"I've only seen this happen three other times, but each one of them begged me to kill them before they died."
Hiei did not doubt Shigure's words. He spent the greater part of the next day grappling with the blinding pain the Jagan now inflicted on him every so often. What seemed like months, but was only a few hours, Hiei spent huddled in a corner of Shigure's workshop, digging his nails into the floor so hard he left grooves in the wood. His fingers were bloody by the time he was aware of them again.
For most of that time, the pain in his forehead had pushed all other thought from his mind. He remembered nothing save that comment from the surgeon. And when he was able, he responded in kind.
"Suck on it, jackass!"
"You sound like them," Shigure chuckled, sharpening his round sword across the room.
"Like…who?" Hiei panted.
"Those humans you are so fond of."
"I don't know…what you're talking about."
"No demon would say 'suck on it, jackass'." Shigure pointed out.
"It's a perfectly good phrase."
"It's a human phrase."
"You're a human phrase…"
"There's another one."
Hiei refused to speak after that.
It was the only place he could think of that they would not look for him. Would Yusuke even consider the Demon World? Plus, he got the feeling there was something Shigure wasn't telling him. So he stayed close.
"This has to stop…" Hiei stated after a second round with the branding-iron-sharpened-dagger pain. That's how he described it now, since that's the thought that came to him in the last haze of pain. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could imagine Yusuke joking, "They should make a movie about that, 'Branding Iron, Sharpened Dagger'. Bet it beats Harry Potter in the box office." Hiei had chuckled aloud at the thought and Shigure had looked at him as if he were insane. And maybe he was. Or maybe these thoughts were all that kept him from losing his mind.
"There's nothing you can do," Shigure said in his deep drone, "I told you that already."
"There has to be something." Hiei insisted.
"I don't understand why you are so hell-bent on saving your own life," Shigure was growing angry now, "Last I spoke with you, you did not fear death."
"It's not my life I'm trying to save," Hiei countered. Unbidden, images of the humans back home flooded his mind. Yusuke, Keiko. Kurama, Kuwabara. And when had he started using that word? 'Home'?
Unsteadily, Hiei stood up and faced Shigure. "They care about me," he told him, "If I die, a part of them does too. And I won't let that happen."
The demon surgeon was silent for a time as he contemplated his young patient's words. Then –
"There is one other," Shigure sighed, "Another case like yours before you. She survived. I don't know how, or why. But if anyone can help you, it's her."
Hiei felt a weight lift off him. There was a chance.
He turned to leave but Shigure called to him, "I can't promise you anything, Hiei. But I wish you luck."
"Thanks," Hiei smirked, "but I don't need it."
"He'll come back when he wants to, Urameshi, it's not that big of a deal," Kuwabara insisted.
"No, something's wrong. He was sick or something, remember? And now he just disappears." Yusuke said, "Why am I the only one worried?"
"You're not." Kurama had been silent up until this point.
"I'm tellin' ya, it's a waste of time," Kuwabara said as they all stood to leave Yusuke's room, "You can't find him if he doesn't want you to."
Kuwabara didn't know if it was good luck or bad that he hesitated as the other two left. He didn't really think about it much when he felt the sword's tip touch his back.
"Don't say one word, or I'll kill you right here," Hiei hissed behind him, "And don't you think I won't."
