I decided to split this into two parts, because it was getting ridiculously long - the second part will be up in 1-3 days :P We are fiiiinally going to see some Kira and Hiei action in part 2 :P

Also, for some reason I haven't been receiving emails about things like follows, reviews or PMs :( So forgive me if I haven't gotten back to you! I'm working through them :) But all of those things are always appreciated!

Chapter 26: The All-Seeing Eye Part 1

Kirazuki sat upon her (at least, while she was at Genkai's) bed, dutifully tuning out Koenma's long-winded, loud, and irritating lecture as she watched Kurama painstakingly clean out each one of her wounds; he was currently working away at her skinned shoulder, where grains of sand and small stones were embedded and being removed with a set of tweezers - she would be quite surprised if it didn't get infected. Although they had ultimately won the battle, she couldn't shake the feeling of defeat in her chest - she had fallen directly into Tobikuma, Tatsumi and Kanami's little plan, and they simply played her like a fiddle. Currently, her spirit was broken, and all she wanted for the time being was to be left alone.

"Kirazuki, are you listening to me?" Koenma huffed with irritation, his arms crossing indignantly over his chest.

Kira ears folded back as her chocolate eyes glared towards the Reikai ruler - truthfully, no, not even in the slightest, "Yes, I'm listening Koenma,"

Koenma sighed heavily - his technique was clearly not working, and she was clearly not grasping the gravity of this situation, "Why would you run? You put the entire mission in jeopardy, you put your life in jeopardy,"

Kira snorted slightly, finding amusement in how 'the entire mission' came before 'her life'. There was no way she could, or would, tell him why she ran; she didn't even know why she ran.. She recalled the horrendous feeling that had surged through her when she opened that door and cringed involuntarily.

"She and Kanami got in an argument. Kira retreated for the safety of everyone as she tends to lose control of the ice when her emotional responses are heightened," Kurama lied for her when she didn't respond, his emerald eyes meeting hers and holding a kindness in them she surely appreciated - it made her sound petty, but it was better than sounding like the green-eyed monster she had been; and it technically wasn't a total lie, "Kanami was allied with the other two the entire time, she staged the entire fight for the sole purpose of luring Kira away from us,"

Koenma blinked a few times in confusion, "She what?"

"Kanami," Kira repeated firmly, anger beginning to bubble up in the pit of her stomach at the mention of the psychic, "She was a traitor. She probably even used you to be sent on the mission. She deserved to have her head ripped off," She muttered the last sentence grudgingly, crossing her arms over her chest.

The tiny Reikai ruler placed a delicate finger against his chin in ponder - why did he send Kanami? She certainly had never appeared to be one of the strongest psychics they had, although it did turn out she was after all. He recalled her just sort of… Picked her, it had just come to his mind when he hadn't even remotely considered sending another one of them in - perhaps she really did persuade him into sending her… Well, that explained why they had killed her.. "And how did you manage to be kidnapped?"

"That was my fault, I'm afraid," Kurama smiled sympathetically - he had to wrap things up. He would need to kick Koenma out soon, he had worked through cleaning and stitching all of the exposed wounds he could - her wrists, ankles, the puncture through her foot and shoulder would need to be wrapped after a bath, "They were threatening to kill me if she didn't comply - she felt we wouldn't be able to take them on with just the two of us. Now, if you don't mind leaving, I must tend to the other wounds," He raised an eyebrow in Koenma's direction in a very clear 'that means leave' way.

Koenma narrowed his eyes, pointing firmly to a stack of paper he had left on the windowsill next to her bed, "I want that report finished by the time you come back," He began digging around in one of his pockets, removing what looked like a simple, pale yellow ball, "This will open a portal for you whenever you're ready; Taryuu has one as well. Just squeeze it, throw, and jump," He set it down gingerly next to the papers, eyeing her one last time, "And don't forget the paperwork," He would certainly have a lot of explaining to do to his father as it was..

"I got it," Kira snapped, her eyes following him as he trailed out the door, her ears bending in the direction of the closed frame to hear his feet shuffle down the hallway, "Thank you," She said abruptly once she was sure he was gone.

Kurama smiled with understanding as he guided her to her feet, "I assumed the truth would be a tad revealing for your liking," She said nothing, simply turning around and sweeping her long hair out of the way of her zipper - for some reason, she didn't quite want Kurama to touch it, "Have you spoken to him?" He questioned softly, wincing as he practically had to peel the dress away from her skin as he went, flakes of blood chipping off the entire way.

"No, and I have no desire to," She spoke coldly, quickly wrapping her hair upwards and tying it off with another strip of her hair, "It was childish," She grimaced as Kurama tried to gently tugged what was left of the sleeve off of her skinned shoulder - perhaps the bath would have been better before if only to get the damn dress off.

"Kira," Kurama sighed as he aided her in stepping out of the stained and tattered dress - quite frankly, the undergarments Botan had provided her were just as tattered, bloodied and dirt stained - but they could simply be shifted out of the way to access any wounds under them, "It wasn't childish, it was a perfectly normal emotional response. You care for him, I think more so than just a battle comrade; and I believe it's a mutual sentiment,"

"It doesn't matter," She said quickly as she sat herself upon the bed facing the fox, knowing the wound under her ribcage was by far the worst and wanting nothing more than this conversation to be done, "I'm leaving soon, end of story,"

Kurama gave another weighted sigh with a gentle frown tracing his lips as he began working away at cleaning the abdominal injury - once again, she was stubborn beyond any form of reason. Although, admittedly, she did have a point: there was no guarantee that they'd be assigned to the same mission again, especially given Koenma's clear disapproval of how this one went, and that meant there was a chance the two's paths may very well lead in different directions for quite some time. By the time he worked his way around to the gaping hole which once housed her tail, he was pleasantly surprised: the break was incredibly clean, he only needed to remove a few stray bone fragments, and it was exactly one vertebrae short of actual, possibly permanent spinal cord damage: Tobikuma must have either known what he was doing, or had very exceptional luck. They worked through the rest of her wounds in silence before he beckoned for Yukina to draw the ice demoness a bath, stressing the fact that it needed to be very, very hot, less the wolf end up freezing into it. The koorime had very hesitantly agreed: although she, as an ice apparition, preferred cold baths, she also didn't freeze cold water when it touched her skin.

Kira winced as her toes entered the water - it was certainly scalding, but she knew her own body temperature would rapidly cool the liquid, Yukina could clearly see the pain as she entered the large tub, "I apologize it's so hot,"

"It needs to be," Kira smirked as she lowered herself in, the water almost instantly swirling into a faint brown color from the remainder of the dried blood; after only a few seconds, the water temperature began dropping and she could finally relax into it.

Yukina nodded as she picked up a small bamboo water bucket, her crimson eyes sadly tracing her icy friend as she dipped the bucket into the cooling water, wondering to herself what exactly had happened to Kira but choosing not to ask, "I'm sorry this happened to you.." She spoke sympathetically as she poured the water over her long hair, the liquid in the tub growing darker as she went.

Kira was growing tired of feeling as if people were walking on eggshells around her (except, of course, Koenma) - it had been her choice to run away, her choice to go with them, and so it was her fault it had happened, "I'm alive," She replied simply, her fingers finding their way to the two tiny pearl-like gems floating from her neck in the water. She was very thankful they hadn't taken it from her or that she hadn't lost it; a thought crossed her mind suddenly, "Do you know if anyone brought my bag?" Her charm bracelet from Keiko had mysteriously disappeared at some point - she had definitely had it while she was held captive, although she couldn't recall if she had it during the battle...

Yukina nodded with a smile as she ran her fingers through the wolf's wet hair, "Kurama brought it back with you. I believe he left it in your room,"

Kira nodded, making a mental note to check the bag later, wincing as the koorimes fingers combed through a matted knot - truthfully, part of her wanted to rid herself of her hair. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling of Tobikuma's clawed hand twisting its way into the long locks before he ripped her head backwards, the towel over her face, and how she'd wished her lungs would finally just give out on her.. It was fascinating how a simple act such as a companion washing her hair could bring back such a horrendous feeling...

"Kira," Kurama called from outside of her door late in the night, his knuckles gently knocking against the thick wood, "I need to change your bandages," He tried to reason, his hand finding it's way down to the knob, which was surprisingly cold - and also didn't budge when he tried to turn it.

"Go away." Kira called back from the confines of her room.

"What's going on?" Yukina asked in a soft whisper from where she was walking down the dim hallway.

Kurama jumped slightly in surprise - he had thought everyone would have been asleep by now. He gave a heavy sigh before pointing a single finger at the doorknob, "She's locked me out," He held up the untouched roll of bandage in his hand, "I need to change her wrappings,"

Yukina smiled, gently taking the roll from his pale hands, "Allow me to try," She suggested politely, placing an easy palm on the doorknob: the ice essentially dissolved under her touch.

Kurama leaned his back against the wall as she entered, waiting patiently while he tapped his foot on the wooden floorboards of the dark hallway. Only (if even) 45 seconds later, she shuffled her way back out of the room with a look of deep defeat in her soft crimson eyes, "She wishes to be left alone.." She spoke somberly as she handed the roll back to the fox.

Kurama couldn't help but smile - Yukina was far too kind hearted to deal with the wolfs ever constant defiant attitude - but that didn't mean the koorimes counterpart was as easily persuaded. His confidence in the situation soared at the thought, "Thank you for your effort," He said briefly, turning on his heels and heading towards one of the temples many sliding doors which lead outside into the chilled night.

'Hiei,' He reached out mentally, knowing the fire demon was likely not only still awake, but also somewhere nearby.

"What?" Hiei spoke, in typical Hiei-fashion, from behind Kurama, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall and a single eyebrow raised inquisitively.

"I need your.. Assistance," The fox gave a coy smirk as Hiei tipped his head quizzically; promptly heading back inside with the fire demon on his heels until they reached their destination. "She's frozen the door shut," Kurama sighed as he turned the roll of bandage over in his pale hands, "Yukina managed to get through, but I'm afraid she's a bit.. Timid to deal with Kira," He chuckled, but he received no response from Hiei - who was quite agitated: he was not the wolf's keeper, nor her babysitter, and Kurama should know by now how to deal with her - it was like he was somehow the only one who paid attention. "She didn't harm her, simply told her to leave," He added quickly when he was only given silence.

"I didn't need to ask," Hiei smirked as he snatched the roll of wrappings from the fox, turning and placing a single hand on the frigid doorknob. He paused for a moment, his crimson eyes shifting towards Kurama, "Go," He said simply before his hand began to glow against the golden knob, the ice practically falling off of it onto the floor.

Kurama nodded dutifully, turning on his heels and beginning to trail down the hallway with a small smile upon his face. He didn't know why, or even how, but Kira had managed to change Hiei - he had known the fire demon for quite some time, but he had never known him to actively or openly care for someone - it simply wasn't in his nature. Whether they were simply meant to be battle comrades, or something more, Kurama was proud of his longtime ally for bonding with someone, he was also glad it just so happened to be Kira. Neither needed a stronger counterpart to care for them, nor would either accept a weaker companion they had to care for - they balanced like a scale not only in strength, but also in intellect and wit, and quite possibly emotional instability. He cringed at the last thought: hoping he hadn't just created a war zone...

Hiei's eyes swept the darkened room as the door creaked and latched shut - illuminated solely by the almost full moon peeking through the window next to the bed where Kira stood, her chocolate eyes tracing every detail of the glowing orb in the sky while her fingers fiddled mindlessly with the large stack of papers on the windowsill, ice circled underneath her bare feet. She wore, what he assumed, was one of Taryuu's white t-shirts; the sleeves alone almost reached her elbows, while the bottom hem stopped just above her knees.

"Is a frozen door not a strong enough hint for you people?" She spoke frigidly, an eyebrow raising in subconscious irritation. Was it too much to ask to just be left alone? She didn't want to be bothered, especially by him; she would never admit it, but she was still quite embarrassed she had ran away to begin with - and his presence only reminded her of that.

"Perhaps if you weren't acting like a child the fox wouldn't be troubling me to babysit you," Hiei retorted as he strode through the darkness towards the ice demoness, the tips of his toes stopping at the edge of the jagged ring of ice about a foot away from Kira where the cold radiated in waves; although the chill didn't bother him, it did trouble him.

"I don't need to be babysat, you can feel free to leave if it's such trouble. You're wanted here about as much as you want to be here," Well, that was an unfair dig.

"Are you done, Mutt?" He replied simply, reaching out a hand to grasp her arm, but he was quickly thwarted with a bright shock of electric blue. He sighed, rolling his crimson eyes: it was as if her dogheadedness intensified any time she was in any form of negative mood; although perhaps it was the challenge that kept him there trying, "Or is the prospect of infection a pleasant one?"

"Will you please just go away. I'll take care of it," She exhaled as she heard the sounds of energy sparking behind her again - persistence was not the key here. A small half smile, half smirk tugged it's way onto her lips as she continued to exude more of her spirit energy into her own little shield, listening to the crackling intensify and taking great pleasure in knowing he was probably in a fair amount of discomfort.

"Will you stop?" Hiei questioned in frustration through gritted teeth - the flesh on his arm was going numb, but he pressed on millimeter by millimeter, using all of his weight to try breaking through this ridiculous barrier. Of course, he could've used the Jagan and simply shattered it, but that felt too much like admitting defeat.

Kira sighed heavily, her brown eyes slipping closed as she finally tore them from the moon; he was going to end up actually damaging his arm - and he had the gall to call her stubborn all the time.. In one swift and simple movement, she dropped her barrier and sidestepped.

Kurama winced as he heard quite the loud crash down the hallway from where he was laying in his own bed, his eyes absently scanning a book but retaining none of the information he was currently reading. He wondered silently who had finally gotten fed up with who; the adult side of him wanted to check on the pair and make sure they weren't harming each other, or that Kira wasn't somehow ripping open her stitches, while the childish side of him wanted to eavesdrop outside the door… He pondered both options for a moment.

With a gentle sigh, he resolved to stay in the warmth of his bed; they were perfectly capable of handling themselves in a mature, adult manner.. Right? Right...

Alright, not enough of a sidestep… Kira groaned into the wooden floorboards - she had felt physically fine before, but now all of her aches and pains had returned full force, "Get. Up." She hissed, planting both of her palms on the ground and trying to lift herself.

Hiei smirked as he sat upwards, seated heavily on the back of her thighs; being sure to keep his weight on the wolf so she couldn't escape - apparently she had forgotten he could infiltrate her thoughts, and now victory was surely his, "Are you done?" He repeated triumphantly.

Kira briefly considered her options… Surrender and comply, or try to kill him… With a final huff she set the side of her face down on the floor, her ears folded flushly with her scalp in irritation, "Fine…" She muttered, cringing as he placed a firm palm on her lower back to keep her down only long enough to turn himself around; she glared at the wall she could see underneath the other side of her bed, "I have to stay on the floor?" She practically whined, 'My bed is right there..'

"Foot." He commanded sternly as he ignored her question; she could consider it punishment for being so childish in the first place. She sincerely wished her leg was long enough to kick him in the face as she bent her knee backwards until she felt her toes tap something; quite roughly, he clamped a hand down on her wrapped ankle, setting the roll of bandages down on the floor and working at unraveling what was already on the pierce wounds through her foot.

"I should've just let Yukina stay…" Kira groaned with regret, folding her arms in front of her on the floor and setting her forehead atop them - at least Yukina was moderately cold like herself, she was probably also a great deal more gentle, and she wasn't Hiei.

"Yes, you should have; you could have even allowed the fox in instead. Now I deal with you," Hiei smirked as he tossed the blood stained wrappings to the side, momentarily observing the clean puncture, "This is where you were bitten," He stated matter-of-factly.

Kira nodded absentmindedly into her arms, closing her eyes sleepily thanks to the warmth produced by the fire demon - although she was still upset she was on the floor, "They played connect the dots with my scars," She gave a small attempt at a chuckle.

Hiei frowned, turning his head to observe the rest of her curiously - how had he not noticed before now that her scars had 'disappeared'? Perhaps he didn't pay as much attention as he had thought. He cautiously reached his free hand up to the thin fabric at his forehead, tucking a thumb under it at his temple and removing it. As the Jagan opened itself, he carefully placed two of his fingers on the punctures at the bottom of her foot, "Show me,"

Kira laughed joyously as her hands began to glow a faint blue, extending them out in front of her before sweeping them in an outwards motion, a massive boomerang shaped blade of ice jettisoned from her palms into a cluster of the reptilian invaders, their heads sliced cleanly from the bulk of their bodies. One particular head rolled it's way towards her foot, "Ew.." She winced, but as she prepared to take a step back, the disembodied head latched onto her foot, sinking its sharp fangs into the sensitive flesh.

Hiei saw himself appear next to the ice demoness, quickly crushing the head with his foot with a confident smirk, "Not fast enough?" He questioned condescendingly.

Kira opened her mouth to reply with some snide comment; but a searing, burning pain erupted up her leg, causing her to cry out in pain.

Tobikuma gently unlatched one of Kira's ankles from where she was shackled, picking up her dirt covered foot in his hand, "You still haven't fully healed from the venom," He stated as he traced a single talon from her ankle down to her toes.

Kira heavily resisted the urge to kick him directly in his disgusting beak of a nose, that would only work against her in the long run, "Fascinating," She muttered as she closed her other eye.

"We truly are extraordinary creatures," Tobikuma spoke as his sharp talons traced the scars of the old bite wound, grasping her ankle firmly with his free hand, "We transcend the natural balance of life, give it new meaning, and yet we are… Under appreciated, under estimated.." He sunk his claws into her cold flesh and Kira gritted her teeth together as she screamed through them, her head snapping forward as she felt them pierce through to the underside of her foot like knives, slicing through tendons and ligaments as they went. She tried to kick out at him, but his other hand held her in place as he withdrew his now bloodied hand in one swift motion, "We should not be divided this way," He spoke sadly, slamming her foot back down onto the ground; Kira whimpered as she felt the gritty sand clinging to the all too fresh wound.

It was strange, she hadn't been able to actually see the memories she knew Hiei was digging through, the memories attached to the wound; but she could feel them. Surely, if it were anyone else, they would have apologized for intruding - but not Hiei, he simply proceeded in silence, slipping his hand down her cold skin to her calf and unwinding the first ankle quickly before moving to the second - those seemed to have been skinned in the same manner as her shoulder.

Unfortunately (for his own curiosity) far too many memories were attached to the initial scar - memories from the Reikai where they didn't trust their own little creations enough to let them roam freely without shackles, even as children; where they ran torturous tests and conditionings on them by restraining their arms and legs - but he could very clearly see Tobikuma's portion.

"Little Dark Moon," Tobi sighed heavily as he shook his head, crouching down in front of the ice demoness and reaching his clawed hands out for one of her chained ankles, "Have you decided to join us yet?"

Kira growled into her arm, her intense chocolate eyes snapping open to watch him unshackle her, "Can you not figure out that it's not going to happen?" She snarled as he gently pierced her skin with a single talon, bringing it downwards to create a thin vertical line.

Tobikuma shook his head with a few clicks of his tongue, beginning to focus on tracing the outer lines of the scar like a concentrated artist, being sure to hit every line, "If you're sure," He sighed again; Kira cringed as he tucked his razors under the skin of the vertical cut, and she finally screamed when he began carefully working at separating the skin from the tissue beneath it.

"Are you having fun?" Kira smirked lazily into the floor; at least she wasn't the only one with childish tendencies. Once again she received no response, but she could feel her ankles and foot being re-wrapped, 'Sure, I'll just let you hop around my memories and you can not answer me at all,' She thought to herself sarcastically, a growl unintentionally rousing from her chest.

"Calm down," Hiei muttered irritably, focusing on bandaging the wounds for the moment, "Do you remember all of them?" He asked, seemingly out of the blue once he had finished.

Kira's ears twitched with curiosity to this question - of course she remembered all of them; they were permanent disfigurements, how could she forget how they came to be? "Yes," She answered simply, refusing (quite immaturely) to give him the satisfaction of any detailed explanation. Although she couldn't see it, he rolled his eyes, having picked up on her moody disposition; she felt his weight shift backwards slightly and waited patiently until she felt a set of warm fingers scrape across the sets of paralleled stitches on her calf.

A young Kira's chest heaved up and down as her golden eyes turned upward from where she hung helplessly by a single clawed hand, praying her most trusted companion was on his way, "Ryuu!" She shouted, trying to swing her dangling arm to the cliff's ledge but missing pathetically. She refused to die by falling to her death in a Simulation.

"Got ya," A young Taryuu's smiling face peered over the ledge, clamping a still massive hand down upon her thin wrist, "I thought you were done for,"

Kira grinned up at him, swinging her free arm up to grasp his wrist, "Not that eas-" She screamed suddenly as a piercing pain erupted at the back of her knee, her head darting downwards only to find the demon she thought had plunged to its death attached by it's claws to her leg; he must've managed to grab onto the side of the cliff, "Don't you dare let go," She threatened the dragon quickly.

Taryuu simply grinned down at her, "You know better than that,"

'This is gonna hurt…' She lifted her free leg, delivering a heavy blow to the demon's face..

Hiei found it quite fascinating her memory was so vivid for every one, and so he worked through each one he could find while the wolf dazed off into a warmth induced slumber. After quite some time she was stirred awake by the sound of the fire demons voice, "Can I let you up now?" He questioned suddenly.

Kira lazily raised an eyebrow, "You could've let me up in the first place.."

He knew better, shaking his head and chuckling at the notion; she was far too volatile when he had first entered, but of course she'd never admit to that..

Comin up shortly is 'Lone Wolf' 'Chapter 27: The All Seeing Eye Part 2'

Warning: Part 2 has nudity and some... sexual-ish situations-kinda; nothing too extreme, promise!.. Yet! That's right, people, we're finally gettin there :P

-B.J.