Lightning struck through the sky followed by the clash of thunder milliseconds later in the middle of the city park. A few people who had been admiring the earlier time of the perfect day scattered out of the park as fast as their legs could carry them.

Aggravated by the disturbance to his peaceful rest the fire demon opened his right eye as he looked around. Sitting in a tree would not be the smartest thing to do in the middle of a thunderstorm even if he could stand the electrocution. Knowing this he opened his other eye and laid against the trunk on his branch as he waited to make a prediction for whether or not the storm would get worse.

Another bright bolt in the sky answered his question a moment later and he descended from the tree with a single jump. The thunder did not scare him in the least but he would rather keep himself safe as the fox had pestered him about before. Staying safe is more important at times than an ego but he would never admit to taking as advice.

A peaceful walk would be nice as all of the humans would have all left the park by now. After several minutes of moist air brushing against his face a crash hit the sky lighting it up as if it were the sun itself and rain poured down. He frowned and brushed bits of water out from his hair and continued walking. Finding a nice place to sit where he could be dry was all he looked forward to now.

Several minutes of walking through nothing but trees and flowers passed by and Hiei was drenched as if he had just jumped into a lake. He recognized this part of the park and soon he would be on a pathway that lead to an old stone bridge over the cobblestone pathway that he could rest under. Increasing his speed, he rushed to the bridge and lied under it a few moments later. He brushed his hair free of the water that clung to it as best as one could do since he disliked the uncomforted feeling of being wet.

Nothing would come by in this sort of weather. It was pouring and the air itself felt wet and unpleasant. He leaned back and sat under the bridge closing his eyes to rest. Several minutes passed in serenity as he was left alone but then he heard human footseps approaching. He would normally not care as most of the time he was in a tree and away from sight of anything. Glancing to his left his eyes met with the human walking closer to him.

A girl appearing somewhere in her mid to late teens walked by at sat across from him under the bridge. She was just as drenched as he had been minutes ago yet she didn't seem to mind it as she simply leaned back. He was about to look away from her when she smiled and waved at him yet this only delayed him for a moment and he turned away. The girl frowned and shied against the wall and said nothing to him.

Several minutes passed before she made another gesture to him. "What brings you out here?" Hiei turned to look at her, mildly surprised that she spoke to him. He could sense that she was trying to pull an answer out of him yet he wanted to avoid conversation with her.

"Nothing." The answer was short and simple. She should not have anything more to say after that.

The girl grinned. "Oh. That is nice." A look away from her and she would get the hint that the conversation was over. A few silent moments passed by before she spoke again. "Do you like the rain?"

Hiei gave her a quick look, suspicious as to why she pestered him again. It was possible that she was blind as she could not see that he wanted to be left alone and desired no interaction with her. "Not particularly." The answer, again, was simple and hard to reply to.

However, the girl seemed to ignore the hint he gave her that he wanted nothing to do with her. She grinned again. "I like the rain." She paused as if testing to see weather or not he would answer. The grin was kept on her face as she folded her hands over her knees and rested her chin upon them. "It's sweet, you know?"

Still the fire demon gave her no answer other then a cold glance. He could not see how rain could be sweet, wondering if it meant something to humans in an odd way that he didn't understand like many of their complicated and foolish emotions.

The girl looked outside and watched the rain form quick puddles as water began to run under the bridge in small streams. "Just... peaceful and calming. It can send you right to sleep."

He tried ignoring her again but he didn't seem to be able to block her very well. Being in solitude most of the time he didn't need to block the out loud thought of stupid humans. This one was too 'sweet' as they called it and most likely would be an easy meal for any demon in Makai.

Her sharp turn, which was more like a jerk, to look back at him surprised him. "Don't you think so?"

He gave her another glance, wondering how much more persistent the girl could be. The look on her face didn't seem to change at all. "No."

She looked at him, relaxing more as she leaned against the bridge wall and hung her wrist over her knee. "You don't talk much, do you?"

He frowned as she continued to go on, this time making a personal comment. Perhaps this time she would get the hint if he gave her even less of a reply and he refused to look at her in annoyance. "Hn."

She laughed softly at him and then grinned again. Human laughter was such an annoying thing although he couldn't even find what was so funny. Nothing about his annoyance with her persistence or his silence was at all amusing. He gave her a sharp look that was close to a glare as if daring her to laugh at him again. "What is so funny?"

She smiled, looking away and off to the distance again. "Well, you don't talk. It's like you don't like to talk or something."

He turned away has he let a small, short laugh go by. Her ignorance was just too entertaining. "Not to you."

"You're mean," she said with a smile. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. She didn't look the least bit offended. He refused to smile to show that he might take her light-hearted statement as a compliment and leaned back.

Another bright ray of light hit the ground and the Earth seemed to rumble as thunder sounded, breaking the calm and serene nature the air disturbed by nothing but the rain had. The storm did not seem to be ending anytime soon.

"Isn't lightning so pretty?" she asked, turning to him again wearing the same smile.

This time he didn't move or even look at her, expecting the same annoying routine from her that she was playing for the past few minutes. Without giving her question much thought he answered her. "No." He tried harder to block her, although the thought of her speaking of how lightning was so peaceful when it causes such a loud noise had been an amusing thought the moment before he discarded it.

She grinned again. "I think it is. It's like... it's like some sort of enchanted fireworks. With a loud explosion and a brilliant light show as it illuminates the sky."

Hiei grunted. Lightning was merely lightning, an aspect of nature, and he didn't care much for it weather it was 'enchanted fireworks' or not. The girl just smiled as she relaxed.

A few moments passed before she looked at him. "What is your name?"

Hiei paused. Why she would want to know his name, he didn't care. "Hiei." She laughed again. Immediately he demanded an explanation for the dreadful noise she was making, wanting it to cease as soon as possible. "What is so funny?"

"You're named after a mountain. I never met someone named after a mountain before. Nice to meet you, Hiei." She paused, still smiling and she shifted around a bit. "I'm Natsume."

"I don't care." Perhaps now she would get the hint.

However, her expression failed to change even in the slightest to a frown. "That is fine. It still is nice to meet you."

Several minutes passed by in silence. Natsume sat on her end of the bridge while Hiei sat on his and for this Hiei was thankful. He was considering killing her if she came close enough to him although explaining it to someone would be a hard task as he was not allowed to kill humans.

Time continued to pass until neither Natsume nor Hiei spoke to one another for what seemed to last an hour. As the storm seemed to be passing over the rain falling was thinner and lighter and came to only a few scarce misty drops. Down the road of the stone bridge, partly in the distance, a redheaded figure walked close by. He seemed to know the area well enough to navigate as he scanned the area almost looking for something. A subtle smile came across his face as he found who he had been looking for under the bridge and approached casually.

"Hello, Hiei," he said, barely looking down at the sitting Hiei as he rested his hands in the pockets of his pants.

Hiei paused before standing up, not even looking up at him although he had been shorter. "Hello, Kurama," he replied in monotone. He hadn't really cared weather or not he said the boy's demon name in front of a human although Kurama had told him more than once to do so.

Natsume stood up and walked over to the two of them with a smile and a friendly wave. "Hey."

Kurama turned to look at her less than mildly surprised. Although he had seen her as he walked by he did not take her presence into account nor did he expect her to speak to him. Nonetheless he smiled politely in return. "Hello."

Hiei looked up at Natsume and then back to Kurama, remaining speechless. Perhaps Kurama would drive her off and he would have to say nothing, or at least talk to her until she went away. Talking to humans was something Kurama did daily, surely there were more people like this that he only spoke to once and never again. Perhaps this had been normal for humans.

Natsume looked back and fourth from the two of them as she paused before speaking again. "Are you two brothers?"

Kurama shook his head. "No. Why do you ask?"

Natsume shrugged. "Well, Kurama and Hiei are both mountains. I never met anyone with names like those before, so I thought you might be related. I guess I was wrong, then." There was a long, awkward pause before she said anything again. "I'm Natsume. Nice to meet you."

Kurama nodded politely, and kept the same smile. "I am Shuiichi."

Natsume raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought he called you Kurama."

Kurama shook his head as he chuckled. "It is just a nickname, I used to live near Mt. Kurama and that is how I got the nickname. I hold no ties to it."

Natsume nodded, the confusion gone from her face. It was clear to see that she was convinced by Kurama's white lie. "Oh. Okay, Shuiichi."

A long, awkward pause hit the conversation while no one said anything. Sensing this Kurama sought this as his time to leave. "Well, it was nice speaking with you, Natsume, but I'm afraid we must be off."

Natsume nodded. "Oh, where are you going?"

Kurama paused before answering her. He had expected her to just leave but instead it seemed as if she wanted to hang out with complete strangers. "Oh, just going home."

Natsume grinned at them. "I'll come with you, or at least walk with you until our ways part." Hiei frowned. In his opinion the girl didn't seem to have any other purpose but to be clingy and annoying like the rest of the humans.

Kurama shrugged, but still kept a polite smile. In all honesty he had not wished for her company, yet he did not mind it. "I suppose that would be alright."