Once they had completely disappeared, Hiei's knees gave out. The girl he was supposed to protect (not because of feelings, but he WAS her bodyguard after all…oh brother, cough cough) has just been kidnapped. "Great…" he muttered, "She's gone…" Hiei stayed on the ground for a few moments, then noticed that if he stayed where he was, he wouldn't help her at all. He got up and began thinking of a way to get her back, pacing as he did so.
The others outside had heard the commotion and decided to come in and see what was wrong. Kurama came in first. He thought that Hiei should've gone in first, but he was nowhere to be found. 'He must already be inside…' thought Kurama as he slowly opened the door. He saw Hiei pacing and an empty bed. The sheets showed signs of a struggle, and Hiei's troubled expression worried him.
"Hiei?" he asked, "What's wrong? Where's Aimi ?"
Hiei looked up; his brow still furrowed and growled, "She's gone." His words seemed to echo around the room before and after Kurama processed them.
"She's…gone…?" he said, unsure that he had heard Hiei correctly.
"Yes."
Kurama held back the rage he held inside that his sister had been taken. He realized that it was probably not Hiei's fault. Hiei even looked a little tired, showing that he didn't just sit on his butt and watch Aimi being kidnapped. His eyes changed from their normal deep green to a pale red, his anger growing. "Who…took her? Where are they?" Kurama growled in a dangerously unlike-Kurama voice.
"I'm not sure. The man's name was Gurenai, and he said that he was taking her to be with him forever. He said something about her beauty being an added bonus to the power he was going to get from her when marrying her.
"My sister's being married at her age!"
"She's not that young. She's about 16, isn't she?"
"Yes…but she told me that her ideal marrying age was somewhere around 20-30. She was forced into this." Kurama growled again, not happy with whoever took his sister. "This Gurenai must have a death wish.
"That's what I was thinking right after they disappeared."
"Can you explain the whole event to me?"
"Should we invite the others in?"
"No. I don't want them to get too involved in this."
"Hn," Hiei said before continuing on to explain what had happened. He even included the first man that had tried to take Aimi who he had killed on the ground floor. Kurama listened intently the whole time, not even interrupting for clarification. He already knew that Hiei would try and give him every detail he could if it was about his sister. Once he finished, Kurama stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in and stretched. The story had lasted about 15 minutes, and Kurama had only moved to breathe and to blink; he'd stayed in the same position the whole time.
"So…we aren't sure where this Gurenai and Aimi are at the moment?" asked Kurama, wanting to find Aimi before Gurenai could officially marry her.
"No, but I'm thinking that he'd close by."
"Why do you think that?"
"I can still feel his spirit energy close by. It's tainted, so it's harder to track, but I can track it if you give me some time."
"Yes," Kurama said, nodding in approval for the elongated search. "Can I help in any way?"
Hiei almost said no, but then saw the expression on Kurama's face and quickly thought of something he could help with. "Hn... Could you explain the story to the others? They deserve to know but they'll all just get in the way"
Kurama was too worried to point out that they normally worked as a team, so he settled for,"Okay," Kurama said, dutifully walking out the door.
Hiei turned around and shook his head. 'That over-protective Kurama...Aimi , you're lucky to have him as your brother. Without him...what would happen? I'm sure it wouldn't be as bad as the situation you're in right now...'
'Stop...yourself...up...' a mysterious voice said in his head. 'Not...fault...'
'Aimi ! Is that you!' Hiei thought frantically, trying to find the voice's owner. It was in his head, but if he just got a little closer...he might hear her better.
'He...elp...ee...' she said, getting fainter. Hiei walked in the opposite direction he'd been walking, trying to pick up where she was. He'd guessed that she'd been trying to say, 'Stop beating yourself up,' and 'Hiei. Help me...'
'Under...ound...'
'Underground?'
'Yes,' he heard clearly.
'I must be right over her!' Hiei thought to himself and jumped out the window and started blowing a hole in the ground with fireballs. Once he heard Aimi saying something aloud (It sounded offly like, "Get away from me, freak!"), he burned sideways instead of down. 'I'll be dead if that bastard hurt her...' Hiei thought, and I just dont think I could bear it...breaking through a wall into a large, open chamber with many torches surrounding it, clinging to the walls. At the other end of the chamber, he saw Aimi chained to the wall by her wrists and ankles, and Gurenai sitting next to her, petting her head. She tried to jerk away, but couldn't because of the chains. She looked up and noticed Hiei.
"Hiei!" she cried, desperate to get away from Gurenai. Hiei dashed over to them, standing about ten feet away from them and said, "Gurenai, are you such a fool that you cant tell that you make her skin crawl!" Gurenai saw Hiei and jumped up, positioning himself in a fighting stance. "You're seriously going to try and fight me again? You won by a fluke last time. This will be twice I have held your life in my hands, and twice I could give it back to you, somehow I doubt that Aimi or Kurama, would be as mericiful as I"
Gurenai smirked and said, "You won't win."
"And why is that?"
Gurenai smirked more and said, "Because I got married to Aimi . I have her power. You can't win."
"No you didn't!" Aimi poked in, a disgusted look on her face. "And not to mention, Ew!"
"I told you to shut up and play along so he'd be intimidated!" Gurenai roared and in one quick motion, turned, slapped her and realed around to once again face the fire demon. That slap ignighted new anger in Hiei that demon had pushed him to far.
Aimi glared at him and growled, "One, Hiei doesn't get intimidated, and two, did you really think I'd act like your my husband!"
"If you value your life"
Aimi stared at him. "You're an idiot, aren't you?"
"This is will be the last time you insult me, my love, lets see how much you run your mouth after I slaughter all your friends and you have no one to impress with your words!"
"You pig! What a gross thing to say!"
He ignored her, he dashed towards Hiei, sword drawn. Hiei dodged easily and knocked him out by hitting him with the hilt of his sword, sending him crashing to the ground.
"That was too easy..." Hiei grumbled, just audibly enough for Aimi to hear.
"No, that's the best he could do. Seriously."
"How would you know?" Hiei asked, turning towards Mizhui.
"I'll tell you, while you get me unchained My hands are numb." Hiei looked at her wrists and saw that they were chained above her head, making it near impossible for blood to read them.
"All right," he said, walking over and slicing the chains. After Aimi was safely sitting on the ground, she told him.
"When we first entered here, Gurenai tried to chain me up, but I fought back. For a little bit he was knocked out, but there was no way I could find to get out, and I tired myself out trying to find an escape route. He only chained me up in the end because I was exhausted.phef, what a loser"
"Hn," was all he replied with.
"So...We need to make sure that he is dead, I say we burn him to a crisp."
"hn, I'm not stopping you"
"Noboby is, I think I will enjoy this, in the words of that baka detective"
Aimi got up and dusted herself off, stretching out her limbs. She then stretched her hand toward Gurenai and yelled, "People of the flames, dance!" Gurenai's body was consumed in flames, but suddenly the two heard mocking laughter, certainly not encouraging them.
"So you think I'm going down in flames? Then I challenge you to a duel!" Gurenai cackled, standing up and diminishing the flames surrounding him.
"But aren't you vulnerable to flame?" asked a bewildered Hiei.
"Not anymore. I adapt. I'm never vulnerable to the same thing twice."
"And what happens if I lose?" asked Aimi .
"I didn't challenge you, I challenged Hiei!"
"Hiei doesnt accept" Aimi anwsered for the fire demon, "this is between you and me, pal, nobody else"
Gurenai crossed his arms and pouted while explaining the stakes. "If you win, you can escape alive and I'll curl up and die and never bother you again. If I win, you stay with me forever and all your friends can never come and try to save you."
"Then of course I'll win!" Aimi yelled. "Cause you make me wretch" Hiei rolled his eyes at thier stupidity
"I understand. You start," Aimi said, suddenly getting serious.
the idiot obviously didnt have much talent witha a blade and swung madly at her, she managed to clip him, but he just laughed, saying that he was now immuned to that too. She took all the spirit energy and channelled it through the blade and stabbed him, and ripped out the blade as he bit her, but he was dead before his teeth even sunk in.
"Oi, are you dead?"after a moment he called loudly to it. It didn't move, or respond.
"Hiei, I think he's dead," Aimi called across the chamber to him. "Can we go now?"
Hiei turned to Aimi and sighed. He then did something completely unexpected; he smiled. Aimi gasped when she saw him smile, and Hiei nearly laughed at the gasp. "Yes, we can go."
Aimi jumped in celebration of the fact they got to leave and ran towards the exit, Hiei right behind her. They were both anxious to get out of there. It had an evil aura around it.
Once they got back up to the hospital room, Aimi and Hiei both crashed onto the bed, bringing everyone swarming inside from the noise. They both fell asleep before anyone could ask them questions. It had been an...unusual day to say the least. Kurama stood at the back of the crowd surrounding the pair, attempting to ask them questions without realizing they were asleep. Kurama chuckled and went into Hiei and Aimi 's dreams.
'You two, I have to tell you something,' he whispered into their dreams.
'What?' the answered simultaneously.
'That man was the ringleader of all the suitors trying to find Aimi for her power. With him dead, you don't have to worry about other men coming after Aimi .'
'Hn,' Hiei replied. He was quite happy, actually. No more body guarding!
'YES!' Aimi cried, obviously tired of people chasing after her for about one week.
'You two should rest now, especially since you have nothing to worry about. Sleep now.'
'I will!' Aimi said, falling into a deep sleep.
'Hn,' said a (another) smiling Hiei. (He was only smiling in the dream, but still...)
Kurama left the room from where he had been smiling also. Let them be happy he reasoned.
Aimi cracked open her eyes about an hour later to find Hiei asleep next to her. With out giving herself time to change her mind, kissed the fire demon prouptly on the lips. His eyes fluttered open, while hers remained closed. His arm wrapped around her and he kissed the girl back. Well, maybe she isnt so bad, besides, she does need protecting, I guess I could stick around...
Aimi was safe...for the time being.
The End...?
A/N: Heh, I left it at a point where I COULD continue it if I wanted to. Lemme know if you want a sequel! And sorry for the horrid ending. I was planning on killing Aimi , but it seemed to sad compared to the rest of the story. And sorry for the chapter's shortness, but I couldn't come up with anything. And, final thanks to fireflyshanks for helping with song ideas for the song battle! Thanks! Thanks again to all my reviewers for giving me encouragement to continue!