damned_institute | Nightshift 31: M21-M30 Hallway

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Nightshift 31: M21-M30 Hallway

((Specifically in room M22))

This night was shaping up to be another long and tiring one. Adelheid mentally ran through the checklist of things to do: give a spear to Yukari Takeba, create the sakabatou for Himura Kenshin, sharpen Kenren's blade... and then, if he found a moment to breathe, to do something to let off some of the anger he still felt. At least he wasn't powerless tonight; that was the only good thing for him to look forward to. It had been too long since he'd gotten to fight something that wasn't a patient.

He kept one ear on the radio, still wondering if Jack was honestly gone and convincing himself that such could not be the case. Besides, he was too busy to feel grief now. He had to focus, or else this night was going to be just as frustrating as the previous one.

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"Because I had a need for its power." Not greater power; the operation and stress involved in the Jagan transplant had actually significantly reduced Hiei's natural strength. No, the demon had needed the specific psychic abilities of the Jagan, to be able to find places and people.

A certain person in particular. But Hiei wouldn't admit that fact to anyone.

Cooperatively, or as much as the demon was prone to get, Hiei held out his arm a bit when Kurikara began work on the limb. "The same goes for you, tiny dragon. I don't want to have to hunt you down." Certainly not a second time. Though there had been a definite gain in the end, over all Hiei considered the entire endeavor a pain in the ass he'd much rather not repeat. "Do you have any idea where to start looking?"

That fell under the 'obvious' category, but as Hiei didn't volunteer any more information, Kurikara didn't pry into it further. He had his reasons. That was enough for Kurikara.

He would have asked about exactly what the eye did - if Hiei got taken, it would be good to know - but the next question made him pause and sigh. "When the shinigami went missing, I thought the patient files might have some clue about where they'd gone. I asked one of the nurses about them. She said she didn't really know, but it was stuff about our 'real lives'. If they're still in this world, and if their files still exist here, there should be an address somewhere.

But that's all fake, and most of them aren't dumb enough to fall for this place. It's just that the other options aren't too bright. You could drive yourself crazy trying to figure out how anything here works...and where to start." Kurikara paused for breath. "Any ideas?"

Kurikara didn't try to find out anything further about Hiei's reasons just then, and that suited the demon fine. Those who knew enough about him had figured it out pretty easily, but even then, Hiei refused to give confirmation. It wouldn't change anything if they did know, except that they might become all the more nosy and insistent in regards to that particular matter, and that was something Hiei didn't need.

Besides, Kurikara seemed pretty talkative in regards to the issue Hiei had brought up, so why change the topic again? It was something they did need to discuss, especially with more people vanishing, the growing annoyance, and the fact that they were still stuck there. He considered the question a moment--though Kurikara had provided more information than Hiei had managed to find out--and then shrugged.

"I need a sword."

Kurikara might just try to hit him for that one, but Hiei was ready to block. "Whatever we decide to do, it's going to be a bigger pain if we have to spend all our time not only traveling, but fighting whatever we come across. The battles will go quicker if we're both armed." The logic to the demon's thoughts. Hiei had no qualms starting there, and then figuring out the next step once that part of the plan was done.

Kurikara grinned. That was a good enough answer to him.

"I think I can still manage a sword. It'll take a couple of nights though; I'll be taking a longer route than Keman did." And a more effective one. It didn't escape his notice that all of their power was about equal. If Keman could only make a small dagger with what he had, Kurikara would need to find an alternative that would work for both of them.

He would do as much as he could by hand. If his estimation was right, he would teach his method to the other dragon. Assuming Keman still wanted to learn from him, anyway.

He'd worked his way down to Hiei's hand. "We can do a supply run tomorrow night..." He murmured, lifting it to examine the burns he and Murakumo had supplied.

"That's fine. I'm not going to die before then." Hiei relaxed back against the wall, calmly meeting Kurikara's gaze. "And unless you do something phenominally stupid, neither are you." Of course, it went without saying that if Kurikara did do something that idiotic, Hiei would leave him to die simply on the basis that he deserved it.

"Do you know what you'll need? Other than metal." He watched as Kurikara inspected his hand, the burns on his palms worse than the others. Not only had they endured the heat of the air, but also the heat of the metal that Hiei had refused to release. From the looks of it, the sword had to have been ripped from Hiei's skin, leaving his palms bloody and torn.

Despite being older than dirt and a deity to boot, Kurikara could look very much like an adolescent boy with a short attention span when people called him on his blatant idiocy. "I don't plan to. Those bats tasted like ass anyway."

Kurikara wasn't sure Hiei's hands had any skin left on them. It looked a lot like raw meat to him. He spread the salve into it anyway, right up to the fingertips. He brushed his lips against the back of Hiei's hand, and continued as if the gesture wasn't the least bit odd. "I'd kill for an anvil, but that's going to be impossible to find so it'll have to be something makeshift. A couple of hammers. Something strong to sharpen the blade with. We should go after the gardening tools. They'd be the least work to reshape and meld into the sword or the tools to make it."

Hiei frowned, thinking that for a moment, Kurikara sounded disturbingly like Kuwabara. That was a habit they would have to break immediately for the sake of Hiei's sanity. "Do you really have to taste everything you fight? If you actually ate the food here, you wouldn't have to eat half-rotted wastes like the ones at night."

And speaking of tasting, there the dragon went again, licking Hiei as if he were some item of food himself. "That includes me, damn it. I'm not your meal." Of course, Hiei could only assume that that was the reason Kurikara kept licking him. Not that it particularly bothered the demon--or at least not that Hiei would admit. But it was a stupid reason.

At least Kurikara had a strong idea of what he needed, however. It was the dragon's area of specialty, and Hiei believed Kurikara's words now that he had seen and held the reluctant Makuro. Hiei had never heard of swords that had their own essence before, but certainly Kurikara's did. It was a good weapon, by far better than Hiei had ever had.

And though they would have to wait until they escaped this place to make a proper blade for the demon, even what Kurikara could manage here held incredible promise.

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Nightshift 31: M21-M30 Hallway

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