Lehstar: I'm BAAAaaaack!

Ch. 16 Let the Games Begin

Hiei...

Three months have passed since the girl had returned to the demonic realm, and I can't tell you the amount of regret my decision came with. Immediately upon her return the uprisings in the North further bled to the south, conquering every strip of land in their wake. Not a single city was left untouched by their war-machine as it marched further and further, each battle lost was another nail in the coffin.

Mukuro's army could no longer keep the northerners at bay. They brought with them a torrent of ice and snow that covered the upper half of Makai. The downpour of the freezing rain and pelting sleet dropped our morale lower and lower while it seemed to forever fuel their fire. Cold and miserable, the soldiers one by one succumbed to the bearers of water. There is nothing left to stand on in the North. We had to flee to Yomi's territory.

Ever since we were driven out, Yusuke and Kurama haven't looked at me the same way. They knew I had let the Aoitsuki go. They knew I was responsible, but for whatever reason, they kept it to themselves. They kept their motivations from doing so from me, and most of the war-plans. I can only extract their surface thoughts each time we meet. They keep things from me because they think she still has me under her control.

Ridiculous notions really, but I can't seem to make them believe me. The only thing she did to me was made me believe that she cared for me, even perhaps loved me. I can see now that it was all just a lie. Every night I would spend with her was just more time for her to get past my barriers. Clever little bitch.

I lay in Genkai's dojo on the window seat, pondering my next move. I had managed to make them think that I had no idea that I was being followed. Their little spies traced my every move every minute of every day since she escaped, and I know they're from Kurama and Yusuke's forces. I had sensed them the moment they came to the human world into Genkai's territory. I let it pass. I allowed them their surveillance, for if I were to act upon them, it would only make the fox and spirit detective even more suspicious of me. I will strike when the time is right, and I will hunt Sitsumi down and end her.

Kurama...

After his untimely demise, I looked over the videos of Dr. Hazard's research, and needless to say, his experiments were horrific at best. There were logs of him electrocuting the little girl in that glass chamber. Trying to force her to sing like her cousins the sirens, but she had never made a peep. When he was bored, it seemed, he torched her, and branded her, to see how far he could hurt her before her powers of regeneration could no longer heal the damage. From what I saw, he was able to get to melt her to the marrow of her bone before her regeneration gave up. Even then, he didn't quit. Dr. Hazard kept going until the molten metal object was skewered through each of her skinny little limbs.

Many times I had to look away from the screen. He had cut her hair numerous times, sometimes shaving her bald, trying to dehumanize her, humiliate her, and each night it would grow back. To try and stop it, he would brand bits of her scalp. The results were the same. One of the cruelest acts he had committed to that girl was severing her limbs one by one, carterising the wound afterward, then leave her lying on the floor motionless. He had only done this twice however. It seems that every time he would do this, she would recover her missing limbs and escape her imprisonment. He had to be ordered to stop that part of the procedure.

"It seems every time I try to extract the soul from this girl's body, the Spell of Water eludes me and goes into hiding. I suspect some sort of defense mechanism that the pesky lizard put in place to ensure her safety, but nevertheless, I will continue with my research. End Log."

"Log 67, Entry 5. It's incredible! Her regenerative powers, I have discovered come from the water in wherever it may be. Her blood, the air, even the sweat of my subordinates she can use to sustain her own life. She is absolutely the most interesting specimen I've worked with."

"Entry 351. I've nearly done it. I've almost isolated Arare. I've had to scour the library for old magic, and it seems she has a connection to a certain item. Possibly a gemstone or a piece of silver. It would have to be powerful enough to contain the water bearers soul. I will have to look further into this."

I looked at the date of the last entry. It was the same day as Dr. Hazard's death, the time merely 15 minutes before.

"Log... uh... 73, Entry.. shit." He ruffled through some papers. "It doesn't matter. I fear for my life at the moment. My suspicions about the hierarchy of the Spirit world have been confirmed. The Spell of Water is definitely trying to overthrow King Enma, but what I have discovered maybe his downfall. This is addressed to Prince Koenma. Sir, Arare" There was a loud bang then a gust of air blew in. I could see the little flakes of snow start to fall within his office. " NO wait! I know who you are!" He screamed for mercy as he backed out of the camera's view, then another figure walked past, dressed in white. "Please I can help you! No! NO PLEASE!" I heard Dr. Hazard's screams before they abruptly stopped. The sound of something fleshy exploding was what over took the audio, then complete silence. The figure walked back into the camera's view, its head hanging low, the hair whipping around her in the chill she had made within the room. She slowly turned towards the camera, lifting her head as she did so. She showed her face, the grin marred by the blood streaked across from chin to ear. She giggled before the screen went black.

I know her. In fact. I know her mother. And i know the gemstone Dr. Hazard was talking about. In fact, it's an ancient powerful amulet I was hired to retrieve when I was still Youko Kurama. It was such a long time ago, but I remember it now. It almost seemed like a dream. Her mother's hair was long and as black as ink, her eyes the color of sapphires her skin as pale as the moon, and her voice as sultry as the sirens. Then there was the baby in her arms. She carried her as if she was the last drop of water in all of Makai. I had no idea at the time that I was aiding the dragon of water. It was just another job then. Just another day of work. I even remember Kuronue wanting a bit more compensation for our services. She smiled and laughed. I had thought at the time that she was just playing coy, but no. If it truly was Ametari, she would've been able to put him and I in our place.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I have been re-watching these logs over and over again. I don't know what Dr. Hazard could've been talking about, but it had to do something with the order of the Spirit realm, and though his death was gruesome, I couldn't help but feel that it was deserved.

"What exactly did we get ourselves into?"

Hiei...

I continued to sit in silence for some time. The girl's cat, that used to sit with me, was now long gone. It must've known my thirst for blood. I had searched for it for quite some time, fully convinced that it knew where she was. I looked outside for a glance, catching one of the spies ducking into the brush. Naoko came up behind me.

"Wow they suck." She said.

"Hn."

"And they're from Kurama's forces?"

"That one was from Yusuke's. There's two more in the tree tops from him. The other three are from Kurama. One is hiding in the garden, one is circling around the temple, and the other.."

"Is on the roof. I know. Hey. Do you know why they're keeping such close tabs on you?"

"No." I said flatly. If Kurama didn't tell her, then she doesn't need to know.

"Why haven't you gone out there and kicked their asses yet?"

I didn't answer.

"Fine." She threw her hands up in the air. "You know Hiei, if you're in trouble, I can always get you out of it." She smiled before leaving.

" I don't need your help. " I whispered under my breath once she was gone.

... TBC

Holy fucking SHIT! How fucking long has it been guys?! Seriously? I do believe it's been 2 years since I last up-dated. SO let me give you a run down. My original computer was broken by my fat lazy cat, which had ALL of my stories within it. In fact, this story WAS 3 chapters ahead, but all of that hard work was GONE! So I gave up on it for a while.

After that I forgot about this fic and went to college, going for a 3D art degree! WHOOO! And life just sort of got the better of me.

I'm now engaged, and living alone, paying my own bills and what not, and then I finally decided to come back to this site after my bestest friend in the WHOLE world called me, asking me about my story. (she, by the way, is the creator of Naoko) And when I re-read it I was like, DAMN! Look at this piece of shit I wrote as a kid. And then that's when I decided I should work on it. I tweaked a few things here and there, touched up on some of the plot devices I had put in place, and tied up a few loose ends that needed to be snipped.

AND HERE WE ARE! I have written for you a short chapter for now, but I promise that I will NOT give up on this story again! Now that I'm out on my own, I seem to have a LOT of time on my hands, and I have been wanting to finish this fic ever since I started it all those years ago.

So to my fans, whether you return to me or not, I give you all of my love. I re-read ALL of the reviews from the first to the last, and I could not help the smile that came across my face. I was so happy that all of you appreciated my work that I dedicate this entire story to you, for all of you have been nothing but supportive and wonderful.

TO YOU! My fans, my readers, my fellow writers. May we have many more chapters to come!