to protect, another part of him hoping it be something he could kill to remedy at least a little of his frustration.
Hiei instead saw nothing, a hand firm on his arm, but the forearm seeming to disappear into the darkness as if unattached to its body. He jerked away from it, but found that its hold would not loosen and his desperation to get away, to follow the scent he could only then pick up of Shikiyoku, grew exponentially.
And it only worsened when he heard his name. It was not of her usual voice, but of her new one, he knew. Of the gruff one that belonged to her other half, to her pain side.
He stilled, listening for it again, waiting to see if she called to him again. Her scent washed over him as a breeze swept by, and he shifted, turning in place to search for her again.
She called a second time, quieter, further away perhaps, and he could only take a step in that direction and reach as if he might be able to touch her, as if she might be invisible.
The hand that held him at the arm was joined by another, this one finding his core, and Hiei reacted with a twitch away, momentarily unsure of its intentions before it rested upon his breast with long, lithe fingers that splayed over his cloak.
He stared down at it, confused.
And for a moment, he was almost afraid to move. *
Lighting Hiei's mark had always been a reflexive sort of action and when faced with its unresponsiveness, it took her a moment to understand that she had no idea how it worked, only that she had always done it and it had always happened.
A rational portion of her brain noted somewhere that he in some part struggled against her embrace, her newfound chilly persona so unlike what he had fallen asleep to.
And so she tried to...flex whatever it might be that would set his mark aglow, finding nothing happening and huffing slightly, strands of his hair shifting with her breath.
She found herself hesitating to do anything else. Not that she no longer knew what her other self might have done in an attempt to comfort the other-regardless of whether it was "her" sort of comfort that might not be welcomed-but because in such a form could a gesture meant as such translate the same?
Her hand shifted away from his core to simply laying over his middle, unwilling to either pull away or even attempt to turn him towards her as of yet in case she were to truly disturb his slumber.
Slowly, and always on some level aware it would not be the same as if done in her other form and thus cautious about it, she ducked her head towards the hairline at the back of his neck behind his ear, quietly repeating his name and gently nuzzling her face against him, concerned in no small measure that he might shy away from her cold arms and her scarred cheek. 3
When there was no other movement from the hands against him for a short while, Hiei began to realize that there was no malevolent intent behind the touch, that instead it seemed soft and almost.. familiar in ways he could not immediately explain.
When he heard his name the third time, it was quieter even still, and yet closer than before. He dipped his head down a little, his eyes watching the hands that had stilled over him as a breath of air moved against the back of his neck, bringing with it the scent of Shikiyoku and all the reassurance that came with her.
Suddenly, he realized that the hands did not just touch him, but that the arms they belonged to wrapped around him from behind, in an embrace that was soft and kind. The fingers flexed as he watched them, as if they waited for him to put the puzzle pieces together even as little scars began to form on the skin.
Finally, he felt the slightest of touches at the back of his neck, and the image came together with the realization that perhaps she hadn't actually left him- not in body anyway- but in the bond.
The hair that fell over his shoulder was long and almost colorless, white and without shine. It brushed his shoulder and chest as if created a curtain between himself and the rest of the world around him, drawing his attention up and over his shoulder to see the stern expression of the Shikiyoku he had only recently met.
Whose touch he had not taken the time to memorize.
Not until now, anyway.
He let out a huff and turned his face forward again, almost exasperated.
"...woman." *
Shikiyoku felt her Consort finally relax into her arms and it lifted a great deal of weight that had been hanging over her in a sort of anxious expectation that she had not until now acknowledged.
His hand sought hers, his fingers twining up into her own from below, him wriggling them for a moment as she waited patiently for him to satisfy himself with the rough patches of scarred skin that affirmed the hand was hers before he curled his fingers so that her palm might envelop his hand.
The slightest tick of amusement left her lips, and she very nearly smiled as he spoke to her from sleep.
With her mouth so near his ear, she could not help shifting that much closer to it and breathing out, "Problem, little fire?" 3
Hiei shifted around just a little bit until he was stretched out as he had been before, this time not minding his back to the woman, before he relaxed again and let out a sigh of content. Somewhere in the midst of him slipping from dreamland to peaceful slumber, he registered a question from beyond his sleep, and he responded in kind with a grunt.
Only than did he settle in for the night, and let darkness take over him again.
~!**!~
Something on the edges of Hiei's consciousness began to pull him from slumber- whether it was the early morning hours and his internal alarm, the awakening creatures in the forest around him, or the simply feeling of having gotten enough sleep, he did not know. He only knew that, little by little, sleep left him.
As he neared consciousness once more, the fire demon shifted a little, stretching himself out as if he had kinks in his muscles, following up by letting his eyelids slide open to blink at the red and black world around him that he'd gotten so used to.
He gave a sniff of the air, as if his nose itched.
"Hello there." *
The scoff Shikiyoku had for Hiei's greeting never made it past her lips as she finally shifted her head away from him to let it rest on the bark behind him.
There was something of a meaning to his words, the bond informed her, but in her current form she could not believe such a meaning could be...well...meant.
"Hello yourself." She replied gruffly as if she were none too awake. 3
Hiei found himself a little taken aback when the bond fed to him emotions from Shikiyoku, as such a thing in her pain form hadn't happened before now. Not that he could remember anyway. Couple that with the borderline disdain that he felt from her at his hello, or more so perhaps at the implications behind it, and one could color him many shades of surprised and confused.
And a part of him wanted to argue that her current form was much more attractive then she seemed to want to even consider.
The other part of him knew that at this juncture, there would be no use in it. He didn't think she'd likely believe him anyway.
So he merely lay there, taking the quiet moments to memorize her touch and the warmth- or absence thereof, actually- that came from that contact. *
When she felt the fire demon in her arms truly awaken, Shikiyoku relaxed the hold she had on him, the arm beneath him resting against the tree, though her other hand remained curled as he had positioned it over his own during his sleep.
She let his silence grow for a moment before murmuring, "We should head back today. I expect Horu and his promise to be fulfilled and I should thank him." 3
Hiei blinked a few times to rid the bleariness at the edges of his vision, finally feeling everything waking up. He watched Shiki's hand relax against the branch of the tree, his eyes remaining on the scarred skin.
He almost didn't quite catch what she'd said, and it was only a beat after he'd rejoined the present that it registered and he remembered how she'd promised the Merc Leader a proper thanks.
No.
Mine.
He did shift around however, until he sat upright and was able to turn and look at the severe expression that always donned Shikiyoku's face when in her pain form. For a moment, he imagined what each scar would feel like if he were to reach out and touch them, before the thought slid away and was replaced with oh right, I get to kiss her now.
At the same time, he noticed she didn't seem in any kind of rush to swap from one form to the other, and he tilted his head at her a little.
His lips twitched a little.
(Let me know when you're ready to change forms.) *
Shikiyoku blinked at him calmly, though her thoughts swirled with amusement.
To her knowledge, once she had rid herself of the Crusnik, it had been Hiei who consistently had an issue with being unable to sense her presence as strongly within their bond.
She couldn't honestly say that if she were in his position that she wouldn't want him changed back as soon as possible.
Which made his statement all the stranger.
Perhaps it is his way of making me ask for a kiss.
That was interesting to consider.
She raised an eyebrow.
"I feel as if this form would be better suited for the city." Her eyes did shift away at that. 3
Hiei eyed Shikiyoku for a bit, taking in her expression and waiting to see if anything else decided to filter through the bond this morning, and finding that nothing seemed willing to do so from her end of things.
So he nodded at her, his lips twitching for only a moment before his expression turned serious again.
"I have no objections currently." He moved to stand and turned to wait, deciding she could lead the way. "After you." *
Ha.
Saying nothing, Shikiyoku rose, took brief note of the state of her clothes, and turned to leave.
She only made one stop along the way, to retrieve a cloak from a hiding place, and while she did not pull up the hood, she wrapped the rest around her to conceal her ripped outfit.
It left her white hair streaming behind her as she ran back to the city.
Her arrival was met with no less disdain than before, but this time she towered over many of the other denizens, and her stern expression did not so much as waver as she appeared to take no notice of any of them, striding through the crowds who at this point in the day were too heavy to truly make her a path.
In such a way she arrived at Horu, with whom she exchanged a sack of something she pulled from the cloak presumably, though she sifted her hand through her hair before it appeared, and for it received a location.
From there she returned to the Niiro to ask after Kasai, and as Kafu turned to his contacts, Shikiyoku drew herself beside Hiei to speak low to him.
"Anything to wrap up before we leave, my little fire?" 3
Thanks for reading! Bless your face. If you sneezed during this chapter, bless you. Peace off!