Author: I have been inspired yet again. This time by none other than HIEI!
Hiei: What did I do?
Author: giggles You were so cute when you were sleeping!
Hiei: holds Katana next to Author's neck What?
Author: grabs hold of katana Are you going to kill me Hiei?
Hiei: growls and sheathes katana NO!
Author: smiles Good!
Hiei: grumbles
Author: Don't you love me anymore Hiei? pretends to cry
Hiei: looks terrified at the sight of tears Of course I love you Author!
Author: Yay! throws arms around Hiei and kisses him
Hiei: kisses Author back
Author: Enjoy the chapter! continues kissing Hiei
"Kirana's telepathy"
"Hiei's telepathy"
Hiei's thoughts
"Hiei's Jagan"
Kurama's thoughts
Youko's thoughts
(Author's note)
---------Time and/or location change---------
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Chapter 31
---------With Kirana---------
It was now the day she had most feared. Her kidnappers had come in and told her that she would contact the Reikai Tantei. She didn't want to. She didn't want to lead her mate and her friends into the trap these two demons had set for them. She was terrified. She knew what she would have to do, and she only hoped that the Tantei would realize what she was doing and would save her.
"Here, this is what you will say to them," Akuma said holding out a slip of paper with words on it.
"I wouldn't speak like that. They would know it was a lie," Kirana said after reading it.
She knew what she said was a lie and that if it was worded much differently they would know it wasn't really her. However Akuma saw through her plan. He slapped her across the face splitting her lip open and causing her to break her wrist which was still handcuffed to the bed.
"You will say exactly this, or we will kidnap each and every one of your friends and kill them slowly in front of you," Akuma said.
"You might want to do as you're told, I have heard he is very cruel when he wants to be," Yokoshima said.
Kirana gritted her teeth and when the ward was removed from her Jagan she reached her mind out to find her mates. It took her a few minutes, but she located Hiei fairly easily.
"Hiei?"
"Kirana, is that you?"
"Yes, Hiei it is me. I don't have much time. I was kidnapped by a demon and a human. The demon is a water demon by the name of Akuma, and the human's name is Yokoshima. I am in an abandoned warehouse. I keep hearing a strange noise, but I don't know what it is,"
"Describe it to me, maybe I will be able to tell where you are by that noise."
"Okay, it is a screeching caw, like a bird that is dying. It seems so sad, and yet… I just don't know. I am in a room in the back of this building, or at least I think I am. I have been tied to this bed for a long time. The sun in Makai is different from the sun in Ningenkai, so I'm not sure where I am from that. It is like it doesn't rise or set it just appears high in the sky almost like the day starts at noon, and no other time is here but midnight."
"Okay that means you are in the far East. Damn we are still a few days away from you I think. What else is outside that window?"
"A… a bird, it is here everyday. It is blue with red eyes and it is the thing that caws so strangely. Does that help you at all?"
"You are in… MY territory!"
"WHAT? Bu-but how… why would they… damnit… someone is coming. Please come save me Hiei. I love you!"
Then she was forced to cut the connection. She wasn't supposed to be surprised like she was when she heard that she was in Hiei's own territory. She also wasn't supposed to say that she loved him, and now she wouldn't know if he said it back. She forced her tears to stay in her eyes. She did not want them to know she was part Koorime.
"You bastards! Bringing me to my mate's territory. You plan to kill him in his own territory and then take it! You plan to rule his land and his people!" she yelled.
"You know nothing of my plan, now you must be punished for your deviance from the script," Akuma said.
"But boss, her deviation only caused them to believe her more strongly. Perhaps we should keep her in one piece," Yokoshima suggested.
"Perhaps you are right. Plus why would I waste my energy on this pathetic little girl I will need my strength to destroy the Tantei," Akuma said and then walked out of the room.
"You should thank me little girl. Now he won't kill you," Yokoshima said then left cackling.
---------With the Tantei---------
"HIEI, are you alive?" a voice said pulling Hiei out of his mind.
"Hn, I know where she is," Hiei said and continued walking, although faster this time.
"Where is she Hiei?" Kurama asked his friend concern lacing his normally calm voice.
"She is in an abandoned warehouse on the edge of my territory," Hiei replied without turning around.
"How do you know Hiei?" Yukina asked gently.
"She spoke to me," he whispered stopping for a few moments and looking back at the group.
"They let her talk to you?" Kurama asked.
"Well… I don't think they would have let her so they probably didn't know," Yusuke supplied.
"Think again detective; I think they told her to talk to me. They would have seen the Jagan, and if they were smart enough to take her from under my nose they would be smart enough to make sure she could not communicate with us unless they want her to. I think it is a trap," Hiei said.
"I believe you may be right. But how do we determine where she really is?" Kurama said.
"I think she is exactly where they said she is, or at least the person who knows where she is is there. Therefore I say that is where we go," Hiei said and started walking again.
Kurama nodded and followed his friend. He really hoped they would find Kirana before anything happened to her, and he knew Hiei was thinking the same thing.
"Hiei, we could get there sooner than they expect if we travel at demonic speed. Or at least at Botan's oar's speed. Botan can take Kuwabara, and I can take Yukina, and Yusuke can take Keiko, and then we will all follow you, but you have to remember that Yusuke is not quite as fast as you and he will be carrying Keiko, so you will have to take that into consideration. Plus we do not know the terrain as well as you. But you will defiantly have to take the speed as fast as Botan can fly and as fast as Yusuke can run while carrying Keiko. That is if the girl's don't mind. Well the girls and Kuwabara. What do you think Hiei?" Kurama suggested.
"You know I would do anything to get me to her faster Kitsune."
"What do you girl's think about the idea?" Kurama asked.
"I would do anything to get Onee-san back faster," Yukina said quietly.
"Yeah, I want Kirana back," Keiko said.
Botan materialized her oar in response. Kurama nodded, changed forms, and motioned for Yukina to come closer to him. She did and he gently lifted her in his arms.
"Don't get any ideas Youko, Yukina is mine!" Kuwabara said as he walked closer to Botan.
Youko growled and at the same time Botan hit Kuwabara in the head with her oar. This caused Yusuke to begin to laugh and almost drop Keiko whom he had just picked up.
"ENOUGH!" Hiei yelled at the group. "Kuwabara, Youko has a mate, and no demon would cheat on his mate! Yusuke change into your demon form, pick up your onna and let's get going!"
Without another word the entire group got ready. Yusuke quickly changed into his demon form and he lifted Kieko into his arms. Botan got on her oar and Kuwabara got on behind her holding onto her waist so he wouldn't fall off. Youko turned around and got ready to run. Then they finally began to run. Hiei made sure he could see Botan above him and made sure to keep track of the other two males on the ground. He knew this would be tiring for Yusuke as he was not used to running like this especially with an onna in his arms. He also knew that Botan needed her spirit energy to materialize her oar so he made sure to check her levels of energy.
After several hours he noticed that Botan was tiring. He slowed down and finally came to a stop signaling Botan to come down to the ground.
"We will camp here so Botan can regain her spirit energy," Hiei said and then left to go get firewood.
"Botan, darling are you okay?" Youko asked his mate concern lacing his voice.
"Yes, thanks to Hiei. He must have noticed I was beginning to get tired. I bet that is why he stopped. I hate to slow everyone down," she said trying not to cry.
"Naw, I was startin to get tired too Botan. Not used to that kind of running, I guess," Yusuke said chuckling slightly.
Hiei returned shortly after and told the other two demons to return to human form. He said that their demon signals were too strong and they would attract more demons than they wanted to deal with after running for so long.
"Are we close to your territory yet Hiei?" Keiko asked quietly.
"Tomorrow, I think," he replied.
She nodded and then the group ate and fell asleep in relative silence.
---------With Kirana---------
"What are you going to do with me?" she asked the human.
"We will tell you that after we destroy the Tantei, now be a good little demoness and stay quiet so I can get some sleep," he replied.
"Why are you working for him? If it is to protect your family then the Tantei can do that. We can protect you and your family if you will only let me go," she whispered.
"QUIET ONNA!" he screamed.
Kirana quickly shut her mouth and decided that appealing to his nature was not a good idea if he yelled like that again she would get in trouble. And she did not want that. It would likely wake up Akuma and he would come back. She did not like that man. He was cruel. But she had a bad feeling about the human. His signal wasn't really human. She wasn't sure what he was, but human he was not.
Then she felt it again. Someone was in her mind again. This was really getting old, but she continued to think as if she hadn't noticed anything. She thought about Hiei and about mating with him that first time. She thought about what she would do when he saved her. She thought about how she would forgive her brother if only they would get her out of here. Well maybe not. It very well may take a lot for her to forgive him. That is the only promise he had ever broken, and it was the most important one he ever made to her. He had sworn he would never say THAT to her. He had sworn he would never call her THAT! Quickly she averted her thoughts. She had almost forgotten there was anyone else in her mind they were that sneaky. Quickly she searched around the room and noticed that the human-looking thing hadn't moved in a while. She was unsure if it was him in her mind or someone else. Just as she thought this the presence in her mind faded as if it had never been there, but she knew better, she knew her mind had been violated and she also knew there was nothing she could do about it.
Great now whoever was in her mind knew that she had suspicions that her guard wasn't human. She hoped it wasn't him because she wanted to use that on him later maybe catch him off guard, not that she thought that was possible. He seemed more composed that Kurama on a good day, that was until he yelled at her. But then again she was the only person who had ever made Kurama yell… thinking about this she almost cried. She would have if she hadn't reminded herself that they probably did not know she was a Koorime and if she let them in on that little secret they would probably extort her for her tears. She would not be able to face that. She knew vaguely what Yukina had gone through. Youko had told her some of it when she asked what people would do if they knew what she was. He was truly worried about her back then, now she wasn't so sure.
Quickly she shook those thoughts from her mind and tried to concentrate on moving her head close enough to her hands that she would be able to find out what was blocking her jagan. After some work she discovered it was a warding cloth more powerful than the one she usually wore. She tried to feel how it was tied, but as soon as she figured it out her guard was on her.
"I wouldn't take that off if I were you sweetie, because you see you don't know what that would do to your poor jagan. You see there is a powerful spell on that cloth. If anyone besides me takes it off you it will put the curse directly into your jagan causing irreparable damage, and I believe damage to a jagan is particularly painful," he said laughing at her.
"Couldn't you at least have given me one way to protect my self?" she retorted angry.
"Now why would I do that?" he asked amused.
"Makes it more interesting and challenging for you?" she suggested.
"Cute, but if we have to fight you we will not be in the best of shape to fight the Tantei now will we?" he pointed out.
Kirana sighed, "No, I guess not. I'm tired, I'm going to sleep now, so go away."
He chuckled and then went back to his chair in the corner of the room.
---------With the Reikai Tantei---------
Morning saw Hiei already fixing breakfast with Youko talking strategy. Yusuke and Kuwabara were the next ones up and they joined the conversation, hoping to be of some help. For once Yusuke was being serious, and Kuwabara had some intelligent suggestions. It seemed the entire team would be more than helpful in returning Hiei's mate to his side. Slowly the girl's got up and ate.
"Botan, do you have enough energy to fly until lunch?" Youko asked his mate.
"Yes, I may need an hour nap, but I can make it that long," she replied, not as cheerful as usual.
"Botan, are you sick? You're not as cheerful as usual," Kuwabara commented.
"I don't think anyone is quite themselves on this trip Kuwabara," Botan said sadly, looking over to where Hiei stood gazing off in the direction of his territory.
The group had to agree. Youko looked off in the same direction and seemed to come to some kind of revelation because after staring off for a few minutes he walked quickly over to Hiei and whispered something to the fire demon. Hiei nodded and they both walked over to the group.
"It's getting late. We should start moving," Hiei said when they reached the group.
Everyone nodded and somberly got paired up like they were the other day. Hiei looked at them and seemed to decide something.
"We should take turns carrying the onnas. Yusuke let me carry Keiko today. I think then we would all be in better shape to fight when the time comes," Hiei suggested.
"I can carry her Hiei, you don't have to worry about me getting tired," Yusuke said.
"It's not that Yusuke, I believe Hiei feels like rotating the women will be more fair to everyone, and I think he is right, but if you would like to continue carrying Keiko Hiei can carry Yukina," Youko suggested.
"No, it's ok. We don't mind, do we Yusuke?" Keiko said and slid gently from Yusuke's arms and walked over to Hiei.
"No, we don't, I just don't want anyone thinking I can't run and carry Keiko at the same time is all," Yusuke said quietly.
"I would never suggest such a thing Detective; surely you know that by now,"
"Sorry Hiei, I didn't mean to imply-" Yusuke began.
"It's ok Detective," Hiei said lifting Keiko into his arms.
Then they set off towards Hiei's territory setting a faster pace than the day before. Hiei was beginning to get worried. And he had not lied to the detective. He was carrying Keiko for his own purposes. He had something he wanted to discuss with her.
----------------------------
Author: Whew! That was a long chapter!
Hilu: Did you replace me?
Hiei: What do you think Baka?
Author: Of course I didn't replace you Hilu! No one could replace you, I just thought you were working so hard on True Nature, that you would like a break and Hiei was happy to stand in weren't you Hiei?
Hiei: Hn
Hilu: Oh well if that is all, then I will get back to work on True Nature!
Author: Okay!
Hiei: Good riddance!
Author: Hiei, please be nice. pouts
Hiei: sweatdrops please don't cry again!
Author: I won't cry if you kiss me.
Hiei: Okay kisses Author
Author: Well review please! Ja ne! kisses Hiei again