Ikigai (Hiei x OC)

ENCHANTRESS

Sore all over, Airi opened her eyes as the sun stretched into her room. The cheeriness of the sky belied her mood. Running her hand across the empty mattress beside her caused an awful ache in her heart. How happy she'd been just twenty-four hours ago.

Yusuke relayed the few details he knew to her last night, trying to fill the gaps in her memory. Besides being trapped, and waking just long enough for her captor to explain that she would be eaten, she could not recall a thing. It almost felt like it hadn't even happened. She had no recollection of Hiei saving her, or of him carrying her back here. Finding out that he had not even bothered to stay until she woke up was a knife in her chest.

For the first time since meeting him, she wondered if she had what it took to love him. It had been easy to forgive his past missteps, knowing that if they moved forward from it, they would be stronger for it. This time, she questioned whether there would be any moving forward at all. There was something quite final about him abandoning her after she nearly died.

Funnily enough, she did not cry. The tears that were always seconds away from falling with the slightest provocation remained hidden, with no threats of emergence. She could not tell if it was numbness, her brain unable to process two traumatic events at once, or if she had already given up on him. Any reasonable girl would have. She was beginning to realize that the hold he had on her may not be so healthy.

Convincing herself to rise out of bed, not for herself but for her team, she meandered into the bathroom and turned on the shower. As the steam filled the room and fogged the mirror, she stared at the bathtub. With a sigh, she stepped out of her clothing and into the shower, the hot water soothing her aching muscles. She let it rain down her face, trying to recenter herself.

For the first time since arriving, she joined her team in the common room for morning coffee.

"Morning Airi!" Kuwabara exclaimed, slapping her a little too hard on the back.

"I'm glad to see you're okay," Kurama said.

Yusuke just smiled at her, and the masked fighter sat quietly, not making eye contact with her or anyone else.

"I assume no one has seen Hiei," she posited.

"Nope. Guy's really pissing me off," Yusuke said. "The fight starts in three hours. We should all be at the arena already, preparing. As a team."

"Agreed, Yusuke. You three should head there now, Airi and I will see if we can locate Hiei," Kurama said.

"I don't know... are you ready to go back out there so soon Airi?"

"I appreciate the concern, Yusuke, but I'll be okay. Like I said, I don't even really remember it. I'm not afraid."

When he didn't seem convinced, she added, "Besides, I'll have Kurama with me. No one will mess with the two of us."

Kurama nodded, and the team split up. As they entered the woods, she asked the question that had been on her mind since waking.

"Did Koenma's people find anything to help him?"

"Not yet. But do not lose hope. Hiei is adaptable. He may act recklessly, but his intelligence for battle is greater than most. We just need to find him and make sure he actually arrives at the match."

"You sound worried," she noted.

"It did occur to me that you were likely not the only target if a team is trying to take us out of the running. Hiei was... in a state, last night. Not as sharp as he usually is. He would not miss a fight, unless he was otherwise engaged."

In all of her bitterness, she had not even considered that he could be in danger. Feeling ashamed of herself, she resolved to let go of those sour feelings. She was stronger than that.