Hell's Flame
Disclaimer
Sorry to say that I do not own YYH.
Summary
I was taught to hate and loathe demons. I did not fear them but I did feel that they were dangerous. I was a hunter, swift and silent. He was my target; he was my downfall. HB.
Trapped
Part II
000
All I could see were the two flaming scarlet eyes that stared into my own amethyst ones.
All I could feel was the heat of the battle.
I was trapped.
The metallic ring met my ears once more and I felt the force of the arm behind it. Burning embers flickered in the darkness before my vision. Droplets of water splashed at my hot skin; the reflection of black flames in their depths. Our battle was far from over. I was not anywhere near done. Hiei made two more slashes and I blocked each one. Then he sent his Reiki into battle with him. I did the same and mine met his. A cloud of steam settled before our eyes but we would not let that stop us. I felt the sharpness of his blade cut shallowly across the flesh of my left arm. It was only then that I noticed one other person there.
"Botan!" He stared at me with depth-less emerald eyes. "Hiei, stop it!" My eyes narrowed and I clenched my sword's hilt tightly in my grasp.
"Shut up!" I shouted; feeling new power course through me. "Do not interfere!" I turned back toward Hiei and smirked. He stared at me with those burning scarlet orbs. Dark flames flickered around him. Death danced in his eyes. I went at him, sword raised and ready to attack. He blocked each and every attack that I made. Each attempt failed until I let out a battle cry and cut his arm. It was just like the one he made; shallow yet still there. By now, we were panting and perspiration was beading on our skin.
"Little sprite..." Hiei panted. I stared at him. His eyes went down to my hands, which squeezed the hilt of my sword in a white-knuckled grip.
"Koorime..." I hissed with hatred. I saw the thin stream of his blood run down his arm and felt a satisfaction build inside of me. A lust for his blood settled over my mind. I could see a dark look pass his face for a brief moment. Did he know that I had been sucked into my own void of darkness? My past was bloodier than anyone thought. I felt the sweat roll down my face. I got back into my stance while Hiei did the same. We went at each other again. He smirked darkly before swiping his blade across my shoulder. I barely felt the pain. I barely noticed the blood gushing from it. I growled and attacked a couple more times before bending my knees and making an upward slash across his chest. The sight and scent of his blood drove me even deeper into the trap that I had set for my mind. We danced more, constantly moving and never stopping. We both only saw curtains of crimson splashing across our vision. I knocked his sword from him and tackled him to the ground. I raised my blade over his chest. I don't know what made me pause. I don't know how any voice within me reached my trapped mind. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and looked down to see that Hiei had stabbed me with one of the guards' discarded weapons. It was then that I realized how much blood that I lost.
Darkness replaced madness.
000
I groaned. What the hell was going on?
"Do not move." I opened my eyes to see Shuuichi sitting next to me. I had the vaguest feeling that I was in the Reikai med wing. I stared at him for a moment before a dry cough forced itself up my throat. He put a glass of water to my lips and I drained it.
"Where am I?" He smiled and sighed with relief.
"You are in the Reikai medical wing, to be exact. We were concerned that you would not wake up." I winced as I shifted to get more comfortable. "I stitched all of your wounds and used some of their healing salves. He missed your vitals so you were in no immediate danger."
"What happened to him?"
"Oh, I had to treat him as well. You did a number on him." I looked away from him. "What was wrong with you? I have never seen you like that."
"I trapped myself in my past. I set my mind so that I was like I was in the past." I answered coldly. "Nothing could reach me. Not even myself." I closed my eyes. "Where is he now?"
"Hiding." He stood up and I opened my eyes and followed his movements with my eyes. "The others are in the waiting room. I would not allow them in here while I was working." He opened the door and walked out, closing it behind him. I knew that he was going to tell them that I was awake. I could not move my left arm because it was wrapped and secured down. My right arm was in much the same condition.
Why? All I got was a scratch on my left arm...
The door opened and Genkai entered. I stared at her; feeling so ashamed of my behavior in battle. She smiled and sat down in the chair at my bedside.
"You have some superior skills, Botan." I smiled and relaxed.
"Genkai, why are my arms bound at my sides like this?"
"Well, you got severe burns all over your body but it isn't anything that we cannot heal. Also, they were to prevent you from thrashing in your sleep and tearing all of Shuuichi's delicate work." She answered in a soft voice. Then she reached forward and brushed my forehead. "That mark...what was it?"
"Is it still there?" I asked in a panicked voice. She shook her head. I sighed with relief. "Every sprite has a marking on their forehead. It is to tell of their fate and I just realized what it meant. Mine was known as Flaming Water." I closed my eyes and felt the burning sensation again. Then Genkai's fingers traced over it.
"It is beautiful." She pulled her hand away and I looked up at her again.
"How did I get burns?" I cannot really remember feeling anything like a burn.
"From Hiei's flames." She looked down at my bandaged arms. "Shuuichi will not tell us where he went but we can force nothing upon him since he helped you. Besides, we are certain that you will not allow any punishment to befall the young man." I shook my head, which threw me into a dizzy spell so strong that I felt like I was going to throw up. "This is your mission and you call the shots."
"I do not want him harmed and I do not want any Reikai nor Ningenkai personnel to go after Hiei." She smiled.
"I will let you tell Koenma that." She said softly. Then she stood up. "They said that you will be here for three to five days, depending on how fast you heal."
"I heal fast." I smiled. She left the room and the next to enter were Yuusuke and Kuwabara. Yuusuke smiled at me and fingered a strand of my hair. "Hello, Yuusuke."
"Botan, why did you..." He noticed the mark on my forehead. "Why did you seem so different?"
"I will leave Genkai to answer that. I don't feel like it right now." He nodded and sat down. Then he smirked.
"You can sure kick some major ass! I bet Hiei's hurting right now." I winced and gazed up at the ceiling.
"It was not something to be proud of." Silence crept into the room for a moment. Then Kuwabara broke the silence.
"I've never seen a girl or even anyone fight like you did." I smiled weakly.
"It was reckless abandon." I whispered. "Hiei and I were kindred spirits in that moment." I looked over and saw their youthful, confused faces. Then I laughed a little. "Never mind. You will understand someday." The door opened and Koenma stepped through.
"Boys, the portal is set up. Genkai is ready to go." Yuusuke nodded to him and looked back at me before grinning.
"You do as you're told and we'll see you soon, okay?" I gave him a sorry excuse for a grin but he nodded and left with Kuwabara.
"See you later, Botan!" The taller boy said as he was dragged out. Koenma shut the door behind him.
"Koenma, I want no one on my case but me. No one is to seek him out nor are they to attempt attack." He nodded. "As for Shuuichi... If I find out that you questioned him, threatened him, or even looked at him wrong then you will be sorry." I stated coldly. He nodded once again.
"That was what I figured you would say." He walked over and sat down. "You are pulling yourself in deeper than I realized. Your desire to kill him is strong and yet...you want to help him. He does not realize that you understand his pain."
"You...know?" I asked hesitantly. He nodded.
"Oh, we know. There was one other detective that ever got close to him, like you did. He may have died but he had information in his computer that we went through. He knew who Hell's Flame was. He knew the fire demon's past. That was why we called him in." Koenma sat back and folded his arms across his chest. "He saved every scrap of information he held within that computer." I frowned. "But it is gone now. I think Hiei knew about it."
"Koenma-sama, I am sorry that I lied to you before about not speaking with him. I-" He held up a hand and smiled.
"Shuuichi informed me of it all on his own. I understand your hesitation for not telling me." His voice had an understanding to it. "You call your own shots. I am merely here to guide you."
"Thank you." He shook his head.
"No, Botan...thank you."
000
I spent three days in the medical wing. They were the most boring days of my life. I sat in a bed and had to have help to get up and go to the restroom. It was like I was a prisoner, trapped in a bed for a sin that I committed. As I got dressed in a pink kimono that they lent to me, I noticed the scars and everything were gone. I had no burns, either. My skin was the same as before; flawless and silky. I pulled the kimono on and tied the white obi in place. A knock at the door alerted me of someone's impatient presence. I slid the slippers on and walked out.
"Someone needs to learn the values of patience..." Koenma gave me a look. Then he turned and began walking, fully expecting me to follow him. I did so as I looked around. Reikai was not my station so it felt really odd being there. I was thankful that they gave me a hair tie to pull my hair back with. "What's going on?"
"While you've been here, Hiei's been at work." I stopped.
"What!?" I could imagine the casualties...the lives of the innocent...and the blood spilled on the cold cement. He stopped walking.
"I went against your orders and asked Shuuichi about it. I did not threaten him or anything but he answered. Hiei is angry." I clenched my fists, trying to stop them from shaking with my rage.
"And you told me nothing?" I asked sharply. He sighed.
"We couldn't do that until you were better. Imagine the damage you would have done if you found out. You would have ripped every stitch, every IV..." His voice trailed off.
"Koenma!" He began walking again. I followed him in a angry daze. Then we stopped and he opened a door.
"The portal is opened for you. Be careful, all right?" I nodded. I felt trapped once more. I was going to be out for one thing...
His blood.
000
Shuuichi checked where my wounds were and nodded.
"They let you out at the right time. I haven't been able to get close to Hiei, either. We can work together in this." He stated calmly. "He has to be stopped."
"I agree." I looked up at him and smiled wearily. "I don't know if I can come up with the right energy that I need after that but once I see him it might be different." He looked down.
"We need to go to where you go. Koenma told me that he had a main building here." I nodded.
"Headquarters." I sighed. "We need to go to my apartment first so that I can get my ID badge."
000
We walked toward the building and Shuuichi stopped.
"This is it? It's just an agency for-" I shook my head.
"Just follow me." I led him inside and flashed my ID to the receptionist. She merely nodded. There were actually two receptionists. The entire upstairs on the right side of the building was ours. The other side was a federal type of agency for Ningenkai. We boarded the elevator and I pushed the button for the fifth floor. After the elevator doors slid open, I was dragging him into the hallways. We passed three or four people who were having an upper agent sign some papers. I led him immediately to my office and booted up my computer the same way as before. I looked back at him. "You will need to wait a moment while I change out of this ungodly thing." He nodded and I went into a different room to change. I came back out in my uniform with all of my weapons secured to me. I brought up all of the files that I had on Hiei. "I don't have much and apparently the last hunter or detective that got as far as I did died and his entire collection of data got destroyed. He knew of Hiei's past and I suppose our koorime knew of it." I brought up the list of names and scrolled down. I clicked on one with a star next to it. I read over it and nodded. "This was him."
"He was a demon that I knew." He stated softly. "What about the others?"
"All dead within less than a week. Quite a few are missing but I know they are dead." I opened my map with my planned locations for him. Three days and he would be... "There." I pointed to the spot. He leaned forward.
"That shape..."
"He's leading us in the shape of a flame. All of his locations have been mapped out carefully. After this, I have no..." I stopped. It all made sense. "Shit!" I stood up and walked to the computer screen. "This is where he will be tomorrow night at midnight." I pointed to it. He stared with wide eyes.
"But that's..."
"My apartment." I confirmed. "He will most likely be on the roof. He did this on purpose. He formed the flame around my apartment. They were always within a block of the building." He ran his fingers through his hair when I turned to look at him. He looked distressed. "Shuuichi, you do not need to come. Only one of us will live." I tapped my sword. "The other will die."
"Botan, there has to be another way! We can't just do as he wants us to!" I glared at him.
"You are his friend and partner! I'm surprised that you don't kill me when my back is turned." I narrowed my eyes at him.
"You know that I would never do such a thing. Why would I waste my time healing you if I was only going to kill you?" He narrowed his own eyes at me. I crossed my arms.
"Tell me who you really are. You are no ningen." He sighed and avoided meeting my eyes again for a long moment. Finally, he did.
"Youko Kurama." I felt my insides twist at the name alone. Shuuichi was...Youko? My hand found its way to my mouth and I stared at him. "That was why I was able to heal you so quickly."
"Okay..." I started. "That's definitely something that Koenma can't know about." I went back to my chair. "I'm sorry for snapping at you." He nodded with a smile. "Now, let's get to work."
000
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