A/N: Hello again! I contemplated writing this chapter in Hiei's POV but I think I will save that for later, because Kasumi is about to get into some crazy shit. Excuse me if this chapter goes out late, I'm sick, the holidays are upon us, and I work fulltime now. I write when I can, which isn't very often, unfortunately. I hope this chapter is okay, let me know your thoughts and happy reading!
Shout-out for the awesome reviews I've been getting! Thank you!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own YYH!
Warnings: The same as other chapters – violence, swearing, blood/gore, sexual/adult themes, etc. M rated for a reason basically. Enjoy!
. . .
"Ren, what are we going to do?" I whispered the question as quietly as I could but it still echoed around us, making me cringe and snap my mouth shut.
My partner tried to shift around so he could face me, but his weight caused the metal beneath us to groan and bow. He ceased his movement instantly and clutched his pistol just a little tighter within his hand. Ren didn't often get scared and he was putting on a good show for me right now, but it was the little things that gave him away.
"Has the bleeding stopped?" I pretended not to notice that he hadn't answered my question, because he had no answer and even I knew that.
"Y-yeah…I think so." Ren was talking about the bullet graze on my thigh, the button up blouse I had been wearing earlier in the evening was now being used as a makeshift bandage, ripped into strips and tied around my leg.
That left me with nothing but a spaghetti strap, skin tight tank-top I had worn underneath it and the pair of jeans I'd worn out on our date. My police issued jacket was lost somewhere down below and there was no chance in hell I was going to get it.
I should probably back track a little here – currently Ren and I are stuck in an air duct on the fourth floor of an eight floor office building in the business district of Tokyo. We had climbed up here to hide and so far the plan has been successful. I was curled up sideways; my knees bent and arms resting at my sides. In my right hand was my pistol, the clip half empty and I had lost what little ammo I had managed to bring with my police jacket on the second floor of the building.
Remember the call I had gotten earlier? Yeah, well the hostage situation has turned into something a thousand times worse. When I arrived on the scene with Ren the Captain had sent us in almost immediately because they had lost communication with the SWAT team and several other officers who had gone in before them. There were multiple people inside, as one whole floor of the office building had still been open when the group of psychos had broken in.
The Captain sent us in as a team, with three other men from a different precinct. All three had been killed upon entering the building, Ren and I had only escaped because we had not been stupid enough to run straight inside. We had snuck in instead, letting our other team members believe they could and would receive all the glory for rescuing the hostages. We tried to stop them…we really did, but nothing can really stop stupidity once it's already imbedded into someone's head. I felt horrible for leaving them behind…even though there was nothing we could do. I suppose that second of hesitation is how I managed to get shot in the first place. I was lucky it was only a graze, but it hurt enough to make me limp and had bled profusely at first.
Given the situation Ren had ignored my new injuries (Hiei's burns) only questioning me with his eyes and when I refused to answer he didn't bother trying to force one out of me.
We had entered into the first floor, skipping the basement where there seemed to be a lot of activity from what I had observed as we tried to sneak around. We made it to the second floor, which is where the rest of our team had sprinted to, to find them dead…but not in the way we had suspected. We had soon discovered that there weren't any hostages either…that everyone was dead. The bodies were torn to pieces, mutilated, and tossed around like they had been put through a wood chipper – civilians and cops alike. I could make out several of the uniforms, many men and women from the SWAT team, several from our own precinct. There were even more civilians, the office workers who had been caught in the fray because they had been trying to escape.
There wasn't a single one still alive…Ren and I were the only members of the police force left. We both came to the realization that the Captain wouldn't risk anymore men, that we were the last resort. The officers outside were stuck in a stalemate, waiting it out.
Back to the present we are still in the air duct, trying to be as quiet as possible so we do not attract any attention. Once in a while you here the pounding of feet down below, someone yelling in a language neither of us can understand. They're looking for us…
"Kasumi…" Ren turned his head as best he could so he was facing me, "what are those things?"
That had been the question I was dreading. I had discovered within the first few minutes inside the building that what we are dealing with was as far from human as they come. They were the same lizard-men that had attacked me earlier on in the evening, all different skin colors, all scaly, with tails and horns. While it was nice to know I hadn't gone crazy, because Ren could see them too, the situation was pretty dire. Ren knew nothing about demons…and I had only truly learned of them tonight.
Would guns even work against them? Would I be able to fight my way out of this? Or was I going to end up like one of those countless mutilated bodies on the first two floors of the building?
Knowing I was taking too long to answer, I decided to lie, "I have no idea…they don't look human."
The look on his face clearly stated 'no shit Sherlock' and it was unappreciated. If we didn't need to be deathly silent I would punch him.
I watched him swallow, his eyes looking me up and down, searching for something. Then they narrowed, "You do know something."
"How the hell would I know anything?"
"Because you're not as freaked out by it as you should be."
Fucking-A this man would be the death of me, "Yeah, well neither are you!"
"Maybe they drugged us, you know, sent something out through the air system?"
"So you think we're hallucinating?" If I could get him to believe that it would save me a lot of explaining.
"It would make sense…I mean…they're giant talking lizards with guns Kasumi."
I had found that odd myself…that demons had guns and though I hadn't told Ren, I came to the conclusion that they were picking them up from the dead police officers and using them against us. Apparently they're not as stupid as they look.
"But I don't feel any different…" I say, even though it might put an inkling of doubt in Ren's mind.
"You don't necessarily have to feel anything, they could be using some odorless and tasteless hallucinogenic."'
"I guess you could be right but – "I was interrupted as Ren clapped a hand over my mouth, telling me with his eyes to stay quiet as voices were heard down below.
I stilled, letting my body stiffen on instinct and Ren carefully removed his hand from my face so we could both listen. From what I could hear, there were two men below us, both speaking in Japanese so we could understand them. They had stopped almost directly underneath our hiding space and I watched as Ren leaned over as far as he could without making any noise so he could spy out of the grate we had crawled through. I strained my ears just a little harder so I could catch exactly what they were saying.
"Has anyone found the girl yet? How convenient for us that she would show up here."
The second man chuckled, "She must be stupid."
"I wouldn't underestimate her; Kiru said she took down Rue no problem."
"Yeah well, Rue was a weakling. It's no wonder the boss decided to kill him off."
The sound of sniffling came then, "Do you smell that? Human…"
"The scent of human is everywhere in this place, it's impossible to pick one out from the other. All humans smell the same to me – disgusting."
"Yes…but this seems fresher. They must have come through here recently."
Ren shot me an alarmed look and I could see a plan starting to form in his head. I quickly shook my head no, telling him not to be stupid because he had no idea what he was dealing with. He pursed his lips, annoyed, but placated for now. He went back to spying on the two men.
I heard the clicking of a lighter, and then the scent of cigarette smoke filtered up through the vent.
"Oi, where'd you get those?"
"Stole them off one of those humans that came in with the guns."
"Give me one!"
"No!"
The sound of a struggle commenced and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. While they might have been smart enough to steal the guns off our dead comrades I had obviously given them too much credit. The fight over the cigarettes went on for a while, until a third voice joined the fray and yelled in that weird language we couldn't understand.
"Sorry sir!" The two men chorused and then I heard the pounding of feet as they moved on to a different location.
I opened my mouth to speak but Ren held up a hand, signaling that the new person was still below. Ren's eyebrows had drawn down over his eyes and this worried me, he leaned over the grate a little more to get a better view but instantly regretted it.
"Move Kasumi! GO!"
I didn't question him; I crawled with all the speed I could, Ren right behind me trying to get me to go faster. I could hear the sound of metal being torn and ripped apart behind us. The grate that we had been looking through was wrenched from its place and I heard it get thrown aside somewhere down below. I kept going, trying not to look back.
A clawed hand stopped me in my tracks; it shot up through the metal, missing me by mere inches. I skirted around it but it followed us, trying to skewer me every so many feet. We came to a bend in the ventilation system and I took it, trying to find somewhere else to hide. I heard Ren cry out behind me and stopped for a moment but he pushed against my back, urging me to continue on and ignore him.
"What happened?" I asked, breathless as I crawled all the more faster.
"It got me, just a flesh wound, keep going!"
I took another bend, trying to lose our pursuer, and then came across a vent that went straight upward, more than likely leading to another floor. I stopped, took one look at Ren and when he nodded I wedged myself into the hole, spreading out my hands and feet so I could shimmy up it. He followed close behind and I have never been more grateful for my training because the stamina it took to climb that tall ass vent was ridiculous.
In what felt like hours, but what had really only been minutes, I reached the top. I stuck an arm down so I could haul Ren's ass up through the hole and then I began to crawl again. When I got to another grate in the vent I peered carefully down below.
"All clear," I said. I was looking down into an empty meeting room, where a long table with rolling chairs sat innocently. I listened carefully for any noise of pursuit but there was none.
"I think we lost him." I was still looking down through the grate, just to be sure but when Ren still hadn't answered me I turned my attention towards him.
He was curled into a ball, a grimace of pain etched across his face as he peeled his shirt away from his stomach. What he had said was only a flesh wound; in actuality was a deep, ragged gash in his side. Blood was steadily pouring from the wound along with some sickly looking green substance. It couldn't be infected already, could it?
"Jesus Christ, Ren, why didn't you say something?" I crawled to his side and pushed his hands out of the way.
The green substance had me worried…I didn't know what it was, but it couldn't be anything good. I pulled the remaining strips of my shirt from Ren's jacket pocket – he had been smart enough to save them, thank Kami. I used one to wipe at the green nastiness seeping from the wound, and then I made him sit up as best he could so I could tie it around his midsection to staunch the bleeding. It bled through the thin material almost immediately and had me cursing in frustration.
"Its fine Kasumi, I'll be fine."
"You can't be serious?! We need to get you out of here and soon. I think that's poison in the wound Ren…"
He tried to smile his usual cocky grin, but failed miserably, "Nothing I can't handle."
"Stop trying to be so macho, you fucking idiot."
I went back to look out of the vent grate one more time, deemed it clear, and then grabbed Ren's arm. He snatched it back petulantly, "I can still move on my own, I'm not an invalid."
"Yet," I added.
He was glaring at the back of my head, I could feel it, but it was more important that I got him out of the building than starting a petty fight. I carefully pulled the grate off, trying to be quiet and not succeeding, but time was of the essence. I hung down out of the opening, letting my body stretch towards the ground and then dropped, landing in a crouch. Ren followed suit, though his landing was not nearly as graceful as mine had been. He fell into a heap on the floor, groaning in agony.
I didn't wait for him to recover before hauling him to his feet. I was still limping, the bullet graze causing me pain along with all the other wounds I had marring my body, but I still managed to pull Ren's arm over my shoulder and support him as I walked to the door. He was much larger than me and weighed a ton, because I soon discovered that whatever was seeping out of his wound was making him weaker by the second. He was breathing heavy and leaning on me more than I liked.
As we limped to the door in a single unit I watched as he squeezed his eyes shut in pain, "I'm sorry Kasumi."
"Just shut up and walk," I snapped, trying to get him to move a little faster.
I pushed the boardroom door open slowly, so I wouldn't alert the attention of anyone that may be standing outside it, and then peered around the small opening I had made. I looked both ways down a long hall lined with many closed doors, but didn't see anyone. With the coast clear, I supported Ren through the doorway and began the slow trek down the hall.
I was headed in the opposite direction of the elevators and stairs, in the hopes I would find a fire escape or other such route I could go that would be unoccupied by the demon hoard that was below us. Each minute that passed with me searching in vain was a minute too long for Ren. He began to get heavier and heavier as we walked until I was basically supporting his entire weight. The bastard was lucky I wasn't some weak little girl.
"Goddamnit Ren, I can't carry you so stand up!"
No answer. I look to my left to see his eyes have drooped and his breathing has become slow and shallow.
"Shit!"
I look around wildly for a place to hide, anywhere I can set him down and tend to him without being caught, but each door I try is locked. The only place I could go is back to the room I was already in, but I am too late. I can hear voices not far off in the distance speaking in that same tongue I have come to know as the lizard-man's special language. I try to run, but with Ren's added weight and my injuries I am basically just dragging him and limping slightly faster than I was before. I don't make it very far before I hear the shouts behind me.
I find a service door that leads up to the sixth floor and take it, locking a heavy deadbolt that I was lucky enough to discover behind me. I hear more shouting in that garbled reptilian tongue and then loud pounding on the heavy metal door. I can see dents beginning to appear and know that even with its weight it will not hold them for long.
I pull Ren up the stairs and they're just about the death of me as I limp along. He's completely passed out by now, his breathing so slow that I have to check every few seconds to make sure he's still alive. I'm doing my best not to panic, but this situation just keeps getting worse and worse.
I make it up two flights of stairs before I find another door; I exit out of it to find myself in an identical hallway as the one down below, except for a couple of slight differences. This hall has a large bay window at its end and its dark up here, so dark I can barely see my own two feet in front of me. The only source of light is the bright red emergency exit signs posted at each end of the hall. One above the door I had just come through and one so far away I didn't know if I would make it. I had nothing to bar the door behind me, so I was left standing there like an idiot undecided on what I should do.
Any moment know those creatures are going to come barreling up those stairs and in my current state I didn't know if I could stop them. I can no longer hold up Ren, his massive weight is too much for me, and I gently let him sink to the floor. I crouch next to him, checking his vitals and his pulse is sluggish just like his breathing.
"Shit, shit, shit!" I breathe out through clenched teeth.
What the fuck am I supposed to do now?
The sound of feet, by my calculations four or more sets, come from the stairwell and I sit huddled next to Ren and just wait. All I can do is try to fight my way out of this. I check my gun for bullets, count ten out of the twelve I originally had loaded, and then clutch it tightly in my hands. I remain crouched, in the hope that the door will block me from view once they have pushed it open and I will gain the element of surprise in doing so.
I don't have to wait long.
The door is violently flung open, it misses me narrowly, and five demons come pouring out of the opening. One is massive compared to the others, so tall he must be at least seven feet, and his tail is as thick as a full grown anaconda, so heavy he cannot lift it from the ground and it is left to drag behind him. They stand in a group for a moment, looking everywhere except at me, but then the big guy turns around. His eyes land on me immediately and I pull up my gun and shoot.
I hit one demon squarely in the head and he falls, a pool of blood forming beneath him. He does not get up, leading me to believe that guns do in fact work against them. I fire off another shot before they can recover from the shock of so quickly losing a comrade and hit another in the chest, who slams against the wall and slides down it leaving a grotesque streak of blood in his wake.
By then they have recovered and the two remaining smaller demons come at me as a unit. The big one stands behind, his arms folded over his chest, and stares at me with those creepy, beady black eyes. I don't have time to let off another shot and I am too distracted to think clearly so I throw the gun aside. I take a blow to the side, the two demons are coming at me from opposite directions and I must switch my fighting from side to side.
I kick one back, sending him smashing into the wall and knocking the wind out of him. This gives me a moment to take on the other guy who is trying to rip me to shreds with his claws. I grab one of his wrists, bend it and hear a satisfying snap a second later. The demon howls in pain, clutching his arm to his chest, so turn back to the other guy who is only just barely recovering. I roundhouse kick him in the head, knocking him to the floor where he scurries away from me.
The demon with the broken wrist uses his good arm to hit me squarely in the back between my shoulder blades. It takes me a moment to get my breath back and it caused me to pitch forward toward the ground where I meet the second demons fist. He hits me straight in the chin, knocking my teeth together much the same as Yusuke had done not so long ago. I was lucky enough not to bite my tongue this time. I stumble back, remaining on my feet but in doing so I have gotten too close to my other assailant.
The one behind me hits me again, this time in my lower back, and I hear my spine crack and pray that it has not fractured. Before he can retract his fist, I reach back and grab his arm and throw him over my shoulder. I feel more than see his arm get dislocated in the process and smile in satisfaction as his body slams into the hard marble like floor beneath us.
I notice the sound of more running feet in the distance, down the opposite end of the hall, and I begin to panic. My fighting style changes to something more desperate, more dangerous as I just proceeded to pound the shit out of the two creatures. When I have mutilated their faces to the point they are unrecognizable the feet are closer and accompanied by voices. The fact they are speaking Japanese gives me no comfort because I know that the lizard-men know our language too.
I have managed to knock out or kill four of the demons…all that remained was the big bastard who had not moved the entire time. The only change in his demeanor was the giant smirk he now had spread across his ugly face. He begins to stalk toward me, forcing me to back away from him. I hear someone call my name, it echoes down the hall and comes to my ears distorted to the point I can't recognize the voice at all.
I back away until I am once again standing in front of Ren, as if I am some kind of guard dog. I take a moment to look down on him, to make sure he's still alive and I am shocked to see his eyes open. He has both his and my gun in his hands. His eyes narrow into a scathing glare and I get out of his way just in time.
He lets off two shots, one from each gun and both bullets hit the demon hard in the chest but they don't do a damn thing. He jerked at the impact but kept right on coming. Ren shoots again and again, but now the beast is running at break neck speed toward us and all of this has happened in such a short amount of time but it feels like it has taken forever.
The beast skips over Ren completely and slams into me like a defensive linemen on a football team. His shoulder hits me in the gut and I am literally flying through the air. I scream as I smash through the large bay window behind me and I know I am about to die. There is nothing for me to grab onto, nothing to save my life from the six story fall I am about to take. If I don't die, I certainly will never be able to walk again if I hit the ground from this height. I'm doomed and I know it.
All I can do is stare in horror at the busted window I had just been thrown through but my horror changes to shock, then to awe as a black clad body jumps through it and straight at me. Arms engulf me and I am surrounded by warmth so much so that for a moment I feel safe. Then I feel the rush of the wind as we plummet and I freak the fuck out.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I scream, because what else can I do. Hiei has just jumped from the sixth story in an attempt to save my life and he is now in the same boat as I am.
At first he doesn't answer me and I can't see his face because I'm pressed into his chest and he's holding me too tightly and I want to struggle, but don't because I know if I do I will fall….and why aren't we falling anymore?
My body is jarred as Hiei's feet slam into the side of the building opposite us and he is running up it vertically like gravity does not apply to him and then he crouches and uses his leg muscles to jump again back towards the building we had just fallen from. This goes on until he has jumped us all the way to the top of the opposite building.
He skids across gravel upon landing and then drops me like a sack of potatoes. I sit on the stones too stunned to really do or say anything. My brain is having a hard time catching up to what just occurred but it settles on one thing and one thing only – Ren.
I get up, in pain but determined, and run for the door. I tug on the handle with all my might but it is locked from the inside and won't budge. I pound on it in frustration and then turn back to my only source of escape.
"Please, you have to take me back down."
His red eyes are glowing in the darkness, his stare so intense that I have to blink and look away from him. He's silent for a long moment, just letting my panic build until I'm practically in a frenzy, pacing back and forth across the rooftop.
He finally speaks after what feels like an eternity of waiting, "You're safer here."
"You don't understand! My partner is down there, he's been injured and I need to get back to him!"
He's back to staring at me, eyes narrowed as usual, but calculating instead of deadly.
"Your partner?" He asks.
"Yes, my partner!" What was he getting at?
"As in your lover?" He says it through gritted teeth, which only confuses me, so I brush it aside for now.
"No, not my lover you idiot, my partner on the police force!"
He doesn't appreciate being called an idiot, which is immediately apparent from the death glare that he has trained on me but I'm not afraid of him. Not even when he stalks up to me so he can get in my face.
"You will remain here until someone comes to fetch you."
Oh hell no! This guy doesn't know who he's dealing with if he thinks he's going to leave me here. Anger encompasses me, so strong that I find myself revoking my previous vow not to ever put my hands on him without his permission again. I grab him by the shoulders so he can't leave me and hold on for dear life. He doesn't react the same this time, he only looks down his nose at me coldly, promising me a very painful death if I didn't retract my hands from his person. Once again, I don't pay attention to the warning signs, and somehow I get away with it.
I begin to plead with him, "Please, I need to get back to him. That thing could have ripped him apart by now!"
He snorts, "That beast is a weakling. The oaf will be able to handle it just fine."
My face scrunches up in confusion, "…The oaf?"
He purses his lips, obviously displeased with what's about to come out of his mouth, "Kuwabara."
Dread fills me and I begin to panic even more, "That's worse! How could you leave him down there!? Why are you guys here at all?!"
I told them not to come! I specifically remember telling Yusuke that he could not come and I thought they would be smart enough to realize that I didn't mean just Yusuke! This was so not okay! Not only was my partner more than likely dead, I now had to deal with the possibility of getting my friends killed as well. How had they known where I was? How had they even gotten in considering the amount of police officers that were out front?
As the thought occurred to me I abandoned Hiei so I could rush to the other side of the rooftop and look down over the ledge. What I saw (more like what I didn't see) had me stumbling backwards with my head held in my hands. I fisted my hair and bit back a scream. I truly felt like I was going insane. I have never felt this many conflicting and confusing emotions before in my life.
Down below the street was empty…not a single cop car, not one patrol or squad remained. It was quiet, dark, and devoid of any life. How was that possible? How could they just abandon us in here and decide, 'oh well, let's go home guys' as if our lives didn't even matter? What about the people that had been in the building? What if some of them were still alive? This went against everything I knew as a police officer and everything I had ever been taught about morality and honor. Abandoning your comrades, no matter how little a chance of survival there may be, was unacceptable.
In my turmoil I hadn't noticed when Hiei came to stand at my side, he pulled my hands from my hair and ripped out strands that had been caught between my fingers in doing so. I tried to wrench my hands back but he held on so easily that it made me feel like a toddler being scolded by their parents. I glared at him as harshly as I could because I just couldn't find any words to spit at him, not when I was in the middle of dealing with so many emotions at once – anger, hatred, abandonment, panic, fear.
"You need to calm yourself, baka onna."
He was still holding onto me and I used that to my advantage. He never expected for me to do what I did next and the shock on his face was almost worth what came after – almost.
I used his hold on my arms to pull him forward and then kick him as hard as I could in the gut. He let me go and doubled over, but it lasted all of a split second. I found myself pinned to the ground, my hands held in a vice like grip above my head with Hiei straddling my waist. A bandaged fist hit me hard in the cheek reopening the wound that Yusuke had given me only a few days before. I spit blood in his face, still petulant, still angry.
He was in a rage, his eyes wild and full of hatred for me, but all I could do was smile at him cruelly. I would take the beating and more, because at least then all I would be able to think about is the pain I was in instead of the loss of my friends and comrades. Physical pain was easy…emotional pain…well, I didn't handle that as well as most people.
His fist came blurring towards me again but when he looked into my eyes…really looked, he was forced to stop, his fist only mere centimeters away from my cheek. He let go of me then and sat up, but didn't rise off of me. He remained straddled over my waist, his ass pinning my legs to the ground so I couldn't flail them around or kick him again. I took a moment to look him over, because I felt defeated and cold right down to my very soul and I needed something to distract myself from that.
He was wearing that weird full body cloak again; it had a red string through the middle so he could cinch it around his waist and stuffed through that was the scabbard to a katana. All I could see of the blade was its handle, which was bandaged in the same white cloth as his arm. Around his neck was a white scarf which matched the white band he kept around his forehead. A pair of black pants and boots completed the rather gothic looking outfit. Hiei was certainly an interesting man…if he didn't have such a horrible personality I would have loved to have gotten to know him better.
His forehead was glowing again, that strange purple light shining through the white of his headband and without thinking I reached up and snatched it from his head. It didn't come loose as I was hoping, but it gave me the chance to pull it up over his hair (and subsequently run my fingers through it) so I got to feel the softness of it. Its texture was nothing like how it looked. It was silky and smooth, not coarse as I had been led to believe – weird.
He was growling at me, a vicious animalistic sound coming from between curled up lips and I caught sight of what appeared to be fangs through the snarl. Of course, that was long forgotten when I took in what had been hidden on his forehead.
Marring his perfectly smooth, tanned skin was an eye. Not just any eye, but a large, purple, third eye. What struck me as even more odd…was that I knew I had seen it before. That fucking eye…that purple fucking eye was what had taken my memory from me the night that big bastard had attacked me in the alley. That one revelation made the memory come flooding back – crystal clear and scary as hell.
Hiei had saved my life that night too…and here I was beating him up. What the hell was wrong with me?
I deflated like a balloon that had lost its air and my hands fell dejectedly to my sides next to Hiei's legs. I'm sure my face must look much the same – defeated, sad, and apologetic.
"I'm sorry…"
He was still glaring, but some of the anger had subsided, "Hn."
"You've saved my life twice now." I felt the need to point out. I still didn't understand his reasoning, especially because he barely knew me, so I guess I was feeling a bit of disbelief at the situation.
His eyes strayed away from me to some point above my head and I could have sworn he looked a little embarrassed but we remained in the same position, stony silence filling the air.
I was trying to figure out why he was still sitting on me when he finally spoke again, "The humans did not abandon you."
How had he known I was thinking that?
"Oh, so where are they then?"
"Koenma had their memories wiped and sent them away."
"What? How is that even possible?" Then I thought about it, "Wait, is that what you did to me?!"
"What I did to you was suppress the memories until a later time. I can't take them from you completely."
"Why the hell did you think it was okay to mess with my head?"
He shifted above me, but still didn't rise off my body. His weight was beginning to take its toll…considering his height he was certainly all there in the rest of the departments.
"Did you truly believe you could have handled the truth then?"
I paused…because he was right. If he had told me that night what he was I would have tried to arrest him so he could be locked up in a crazy house. Worst case scenario I would have tried to fight him…and we all know how well that would have gone.
I swallowed hard, "Is that what the eye does, alters people's memories?"
"That is only one of its powers; you need not know the rest."
I knew he would not tell me more about the eye…as freaked out by it as I was, so I went back to questioning him about the rest of the police officers who had definitely been lining the street only hours previously. No way had that all been in my imagination.
"Why is Koenma involved in a police operation and how did he manage to take their memories?"
"You aren't that stupid, use your head."
He was cruising for a bruising, seriously. "Because the building is full of demons?"
He gave me a look that clearly stated how stupid he thought I was, but I ignored it. If Koenma (I wonder if I would ever get to meet this guy, or what) was involved that didn't mean anything good. If everyone that had been involved in the operation was sent away…and their memories wiped, would the same happen to me? Is that why Hiei is here? To tie up loose ends and make sure I don't go around flapping my gums to anyone who will listen?
"I won't take your memories, onna."
Something occurred to me with that little statement, "You're fucking telepathic!"
He smirked, obviously pleased with my deduction but I sure as hell wasn't, "Get the hell out of my head!"
I didn't have time to think about how it was possible or why he felt the need to read my mind, but I didn't appreciate it. There were things in there I didn't want anyone knowing let alone this man.
"It is too late to worry over such trivial matters."
"So how much have you seen you nosy little bastard?!"
"Enough."
I bucked beneath him, trying to throw him off me but he just sunk down a little further, letting even more of his weight pin me to the ground. The gravel was digging uncomfortably into my back, which was already bruised as it was, so I gave up before I'd even really began. He was stronger than me, much stronger, and I wouldn't stand a chance of removing him. He would only get off me when he was damn well ready, even I knew that. I also knew that the only reason he hadn't gotten off me was to keep me good and distracted so I wouldn't try to scale down the building and get back to Ren.
"You're not as stupid as you look."
"Get the fuck out of my head you asshole!"
"You're only repeating yourself, why would I do that when you're so interesting?"
He had just admitted to something there…he thought I was interesting? Why? What had he seen that made him want to stay in my head?
"Your life is not that of a normal human…"
It came to me as an echo across my mind, filling my head with Hiei's voice and it sent shivers cascading down my spine. Not only could he read minds…he could apparently project himself into them as well. I was thoroughly creeped out by this point and wanted nothing more than for this man to get away from me. I didn't know how to defend against an intrusion into my head – it was so invasive, so personal. How could he believe he had the right to do this to me?
"…Because you are a weak and insignificant human woman."
"Didn't you just say you thought I was interesting? But now I'm insignificant – you're contradicting yourself." I said out loud.
I was about done with this conversation and before he could retaliate with some other irritating comment I swung at him with my right fist. As I had judged, because he was inside my head, he knew it was coming and blurred from my view. I hadn't hoped to hit him; I had just hoped to get him off me. He reappeared close by with his lips set into an unimpressed sneer.
"Yeah, fuck you too buddy," I said as I stood and brushed myself off. Little bits of glass from the window tinkled to the ground as they fell from my hair and I reached back and shook my ponytail so more would dislodge.
I pulled my hand back with a yelp to find one of my fingers starting to bleed, a tiny shard of glass protruding from my skin. I plucked it from my finger and tossed it to the ground with the rest. Like a child, I stuck the digit in my mouth to staunch the bleeding and the taste of copper flooded over my tongue. Hiei continued to stare at me through it all, his third eye still glowing, still watching, still reading everything I did.
He was trying his best to make me hate him that was for sure. "Cut it out," I snapped.
To my amazement I watched the purple light fade away and then he blinked it closed, covering the equally purple iris from view. I still had his headband clutched in my left hand and I was sorely tempted to keep it from him, but I wasn't that immature. I held it out at arm's length, making no effort to get any closer and just waited for him to decide whether he wanted it back or not.
He walked at a normal pace back over to me, stopped just close enough to snatch the cloth from my hand, and then proceeded to tie it back around his head.
"The fool should be up to fetch you soon. I notified the others as to your whereabouts."
He turned away from me and I lurched forward in an effort to stop him, "Hey wait – "
But before I could get another word out edge wise he was gone. A shadow blurring across the night sky and nothing more – so fast he was barely visible.
"HIEI!" I screamed to the empty air, so mad that my face must be the color of a tomato.
I stood there with my fists clenched at my sides, so tight I could feel my fingernails digging into my palms. I was so pissed that I never even noticed when Kazuma came bursting out of the door behind me, Yusuke hot on his heels.
"Where is that little bastard, I'll kill him!" The sudden loudness of Kazuma's voice startled me and I whirled around with a scream, but not like the rage filled one previously, oh no. This came out high pitched and girly and instantly had my already flushed cheeks heating up even further.
Yusuke's guffaws, accompanied by Kazuma's suppressed snorting, had me burying my face in my hands. I noticed Kurama in the background, having remained behind to hold the door open so it wouldn't lock again, also covering his lips in an attempt not to laugh at me. Kami, couldn't a girl get any respect around here?
"Shut up you idiots, just shut up!" I said, too frustrated and frazzled to give a damn if I was being rude.
"Where's Hiei?" Yusuke asked.
"Gone," was all I said, because what else could I tell them? It wasn't like he told me where he was going, the asshole.
I had higher priorities than Hiei's whereabouts anyway, "Kazuma, where's Ren?"
"He's okay, Kas, don't worry." He reassured me and it was then that I noticed he was covered in bruises and blood, some obviously his own but most of it foreign.
"What about you, are you alright?" Before he could answer I thought of something else, "And what about that monster?!"
"I'm fine and it's dead." He said simply.
My mouth fell open in disbelief and some kind of gurgled something or other came tumbling out, not even understandable to my own ears.
"Seriously, I'm fine. That guy was chump change." He chuckled and then came over to slap me on the back.
I yelped and curled in on myself, the adrenaline had long since worn off and now I was feeling all the effects of my most recent beating.
"Hey…you're not okay though. Come on; let's get back home so Botan can patch you up."
"But Ren…where is he?"
"Kurama made an antidote for the poison he was hit with, have I told you how much of a useful bastard he is?"
"Get to the point, I can tell that he's useful!"
"Okay, okay," he chuckled. "After we gave him the antidote one of Koenma's men wiped his memory and took him to a hospital."
"Koenma's men?"
He scratched the back of his head, "Yeah…he has a police force of his own I guess you could call it."
He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and began to lead me towards the stairs. Yusuke fell into step beside us and Kurama behind him once we had passed through the threshold of the doorway and started our trek downward.
When we reached the bottom Kazuma stopped me by placing his hands on my shoulders and looking me dead in the eye.
"I know you've been through a lot in the past couple of days…" he paused, clearly uncomfortable. "But I need you to promise not to tell anyone about this."
"You mean I can't bring it up at work?"
"No…and even if you did they won't remember it. It will only make you look crazy."
"Okay, I get it. I promise I won't say anything."
"Not even to Ren," he says sternly.
"Not even to Ren," I repeat.
"Good, thank you Kasumi-chan."
I roll my eyes, I'm irritated but it wasn't like I didn't understand where he was coming from. It was for my protection as much as theirs. I was beginning to come up with some conclusions on what exactly Yusuke and Kazuma did for work – be it paying or otherwise. They knew quite a bit about the supernatural, I had known Kazuma was sensitive to these kinds of things since the day I met him.
He had a funny way of predicting things, or sensing things: he was very much like my sister. I suppose that is what drew me to him in the first place. He was open, caring, brave but kind. Hitomi was all of those things and more – she was everything good. Whereas I…I was the opposite, a real glass half empty kind of girl. Hitomi made us equal out, always providing me with support and love I never felt I deserved. I loved my sister and I was always there to protect her…but I wasn't always there for her. I offered her no emotional support, because I just don't know how to deal with it. I can hug you until your blue in the face, but coming up with the right words to make you feel better is beyond me.
Now, as I stared into my friend's face filled with concern for me, I felt myself break apart just a little more inside. Why had we been so much different…and why couldn't I find her when I needed her the most? She could explain things – make me understand the insanity I had been thrown into. She had always been able to see them, had known about demons and the supernatural long before I ever even caught on. And Kazuma was just like her.
"Is this what you do, Kazu?"
He was clearly confused, "Huh?"
"You're some servant to God?"
"I wouldn't put it like that…" He mumbled.
"You fight evil for God, that's what you do? This is fucking insane."
I skirt around him so I can pace up and down a small length of the hallway, my hands wrapped around my midsection, and eyes flicking around the room nervously.
"It's like something out of a comic book Kazu!" I stop to yell at him.
But before I can dig into him further, Yusuke steps forward. "We're demon hunters…or well, I am anyway. I just call these guys in for backup."
"That's not any better!" I shout.
"And if you hunt them, why are you working with two?!" I add.
"Because they're not evil – not everything is black and white, Kasumi."
The wisdom of those words had me snapping my mouth shut. I hadn't expected it from Yusuke, but then again, I didn't know him well enough to be making such snap judgments.
I didn't completely believe him though, "I could see it with Kurama, but not Hiei."
Yusuke sighs, "Hiei isn't exactly the nicest guy I've ever met, but there's more to him than you know."
"Like what?"
"Get to know him and you'll see. It isn't my place to tell."
I want to hit him, I really do, but I keep myself in check and start to pace again instead. I highly doubted I would have the opportunity to get to know Hiei and I was perfectly fine with that. It also struck me that Yusuke and Keiko were perfect for each other: hadn't she told me the same exact thing just the other day? 'It isn't my place to tell,' well I was sick of hearing that, especially when the only person who could tell you anything is a stubborn bastard.
I didn't want to think about Hiei anymore, I just wanted to go home. I was sore, tired, and injured (also whiney and pissed off) and in dire need of a bath. I hoped to Kami I would not have to fight anymore demons on the way home, because I might just die from sheer exhaustion.
"What was going on in the other building anyway?" I was talking mostly to myself, but I got an answer for my efforts.
"They were looking for something in the basement…" said Kurama. "But when they discovered you inside their priorities changed."
"So this has something to do with earlier then?"
"We are assuming that it does, yes."
My lips turned into a thin line of displeasure, I liked it even less that I was being kept in the dark about my situation, especially now that my work has become involved in the whole mess.
"What were they looking for?"
"Now that I cannot tell you," he tried to smile at me reassuringly, so I would believe nothing was wrong, but I wouldn't be fooled so easily.
"You know something," I say.
"Please do not misunderstand me; I make no remarks against your intelligence. I simply am not allowed to divulge that information to you."
"This is bullshit, I hope you know!"
"Yes, I am inclined to agree."
I had nothing to say to that and so I turned on my heels and marched off, demons be damned. I could probably muster up enough strength to beat the crap out of a few more. If one of those happened to be Hiei, I wouldn't be adverse to it.
"Hey, wait up Kasumi!" I heard Kazuma call behind me, but I kept right on walking.
I thought about going to check on Ren in the hospital, but it was late and they probably wouldn't allow visitors at this time. I slowed my gait, less so the boys could catch up to me and more because I was just so tired that I felt ready to collapse. The amount of stress my body and head had been put through today was more than most people could properly handle. I didn't even know how I was still standing at this point. I'd been thrown out of a window for fuck sakes, not to mention beat up and shot.
I felt Kazuma and the others draw up behind me, slowing so their pace matched mine. No one tried to talk to me, but Kazu did take my hand into his big, but warm, palm. I appreciated the little bit of support and let him lead me out of the building.
I stepped out into a desolate street in the wee hours of the morning, the sun still asleep, and the lights of the city just the same as they had always been. I felt different though, so different that I didn't even recognize my surroundings. The chaos of earlier was long gone and what was left behind was just…nothing. Whoever had come to put a stop to the earlier incident had wiped everything clean. There was still the damage to the building to account for…but I suppose they had done something to explain that away too.
The fact these people had so much power washed over me sharply and the realization that I could have died tonight, that many people could have, had me falling to my knees in the middle of the street. My legs were too weak to support me now but when Kazuma and Yusuke rushed to my side to help me up I knew then that having these people as my allies, if not my friends, should be something I am forever thankful for. Whether they ever decided to tell me what was going on in their world or not, they had saved my life tonight – Hiei included.
As Kazuma hauled me up into his truck, Kurama climbing into the passenger seat and Yusuke into the bed, I allowed myself to stop thinking and just listened to the sounds of the truck as it drove through the night. Today had been one hell of a day.
. . .
A/N: So this is my favorite chapter so far, I've had this one planned for months. I hope everyone else will love it too! I also hope you all had a very happy holiday, mine was wonderful. I will get started on the next chapter right away, so until next time! Thanks for reading!