From my vantage point in the cherry tree, I can see every line, every detail of her exquisite face, as she walks in the garden below...not that I haven't already lovingly memorized every delicate feature. She is a thing to be admired, a creature far loftier than I, infinitely desirable, utterly unattainable.
I've known her for many lifetimes, in this wheel of reincarnation we are cruelly mired in, for far more than I can ever remember, for eternity, so it has seemed to me. In some lives, she'd been wrested from my grasp as I lay dying, or as I screamed her name in vain as she was taken by another; in others, she had been a stranger whose heart I could never have hoped to turn to me. In all of them, I had lost her. In all my lifetimes, she, the mate of my soul, had been snatched away by the Fates.
I had sworn never to lose her again.
Not in this lifetime.
*****
Even should there be a greater obstacle, such as that which had we had been born with.
It was easy to make the small step to get what I wanted, what I had always wanted. The seeds of corruption are sown high and low, and I needed not to dredge the Meikai for what I planned, so to speak.
The opening came, when the message I had expected from Reikai was delivered to the Tantei.
*****
Kurama leaped back, rose whip trailing, pained from the slash on his cheek. Wincing, he reached trembling fingers up to touch the bleeding gash. It stung, and he knew, with a sinking horror, that the youkai's throwing knives were poisoned. He had been too slow.
"Matte! Hiei...!"
The little fire demon grunted in reply as he nimbly flashed by, slashing the legs out from under Kurama's opponent. The youkai assassin crashed to the ground with an earsplitting shriek, his severed limbs still twitching.
The fury of black cloth and steel paused, ebony cloak snapping in the backdraft of his passage.
"Ch, stupid fox! I warned you they were fast bastards..."
Hiei's words were cut off as another assassin attacked him head on, curved saber whistling with ferocious speed in a diagonal slash.
The lithe little youkai whirled, skillfully parrying the saber with the ring of steel on steel. He broke the clinch, giving only enough ground for stroke, and parry, sparks striking from their flashing blades, at a speed no human eye could have followed.
Hiei feinted high, as the youkai's sword arced up to intercept the anticipated strike for the head. Then the katana twisted in mid-arc to slice viciously downward, the swift, perfect blow halving the youkai from the chest. The keen steel had met little resistance, only the slight feel of the edge biting flesh.
Blood splashed on the ground, staining the verdant grass the red of death. Hiei remained for a moment, sword dripping, then he turned, eyes seeking his teammates.
****
It is only too easy to feign allegiances, among other things.
Too easy, when for the most part, in the past, those allegiances had been genuine.
Thus was the depth of my love, that I would throw all caution to the winds, and break all bonds, just to be with her, my love, my soul mate.
Below my tree, she smiles as if at some fleeting memory, whistling to the little creatures and the birds as she tosses them crumbs. The simple beauty of that smile touches my heart.
I turn away, as if not to sully her purity with the darkness of my thoughts.
At first the irony of it had amused me greatly, that something so simple would stand in the way of the happiness I had sought for so many lifetimes.
Something as simple as what this hiruiseki symbolized, something would be broken only...only by the destruction of everything that I had ever known, or acknowledged. Only by the sacrifice of my old life, my friends, the old world in which I had moved in.
There was no choice. For me, there was only one path.
****
The kitsune breathed heavily, the poison telling on him. Gem-bright eyes clouded, he fell to his knees, his speech coming out in labored pants. "Hiei.." he gasped out, his consciousness fading. "Help...the others...it's only a knockout drug...don't pay me...any..."
Hiei hesitated, then, as if coming to a decision, he flicked his sharp red gaze on to the rest of the skirmish.
Even before Kurama had collapsed unconscious on the sward, the slight youth was whipping past him, making for the other fighters with inhuman speed.
The youkai attacking them were strong, and unbelievably fast. Only Hiei's own speed outmatched theirs, and Yuusuke's power held them at bay...but for how long, he did not know. Some among them were at least lower S-class, and the fire demon expected the worst.
Kuwabara struggled in mortal combat with the leader, a tall rangy youkai with an eyepatch. The Rei Ken crackled in his fists as they clinched, hilts locked, both grunting from the strain as they sought to push each other over.
"You will not prevail over the mighty Kuwabara Kazuma, treacherous wretch!" Kuwabara cried, his voice booming. "Ambush or no, you cannot catch me by surprise!"
The purple-skinned creature only gave a feral grin in response. The youkai's footing seemed to give way slightly, and he used the sudden break to fall to one knee, away from the staggering Kuwabara, leaving himself deceptively open, sword lowered.
Hiei's ruby gaze narrowed.
The tall, clumsy ningen carelessly went in for the killing blow, as his opponent had expected he would. The youkai assassin howled in triumph, his sword arching up savagely from the ground.
Too late Kuwabara's Rei Ken began to swing down, to parry the youkai's thrust. Frozen in fear, he could only watch as the instant seemed to stretch out into eternity. Yuusuke screamed.
"Kuwabara!!!"
Then a snarling flash of black streaked out for the youkai, and cold steel hissed through the air.
Too late.
A gurgle rose from Kuwabara's throat as he toppled, blood gushing thickly between his fingers, hands clutching feebly at his stomach. He fell limply to the grass like a puppet with its strings cut, scarlet pooling out around him. The lean youkai had only the fraction of an eyeblink to smirk, his sword glistening wetly with Kuwabara's blood...
Before his head fell, blood spurting to mingle with his foe's own.
Hiei lowered his katana, the bright, bloodstained blade flashing in the sun.
Yuusuke leaped away from the fray, his index finger pointed at a particularly thick clump of attacking youkai. "Rei-gaaaan!" he screamed, the sheer destructive force of the reiki blast propelling him backwards. The last of their masked opponents were blasted to bits of charred flesh and hair that dissipated into smoke, curling away into the silence that hung thick in the air.
The young Reikai Detective ran to his fallen friend, his mouth working soundlessly, heedless of the blood that stained his hands as he turned the body of the gangling youth over. Kuwabara stared sightlessly, unblinking, at the azure stretch of sky.
****
The ambush had succeeded.
I stood in the park unmoving, the rain falling off my shoulders, dripping off the spikes of my hair. Botan had insisted we meet here, stupid girl. She always neglected to name alternatives, even in such trivial things as a case of inclement weather. But I was willing to forgive her that tiny oversight on her part. Especially after that initial success.
*She* had fainted when they had borne the ningen's body home for the funeral. Despite the fact I had mentally run myself through this many a time, it still had stricken me to the heart as I watched her face grow pale, the fire there die, leaving her shrunken and withdrawn...for all the world like a lost child.
But the pain had been forgotten once I had taken her into my arms to soothe her grief. After so long, the sweetness of it was an ache that now would never be subdued.
"There you are."
I scowled as the blue-haired Reikai ferrygirl stepped out on the path beneath the shadows of the trees. She was impeccably dressed as always in a pink kimono, and carried an umbrella instead of her usual oar; she seemed cheerier than usual, her rose-colored eyes twinkling. Snorting in contempt and disgust, I turned away, refusing her offer to share the shelter of the umbrella.
She tsked, a mocking sound. "Really now, Hiei, you shouldn't be so cold to your benefactress," she chided, one hand caressing the nape of my neck. I pulled away, glaring at her icily. She only grinned, her facade of girlish innocence sickening.
"Ch', woman...what is it you want!?"
Botan's face hardened into seriousness. "Business first," she said, ever so softly, her voice dangerous. "That ambush was a hell of a hard thing to orchestrate. Koenma demands payment for his dead youkai...you didn't have to kill *all* of them you know."
"Baka, I didn't...Yuusuke did."
She shrugged expressively. "Doesn't matter who did, those were very valuable youkai, especially since they served as soul vessels for Sensui and the Toguros in that attack." Her lips brushed my ear as she whispered, "But his liege is grateful...now a potential weakness in the Tantei has been erased, and the mutual benefits you foresaw we can now reap." She paused to lick my ear. I shivered with revulsion and closed my eyes, fighting the urge to kill her on the spot.
"Shizuru as the newest plaything for the master, as agreed...and her potential will be fully exploited as a Reikai Detective, stronger than Kuwabara ever was. Her brother's death will mold her into a cold-hearted, merciless bitch hungering for blood....precisely what Koenma needs for his plans."
Botan's schoolgirl smile grew, as though she would appreciated the wisdom of her power-hungry master. My lip curled in faint distaste; she knew, as well as I, that this whole thing had been my brainchild.
"As for the thing you want, it will be extremely difficult to pull off successfully. The Birth Records are sacred and may not be tampered with...legally...and about the girl...
Her hands encircled my stomach from behind. I stood stiff, my fists clenching as she bent to murmur into my ear.
"The spells for sundering ties, and selective memory erasures, are ancient and highly complicated, and need skilled masters to execute them without causing any possible side effects.
*I* happen to have been trained by the best. Koenma has used me sometimes...for his little experiments, and even his ferrygirls. He would trust no other...and I suggest..." She nuzzled my neck, disregarding the damp from the rain. "I suggest you entrust your beloved to *me*."
I felt, rather than saw, her smile.
Not able to stand it any longer, I twisted away from her, nauseous at this twisted little bitch. "What makes you think I'd entrust her to a witch like you?!" I spat, rage kindling within me at the preposterous suggestion. "I'd sooner kill her myself..."
She held up one finger, her expression one of forced patience. "Do you wish to have her without that little...hindrance, Hiei?" Her smirk was merciless. "This is the only way, unless you wish to take her against her will."
"No." My reply was thick-tongued.
"Then I shall name my price." Avarice gleamed in those ember-bright eyes. "I want the fox, Forbidden Child."
I barely nodded, my thoughts still clouded over with doubt.
"And for advance payment..."
Botan drew me back
against a huge, twisted oak. One of her hands slipped inside my shirt,
caressing, feeling, her touch grasping and hungry. My eyes widened, but
no sound came from my numb lips.
"You."
She easily slipped the ragged tanktop off, leaning forward to lick and suck the bared skin of my neck, and chest, as she pressed her body to mine. Her fingers on the other brushed lower, deftly unbuckling the first thin, white belt that cinched my fighting pants at the waist.
I gazed rigidly ahead, expressionless as cold stone. I had agreed, but I would not give her the satisfaction of having had her way.
She smiled, undoing my trousers almost leisurely, her eyes mocking as her hands slid them down.
"I think you'll like this mode of payment, Hiei."
I squeezed my eyes shut, trembling, forcing the shock and disgust away. Forcing myself to think of only *her.* I felt the cold rain slashing cruelly at my nakedness.
<.....Only by the destruction of everything that I had ever known, or acknowledged.....>
I felt only cold for a very long time.