"Aly-Jay, what are you doing?" Kuwabara yelled.
She didn't respond at all, she only stared in front of her, her eyes blank. In fact, now that Hiei took a good look at her, her eyes were completely different. Her right eye was a fiery red and her left eye was a deep ocean blue. And even though there was barely any wind at all, her hair continued to move like ocean waves then flames. Was this her demon form?
"What did you do to her?" Yusuke yelled.
"Oh nothing... too special," Hiroto said, looking down at her with a smile. "But she really is a rare gem you know. I wasn't really expecting her to be that powerful, to be completely honest. You see... I have a special talent myself," he flashed his fangs at the guys again. "I have the ability to steal people's demon energy and powers. But there is really only one way for me to do that." He started to play with her hair a little, close to her neck. "I have to drink it out of them." Hiroto moved her hair to reveal bite marks on her neck.
"You bastard!" Kuwabara said his voice filled with anger.
Hiei took a step forward, ready to attack, but Kurama held him back. Fully intending to give Kurama a piece of his mind, Hiei turned his head towards him. Hiei froze when he saw the look on Kurama's face. Even Kurama couldn't hide the anger that he felt. It looks like Aly-Jay had a certain effect on all the guys.
"But you see," Hiroto continued, dragging his fingertip along the bite mark—Hiei had to fight back a snarl, "it didn't quite work with this rare gem. I almost drank her dry before I realized it was hopeless. Her powers are unique to her, and I couldn't reach them no matter how much I tried. So I had to try something else." He moved his hand down to touch a small vial that rested between her breasts. "I had to combine both our blood to gain control over her." He let out an exaggerated sigh. "Since I can't have that power for myself, then controlling it is the next best thing."
Hiroto had the nerve to pull open her shirt to place the vial under it. Hiei couldn't hold back anymore, his demon energy flared up. Lucky for him, do did Yusukes and Kuramas. Without thinking, Hiei drew his sword and started to attack. Just as his sword came up to cut off Hiroto's head, Aly-Jay appeared in front of him. Her right hand was engulfed in flames while her left hand was engulfed with what looked like blue flames. When Hiei took a good look at her left hand, the "flames" moved more like waves.
Aly-Jay was ready to attack, but when Hiei looked into her mixed eyes, he could see they were completely blank, like she wasn't really here. Anger had risen to a whole new level in Hiei. Hiroto laughed from behind her.
"You must be Hiei," Hiroto said with a grin. "You know," he started, placing a hand on Aly-Jay's shoulder, "if I drink long enough, I begin to see what they're thinking about. You know the last think that went through her mind before she passed out? It was you."
Hiei tensed and glared at Hiroto from over Aly-Jay's shoulder. He felt the other guys tense at that as well.
"Whaaa-" was Kuwabara's reaction.
Not wanting to give Hiroto an excuse to use Hiei and Aly-Jay against each other, Hiei needed to think of a way to make it look like there was nothing between them. "I don't know what you're talking about," Hiei said, lowering his sword.
Hiroto actually laughed. "Oh, I doubt that. Her feelings were pure."
"Hah," Hiei said, "you mean to say that she thinks she has feelings for me? Please. She's weak, she can't handle her powers. Why would I associate myself with the likes of her? Do I need to remind you that she's half human as well?"
Hiroto narrowed his eyes at Hiei, which made Hiei relax slightly. It looked like his plan worked. Trying to look as if he didn't believe Hiei, Hiroto started to pick at his nails. "I'm getting bored now."
Without warning, Aly-Jay attacked. Hiei barely had time to block himself before he went flying back towards the trees. Everyone refused to attack her so they were forced to simply defend themselves. It was hard to tell if Aly-Jay was much more powerful than Hiei thought or if it was just the fact that all of them refused to outwardly attack her.
As Aly-Jay was focused on pushing Hiei and Kurama back, Yusuke tried to take the opportunity to attack Hiroto. He looked worried for a second but then Aly-Jay turned to Yusuke and used her fire side to throw him back. Hiroto laughed at that before taking a few steps back. Without thinking, Yusuke stood up and tried to fire his spirit gun at Hiroto. Just as it would have hit him, Aly-Jay appeared and took the bullet for him.
"Shit!" Yusuke said, pulling at his hair.
"Yusuke!" Kuwabara yelled, "you can't attack, Aly-Jay! She's a girl."
"It was an acci-" Yusuke stopped mid-sentence when he saw Aly-Jay get up as if nothing happened.
"What do we do?" Kuwabara asked while Aly-Jay went to go stand in front of Hiroto.
Kurama came over to stand next to them as he said, "We need to get that necklace around her neck. He's using that to control her. If we can get it and break it, he should lose control over her."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Yusuke asked. "In case you haven't noticed, it's a little hard to get at her." Yusuke paused for a second. "Am I the only one a little surprised by how powerful she is?"
"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed. "I'll have to remember to never make her angry."
Hiei did his best to stay quiet during this whole thing. He didn't want to show that he was worried about her safety for her sake and for everyone else.
"Well, I can't stand here and do nothing," Yusuke said. "We've got to try and get her."
Without another word, Yusuke rushed at her, with the guys' right behind him. Aly-Jay stayed where she was and only raised both her hands up. They all paused when nothing happened. Just when Kuwabara was going to say something, a mix between a wave and a fire wall pushed them all back. They all groaned from the force, which make Hiroto laugh again.
"That's my girl," Hiroto said with a smile, placing a kiss on her cheek.
"That's it," Yusuke said, frustrated. He pushed himself up and rushed at her again.
This time the guys rushed at her from all different angles. With some surprisingly good skill, she was able to twirl around and keep them all at bay. From the use of both fire and water, there was steam all around them when the guys had to stop and catch their breath. As they all doubled over to breathe, Hiei looked over at Aly-Jay and saw that she wasn't panting like the rest of the guys. Hiei didn't have time to think that over too much because that's when her nose began to bleed.
Kurama noticed it as well. "We need to get that necklace off her now!"
Using his speed to his advantage, Hiei rushed at her. With him being so close to her now, he was able to force her to use hand-to-hand combat. Not wanting to hit anything vital, Hiei focused on trying to distract her long enough to yank the necklace off her neck. The other guys used this opportunity to try and go after Hiroto.
"Aly-Jay!" Hiroto couldn't help but yell as he took another step back.
Without even blinking, Aly-Jay was able to summon a fire wall around Hiroto, shielding him away from the guys. Everyone, even Hiroto paused to stare at Aly-Jay in shock. As Hiei stared he noticed that even more blood fell from her nose. Something went through Hiei, making him stop fighting. Unable to identify the feeling, he took a step back. Aly-Jay took her chance to pushing him down. She straddled him, making him unable to move, and raised her fist to strike him. Hiei stared at her in shock, making their eyes lock. She hesitated.
"Finish him!" Hiroto's voice boomed.
Aly-Jay frowned before raising both her hands up to summon fire. Hiei was able to get himself back up but that was all he was able to do before getting hit right in the chest. Unable to dodge, he went flying back and into the forest.
Kurama took this as his chance. He summoned his rose whip and aimed for the necklace. For a second he thought it was actually going to work. Aly-Jay was able to spin and flip away, but she wasn't quite fast enough. As she flipped back, her necklace came out allowing the tip of Kurama's whip to make contact with the vial. It cracked slightly causing Aly-Jay to stumble.
They all froze for a second, watching her.
"Did you crack the vial?" asked Kuwabara.
"What are we waiting for?" Yusuke yelled.
Not waiting another second, Yusuke tried his spirit gun, aiming for her neck. Aly-Jay didn't bother to dodge. She just turned to face him and braced herself. At the last second, she used water as a shield. While it protected her overall, she wasn't completely fast enough so part of her got hit. It was so close to her neck that part of the vial cracked even more.
This time Aly-Jay almost fell over. As she gathered herself, it almost looked like part of her was coming to her senses. She slowly raised her hand to wipe under her nose. Her hands were shaking when she looked down at the blood.
"That's it," Hiei said, coming back to the team. "I'm really starting to lose my patience." He summoned his fists of the mortal flames and ran at Hiroto.
He almost made it but Aly-Jay was able to appear in front of him, forcing them back into hand-to-hand combat. But this time she copied Hiei, making her hands covered in flames and waves. Hiei refused to waste his time on her. He wanted Hiroto.
"God, damn it!" Hiei yelled. "Back the fuck off. I'm done with you!"
This time Aly-Jay froze at that, which allowed Hiei to push her back. She went flying into Hiroto making them both fall to the ground. Hiroto was able to recover quickly, but Aly-Jay struggled to get back up. She was panting when she finally stood straight. Aly-Jay looked over at Hiei, her face still blank, but this time a single tear fell down her cheek.
"Oh, for fucks sakes!" Hiroto yelled. "Finish them, you bloody woman!"
Aly-Jay shook her head for a second as if to gain control of herself before holding her hands out to her side. The guys could only watch as the wind began to pick up. Her panting began to increase as she charges her next attack.
"Is it just me, or can anyone not move?" Kuwabara asked.
"We have to stop her!" Kurama yelled. "She's powering up. She'll kill herself!"
He barely finished his sentence before there was an explosion. They barely had time to block her attack as they went flying backwards. Yusuke groaned and tried to see through the smoke and steam. All of the guys tried to get up when it finally began to clear.
"Holy shit," Kuwabara muttered.
Everything was gone. The clearing they were in must have expanded by at least a mile and the old house was completely missing. When the smoke and steam was finally gone Aly-Jay could be seen in the middle. She was lying in the middle and appeared to be out cold. Hiei began to walk towards her, hoping she's still alive. As he got closer there was a noise that came from some of the rubble. Hiei stopped and watched as Hiroto began to stand. Narrowing his eyes, Hiei readied himself to attack.
When Hiroto saw Hiei he quickly looked over at Aly-Jay. "Get up! Get up you stupid bitch!"
"No," Hiei said. "Forget her. It's just you and me."
Hiroto began to panic. "Get the fuck up!"
"Use the dragon, Hiei!" Yusuke yelled.
"No," Kurama said. "It could kill Aly-Jay."
"Do we have any other choice?"
As they continued to argue Aly-Jay started to get back up. They all went quiet as they watched her struggle. She was completely out of breath but was able to stand straight.
"You stupid bitch!" Hiroto yelled. "I said, finish them. Do it right!"
Still panting, Aly-Jay started to lift her hands again. Only this time she was obviously shaking. Hiei had to make a decision, and fast. He looked over at Aly-Jay, struggling to charge her powers again. Watching her killing herself, Hiei made a decision. Before Aly-Jay could finish, Hiei started to call on his dragon. Hiei looked over at Hiroto and saw the panic set in again, a very satisfying feeling went through him.
"Is that wise, Hiei?" Kurama asked.
There was no time to change his mind. Hiei called upon his dragon and sent it straight at Hiroto. Thankfully, it obeyed and avoided Aly-Jay completely. It must have taken a total of ten seconds for Hiroto to disappear. But it wasn't fast enough.
"Look!" Kuwabara said as he pointed at Aly-Jay.
She panting only started to get harder and faster as she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were back to normal. Aly-Jay looked around. Panic began to set in her eyes as she saw all the damage. After making eye contact with Hiei she began to scream in pain. It was like nothing he has ever heard before. The pain and torture in her voice almost brought him to his knees.
"She's back, but she can't control it," Kurama said. "We have to do something."
But it was too late, her powers exploded again. This explosion was much smaller, however. Even before the smoke began to clear the guys rushed in her direction. Kurama used his whip to make it clear faster. The second he could see her, Kurama rushed towards her and checked for a pulse.
"She's alive. It's amazing that she's alive. We need to get her to Genkai's."
"What's wrong with her?" Kuwabara asked suddenly. "Where are these bruises coming from?"
Hiei, who could only stare at the place where Hiroto was standing, quickly turned to see that Kuwabara was right. Bruises had appeared all over her face and body. Forcing himself to stay calm, Hiei balled his hands into fists.
"Some of these are old," Kurama said after taking a good look. "It looks like that she was hit or something." Kurama looked down and gently touched her bruised wrists. "And bound."
"But why do we see them now?" Yusuke asked.
"I'm not sure, but I'm sure it has something to do with her weakened state. We have to get her to Genkai, quickly." Kurama looked over at Hiei. "You're the fastest; do you think you can take her?"
Forcing a shrug, Hiei slowly walked over to Aly-Jay and picked her up. Once he had a good grip on her, he began to run towards Genkai's compound. The sound of the guys running behind him was able to make him push down his emotions. It wasn't long before he made it the room that was usually used for healing. It couldn't have been more than a second after he placed her down when Yukina came inside.
"Aly-Jay!" she yelled before rushing forward.
While she was distracted, Hiei took his chance to slip away. He needed to hibernate after using the dragon, but he refused to pass out in front of his sister. Wanting to sleep as fast as he could so he could check up on Aly-Jay, he jumped up into the nearest tree and slept.
Yukina had just finished cleaning up the blood around her face when Genkai and the others came in. Genkai took a minute to look her over before sitting back to look over at the guys.
"Well, it obviously isn't good," she started. "Judging by how pale she is, she's lost a lot of blood."
"It looked like she only had a nose bleed," Yukina said.
"The guy that took her had the ability to suck the power out of his victims," Kurama said. "Apparently it didn't work with Aly-Jay. I can only imagine how much he took before he realized that."
Genkai could only shake her head at that. "And her body has taken a beating, both by you guys and from her demon sides."
"Do you know how long she'll be out for?" Kurama asked.
"Her body will need to recover. And given the damage, it could be a while." Genkai stood up slowly. "We should probably make her as comfortable as possible." Yukina, who had been sitting by Aly-Jay's head, got up to do just that. "There isn't much we can do now. What happened exactly?" Kurama told her. "She was able to do all that?"
"Yes. I find it to be a miracle that she was able to survive."
"Yeah, I'll have to agree. Too bad she wasn't able to master it sooner. If anything, I'm worried that there will be some brain damage."
"Do you think so?" Kurama asked, looking over at her.
"Judging by the nose bleed, it's either going to be some brain damage or at least a killer headache."
"Is there anything we can do for her now?"
"I don't think so," Genkai answered as she headed to the door. "She'll wake up when her body has healed."
Hiei found himself spending as much time as he could being close to Aly-Jay. He didn't trust himself to actually go inside, but he would sit on the nearest tree and look into the window at her. She looked so weak, so pale. He didn't like it on bit, but he couldn't tell why exactly. Either way, it frustrated him and made him think of that message from Mukuro. And from that thought, he thought of Mukuro in general. It has been a long time since he's been to Demon World.
It must have been close to a month before Hiei decided to actually see her. She has shown no sign of waking up so he wanted to take a closer look. When he entered the room Yukina looked over at him.
"Oh," she said, blushing. "Could you watch her for a second? I, uh, really need to use the washroom."
Perfect, he thought. Hiei stepped aside and closed the door after Yukina left. When he couldn't hear Yukina's footsteps anymore he walked over at Aly-Jay's sleeping form. If it weren't for her heartbeat and the rise and fall of her chest he would have thought she was dead. Hiei looked over at the door again before looking back at Aly-Jay.
She looked even weaker up close. Not sure of what to do, Hiei slowly raised his hand and reached out to her. His hand was shaking when he finally touched her forehead. Her skin was still warm and soft but she looked too pale. Hiei didn't like it one bit.
He frowned down at her. She looked too weak. She was unable to protect herself. She was against one demon and she couldn't fight him. Thoughts of Mukuro went through his mind again. Mukuro must have been the most powerful demon he knew. She was strong and able to protect herself. She was completely different compared to Aly-Jay.
The fight he had with Mukuro during the Demon World Tournament flashed through his mind as he looked down at Aly-Jay's pale form. Maybe it's time that he returned to demon world. He had to return to Demon World.
"Oh, hello, Hiei."
Hiei tensed and turned to see Kurama standing in the door way.
"What do you want, Kurama?" Hiei asked.
"I just wanted to check up on Aly-Jay. It has been three weeks since she passed out. Normally I'd start to worry at this point but I can't help but feel like she'll wake up soon. Very soon."
"I'm leaving," Hiei said before he could stop himself.
There was a pause as Kurama thought about what Hiei said. "For Demon World I'm assuming."
"Yes. I need to go see Mukuro. Talk to her."
"What if Aly-Jay wakes up while you're gone?"
"So what if she does?"
Kurama tried not to narrow his eyes at Hiei. "What am I supposed to tell her?"
Hiei did narrow his eyes at Kurama. "I have nothing to hide. Tell her the truth."
"Is there something between you two?"
"Don't be stupid, Kurama." Hiei actually glared at Kurama. "Things like that is a waste of time. I'm not going to waste my time with silly goodbyes."
Without another word, Hiei left. Kurama watched as Hiei walked away. He didn't have a good feeling about this.