Inherently Evil (A Hiei Story)

Chapter 21: Rain

It was pouring harder than it had all day, as if a monsoon was washing over the town. Nunnally had been crouching in it for over an hour as she patiently waited for any amount of demon activity inside the warehouse. Normally she wouldn't have minded the downpour but that's all it seemed to do lately. It was wreaking havoc on their ability to collect any evidence, making them almost blind as they proceeded.

With a deep sigh she rested her eyes for a moment. Unfortunately the calming gesture had the opposite impact. Her eyes shot open, breath caught in her throat. All Nunnally could see was the message left for her uncle in blood. SEE YOU SOON.

A panic attack ensued as she remembered returning to her loft with Hiei after their discussion with Jamie about what the message meant. Somehow it had been left by Bartholomew, maybe not by his hand but by and extension of it, through some surrogate.

Nunnally's gaze shifted from the warehouse to Hiei. He was transfixed on the uneventful scene before him. That was a relief, it meant he wasn't aware of her anxiousness which only grew the longer she looked at him.

He had explained what Bartholomew had said to him during his visitation, the context to go along with his sinister message. It made her extremely curious about what he was thinking. After all, he had said that he could relate to Bartholomew but he never mentioned the warning for her uncle. Nunnally didn't ask him about it when they were alone; she wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer. It hadn't sat well with Jamie, either.

Some good had come from it all, maybe. Koenma had taken the camera and developed the photograph of the white haired man for her. It had turned out nicely, revealing more details than she could have hoped.

The man had been shockingly handsome in her opinion but he appeared much older, older than her uncle at least. He had faint laugh lines on his pale face and a few crows feet around his blue eyes.

The photo had also shown him to be well built with broad shoulders and narrow hips. He was well groomed with white hair that was cropped with the sides slightly shorter than the top. The look on his face in the photo almost reminded her of Hiei's go to expression. But Nunnally hadn't recognized him, neither had anyone else.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" She groaned when she could manage to breathe properly again.

"Have patience," Kurama mused.

"These bastards need to just show their faces so I can rip them off," Yusuke growled.

Kurama sighed through the rain. "It's slightly unnerving that we haven't seen any activity. Their movements were almost like clockwork before."

"Maybe it's their day off," Kuwabara suggested.

"Even if I had a week, no, a month, I couldn't list all of the reasons why that's an idiotic idea," Hiei teased.

"I'm just trying to contribute you little pipsqueak!"

"Do us all a favor and don't."

"Man, I liked it better when you were on your own case."

"Surprisingly the feeling is mutual. But here I am, because it was obvious to Koenma that you fools wouldn't be able to handle this yourselves."

"You little jerk! I otta..."

"Enough, children." Nunnally hushed them.

"Thank you," Kurama was grateful. "But in all seriousness, I have a bad feeling. I may be grasping for straws here but it could be as simple as the severity of the weather that has caused a shift in their behavior. After all, this is the worst storm we've seen in weeks."