Hiei was thrown into a tree with a cry of pain, and his teammates watched in shock as he slid down the trunk, leaving a smear of blood. Yuusuke unleashed a blast of reiki, quickly terminating the fight. Kurama ran to Hiei, kneeling down beside him and checking for a pulse. "He's alive!" He gently lay the fire demon on the soft grass, quickly cutting off Hiei's shirt to get a better look at the wound. "Oh, Inari..." he whispered as he saw the gaping hole in his friend's stomach.

Yuusuke cursed. "He's bleeding too much. We have to stop it!" The boy quickly removed the shirt to his school uniform and ripped it into several large pieces, then placed one over the wound, applying pressure. He added another as the first became soaked in blood. Kuwabara quickly removed his shirt and tore it as well, helping Yuusuke as he tried to stop the flow of Hiei's blood. Kurama, Hiei's head in his lap, also tore his shirt up, but kept a part of it and used water from a canteen to soak it, then began to wipe blood from Hiei's face with it.

Hiei moaned slightly, coming to. Kurama gently ran a comforting hand through the fire demon's hair as his friend tried to move. "Hiei, hold still. We're trying to stop the bleeding." The fox tried to smile reassuringly, though he knew that there was little hope of preventing Hiei from bleeding to death.

"Mmmmm..." The fire demon's eyes began to close.

Kurama slapped his cheek gently. "You have to stay awake, Hiei!" There was a note of panic in his voice that seemed to bring Hiei to full awareness.

Hiei focused on his surroundings, looking at the blood pooled around him. "So much blood..." he whispered, lifting his blood-covered hand and blinking at it dazedly. Kurama winced.

Yuusuke looked up at Kurama, horror in his eyes. "He won't stop bleeding!"

Kurama gently placed a hand on Hiei's brow, then frowned sadly. "His youki is too low..."

Kuwabara spoke up, his voice unusually hushed. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"The only thing we can do is...make him comfortable," Kurama's voice cracked with emotion.

A look of confusion graced Hiei's face. "What happened...?"

A tear slid down Kurama's face. "You lost a lot of blood, Hiei. You're dying."

"Oh..." The fire demon began to cough weakly, blood trickling from his mouth. He shivered. "Cold..." Yuusuke covered him with his cloak, tears streaming down his cheeks.

I should be the one dying...not him! Kurama sobbed. "Dammit, Hiei...Why did you jump in front of me?! If I this body dies, I still have my youko body!"

Hiei smiled slightly. "You can't die...Too many people...sad..."

Yuusuke glared at the Jaganshi through his tears. "What do you think this is doing to us?!"

The fire demon sighed, then spoke, his sentances broken. "You...families...Not me...World...better off...without me...Tired of life..."

Kuwabara spoke up, also crying softly. "What about Yukina? Don't you think your own sister would miss you?"

Hiei blinked, surprise on his face. "You knew...?" Kuwabara nodded. "Better off...without me..."

"She won't think so." Hiei glared at Kuwabara weakly. The ningen smiled sadly, placing a hand on Hiei's shoulder. "She already knows, Hiei. She's known for a long time."

Hiei closed my eyes, a pained look shadowing his face. K'so... "Didn't know..." The fire demon moaned in pain, shivering again. Kurama gently gathered Hiei into his arms, wrapping the cloak around his shivering body. The fire demon tried to push away from him and the fox frowned at him. "Blood...on you..."

Kurama hugged him tightly, tears streaming down his face. "I don't care about that, Hiei! You're dying..."

"Doesn't...matter..." the fire demon whispered, a tear tracing a path down his cheek to fall to the ground as an ebony tear gem. "Didn't do...anything...good..."

Yuusuke frowned at him, gently taking his friend's small hand. "That's not true. You saved all of our lives more times than I can count!"

Hiei chuckled softly, wincing, his fingers digging into Yuusuke's hand, as the weak laugh dribbled off into painful coughing. "That...good...?" His teammates smiled sadly. The fire demon's eyes lost their focus, and Kurama realized that Hiei wasn't bleeding very much anymore. "Tired...Just...want sleep..."

Kurama smiled at him through his tears. "Sleep. We'll be right here."

A small smile lit Hiei's face, making him look very young. "Thank you...No more...bad dreams..." His eyes slid shut and he shivered once more before his breathing grew deep. After a few moments, it began to grow shallow, before it stopped altogether, leaving his friends holding the shell that had once housed his soul.

Okay. Came to me as I was spacing out at 4 am, wondering why I wasn't tired. I tend to wax philosophical at about that time...