Father's rescue with the help of Haru and Ice Master... they had come and saved Izo and Kotone. Kotone had been getting so weak. Izo had been too. He felt weakness ebb throughout his arms and legs. Joined in there with a bitter chill he could not shake. Ice Master had opened the jail they were in, but only after Kotone told him where to get the gloves from to take down the wards. They had escaped and almost made it. Yet when Kotone had seen Father, she panicked and tried to flee back to the ice maiden's village. Izo had grabbed hold of her, refusing to let her go back there. She bit him, but he still held onto her. He was even tempted to jump off the island and to the bridge with her if he had to.
Until Father intervened. Izo had no idea what Father told her mentally, but it was enough to keep Kotone with them, even after Izo reluctantly let her go. She ran and jumped off the island and onto the ice bridge on her own volition. Izo jumped after her and stumbled to stop right next to her. The ice bridge beneath them was slick and steep. It was all he could do not to fall or slid down past her. He whispered her name, pulling her towards him to embrace her. Her hands rested on his shoulders as she rested her head against his chest.
He felt exhausted, but he knew they were not free yet. They needed to get down the bridge and as far away from the island as possible. He looked behind, seeing Father, then Ice Master, and lastly Haru jump the distance and land above them at the edge of the bridge.
Haru nodded down at the the bridge. "Slide down," he instructed. "It's steep enough. And faster. And probably safer than stumbling down like a bumbling fool."
Kotone's grip on his shirt tightened. Her face and knuckles were white. For someone who once jumped off the island and hoped she would survive the fall, she sure seemed scared of sliding down this bridge.
"Together?" he asked her, nodding towards the where the slope was the steepest.
She looked passed him and over at Father. She then looked up at him and nodded solemnly. She placed her shaking hand in his. He lead her over with him and sat down on the bridge, ready to slide. This was nothing like flying with his ice dragon. It made his stomach drop. There was barely enough room for them to ride together. She sat down between his legs, stretching hers out before her. He pushed them forward with his hands, sending the both of them speeding down the bridge turned slide together. He heard Kotone scream. He wanted to scream himself. He wanted to close his eyes. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to eat. He wanted something that was warm.
He did none of those things. He kept himself alert, watching as they sped down towards the ground. He did take a chance to look back behind them and see Father, Ice Master, and Haru riding on after them. He looked back foward, blinking as the speed of the wind stung his eyes. The air was so cold as it whizzed past him. He also felt like his head was swimming at the rush and the speed they were going at... possibly.
When they were nearly to the ground, the slope of the bridge turned slide shallowed out to the point where they were able to touch down on the icy mountain. It was cold here, too. He shivered involuntarily, not liking the cold right now for the first time in his life. Too cold. He shook his head, trying to clear the sleepiness and the dizziness in there. Kotone needed him and the five of them needed to get off of this mountain and as far away from that floating island as possible.
Stumbling, he guided her away from the end of the bridge. "Sit down," he breathed. "Let's just sit down." He stumbling again, feeling himself falling, but managing to sink himself down into the snow. He was shivering more and more, but hardly noticed. His hand buried itself in the snow, hitting the hard ground. The snow... It was hardly deep, maybe an inch or two. He figured this far above sea level, it would be deeper than this. He felt Kotone tapping him on the shoulder, whimpering. "Rest..." he told her, thinking, but not saying, 'I'll help you down the mountain in a minute.' He closed his eyes and let himself sink down into the shallow snow, laying curled up on his side.
"Izo!" he heard someone, a man, yell his name.
Izo tried to open his eyes, but found himself too tired. He curled in on himself, shivering violently now. 'An ice demon shouldn't shiver...' he thought to his ice dragon. In the rush to escape he had not thought to talk to it again now that the wards were gone. 'What happened to the wards?' he asked it.
'Master, you need to stay awake,' the ice dragon urged him. 'You were exposed to the wards so long that you can hardly stand the cold anymore.'
'Where did the wards go?' he asked. He faintly recalled seeing Ice Master rip them down. He gasped at the memory, remembering the escape, remember Kotone, remembering they still had to get down the mountain. He blinked his eyes open, seeing a view that was entirely too high for him. He felt big, firm hands clasping his arms and his legs together. His head kept moving side to side into a rapid rhythm. He looked ahead, seeing a sideways Kotone being carried by Father on his back. She was watching him. She taped Father on his bare shoulder. That was odd... Father was not wearing his cloak anymore. He rarely took that off, unless he was fighting.
Father halted, letting Kotone slip from his back. "Set him down, he's awake, Haru," Hiei said.
Izo felt like he was a rag doll as Haru took him out of the fireman's carry and set him on the snowy path before them. Izo coughed and shivered, wrapping his arms around his waist. He was freezing. He felt fabric restrict his movement. He looked down at his and saw he was wearing something black and slightly warm. Father's cloak.
"An ice demon doesn't get cold," he slurred out.
Father was kneeling down next to him, wrapping his arms around him. Father was so warm, almost roasting. Izo shook, his teeth chattering.
"A human does," Father told him. "So maybe a half demon can to, after being exposed to the cold and draining wards for as long as you were. Stay awake." Father pulled away from him, even though Izo did not want him to. Ice Master was not far away. He handed a water canteen to Father. Father held the canteen in his hand for a few moments. Then he handed Izo the water canteen, almost too hot to touch now. "Drink it or hold it," Father pressed him. Izo clutched it to his chest. The burning felt good. "We're about halfway down the mountain. The sun is coming up. The village, the one that Haru and Airi had stopped at before they caught in that avalanche, is not much farther than that. You just have to make it that far."
Izo closed his eyes, wanting to sink back to sleep. A hand cracked across his face, making his teeth rattle. He opened his eyes. He saw Father was still close to him, trying to help warm him up, but it was not him who struck him. Kotone stood over him, looking very worried. She kicked him then, right in the shin. He grimaced as the not numb part of his legs ached in pain at that kick. She shook her head slowly. She knelt down and tried to yank him back to his feet. She shook, unable to pull him up. He tried to help her help him up, but his legs refused to anything beyond shake.
Kotone let go of him and stood up. She pointed at Father and motioned back to Izo. Father watched her, curious. "You said you would only let me carry you. If I carry him, then Touya or Haru will have to carry you. You can't go faster enough on your own and we can't slow down."
Kotone shook her head. She pointed at Izo and mimed shivering. She pointed at Father and mimed fanning herself. She snapped her fingers and pointed down the mountain.
"No, we stay together," Father refused as he pulled Izo up to his feet. "You don't trust Haru or Touya and you barely trust me or Izo."
Izo felt a big set of hands pick him up and put him on Father's back. Father was so warm. Izo clung to him as hard as possible with his numb hands. He just wanted to be warm. He never, ever wanted to be this cold again. Why had Father not been carrying him in the first place?
Kotone stepped over to them, shoving at Father to move forward. Then she stepped back over to Ice Master. She nodded.
"Go," Ice Master told Father. "He needs to get warm. There's hot springs in the village. We'll get her there and meet you there."
Father ran then, sprinting down the mountain. Izo closed his eyes, but fought to stay awake. The wind whistled passed his ears. Father was so warm... Izo felt himself shivering less, but his weariness grew. He was getting warmer now, so why not sleep...?
When he came to next, Izo woke with a start. He sat up fast, but about half way up, he smacked his head on something hard. He laid back down, bringing his hands up to his now sore forehead, groaned at the nuisancy pain. He opened his eyes, staring at long, narrow planks of wood above them. He looked around, seeing he was in a narrow bed, the bottom bed of a bunk bed. The blankets on top of him were a tangled, hot mess. He kicked them off and swung his feet down to the ground. He stopped short of almost bringing his feet down on Father, who was laying on a futon next to his bed.
He heard shuffling above him. He turned to look up, seeing Kotone climbing her way down from the top bunk. She clamored down and over to him. She touched his face and then his neck, checking his pulse. Up close, he noticed she was in newer, cleaner clothing and looked like she had bathed recently. Her tangled, teal hair had been combed and even trimmed. It shimmered as it cascaded down her back and shoulders. She smelled as clean as she looked. Where as, he was still unbathed, even though he was in a fresher, cleaner set of new clothes.
She bent her head to his resting her forehead against his. Her hand trailed its way up to the base of his jaw. She breathed out a sigh of relief, a hint of mint on her breath. She shifted her mouth, bringing it against the side of his face for a quick kiss there. She pulled back from him and held her hand up with four fingers. He noticed her face was blushing.
"You were asleep for four days," Father's voice informed him. Izo looked away from Kotone and down towards Father, who was sitting up and shoving off his own blankets with grace and ease. "I got you to this village mid morning. To the village's healer. He had you warmed up by early evening. After hot blanket after hot blanket was thrown on you, you finally managed to stop shivering. He did say you would need a couple days to rest, to sleep and recover."
Izo sat there, numb, but not cold. Not sure how to respond. "Thank you," he breathed, feeling it was an appropriate thing to say. The room they were in felt hot and almost stuffy. "Where are we? Where are Master Touya and Master Haru?" he asked.
Kotone pointed at the ground, then the door, and then to the left.
"We're at the healers house. Lucky use he had two rooms to spare. As for the shinobu, they're next door and on the left," Father said, raising to his feet. "You need to eat something. Both of you. I will let the healer know you are awake."
Father left the room, leaving the two of them in silence. Silence. It was good, it was nice, in its own way. 'Thank you,' he mouthed over to Kotone.
She nodded at him. She stepped over to him, sitting next to him on his bottom bunk. She took his hand in hers and wrapped her other hand along his forearm. She leaned her head against his upper arm, humming under her breath.
"What's wrong?" he asked, worried suddenly for her or for her child.
She raised her head up, a determined, yet nervous look flashing in her eyes. She moved so fast, he hardly had time to react. Half her mouth came in contact with half of his mouth for just the oddest kiss.
While he still sat in shock from that half kiss, Kotone had stood up and retreated to the door. She ran from the room without so much as a glance back at him.