Hiei sat up with a gasp, as drenched in sweat as he was rain water. He shuddered, not from the cold, but from the memory of his dream…so many times he'd had that same dream; Reliving over and over the horror of the Jagan implantation, the searing pain the whirring of the surgeon's terrible drill inside his head. He'd been awake for all of it, He remembered Everything... He shuddered again and stood. It was early, there was only the faintest blush of light on the horizon. He looked out at the sea as it turned the palest shade of pink. It was still raining but very lightly. Just enough to deny him any hope of drying out. He jumped from the tree that had been his bed for the night, landing a little rougher than he had intended, and stretched. He fest a crick in his back. Tch... 100 years ago he was lithe as an eel. Imagine being some frail pathetic thing. He yanked off his sopping cloak and shook out his hair like an animal raking his hand through it repeatedly trying to wring out the wet. He did the same to his cloak, and slid it back on. It felt awful... Cold and wet. He grimaced. Such is life. He walked along the edge of the woods looking for something palatable among the local flora/fauna and ruminated to himself. He was far from an OLD demon, by his own breeds standards he was barley cresting into his mid years. He rubbed his neck. Maybe it was too many hard roads and not enough soft beds... He spied a rabbit nibbling on a patch of clover about 100 yards away. He dropped into a crouch on instinct, and approached it on silent creeping feet. Just as he was about to grab it he heard Rayas calling out from nearby "DEEEEEeeeeMOOoooooN! HEY Demon guy where are you?" The rabbit started by the sudden noise in the very early morning stillness bolted. Hiei rubbed his temple and sighed.
"What is it". Hiei appeared in a tree just above Rayas causing him to almost fall out of his saddle.
Whoa!" Rayas scrambled for purchase, pulling himself upright again. "Boy! You're quiet! I didn't even know you were up there!"
Hiei dropped to the ground in front of Rayas' horse causing it to whinny and back up in fright.
"I wasn't." He said sourly, putting his hands in his pockets. "What do you want?"
"I came to see if you wanted some breakfast!" He said cheerily pulling a delicious smelling bundle from his saddle bag. "Also... to see if you wanted to come to Isliid with me, check on your friend?" He held out the bundle to Hiei, the sweet cinnamon and butter scent steamed off of it in the cool morning air.
Hiei glowered "I told your friend last night, I'll stay outside the gate of your precious Human city. I will NOT be chained like some...some-" He fumbled angrily, searching for threatening words. His distraction by the food was becoming increasingly obvious.
"Criminal?" Rayas offered trying to be helpful. Hiei narrowed his eyes at the man, deciding if he should just kill him and be done with it. "You aren't! At least... I don't think so."
Hiei blinked but said nothing.
"No, I mean as my guest, silly! People around here have just had a rough time with demons. Especially of late. Gormary has been sending its legions to every corner of the far kingdoms and seems intent on domination... A lot of good people have lost everything fleeing the war." His face fell a little. "A lot more never even made it out…" He looked up at Hiei whose head was cocked to the side, taking all of this in. "You…. don't seem to know what I'm talking about… do you?" He offered the demon a small smile. "So, I'm guessing you aren't from Gormary."
Hiei looked up at the rider, unsure what to say.
"Plus…You seem nice. And! I can tell you care a lot about your friend. He's safe by the way! I was up all night reading the lawbooks in the guild to see if there was any way that I could help. And I found something! Turns out you can come into the city! And if anyone calls you out for being a demon, just tell them you came seeking asylum. That means that you are running away fr-"
"I know what it means." Hiei folded his arms, clearly weighing his options, boring a hole in the earth with his stare.
"I still have that bottle of whiskey back at the guild!" Rayas grinned. "Oh, yeah… Here! CATCH!" He tossed the steaming bundle to Hiei who caught in without looking up from the ground. He looked doubtfully up at Ryas, and then carefully unwrapped it. His eyes widened and his nostrils flared. Before him was the biggest cinnamon bun he had ever seen in his whole life. Kurama had brought some to him from time to time, and back then it had always been a human treat he looked forward to and enjoyed…Not that he'd have said as much. But! he'd never seen one like this, as big as his head and piping hot! He looked up at Rayas in wonder. The rider chuckled.
"Go ahead! I promise it's not poisoned! Sophie made them barely an hour ago. Its suuuper fresh."
Maintaining eye contact with the oddly generous mad Hiei took a careful bite.
And almost collapsed to his knees. A small involuntary moan escaped his lips and his eyes fluttered closed of their own volition. This was the best thing that he had ever tasted in his entire life... Nothing compared. He thought he might die right here, and be glad for it for nothing in the world could compare to this sweet sticky bread. The cinnamon, the oozy buttercream frosting, the delicate flakiness of the hot pastry itself.. It was over too quickly, he'd inhaled it. Devouring every last morsel and licking the wrapping clean. When he was finally coming out of his high, he noticed Rayas grinning down at him, and scowled suspiciously as he licked the last of the frosting from the tips of his fingers. Hiei cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter, acting like he hadn't just had a religious experience that rocked his world.
"Good right?" Rayas grinned. "I take it you're hungry. There's plenty more! Hop on!" He patted the horse. Just hold onto me, ok? She's a little skittish."
Hiei, looked the horse and its passenger up and down. "I think I'll walk.""