"Ch! I was told me we needed reinforcements to shore up the northern border, so I went," I retorted coldly, even then choosing my words oh so very carefully, gruff as they might sound. One did not speak such to a Battle God of Makai...and an angry one at that. Even one who had been your lover.
I knew she was staring daggers at my turned back. Softly, she stalked forward until her face was directly over my left shoulder. I could not see her, but I felt her every breath, and the overwhelming presence of her S-class youki. Without fear I turned to face her, gazing directly into those eyes, the power and might that had long held me, the Forbidden Child, as my liege lord. One eye, almond-shaped and fringed with auburn lashes, liquid despite the innate strength. The other, a shining glass orb that threw back my reflection.
"Your lack of fear will be your downfall one day," she said, almost chidingly, the half-face smoothening once more into a faint reminiscence of the lovely young girl she had been. She straightened so that she towered over me, lithe body and hard, flat muscle no longer hidden in bulky clothes or bandages. "You might be the greatest general in Makai, but one day you will go up against something you cannot face."
I turned away, but out of
the corner of my eye I saw her face tighten in pain and a slight sadness
I could not even then fathom.
Mirror One: Mukuro
Grinding my teeth, I reached my trembling hand out to whirl him around, to face me. How I hated it when he ran away, as he had oft done when he could not face the rage that gripped me, destroying reason...faith...memory...love.
Why this emptiness so out of time, out of place?
Never had I touched his soul. Never, in the fury of battle, as he raised himself a standard of fear and death to be whispered even to the circles of the mighty in Makai. Never, in the idleness of the hours, in the slowly passing purple day. Never, in the hot tempests of passion, the rhythmic, frantic surging of bodies, of desire and kindled lust, in the tangled sheets of my bed.
He as always was distant as ever, as now he was, back turned, his eyes on the land below, his mind elsewhere.
In a fury, I wanted to break him, to destroy him, to dash him to pieces on the rocks far below. It would be too easy. Far too easy for me. *Damn you for what you do to me* I -- almost relished the stinging pain as I clenched my fists, the nails digging into my palms as I fought back the tears that threatened. Anything. Anything to banish that other pain, the pain that was *his* doing. To me, to this heart that had endured so much for so long...the heart that long ago I had thought grown cold and died.
As I strode forward one of the mirrors in the hall caught my reflection and hurled it back at me with a shock that froze me to the spot. The rage had twisted the side of my face that still remained, that half of my identity...into something nearly indistinguishable from the other.
Slowly, hesitantly, I turned to face that dull silver gleam, reaching up with my fingertips to feel the scar that so recently I had dared bare to the world, the scar and memory that would never leave me so long as I lived. The burn was rough against my fingertips, the texture bringing back ghosts and the faint wash of tears in their wake. Would I have even shown this hideous mockery of my past naivete without him? Would anyone have ever seen this face, my face?
Then it was not only my fingers that were touching my scarred cheek, but a familiar, strong touch, his fingers that were brushing past the tears, that seemed to break thought and determination, leaving me helpless.
A brilliant ruby gaze stared into mine without the slightest trace of fear, or revulsion, as others would have evinced. Only the lost, icy emptiness that I knew was in my own.
"Hiei.." I choked out.
Savagely, with a keen, knife-edged sorrow that burned at the very edge of my consciousness, I closed my mouth upon his in a frantic, hungering kiss, half-afraid he'd break away and deny me this, when I had nothing of him left.
Gently but firmly he pushed
me back, and crushed me to him as his mouth sought mine, insistent and
demanding, his tongue caressing with tortuous slowness past my lips, flicking
delicately along the roof of my mouth. Breathing out in a deep sigh of
mingled pain, relief and frustration, I drew him in, the soft warmth of
his seeking tongue caressing the slow heat into flame.
He drew back to flick
his tongue along the line of my jaw, kissing the tender spot just below
my ear, and breathed into my neck softly. The fiery heat throbbed faster,
as without waiting for assent or my own reaction his hands slipped into
the front of my shirt, caressing the gentle swell of my breast with aching
tenderness. I gasped when the cold air rushed against my exposed skin as
he pushed the laces of the shirt back, sending a delicious tingling chill
throughout my body. He bent, crouched over my prone figure like a dark
beast over his kill, and I arched against his skillful touch, a soft whimper
escaping from my lips as his mouth delicately traced its way down my skin,
finding a nipple.
My breath quickened at the shock of pleasure that coursed through me, and a faint cry escaped my lips, fingers tangling themselves in his startlingly soft spikes of black hair. I felt rather than saw him smile as he lowered himself slowly to the tile floor, his cloak pooling red and black on the cold stone.
Mirror Two: Kurama
Kurama hugged his knees, staring sightlessly into the flickering blaze of their campfire. His gem-brilliant green eyes regarded the flames sightlessly as he brooded, the snapping cold in the air forgotten for the moment.
Across the campfire Hiei sat, his legs drawn up before him, his head lowered and eyes closed. The kitsune could sense the little fire youkai's ki throb in irregular beats, now leaping high, the next low, inconstant as the dancing flames. That Hiei was still awake he had no doubt, but he refused to open his ruby eyes, sitting still as stone in the dim firelight.
The strange feel about him, an alien sense that the fox could tell hovered about his ki, almost troubled Kurama into speaking, but he knew his friend well...well enough to know Hiei would most likely as not *hnn* at him, call him a stupid fox, and refuse to speak for the whole evening...thereby ruining any chance the inquisitive youko had of finding out the cause behind his friend's unrest. So Kurama held his peace, and lost himself in thought. He wished, somewhat irresponsibly, that they weren't here on this mission, that he was home with Shiori, home in a warm bed with no concern for the morrow.
Beside him Kuwabara mumbled and flailed in his sleep, perhaps having human nightmares of whatever creatures lurked in the snowy dim wastes of the North; alone of the group Yuusuke slept peacefully, his face the still one of dreamlessness. Above them the Mountain loomed, its icy peak shrouded in blackness, blotting out a quarter of the starlit sky.
Kurama tilted his head back,
guarded gaze intent on that huge shadow, and again felt that dangerous,
powerful presence, stronger, yet the same one he felt emanating from Hiei.
What had Koenma said? *She wakes.*
Could she be watching them
now, her ancient, cold gaze weighing these puny creatures that had come
to lock her away yet again?
The thin, eerie wail of the wind through jagged passes was the only sound that came to Kurama's keen ears...and as he half-listened, he heard Hiei's sharp intake of breath, echoingly loud in the near-silence. He turned - to gaze straight into those bright red eyes, half-lidded in the glow of the fire. The gleam of light playing off those shining orbs, for the barest fraction of an instant, held a thread of menace...then the feeling dissipated into the cold air like a breath of smoke.
"Nandayo, Hiei?"
The youkai merely shrugged, his hot breath steaming on the night air. His words were clipped, cold and straight to the point, as they always were. "You felt her."
The slender redhead hesitated, doubtful...but only for a second. He nodded somberly, and saw the quickly masked flash of light in Hiei's eyes.
"She calls, Kurama. She's in pain...cold and alone..." Hiei hesitated, biting his lip. The forced stoniness in the slight youth's voice grated, but it could not hide the pain. He obviously had been struggling with himself, a futile attempt to ward off this unexpected attack from their enemy.
Kurama could only stare at him in growing dread and astonishment, his mind awhirl. Then his smooth brow puckered in a determined scowl. Calling Hiei? He felt cold suddenly, very cold.
"Chikusho, she...she's just using you!"
The kitsune's normally gentle voice was a low hiss, his green eyes narrowed to catlike slits. He burst out, before he could stop himself..."How long have you been fighting this...this thing? Why didn't you tell Yuusuke? Why didn't you tell *me*?"
With every angry word Hiei's eyes sparked with fury, until he sat stiff-backed and straight on the other side of the fire, glaring until Kurama flinched back from that icy gaze. "I was not fighting *her*, kitsune no baka! She calls to me, a deep part of me I never knew I had. I am only facing myself, telling myself it is wrong. Part of my soul whispers to me that we are linked, that I should free her for my own sake..."
Hiei snapped his mouth shut, as if he felt he had divulged too much. With a reproachful look in Kurama's direction he disappeared, the air whipping into the space he had so swiftly vacated.
Kurama cursed softly.
Stifling the urge to leap after Hiei, he settled back, moodily intent on the orange light of the fire. Baka, he reprimanded himself, wrapping the blankets tighter about his body. He had felt the agitation of the little demon, but in his carelessness...
Troubled, Kurama scrubbed a hand through his long scarlet locks, a resigned sigh escaping his lips. The tension of the past few days had been telling on him, and on the rest of the Tantei as well. He doubted if he would have shouted at Hiei that way, had he not been as tightly strung as he felt. In all the years he had known the fire demon, he had always been the quiet one, the one with patience and restraint...His elfish features crinkled in self-disgust. It wouldn't do now for him to jump at shadows.
Furtively his green eyes tried to seek Hiei past the circle of light from the campfire, without success. He made a small sound of disappointment as even the familiar ki he sought was gone. Hiei had masked his trail too well, not wishing to be followed by a curious kitsune.
Calling Hiei.
He shivered, hugging his knees closer.
Why hadn't he felt that same call? He shared more with his stony-faced friend than any of them were willing to admit, he knew. They might as well have been brothers, despite their being two creatures born worlds apart, of flesh and blood different, a contrast in mind, in soul and thought...yet they could fight as one, two gears in the same machine, with that same fire and inner heart that they had subconsciously recognized within each other.
Yet in this, he felt an alienation, a distancing from Hiei as he had never known before. Fear rose within him...more for Hiei than anything else.
He had a home. He had Shiori, and Shuuichi-kun. He had friends, and lovers...
But Hiei had only Yukina...and himself.
If he lost Hiei...would the icy little fire youkai lose him, as well?
Alone again to trek the vast world without him. Alone to fight, to heal his wounds on his own.
He kept telling himself Hiei had been alone for most of his life, fighting, nearly dying, and healing without help from any other...yet he could not help but run his mind over how the little youkai would do without him. Ah, the strange little worries of a thousand-year-old fox for someone he called a friend, when he had been so very ruthless, so utterly cold.
Kurama snorted. *You'd think he truly was my younger brother, with all my worrying. Or worse, my son.*
He had to smile at that thought, despite his misgivings.
What if Hiei could not help himself, and had gone to find the Oyuki-hime on his own?
The feeling of brooding menace grew stronger, and a nameless dread clutched at Kurama's soul. The fox huddled into himself, his red hair glinting in the dancing flames, as he waited for Hiei to unmask his ki, ready to follow him into the jaws of danger if need be.
Mirror Three: Yukina
Yukina jerked upright, her thoughts churning.
That link between her and Hiei was fading...as though something...or someone...was stretching the thread out, thinning it into nothingness. She reached desperately out for it, screaming a mental warning...but it slipped away like water through her fingers.
<Oniisan!!!.......>
What was happening?
Panic seized her in a cold hand. Heart racing, she ran from the steps of the temple,. past the gardens and groves of trees that she had tended so carefully since Genkai had died...and out the gates, fast as her feet would carry her, a hysterical sob choking in her throat. What had just happened was impossible, her mind shouted. She was Hiei's twin, and nothing in the Three Worlds could possibly block the strength of that bond...but something just had.
She didn't know where she was going, but she had to find him. Find her brother.
She screamed as someone stepped into her path, and crashed into her at full tilt.
"Yukina!"
Then it was Shizuru who was staring at her, Shizuru who gripped her shoulders, steadying her from falling. Yukina's heart fluttered within her chest like a caged bird.
"Please, Shizuru-san..." she gasped brokenly, sobbing. "We have to help him, find him..."
"Help who?"
Yukina almost blurted out, *my brother.* Catching herself in time, she choked, "Hiei-san...Hiei-san is in danger."
Shizuru gazed at her in shock and trepidation, but it seemed the young woman's psychic knack told her that Yukina's instincts were right. She gently but firmly guided Yukina back through the temple gates, the pressure of her hand a source of warmth and comfort to the young Koorime.
"Yukina-chan, if something has happened to Hiei, we can't do anything about it now. We can only hope that Yuusuke and the others...."
That was it! Kazuma-san!
Yukina frantically searched the mental void for the singular thought of the big clumsy human, praying that he too hadn't fallen into the same danger...but the direction in which the feel of Hiei's link had disappeared seemed hazed, closed to her seeking mind. She clutched at the startled Shizuru, her fingers trembling. "Shizuru-san, I....I need your help," she stammered, half-afraid it couldn't be done. "Do...do you and Kazuma-san have a...a mind-link?"
"Nani?"
"Please," she continued desperately, praying as she had never done before. Please let it work. "If you can touch his mind, even from here, we..we could warn them...ask them to help my...to help Hiei-san!" Her grip tightened, and her voice grew shrill with anxiety. "Please, we musn't lose any time...."
Shizuru already was casting out her powerful psychic presence, even before the last word had died on Yukina's shaking lips. She nodded, brow furrowed in concentration as she held Yukina's hand, the cry to her brother flying out into the darkness of the mental void, thinning into the distance. The urgency in the ice-maiden's voice had infected her, and it lent strength to her call.
<Kazuma! Kazuma!>
There was a sensation
of mist, and immense, freezing cold. She jerked back from this unearthly
presence in fright and surprise...but it vanished with an inward sigh,
recoiling from her as though it found her of no interest. For a minute
she remained there in the vast silence, the call receding into the farthest
recesses of the plane, mastering her fear before she dared go further.
She sensed that this thing wielded power far beyond her own, but it did
not seem to present her any danger. For now, at least. Steeling her determination,
Shizuru sought out her brother's presence.
<Where are you?>
Then he was there, a tall, lanky boy, large grin and carrot-top hair...more a group of clearly defined sensations rather than an image. He fumbled clumsily with the telepathic link, a few stray thoughts breaking past his control. When he had at least gotten a semblance of discipline into his mind, he sent an overenthusiastic greeting back to her.
<Shizuru-neechan!> By the very feel of that voice, Shizuru could tell he had one of those big grins on his face.
<Baka,> she snapped, cracking the thought like a whip, unmindful of his flinch. <Hurry up and listen to what I have to say. Is Hiei with you?> She refrained from spilling the thought of Yukina's presence, knowing Kazuma would only waste time daydreaming by telepathy.
Kuwabara hesitated. <No.> A little mental grumbling on his part, quickly silenced in a cough as he felt his sister's presence grow ominous. <The little shrimp I haven't seen since yesterday. He was supposed to have been last watch for the night, but Kurama says he left and never came back. Kurama left this morning to search for him alone, since he said if we all came along, the squirt would never show himself.>
<It's important you find him. I...I feel he's in real danger, Kazuma...you have to trust me on this. Tell Yuusuke you're talking to me right now.>
There was surprisingly little argument on his end. Shizuru waited in the darkness, as she sensed Yuusuke's powerful presence through Kuwabara's eyes, again another tiny group of sensations, this time more blurry than Kuwabara's own.
<He says he thinks Hiei was troubled last night...he sensed something wrong. Kurama is on the mountain, still searching. He hasn't found him yet.>
Yukina anxiously watched
Shizuru's face, all the while turning frightened thoughts over in her mind.
Hiei....
How long ago she had known
he was her twin. She had known the first time she'd seen him, in that flash
of clarity her bond with him had given her. She'd drunk in the sight of
him, so proud, aloof, a fighter of cold cunning and immense strength.
It hurt that he couldn't
ever reveal himself to her, that he could never understand how she felt
about him. She already loved him for what he was, dark creature that he
was. It had always been a thing of mystery for her,
how a lifetime in Makai, on his own, had molded him into a being of
ice and stone...and yet, how his heart had remained.
She knew, that if Hiei truly
had become evil, she would have been touched by that evil, long ago.
She, his sister, was
a reflection of the good that remained in that hard, cold darkness...the
sliver of truth behind the cunning and that mercenary mind. Yukina knew
that they were linked by a bond stronger than even that of human twins,
and subconsciously, she felt, if he truly had been corrupted by the death
and dangers of the twisted World of Demons, she would have had a little
more darkness in her soul.
She smiled.
Yet she didn't, and she was happy, knowing a part of her still existed in her lone wolf of a brother.
It still pained her...that he would never openly acknowledge her, his sister. She had wept more pearls than she ever had in the clutches of Tarukane, in the nights she'd spent wishing he would...she understood he thought his dark side, his sins, his being a killer...rendered him unacceptable to her. She knew he didn't wish to be tied down, a hindrance to her happiness...the cause of possible strife between her and her husband. If only...
If only he knew how she missed him.
I know you think Kazuma-chan isn't good enough for me, Hiei-oniisan. He's a good man whom I love dearly, and who loves me more than anyone ever could. He'd fight to the death to protect me, and to protect our children. And even you, if he knew you were my brother. Even you.
Yukina looked up at Shizuru yearningly, as though her thoughts could somehow make the leap, from her, to Shizuru, to Kazuma, and somehow to the distant fire youkai.
He can take care of me, Hiei-oniisan, and you won't have to worry anymore when you go back to Makai. He always has. I''ve chosen to stay with him, even though he's a human, and won't be there all my life...
She smiled sorrowfully to herself, tears threatening to overflow. He might be silly sometimes, and seem offensive to your sensibilities, Hiei-oniisan. If only if you'd spend enough time with us...to see that side of him I love so much. It is too bad you two can't seem to stay in each other's company without fighting.
I love him.
And I love you...if only
you'd make that leap of understanding.
Shizuru's hand tightened
on her shoulder, cutting off her thoughts with chilling suddenness.
The psychic girl breathed, "They've found him."