Chapter 2 The Battle
Hiei stared at the battlefield as demons and elves clashed with sword and magic, spraying blood into the air. The battle had been going on for five straight days now, but more demons kept running forward and the elves were currently matching their numbers. Hiei felt that soon however, it would be time to send in the higher class demons. The archers had already been disabled and many flying demons died in the process but with the archers out of the way, the higher class demons didn't need to worry about arrows. They would have more important things to worry about. Hiei looked up at the sun in the sky, predicting sunset in a few hours. The sky was clear however and the moon was full, they would be able to continue to fight during the night.
"Hiei," Kurama said. Hiei turned to see his friend walking up to him.
"At dusk we will enter the battle but leave the woman for me. Spread the word."
"Of course." Kurama's face wore no particular expression but Hiei could tell there was something else he wanted to say.
"Out with it, fox," He said.
Kurama gave out a sigh and wearily looked at the mess in front of them. "I just want this to be over. More importantly, I hope that there are no repercussions from our actions here. We could destroy them and they can leave but they can also come back. There needs to be an anchor, something to keep them from coming back."
"Killing all of them should be enough," Hiei said.
"Maybe. Maybe they won't come back. Or maybe that will anger their people even more. Then they will have a real reason to fight."
"Hn."
"Hiei, has Shana come back with that information we requested?"
"No, it takes a while to get to the Rekai, even traveling through the shadows. She should at least be on her way back if she's found the answer to our question."
"Listen then, Hiei. Don't kill their leader, the woman, until we find out who she is. If my hypothesis is correct, she could be the anchor we need," Kurama said. Hiei could not read his face but he knew that Kurama was thinking five steps ahead of him as usual, preparing for the aftermath.
"Hn."
Kurama gave him a small smile, "I'll go tell the other demons to prepare themselves. It has been a long time since I last let myself loose… make sure to watch out for my plants."
Hiei was glad to see the devious tint in his friends green eyes again. "Hn," he replied with a slight smirk.
When dusk fell, Hiei drew his sword and dashed into the fray leading the main assault. His body and hands moved on their own slicing, dicing, moving on. At one point he saw Yusuke's shotgun and Kurama thrashing his whip around. Most of the elves left fell at the hands of the higher class demons and for a brief few seconds, Hiei heard silence just before their cavalry stepped forward. Tch, horses. How human.
"Take out the mages first! Kill them all!" He roared, and the demons charged forward with him as the horses thundered towards them. Hiei fell into the rhythm of battle once again as he stabbed horses, elves, anything that moved that wasn't his. Suddenly, vines began wrapping around elves and horses and pulled them into the ground. Hiei looked around for Kurama and saw the Yusuke was covering him as he manipulated the plant. Pleased to see his friends safe and the trap successful, Hiei plunged into battle again. He wasn't sure how long he had been fighting for, when he saw her.
The moon was up now and he found her in the moonlight staring at him. Her white hair was stained with silver and purple blood and her longsword was in her hands, glinting in the moonlight. His eyes locked on hers and they charged for each other at the same time, swords raised. She was closer, closer, and then, the loud clang of their swords clashing dulled the cries of war around him. He looked up into her fierce lavender eyes and he knew his eyes looked the same too.
They began to move, pushing and pulling back and forth, unrelenting, unwavering. She would call and he would respond, then he would call and she would respond. The world dissolved around them, this fight between him and this woman was the only thing that mattered. Hiei was surprised to find how easily their bodies moved together. Their fighting reminded him of how it felt to fight next to Kurama, the fluid motions working together instinctively. Except with her, Hiei felt he was working against her and with her at the same time. He had never experienced this with any other opponent he had faced. There was always a definite line between them, even if they both were enjoying the battle. But here, the one person he wanted to destroy more than anyone else and he was… how did Yukina describe it once? Dancing?
Hiei felt his sword break but it was no issue to him. She swung her sword towards his middle and he sidestepped her, leaving an afterimage of himself. Before she could react to the image disappearing, he knocked her sword out of her hand. She turned quickly to punch him but he dodged her easily. He was standing a few steps away from her and he watched her hands curl into fists.
"I'm not going down so easily! Nar!" she cried and a blast of fire shot from her hand.
Hiei began dodging her fire blast and he jumped up to attack her from above when she swiveled towards him and yelled, "Sûl!" A gust of wind suddenly shot him, causing him to fly backwards and crash into the ground.
"Tch," Hiei growled as he ignored the pain in his back and stood up. He scanned the battlefield and saw a ball of water speeding towards him. He jumped and dodged it and searched for the woman.
"Nen!"
Hiei snapped his body in the direction her voice came from but he was greeted with a water blast instead. The impact knocked him to the ground and he could feel himself weakening from the water attack. Hiei looked down at his arm, he needed to find her so he could use it. He stood up, searching for her but she was nowhere to be seen.
"Tch, stupid woman," he muttered as his eyes searched. Suddenly he felt a presence behind him and he turned and jumped in time to narrowly avoid anther water blast.
"Stupid woman?" She asked and began to laugh a musical but eerie laugh. "Who's the stupid one now, Demon King?"
She didn't look as weak as she did earlier, her eyes sparkled with confidence. She held up her hands and shot another water blast at him. Hiei jumped, leaving an afterimage of himself to take the water blast. He landed behind her and cried, "Jou Ensatsu Rengoku Sho!" His fists burst into black flames as he punched her multiple times. When he finished she fell limply to the ground, her breast plate disintegrated. He stood over her taking a moment to breathe. Hiei stared down at her. Her stained hair was sprawled delicately over her body and her pale skin seemed to have a slight shine as the moonlight hit her face. Hiei was suddenly reminded how beautiful she was, even while covered in blood. Hiei shook himself out of his reverie as her eyes snapped open. He jumped back a few feet as she dragged herself off the ground.
Hiei took a quick glance around the battle field. It seemed as though neither side was winning at this point. He had to end this. His gaze turned back towards her and her posture was slouched as she breathed heavily. As his gaze traveled to her eyes, it was suddenly evident that he was breathing heavily as well. They must have been fighting for a while. Her energy seemed to be spent and the water attacks were still affecting him. Whatever they did now, would be their last effort before at least passing out.
Hiei smirked as he pulled off the bandana covering his Jagan. It was time to release her. As soon as the Jagan opened, he could feel the power resonating in his body. He looked down to see his body turn green and the bandages around his arm burned off. He began to feel the dragons power within him, waiting to be released. He extended his arm towards the woman in front of him, who was surrounded with white light around her body like an egg. His eyes fell on hers and he was delighted to see the fear within them.
"Woman, you will die here. Jao Ensatsu Kokuryuha!" He bellowed. Four red and black dragons burst forth from his arm towards her. Her eyes widened in shock and then she did something that Hiei never expected. She began to sing. Hiei had no idea what she was saying or why but the light around her began to pulsate and her song became louder. For moment, Hiei wasn't sure if this was going to work but he quickly shook it off. The dragon would devour her or she would die by his hand. Either way her life would end. Suddenly a beam of light shot out from her and disintegrated one of the dragons. Angered and shocked, he split the other three dragon up to attack her from all sides. Two more lights pulsated and destroyed two of the dragons. A third shot out but Hiei was able to divert the dragon in time and turned it so it would hit her from above. Scowling, Hiei directed the dragon downward. Her head darted up and her song suddenly changed causing the dragon to circle her, rather than hit her.
Hiei was furious, how dare she manipulate his dragon! Still, it seemed that she wasn't able to fully control it, only divert it. Hiei stared at her and noticed her body was trembling. That was good, it was taking a lot of her power to keep the dragon off of her. Even if she sent it back his way, he would just absorb it with no problem. He watched her raise a trembling arm and the dragon, like he predicted, was coming for him. He grounded himself but the impact still knocked him off his feet. As he hit the ground Hiei heard various cries around him, but he could not tell who they came from or what they were saying. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the sudden rush of power flowing through his veins. Then he stood up.
The woman was on the ground, panting so heavily she was almost hyperventilating. One of the other generals was next to her and he saw Hiei walking towards them first. He pointed his finger at him and cried out something in elvish but Hiei recognized the terrified tone in his voice. She pushed him away and shouted something at him, presumably to run. He took a few steps away but didn't go far. Hiei didn't care. He would die after her. He picked up a discarded sword and continued to slowly walk towards her. She began to stand but her legs collapsed from underneath her. When he reached her she turned he head up towards him. Her face and hair had flecks of blood, her armor was in shreds, her body exhausted of power but her eyes… Her eyes were magnificently defiant. She said nothing, Hiei sensed she was too proud to beg for her life.
Hiei raised the sword when she suddenly spoke. "Demon King Hiei, where did you find that dragon?"
Hiei did not move the sword but decided to answer her. "I summoned it while on the human plane and I tamed her and her flames. The dragon is mine."
She broke her gaze on him for a moment and then smiled weakly up at him. "A worthy opponent then. One I never dreamed existed. There is much more to you than meets the eye Demon King, Hiei."
As she looked up at him for one last time, her mesmerizing eyes invoked something within him. They were proud, defiant, and satisfied. He for some reason, could not shake the feeling that it was familiar… he mentally shook himself and gripped the hilt tighter. He had killed many demons but few he remembered. He felt that he would never forget her lavender eyes.
"Goodbye, General Mîrvana," he said.
Just as he was bringing down the sword, he heard a familiar voice cry, "Hiei!"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yoko Kurama running up to him. He had his hand in his hair and Hiei didn't think twice about stepping aside as Yoko threw a plant towards the woman. When it hit her, vines wrapped around arms, legs, torso, and throat.
"Now!" Yoko said.
"Okay!" Hiei's gaze darted downward to see his small shadow demon dragging the elf into the shadows.
"Shana!" Hiei yelled. Furious, he whipped around to face Yoko. "How dare you!" he hissed.
"She is the heir to the throne. The only heir from what we gathered from intelligence here and from Kuwabara. She will be useful in surrender negotiations," Yoko said coolly. The dragon's power surged his veins it wanted Yoko's blood, it was angered by Yoko's blood. But Hiei knew better. He breathed deeply to suppress the rage in him. Kurama was right, as usual.
"Told you he'd be pissed," Yusuke said walking to to them. He was in his demon form but he was grinning boyishly from ear to ear.
"Well I did tell him not to kill her before we started fighting," Yoko said smirking.
"Hn," Hiei said. He looked around the battle field to see that there were more demons alive than elves.
"Hiei, the elves took off when they saw the dragon. Either way we have their princess. There is no need to go after the rest of the forces. After all, someone will need to spread how fearsome we are," Yoko said chuckling.
"What about him? Wasn't he one of the guys in charge?" Yusuke said, pointing to the elf that had been next to the woman. He was crying and talking rapidly in a foreign tongue.
"Elf," Hiei said sharply. The elf looked up at him, tears streaking down his face. "Run and tell your King that we have her. I will send my messenger when we are ready to meet with him and discuss his surrender."
The elf immediately darted off and Hiei turned toward his friends. "How are the others?"
"Most of the A class demons and about half of the B class demons survived. If any C or D demons lived, then they were lucky," Yoko replied.
"The area is safe, for now anyway. Maybe after we fully clear out the earth clan can return," Yusuke said.
Hiei scanned the area and he couldn't help but be slightly saddened by his friend's naivety. He turned back to Yusuke, feeing very tired.
"No, they won't," he said before the world went black.