I was still stroking the back of Hiei's hand when I heard pounding footsteps echoing through the hospital halls. Hospital employees yelled for the runners to slow down. Soon, the door to Hiei's room was thrown open, and Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara skidded into the room. The relief made me feel weak. I shot to my feet, and threw myself into Kurama's arms, sobbing.
"Aya, what happened?" He asked quietly.
"A demon attacked!" I cried into his chest. "The same one that attacked Yukina and I! Hiei tried, but the demon was too strong!"
"Is he going to be okay?" Yusuke and Kuwabara walked past us, and to Hiei's bedside. I doubt they had ever seen Hiei looking so fragile either.
"The doctors seem to think so. But that's probably only because I screwed with the machines enough so that they wouldn't think he had died."
"He'll pull through," Kuwabara said confidently. "This shrimp is too stubborn to go down that easily."
"Who…you calling…a…stubborn shrimp?" Hiei hissed weakly from the bed.
"Hiei!" I shrieked, detangling myself from Kurama at once. Hiei was opening his red eyes, staring around the bright room.
"Where…am…I?" He whispered.
"The hospital, Hiei," Kurama said, joining me and resting a hand on my back.
Hiei's eyes shot wide open in horror. "The human hospital?! No! Get me…out of here!" he tried to struggle out of the bed, but Yusuke and Kuwabara were easily able to subdue him.
"We will," Kurama promised, "as soon as the doctors say you can go. Now try and keep your temperature down and your heart rate up."
Hiei glared at Kurama. "Those things are a lot harder…to control than you seem to think." He snapped. I breathed a sigh of relief. Hiei was acting like his old, rude, pissed-off self. He was going to be okay. I knew it.
I reached out for his hand and took it in my own. His crimson eyes widened once again in surprise.
"Thank you," I whispered quietly, "for protecting me."
Hiei gently pulled his hand out of mine, and turned away from me. "It was nothing." I smiled.
***********************
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and I stayed by Hiei's side almost constantly, as long as the hospital let us. Yusuke and Kuwabara almost turned it into a party, which was mildly inappropriate considering where we were. And Hiei was getting more and more irritated as the days passed. But, as Kurama said, a little annoyance was good for him. I personally was pleased, because Hiei's condition gave Yusuke and Kuwabara an outlet for their jokes. Or at least that's what I thought.
"With the whale and the invalid, we're going to be big trouble if we do get attacked…" Yusuke absentmindedly stated.
I growled angrily. "Don't make me go medieval on your ass!"
Yusuke stared at me. "What the hell does that mean?"
"I'm not sure," I replied honestly. "But it sounds like a damn fine threat to me!"
"Don't call Aya a whale," Kurama said, even though he sounded like he was suppressing a laugh.
"Oh!" Kuwabara said. "I've got a good one. How do you turn a fox into a whale?" He waited a moment for someone to offer a reply, but no one did. He continued earnestly. "Marry her!"
I snarled viciously at him, which made him laugh more.
*******************
That night, when visiting hours were over, I sat on the roof of the building across the street from the hospital, keeping watch over Hiei as he slept. Yes, I know that sounds slightly stalker-ish. But I was thinking. He had only gotten hurt because I was there. As far as we knew, the demons didn't even harm the pregnant girls. But, Hiei had gotten seriously injured trying to protect me. It wasn't fair. What's worse is that I knew there was no way this demon gang was giving up. I had to figure out what this had to do with Shi-Odori Hospital. But…There wasn't any way the guys were going to let me go by myself. I had to sneak away somehow. But, the instant I went outside of the range of Hiei's jagan eye, he would send out an alert to everyone else. Besides that, everyone kept such a close eye on me, they would know anyways.
I felt like I was a disgrace to my demonic race. Demons should be able to be more creative and diabolical. Maybe if I…
"Hey, what're you doing up here? Trying to imitate the Goodyear blimp?"
I gritted my teeth. "What do you want, Yusuke?"
The spirit detective came and plopped himself down right beside me. "Aw, don't be mad, Aya…I'm just kidding."
I sighed. I knew very well about Yusuke's jokes. A few weeks ago when Atsuko Urameshi cooked all of us dinner, she tried counting how many times she remembered Yusuke flipping Keiko's skirt when he was younger. As far as I knew, she was still counting. I guess it was part of Yusuke's (and Kuwabara's) 'charm' (for lack of a better word).
"I'm not mad, Yusuke." It was difficult to stay angry at idiots. Especially since these particular ones were more precious to me than my own life.
"Really?" Yusuke sounded surprised. I smirked.
"Yes, sir. I'm taking a leaf out of Hiei's book. 'Don't get mad; get even.'"
Yusuke laughed. "Oh, I'm trembling in fear."
"Seriously, don't piss off the hormonal demon."
"I'll make an effort." Yusuke leaned back and lapsed into comfortable silence. His presence may not be as calming to me as Kurama or Hiei's, but I still enjoyed it. As you can imagine, it was difficult to be depressed when he was around. You were either irritated or amused.
"What would you do if Keiko was in danger?" I asked Yusuke. He looked like I had just asked the dumbest question in history. He should have known I wasn't finished. "The only problem is, she's only in danger as long as you are around her."
Yusuke closed his mouth, thinking (yes, yes, I know. Yusuke, thinking. Inconceivable!). "Is this danger easily defeat-able?" He asked slowly.
I shrugged. "You don't know. And you don't know how to find the danger, or how to fight it. But until you figure something out, she won't stop being in danger." If Yusuke hadn't figured out my point of the story yet, he really was the biggest moron in history.
"I'd run," Yusuke said quickly. "I know that she'd be pissed if I took off, but I won't risk her getting into that kind of danger. I know I'd be able to defeat this danger someday, and when I did, she would be still waiting here for me, ready to belt me the instant I came back."
I pondered Yusuke's answer in my mind. He was certainly right about Keiko waiting forever for him if she had to…
Yusuke stood, heading back towards the ladder we had both climbed up. He pasued, and turned back to me, smiling.
"Don't worry, I won't tell Kurama anything when you leave," he said, surprising me. "Just be careful, okay?" Then he vanished from my sight, down the ladder.
Yusuke's coolness status had been seriously elevated by that answer. When I got back, I vowed to buy him front row seats to the next martial arts world championship.