Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Memories ❯ Why Her? ( Chapter 6 )

Hiei spent some time reading over both the countercurse and the antitoxin. The countercurse looked like a waste of time, really. Drawing a circle and standing on the cardinal points while Botan and Bekka stood in the center. Chanting, waving stones around, and burning herbs only added to his contempt of spell work. But, if this would get rid of the girl and that Loki character, he guessed it might be worth it. He looked through the ingredient list for the antitoxin and found absinthe listed. Isn't that what Yusuke called her before she punched him? Isn't that what Loki called her? The other ingredients were strange as well-nightshade, bloodroot, and white poppy. Some of them he recognized as poisons. If the silly chanting didn't work, they would poison her? That bothered him. He turned and watched her for a while. Her mind was chaotic and slipped between reality and hallucinations. He couldn't find a sense of self, as sense of identity, only chaos and confusion. Even dreamers had a sense of self. He remembered the events of two weeks ago. She had a strong sense of who she was and that allowed her to stand up to Loki. But yesterday, she'd been afraid of him. She hadn't been afraid of risking her life before. Such a drastic change deeply bothered him. "Hn," he muttered, trying to turn his mind away from these reflections.

"So, this bothers you, Hiei?"

He didn't bother to look at the god who appeared behind him. "What do you care, Loki?"

The god stepped into his line of sight, also looking at the girl on the bed, "I still can't reach her mind, but you can. I won't be able to reach her until she knows herself again." He looked at Hiei, "She'll blame me for this, even though I didn't do it."

"You put her in a position where it could happen and she couldn't defend herself. You as good as did it to her."

The air between the god and the demon grew poisonous as they glared at each other. "I am not fate, demon. I do not control the threads of life!"

"You manipulate her thread!"

"Only because of who she is!"

"Who is she?"

The god glared at the little demon, sneering. "She is Absinthe," he answered, as if that was supposed to be significant. Contempt entered the god's voice, contempt for Hiei, "There are only a few humans who can handle the distortion that occurs when traveling through time and space simultaneously. Even fewer who can adapt to the environments they find themselves in. It is a very rare human who has the intelligence and resiliency to endure without loosing their minds. She is a rare person."

"And you continue to torment her?" Hiei was unsure what to think.

"Only because she doesn't take the step to stop the game."

"And what step is that?"

"She has to wish for it to end and she won't do that because she doesn't trust anymore."

"And whose fault is that?" Hiei shot out accusingly.

"I don't have to take this from you!" Loki declared and vanished.

Hiei looked at the girl again, even more unsure what to think of her. He looked at the clock on the bedside table and was surprised at how late in the day it'd gotten. The others would be here soon. Soon, this would be over. He hoped.

Bekka stirred on the bed, opened her eyes and looked at him. She could still see and hear the angels, but he looked and moved different. She remembered the one that could talk to her said he was a friend. She was hungry again. Frowning, she picked up the soup bowl and held it out toward him, "Mehr, bitte?" (More, please?)

He took the bowl from her and went downstairs. Kurama's mother was out running errands and he had no idea how Koenma kept her from noticing the girl in her son's room. He shrugged as he opened the cupboards. He found a box of crackers and took them back to the room. She was sitting at the desk, frowning at the books and papers strewn there. He could feel her frustration amidst the swirling confusion. He could also feel her desire to talk to him and her frustration at not being able to. Talking forced order into the chaos, gave her an anchor to reality that she craved. "Here," he handed her the box. "The others will be back soon." She looked at him, cocking her head sideways as if trying to catch the meaning hidden from her. She took the box from him, looking at it from all angles, trying to figure it out. Sighing in his own frustration, he took it back, opened it and took a cracker. He handed both the box and cracker to her. She smiled at him and began eating neatly. She continued to frown at the books, occasionally moving them for a better view of a different one.

Kurama arrived home, closely followed by the other three and together they went upstairs. The scene that greeted them was not what they expected. Bekka looked up from the books, "Ich weis das, dass ich es verstehen soll. Warum kann ich nicht?" (I know I should understand this. Why can't I?)

Kurama had to blink to collect himself. "Weil du sehr krank war." (Because you were very sick.)

She frowned, trying to gather her thoughts, "Bin ich jetz krank?" (Am I still sick?)

Kurama glanced over to Hiei, who spoke in response to the unasked questions, "She doesn't know who she is, only has a sense of what should be. Looking at the books and talking help her find an anchor in the chaos in her mind."

Kurama nodded and began talking to Bekka about what they knew of why she was there. She had a lot of trouble staying focused and understanding. He hoped that the countercurse would work. This girl almost bore no resemblance to the author of the book of shadows.

Botan led the other boys downstairs to go over the ritual. Before she could begin, however, Hiei started, "Loki showed up today. He said she was special because she could adapt and handle transfers or something like that."

Botan looked surprised, "Oberon said she was uniquely suited to keep Loki occupied and hopefully teach him something."

"Teach him what?" Yusuke and Kuwabara asked, slightly out of synch with each other.

She shrugged, "He didn't say. Let's go over this. It's important to do it right."

"How will we know if it works?" Yusuke wanted to know.

"Loki said she needed to know herself again." Hiei recalled..

"I think that's the answer. You said she doesn't have a sense of self, so it makes sense that the countercurse would fix that," Botan answered.

"I was looking at the antitoxin. How is poisoning her going to help if the countercurse doesn't?" Hiei wanted to know.

"The toxin isn't supposed to exist in the human world. It is derived from plants of the Makai and other realms. It's hard to come by in there and only makes demons dizzy. But to humans, it has devastating effects. The poisons work to make the body purge itself completely and that seems to be the only way to get the toxin to leave the body of a human. If she doesn't have the toxin in her, then the antitoxin would kill her, that's why we have to try the countercurse first." She began to explain what was involved with the countercurse and what each of their roles would be.

Night fell quietly over the house. Kurama and Bekka came downstairs to join the others. He looked worried and she looked apprehensive. Without a word, they all went outside. In Kurama's back yard, Death, two demons, and three humans formed one of the most unique spell circles that had ever been called. They went through the motions of the spell, hoping, but not really believing that it would work. As they neared the end and were beginning to despair, however, light began to form in the center of the circle, surrounding Botan and Bekka. It was a gentle, pale blue light that seemed warm even though it gave off no heat. It seemed to swirl about the two girls, bringing up their hair as if they were in a strong wind, even though the boys could feel nothing. Time seemed to stop as they watched the light condense around Bekka and become part of her. Her face was transfigured from a frightened ghost of herself to a laughing happy relieved face. As the light vanished from their view, she smiled at each of them, "Ich bin mich….Ich bin Bekka!" (I am me…I am Bekka!)

A/N Okay…who thought I was gonna poison her? Go ahead, admit it in a review :P (in all honesty, I wasn't sure until I wrote it…) Now, she's gotta get her memories back. She now can start speaking the same language as everyone else (THANK GOD!), so my dictionary will get less of a workout…(bouncy bouncy). Okay, I'm a little loopy right now…Hope Shadow likes it…it's a Hiei chappy….lol…anyways…more later :D