Adhesive

By Tione

Disclaimer: I own it. I really do.

A/N: It's official. This story hates me. (I gave you life! You're not supposed to hate me!)

I save the day

I save tomorrow

So I can run away…

- Move, "I Save the Day"

 It was so quiet at night. So peaceful. All four moons were full, a very rare sight, and the sand was calm. An ocean of sand, stretching forever. Such a fickle mistress it was, dictating the life of many with a casual hand. While the tranquility soothed me, Hiei was alert and tense.

We had guard duty. I'd been watching for roughly seven hours straight with no rest. I was blinking sleepily while my companion showed no signs of tiring at all. Without meaning to, I fell into a light doze.

The orb pulsing in my hand slowly died out and I hoped to God that they wouldn't kill me. Yusuke had a slightly incredulous look on his face and his eyes had grown almost comically wide.

Sluggishly, the people dropped to their knees and bowed their heads so that Hiei and I were the only two standing. A murmur ran through the kneeling men and women, a murmur of respect in a tongue that I could not understand.

Frantically, I turned to Hiei and asked him, "What's going on? Why are they bowing? Why did the orb glow when I touched it?" I would have liked to ask more questions but he motioned for me to be quiet, turned on his heel, and swept into the "dining room."

We sat in silence. I fidgeted uncomfortably, resisting the urge to ask just what the hell was going on. Hiei's eyes bore into me and his dubious gaze was driving me insane. The stupid little shrimp! "Stop it!" I screeched at him. "Stop staring!"

He grinned sardonically and was about to say something when Yusuke and Kuwabara opened the door, both of them bowing to me. All the anger and confusion drained out of me and left me feeling like a limp, empty water skin. The look on Yusuke's face was overjoyed and blissful.

"What's going on?" I asked immediately. Kuwabara opened his mouth to answer but Yusuke signaled for him to be silent. Even in this state, he was not careless. He swept around the room, checking for anyone listening. His search yielded nothing.

"You are the One."

Hiei poked me. Blearily, I opened my eyes and gave a tired yawn, ignoring the annoyed looks he sent me.

I resumed my watch duty even though it would be almost impossible to sneak up on this hideaway. Behind us was a stream, a rather pathetic one, but a stream nonetheless. They were hard to come upon so this was a prime spot to set up. On the other three sides of us, there was sand and nothing else for miles and miles.

The hut was small but still held a tremendous amount of people. I had asked Yusuke about it and he said they'd found an underground cavern carved by the stream (when it was bigger, that is) and built into it. Therefore, they could maintain the front of an abandoned little shed while still housing all of their comrades.

After I'd determined that there were no immediate threats, I settled in. Being the One was a little weird. Yusuke and the others believed there was some sort of prophesy out there telling of the coming of the One, how they would save everyone from the Queen, and apparently how they would return this world to the prosperous and green state it had been in before the sand took over. I had no idea how I was going to do any of that. They informed me that I had powers that we would never be able to comprehend.

They believe so much in me but I can't do half the things they expect of me. I have no powers. No matter how hard I try, I can't be their hero. I can't save the day.

I can't help but to think that the orb was wrong.

Hiei poked me once more. "You are not going to fall asleep again." He glared at me but I could tell that it was only half-hearted. Maybe it was the serenity of the night but he didn't seem nearly as prickly as he usually did.

The feeling led me to talk to him, actually talk to him, for the first time. "Why does this group want the Queen to be overthrown? She's not all that bad, is she?"

He pondered the question for a while. "She's not what she appears." He answered finally. "I'm not the one who can answer you best. If you really wish to know, ask Kuwabara. The Queen is his sister. He can adequately tell you just how much of a mess this queen has made of our politics."

We sat in silence for a while longer. The questions and doubts that had been haunting me ever since I found out that I was supposed to save the entire world slowly disappeared. I felt relaxed. For the first time, I felt at home in this hodgepodge place.

I felt rather than saw Hiei shift uncomfortably next to me. By peripheral vision, I noticed him open and close his mouth, like he was debating with himself. I waited patiently, sensing that this was important and he was not to be pushed.

"Kurama," he began. It was the first time he had ever said my name and it rolled off his tongue like liquid. A melodious sound that made me swoon. I shivered and resisted asking him to say it again. "There's another… prophesy."

I nodded, but something on the landscape had caught my attention. There was light behind Hiei, a violent orange one. It was fluctuating, pulsing. It was alive. I was transfixed by it, utterly captured and drawn in.

"It is… that I'm supposed to… fall in love with the One… that is to say, with you."

But I didn't hear him. The light was calling to me and I was following. I was there and I wasn't because nothing was familiar and it was all so confusing. Kurama… Come to me, come with me…

I could see the light, as if it were right in front of me. It was a loud orange, pulsing, because at the center, there was a heart. Beating, beating, and beating. Dictating and controlling and beating.

And I saw lips, moving silently, spewing forth words and ideas that were dangerous. All I knew was that I must destroy the beating, must make it stop. Must make the words stop and to do that I had to stop the pounding. I charged; the only thought in mind was destroy it, destroy it now! And it was screaming at me, screaming at me to make it stop, to run away. There was danger here!

An arm snaked out and caught me, shoved me out of the way of something terrible and dangerous. A wave of relief spread through me but it was short lived. The arm, oh-so-gentle before, was crushing me. Alarms went on in my head as it started pulling me closer and closer to the pulse.

My thoughts were in tune with it, my screams in time. I tried desperately to stop. I tried to shout something during the brief silence between pulsating and couldn't. I couldn'tcouldn'tcouldn't and it wasgoingtokillmeandmakemesomethingelse and I wasscaredandterrified and

I. Couldn't. Get. Away.

Someone was calling my name and I vaguely registered it but I was too far gone to notice.