"Kurama."
Kurama turned slightly, turned to face Hiei, who stood just by his side. Kurama turned back away from Hiei, who ground his teeth in a certain amount of rage.
"Hey! I was talking to you!" he shouted after Kurama, whose brow furrowed.
Through clenched teeth, Kurama growled, "I can't really talk to you, Hiei. I'm surrounded by my classmates, most of whom can't see you. They'll think I'm crazy." Hiei's eye twitched.
"Who cares about them? They're just - "
"Shuichi!" a female voice screamed. Kurama half-turned as Hiei whipped around to see a girl in Kurama's school uniform flying through the air. Her arms encircled Kurama's neck as her legs wrapped around his waist. Hiei leapt back, his eyebrows pushing together in confusion.
"H - Hello, Henteko," Kurama stammered, a half-smile forming on his face.
"You know this human?" Hiei questioned loudly.
"I do," Kurama said, accidentally out loud.
"But I don't know you," Henteko commented, looking over Kurama's shoulder at Hiei. Both Kurama and Hiei's eyes widened, and they looked at each other, sharing the same confusion.
"Y - You can see him?" Kurama asked quietly. Henteko's brow furrowed as she dropped down from Kurama's back.
"Um...yeah," she replied slowly. Hiei closed his eyes and groaned.
"Great. I need another human to deal with." He turned and went to leave.
"Wait, Hiei," Kurama called. "Maybe being friends with more humans is good for you." He allowed a small chuckle to enter his voice as he added, "You do need to work on your interaction with them a little bit."
"Save it, Kurama," Hiei said. "Your words are wasted on me." He began walking away again.
"You guys are talking as if he's some sort of alien or something..." Henteko said, with an uneasy laugh. She glanced between them as they made eye contact and tried to restrain themselves from laughing. "What's going on?" Henteko asked.
"Nothing," Kurama replied simply. Henteko nodded slowly.
"Okay..." she said. So...um...do you want to go out for milkshakes or something?"
"That sounds good," Kurama said, then turned to his black-haired friend. "What do you say, Hiei?"
"I say I have better things to do with my time," Hiei retorted, closing his eyes and turning away.
"What if I fight you for it?"
Silence entered for a moment, as Kurama gasped and Hiei regarded Henteko with a combination of skepticism and suspicion.
"Fight...fight me?" Hiei questioned, a small smile emerging.
"Yeah," Henteko replied simply with a shrug.
"Henteko, I think you should seriously reconsider this," Kurama begged. "You don't know Hiei's strength. Please don't do it."
"Oh, don't worry, Shuichi," Henteko said. "I've been working out at home, and there's a few moves I don't think your friend could anticipate."
"If she wants to fight, let her fight," Hiei said. "You said it yourself -" here his voice dripped with sarcasm, "-I need to make more human companions. But she doesn't know what I've seen."
"Just go easy," Kurama mumbled, walking up to Hiei, who gave a small nod.
"I'll be merciful," Hiei replied, then turned his attention to Henteko. "You wanna take this to somewhere less crowded?"
"Whatever you want," Henteko answered, grinning. Once they reached an open field, they walked apart from each other, with Kurama standing to the side, but in between. He wore a small grimace, still wondering how this could possibly be a good idea. Henteko's head cocked to the side as she regarded Hiei with a degree of curiosity.
"You know," she said, "I can see things other people can't. Do you think that you're related to that, Hiei?"
Hiei closed his eyes. "I don't know. You may just be delusional. To fight me, you may as well be."
Henteko smiled gently. "I don't know. I practice every day after school. I guess we'll find out how I match up against a for serious guy." She slid her foot back, taking a fighting stance.
"I'll allow you first strike," Hiei said calmly, not even opening his eyes yet. Henteko shrugged.
"Alright." She strode forward until she was just in front of Hiei. Her right hand flew out in a snapping punch. Hiei easily side-stepped the punch, almost flashing out of visibility. Henteko's leg flew out at Hiei's head. Hiei dodged the strike, but Henteko followed through by leaping in the air with a spinning crescent kick. Dodging it again, Hiei ducked to the ground and thrust his sword in its sheath upwards, knocking Henteko off-balance when he caught her leg. She fell backwards, collapsing onto her back. She looked up at Hiei, her lips pursing in a combination of confusion and discontent. Leaping to her her feet, she took her fighting stance once again, looking Hiei in the eye.
"You're pretty good," she commented. Hiei twitched.
"Don't patronize me, you petulant child," he growled.
"Someone's getting sassy." Henteko stuck her tongue out at Hiei, who blinked.
"Kurama," he called. "I don't understand this human. She's about as good as Kuwabara when we first met, but slightly less annoying." Henteko raised an eyebrow and glanced at Kurama.
"Kurama?" she asked. Kurama's eyes widened and he glared at Hiei. Why must that stupid demon always mess things up for him? He didn't reply to Henteko's question. Hiei flashed forward and swung his sword, still sheathed, into Henteko's stomach. She doubled over, but turned to look after Hiei. Her hand flew out and a sharp wooden needle flew from her hand. Once again, Hiei dodged it easily. Straightening up, Henteko began flinging needle after needle at Hiei, who easily worked his way through the needles, moving closer and closer to Henteko. At one point, she noticed his proximity and leapt backwards. She suddenly flew to the side, but as soon as she landed, she flew to the other side, behind Hiei. Once she landed, she leapt in the air again, flying to where she had began. Hiei looked at her skeptically.
"Congratulations, you can run around in a circle," he drawled, restraining himself from rolling his eyes. "Is that supposed to prove anything?"
"I dunno," Henteko replied, a smile forming across her face. "Does this?"
"What?" Hiei growled, feeling something tighten around his arms. Wiggling, he found that he couldn't move.
"Did you think that leaping around you was the only aim of that?" Henteko questioned, pulling tight on strings in her hand. The strings were wrapped around Hiei, and attached to the wooden needles previously thrown. "My aim may not be the best, but it's not that bad," Henteko continued, smiling at Hiei. "There's reason to my rhyme." She clenched her other hand into a fist, and purple flames engulfed her hand. Reaching forward, she grabbed the group of strings, allowing the fire to pass onto the strings. They raced down and met Hiei, lighting him on purple fire. Kurama gasped, stepping forward.
"Oh, don't worry, Shuichi," Henteko said, putting up a hand. "Physically, it doesn't hurt him too much. It feels like a bad sunburn. However, it also burns away his energy. I find it takes a good night's sleep to recover it."
"It's a relief to know that he won't really get hurt," Kurama commented, "but Hiei hates hibernating, and if you want to get milkshakes..."
"Of course," Henteko said quickly, hurrying over to Hiei's side, as he had fallen to his knees. She pulled his sword out a small amount and sliced her thumb open on it. As the blood pooled, she wiped it down Hiei's cheek. The flames ceased, and Hiei put his hands on his knees, breathing deeply.
"Great," he grumbled. "Now I have human blood on me." Henteko smiled at his side and wiped it off.
"Better?" she questioned, rising. In a flash, Hiei was behind her, his unsheathed sword at her throat. Henteko's eyes widened, and her trembling was visible.
"No one said we had to fight fair," Hiei murmured.
"Hiei!" Kurama cried. Henteko's fear caused a bead of perspiration to roll down her cheek. Silence filled the air for a moment, broken only by the sound of the wind.
"Don't worry, I won't kill her," Hiei said, as if forced to. He sheathed his sword, then whipped around, kicking Henteko's leg out in a quick sweep. Henteko fell to the ground heavily, her head slamming down. Stars burst in front of her eyes, and she dug her fingernails into her palm to try to keep her tears of pain from falling.
"Henteko!" Kurama dashed forward, kneeling by her side.
She sniffled. "Hey, Kurama. We gonna get those milkshakes?" Kurama smiled gently.
"Of course."
"Is Hiei coming with us?"
Kurama paused, glancing towards Hiei, who shook his head and turned away. Kurama's brow furrowed, and he turned back to Henteko.
"Yes. Yes he is."
"Great."
Kurama glanced back up at Hiei, who was glaring intently at him.
"No, I'm not," Hiei growled.
"If Henteko hadn't stopped her fire, you would've lost," Kurama retorted. Hiei crossed his arms, pursed his lips, and turned away again.
"I think that's a yes," Kurama told Henteko.
..
"So how did you learn about your fire?" Kurama asked taking a sip from his milkshake.
"Well, I produced it one day, and accidentally set my friend on fire," Henteko explained, trying to balance a spoon on her finger.
"Ooh."
"Yeah." She sighed. "He wasn't in too much pain or anything, but he still fell on the ground, and I was still panicking."
"I can see why."
She nodded. "It burned up all his energy, and he went unconscious. He woke up that afternoon, still tired. It wasn't until the next morning that he was back to normal. I began practicing at home, and I learned a few things. One, only my blood could put it out. Two, I can't throw the fire around. I can only hold it and light other things. That's it."
"So if your hand is bleeding, you can't - "
"I can't light it, no."
"That's a bad handicap."
"I know."
Kurama raised his eyes to look at Hiei, who was facing away from the bar they were sitting at, his elbows on the bar.
"Come, now, Hiei, you've barely touched your milkshake."
Hiei turned away. "I don't want it."
"Oh, come on, Hiei," Henteko said. "I'm paying, and that's a five-dollar milkshake. It's pretty darn good."
"Well, don't blame me if you waste your money," Hiei grumbled.
"Just take a sip," Kurama said.
"Fine. Just a sip." Hiei whisked the glass into his hand, and took a sip. Henteko and Kurama glanced at each other, waiting with baited breath. Hiei kept sipping from his glass, glanced up at them, then turned away, still drinking his milkshake.
"I think that means he likes it," Kurama said with a smile. Henteko smiled and leaned back onto Kurama's shoulder.
"I'm glad," she murmured."