Ashes I Prologue He stood at a cliff edge, looking down at the wide expanse of barren terrain stretching as far as the eye could see. The darkness was fast approaching and he should have been searching for a safer place to spend the night instead of standing here, waiting. It was cold - the soft breeze cutting into his slight form like a hundred slivers of ice. Shivering, he drew his cloak more tightly around himself. Odd, he thought, he wasn’t usually like this… He heard footsteps behind him, the sound of ice being crunched under a boot. He was getting careless, how could he have let someone sneaked up on him so easily? Turning around, his hand reached for his katana but touched only empty air - his sword was gone. " You don’t need it," a dark, deep voice murmured in his ear. Jumping slightly, he whirled around. Impossible, his mind told him, the sound had come from an entirely different direction. There was no way the stranger could have passed him in order to walk up from behind him like that. " Who are…?" his voice trailed off with a strangled sound. He was staring at…himself. " Do you like it?" the other one said, doing a complete turnabout. Lifting his hands, he touched his face, tracing the strong line of his jaw, his delicate cheekbones… " Not quite as impressive as I could have wished." " What do you what?" He laughed, an odd but not unpleasant sound coming from that particular form. His crimson orbs gleamed like twin rubies in the dimming day…not *his* eyes. For an image of a youkai who measured his life-span in the centuries, this impostor had eyes bespoke a timelessness that came from an existence stretching a millennium or more. For awhile, he struggled with the sense of…wrongness about this entire encounter. He remembered bedding down in a tree - looking around, not a hint of green marred the empty white landscape. He didn’t sleep walk, and he did not recall waking up… " Who are you?" he snarled, reaching out to grab a handful of his black shirt and jerking him off his feet. He laughed again, this time there was an almost triumphant edge in the sound. " I am you…Hiei." Chapter 1 : Repercussions It was snowing in the Ningenkai. As Hiei leapt from building to building in a blur of black, he flicked the annoying white flakes from his shoulders and hair. Ever since the incident with Nuryko, his sensitivity to cold had increased to a point where his body slowed down whenever the temperature dropped beyond a certain point. That was perhaps the most dangerous repercussion of the enchantment she had cast on him - an insidious, slow-acting lethargy that left him all too vulnerable. His shoulder still ached from the little skirmish he had taken part in the Makai on his way here. A bunch of thieving youkai had seen his sleeping form as a convenient target - Hiei had quickly disabused them of that notion, but not before one of them had nicked him with a spear. Yawning, he dropped lightly onto the branch outside Kurama’s room - he always left the window unlocked just in case Hiei felt like stopping by. To his disappointment, the half-youko was not in…probably at college or something. Hiei looked around the neat room as he pulled off his wet boots. Small pots with wimpy-looking Ningenkai plants were scattered all over the room, giving it a sort of greenhouse effect. Shuuchi’s school books were stacked into orderly piles on his desk, next to a photograph of his human family. Rolling into Kurama’s bed, Hiei pulled the cotton sheets over his head, inhaling Kurama’s scent with a sigh. It had been a long time since he had last been with the fox and, truth be told, he had missed the teasing youko more than he cared to admit. Curling his body into a tight, compact ball, Hiei let his eyes drift shut… …need to speak to Kurama…later. Strangely enough, he dreamt of the Kokuryuha. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kurama was having one of *those* days. After evading the attentions of an overly-enthusiastic classmate, he arrived home to discover that Shiori was match-making him with a daughter of his step-father’s colleague. He ran frustrated fingers through his red locks. Did *no* one think he was capable of finding his own dates? Dropping his school bag at the foot of his bed, he almost tripped over a pair of discarded wet boots that was soaking the carpet. Frowning, he noted a unsightly lump on his bed that had not been there when he left this morning. Four months…with no word on whether he was dead or alive, that *impossible* fire demon appears one day, ruins the carpeting with his boots and steals my bed, Kurama fumed, silently. He prodded the lump mercilessly and was rewarded with a bad-tempered snarl from somewhere under the pile of bedding. " Hiei, where the hell have you been?" "…go away…" He curled up tighter and went back to sleep. After a few more unsuccessful tries, Kurama gave up trying to wake the fire demon - he could be stubborn, even when asleep. " Baka," he muttered under his breath, " this is what I get for being nice to you." Hearing his mother’s voice calling his name, he quickly changed out of his school clothes. The way his luck was going today, that would be Shiori wanting to introduce him to that ‘nice girl of Uncle Hajime’. Kurama rolled his eyes, it was one of those times when he wished he had not cultivated such a *good* image. If he had been more like…say Yuusuke, girls would avoid associating with him. " Hiei," he whispered to the sleeping fire demon, " stay here until I come back." He brushed his lips against the mop of spiky hair sticking out of the lump. " …mmm…" With another exasperated sigh, Kurama stepped out of his room to the outside world where the human half of him - Minamino Shuuichi, existed. " Shuuichi," his mother said excitedly, pulling him forward, " This is Uncle Hajime’s daughter, Midori…" She went on to extol his virtues to the unsuspecting girl that Kurama rolled his eyes, embarrassed. " Very nice to meet you, Shuuichi-kun," the pretty, dark-haired girl murmured at bit breathlessly. " I’ve heard so much about you…" Chapter 2 : Dreaming of a Dark Dragon …it sank its teeth into the white scaly flesh. The metallic-tasting blood flooded its throat in a cold wave. Youki surged in its veins like a powerful drug, burning into its soul with an unquenchable fire. It was free…able to soar through the skies without care. No creature would ever summon it again, ahhh…the euphoric rush of freedom… …something was wrong, he had lost the Kokuryuha. The pain ripped into his gut like a hot knife, he moaned, twisting in the strong arms that held him. No, not after all he’d been through… …it struggled against him - that irresistible force that bent its will to his own… …cold, dark fire burning into him… Hiei came back into awareness, gasping for breath and finding his shirt soaked with cold sweat. It was a dream, he assured himself, nothing more than a dream…he repeated the litany to himself as a sort of talisman against the shadows that awaited him in his dreams. Dammit, how could he still be so vulnerable to the memories? The Kokuryuha was gone, Nuryko was dead… " It’s time you got over that," he told himself, angry at the perceived weakness. Was there something truly wrong with him? There were days when he woke up, still half-asleep, and had a feeling that *something* had happened, something important, but had no idea what… When the dreams had begun haunting him, shortly after his rescue, he had imagined it would just be a temporary problem - that after awhile everything would be back to normal again. Now, after a year, it showed no sign of going away. If anything, they were getting more vivid…more *real*. Kicking the bedding away, Hiei pulled on his damp boots. He could hear the faint voices of Kurama’s family chatting about the day’s events through the walls. "…nice girl…" "…do you think that Shuuichi likes her…" The fire demon snorted. " Damn fox. Still can’t keep the females away." Placing a steady foot against the window sill, Hiei vaulted himself onto the nearest, sturdiest branch. The snow-covered limb sprung back slightly as Hiei released it and dropped lightly to the ground. While he might have preferred to continue by jumping from branch to branch, sadly the Ningenkai lacked the sufficient amount of trees to comfortably do so. No one paid much attention to him, though a kindly-looking old lady did stop him to ask where his parents were. Hiei gave her a hard look and mumbled some excuse that Kurama had given him for situations just like this. Just as soon as he was out of the more densely populated areas of the city, Hiei started to use his inhuman speed - the others did not approve of it. Apparently humans became easily excited by the sight of someone blurring in and out of view. " Well, certainly don’t want to scare any stupid ningen," he muttered to himself with a faint scowl. Jumping over the fence, Hiei ignored the sign ‘Closed - No Entry’ - he did not bother much with human regulations, it wasn’t like anyone was going to catch him. Something stirred his instincts… Whirling around, he let his eyes, all three of them, survey the darkened landscape. If he had been anyone else, it might have been his imagination… but Hiei had been hunted by the best. His razor-sharp survival skills might have been muted by the after-effects of Nuryko’s spell but they were still *very* good. Someone was following him. Hiei allowed himself a feral grin - let’s see if you can keep up whoever you are… Then, he was gone…nothing more than a black blur in the night, heading towards the one person that he thought of as family. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hiei dropped out of the snow-laden tree with a scowl at the snow that had fallen relentlessly since the moment he had returned to the Ningenkai. At least he had lost whoever had been trailing him. He hoped that Yukina was home, and that the fool Kuwabara was not with her. That idiot and his sister, hah! The mere thought of it made his teeth clench. " Oniisan," she murmured in surprise when she came to open the door. Seeing the expression on his face, she continued in alarm, " Is something wrong?" " I…I’m not sure." Anxiously, she pulled his unresisting form into her home. " What do you mean?" He began hesitantly, the words tripped over his tongue, no doubt from long disuse - he had never had anyone that he could comfortably open up to before. He told her about the strange lethargy he suffered from in the cold; and most of all about his strangely disjointed dreams of the dark dragon, Kokuryuha. When he was done, she took his hands into her own and gave him a chiding smile. " Oh, Hiei! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?" Somehow, that made him feel better. " I don’t know." That made her laugh, a tinkling, pure sound that lifted his heart. " May I…?" With her healer hands, she touched his chest, her crimson eyes fluttering close. He felt the brush of her cool youki touch him… She saw her brother’s fire, his spirit - strong, dark and familiar, burning defiantly against anything that sought to crush his formidable will. Above the flames, the purple eye of the Jagan stared down at her, unblinking. The Kokuryuha that would have appeared coiled around it was missing but she could sense no imbalance from its absence. Hiei was right - she could *see* that he was tired, but that was mostly caused by overexertion. A small frown creasing her smooth forehead, Yukina pulled away. " Oniisan, you haven’t been looking after yourself," she told him, chiding. Her voice trailed off thoughtfully. " Perhaps this and those dreams that you’ve been having are related. Your exhaustion might be prolonging the effects of the shock over losing the Kokuryuha." " When will it go away?" Hell, he felt…flawed for having admitted to being affected by the lost, even though he had managed to convince everyone, including Kurama, that he couldn’t care less. Yukina looked at him with knowing eyes. " You have to give yourself time to recover, oniisan. You are not invincible and you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone. Losing the Kokuryuha is not a crippling injury - you did quite well before you ever mastered it." Guilt was an uncomfortable thing. " I’ve been busy…" " I know." Definitely disapproving. He suppressed the urge to hang his head like a disobedient puppy. " You’ve been running all over the Makai and Ningenkai, showing everyone you’re still as ruthless and powerful as ever. It’s just making things worse. " She pushed him gently towards the door. " You need to stop and smell the roses…maybe with Kurama-san." " How did you find out…" " Go to him," she advised gently with a smile. Then she closed the door in his face. Chapter 3 : The Two Sisters He was having the strangest dream. Hiei was telling him a jumbled tale that made no sense; about his sister - Yukina, and the Kokuryuha…and roses? He laughed in his sleep, that could not possibly be Hiei… " Baka, are you even listening to me?" dream Hiei murmured, poking him in the arm. He was so close that his breath touched the half-youko’s neck, making Kurama squirm. " Why talk…?" He tried to kiss the elusive fire demon. Hiei tugged painfully on a lock of his hair. " Wake up!" Blinking, Kurama swam back into consciousness. " Huh…Hiei? Oww… Stop pulling my hair. It hurts." The youkai curved his arms around his neck. It felt nice, comfortable, maybe Yukina was right - he should take it easy. " You have a one-track mind, fox." He snuggled deeper into the warm blankets. " Now, be quiet. I need to tell you something." When he was finally finished, he turned to Kurama and demanded belligerently, " Well?" If the fox teased him about *anything*, he was going to get it… For a long moment, Kurama considered what he was going to say in reply - his answer, whatever it was, was going to damn him. The half-youko knew Hiei well enough to know that he was just itching for a fight. " I think you’re right." There…the all-purpose answer. He looked so adorable, blinking in confusion at his cryptic statement. " Nani?" Hiding the grin that would undoubtedly given him away, Kurama pulled Hiei closer. " I do have a one-track mind," he murmured. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ " I can’t believe you lost him." " It wasn’t *my* fault. You were the one who forgot to give me the invisibility cloak." " *You* should have asked me for it, baka. Am I the only one who does any thinking around here?" Scuffling sounds were heard on the roof top of the building directly opposite Kurama’s house as two small figures wrestled briefly over the insult. " Stop it!" one of them hissed. Reaching into her cloak, she pulled out a hand-held mirror and shoved it to her accomplice. " You keep an eye on them while I prepare the spell." Her sister muttered something uncomplimentary about her looks, but, grudgingly, took the mirror from her. Concentrating on the clear, smooth surface, she willed the images to appear. At first, they were kind of fuzzy, like she was looking through a translucent piece of cloth. As soon as they cleared enough, she let out a startled gasp and dropped the mirror into the snow. " Rian, what is it *now* ?" her older sibling asked, irritably. She was blushing furiously and trying to hide it. " Umm…they’re…you know…" " What have I told you about stuttering and not completing your sentences? I can’t understand you when you’re doing that." " Lian," her sister told her between clenched teeth. " Don’t patronise me." " Here, you finish the spell." She picked the mirror out of the snow and brushed it clean. " Sometimes, I don’t know what’s wrong with you. I ask you to do something simple and you…," her eyes widened, " …whoa." She dropped it back into the snow and pressed her hands against her flaming cheeks. " Why aren’t you *watching* them?" Rian smirked. " Be quiet. You’re way too young to know about these things." For a blessed moment, her younger sister kept her mouth shut. It did not last long. Then, " I didn’t know that humans and youkai could…" " RIAN!" Still chuckling to herself, she turned her attention to the parchment in her hands. They would definitely need to augment the spell, no way was such a puny ward going to hold him - at least, not long enough to transport him back to the Makai. " Our informer told us he despised humans - that’s the last time I pay her for anything." Lian hated surprises of any sort and this deviancy from her set image of him disturbed her. She felt a tiny kernel of guilt from that long-unused conscience of hers - what they were involved in was much worse than their usual thievery. " Maybe he likes playing with his food," Rian supplied helpfully. " That’s disgusting. You’re such a hentai. I have no idea where it comes from, certainly not from me or Jian." Her sister stuck out her tongue at her as soon as her back was turned.