The Shotgun Approach

Chapter 4: Fire and Ice

. . .

Summer – near the end of June.

Rain.

How I loved rain.

But perhaps not as others tended to. Sure, its cold touch, refreshing in its quality, did not displease me. I did not mind the rain itself. But that is not why I loved it.

Today...today I loved the rain because it had just saved countless lives.

Yusuke had been mistaken. Two weeks ago when he informed me of the capture of the bomber, I had insisted that he should continue looking for an accomplice. I might have convinced him if it wasn't for Hiei. Hiei, that little ornery bastard. Yusuke trusted his comrades, that trust so explicit that he fell back on it with instinct alone. He could not refute Hiei's adamant promise that there was only one bomber.

But what Yusuke did not factor in was that Hiei hated me. Hated that I could even remotely be correct in my assumptions.

So when I brought up the fact I was certain this was a two, if not three, person job—Hiei had been even more insistent. His mind reading could not be wrong, after all, that just wasn't possible.

But wrong it was. So very, very wrong.

So when the call came over my scanner for another bombing, I did not have high hopes it was anything but the same. Of course I was right. It was the same MO, a building filled with humans and demons, working in tandem—in harmony. This time the building happened to be a rather large restaurant.

"Come one...Come on..." I mumbled as I compressed the victim's chest again and again.

"He's gone Ettie! We need to get out of here!"

I didn't listen. I kept pushing, harder and harder. Come on, damn you! Breathe!

Around us the building was in flames, the bomb somehow malfunctioned and the blast was weak. But it had been enough to cause a significant amount of damage. The gas lines were still intact as well...for now.

But none of the patrons were able to escape ahead of time. No one noticed the bomb until it was much too late.

Fire trucks worked tirelessly outside...but here I was, inside the building, fire raging around me and Shou—who'd been the only one brave enough to follow me in. This fire did not burn me, I kept a steady wind barrier around us, blocking the flames. My body temperature was also dropped a few degrees as I pushed cooling ice through my veins. Unfortunately for Shou, I couldn't help him unless we were touching and I needed both my hands right now.

I shouted in triumph when the guy drew in a long, gasping breath. "Get him outside, Shou!"

I blew a path through the raging fire, giving Shou a way out. He grabbed the battered man beneath his arms, making sure his oxygen mask stayed in place, and began to haul him towards the entrance.

I waited just long enough to make sure they were clear, before rushing further into the building.

The restaurant had two floors, I was on the lower one, and I helped who I could. I rescued people from under fallen debris, ushered those out who were not in grave health. But so many were still in danger.

A good portion of the roof was gone. And it had begun to rain.

I could not have asked for better luck.

When I added in the firetruck's hoses, their powerful streams of water pouring in to help staunch the flames, I could count my lucky stars.

I would need a good chunk of my youki for this...and I could not guaranty that no one would get caught up in what I planned to do. But it was a calculated risk, one I did not have a choice but to take.

I ran to the second floor, careful of the structural integrity of the building. It could collapse around me at any moment. I just hoped the fire department had done their job and shut off the main gas line. Last thing we needed was another explosion.

At the top, nearest the blown out section of ceiling, I was closer to the rain. Closer to the streams of water from the fire hoses.

I reached my hands into the nearest one...and felt my core burst to life. I mixed wind and water and earth, watched as it created a mud slurry that spread and spread. With the right climate, the right conditions, I could amplify my power tenfold.

It was much more water than mud, but it soaked through the floor, and slowly the flames lessened until they were out completely. I waited for what felt like a long time to make sure they were truly out. Then I was running. Running to help whoever was still breathing. Still fighting.

And with my actions more rescue teams flooded into the building. Shou returned, Eric behind him. And behind them the rest of the crew, the firemen, the police—all of us working in tandem to help these people.

No one cared if they were human or demon. No one had the time to care.

Later on, when I sure the last living victim was loaded into an ambulance, I stood in that torrential downpour of rain. I was soaked to the bone, arms sore, my uniform clung to my unpleasantly and my hair was plastered to my face. Still, I made no move to leave.

I stared at that building and thought of all the senseless lives that were lost. Lost because whoever was doing this was a bigoted piece of shit. It made disgust coil in my stomach.

"It's the same, isn't it?"

I did not need to turn to know Yusuke was standing beside me. He moved as silent as a ghost. His energy always kept under wraps while in the human realm.

"I should have listened to you," he said, anger coating every word. "I'm so stupid."

"No, trusting your friends isn't stupid, Yusuke," I told him, tone soft and understanding.

"Yeah, but you're my friend too. Hiei's opinion shouldn't have been the only one that mattered."

"Don't tell him that," I said. It garnered a small chuckle from Yusuke, but nothing more. And really, did he have a right to feel so guilty...when it was I that wished to prove Hiei wrong? "I...wished for this to happen, just so I could prove him wrong..." I admitted.

"It wasn't your fault, Ettie..."

"I know...but it doesn't make me feel any less guilty."

. . .

I paced around the small apartment, antsy, unsettled. I was here early. And so was he. In fact, he was the one that let me in, much to my chagrin. Of course Hiei had climbed in through the window, his most beloved way of entering Yusuke's home.

The glare I could feel scorching into my back only made me pace harder.

I didn't know why I was called here and the fact Yusuke wasn't even home made me wonder if this wasn't a trap.

"Don't flatter yourself," said Hiei from Yusuke's kitchen counter. He was perched there, a beer in hand that he'd stolen from the refrigerator.

"Stay out of my head," was my only reply. There were too many things there he should not be privy to. Ever.

But his next words made all pacing cease. It took an inexorable amount of control to keep my heart rate calm. "Who are you, really?" he asked.

I turned to pin Hiei with a benign smile, flashing that chipped tooth. The table between us was the only barrier. If I spoke even a single word that caused him any amount of concern I would find myself quite dead.

"I believe you know that already," I said. "I'm Ettie."

"I didn't ask your name, you stupid fool."

"I have no other answer to give."

He rose from his position against the counter, rolling the beer bottle between his fingers. I watched as a drop of condensation slid from its surface to slide down his hand...and evaporate into steam.

"You might have all the others fooled, but I am not so blind. There is more to you than you wish for anyone to know. And that...irritates me."

"I'm sorry my existence is an inconvenience to you." It was a test of patience to keep the sarcasm from my tone.

With slow, deliberate steps, he began to circle the table—ever closer. I backed away, keeping what distance I could even if it was futile. "Tell me," he said, "what is your goal with Yusuke? He has little need for a consort."

My entire face heated, how dare he suggest such a thing! "A consort! How crude!"

He laughed, the sound dark, shiver inducing. "Then what? What could someone like you possibly want with him?"

Someone like me...

It always came back to that...didn't it?

"I have no ulterior motives. I only wish to help with finding those responsible for the bombings."

"I find that hard to believe," he said, still stalking closer, like a predator closing in on prey. "You have come at a time most convenient, trying to worm your way into his bed while he is vulnerable."

I couldn't help the laugh that burst from my lips, "You are quite delusional, aren't you?"

The glare he pinned me with was scathing. He did not take the insult well. "And you are liar. A very good one, but a liar none the less."

A liar and a drug addict. I was batting a thousand.

"I've never done anything to make you hate me, I don't understand why you spend so much energy making sure that I know it. But I am not a liar." Which, I realized, is exactly what a liar would say.

"Then explain to me," he said, voice a mere murmur but still so lethal, "how someone who claims they can't fight managed to become an S class demon?"

The smile I still kept in place fell abruptly. Did he honestly think I was trying to hide something like that? "I was born that way."

He frowned, brows dipping in confusion. "Born an S class? Don't make me laugh."

"I'm not a fighter, so it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"Oh," he breathed, "but it does. Because I don't believe you."

Where was Yusuke? This was beginning to become absurd. Was his intention for me to get interrogated by Hiei? Is this some kind of joke? Or is the fire demon really that determined to figure me out?

I brought my thumb to my mouth, chewing on the nail. A nervous habit I was unable to kick. "I'm just trying to help," I mumbled, hoping he would back off.

But he chose to ignore the words as if I never spoke them. "Where did you come from?"

I realized he was backing me into a corner too late. I found myself wedged into the small space between Yusuke's kitchen counter and the door leading towards his living room. Hiei's free hand curled around the edge of the door, holding it in place and essentially trapping me.

I wasn't scared. Not exactly. Because a thousand different escape plans blossomed in my head. But I chose to stay there, chose to answer his next question with honesty. "I was born in Gandara. My tribe remains there."

"Gandara...interesting. The region that was most outraged by the changes that occurred after the first demon world tournament."

I knew what he was suggesting. And bit back a laugh. "Do you think I'm a spy? Hiei...I've been here since the barrier fell. I got special permissions from the prince of Reikai. If I were a spy...don't you think I would have come to Yusuke sooner?"

There was a long pause of silence where he stared me down, looking for the lie. But this time I was truthful, there would be nothing to find. My past was none of his business, but I sure as hell wasn't a spy. After becoming a healer my tribe cast me out, I was no longer welcome there. When the barrier fell I felt it was an opportunity for growth, so I met with the prince and was given an identity so I may continue my education legally.

Being an S class meant I kept a rather human looking figure...most days anyway. So it was simple. I blended in as long as I made sure not to use my powers. And eventually more and more demons came...and it was not as much of an issue. Although most humans are still wary of us at best...and despise us at worst.

Hiei's hand gripped the door's edge a little too tight, the sharp crack of the wood making me flinch. He loosed a cold laugh, "You're right. Someone as spineless as you could never be a spy."

The floor at my feet iced over, creeping across the tile until it covered Hiei's boots (which he was rudely still wearing) and traveled up his shins. His gaze did not change, the cold amusement ever present.

His lips curled into a smirk, "Why don't you show me that fire?"

"Because I'll burn the entire building down if I do," I said, voice raspy from suppressed anger.

Forget making Hiei like me. He was about to become my enemy.

The sound of the front door opening alerted us to Yusuke's arrival, but neither of us moved. So when Yusuke entered the kitchen, Kurama and Kuwabara in tow, he came to a stuttering halt. "What the hell's goin' on here?"

My ice skittered further up Hiei's legs, crackling. He burned it off with a flash of youki and stepped away from the door. He turned to Yusuke, "Nothing," he said, his voice steadily controlled and as stoic as ever.

"Doesn't look like nothin'," piped up Kuwabara.

Kurama was eyeing Hiei with raised eyebrows, clearly exasperated with his friend. But the fire demon didn't say another word. He strode back to the counter, stolen beer still in hand, and leaned against it. "Well," he said, "what happened?"

Yusuke cast me a long look, imploring me to tell him what Hiei refused to. Except—I just smiled and took a seat at the table. I was a demon first and foremost. And Hiei had just issued a challenge I couldn't ignore.

I was no fighter.

But that didn't mean I lacked in ways to ruin someone if I so chose.

I felt heat swirl through my core, into my veins. A bead of sweat slid down the side of my face.

The fire was dangerous. It was all consuming, unrelenting. It would take me and everyone else with it. So I pushed it down deep and deeper still, until it was just an ember burning bright in the center of my being.

I had been broken before.

And I would do anything to make sure it never happened again.

So it was with half an ear I listened to Yusuke's tale of where he'd been that evening. He was late in returning because the prince of the Reikai asked him to interrogate the bomber they'd caught two weeks ago. Kurama had gone with him. But even with their combined efforts the man chose not to say a single word.

"It was weird," Yusuke said, "He just sat there, wouldn't even look at us."

"It was as if he were under some kind of trance," Kurama added. "But it shouldn't be possible in the Reikai, not in warded chains."

"What if someone else was doing it?" asked Kuwabara.

"No, they have barriers in the prison that prevent any type of energy usage."

"Meditation then?" said Hiei.

"If it was, it was unlike any technique I've seen before," said Kurama. "I even attempted the use of a truth serum, but to no avail."

"It was like a corpse sitting up and blinking. It gave me the creeps." Yusuke shivered, as if just remembering it was traumatizing.

It was this that finally broke me out of my reverie, and I turned my full attention to Yusuke. "Are you sure it wasn't?"

"Excuse me?!" Kuwabara screeched.

"What, you think he's a fuckin' zombie, Ettie?"

Kurama shook his head, frowning to himself. "Necromancy. The thought didn't even cross my mind. You might very well be correct, Etternia."

I flinched violently at the use of my full name. Not a single person at the table didn't see it. My hands wrapped around my thighs, squeezing until it hurt. Hearing it said aloud...after all this time...

How did he even know that was my full name? I gave it out to no one.

I swallowed, the saliva thick. "Please, just call me Ettie."

"I...apologize," Kurama spoke slow, as if uncertain, "Ettie it will be then."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see a dark smile curling Hiei's mouth...and I knew, I just knew, that it meant nothing good for me.

Talks continued well into the night—was it possible for Koenma to have missed something so vital? If it was necromancy, what did it have to do with the bombings?

But the second question was answered far easier than the rest when I said, "For the bodies, what else?"

"But wouldn't most of them be mangled beyond repair?" asked Yusuke.

"Missing pieces matters not with necromancy," replied Kurama.

"Gross," said Kuwabara.

They speculated for a while more, until the moon crested high in the sky. I could feel sweat beginning to soak my back, the shakes would come soon after. It never went well if I went too long without them...

Without the drugs.

The first tremor down my arms had me gripping my thighs again, nails piercing through the soft cloth of the shorts I was wearing. Hours. It had been hours. Far too long.

I rose from my seat with as much grace as I could muster. The room fell silent, turning to stare at me as if I had affronted them somehow. "I'm sorry," I spoke, "I have an early day tomorrow and I must go home." A lie. Tomorrow was a day off. A moment's reprieve where I could sit in silence and perhaps push out a few sketches on the balcony.

Yusuke's eyes skipped over me, noticing little nuances no one else ever had before. The tremor that shook my knees just slightly, the sweat coating my brow that wasn't from the early summer heat.

"Let me walk you home," he finally decided, rising as well.

"No, there's no need," I managed to say, trying to flee this situation as quickly and painlessly as possible.

"Urameshi's right, a lady shouldn't walk alone," piped up Kuwabara, making my eyes dip closed briefly in resignation.

I did my utmost best to keep the edge out of my tone, but it spilled over anyway, "I'm capable of walking on my own, thank you for your concern. If you'll excuse me..."

I walked towards the entrance of Yusuke's apartment, slipping my trainers on with deft fingers and collecting the bag I'd left by the door. Yusuke was behind me, however, and didn't plan on letting me leave until I acquiesced.

"I know the signs," he whispered, so the others wouldn't hear, "you won't make it home."

The shaking was getting worse, my stomach twisting unpleasantly and breaths quickening. I needed to go. Now. Yusuke didn't want it in his house and I planned to respect that. But if I didn't take some soon...

Before I could deny his request to walk me once again, he shouted behind him, "I'll be back soon boys, don't get into too much trouble!"

A series of responses reached my ears, jumbled together, but all around accepting.

Yusuke slipped on his own shoes and took my elbow, leading me out the door.

I made it to a spot on the sidewalk lacking a street light before my jittery shaking became too much. I dug in my pockets with frantic hands, searching for the smooth surface of the bottle. But it was Yusuke who found it, dumping my bag with little a care, and picking up the thankfully intact vial. He knocked two pills out, crushed them, used his own fingers to rub the substance across my gums because by then I was too shaky to manage.

It took several long minutes, with me crouched on the ground, just trying to catch my breath, before my skin began to hum and my toes curled with warmth. It flooded my blood, caused me to loose a breathless sigh of relief. It was like being drunk...but so much better. It took away the pain. Took away the thoughts that never stopped clawing their way to the forefront of my mind.

When I looked up at Yusuke I was sure my pupils were blown and glassy. A blush bloomed across my cheeks in spite of it.

He wiped his hands on his jeans and smiled, if a little sadly. "I know the signs," he repeated.

I wonder how and who and why, but I did not ask. I did not pry. It wasn't my place and we did not know each other well enough for such things yet.

He offered me a hand up and I took it, grateful for not only the help...but the fact he was still willing to touch me, considering.

My apartment wasn't far, but far enough that we walked in silence for a time before he asked, "What happened between you and Hiei earlier?"

I was wondering if he would bring that particular incident up. I was sure he was hoping my inhibitions would have dropped enough to spill. I still chose my words with care, "Nothing to dwell on."

"Ettie...if he did something..." the hidden threat was tangible and I knew I would have to nip that in the bud and fast.

"I know you are not Makai born," I said, "but this is a matter that needs to be handled in a demon fashion, do you understand?"

"By fighting?"

"Not necessarily," I said, shaking my head. "But a challenge has been issued and I must answer it."

"A challenge?" he asked, skeptical. "What kind, if not one for a fight?"

I pursed my lips, my next words leaving a sour taste in my mouth. "He suggested I was trying to tempt you into my bed for...rather devious reasons. A personal affront I can't ignore." I didn't bother to tell him that Hiei had also suggested I was a spy, a selfish part of myself not wanting to place doubts in Yusuke's head.

"Well..." he started, "are you?"

I skidded to a halt, Yusuke continuing by me, hands shoved into his pockets. "Excuse me?!"

He turned to look over his shoulder, a wicked grin on his lips, and winked. "What, am I not your type?" he asked.

I didn't really have a type, if I were being honest. I pushed aside the memories that reared their ugly heads at the thought, the drug helping push them down, down, down.

Now was not the time to think on the past.

"Well, I'm certainly not trying to get you into bed!" I called after him.

And without a pause, he replied quite smoothly, "We'll see."

I was left behind, gaping at his back. The drugs swam in my veins—a constant warmth that fought off the chill that had fallen in the air this late in the evening. I didn't know what to say to that.

And it left me wondering if it wasn't Yusuke who held the true goal of tempting someone beneath his sheets.

It was almost sad that I would have to tell him that someone couldn't be me.

Could never, ever, be me.

. . .

A/N: I've been reading a lot of present tense fanfiction lately and noticed that at about the half way point in this chapter I skipped over to that on accident xD I believe I fixed it, but feel free to point out if I missed anything!

I'm so happy to see such good responses to this story so far, especially because it's rather controversial in a lot of aspects. But I've always liked writing about darker things. I hope this chapter will not have disappointed.

Also, yes, Ettie is an S class but not of the typical kind. In aspects of raw power she has it in spades, battle experience and physical strength not so much.

Thanks for reading!