Risk of Conviction

YOU SHAKE MY NERVES

 

Hiei called out in warning as he approached, “Kurama! Please. Wait!”

 

I prefer dealing with people who have experienced betrayal before: they catch on faster.

 

“Stop. fox! What are you afraid of?”

 

“Are all demons all motivated by fear?” I yelled, my shoulders knotting. Hiei stopped, settling on a branch. I could see him by the way the tree cried out at the heat.

 

“Ready yourself.” I snapped the rose whip out. “I’ve little time as it is and even less to spend being chastised by a mass killer.”

 

He sheathed his sword. “We will let you use the mirror regardless.”

 

“I will not be in a deal where I have to stand the utter stench of that soul eater a moment longer—and don’t speak!” I warned, feeling him grinning at my weakness. “I know I am not the dead weapon I once was. Humans have everything demons don’t, and above all, they do not value their lives. They live in sacrifice to their gods, their causes, one another. They are not afraid to die! Can you say that about yourself?”

 

“Is that admirable to you, Kurama?” he asked. “To die?”

 

“Hardly. Nevertheless - ” I struck out to make him jump, for he was walking too close. He did not dodge and I was forced to pull myself back at the last minute. “I have been in this human world long; for better or worse, it is in me: I will not destroy it. Your plans to rule a demon army are pathetic; that boy is the first of any number of half demon humans that will rise up to stop you.”

 

His head twisted cockily.

 

“You cannot kill a world,” I cried. “Your arrogance is....”

 

I don’t know what made me stop. I pulled my anger back as I had the whip. His eyes seemed to lose fight. He was listening.

 

--

 

Hiei turned his heel and leapt from the glen, leaving Kurama behind.  He wanted to say goodbye, but knew it wasn’t worth the breath.  The fox was simply another abusive thing in a long line of treacherous, half loving ghouls that wandered about without a code to harness their desires, hurting everyone they touched with their madness.

 

Hiei’d had enough of them.

 

Still, he could not bear that Kurama had become one of these, especially now.  They were friends. They had been allies of convenience, but Kurama had seemed so whole, supported Hiei so fully the months they’d spent training. 

 

But he was still vicious.

 

Hiei could not afford to make this one an enemy, but Kurama was too sharp to hold close.