By Die Before I Wake
(Sorry for being MIA for a while. The answer to the picture in the recent update.)
Blood, Hiei thought as he ran into the forest several meters away from the yard of the Rekai Tantei mansion. I smell blood. The fire apparition slowed his pace as the scent got stronger. It’s definitely fresh. But it’s not human. Nor is it demon. What is it?
Eventually, Hiei slowed to a walk when it smelled as if it were right in front of him. He stopped when he reached a small clearing. The scent was indeed strongest here. He turned his head and looked around. The delightful, metallic scent was coming from a large bush across the clearing, it seemed.
He put a reassuring grip on the handle of his katana and took several slow steps towards the bush. Nothing had jumped out at him...yet. He took his hand from his katana and parted the branches slowly. He saw a small trail of drops of the crimson liquid begin a few feet away. His mind was telling him to leave it alone, but his demonic, bestial instincts led him on to follow the warm, alluring scent.
Hiei followed the scent for a few more meters until he found the source. He stopped and looked at what lay before him. Lying in the middle of a pool of crimson blood was a small, still, silvery grey form. Its fur was matted with blood and mud from the recent storm. Its back was to him, letting him see only the pointed ears and fluffy tail. He made a wide circle around it to see the front of it. He knelt down on the ground and examined it closer. It was a young wolf pup, definitely not old enough to live on its own. Where was its pack? Had it been abandoned? Had they turned on it?
It took a moment for Hiei to realize that it was small for its probable age. It looked like it was supposed to be about two or three months old, seeing as it wasn’t a bear-like furball. Did the pack kill it because it is small? Hiei thought. But if that’s the case, wouldn’t they have just killed it at birth? He looked around the clearing and sniffed the air. I smell mountain lion. It must have attacked the pack. He looked at the pup again. Then... why did they leave it back here to die? He looked at the trail of blood from the rest of the pack. It headed onwards. There was no sign of any one of them stopping. Had they been pursued?
Hiei shrugged the matter off and took out his katana. He raised it over his head and plunged it down into the moist, blood soaked earth. He dragged it back towards him, beginning to dig a hole to bury the pup in. He eventually got it the size of a shoe box when he heard a high pitched whimper. He stopped digging and looked on the ground at the small pup. It made no movement or noise. He put the katana in the sheath and knelt down by the pup again. He put his hand on its side and felt it taking small breaths and then felt the fast heartbeat that small creatures often have.
It’s... alive? What do I do? he thought. He took off his cloak and laid it on the ground. Then he carefully picked up the small pup and heard it whimper again. He placed it on his cloak and wrapped it gently and securely. Hiei picked it up and started towards the mansion. Now to sneak it in without waking the others up, he thought. Yusuke and Kuwabara won’t wake up, but I’m not quite sure about the fox... I did leave my window open tonight, right?
A few minutes later, the fire apparition arrived at the back yard of the mansion. He looked up to his window and saw that he had indeed left it open. He jumped up into the tree next to it and went inside. He laid the pup on the bed and folded an extra blanket up and put it on the floor of his bare closet. Then he snuck into the hallway and grabbed a first aid kit out of the closet. He closed the door and went back into his own room. He turned the light on and opened the small white tin.
His face went blank when he saw the contents. The only thing he recognized were the bandages, tape, and gauze. He saw a small bottle of clear liquid and opened it. He sniffed it and nearly gagged. He immediately closed the bottle and put it on the bed. That was indeed the scent of the foul-smelling, burning liquid that had often been put on his wounds by Yukina, Botan, Kurama, or anyone else who had caught him sneaking in after getting wounded. Then he remembered that they had often used white, fuzzy balls to put the liquid on. He found a small bag of those and put it outside of the tin. He put out the bandages, tape, and gauze as well.
Hiei opened his cloak and saw how dirty the pup was. He went into the bathroom of his room and filled the tub with about an inch of warm water. He placed the small silver-grey pup in the water, making sure that he held the head up, and poured a handful of water on its side. The pup fidgeted and Hiei continued trying to wash the mud and the blood off of its fur. He then realized that warm water only made blood flow faster. He rinsed the pup off and laid it on a towel. He rubbed it as dry as he could without spreading the crimson shade all over its body. Then he put it back on his cloak and tried his best to clean out the wounds. When he moved one of the pup’s hind legs to assure that it wasn’t broken, he saw that the pup was a small female. He moved the other hind leg and saw that she had no broken limbs.
Hiei sighed. He was finally done. He looked at his work and his eye twitched a little. It wasn’t exactly the best bandaging job he’d seen but it certainly wasn’t...Oh, the hell with it! It was the worst bandaging job the world would ever know. I bet Kuwabara could have even done better, Hiei thought, sighing. Oh well. It’s not like it’s my own fault. I’ve never helped a person or animal in this way in my life. He looked at the closet, completely bare except for the blanket he laid down and then at the pup. He looked back at the closet again and saw the corner of a cardboard box with no lid.
He grabbed the box out of his closet after he took a knife out of his dresser drawer and began to cut a doorway in one of the narrower sides of the box, big enough for the pup to walk in and out of. He scrunched up the blanket a little and put the box completely over it. He walked over to the bed to pick the pup up and looked at her.
Why am I doing this? he thought. I’ve never saved anyone or anything before in my life. I’ve never even thought of it. He looked at the pup thoughtfully. Maybe it’s because she reminds me... of myself.
Hiei then remembered being thrown off of the Koorime Island days after birth. He had been found by the thieves. He had been taught nothing of compassion. He had been trained to fight, to steal, to kill. He then became too good at them for his own well being and then was rejected by the only “family” he had ever known. This pup had been rejected by her own pack as well, and by the look of it, turned on as well.
Hiei sighed and then picked up the small, silver-grey wolf pup and lifted the box. He laid her on the blanket and then placed the box over her. He turned the closet light off and shut the door. He then realized that he could not tell anyone about this. Not only did he not want to force himself to tolerate the taunts and teasing of the two bakas, but he didn’t want to risk the “Wild Animals Are Not Pets” lectures that he had heard from Kurama and Botan when Kuwabara brought in a lynx kitten and Yusuke had brought in a snake. Nor did he want to have to have Kurama take it to a shelter and get it “euthanized”. Whatever that meant. But he had heard the word before and by the tone of the voices in the conversation and the scent of graveness in the air, it did not seem like it would be in the pup’s best interest. Besides, Hiei thought, It’s not like I’m going to keep the pup, anyway. It doesn’t seem like the thing will even make it through the night.
The fire apparition looked at the digital clock on his night stand and read the red squared numbers. They read three thirty seven. How long ago did he go out to begin his walk? He shrugged and sat on the window seat after closing the window. He leaned against the wall and fell asleep.
