Wa! I'm here and alive! Sorry for the super late update, I was busy with life (aka school). I'm so sorry for the late update, I wrote this chapter a long time ago but never really finished it until now. I hope you readers are still interested in it... and again, I am so sorry!
Yukina woke up as she stretch her body in the morning sunlight, yawning, looking around the room. There are little furniture in the house, only two beds, a small table, a makeshift shelf, and two mats along with a few woven baskets. Sitting on one of the mats was Rui, Yukina's guardian, making a woven baskets made of bamboos. Yukina sat up as she rubbed her eyes a little, and yawned again, "Good morning Rui-san..."
"Good morning Yukina, did you sleep well?" Rui replied, looking up from her work as she smiled at the drowsy ice maiden, "Do you remember what day it is today?"
Yukina jumped out of the bed at once, waking up completely, as she remembered, "Yes! It's the day when we go visit Onii-san!"
Rui smiled as she look at Yukina rushed around the house, preparing to go meet her twin brother in the woods. Since Yukina is an ice maiden, she's allowed to live with the other ice maidens in the village, but her twin brother was not so lucky. Her brother, Hiei, as known as a cursed child, a child not meant to be brought into this village. To the ice maidens, it was taboo to give birth to a male, and if they do from affairs with other yokai, they will be sent to death along with the cursed child. Her friend, Hina, gave birth to twins, one female and one male, but since she gave birth to a male, she has broken the taboo and will receive punishment. Rui was chosen by the elder to throw the cursed child off the island, but since that boy was her best friend's son, she couldn't do it and threw a pot instead of the boy without any of the maidens' notice. Rui had been taking care of her children, Yukina and Hiei, ever since Hina died. Since the ice maidens knew that Yukina is alive, she had to live in the village so no one would suspect anything. Rui's life is in danger for keeping a cursed child alive, so she has to be extra careful. Hiei was left to live in the outskirts of the forest in the floating island so he would not be found out by the other maidens, and Rui would visit him daily until he is old enough to live on his own for a few days, and would visit him once a week so the other ice maidens would not suspect a thing.
Today is one of the days in which she will visit Hiei with Yukina.
Yukina never really understood why her twin brother couldn't live with her, but she decided to accept the fact and just be happy that he is still part of her life, so she gets really excited whenever she goes off to visit her brother secretly. She prefers to stay with her brother since the ice village is so frozen and... well, frozen. Sneaking off to see her brother makes it seems like an adventure for her, especially away from that frozen cold place with no feelings.
When the two maidens were ready, they got out of their house with two baskets covered with cloth, making it look like they were prepared to go to the forest to pick some herbs. They walked along the path, nodding to other ice maidens who were walking past in greeting. When they were out of sight of the village and from prying eyes, the two maidens sighed and looked at each other, giggling a little. Another success.
Rui smiled as she watched Yukina skip ahead of her, barely containing the excitement to see her brother. Yukina really is starting to look more like her mother now, Rui mused as she watch Yukina happily greeted some birds and animals on the trees. After a hour or so of walking, a wooden hut came into view. If one does not look closely, they wouldn't be able to tell that the hut was there, that's how Hiei's survival was kept secret all these years. When Yukina spotted the hut, she almost couldn't stop herself from blasting into the door, but looked at Rui to see if she can go ahead first. Rui smiled and nodded her head, she always enjoyed seeing the siblings reunite after each week. Yukina smiled brightly and rushed to the door, trying hard to stay civilized. But when she did reach the door successfully, she was met with disappointment. The hut was empty.
Yukina sighed when she was met with a cold empty room, not sign of life in it, pouting. Rui noticed the air of disappointment flowing out of Yukina as she reached the hut, and sighed. Well, it's not like this is the first time Hiei wasn't home when we came to visit him, she thought to herself as she walked into the empty room with the disappointed Yukina, who is still currently pouting. Rui took her basket and placed it on to the empty table, with Yukina following her lead. Rui looked around the single-roomed hut, fantasizing how much it looked like the time when Hina was still alive. Memories flowed through Rui's mind as she remembered that day, smiling sadly a little. So much time had passed Hina, how many years had it been, around 400? Look how much your children has grown, Rui thought.
Yukina walked towards the only bed in the hut, planning to sit on it to wait for her brother to come back from the woods, but noticing the excessive amount of dust in the room. Just then, an idea popped into her mind and turned to the cleaning tools in the hut. Rui noticed Yukina's excitement, already having a guess on what she was planning, but decided to ask her anyway, "What's wrong Yukina?"
"Rui-san," Yukina replied as she reached for the cleaning tools, "don't you think this room is a little dusty?"
"Why, yes, but I guess that should be normal since Hiei probably doesn't bother to keep his room clean."
"Well, don't you think it would be nice to go back into a room nice a clean?"
"Yes..."
"So, I was thinking that if I cleaned this room up for Hiei when he comes back, it would be a nice surprise for him!" Yukina declared, full of sunshine and smiles.
Rui smiled at Yukina's innocence, trying so hard to make her brother proud of her, when, Rui knew in her heart, that Hiei was already proud of her, even though he didn't really show it. Hiei had always been the odd one. After all these years of taking care of him, Rui could never really tell when he was thinking or what he usually do when they are not with him. He's just that mysterious type of guy.
After for about a hour, Hiei hasn't returned to the hut yet and Yukina was making a few finishing touches to her work. The room in the hut was practically sparkling the word clean by the time she was finished. While Yukina cleaned the hut, Rui decided that she would go get some herbs so they have something to take back into the village after the visit. Yukina hummed as she put away some of the new restock of food supplies for Hiei into the big pots. Just as she put the last of the food into the pot, a shadow flew past the only window in the hut and a small 'thump' sound from the doorway. Yukina looked up as the shadow flew past in the corner of her eyesight and a smiled grew on her face. She turned as the wooden door creaked open and greeted the figure that stood by the door, "Welcome home, Hiei!"
Hiei, who's wearing his usual black attire, stood at the door with a surprised look on his face and nodded in greeting to his smiling sister, "Hn." Yukina pouted, unsatisfied by Hiei's typical greeting, "Welcome home, Hiei."
"Hn."
Yukina pouted even more, "Hiei, can't you at least say 'hello' or 'good morning' to me? We haven't seen each other for a week."
Hiei gave Yukina a side glance, "I am well aware of that, but fine. Good morning Yukina."
Yukina smiled in satisfaction, "Good morning Hiei."
Hiei sighed, "This is stupid, why do we need to say 'good morning' or 'hello' every time we meet?"
"Because that's how it works."
"Well that's stupid."
"Anyway," Yukina attempted to change the topic, "did you notice anything different about the hut?"
Hiei glanced around the room, "Hn, it's cleaner," he turned to Yukina's direction and grunted thanks.
Yukina beamed with joy when she heard Hiei gave her a 'thanks', feeling as if she couldn't contain her joy any longer. Hoping that the happiness she's feeling isn't too obvious, she asked a question, "So, did you eat yet?"
"Hn, just now in the woods."
"Oh..."
Silence enveloped the room as Hiei walked up to his bed and sat on top of it. Yukina squirmed in her position as the awkward silence stretched from a few seconds to minutes. Attempting to start a conversation again, she said, "Hiei, tell me what you did this week."
"Again? Why are you so interested in my business?" Hiei asked out of curiosity, though he didn't really mind telling Yukina about what he did.
Yukina shrugged, "Well, life in the village is so boring, everyone bore the same expression everyday, doing the same things, and so on. I want a change from all of that, especially since they expected me to be just like them."
A grin touched Hiei's lips at the response, "If you don't like it, then just make those good-for-nothing people change."
Yukina sighed, shaking her head, "I wished I could do that, but if I do I'll cause Rui-san trouble, and I don't want to do that after how much she did for me." Looking up, she continued, "I wish I could be like you though, Hiei, free to do whatever you want, whenever you want, without being restricted by some sacred rules or what not."
"Hn," Hiei mumbled, adding an action of leaning back onto the bed, hiding his face a little in the process, "If you want to be like me so much, why don't you just stay here then? Or better yet, just leave this stupid island all together."
"Well, that'll still cause Rui-san trouble though," Yukina walked up to a stool and sat on it, "Come on Hiei, tell me what you did."
Hiei grunted, dissatisfied with the response, but sat up anyway and told her what he did. As Hiei explained what he did during the week, Yukina listened intently to every word, drinking them as if her life depends on it. When Hiei finished, Rui came back to the hut with a basket full of herbs, "I'm back, oh, welcome back Hiei."
"Hn."
Yukina jumped out of her stool and ran up to Rui to take the basket from her and set it on the table, "Welcome back Rui-san, Hiei just finished telling another story of his adventures."
"Hm, that's nice, too bad I missed it."
"Hn, it's nothing interesting, I didn't do much this week."
"No, I think it's very interesting Hiei! You get to travel the whole islands so many times and discover new things!"
"But there's nothing else to discover anymore, I've basically discovered everything about this frozen wasteland a decade ago. All I want to do is leave this stupid island. I bet there are fun things to battle out there."
"There you go again, you know if you leave this island you might never be able to come back again, and probably never see Yukina again either."
"Not if I take her with me."
"Hiei! You know it's dangerous out there for ice maidens!"
"Hn, whatever."
"But Rui-san, don't you want to see the world too?"
The conversation went on for a while in that kind of pace, the trio spent their afternoon chatting and debating in the hut, like the other times when they visited. They chatted until the sun started to sink into the trees, casting long shadows and making the sky have a beautiful hue of orange, pink, and red. Rui got up from her seat with the reluctant Yukina. Their time was up, they have to go back to the village to avoid any suspicion.
"Um, good bye Hiei... I'll come back again next week," Yukina said reluctantly.
"Hn."
And the two of them left the warm hut and back into the ice cold town. Yukina shivered.