Ikigai (Hiei x OC)

THE SEARCH

Airi sprinted through the woods, her mind clear and focused. She regretted what she'd done to Akira, binding her with air and securing her to the ceiling, though there was little time for remorse. She would make it down safely once Airi found the portal.

Power coursed through her – stronger than it had ever been before. She did not even need to press her hand to the earth to view the vast network of the forest. It simply unfolded for her like a beautifully drawn map.

The energy signature of the portal was not natural to this world, and stuck out amongst the vibrations of the trees and shrubs. It laid just a few more miles north. If she'd known this the day he left, would it have changed anything? Could she have protected him?

You're a fool to think you would have made a difference. Genkai, Akira... even Hiei. They saw her for what she was. A girl too big for her britches, always overestimating her abilities. She'd sensed the status of Shigure during that fight. Her meager power could not have measured up.

At least you would have died with him.

Blinking back tears, she screamed the voice away. It had popped up uninvited sometime in the night, and it sought to unravel her. Birds fled from their branches, taking to the sky in hoards at the sound of her screeching.

She climbed through the portal warily, remembering what Hiei told her about getting sliced in half. Before he'd decided to abandon her, he had done a thorough job of preparing her for their journey and what to expect upon her arrival back in Makai.

Safely on the other side, she took a moment to gather her bearings, absorbing the foreign world around her. Those angry red skies could only remind her of him, as if he was the entire world incarnate.

Leagues passed with nothing but silence to hold her hand. There were no animals, no critters. Only the barren landscape and the creeping chill as the night matured. Worried she might freeze to death if she did not find a place to stay, her ears perked up at the distant sound of voices.

Smoke rose steadily above a decrepit tree line, and she approached it without reluctance. Her power was different here. Stronger. The minerals in the dehydrated clay were heavier than those found in her own world, and would do more damage when hurled at an enemy. To prove this, she launched a half-hearted attack at an old tree trunk, smirking as it exploded into shards of decaying wood.

After the spirit world trial regarding the murder of Kobayashi and his assistant, and the not-guilty verdict that followed, Koenma had unwittingly revealed the class levels for both her and Hiei. That battle with Sensui had shot him all the way up to A, and she had just barely crossed the threshold into B.

She'd felt the shift happen, while she fought toe-to-toe with Sensui for those few brief minutes. A similar sensation flooded her now – an indescribable tingling in every cell. Whatever awaited her around that bonfire would pose no threat.

This turned out to be true, though not for the reasons she expected. Twenty or so demons, some human-like, many not, danced and sang around the roaring flames. They smashed tin cups together, amber liquid sloshing over the sides and spilling out onto the thirsty ground. Hiei had always made this place seem menacing, but here, she found something that felt very much like warmth.

Skirting around the edge of their playful debauchery, she slipped through the front door of the inn unnoticed. The broad, softwood floors were covered in a layer of grime, and the walls fared no better. It stank to high heavens, like stale beer and manure, with something sulfuric beneath the top notes.