Embrace the Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing!! I wish I did, though...




Hiei woke with his head pounding mercilessly. He moved to cradle it in his hands...and found that he couldn't, the reason being that his wrists seemed to be strapped down to something.

This realization ght ght him fully awake in an instant, his crimson eyes shooting open to quickly assess his surroundings and his current situation. He appeared to be in a windowless concrete room, unfurnished, save for a small metal trolley next to him, and, of course, the large metal slab that he was attached to, which hung vertically from the ceiling.

"What in all the hells?" he muttered angrily.

"Oh, good. You're finally awake," came the unexpected response,a ria rich alto voice that sent the blood straight to Hiei's groin, despite his obvious anger.

"Who are you?!" he growled. "Where am I?!"

"Both questions to which I cannot provide a complete and honest answer," the voice replied, its owner now stepping out from the shadows in a corner of the room. "I can lie, if you'd like me to."

The speaker turned out to be a tall, nicely figuromanoman, with stark white skin, long, thick black hair, and ice-blue eyes. That was all Hiei could see of her, at least, as the rest of her face and body was swathed in some sort of black film that clung to her as if it were a part of her very being. As she approached him, the cloth trailed enticingly behind her, and Hiei felt another unbidden rush of erotic sensations.

"I will, however, tell you what I can," the woman continued. "Down here, they call me the Goddess of Darkness." She paused in front of Hiei, running her hand silkily down his cheek, furthering his realizations that he was painfully erect now. He did his best to conceal this rather embarassing fact, jerking his head up and out of her reach.

"'They'?" he interrupted.

"Yes, 'they'," the woman answered vaguely, making broad, all-encompassing gestures with her hand. "My minions, the lower-class demons...You know, 'they'."

"What else can you tell me...Goddess?" Hinarlnarled sarcastically. Her eyes flashed in excitement, and she stepped forward to grasp an item off the trolley, a brief accompanying flash of light leading Hiei to believe that the item had not been there previously. She took a few steps back, and Hiei now saw that she held an elegant black whip coiled in one of her hands, the ebony handle resting in the other.

"I can tell you," she said, cracking the whip in the air eagerly, "that you should have listened to your friends."

Hiei narrowed his eyes at her. What was she talking about, he should have listened to his friends? He opened his mouth to retort...and it all came flooding back to him.

He had been on a Spirit World mission in the Makai, and Kurama had seemed unusually distracted, had been lagging behind, so Hiei had stopped to ask him what was wrong...

*FLASHBACK*

"Kurama. Hey! KURAMA!!"

The kitsune turned his head to look forward, toward the source of the voice, and walked right into Hiei, sending the both of them to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Hiei ended up on his back, Kurama sprawled on top of him, looking down rather sheepishly.

"Sorry," he murmured softly, rolling off carefully and getting up, extending his hand down to the little fire youkai, who took it and allowed himself to be hauled to his feet.

"What's gotten into you lately, fox?" Hiei asked, dusting himself off. "You're dawdling."

"I am not dawdling!" Kurama replied, somewhat indignantly, shaking the dirt out of his long, red locks. "It's just that...there's something not right here, that's all."

Hiei arched a curious eyebrow. "Elaborate, fox," he demanded.

Kurama fixed him with a concerned emerald gaze. "Something's been following us for at least a week," he said quietly. "And, though its presence seems to hold malicious intent for all of us, it appears to be focusing...on you."

Hiei snorted. "If that's all that's bothering you, then you have nothing to worry about. Anything that wants me isn't going to get me without one hell of a fight, you know that."

Kurama gave an uneasy smile and rubbed the back of his neck. "I...I know, but...just... promise you'll be careful, all right?"

"You're being ridiculous, Kurama."

"Maybe." Kurama suddenly leaned forward and gathered up two fistfuls of Hiei's cloak, pulling him in until their noses were mere inches apart. "But, please, just promise."

Hiei gasped as Kurama's breath ghosted across his lips, and fought to resist the almost overpowering urge to close the distance and crush his lips to those rose-red ones. He swallowed, hard.

"If it means that much to you," he said, in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner, "then...I promise."

Kurama smiled, and before Hiei knew what was happening, Kurama had kissed him softly on the cheek and scampered away.

*END FLASHBACK*

He remembered now. He had made that promise to Kurama, thinking that it had been nothing more than a means of easing the fox's fears. But, just a few days later, hadn't Yusuke gotten bored and asked Hiei to spar with him? And he had seemed just as preoccupied as Kurama...

*FLASHBACK*

Hiei jumped back and flicked the blood off of his katana, frowning as it splattered onto the grass and the trees.

"Detective!"

Yusuke started and wrenched his eyes away from the spot he had been staring blankly at, turning to give Hiei a confused glance. Hiei just sighed.

"Your face?" he explained, motioning with his blade. Yusuke's hand went up and traced the new wound on his right cheek, coming away slick and sticky with blood.

"If I remember correctly," Hiei pointed out, somewhat aggravated, "it was you who asked me to spar. So, unless you want to feel the caress of my blade again, I suggest you PAY ATTENTION!!"

Yusuke flinched as Hiei bellowed at him, raising his hands in an apologetic and protective gesture. "All right, all right. I'm sorry. It's just that...there's something not right here, that's all."

Hiei blinked. Weren't those the exact same words Kurama had used? Maybe there was something to that promise after all...

*END FLASHBACK*

Hiei was quickly brought back to the present as he felt the whip snap across the delicate flesh of his forearm, pulling a hiss of pain out of him as the blood trickled down his side.

The woman laughed, and the whip bit into Hiei a few more times before he got fed up, raising his head and locking his eyes with the Goddess'. Power began to swirl around him.

"That's it. Let's see just how long these bindings of yours last against my true power!"

The Goddess clucked her tongue, as if she were admonishing a disobedient child, promptly dropped the whip, reached into one of her flowing sleeves, and re-emerged clutching a small, silver mirror that she held to her chest.

Hiei laughed derisively. "A mirror? If that's all you're using to protect yourself against me, you won't live long enough to be sorry about it." The woman just smiled.

"Fine. Enjoy your stay in hell. Dragon of the Darkness Flame!!"

The Dragon rose screaming into the air, attacked Hiei's shackles, rebounded, and sped toward his captor, who thrust the mirror out in front of her. The Dragon hit it at full speed...and disappeared in a blinding flash of light.

When Hiei chanced opening his eyes again, the woman had the mirror pressed against her chest again, only one difference noticeable at all in the entire scene. The mark of the Dragon, usually coiled around Hiei's arm, was now emblazoned on the reflective surface, which the woman tucked back into her sleeve. Hiei gaped. The woman noticed.

"Hiei, Hiei, Hiei," the Goddess scolded, wagging her finger at him. "Did you honestly think I would have spent all that time following you, gone through all the effort of watching you, all the trouble of kidnapping you and bringing you here, only to have you escape after burning me to a crisp? Really, I did expect more from you."

"So, it was you that the others sensed."

"I told you, you should have listened." The Goddess had picked up the whip again, and was now advancing slowly, a predatory gleam in her eyes. "Perhaps, if you had, you wouldn't be here now."

With no further words exchanged, she flogged him mercilessly, until every inch of exposed flesh was dripping blood, and his eyes glimmered with pain that his mind would not admit, but that his body could not deny. Still, he met her every move with defiance, making no noise at all, nor shying away from her blows.

Surprisingly, this did not seem to discourage the Goddess at all, and she only left him when she ran out of unharmed skin, abandoning him to the dark and the cold.




So...what do you think, guys? Read and review please...this is my first attempt at posting any fanfiction, and also my first attempt at a dark fic...Constructive criticism is welcomed...but any flames will be immediately doused and/or used to light the sender's sacrificial pyre...Tell me if you want more, please!!! Thanks a bunch!!!