The next morning…
Leah POV
Zara walks into my apartment and freezes. Then a wide smile splits across her face. "You let him spend the night," she accuses, looking delighted.
"Define let and define spend the night," I mutter.
She walks into my room and sees him lying on my bed. Every time I walk into the room, he glares. As though it's my fault he broke into my apartment. "Leah," she asks, turning on me. "What did you do?"
"What did I do?" I ask. I look at him. "He broke into my apartment, Zara. He came in, once again insisting I sleep with him, and threatening to kill me if I didn't. I was afraid he was going to rape me."
She frowns. "I'm sorry, Leah. I didn't think he was that kind of guy."
"I'm… not…" he chokes out. "What… the… hell… did…"
"What did I do to you?" I ask. "I paralyzed you. I would have thought that was obvious." He responds with a glare. Figures. "It'll wear off in a couple of hours and you will leave my apartment and not come back." I turn to Zara. "He has been bleeding all over my sheets all night long."
"Leah," she sighs, "wouldn't it have been easier to just sleep with him and kick him out?"
"No. I would have killed him while he was lying on the floor, but I don't really want to have to move again." That's what always happens. You kill someone, even in self-defense, and you have to move.
Hiei POV
Move again? Who is this girl? And how did she paralyze me? What was on that knife? She's strong. Stronger than I would have guessed.
I move my fingers. Good. It's wearing off. Perhaps I picked the wrong person. But now… now I want her because she's strong. I'm strong. It follows that I should only ever be with strong women. And she's stubborn. I want to prove that I can get around that.
But now… perhaps just telling her that she needs to sleep with me was the wrong way to go about it. I should… how do the others do this? Hmmm… sweet-talking seems to be effective for most women. Perhaps I should try that.
"Leah," I say. Okay, good. My voice is working. She looks at me, her eyes distrustful. "You're beautiful."
She snorts. "Do not even try that. The moment you can walk, you are getting up and leaving and never coming back."
Then I'll just have to prolong how long I can't walk. It's not all that difficult to pretend you can't walk. "Fine."
She glares at me. "What are you up to?" she demands suspiciously. "Why are you suddenly so agreeable?"
"I'm not allowed to realize the error of my ways?"
"You're allowed to realize the error of you ways," she answers. So what's the problem? "But you aren't allowed to pretend you have."
Hmmm… "Could you get me a drink of water?" I ask.
"No." The other girl—Zara—elbows her. "Ow. Fine." She storms out.
Zara sits down on the edge of the bed. "I don't care what you've said or done so far. Something is telling me you're not as bad as you're pretending to be." Pretending? The only thing I'm pretending to do is actually like the girl. Zara continues, "Now I want you to stop being such a jerk. I think that, somewhere deep down, you're not such a terrible person. And I think if you let that person show through, you'd be good for her."
"Feh." Leah walks back in, carrying a glass of water. "Took you long enough," I mutter. She looks at me for a few seconds then walks over and dumps the water on my head.
"Hurry up and figure out how to walk," she mutters, stalking out of the room.
Zara looks at me and frowns. "Not a great start, let me tell you."
Leah POV
Zara follows me out of my bedroom. I pull some iced tea out of the refrigerator and slam a glass down in front of her. She looks at me. "I don't think he's as bad of a guy as he's let you think so far, Leah."
"Whatever." She always wants to think positive. And sometimes it gets really old. "He wasn't giving me a choice, Zara. He was forcing it on me. And now you tell me he's not that bad of a guy?"
"He never actually did anything to you," Zara points out, drinking her tea. "Threats? What are those? Just words, if he never made any effort to act on them. I saw the sword. If he had really wanted to, I'm sure he could have injured you before you paralyzed him. But he didn't. Some part of him… maybe even most of him… he doesn't want to hurt you. What he wants is exactly what he's said from the beginning."
"He threatened my life," I say slowly, "and you're still trying to get me into bed with him?"
She shrugs. "That's what I do. And it wouldn't be too difficult at the moment. After all, that's why he came here… he's in your bed and…" She grins. "He can't move right now. You have him right where you want him."
"You," I tell her, "are sick."
She rolls her eyes. "If I'm the one who's sick, why is it that you're the one who can't build a lasting relationship?" She gets up and walks toward the door.
"Zara," I call out. She turns and looks at me. "I—I'll try to find someone, if it will make you happy."
She shakes her head. "I don't want you do it to make me happy. I want you to do it because I think it will make you happy. Of course, if you were to give him a chance… that would make me happy."
"And how does a one night stand with a man whose name I don't know who also threatened to kill me if I didn't sleep with him help me form a lasting relationship?" Does she really think these things through?
"Baby steps, Leah," Zara answers. "As for the name… there's an easy solution to that problem."
She turns and walks out. Maybe she's right. Maybe I do need more relationships. I sigh and grab a glass and fill it with water. I also grab a towel. A relationship. Just not with him.
Hiei POV
"It's Hiei," I say as she walks in.
"What's Hiei?" she asks, throwing a towel at me and setting a glass on the bedside table.
"My name," I answer. "It's Hiei." I heard them talking. She doesn't want anything to do with me because she doesn't know my name. Start there, and maybe I'll get what I want.
She rolls her eyes. "Eavesdropping too. Fantastic."
She turns to leave. "Leah," I say.
"What now?" she snaps at me.
Oh, I don't want to say this. "I'm sorry. I never meant to offend you." She turns back toward the door. "Leah," I call out.
"What now?" she asks, sounding tired. Did she sleep last night?
"I can't lift my arms." She glares. At least she can't get mad at me for lying this time. My hands and fingers are responding, but I still can't move my arms.
But instead of saying anything, she just grabs the glass of water and holds it to my lips. I let the water flow into my mouth. But she tilts it too high and some spills from the corners of my mouth. She really needs to pay for this. She sets the glass of water back on the table.
Then she snatches the towel from where it's sitting on my stomach and begins to wipe my face dry. At first she just drags it across my face, not bothering to try and keep it from scratching my cornea. But suddenly she sits down next to me and begins wiping my face more gently, drying my chin, cheeks and eyes. "Why did you apologize?" she asks.
"Because I was wrong in trying to force you," I say. I should have talked her into it.
She freezes. "Why me, Hiei?" she asks. "Why did you follow me when we left? Why didn't you just go after another girl who might've granted your request?"
"Because," I answer, "no one tells me no."
"So I've been told," she answers. "But why did you pick me in the first place?"
"Demon," I answer. And she is beautiful. I wasn't lying when I said that. She has got a wonderful body. All I want is to get laid. Might as well pick a beautiful woman for that.
"Zara's a demon too," she answers. "But you came after me."
Came after… she makes it sound so negative. "I found you more attractive." Why is it easier to talk to her when I'm telling her the truth? Perhaps it's that the truth could complete my purpose more easily than lies. At the same time, Mukuro did tell me that I'm more at ease when I lie. And I can't argue with that. Why is it that, now, I feel comfortable telling her the truth, even about something as insignificant as my taste in women?
She pulls her hand away from my face. "Why are you so determined to get in my pants, Hiei? Why not some girl drunk out of her mind in a bar across town? You obviously just want to get lucky. If she's drunk enough, she won't remember you the next day. She won't get clingy." She sounds more than a little resentful. Odd.
"I… My friend just got married. His wife told me I needed to get laid." She's crazy. Why did Yusuke have to get the brilliant idea to bring her back to Japan with us? "She obviously thinks it will make me be in a better mood."
"And you want to prove her wrong," Leah states.
"Yes."
"If that's all there is to it why not pick up a drunk chick in a bar?" she asks again. "So much easier."
I hadn't thought of that. "I don't know." That's what I was planning to do, but then she caught my eye. I figured she is just as good as anyone else.
Leah POV
I look at him, and there is a strange sort of honesty in his eyes. As though he's telling part of the truth, and the only reason he isn't telling the whole truth is that he doesn't understand it himself. I stare at him. Why'd he have to do this to me? I don't like people. He hasn't made it particularly easy to like him either. "Leah," he suddenly asks, "if I had asked you nicely, as opposed to telling you, what would you have said?"
I look at him. "Am I one of the drunk chicks in a bar at this point? And is Zara there or not?" Sober and alone, no. Sober and with Zara, no. Drunk and alone, unlikely but possible. Drunk and with Zara… likely. He looks at me, and I say, "I probably would have laughed you off."
"Why is it you don't want to get close to people?" he asks. Then he looks away and mutters, "More importantly, why do I care?"
"Why is it you don't want to get close to people?"
"How is that relevant?" he asks.
"You're the one who's looking for a one night stand," I answer. "You're the one who obviously can't stand the people you're around, with a low tolerance for the one friend you spoke of. As Zara shouted to the entire café yesterday, most women would consider you very attractive. If you wanted a relationship, you wouldn't have any problem finding someone. You simply push everyone away."
"Most women," he repeats. "Meaning not you." I never said that. If he hadn't been such a jerk about it, he probably could have gotten lucky after a while. But I try to avoid one night stands. As a general rule. And I always avoid assholes. When I don't answer, he says, "Most men would consider you very attractive. If you wanted a relationship, you wouldn't have any problem finding someone. You simply push everyone away."
Oh, so that's how it's going to be. Now he's turning my words against me. But I don't want a relationship. I had a relationship. I push everyone away because I can't suffer that kind of loss again. I don't think my heart can take it. I ignore his remark and reach up to take the water-soaked headband from his forehead.
Hey. I'm back. With a new chapter. And a new user name. I hope you enjoyed you enjoyed the chapter and I hope the name didn't throw you off. Now for reviews.
FireStorm1991: Well... I was trying to figure out how Hiei would going about doing such a thing. And I was baffled. And then I realized... Hiei expects people to do what he tells them to do. I figured it was believable enough. And even if it wasn't, it made me laugh. No way I could lose. ;)
animegrlsteph: How'd you like this chapter?
Sensitive: here's your update!
moani-sama: yep... I couldn't figure out how Hiei would go about picking up girls... that's the only thing I came up that seemed halfway believable.
Kuramasredredrose: Thanks. Glad you're happy I'm writing it.