Ticking Timebomb

Chapter 68: The Other Side

A/N: Its been so long. Sorry guys. I lost a lot of inspiration for this fic and ended up with horrible writer's block for a long time. So I started working on other things, just waiting for the time the inspiration would finally hit again, and it has! Happy New Year. Enjoy.

. . .

There was no sound. No light. Or darkness. No sense of smell, of time, place...pain.

Just a vast nothingness. A nothingness so deep and forgotten I feared there would be no escape from it.

They locked us up in a room. A room that stole our senses. And the beasts inside me were angry, so angry that I couldn't think through the screaming.

My sight was taken from me.

Death was coming.

I'd spent so long running from it, doing everything in my power to prevent the inevitable that I never stopped to think that maybe death was the solution to all of this.

But then there were others...others he could use to gain his access to the door and what would I do then? Would it matter?

"It is not your time, child."

Chronos. Kairos. Lovers and soulmates, bound for eternity I didn't understand but wanted so desperately for myself. And I could have it, it was so close within my reach. All I had to do was take it and never look back.

Let the world end. Let it crumble and turn to ash around us.

The fight was gone. The flame dead inside me. No will, no drive. It was like the very core of who I was ended up snuffed out by the gods' light.

"We are trapped but not for long. Bear with us."

Kairos.

Give me back my control, I thought to them both. Give it back.

"You wouldn't know what to do with it, girl. Not anymore."

"Her body is degrading rapidly. We are running out of time."

Please. Just let me see. Let me see him. Let me speak to him.

I thought for sure their answer would be a resounding no. But a sigh fell over my mind, like a gust of wind in winter.

"We are locked away for a time, anyway. It will do no harm."

The last thing I remembered was watching the blurred image of Kairos controlling my body to take Hiei's hand. He stained his palm black as pitch, spreading the disease of the gods to Hiei as well.

It wasn't a gift. But it would lessen the burden my body was taking. A demons makeup was vastly different—stronger, more capable under duress.

But with us locked in this room, the transfer of power could not be completed.

"You must convince him to free us...or we will do it our way."

Another ultimatum. Just peachy.

For the first time in days...I felt my eyes clear. My mind went blissfully quiet. The darkness receded to the edges of my vision and I took a deep breath and just held it. I could feel again. Feel my lungs and the movement of the air through Genkai's old home and smell the ancient wood and see the glow of hundreds upon hundreds of runes across the walls and floors.

A cage.

And I strong one, too.

I wanted to laugh at the gods' naivety. To follow Hiei so blindly, like the man was so goddamn stupid he would fall for such a blatant trap.

Instead, we ended up falling for theirs.

Good thing.

I didn't want to think of the damage his body would have taken should the transfer of power hadn't worked. Kairos was a crafty bastard.

The game they were playing was a risky one. Hideki's body was just another fake like all the rest. There was no way I would have won against him otherwise. It wasn't exactly an astral projection, however, so I was curious to how he'd made this one.

The gods got me out and for that I was thankful. But knowing I was never meant to save my sister left a hole inside me I feared I could never, ever fill. To take her life with my own hands...

I stared down at my palms, still heavily stained in blood, and watched as they shook. The blackness mixed with the red, the golden cracks sickening. For a second my lungs wouldn't pull in any more air. I was drowning. Drowning in a river of blood and death of my own creation.

A shock across my mind made me scream.

The door burst open and just beyond it stood the love of my life. My fiancé. A demon. A hero and a killer and a villain and a wonderful lover all wrapped up into one compact package.

His eyes searched the room for a threat, hand resting on the hilt of a blade I would recognize anywhere. And my chest swelled with pride at the sight of it strapped to his waist.

"Hiei..." my voice trembled and came out sounding so harsh and broken, I cringed.

He refused to enter the room, but I saw the recognition in his gaze...and also the trepidation. Was it really me? Or just another trick?

He took a long moment to just...look at me. And I waited, allowed him that time, breathing deeply through my nose and out my mouth to keep from panicking. What would I do if he wouldn't listen to me? Begging wouldn't get me anywhere with Hiei, neither would entreaties or crying. A bribe was also a lost cause.

I stood from the chair abruptly and crossed the room until I could feel the sizzle of the wards surrounding the door. They smelled like ozone and heat, a similar scent to my bow. Familiar. But not comforting.

"It's me. But they are listening."

His jaw tightened and watched his throat work as he swallowed hard, like trying to choke back something he desperately wanted to say.

"I have questions," he said. "You will answer them."

Even though I was quickly running out of time, I nodded, eager to hear his voice again after so long. I missed him. Wanted so badly to lean across the door's threshold and kiss him. But knew he would rebuke me should I even try.

"What is this...darkness...clawing its way up my arm?"

He held his left arm out, the blackness having reached the crook of his elbow now...but I knew it wouldn't make it where it needed to—his core. It was just trapped there, beneath his skin, a little bit of the gods' power.

"It's the start of a power transfer," I said.

"How?"

"Through the soulmate bond."

He let out a breath of disbelief and shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "Foolish," he said. "Why?"

"Easiest route, according to them. Soulmate bonds can do all kinds of crazy shit."

"I'm aware."

"Yeah, well, now that I am too I plan to use it. Use it any way I can to make sure this same bullshit happening to me, never ever happens to someone else."

"They've...shown you things?" his gaze was curious now; hesitant.

The breath I released shook. I wished I had a pack of smokes, something for my hands to do and something to calm my nerves. But now wasn't the time or place.

"I've seen...everything, Hiei. So much that I can't process it all...and when I try it hurts. So I'm doing my best to compartmentalize and just get through this next catastrophe."

He eyed me up and down again, noticing the old blood staining my hands and dirty clothing. My hair was getting longer, but it was so tangled I might as well shave my entire head to save myself the fight.

"Your body is breaking down, rapidly."

No longer able to look him in the eye, I dropped my gaze to his feet. Bare on Genkai's floors. A lesson I'm sure he'd learned a long time ago.

"We can stop it," I breathed. "They showed me a way."

As it stood, if I didn't transfer some of this power to Hiei...and find a way to get him to eat the Dragon's Heart, my body would turn to dust within a week or less. It wouldn't be enough time to track down the rest of the vessels, even with Chronos' and Kairos' help.

Closing Purgatory permanently was something that couldn't be done alone.

"I will not fall for anything they have schemed."

"Hiei, this isn't me being naive! I know everything! I know what happens and how. If we want to stop it, you have to trust me!"

"It isn't you I don't trust."

"For fuck sakes," I mumbled beneath my breath.

Lightning fast, I reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. The wards on the doorway burnt hot trails into my arms, but my hands and wrists were already stained black, the cracks shining gold under my skin. The sizzling burn of flesh didn't even bother me.

Hiei shocked I would go to such lengths, quickly stumbled inside the warded room. They didn't hurt him or even phase him in the slightest.

Designed only for me then.

Still clutched in my hands, I yanked him further forward, smashing my lips into his and falling into a frantic, breathless rhythm. I couldn't get enough, didn't want to stop even when I knew I had no choice.

Pulling away, I let my hands drop and stared at him sadly.

"What happens now is up to you. But you are the only one who can do it. Take the power from me, eat the heart. Save the girl, save the world, blah, blah, blah."

He huffed out a laugh, folding his arms across his chest again. He wouldn't look at me, even though his cheeks were tinged just a hint of pink and his breaths were coming a little quicker than they were just seconds before.

But after a minute all the humor faded and he reached out his blackened hand to grip my chin, a cruel smirk spreading across his face. "Do you really think I'm so blind to believe it's really you talking?"

"Hiei..."

He let me go, backing towards the door, that smile almost crazed now.

"I'll find a way to save Kasumi...and I'll do it without your ill-begotten 'advice.'"

The last thing I saw before he slammed the door in my face was the way his eyes flashed with the barest hint of anguish.

I pounded on the door for hours afterward, yelling through the hardwood in the hopes someone would get annoyed enough to open it. But they never came.

Eventually, I slumped to the floor in front of it and just stayed there.

The gods' voices swirled in my head, back and forth, back and forth. They drowned out my own thoughts with their own and I grew increasingly more frustrated until I just...snapped.

I screamed and screamed, punching the walls, breaking the single chair in the middle of the room to pieces. I felt satisfaction when the stone of the walls chipped away and crumbled, but it did nothing to free me. It only gave me some temporary relief from the mass of bullshit I was now stuck in.

"You should have let us do it our way."

"Oh, shut the fuck up."

. . .

Another day came and went. No one opened the door.

They were trying to let me sweat it out, I knew that. Hoping something would give and the gods would just spill all their dastardly plans. Which, I was more than happy to divulge if one of them would just fucking listen to me, goddamn it!

Cigarettes. I needed some goddamn smokes. Something, anything, to take the edge off.

As if a higher being heard my pleas and felt sorry for my ass, the door creaked open.

I was laying on the stone floor, spread-eagled and just staring at the ceiling, watching as the runes lit up and faded, traveling in swirling patterns across the stones.

"Hey."

It wasn't the voice I expected, but it was very welcome all the same.

I shot up, climbing to my feet and practically running over to him. He held up a hand when I got closer to the door and I skidded to a stop, frowning.

He wouldn't look me in the eye either.

His hand reached across the opening of the door, brandishing his half-empty pack of smokes.

I smiled as I took one and placed it between my teeth, letting him light it for me after. He drew back, taking a single step further away from the wards and lit one up of his own, the smoke curling towards the ceiling lazily.

"So," he said. "Who am I talking to?"

"Me," I replied.

"You, who?"

"Just me, Yusuke. I promise."

"But they're listening, right?"

"Always," I said with a roll of my eyes.

I tried to ignore the way his gaze tripped over the growing blackness of my arms and now my ankles, my socked feet covered but just as black and cracked as the palms of my hands. I wished I could say it hurt, but too often I just felt nothing at all now.

"I'm not gonna beat around the bush," Yusuke said. "Hiei means a lot to me. All my friends do. I'd die for them...and have, more than once."

"Okay...?"

"I'm done watching him get fucked with. So listen up, you fuckers—if you hurt him again, I'll personally make it my life's vendetta to make you suffer."

I realized Yusuke was talking to Chronos and Kairos...but it stung nonetheless.

"Yusuke, please, I need to talk to him."

"No, you don't. He's hurting right now, Kas. Bad. And you aren't going to make it better."

"I know that," I said, feeling my heart clench in my chest, the burn from it the first thing I'd truly felt in days. "But I need to speak to him. I don't have a lot of time left."

Yusuke sucked on his teeth, clearly not liking the idea. After a minute he swore under his breath and looked like he was going to walk away. I gasped, reaching out to him even though it was useless. But he stopped, flicking his cigarette to the floor and stomping the burning ember out with his bare foot.

He picked it up after and slipped it into his jeans' pocket, afraid of Genkai's wrath if he left it, I was sure.

"If he eats that...thing...what's really gonna happen to him? Don't fuckin' lie to me or sugar coat it, I wanna know."

"A lot of things," I said. "But the three most likely are he will either absorb it and grow insanely powerful, absorb it but be driven mad by it, or he'll die from not being able to. There isn't any going back. If he eats it he can't just throw it back up and stop the change."

"Okay...okay so, how do we tip the scales in our favor here?"

"Let me see him. Let me touch him."

"Hell no, I saw what you did to him. His hand is just as black as yours."

"It isn't the same."

"Yeah? Could have fooled me."

With that, Yusuke shut the door, not even giving me a chance to speak or explain. I kicked it hard, but unlike the stone, it didn't even make a crack let alone a hole.

I crumpled back down to the floor, tugging at my knotted hair in frustration.

Why wouldn't they just fucking listen to me?!

. . .

Two days. That's all that was left.

Three times a day a tray was brought to my room with food and water. Food I knew Yukina had made because it was delicious and not food that would normally be fed to a prisoner. Which was what I'd become—again.

I felt betrayed even though I shouldn't. I knew they were only looking out for themselves.

But besides the brief encounter with either Kurama (who wouldn't even look at me let alone speak to me) or Genkai, I didn't see or hear from anyone. Just those two brought me food. And Hiei never made another attempt to come to see me.

I didn't know if this was by choice or because they were preventing him somehow.

The latter seemed far less likely.

Unable to tell what time of day it was, I used the times they brought me meals to judge the length of time I'd been locked up.

When the door opened again, much sooner than it should have, my hopes soared for a moment. But came crashing back down when I saw the angry face beyond the door.

Takahiro stood there, a tiny box held out in his palm.

I knew what they were instinctually and my hands went to my pockets in a panic. Gone. It was gone.

"How?" I rasped.

"They fell out in Genkai's living room the other day. The gods could have given a shit less about it."

"Can I...have them back?"

Takahiro tossed them to me without hesitation and I caught them with a sigh of relief. I opened the lid of the box, made sure they were still there and tried not to cry.

"You made a poor choice, Kasumi."

I pocketed the box and turned vicious eyes to Takahiro.

"It was my only choice. I'm not going to sit around and be the damsel in distress, just waiting for someone to save her."

"Well..." he said, "nothing is going to save you now."

The black disease had spread, the darkness nearly meeting in the middle, but my face and upper torso remained bare—for now.

"Once that reaches your brain or your heart, your body will fail."

"I know."

He nodded, accepting. "I'll send him to you. This is your last shot."

. . .

Hiei didn't come to me until the night before the final day.

The room was pitch black. I once was given a candle, but it didn't last long and they never brought me another. Maybe if I'd asked for it, they would have. But the light hurt my new eyes...the darkness was better. I could still see, after all. My entire body was lit up like the soft glow of a candle behind crackle glass.

I played with the box, turning it in my hands over and over. Glad I was still able to use them. Sometimes I would open it and admire what was inside, then close it again and feel the soft silk of the outside.

The door creaked open on old hinges, but I knew who it was even before then.

He found the box at his feet soon after, rolled across the floor before he was even given a chance to speak.

He picked it up, turned it over twice, and then opened it.

"Kasumi..."

"I've kept those safe since the day Takahiro gave them to me."

Hiei pulled a single band from the box, sized to fit a man's finger and red as the dragon's bone blade had been.

"Marry me, Hiei."

He released a breath, twirling the ring between his thumb and pointer finger, just staring at it.

Red eyes turned to glass moved on to me, still laying on the floor, conserving as much of my energy as I possibly could. I used it to repair some of the damage from the dark disease, but it wasn't enough.

Hiei placed the ring back in the box, his movements mechanical and stilted before he slipped it into his pocket.

"After," he said.

"There is no after."

But maybe I was wrong. Maybe there would be...if my eyes weren't playing tricks.

Hiei pushed another box, much larger than the one I'd given him, with the toe of his foot. He moved it across the floor, as if afraid to touch it with his hands until it was in plain sight.

I could sense what lay inside.

"We'll do things your way," Hiei said. "Just this once."

And he left the box outside the door, the heart beating away inside it, and reached out his hand.

When our palms touched, his Jagan glowed, and slowly...then suddenly all at once, the runes on the walls moved faster and faster, collecting into a single point. There they glowed blindingly bright for a split second...then shattered to nothing.

With the dismantlement of the runes, I could feel my energy, once so muted, return full force along with the power of the gods'. And oh, how it burned far fiercer than any open flame ever could.

I hid behind no guises, didn't try to trick him or pretend I was doing anything but possibly ending both our lives in one fell swoop.

"This might be the dumbest thing we've done together yet."

"Jumping off a cliff was stupid. This is a necessity."

"You jumped, I fell. Big difference."

He rolled his eyes but gripped my hand harder. I watched as the black spread from the crook of his elbow up towards his shoulder until it disappeared beneath his shirt.

The rush of power left him breathing heavy, but a twisted grin marred his face and I felt my twist in kind.

"I love you," I said.

His hand tightened again.

"After this, after the heart...I will marry you. No more running. No more games."

"Well...there are some games I'd still like to play," I said with a grin.

The deep chuckle he released was glorious. I couldn't help myself when I leaned forward to hug him. He didn't push me away but kept our hands tightly clasped between us, pinned by our chests.

I breathed in his scent, felt his warmth. I tuned out the gods' voices, their cries and sniping comments and constant bickering. I tuned it all out so I could focus on only him.

"I love you," I whispered again, my free hand gripping the back of his shirt in a hard hold, afraid he would leave.

"Focus, Kasumi. Focus..."

His voice trailed away as he fell into a trance, his entire body going slack.

"I'm so sorry, love," I murmured in his ear. "But it's best you're not awake for this part."

I maneuvered him to the floor, so he was flat on his back, and leaned down to kiss both his eyelids.

The Jagan still glowed bright and I stared into it, wondering just how much Hiei could see through it. Or if it would record what happened and show him later, like a video camera.

That was fine. I wouldn't keep secrets from him.

But I wasn't about to let him suffer, either.

We could only give so much down the soulmate bond, after all.

With deft fingers, I created a tiny beam of energy and used it to slice away some of the skin off my arm. It bled profusely, pooling down my arm towards my elbow before it dripped to the wood below.

I ripped Hiei's shirt down the middle, spreading it open, then dipped my fingers in some of the blood.

I drew runes of power and protection and healing on his skin.

Then placed my palm, covered in my own blood, flat in the center of his chest.

The gods spoke words in my head that I repeated out loud like a mantra, turning them into a song so old I wasn't sure where it even came from.

The blood runes awoke, seeping deep, deep into Hiei's flesh, until they were just faded images—a stain that just wouldn't wash away.

By now his internal organs would be screaming. The dark disease would spread faster until it engulfed everything inside him—and then he would change it, morph it into his own.

A demonic core didn't work as a human heart did.

It wouldn't take Reiki.

But the gods bet it would take their power, with a little push.

Then Hiei's core would transform it, refine it into something completely different but still useable. A gods energy made devilish.

"Will he feel it?" I asked aloud.

"Oh, yes, child. All of it."

Having nothing to do but wait, I curled up around him on the floor, laying my head against his chest.

There was no beat of a heart there, but I could still feel how warm he was, still feel his chest rise and fall with each breath he took. That was enough—to know he was alive. He would get through this. He was strong and capable.

The dawn of my final day came and went. Still, I lay curled up beside him on the cold floor. He didn't move, not once, and I grew more worried by the second.

The darkness no longer engulfed me and in fact had begun to recede, slowly, back to where it started.

I didn't know if this was a good sign.

The room was full of people now. At first, it was just Kurama, who came sometime around four in the morning and never left. Then it was Takahiro...then Genkai...Yusuke, Kazuma...

Finally, with a face so pinched with worry I wished I could do something to comfort her, Yukina came.

She took vigil at her brother's side, her knees curled beneath her and gaze cold as the ice that made her.

I wondered where Keiko was...recalled she was here the day I returned. But it was probably best she didn't witness this. I wasn't her friend anymore, not the way she remembered me, and I didn't know how to go back to that person anymore.

When night fell again...and I hadn't turned to a pile of dust, I knew it must have worked. But I wasn't out of the woods yet...and neither was Hiei.

"Isn't he supposed to wake up?" Yusuke said, smoking in one of the available corners of the room. He was nervous. Worried for his friend. And with it came a slew of chain smoking on his and Genkai's behalf.

"You think if I insulted him a few times he'd get so offended he'd wake up just to kick my ass?"

"Kuwabara," Kurama admonished.

"What? You think short-stack is gonna care? He can't hear me."

I buried my face in the crook of his neck, hoping that wasn't true and willing to try anything at this point to wake his ass up. I wasn't gonna let him slip off into a coma and leave me to deal with the world ending without him. Not happening.

"Kas hasn't died, so at least we know the gods weren't lying."

"No, but perhaps they failed to mention that it could quite possibly put him into a coma," Kurama snapped.

"He isn't in a coma," Yukina murmured.

Everyone stopped to look at her. That was the first thing she'd said since she came into the room.

"Just give him a bit more time," she said.

Time. Always more time when there was no more to give.

Hours passed. Hours that felt like months.

I was the first to notice when he finally dragged himself up from whatever world he was stuck in. My fault he was there, sure, but I sure as hell didn't think he'd sleep so damn long.

"About time, lazy ass," I grouched.

Yukina laughed, a short burst that was entirely accidental, and she clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle it. But the mirth remained in her eyes and I smiled up at her.

I rose, stiff from laying on the hardwood for almost two days. I brushed aside the gods' mumblings and complaints of wasting time and hovered above Hiei—waiting.

The Jagan blinked first, the end of a recording.

Shortly after Hiei's eyes opened and he stared up at my face blankly. "You're far too dramatic," he said after a few seconds.

I busted out laughing, clutching my side and feeling tears well until they fell down as thick tracks down my face. Soon enough, the rest of the room joined in, mostly out of relief...and I wasn't the only one who ended up sobbing.

Yukina's tears turned to little stones, tinkling across the floor like musical bells.

The first thing Hiei did when he pried himself from the floor, was to collect all her tears and turn them to glittering dust.

He knelt in front of her and said, "Never shed another tear because of me."

Then he was turning to me, face sober, and pointed. "You, come with me."

The heart was collected. He didn't give me time to question him, to make sure he was okay. Next thing I knew he was on the move, weaving his way through Genkai's compound with expert eyes.

"Hiei—" I called to him several times, trying and failing to get him to stop. He just kept on walking, for where I didn't know.

He came to an abrupt halt in front of a very odd looking door—painted a deep red and made of what appeared to be...stone? A very smooth, shiny stone. It was akin to Jade...but not the right color in the slightest.

"What is this?"

Hiei didn't answer me but pulled out a heavy looking key made of the same stone. He slotted it into the door and used it both to unlock and open it, a key and handle in one. Beyond the door was nothing special—there was no gold, or hoarded artifacts, or priceless art. It looked like any old room in Genkai's unnecessarily big house. The floors were hardwood. Stained a deep cherry color. The walls were covered in old tapestries, so faded I couldn't quite make out what was on them, even with my enhanced vision. Each corner held a sconce with a flaming torch in it, the only source of light available.

There were no windows. Only the one door.

But just looking inside it felt...wrong.

Hiei handed me the key. "Lock me in. And don't open the door under any circumstances."

"Excuse me? Did you go fucking nuts when you went under?"

"Do as I say."

"I will not!"

I turned around in the hopes the others would back me up...but we were the only ones here.

"What the hell...?"

"I gave them all very specific instructions. They won't come. I told you I would do this your way, don't tell me you're backing down now?"

"This is what we want, girl. Let him go."

"Yes...let the Jaganshi eat the heart, don't be a fool."

I knew I needed to obey. That we were out of options.

But I also knew should Hiei eat this...I didn't know the outcome anymore. Chronos and Kairos didn't either. The timeline was destroyed. We had collectively fucked with time so badly that even the gods that controlled it could no longer predict the future.

That didn't stop me from the vicious hatred I felt for this entire ordeal.

"I feel like you're too...keen on eating that nasty thing," I said.

Hiei looked at me like I was stupid before he transferred the box under one of his arms. He dug around in his pants' pocket and produced the ring box.

"I made a promise," he said. "I plan to honor it."

He handed the rings back to me, forcing my hand into a fist around them.

"I won't let you do this alone."

"Kasumi..." he growled in warning.

"I won't," I repeated. "Let someone else lock the door. If you die, there isn't any point to any of this. I want to be there...at least give me that much."

I could tell he wanted to refuse—to protect me, most likely.

But I didn't need the protection. Not anymore.

Key still in hand, I turned on my heels and walked away. Hiei needed to eat the heart...

Didn't mean he had to do it now.

He followed after me, feet stomping against Genkai's floors just to show his anger. "What are you doing?" he snarled.

"I'm not leaving you again, Hiei. You said you'd do it my way—so do it my way."

He swore at my back, flinging some kind of insult I didn't take to heart and just laughed at.

It took me twice as long to find our way back, but Hiei refused to help me and the gods were getting their rocks off on being dickheads, so they wouldn't help me either. They were happy their plan worked but angry with me for delaying what needed to be done.

Petty.

Petty assholes.

Petty assholes that were slowly destroying me from the inside out.

I eventually managed to track down Yusuke by sensing his energy. I took a few turns that ended up dead ends, but he was easy enough to find. His energy glowed the brightest. It was the most noticeable.

I found him playing video games in Genkai's arcade, angerly pushing the buttons to a game of pinball.

Much to Hiei's chagrin, Yusuke didn't hesitate at all on taking the job of "key master," his love of riling Hiei up out-weighing his common sense. He even agreed with me that it was better I will be nearby.

"Detective—"

"Listen, she's a grown ass woman who can make grown ass woman choices. She wants to go, let her."

Hiei, pissed, stalked off without me. I lingered, stuck in a staring contest with Yusuke. I didn't like the look in his eyes. Not at all.

"If this kills him," he said, "I'm comin' for you next."

"Fair enough," I said. "I won't put up a fight."

"Ugh, that takes all the fun out of it."

I shrugged, starting to back away from him. "I won't much feel like living afterward, Yu. That's just how it is."

I held up a hand in goodbye, before turning to jog after Hiei.

He was already at the room by the time I caught up, sitting in the center of the floor, the box held open in front of him.

Caius' heart still beat within, glowing a soft red and emitting a faint heat. The flesh of it was iridescent, purples, greens, reds, blues...almost hypnotic as it flickered colors in the firelight.

"You never told me how you got it, Hiei."

I hovered over the box, staring at it, faintly horrified at what I was seeing. But part of me was fascinated too—how did it work? How was it still alive, when its host was not?

"And I never will," he said. "You have no need to know."

I knelt down beside him, worried. He didn't seem any different. The black disease was long gone beneath both our skins, but I wasn't so much of an idiot to think nothing changed in him at all.

"Talk to me," I pleaded. "Don't keep secrets."

"After," was all he said.

After. After. After...

Would there even be one?

The door shut behind us, the ominous shick it made as it slid home made a chill shoot down my spine. It locked on its own and I heard the gods mumble something about Genkai and being a crafty old witch, to have so many ingenious rooms in her home.

But Genkai wasn't a witch, just a purveyor of the supernatural.

And for the first time since meeting her, I wished it wasn't the case. This room was just another prison cell, one of so many, and I was starting to think this was where I belonged—trapped and isolated and alone.

But I wasn't alone.

Not this time.

A very selfish part of myself was thankful for that. Selfish because I knew Hiei wouldn't come out of this unchanged. The taint of the gods, the power of the heart—it didn't matter.

Would he still be the man I fell in love with?

Or would he come out the other side...a monster.

. . .

A/N: I had a stupidly hard time with this chapter. This entire story is such a flaming garbage heap and I just keep writing it because it holds such a huge part of my heart and has for years, I want to see it come to a finish. I planned to do a rewrite too, but I don't think that will ever happen and I'm sorry. So much time put into this...I just don't have the time to do it all over again.

This chapter was probably disappointing for some of you, considering how long its been, so let me apologize now. Next chapter, however, is going to bring a world of shit :D