I peeked around the gate of the courtyard to the building. It was large, and the garden inside was very lovely. Hard to believe it belonged to corrupt humans.

I could see shadows moving about. Probably guards. Hiei had promised to take care of any guards, as long as I dealt with the inanimate features of the security system.

With no warning, Hiei wrapped his arm around my waist, and leapt up to the top of the brick wall surrounding the gate. I tried my hardest not to shriek in surprise, but I did squeak a little. My knees buckled from the shock when we hit the top of the wall, and I began to fall off. One of Hiei's arms flashed around my waist again, and the other around my shoulders so I was pressed securely against his body.

"Shhh," he breathed into my ear. I shivered.

Keeping a extremely firm hold of me, Hiei jumped gracefully down from the wall onto a tree branch. The branch trembled slightly at the impact of our combined weight, and I held my breathe in fear that the guards had heard us. But no alarm was sounded, and a second later, Hiei hopped off the branch, and we landed in the grass. He pushed me against the trunk of the tree, touching one finger to his lips to warn me to be quiet. He vanished from my sight.

As silently as possible, I slid down to the base of the trunk, and tried to make myself as unnoticeable as possible. There was no way I was going to screw this up for Hiei.

I almost screamed when Hiei suddenly reappeared right in front of me. As if he could see the cry rising in my throat, he clamped his hand over my mouth, causing me to swallow my shriek of fright.

"Come on," he hissed, "your way is clear now."

Cautiously, I crept out of the cover of the tree, my eyes flitted back and forward. I wasn't sure if I was looking for guards that Hiei had missed, or the bodies of the guards. But I saw neither. I wasn't sure whether this was a good thing, or now.

The first obstacle I encountered was a plain key lock on the door. I touched the doorknob momentarily, and it clicked open. I twisted the knob, and pushed the door open.

I was met with a pair of shiny guns pointed at my face. My mouth dropped open, but before the gunmen could fire, Hiei viciously seized my wrist and threw me out the door behind him. I skidded on the cement walkway, as I heard metal clanging and awful slicing noises. I sat up, wincing as my new scratches burned. I stood, limping slightly, and joined Hiei, where he was now standing in the entrance hall.

There had been three gunmen, and now they lay about in various pieces. The stench of blood permeated the hall. I couldn't even tell which slices were what, and had belonged to whom. My knees gave out, and I collapsed. I began to vomit, continuing until I had nothing left in my stomach. I weakly coughed, wiping my mouth on the sleeve of my shirt. Hiei bent down next to me, concerned.

"You would think I would be used to stuff like this by now," I gasped. Hiei frowned sympathetically.

"It's different if you are the one actually doing the killing. You grow to ignore it. It's okay for you to be like this."

I smiled slightly. "But I thought you said you didn't like weaklings."

Hiei leaned away from me, alarmed. I suppose he truly hadn't thought I'd heard the conversation between him and Kurama that day in the temple. Busted…

Hiei looked away from me. "Maybe you bothered me then," he said softly, "but certainly not now. I…I'm sorry. I don't mind protecting you."

I smiled, even though he wasn't looking at me to see. "Don't worry about it. Come on. We have a job to do." This time, it was I that stood and offered him my hand. Surprised, he took it and I pulled him to his feet. I let go, and turned to pay attention to the small alarm system to the side of us.

Technology like this wasn't the usual idea of locking system, but it was still a type of lock. Only much harder and more energy-consuming to unlock. I lightly slipped my fingers across the buttons, concentrating. It took a few minutes, but finally the small keypad beeped, informing me that it had disarmed. I exhaled heavily, before realizing my hands were shaking from exhaustion. I quickly pulled my hands to my side so Hiei wouldn't see.

He motioned me to follow him, and I did, at a safe distance. Whenever we came across guards, I would press myself against the closest wall and close my eyes, trying not to listen to the awful sounds of Hiei's sword slashing through human flesh. Before I could open my eyes, he usually pulled me past the scene of slaughter. I grimaced to image all the filth I was probably getting on my shoes. Finally Hiei paused before a large, white metal door.

"This is where is should be," he whispered. "They conducted experiences on non-human creatures in this room, so if there's any cure, this is where they would have it." I wasn't sure if Hiei was saying this because he was confident in the information, or if he was trying to convince himself. Nevertheless, I took this as my cue, and ran my hands along the door to discover what kind of lock system it had.

Huh…I had never encountered something like this before. It was extremely complicated, combining old-time locking systems with some strange technology. And the door was radiating with demon energy. Not from whatever was in the room, but the door itself. Taking a deep breath, I pressed my fingertips to the odd door. I didn't want to let Hiei down.

My knees started to tremble, and I fought to keep myself up. I felt Hiei's hand on my shoulder, trying to gently pull me away from the door, but I stubbornly shook him off. One by one, all the intricate locking systems unlocked. Finally, the door pushed open, and I fell to my knees, panting.

"Tera…" Hiei bent down to me, his hands brushing over my forehead, like he was checking for a fever.

"Go," I breathed, my voice weak. "Get whatever it is you need. I'll be here…Resting…" I leaned my head against the doorframe, and Hiei stood, walking into the room. I sighed, closing my eyes, waiting for him to come back. I drifted in and out of consciousness, until I felt someone pull me into their arms.

"Hiei," I whispered in relief.

"Hiei?" A male voice I didn't recognize answered. "Who's that?"

Whew! I've only been back in school for a couple of weeks, but it feels like it's been forever! Sorry it took so long...