It's been awfully long. I know. I have only five words for you, my dearest Readers:
Thank you
and
I'm sorry.
Hopefully the end will be satisfying. I wouldn't mind getting some opinions, be it Reviews or Private Messages; but I dare not ask. Enjoy!
The whole Tournament went by pretty fast. Fortunately, the Reikai tanteimade it to the finals, which was two days from the strange morning I had.
I woke up suddenly, feeling a weird sensation in my stomach. At first I thought that it was because of the fact, that Team Shimofuri (yes, they DID compete and were damn good) was in the finals as well. So, shrugging it off, I did the whole morning routine, got dressed and went downstairs, thinking about the final match.
I had chosen the sword as my main weapon, which Koenma thought it's reckless, since I hadn't completely master it yet. In fact, I was far from it. But, the more time I've spent on practicing, the more my skills increased. Besides, Hiei is a good teacher. At first, he wasn't too pleased with me, because I had problems with even holding the huge thing! But, followed by a strange desire to impress the fire demon, I found myself trying harder and harder. My time for a short break came after I've seen him smirk.
I truly felt that I'm pushing myself to the limits. To be honest, I had continued to peek on Kuwabara when he was sparring, alone or with Yusuke. Then I was copying his previous movements when I was alone, adding something from me.
I couldn't help but wonder, how the Hell had Hiei found out?!
As soon as I entered the kitchen, a grim aura surrounded me. Lifting my eyebrow, I looked around, my guard up. Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko, Botan and Yukina's faces were serious, sad and/or worried, while Hiei was his normal, expressionless self. He was sitting on the windowsill and looking through the window.
"Hey... What's with all your faces?" I asked, feeling oddly nervous myself. Something was missing...
"Kikyo -" Kurama started, but stopped and didn't finish. My heart skipped a beat. Something was definitely wrong here...
"Kikyo-san, please, sit down," uttered Yukina, her voice soft and worried.
"Kikyo-san..."
"Where's Inuko?" I demanded, finally realizing who was missing. For some reason, my voice seemed different, like it wasn't mine; it was harsh, almost a growl. Keiko flinched slightly, no one responded. "Where the Hell is Inuko?"
Urameshi sighed and reached to his pocket. He took out a piece of paper and, without a word, gave it to me. I glanced at the small, italic handwriting.
I have got the kid. -Shimofuri
----
The wind blew through the open window, hitting the dark curtains and twirling inside the small room. Even though the walls were painted in a light green color, it seemed much darker than it should be.
The whole darkness seemed to flow from a single figure. The person, a female, was sitting on the bed, her knees pulled to her chest, arms wrapped around them. Her silverish hair was scattered around her messily, her usual glowing golden eyes were half-closed and dull. A big, shining sword with a dark handle and long sharp blade was laying beside her.
A soft knock made the woman jump slightly, her hand immediately compressed on the handle. Her muscles twitched.
The door opened slowly and a tall, red headed boy came in.
"Kikyo...? " Kurama called out, looking around in the dark hesitantly; he found nothing. Kikyo had disappeared, and so did her sword.
----
'Mistake'
That horrible word was circling in my head as my blade was cutting through another tree. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have stayed here in the first place, I should have taken Inuko and escape as soon as I had the chance. But no. I had stayed. And how had it ended? Koenma sent a special, skilled searching team all over the place to look for Inuko. With no luck. Skilled, my ass...
I knew that a half-demon like me shouldn't have stayed in one place for too long, the past keeps haunting me.
But, something was keeping me from moving on.
'A feeling'
Ever since I agreed on staying and becoming a Detective, I started to feel something I never felt before. It was warm and comfortable, something I've always imagine to feel when you're home. And I was sure, that Inuko was feeling the same.
'A bond'
I let out the air I was unconsciously holding and wiped the sweat from my forehead. 'Concentrate, ' I told myself, shaking my head 'Concentrate, you must completely master the sword, so you will be able to avenge Inuko!'
''Avenge'? Hell, she didn't die or anything... She had been kidnapped! That's a difference, '
'Kidnapped by the demons, who took away everything from you and made your life miserable!'
''Miserable'?! Hey, it wasn't THAT bad... '
'Your whole life since the Rebellion was all about walking and running away from the past! You had to become a thief and a murderer! '
'One: Stealing is my biggest and probably only talent, to be honest.
Two: Killing is my second nature! I'm a dog demon! '
My two sides would argue more, but were brutally interrupted by a sound of footsteps from behind. My ears twitched and I took the opportunity as a training task. I closed my eyes and waited for the steps to come closer. To my surprise, they stopped. The area was covered with silence.
And then...
Something snapped. But not around me, on the ground or in the air. No. Something snapped inside of me.
My eyelids flew open and I did a 180 degree turn, my sword raised to my chest. Metal clashed against metal and the attacker did a back-flip. Hiei.
"Not bad," he admitted. I smirked and nodded slightly. After all those trainings I almost didn't feel the weigh of my weapon, I grew used to it. My movements changed from clumsy swinging around to graceful slashing.
Hiei lowered his katana and stared at me, waiting. I tried to hold his gaze, but I couldn't; quickly turning around, I picked up a fist sized rock, threw it in the air not too high and slashed it in two, horizontally. The pieces weren't perfectly half like I wanted them to be. That meant more hours of training for me.
"Inu-onna, " Hiei began. I closed my eyes shut and decided to ignore him. I didn't want to talk with anyone at the moment. I could do, or say something I'd regret later...
"Inu-onna, look at me. " his voice was louder and demanding.
'Leave me alone,' I thought, a bit desperately.
'Look at me. '
'No!'
'Turn around.'
'Leave me alone...'
'Inu-onna!'
"SHUT UP!!" I cried out, spinning around in fury "How dare you... Who do you think you are?!"
Guided by the wrath, I lunged at the caught off-guard fire demon and began to blindly attack him, swinging my sword from left to right, up and down, without precision. Of course, Hiei blocked all of my attacks with no problem, but refused to fight back. Being in the weird state I was in, I took it as a sign of teasing and contempt. That only caused me to lose it completely.
"Calm down!" Hiei ordered loudly, but I didn't hear him. My ears were catching only the swishing sound I was making, cutting through the heavy air as dark clouds began to gather above us.
I felt something brushing against my legs and a moment later, I fell to my knees, my sword landing on the ground near me. Hiei had tripped me.
All of the anger poured out from me and I started to gasp for air greedily, exhaustion washing over my body. I was so tired...
"Baka inu-onna," Hiei knelt down oppositely to me. He slipped two fingers below my chin and slowly brought me to look at him. His eyebrows were narrowed, but his eyes held no anger nor contempt. At first I thought that they're emotionless, as always. But the longer I was looking, I discovered true feelings within his crimson red orbs: concern, sadness and a hint of sorrow. No pity. Maybe a bit of empathy, but no pity. I was relieved and glad. I'd hate to see pity in his eyes...
A rain drop fell on the ground before me, followed by another one, and another one... One of the drops fell on my nose. I crossed my eyes to see it, but when another one crashed on my nose, I blinked, startled.
'Cute...'
I blinked again and stared at Hiei, who turned his head away and blushed. He hadn't left my mind... I couldn't help but burst into fit laughter at his embarrassment. It wasn't THAT funny, but I couldn't stop laughing, my tail wagging automatically. I could feel Hiei growing more embarrassed and annoyed, but he stayed silent.
I felt a tear coming out from my closed eye. It wasn't from the laughing. I bowed my head lowly, so my hair covered my face, and let the tears get away freely. I wasn't able to fight them.
The laughter slowly died away, being replaced by silent sobs. As the rain poured faster and harder, my tears were falling non-stop, leaving crystal trails on my cheeks. I was crying.
Anger, frustration, helplessness, sadness.
I had lost my closest friend, almost daughter, and couldn't do anything about it. They had took her from the mansion, right from before me! And I, the great female thief and born murderer Kikyo, didn't do anything! Anything!!
"Why?! Why her?!" I hit the wet soil with my fist. My sharp claws dug into my flesh and warm blood poured from the cuts, mixing with the rain and tears.
I was so helpless.
A hand landed on my shoulder and I shuddered. I didn't deserve Hiei's presence around me, I'm just a helpless, dirty mutt, which everyone despise.
But...
I needed comforting. I needed to feel warm, inside. I needed to be released from those black thoughts. I needed attention. I needed... help.
Almost immediately, I threw myself forward and wrapped my arms around the once again greatly surprised Hiei. I buried my face in his chest and continued to cry my heart out silently.
It felt a lot better. As a fire demon, Hiei's body was much warmer than mine. His scent was very nice, 100% natural. Something forest-like. Very nice...
After a while, Hiei returned the hug, gently and hesitantly. When he became more comfortable with the situation, he began to stroke my hair and fallen ears softly. Somehow, it had calmed me a bit and the tears slowed down.
As if completely oblivious to the fact that the rain drops were crashing against my numb body, my eyes began to close. I couldn't fight the overwhelming darkness for too long and, after completely calming down, I fell asleep, still clutching onto Hiei's shirt. With the last piece of sense, I felt him picking me up. He sighed, his cold breathe tickling my skin.
"Baka inu-onna..." the fire demon repeated, but much softer than before, in a voice barely above whisper. With my lips curled into a tiny smile, I drifted to sleep.
'Hiei... Thank you.'