A Fast Demon Returns

Machiko

I was flying over Yusuke, trying to simultaneously ignore and not ignore the feeling that we were being watched.

And I was trying to stay in the air. This was getting hard, flying with dead weight; like flying while I had been carrying Kurama, only different.

We got back to the road. Then a semi was coming towards us.

"This is great, I can hitch a ride to the nearest phone booth. That's assuming the guy doesn't think I'm from a cult with all these stupid tattoos! Hey, Stripey, can you fly a bit higher so that you don't get spotted? You don't look like a hitchhiker."

I didn't answer; my breath was running a bit short. But I did climb a bit more.

Suddenly…

"Machiko, get back down here! I need some help – this semi's been sent by Sniper!"

Say that five times fast. I climbed a tiny bit more, backflipped, closed my wings and dove for him. "This will be cutting it close, Yusuke – back to the semi, and hold out your arms like you want the driver to shoot you!"

"Right, because it really is a bullet!" But at least he did.

I fell behind him and in front of the semi, spread my wings again and effectively hugged him around the chest under his arms. A couple powerful flaps, and I was moving again. Fortunately I still had all of my momentum. Unfortunately, it wasn't much – I hadn't climbed that high before I dove, I didn't have time while injured the way I am.

I swerved away from the road and started flying through the trees while still carrying Yusuke. And that semi was still hard on my injured tail.

"Matchy, you'd better not lose your grip!"

I had never put away my claws; I deliberately let them pierce through his sides.

"Ow!"

"Which would you prefer – getting dropped or having a few little punctures? Genkai can patch up punctures later; the semi would just run right over you."

"Thanks for putting everything in perspective!"

Always sarcastic, that Yusuke.

Then we saw him up on a cliff – with a gun!

"I see, so killing me with a truck wasn't enough, huh?" Yusuke yelled. He was the one with the breath for it, after all.

As it turned out, he didn't shoot us…he shot the fuel truck!

I had just barely enough presence of mind to turn my wings so that they'd catch the explosion and drag us upwards. Once we had the hot air, we shot far up – higher than I'd ever had opportunity to fly, with or without a passenger!

"Whew…thanks, Machiko – huh?"

Oh…he must have noticed that my wings are trembling. "I've…I'm coming to my limits, Yusuke. I'm sorry, but I absolutely have to land."

"Hey, hey, hey! We're not going to fall out of the air!"

"I'm not an idiot! I'm going to try for a gradual glide, but I don't know how far I can carry it. If we're lucky, we'll glide right out of his territory before he finds us. Knowing my luck today, though…I wouldn't count on it."

Then I thought I spotted something below. "Huh?"

"What's up?"

"Did I say glide? Get ready, that's going to turn into a dive – I'm going to drop us right on Sniper's head."

"Oh, bring it on!"

"When I say kick, I need you to swing your legs backwards; that'll get both of us with our heads pointing down like a dive's supposed to be, and hopefully your feet will hit my tail and get it into the right position too."

"Right."

"Ready…and…kick!" I kicked my own feet backwards and felt a sharp pain in my tail. Well, he hit it. Our heads angled downwards, and I partially closed my wings. I have to keep this relatively controlled, or I'll rip my wings off when I try to backwing.

We dove downwards. I had good eyes, and I talked it out to Yusuke. "Hiei! He's walking up to Sniper on his own, even though the guy's pointing a gun at him! Don't use your Spirit Gun, I have to see this!"

The gun went off down there several times, but Hiei dodged every time, and then tagged the guy with his sword! That was around the time I had to open my wings and backwing to a landing – not on Sniper's head, but in front of Sniper, a yard or so ahead. Hiei knocked the guy out instead of actually killing him, and then said some nonsense about protecting the trees…though it's possible he meant it.

Yusuke was the one standing. I'd wrapped my legs around his waist and had shifted the grip of my hands from puncturing his sides to hanging onto his shoulders – that had taken some effort, my hands had gotten stiff from hanging on so hard. My tail was lying on the ground, and my wings were fanned slightly for balance.

"Look at it; the portal to the demon world will be open soon. And maybe I'll be able to return home."

I almost feel sorry for him.

Then Yusuke dropped to his knees and punched the ground. "Dammit!"

I don't remember most of what happened, besides that half of what Yusuke and Hiei did next…was while I was still clinging to Yusuke's back like a monkey. The end result was that Yusuke had ended up with his foot on one of my wings thanks to an off-balance maneuver, and Hiei's swordpoint touching his neck!

After a moment, Hiei let Yusuke up, but the two men ended up trying to stare each other down.

I closed my wings and wished that my ankles would let me stand. Because then I could walk away from this – this wasn't how I'd planned to cross paths with Hiei again, this was humiliating.

Then Hiei's eyes started glowing blue, and his whole little body started pulsing with energy!

I didn't say anything. If Yusuke decided he wanted to try to fight this little guy, he wasn't going to listen to me.

Hiei ditched his cloak. "It's been too long since our last fight." An energy wave from the demon pushed us backwards, maybe farther than normal because I'd spread my wings to catch it.

That did it. When Yusuke gained his feet again, I let go, falling hard on my butt and quickly putting away my wings before I fell over backwards and got stuck there.

Hiei, you've got some gorgeous pecs and amazing abs, surprising in one so small!

I just sat there watching as the two men battled it out. Absently, I slid my hands down to my ankles and carefully pulled free the blades of grass that had technically still been stuck there – I hadn't had time to get them out before.

First Yusuke was getting pounded, but he came running right back for more and laid a few punches of his own on Hiei!

When you don't know who to root for, keep your mouth shut.

Finally, there was a respite. Yusuke looked exhausted, while Hiei barely looked like he was breaking a sweat. Then Hiei started licking an injury he'd gotten on his right arm, as if he was a cat.

I cocked my head. Well, that's almost cute.

I'm still not sure what had just happened. But apparently Hiei had been trying to drive a point home to Yusuke, and it had finally worked.

Then Yusuke started laughing and giggling something about telling everyone that Hiei would come back to save us, "you big softie, hee hee hee, or should I say little softie?"

Hiei…hit him for me, would you?

I could almost read Hiei's mind: "I should have slit your throat when I had the chance."

Then Yusuke sobered up. "Really: thank you Hiei, I needed that kick in the ass." Hiei put his cloak-thing back on and nearly left. Then Yusuke baited Hiei into staying with us by mentioning that Chapter Black video. What a bribe, and he fell for it.

Then a couple of demons appeared – really ugly ones!

I went tense. Yusuke and Hiei were mobile, but…it had been thanks to Yusuke that I'd gotten in the air in the first place, and I wasn't up to trying to fly again anyway! The best I'd be able to manage was a crawl!

Why was I worried? Even with both of them pounded by each other, they still had the energy to vaporize those two uglies.

"As much as I loathe the humans," Hiei remarked, "I think I loathe tourists even more."

"Great. And on that note," Yusuke remembered my existence, "I think it's your turn to carry Stripey. The guy you knocked out did a number on her ankles, and she can't walk."

I blinked. "You sure I won't squash him? I might be light, but I'm bigger than he is!"

"Are you trying to imply I don't have the strength to carry you?" Hiei put away his sword and hefted me up into his arms!

I confess, I squeaked and caught hold of his scarf-cape. "Mind my tail! Thanks to a different shot of that freak back there, I can't move it very well! Um…Yusuke? Can you help my tail up? I can probably hold onto Hiei's waist, but it'll need an assist."

"Okay." I didn't see where he went, but I felt him catch hold of my tail – the injured side, I had to hold back a hiss – and started the twirl up and around. One extra tug, looping the injured side over the uninjured side, effectively trapped Hiei in a circle. "There you go – now there's no way he can step on it."

"…Ow." I glared at him.

Hiei was glaring, too.

We finally made it back to the others. Once we were in sight of them, the guys started running. I clung tighter, and felt my tail attempt to tighten its hold.

"Steady."

That was all Hiei said.

"Hey, if I could run, I would! I'm faster than you!"

"Who said?"

"I've got longer legs than you, of course I'm faster!" Actually, I didn't know that. I was…okay, I was trying to provoke him a bit. If he didn't like nice, he was going to get nasty.

We properly joined up, and Hiei turned my ankle-side towards Genkai. "Here – fix these before I lose my patience."

I blinked at Seaman. "So you're on our side, huh? Decided humans weren't so bad after all?"

"Something like that."

After a minute, Genkai tapped my knee lightly with a fingertip. "There. You can stand now. Now let's see that tail of yours."

It didn't surprise me that she knew: Kamiko probably sensed it and told her.

Hiei dropped my legs and let my feet hit the ground. That sent a shock through my newly-healed ankles, but nothing awful. I tugged at my tail, attempting to untie it. "For a guy who couldn't see what he was doing, Yusuke, you tied this really well."

Yusuke laughed as Hiei grabbed hold of the hurt end and gave it a toss to unwind it.

Genkai lifted my tail and studied the hole as I added, "I'm pretty sure the bullet or whatever is still in there, which is why I haven't made any attempt to heal it."

"Well, your instincts were right on that count – it is still in there. Kurama?"

The red-haired fox-boy knelt, and my tail was draped across his knee. "Botan, do you have any tweezers with you?"

"Um…yes…"

"May I use them for a second?"

"Of…course."

I saw a flash of steel and shut my eyes. I know my heart rate kicked it up a notch, and I have a fast heartbeat to begin with. "Talk to me, Genkai…what had that shot done to my tail? I can't move anything past that injury."

"You're still feeling pain in your tail's entirety, right?"

"Y-yes…" Like right now, in fact…

"That means your spinal cord wasn't severed; that shot had lodged itself between two of your vertebrae, making it impossible to bend, and it was pushing on the spinal cord. Apparently, right when it entered you started bending your tail away from it, and that made your bones grab it, keeping it from penetrating all the way through your spine."

"Well…that's…good,…right?"

"Done."

I turned to look at Kurama. The bloody-tipped tweezers were holding a tiny ball; its original color was lost in the fact that my blood was all over it.

"Okay, good." I straightened up and focused for a second. My tail slowly absorbed itself into my body. This was still extremely painful, but I knew it had to be done if I was going to heal.

Finally, I was standing there, a perfectly ordinary human being with vibrantly-striped claw-feet.

"There. Now that I've ditched the tail, I have to wait about five minutes before I bring it back." I started to take a step.

That was my cue to wobble off balance and fall on my ass, again.

Hiei laughed. Only a little, but it was enough to sting my pride.

"Hey, I hate taking on my human form so I hadn't practiced with it, okay? I hate using my human form almost as much as I hate going down stairs!"

I think that last one just made it worse, as he just kept on laughing a bit harder.

I growled. This is going to be one long, hard courtship.

A/N: Got you there, didn't I? Yes, this is where she's going with her muttering to herself and her plans - she wants to win Hiei's heart...if she can find it.