Stolen Love

Circa 2009 - 2010

Summary: His mate's worst enemy has finally come out of hiding and stole the thing most precious to him—her heart. Now that he controls her, Hiei will do anything to get her back or die trying. [Hiei x Kagome; Yu Yu Hakusho/Inuyasha Crossover]

Genre: Drama / Action / Romance

Rating:T

She felt different.

No, she felt nothing. It was an odd sensation. She knew what she should feel, but she did not feel anything. Her mind began to panic at that fact, because she knew almost instantly that something was wrong, but her body did not respond. Her mind screamed with warning, something was not right, but her body did nothing to make it seem real. Her body felt numb, different in a way that she just could not place, and her mind screamed out to the one person that she leaned on the most.

He glanced at her, and she knew that her chest should explode in that delightful way that it always did. Her mind panicked a little more, because she did not feel the deep ache that came to her each time his crimson stare settled upon her. She did not feel the rush flood her veins, a deep understanding that he belonged to her sweeping through her once more. And worst of all, though she knew it should be there, somewhere, she could not feel the heat of her love for him wash throughout her system.

His hand settled onto her shoulder and she felt the pressure of his hand, but she realized that she felt nothing toward him. She knew that she should, her mind screamed at her that she should, but she could not quite place the feeling back in her chest. She knew that she always felt protected and loved while with him, she knew what it felt like, but that feeling did not spread from his hand and through the rest of her body with his touch. It was merely warm, the heat from his body, and that frightened her.

"Kagome?" His voice, so deep and rich, and she knew that she should feel the need to swoon as she always did. Fall to her feet and beg him to say her name again, if only for a moment. But that feeling, that need, did not appear. She felt nothing. Simply nothing and that sent her fear through the roof.

There was a strange tugging at her mind. She did not register whether this feeling was good or bad, but she did understand that she was being called somewhere. She did not know where, but her mind sent out warning bells that she knew not to ignore. So, she bit her lip, noticing for a moment that she did not feel the pain, and softly said, "Hiei."

He gave her an odd stare, but she knew that he could feel the panic running through her head. She knew that he was cautious, but she also knew that he probably had not seen anything wrong. And she realized, though she had tried to make her voice sound desperate, it had not worked. She had tried to make him understand through her voice, but it had come out normal and smooth as if her body did not even register that her mind was being pushed into full on fear.

Her body did not feel that, either.

"Are you alright?" he asked. It was not often that he spoke while in public places unless it was through the link they shared, so she knew that he was beginning to understand. She knew he loved her, but she also knew that she would not change his quiet ways. She loved that about him, and right now she wished that she could just feel it.

"I c-can't feel anything," she replied.

His eyes darkened, shifting around to search for possible enemies, before they settled back on her. His tone hardened, and he asked, "Nothing?"

"No," she whispered. She realized that she could control the tone of her voice, make it seem smaller, but the words still came out as if there was nothing wrong with her. As if she was perfectly fine, which she knew without a doubt that she was not. Fear was already overriding most of her mind, but her body did not realize any of it. Only her mind seemed to know what it should feel like and pressed it down upon her, even if she still could not feel it.

He slipped his hand down her arm and she knew what he was going to do before he did it. His claws pierced into her skin, the tips digging into the flesh as if it were paper, but she merely glanced down to see the blood rise a bit from the punctures. There was no pain, no sudden panic to tell him to stop because though she liked a little pain mixed with her pleasure, she did not like pain itself. There was no feeling, and though her mind continued to scream, her breath would not even pick up a bit to hyperventilate at the fact that there was something extremely wrong with her.

"There's nothing. I don't feel any pain, and," she paused, raising her hand to her chest, "and I don't feel anything here."

He took that very seriously, his hand slipping away from the wounds he had caused in her arm to her chest. The tips pressed to the place he knew her heart to be, having listened to the steady beat many times since they mated, and he flinched away the moment he felt it—or rather, had not felt. However, he had to make sure, and settled his hand back over the place where her heart should have resided in her chest.

There was nothing. He could not feel the gentle tapping of her heartbeat through her skin against his fingers. A wash of fear went through his body and he knew she had seen it when her hand settled onto his arm. But his mind was focused on the place where her heart should have been. He had only ever heard of such a thing from her, and his mind raced through the possibilities of what could have caused this so suddenly.

She tried to stiffen, her mind screaming the moment the presence washed over her. It knew what it meant, but without her body's natural reaction to such a dangerous presence, her power did not rise in response to her fear. They remained dormant, trickling underneath her flesh as if there was nothing to fear, the world was as it should be. She knew better, though, as her mind almost stilled with the presence, fright filling her head.

A growl spilled from his lips. He had felt the presence, too, and he instantly knew what it meant. "Naraku," he hissed, his eyes turning to where the blasted spider hanyou stood. He had only traveled through his mate's memories with her permission, but he knew what she felt, and he knew the presence as if he had been the one to confront it so many times.

The hanyou had a different skin now. He no longer wore the flesh of the human prince he had killed, but that of a lean, brown haired and hazel-eyed man. He almost sneered at that fact, because he knew that the hanyou had chosen the flesh because of the appeal that it gave off. The hanyou never wished to appear as he truly was—an ugly beast—yet he was almost surprised that the hanyou had not gone to greater lengths. Such as taking on the form of Inuyasha, the dog hanyou that his mate had once loved so dearly, and would have no doubt been able to harm her mentally just by seeing his dead face once more.

"I'm almost surprised you know of me, hybrid," Naraku replied. "Not many know my aura as well as my name these days. But, I suppose that you got the information from your pretty little mate, didn't you? I would not put it passed a hardened criminal such as yourself to have pried into a beauty's mind and not only stolen information of her past, but also swayed her into your arms."

His growl increased. He had done no such thing, and though he knew his mate knew he had not, he cursed the hanyou for bringing such a thing up. Yes, after she had begun to trust him, he could have easily done so, but he had more honor than the coward suggested.

"Did you know," the hanyou continued, "that the demons in the Makai curse your name even more now, Hiei? They're the reason I was able to find you, because they spit and hiss about how you are not only forbidden, but have managed to become the only known demon to successfully mate with a powerful miko. They wish to seek you out and kill you, but they're only cowards that quake in their boots when they remember that you have nabbed a miko that traveled time."

"They're fools," Hiei snarled. "They should fear me, because I will cut any of them down because they even manage to step near me."

Naraku chuckled. He ignored what the hybrid said, continuing his little speech, "I am not like them, though. I heard what you had captured and remembered her from so long ago. I had always thought that Inuyasha was a fool for mentioning that the girl came from a time period beyond the one we had resided in, but now I see that he was not as foolish as I thought him to be."

Again, that tugging in her head. Her mind retreated from it, instinctively telling her not to listen, and so she tried to ignore it despite the fact her body did not seem to care. "What is it you want, Naraku?" she asked, her voice still steady and without care.

A smile stretched onto Naraku's face, while he said, "Ah, little miko. I want what the hybrid has captured. I want the power that is now considered his only because he holds you in the palm of his hand. I want the emotion that I have felt run through your head whenever you are near him. But, in all, little miko, I want you."

"I won't let you have her," Hiei growled.

Naraku laughed full heartedly. "But, hybrid, I am already on the path to getting what I want. It was so easy to cast that spell while you were away, and it was even easier to get this." His hand stretched out, and he chuckled when a small gasp managed to escape the miko. "And it won't be long before I complete the circle of my desire and strip you of the little miko. Then she shall be mine."

His fingers squeezed inward a bit, pressing down on the outside of the item within his hand. Hiei's eyes shifted to his mate when she grabbed at her chest, a cry leaving her lips as she began to fall to her knees. His arm instantly circled around her back, but he knew that it would be no help against what Naraku had stolen. No, because within his hand, beating still, was the heart that continued to pump life into his miko's veins. He was not sure how it worked, but he knew that Naraku now held his mate's life within his hand.

Hiei shifted, easily drawing the sword hidden at his side. His eyes sharpened, watching the miasma begin to pour from beneath Naraku's body as the spider hanyou laughed. A growl spilled from his throat, because though he knew he could easily cut his way through the poison filled gas, his mate could not survive nearly as long. He pulled her closer, hearing her cry out once more, and took a step away from the miasma billowing toward them.

He sliced through the first row of tentacles that swarmed from beneath the miasma and shot toward them. His mate was in no condition to battle, still clenching her chest and whimpering against his shoulder, and he was determined to protect her. His sword gleamed in the sunlight, cutting through the tentacles with ease, and drew more miasma until the air around them was filled with the thick substance.

"You would be a better opponent if you were not so worried about your precious mate, hybrid," Naraku's voice came from beyond the miasma. "So, why don't we make sure the hybrid is no longer distracted, miko? Attack."

Hiei's mind raced, trying to understand as Kagome's hand gripped at his arm. He settled his eyes on her, and saw that her eyes had darkened and become unresponsive. His mind processed what exactly the spell that Naraku had cast did the moment claws extended from Kagome's fingertips and pierced into his flesh. He ignored the pain, keeping his mate close to him, and continued to slice through the cowardly weapons that the spider hanyou used.

Her hands slipped downward, settling onto her mate's stomach. Her mind retreated, whimpering in despair, but her body knew what it was meant to do. It moved the way it was supposed to, as claws sank beneath the skin and muscle of the male's body, searching for organs and vitals.

In a last minute decision, Hiei thrust her away from him. He moved, slicing through the tentacles that would have captured his mate, before swinging away from the claws of her hand. She moved much quicker than she ever had, her emotionless eyes searching only for a way to kill, and he growled. He had gone through her memories and he knew that Naraku had found a way to imitate Menomaru, the moth demon that had once controlled her.

A moment later, Koenma signed his death warrant as the device in his pocket began to vibrate. It caused a small distraction in the back of his mind, and it was small enough that Naraku took advantage of the situation.

"Come, miko," Naraku ordered.

Kagome shot passed him, and Hiei went to follow. He moved much faster than she did, but she managed to reach Naraku's embrace before he caught a hold of her arm. The spider hanyou wrapped his arms around her body, and ripped a hole in the barrier that separated the Makai from the Ningenkai. Hiei moved faster when he noticed the tears washing over Kagome's cheeks, but he was not quick enough to run into the rip before Naraku and his mate were gone.

The device rang again.

Pulling it from his pocket and snapping it open, Hiei snarled at the face of the demi-god gazing at him. Koenma flinched, but Hiei paid him no mind, wishing that his glare could kill him at that moment. "Do you realize," he hissed, "what you have just done?"

Koenma gulped, clicking a button to change the screen. However, his mind refocused on the hybrid glaring at him, claws tapping against the sword that he obviously wanted to run him through with. Koenma knew the moment Hiei had stalked into his office, perhaps even before that, how much the demon wished to kill him. And it appeared that Hiei was quickly losing his patience, ready and willing to cut him down should he not give some type of information that would help him retrieve his mate.

Koenma's thoughts, though, were also on his father. The ruler of Reikai was going to kill him this time, he was sure of it. His father might have put up with a lot of mistakes, and he might understand that he had not known that Hiei was battling with Naraku at the time, but he also knew how much his father trusted the miko. Enma had allowed her not only to travel time without restrictions, but he had also allowed her to mate a demon, and continue to guard a powerful artifact that attracted the attention of almost everyone with a bit of greed within them. Enma treated her almost as if she were his daughter, despite the fact that she was such a powerful miko that needed to be watched, and Koenma was sure his father's wrath would come upon him for losing her, her freedom.

"After Hiei's help through the Jagan, we were able to track Naraku's aura around the Makai without his knowledge. The reason I called you here is because we have managed to find his home," Koenma said. He could only hope this information would allow him to keep his head.