Yukina bites the inside of her mouth while Hiei bandages her fingers. For all her pain tolerance, she underestimated how grueling this would be—but it's done, and she doesn't want him to know. He kept hesitating during training as it was.
Light streams in through the holes in the ceiling. Chunk of the mirrors have melted, revealing the centipede's raw flesh behind them. Yukina toes a singed mat. "Um, how do you think I should make the damage up to Mukuro?"
"Her goons will fix it. Fighters have done worse to this place while training, believe me."
That just makes her feel bad for the workers, but she's too drained to think about it. As soon as Hiei releases her, she sags against him. "Sorry," she mumbles when he tenses.
"Go to bed," he says.
When they exit the chamber, Yukina's ringing ears prevent her from noticing how quiet it is until they traverse empty halls. "Where is everyone?"
"At their stations, if they know what's good for them. Nobody can afford to mess around when Mukuro's away, though they're probably taking advantage of it to slack off."
Yukina halts. "Away?"
"Rescuing those humans. What, did you think they would wait for us?"
"No, but…do you think they're all right?"
"They'll be fine. The enemy's main strength is preparation, and there's no way they have Kurama beat there. And if Mukuro is as angry as I think she is, their strongest fighter won't stand a chance. Yusuke is just overkill."
Yukina's teeth worry at her lip. She believes in her friends, but gaining new powers does nothing if she's too far away to use them. Blankly Hiei examines his wrists, and it hits her that he never intended for them to be involved—might have even kept her from it on purpose. It makes her want to go whether she's needed or not.
"You're fast enough to catch up to them, right?" she asks.
"Why bother? Like I said, they have enough fighters already."
"Fighting isn't the only needed skill. Those humans will be battered and confused; I can help them. Please, Hiei."
He's moved on to studying his palms, which his fingers press into. "I'm not putting you in danger for a bunch of humans."
The way he spits the word, after what he'd so recently done and admitted, makes her jaw clench. "Then you don't have to. I'll go alone."
"You can't go by yourself! You don't even know where they are."
"I may not have your eye, but I've been following Mukuro's investigation. Besides, I always used to travel on my own."
She starts down the corridor, leaving him sputtering. When she reaches the intersection he appears in front of her, a hand on his sword. For a horrible moment she wonders exactly how far he'd go to protect her, but he only bows his head and lowers his knee in a display reminiscent of fealty.
"You're so stubborn you'd think we were related," he says. "Come on; you'd never make it in time."
She's relieved her gamble worked. It would have surprised her if he'd let her go without watching over her, but she wouldn't have been surprised if it had been from a distance, and it's a comfort to have his speed and sword at her side.
'At her side' is not quite right, she realizes when he doesn't rise. Putting a hand to her cheek with a soft oh, she hurries behind him and bends to wrap her arms around his neck. He lifts her slowly, his tension obvious this close. Once she's situated against his back, her feet dangling, he shoots off without warning, peeling any thoughts from her mind other than to hold on tight.
They may as well be flying. Her stomach drops out every time he leaps into a tree or up a cliff side. She tries to keep some semblance of distance for his comfort's sake, but the wind batters her cheeks, forcing her to bury her face in his hair. It's scratchy, like goat fur, and smells of iris soap that Kurama must have given him.
At first Yukina grips Hiei's scarf. When it starts to loosen, she clasps her hands below it, wincing from her burned fingers. She has to settle for clutching at his shirt with her good hand, hooking the other one under her wrist. It finds the bump of a gemstone at the end of a chain, which she knew—they've admitted—would be there, though it makes the trip all the more dizzying.
Jumps up are one thing, but after a steep drop off of a branch, Yukina has to call for Hiei to stop so she won't vomit on his head. While she's sick in a bush, he keeps watch for enemies. Despite her urgency she doesn't rise right away, hugging her knees.
"Are we far?"
"No," he answers. "They're being slow enough that we might actually make it in time."
"What's happening? You've been watching, right?"
"Mukuro is meeting with the head of the group that organized this."
"Meeting?" Yukina frowns. While she didn't like it, she'd pictured something more brutal.
"Kurama's plan, no doubt. They're being roundabout to reduce the risk of humans getting caught in the crossfire."
"So what are they doing? Giving them the chance to surrender?"
Hiei snorts. "Nobody would agree to that. She's pretending she wants to buy the humans."
"What?!"
As Hiei explains, thanks to Mukuro's reputation it's a believable story. Kurama and Urameshi are another matter, so they're hiding in case the situation escalates. In the best-case scenario, Mukuro could buy the humans out of harm's way before everyone enters to arrest the demons.
Yukina stands to pace the clearing, breathing in the scents of fungus and moss. The training chamber felt even more cramped than the rest of the fortress, but she has no time to take in this freedom when others are in chains. Still dizzy, she climbs back onto Hiei, bracing herself for another flight.
The second time Hiei sets Yukina down, she manages not to get sick, if only because her stomach's empty. While she gets her bearings she clings to his sleeve, peeking over the boulder he settled behind into the valley below. She doesn't know what she expects; an industrial prison complex, maybe, or a huge factory farm. What she finds is a small mobile building. It's shaped like a cockroach, and the sight of it makes Yukina feel a thousand bugs crawl over her skin.
"What's going on down there?" she whispers.
"Mukuro's convinced them to show her the humans. She's making quite the show of salivating over them." Act or not, Yukina shudders, tugging at the coat she hadn't realized her fingers were still hooked in. She lets go.
"Where is everyone else?"
"Botan's with her in disguise, no doubt to snoop around. It's going to come down to a fight—I can't imagine they don't smell a rat, considering they sabotaged Mukuro in the first place."
"Then Botan's in danger!"
"Kurama and Yusuke aren't far. Though either way, Mukuro could—damn."
"What? What's wrong?"
He drops back to one knee. "They smelled a rat. Come on; even if we don't get involved, they'll find us out here soon."
A hatch hangs open on the cockroach's underbelly, the handle attached to the ground with a vine. Urameshi's signature is less subtle: distant yelling that reverberates through the shoot as the twins climb up through, making the metal vibrate under Yukina's knees.
They emerge in a refrigerated storeroom. The scent of raw meat makes Yukina's empty stomach revolt. "They haven't already…?"
"To fatten up the humans," Hiei says. We're not too late, Yukina reminds herself. Even if it won't accomplish anything, she heats the room before following him out.
The hallway takes them closer to Urameshi's battle cries before forking. Hiei chooses the path down which those sounds dim, only to reveal another set: Mukuro's. Yukina barely registers the guards that come up behind them before the bodies hit the ground with a thud. She stares at them, mentally catching up, until Hiei takes her wrist.
He handles the next set of obstacles just as quickly, not lingering long enough for Yukina to see if he's killing them or just knocking them out. She doesn't think she wants to know.
A chorus of cries reaches her, hastening her steps until the guards thicken both in groupings and girth. Their size only makes them fall harder, but even Hiei can't defeat them all before Yukina has to get involved. The flame inside her roars, and she tries to summon the creatures she learned to call. Her fingers only burn, the fire trapped below her skin.
She shuts down, throwing up a wall of ice that a fist breaks through. Thanks to the wall's deflection it misses her jaw, but it clips the side of her face, making her gasp. The guard yelps at the broken ice shards digging into his knuckles, drawing back for another hit as Yukina stumbles.
Hiei appears in front of her to cleave the guard's hand from his wrist, knocking him down with an uppercut. He kicks at the torso, readying a pummeling before Yukina grabs his arm.
"That's enough to get past," she says.
"Oh, I think he can take plenty more." The edge in his voice tells her that he'll only give up this revenge if she begs, and she doesn't have time to summon tears while innocents suffer. Instead she lets go of him and steps around the bodies, continuing down the hall at a run, her left hand clutching her cheek to numb the pain with the little energy she can spare for healing. The curses behind her confirm that he can't bear to let her go off alone.
Finally they reach a gate of rusted iron bars that twist up above them, which would slice their view of the scene in ribbons were it not for the door lying on the ground. Mukuro's power could have cut cleanly through the lock, but it's shattered into pieces. A few more guards are piled on either side. Beyond stands Mukuro, who's holding the last demon up by his collar. It's edged with gold thread, and he wears little armor, his status not protecting him from the blows that have already bruised and bloodied his face.
"You enslaved women on my watch," she's saying. "Do you seriously think I'm giving you the luxury of a trial before your death?"
"The…the last tournament winner outlawed executions for crimes without them. You—ugh!" Even before the punch the demon can only speak in a croak.
"Have some honor and fight instead of weaseling out," Hiei says, stepping forward with a hand on his sword.
"Wait." Yukina grabs his arm again, looking beseechingly toward Mukuro, whose back is to her. The scene is all too familiar, but she worries she can't stop her like she once stopped Hiei. "You'll both be punished!"
"I'd like to see someone try," Mukuro says. "Demon World's constant new laws aren't well enforced, as we can see." The man only coughs in reply before going limp in her clutch. She shakes him. "Passing out isn't going to save you! You've—"
A baby's cry interrupts. It tears Yukina's attention from Mukuro, prompting her to enter the enclosure. Her hand flies to her mouth.
More than a dozen humans are chained to the wall, all of them young enough that their skin must have been smooth before it was marked. Most of their limbs are bound; one young woman is tied by the waist to a chair, her arms cradling the crying baby, humming a harried lullaby to no avail.
Mukuro stands frozen. Yukina recalls one of the images from Mukuro's past and approaches her, Hiei reaching her side first. The message he thinks to her reaches Yukina as well, as if she's tied into their wavelength:
That one isn't like us.
Mukuro's gone grey again, Yukina can see up close. She uses the line that Hiei's tossed her to connect with Mukuro. We're all okay. Isn't freeing these people our first priority?
The mention stirs Mukuro, causing her to look toward the captives. The glaze over her eyes wavers, and she turns away again. Someone else should do it. I don't think humans can handle the only method I know of breaking chains.
Hiei's consciousness laughs at some reference Yukina doesn't understand. Once it might have made her feel excluded, but at the moment that hardly matters.
"Here you all are!" Botan's voice snaps Yukina out of the connection. Urameshi enters along with her, his clothes ripped but his spirit looking no worse for wear.
"If you were gonna have a party, you should've invited us," he says.
Their tones jar Yukina. They say that Botan had to flee and hide after Mukuro started seeking justice, and Kurama is still sniffing around for anything they've missed. At Yukina's pleading, Mukuro throws the leader at Urameshi, who tosses him over his shoulder and leaves.
Botan has already run to the captives, who are watching the scene with a mix of baffled and blank stares as if not convinced it's real. Yukina remembers being in their position, closing herself off to endure the torture and then shutting out others' attempts to save her. Her arms slide up to hug herself, and she turns in search of Hiei's body heat.
He's at Mukuro's side, no doubt touching her mind. Her wrists hang in front of her as if glued together; Hiei takes her hand to pry them apart.
"That's done with," he murmurs.
"Just get me out of this hellhole," she says.
At the gate Hiei swivels his head as if taking in the room for the first time, his eyes landing on Yukina, who hasn't moved. She knows what he's just now realized: leaving with Mukuro means leaving Yukina alone with Botan, a non-fighter.
Desperately his consciousness searches her, and she packs down all misgivings, knowing what she has to do.
Go, she tells him. She needs you. These people need me.
He looks lost, but he leaves, Mukuro's hand climbing up his back as they go.
With the battle settled, Yukina and Botan hurry to undo the humans' bonds and tend to their injuries. Other than bruises and chaffed skin, there are few physical wounds, considering their captors' investment in their bodies—but the few eyes that don't hold a familiar, glassy look are filled with fear.
After several humans break out of their shock, they start talking at once. A couple with the best grasp on the situation try to explain their escape attempts and how their hope had drained before the group arrived. One man asks why their captors wore such strange costumes. Another asks, repeatedly, if they're really here to rescue them. The girl beside him ignores their answers, making a run for it as soon as she thinks their backs are turned.
"Oh! Everyone, please, stay in here so we can protect you!" Yukina's plea falls on deaf ears. She has no choice but to throw up a wall of ice over the entrance, causing an uproar among the humans.
"What was that?"
"What are you?"
"Let us out!"
"Shut up!" a woman shouts loudly enough to cut through. "You're scaring my baby." The nearest teenagers crowd around, trying to soothe the baby as it wails. Botan joins in, making funny faces, but the mother shields it. Though her bonds have been broken, she hasn't risen from her chair.
Yukina steps carefully over, resisting the urge to touch people's arms and shoulders. "Everyone, please give her some space," she says, her quiet voice audible in the lull. She kneels beside the chair and nods to Botan, who returns to trying to explain the situation to the others.
"What's your baby's name?" Yukina asks. The woman stares. She's rocking back and forth in her chair now, trying to lull the baby as much as she can without moving her legs. "I'm Yukina," she tries again. "Would you tell me what to call you?"
She does not get far with the conversation, but with resistance she helps the woman stand, hovering by her while she paces her baby into hushed, hiccupping cries.
A crash sets the wails off again. Whirling toward the entrance, Yukina sees the guard she made Hiei spare. Purple blood drips from his arms onto the shards of ice that remain of her wall.
"This is the second time your ice has cut my knuckles, and thanks to your dog, this is the only set I have left," he says. "How are you going to make up for this, sweetheart?"
"Everyone, get back," Yukina says. The humans scamper to the far corner of the room. A few stand still, their lips parted, their limbs locked as if they've forgotten they can move them. Botan hustles them back while Yukina stands still in the center, shutting out the chaos behind her so she can concentrate.
If she throws him, he'll hit the humans; if she summons an icicle to stab into his belly, her trembling hands have little chance of succeeding before he smashes her. She needs the fire.
The demon stands without urgency, surveying his trapped prey. Fear dims the flame in her belly. Out of desperation she raises a wall behind her to shield the humans, then another in front of her, boxing her away from the demon to buy time.
It's only through the frosty lens that she sees a small, dark blur: the hair of the girl who'd tried to escape, hovering in the corner on the other side of the ice. Trapped.
Yukina gasps. She covers her mouth, flicking her eyes back to the demon, but it's too late. His chin is cocked toward the girl, yellow eyes staring down his nose. He smacks his lips.
"Aw, you see that? She wants us to be alone," he says. The girl darts, trying to slip between the demon and the barrier he broke through. A meaty claw grabs her forehead as Yukina shouts, throwing an icy gust against the wall in front of her. The wind corrodes it, dying out before it can break through to the other side.
Stop panicking, she tells herself. Concentrate. But the more she shuts out, the frostier she becomes, an igloo sheltering the flame.
The girl struggles in the demon's grasp, silent but for a few gasps and grunts. "You aren't being very polite," the demon says. "Ignoring your host like this." He lifts her off the ground, her feet kicking. "I expect more from my guests."
He squeezes, and the girl releases a sound Yukina can only describe as a squawk. It triggers something in her: Toguro's long fingers, the birds, their dying peeps. The final straw of her torture, committed because she'd frosted over instead of giving in.
The demon's grip moves down to the girl's neck. Yukina erupts, lava-like energy pouring from her to shatter the ice, reducing it to water that pools on the ground.
She can't see the girl. Her spirit is in human world, where she was held captive herself, where the flames that beckon to her live. The room flashes as she calls to them, her heat making the air shimmer like a mirage. Their great wings stop railing against the barred windows, splintering into tiny, feathered balls that burn the talismans off, slipping through the gaps into the open air.
The demon is saying something. She doesn't hear him, a screech in her ears drowning out all else. The metal ceiling warps and melts, dripping behind her into the water as the beings she's learned to summon swoop down.
Birds the size of her fist flock to her outstretched fingers. They make trilling noises, fighting for a place to perch. The demon stares, then opens his mouth in what must be laughter, his tongue bouncing. One of the birds shoots straight out onto it, singing the roof of his mouth when it closes. His eyes open, and two more birds fly into them, pecking and clawing.
Yelling, he drops the girl to grab a bird in his fist. The fire burns the pad of his hand, forcing him to release it.
Gasping for breath, Yukina lowers her hand. The bandages around her fingers have burnt through, and the birds are no longer within her control. Luckily, that's a problem for the guard, who's swiping at the elusive targets with the grace of a cat chasing its tail. Tumbling, he crashes backward against the broken bars, hitting his head before falling to the ground. The sound of his skull cracking against metal makes Yukina cringe.
She watches to see if he'll move. He doesn't. The birds fizzle out into smoke that streaks up through the holes in the ceiling.
She feels Botan's arm around her before she's regained herself. "You did it, sweetie!"
"Don't call me that." Yukina's voice slices, razor sharp, before she can stop it. It breaks her out of her trance. "I mean, um, please…"
"Excuse me—that was a bang-up job, Yukina. Your brother will be proud." Botan's hands fly to her mouth. "Would be proud! Um, ha…"
"It's okay, Botan. I know."
"Oh, good, or you would have just saved my otherwise clever mind for nothing. Well, at least you saved it! And everyone else…" Her voice trails off as she looks across the room. The humans are huddled together, staring between Yukina and the fallen demon with equal suspicion. The crying babe drowns out their whispers.
Yukina's exhaustion catches up as she tries and fails to straighten her back, hiding her burnt hand before Botan can worry. Summoning from another realm hasn't left her the strength to convince these people she's not a monster.
They're safe, she reminds herself. That's what matters.
Turning away from them, she spots the girl. She's leaning red-faced against the bars, gasping for breath. Yukina runs to her, stopping in front of the guard's body out of fear the girl will flee.
"Um, I know it may be hard to believe, but I'm a healer. If you'll let me look at—oh, I'm so sorry, if I'd realized you were over here…!"
"How did you do that?" the girl asks between huffs.
"Pardon?"
"That ice—and that fire—were those birds? Can you make more?" The girl's smooth face stretches in awe. Yukina can't remember the last time she dipped her chin to look at someone, let alone received such a reaction.
"I could summon them again, but not so soon. It's very dangerous." Yukina holds out her charred fingers as proof. They're numb enough for now, though she'll pay for her actions soon.
Still rubbing her own bruised neck, the girl ignores her warning. "Can you teach me?"
"I'm sorry, but probably not. To use this sort of power, you have to be…"
"Inhuman?" Yukina swallows, but the girl's tone is matter of fact. "Oh, well." The momentary spark in the girl's eye fades. Yukina is wondering how to bring it back when a floral scent joins that of smoke.
Kurama's injuries are far from the worst she's seen on him. He nods at her, though it's clear he's taking in the situation. Having someone she admires study her handiwork makes her more bashful than the girl's admiration had.
"It seems you have everything under control. Hiei thought I should come, but…" He squats to study the guard's body.
"Is he… Did I…?"
Kurama smiles faintly. "Is that a question to which you really want the answer?"
She presses her lips together and shakes her head.
As he rises, he halts, his face ashen. Yukina follows his eyes to the back of the room, where the mother is still rocking her child.
"How is Mukuro?" Yukina asks softly.
"Ah… Hiei is with her. She's working out how to operate this place so she can drive us back to the border. It would be too dangerous to escort the humans on foot."
Yukina murmurs understanding, relaying it to Botan, who's returned to trying to cheer the humans. She isn't sure they'd believe the message from her now, but it doesn't matter. They're safe, and so are her friends, and so is she.
Her fingers burn, the second knuckles joining the first in their stiffness, and she hardly cares.