Ride like the Wind
Chapter 8

Those eyes... Crimson and so cold... Raven hair... Who are you...? She woke up to the choking stench of smoke. She felt like she was going to melt. (She thought it was the harsh Mexican heat that was getting to her. Frankly she wasn't built for this weather.) She shot up in her bed. The house was on fire!

"What?" she fell out of her bed, thankfully escaping a flaming piece of the ceiling, and crawled across the room quickly. She wiped her mint green hair out of her face. Somehow she managed to escape her house but things had gone a turn for the worse. The whole town was on fire!

"Stop staring and go!" shouted an old man as he hobbled away with a cane in his hand but was smashed by a flaming piece of wood.

"Jose!" She wanted to pull the wood from away from him, but she knew she would be too late. He was already dead. AS the crowd continued to come, they pushed her with them.

"Yukina!" a young girl about six cried from a blazing house.

"No! Rosa!" she (Yukina) cried and tried to fight the crowd. Then the blaze swallowed the little girl... Yukina lost hope. "No... I'm sorry but... Forgive me..."

---

Gatos Feos

"I'm keeping an eye on you, Hiei!" Kuwabara said confidently, his arms crossed. "I've heard those stories about you in New York and in Chicago."

"Sure. I'll kick your sorry ass first," Hiei growled, already irritated by the exorcist.

"Hey, I'm a Texas-tiger! I'm ready to take a little runt like you! Don't mess with Texas!"

"Don't forget the country you were born in before it was Texas."

Shizuru, Kuwabara's sister broke between the two. "My freak brother..."

Kuwabara broke in. "I'm coming! I won't get anywhere just staying here. I'm get plenty of demons... I bet if I get Hiei I'll get raised by two ranks!"

"Is that all you think about?" She sighed. "Fine. You don't go to school anyway..."

"Don't cry during a battle," Yusuke added.

"Is that a challenge?" Their eyes met for a while. Then Yusuke walked away, his hands in his pockets. "Yeah! You better run!"

"We're leaving you," Hiei said with little emotion.

"What? No you're not!" Kuwabara ran after the three.

---

Ramirez (One week later)

It was a burnt down town. The houses were all charred with the occasional unburnt piece of wood. There was a burned skeleton of an old man that was under a piece of once blazing wood. It was a sight that was quite common when the four looked around.

"Man... The hell happened here?" Yusuke was amazed by the condition of town.

"Fire demons maybe?" Shuichi suggested. "I've heard they can create harsh gangs. They could have had something against the town here or something."

"Yeah... Whatever it was, the exorcists must've been too stupid to do anything if it were demons. That or they were too weak..." Kuwabara replied frowning at a skeleton.

Hiei shook his head, sighing. He walked around. "Look for survivors."

"What's your problem?"

"How 'bout you shut up and do it?"

"Yeah. If we're lucky, we might find someone who would tell us what happened..." Shuichi tried to avoid the topic. He knew that Hiei was worried that his sister was killed.

It took an hour for the four to search the whole town. The search was futile. There was no one there except a few animals.

"No one. No disappointment. Didn't have my hopes up..." Yusuke sighed, scratching the back of his head.

Hiei bowed his head and prayed.

Shuichi watched him as he did this, not sure if he was just feeling bad for him. "...How late do you think we are?"

"I think... Four days..." Hiei answered, sounding uncertain.

"And your sister? What of her?"

"She;'s still alive. Probably barely made it out alive. If I'm right, she could have gone right to Laredo. It's close by."

"You have a sister!" Kuwabara gasped. ("And he's off," Yusuke growled under his breath.) "Two demon... I'll have to exorcize you both! I bet she's a pint-sized little runt like you! ...And ugly!"

"He had to mention that last part..." Yusuke sighed, irritated with him.

He doesn't know how wrong he is... Hiei thought as he listened to Kuwabara's rant.

"Kuwabara, shut up and got to Houston and tell someone who cares!" Yusuke shook his fist at Kuwabara.

Hiei shook his head and turned to Shuichi. "You're the only sane one here. Let's go. Laredo's about a couple of hours from here..."

---

"I can't believe I forgot the tea for Genkai!" she rushed back to the store, but then she crashed into a very round man. That round man was the mayor, who was out for a walk. (His roundness, however, made it seems less possible.)

He was Mayor Gonzo Tarukane. He was a bald man with a lumpy head. He had greedy looking black eyes that were round, with a look in them a pig had when he was about to eat. He face was flabby; it sagged off his chin the same way a pig's does. His skin was tanned and looked heavily stretched.

Tarukane rubbed a finger that had rings jammed on it, across his forehead. "Stupid girl. Watch where you're going..." He stared at her oddly colored eyes... Ruby red eyes? Ah... A demon...

"I'm sorry... I... I was in a hurry because I... I forgot..."

"I should have an assassin sent after you, but I'm a kind man..."

"Don't kill me... I have a sick friend here... I have to take care of her..."

"I see where this is going. Come with me..." He grabbed her by the arm, but then... WHAM!

A rough voice said to him, "Even I know not to pick on a girl and I have no morals."

The mayor was helped up by his servant, Sakashita, and he frowned at Hiei, who was cracked his knuckles. "You little...! I'll let it pass since I'm such a kind man. Come, Sakashita!" The mayor waddled away, his servant following.

Hiei flipped the mayor off. He sighed and turned back to the girl. She had mint green hair that she had tied back with a red ribbon. Her innocent looking eyes were a ruby eyes. She looked a little sad though, even when she was smiling, it still looked like she was sad. She was pale from not going in the sun a lot and was about Hiei's height. She looked like she was sixteen when she was twenty-five.

She looks... Hiei asked her, "Are you alright? Bastards like that are always doing stupid shit like that."

Yukina's eyes widened, not sure wether to be more shocked by his explicit gesture towards the mayor or his "bad language". She mentally shrugged it off. "Uh... Yes. Thank you... I guess..."

Hiei helped her to her feet. "What's your name?"

"Me? I'm Yukina..."

"All right. Stay out of trouble."

"Um, o... Okay." Yukina ran towards the store. He was kinda scary.. But he reminds me of my dream...

He picked something off the ground. She dropped this... His eyes widened No way...

---

Yukina rushed home to she her friend, who was sitting at the table, drinking the last of her tea.

Her name was Genkai, a seventy year old woman. Her once wavy pink hair, is now a grayed white that fell in waves still, which made her hair look similar to a mop. Her brown eyes were wide and full of wisdom. He face was full of wrinkles and turning into an odd pale yellow. She was also quite small, too, about three fourths of Yukina's height.

"You didn't need to do that, Yukina," Genkai replied with Yukina told her she brought tea.

"Oh, but it's the least I can do for you, comadre. You were kind enough to give me a place to stay... It's the least I can do for you..."

"Well, sure..." No use arguing with her. That's Yukina. Polite, but somehow stubborn. Odd combination if you ask me. I wonder what happened the day her town burnt down... A girl with that much generosity... I would figure she would have brought the whole town...

"You know. I think I found my brother."

"Your brother?"

"I never told you? We were separated at birth. I've wanted to search for him, but I'm not sure where to start. I think I finally saw him..."

"Mm. Hope you find him." She's also odd. She sounds like she saw an angel... Then again, I'm a senile old hermit. I wouldn't know what it's like... A long lost brother... Hm... She was startle when Yukina got up to go outside.

Yukina stared at the sky. That man... I never asked for his name. His eyes were like mine only cold. I wonder if he was looking for someone too...

...My brother's name was Hiei. My mother came from a long generation of Ice Maidens that came to Mexico. She came back to Ice world after she was born, she returned not long after... She met my father at one point but he left her before she knew she was pregnant. She saw it coming. Every Ice Maiden gets pregnant every hundred years... But we were twins. I was spared... But my brother had to be given up... I know he's still alive... And I feel bad because he lived with no family. I wonder what happened to him...

Yukina sighed. "I wish I could find my brother..."

"Looking for your brother?" the rough voice asked.

Yukina turned around and saw Hiei. "Oh... You heard. Yes..."

Hiei pulled the piece of paper from his pocket. "You dropped it."

"Oh... Thank you... Erm... I never asked your name..."

"Hiei."

"Hiei...?"

"Yeah... What's with you?"

"My brother's name was Hiei, or so I'm told."

"Creepy. He didn't die, did he?"

"I don't think so. When I found out a few years ago, I started to pray every night for him..." She noticed Hiei looked a little bored. "Ehh... Sorry. My friends used to say I talk to much..."

Hiei put a hand over his mouth to hide a smile. "No problem." Silence. "That picture. It's your mother, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Saw the similarity."

"There's one of my father but... I think his friend might have it or something...'

"You're lucky you can cherish the fact that you have that at least... I... I saw my father but I never really knew him. I was in an orphanage when I was five. Even the people who raised me before that left me..." He walked away, his hands in his pockets.

Yukina watched him leave. He... was abandoned...?

End chapter 8

Notes:
1. "Don't forget the country you were born in before it was Texas."- Texas was also part of Mexico. I forgot how it got admitted into the Union. It was admitted in 1836.

Rushed but...