LS: Thank you thank you!! I feel so loved. Not much to say so I'll just go on with the story!!! Now here's a Christmas present just for you guys!! It short but this chapter needed to be put out if I wanted to keep going. I SHAN'T GIVE UP!!!

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Something Missing

…..Hiei…..

It's been a week since I've last seen her. The uprisings had gotten out of control in the north. They continued to slaughter one demon village after another, moving towards the larger cities. Mukuro sent me out along with a squad of A-ranked demons to assess the damage the rebel army had done. Apparently "Arare's Children", as they've proclaimed themselves, have been searching for supplies as they continue to terrorize the demon plains with their talk of the destruction of the three worlds. They've been cut off from their island home a month ago, making it impossible for them to re-supply from their own territory. All of this was thanks to their king who refuses to help them any longer. Koenma told us that he regrets the loss of life and lands to his people. He hadn't done anything before because he did not know such a thing was happening, or so he says.

My entire body ached from exhaustion and the need to get back to the human world to see the girl. My nerves usually calmed while I was with her. Everything seemed right and in place, and, to be honest, I wanted a really good fuck to get my mind off of this whole situation. I can't stand Mukuro's bitching for much longer. If she doesn't keel over soon, I just might run a blade through her heart myself, but that could just be my temper talking.

However, now that I was back once again, I can finally take my mind off of work and just settle down for a while. I haven't had any sleep since I got that painting back, and I haven't even looked at the damn thing yet. They hauled me off to the Demon World before I could get a chance.

I was once again in front of the girl's tea shop. The smell of baked goods in the air as I walked through the door. Today I knew she'd be free, since she usually takes Sundays off.

When I got to the door, I noticed something very odd. The shop was closed. The only other time I've ever seen that happen was when it was the Christmas holiday. Everything was closed then. When I tried to open the door it was locked. I merely pulled out a pin and easily picked it, letting myself in. I looked around to see that everything was still in place, nothing else had changed. I walked to the back and through the double doors that lead to the kitchen. Passed the kitchen came a stairway that led to her upstairs apartment. I walked up those stairs and knocked on the door. Who opened it was not who I was expecting.

"Hiei-san?" It was Mei. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

"The door was unlocked." I lied, my blank stare giving nothing away.

"Oh. I could have sworn I locked that door. Why don't you come inside." She smiled warmly and stepped aside to let me in. She closed the door behind her.

Everything had changed here. All of Sitsumi's old furniture was gone. The chairs, the television, the small cot, even the wall where the bookshelf was located, there were two doors that seemed to lead into two separate bedrooms in its place. I wonder if the girl knew they were there, hidden behind the bookshelf. The only thing I could recognize was the piano sitting in between the tall windows. "If I had known you were coming I would've made us some tea." She said, gaining back my attention.

"I see you redecorated." I replied. Sitsumi must have recruited her to do some remodeling project on her home. She once made a comment about it.

"Yes. Do you like it?" Mei sat at a small round table with four chairs in the middle of the room. She motioned for me to sit down. I followed her lead.

"It's nice." I replied, merely making conversation until the girl arrived.

I heard a baby crying in another room. "Oh, dear. Give me a moment." She rushed over to one of the doors where the bookcase once stood. When she opened the door the crying became louder. After a minute or two, she came back, carrying a small bundle in her arms. The crying had stopped.

I hadn't realized Mei wasn't pregnant anymore. She must have just recently given birth.

"There, there little one. It's alright." She cooed. It reminded me of Yukina when her children were born, and how she would be constantly coddling them like a mother hen. "Hiei. I'd like you to meet Haru." She revealed the bundle in her arms to me. She gave birth to a son. He looked nothing like his mother. "He was born just last week. He looks just like his father. It's about time for his bottle."

Figured as much.

"That reminds me. Milkshakes." She looked over to a wooden chair with a plush cushion. There sat the bane of my existence. SMei walked over to the cat and set a bowl of food in front of the chair. The cat looked at it for a moment then sighed disdainfully, turned away, and went back to sleep. That's a new side to the cat that I've never seen. Normally it jumps at the chance to eat. Mei sighed as well. "Poor thing. She's been acting like that since the accident. I assume you're here to pick her up, right?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? What accident?"

Mei looked confused. "The accident, Hiei-san. You must have heard about it. It happened just last week, it was all over the news. Cars were piled up everywhere. How can you not know? Surely you must have been contacted. Someone must have told you about it."

When I didn't answer she looked down, refusing to meet my gaze. "Hiei-san, I don't know how to tell you this but…" She trailed off.

Panic pooled in the pit of my stomach. "What happened to Sitsumi?"

"She was out in the middle of the night. It was a street race and… they didn't see her, she couldn't get out of the way fast enough, so she was hit and…" Her voice was caught in her throat. She didn't want to continue. I could smell the brimming tears in her eyes. She cleared her throat before speaking again. "She had instructions made. It says that if anything happens to her, you are supposed to take care of the cat." She gave a small chuckle. "Sitsumi always talked about how well you and Milkshakes got along. I just thought you would've heard about it by now. It's been a week and they've already gone through the procedure while she was at the hospital and everything and…" She trailed off, lost in thought.

"What are you saying? Where the hell is she?" I abruptly stood up.

"Hiei-san. Sitsumi died."

……….

It was raining again. The heavy storms had halted any attempts at defeating the rebel army. Weeks had passed and the rivers were overflowing. Towns were not only being destroyed by them but also by the constant downpour and flooding of the lowlands. There was nothing that we could do until the storms passed by.

I sat in my room of Mukuro's stronghold on the cushioned window seat, watching the rain as it fell. My cheek burned with the coldness of the glass, my legs hurt from sitting on them for so long. I had a hole punched through my stomach about a week ago when I encountered the rebel leader. Never thought we would actually meet face to face. I've never fought an oponent like him before. His fluid movements in his fighting style and the use of his control over water nearly made him my equal, but he was able to get one lucky shot in, nearly killing me. It was a searing pain that left the rest of my body numb, every bit of movement would set it off. Though I hadn't a care. The pain didn't matter.

Slaughtering one rebel after another became pointless after a while. The screams of the dying no longer satiating my undying bloodlust. It was just work. I took no more enjoyment in killing my opponent. I took no more pride in what I did as a warrior.

I unconsciously stroked the cat behind its ears as she sat in my lap, trying to calm myself. Trying to rid myself of the constant feeling of being left alone. She softly purred, the sound giving me little comfort. She continuously stayed within my company, whether it was in Makai or Ningenkai, she is always at my heels, following me wherever I went. I didn't mind. In fact, her company is perhaps the only thing keeping me sane.

I knew she would die eventually. She is a human after all, and because of that, it was inevitable. There was no other way for her to go. A fragile being like her was meant to perish and ascend to the Spirit realm. At least she won't have to suffer the inhumanities of the world any longer. I knew that she would die, I knew that eventually I would have either had to leave her before she figured out that I didn't age, or kill her myself, and yet, I still can't stop thinking about her. I admit it.

I miss her.

Her smile, her eyes, her skin, her voice. I wanted it back. I wanted her back. I don't know why I feel the way I do, lifeless, soulless, uncaring. I put so much importance on what I felt for that insignificant little girl. Those feelings continued to build up inside of me to the point where I just don't feel like trying anymore. Does everything good have to come crashing down in front of me? When I strive for a bit of joy, am I doomed to have it stripped away from me? Am I really that undeserving? Is my fate to roam the desecrated lands of this bottomless pit alone? Unwanted? Unhappy? Will my only escape from this torment be death? Or will I have the same torture even in death as hell swallows me for the rest of eternity? Why am I such a waste of life?

"Meow?" The cat looked up at me, her stone grey eyes still, half lidded, nearly lifeless.

"Hm?" I kept its gaze, trying to figure out what she could possibly want.

It sighed, turning herself away from me, and going back to sleep. I stared at her for a time, still wondering what she could have possibly wanted.

The two of us had been like this ever since my visit with Mei. Once I took her back to the demon world with me, there wasn't a way to separate the two of us from each other. If she hadn't had been with me when I faced off with the rebel leader I probably wouldn't be alive right now. Though I hate her more than anything, she is my sole companion. I've given up hope for myself and everyone around me. If I die, I wouldn't care. I won't fight it. It'll just make the pain hurt a little less.

I am completely pathetic.

Nothing matters to me anymore. After I found about her death, everything seems… unimportant. I've never felt such tortured anguish. This feeling has lodged a lump inside of my throat. Unmoving, unwavering. It stays there day after day, and it starts to hurt when my thoughts turn to her, which is often.

I didn't want to move, to think, to see, to feel. I stayed in my room, laying in my bed, doing absolutely nothing. I can't remember when I've last eaten, last slept, last breathed without that annoying lump giving me excruciatingly annoying pain. A hard spot formed in my chest. I tried feeling for it, but there was nothing. I wondered if I had some sort of illness when I went to the medic to have him check it out. He said there was nothing wrong with me. There was nothing there when he looked at the x-ray. I am in top physical form. He tried recommending me to a shrink. I recommended him to shut the hell up.

I still felt that hard spot, but it seemed to have grown in size each day that passes. Thinking of the girl kept it from growing, but made the lump in my throat hurt more. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. I've never felt so helpless in my life. I haven't felt so alone.

I tried to gaze at my mother's gem from time to time, but it reminded me of her eyes. I tried to sit in the hot spring to sooth myself, but reminded me of the many things we would do together in her shower. I would stare at the sunset, stand in the rain, watch people as they pass me by, nothing seemed to take away what I felt inside.

And I hated it. I hated myself. I hated her.

The only thing I can live for now is to just be an obedient lackey of the Spirit world, and perhaps I'll be able to see her in the after life, perhaps I can see her just once more before I'm sentenced to oblivion.

I scratched behind the cat's ears once more, trying to find comfort in the softness of her fur. Again, there was little to be gained. My other hand resided in my pocket, fingering the small blue ribbon she gave to me almost a month ago. It seems to be my only way of knowing that everything I did with her really had happened, that it wasn't some sort of dream that in a state of madness I had created within the folds of my mind. The tiny piece of cloth and the cat where my last connections to her, and maybe that's why I let the cat follow me around, not because she wanted me to take care of it, it could've taken care of itself well enough in its own. No. The only reason why I kept the cat was for more selfish reasons. I kept it to try and get rid of the feelings still brewing within my chest, and when I think about it, I might have just saved myself from the grip of insanity.

My eyes felt heavy, and even though I did not feel tired; in fact, I did not feel anything at all; I slowly started to loose consciousness. Drifting off, perhaps to finally rest for what was three weeks.

My phone rang preventing me sleep. I picked it up uncaring. "What?" My voice was tired.

"Hiei?" It was Kurama. "We need you to come to the Spirit world immediately."

I sighed. "Why?"

"We've found her. We've finally found her."

"Found who?"

"The Aoitsuki."

I almost dropped the phone.

TBC…

LS: Sorry It took so long and that this chapter is so short. I needed it out of the way before I could get to the really juicy parts!!! Trust me, you'll love me for it!!

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