Disclaimer: Let's start with the important things. I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF YU YU HAKUSHO OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM. I however own Erika, her parents, all the OC's and the PLOT OF THIS STORY. Please do not use any of MY characters without asking first.


Different

Chapter 4: Your Guardian Demon

Erika's eyes opened slowly, their black outline being the most accentuated, the toffee brown giving them some warmth, but the gold-yellow dagger-like-stripes making them look vicious, wild, untamed.

"It's night" Erika whispered to herself as she got up from the bed. It took her a second to realize she was in Mel's cottage and probably the curly-haired girl couldn't wake her up for dinner, because outside it was already dark. Erika sighed, stretched her limbs and walked to the balcony. The doors were still opened and a chilly wind came through them but didn't seem to faze the chocolate-haired girl.

She stepped barefoot on the cold concrete and didn't even flinch as the night air hit her. She walked to the railing and placed her hands on it, raising her head up high and placing her now wild eyes on the trees.

Unknown to her a pair of crimson orbs were glued to her, mesmerized by her untamed gaze. Hiei didn't know why he looked into her eyes. He didn't know why he couldn't tear his gaze away. He didn't know what was up with the feeling in his gut. He just knew that that onna had something different about her.

He watched her look at the trees, turn her head around as if she were searching for something and then he heard her whispering.

"I miss you, brother...I wish you were here...you'd knew what to do" she had said to the wind and sighed. In a way she reminded him of his own twin sister, Yukina. They were both innocent, one could see that in their eyes, and they both lacked their brothers. Even though Yukina had no idea who her brother was, she still missed him and Erika had known her brother her whole life, but now he was in a coma and she too missed him.

He saw her close her eyes, her breathes coming even. She took a deep breathe and opened her eyes before whispering, "Nothing" in a shallow voice. She turned around, her back facing the forest in which Hiei was hiding, and started walking back inside. She didn't close the doors behind her so the darkness of the night could come in and get out as it pleased.

Hiei saw her walk out the door and he jumped into another tree so he could see the small hall. He saw her shut the door behind her and walk to a door across the hall. She knocked but received no answer.

"Mel?" she asked and a grunt came as an answer. Erika cracked open the door to Mel's room and peaked her head inside. It was a small room, much like Erika's, with a bed against the wall facing the door, a big window above it, an end-table next to it, a wardrobe on the wall with the entrance door, to Erika's right. In the middle there was a furry rug exactly like the one from Erika's room. On the wall to Erika's right there was the door to the bathroom and on it's right, against the wall, a desk with a chair and a lamp.

Mel's room and Erika's were like an object and it's mirror reflection.

"Hey" Erika greeted the curly-haired girl that sat on her back on the bed, her hands behind her head and facing the ceiling.

"Hm" she acknowledged Erika's presence but didn't move her eyes from the ceiling. Erika walked to the furry rug and sat on it, as close to the bed as she could, but not touching the wood beneath.

"I still can't understand why you like the floor so much" Mel stated and Erika chuckled.

"'Cuz you can't fall" Erika answered.

"You're strange" Mel stated and Erika smiled at her.

"You too" the chocolate-haired girl whispered, her smile slightly fading.

"Yeah, I know" Mel grinned, her eyes still on the ceiling.

"So, why didn't you wake me for dinner?" Erika asked.

"You seemed like you were having a nice dream so I made Paul try to wake you up. He ended up with a slap-mark on his cheek" Mel laughed at the memory and Erika gasped.

"I didn't!" she shrieked, her cheeks slightly red with embarrassment.

"You did"

"Oh my god!"

"He wasn't mad, Eri" Mel stated.

"Who cares if he was or not mad?" Erika yelled outraged, but with an amused glint in her eyes. Mel's head turned to the side to glance at Erika with a questioning look. "I'm mad 'cuz I didn't get to enjoy the slap! I was asleep!" Erika whined and Mel started laughing. Soon Erika joined her and the two girls were laughing like mad-people.

Two ruby-eyes watched them from a tree outside Mel's window and couldn't understand what was so funny.

"Hn, stupid onnas" a dark voice whispered to himself.

"Erika, Erika, it's not nice to say that" Mel playfully scolded after the two girls stopped laughing.

"Ha, as if! Trust me, that boy's bad news" Erika stated seriously.

"I know"

"Then why's he here?"

"He's my friend and Daniel's best friend. I originally invited Daniel and told him to bring whomever he wanted. He brought Paul" Mel answered slightly disappointed.

"Oh, well, as long as he minds his own business there's no problem" Erika assured her friend with a smile.

"Good"

"Anyway, Mel?" Erika suddenly called, her voice downer.

"Mm?"

"You going to come with me next week?" Erika asked and Mel's ice blue eyes turned cold.

"Sure" she answered.

"Thanks"

"Don't worry about it. We're best friends and I told you I'd be right next to you" Mel said smiling. Erika got up to her feet and walked to the door while Mel resumed her staring at the ceiling. As she was about to walk out the door, Erika turned and said to her friend:

"They said he hears us when we speak"

"I know"

"You think he knows all I told him?"

"Yeah"

"You think he'll ever wake up?" Erika asked, her voice sounding like that of a little child that had no hope of ever getting the beloved toy he wanted.

"Yeah, Eri, he'll wake up" Mel said as confident as she could be.

"Thanks, Mel" Erika whispered and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

She walked back to her room opened her door and had in mind to read something, but stopped when she heard steps in the balcony.

"Who's there?" she asked.

"It's me" came Paul's voice as he appeared in the balcony's door.

"What are you doing here?" Erika asked as she walked to him. He let her step into the balcony, watched her walk to the railing and walked beside her.

"You didn't answer" she stated, her wild eyes on the forest.

"I wanted to see if you were up" he answered.

"Oh" she voice and silence sat between them. "Uhm, Paul?" she voiced after awhile.

"Hm?"

"Mel told me you tried to wake me up...and...uhm...I..." she tried to say but stammered a little at the end.

"Don't worry for slapping me" he assured her grinning and she smiled. 'Maybe he's not that bad' she thought smiling at him.

"Uhm, thanks" she mumbled and they both sat there in silence.

Suddenly Paul turned to Erika.

"Erika?" he asked for her attention and she turned to look at him.

"Yeah?" she said and he got closer to her. Erika's mind was racing, telling her to get away, but her feet were stuck on the ground.

"You're a really hot girl" he told her and before she could even register what he had said he crashed his lips onto her. She tried to push him off of her but he stopped her and continued to forcefully kiss her. She acted on impulse and kicked him in the stomach. He let her go and stumbled backwards as she ran from the balcony, out the door of her room and down the stairs.

She didn't care that she was barefoot as she kicked the front door open and ran outside the cottage and down the path. She continued to run, getting further and further away from the house, not knowing that Paul was just a little behind her, until he grabbed her arm and pushed her against a tree, pinning both her arms above her head.

"Let me go" she half-ordered, half-whispered, her voice drowned in fear.

"Now, why would I do that?" his voice sounded like that of a sick man. "We would have had some fun, but you just had to be a bad girl, didn't you?" he continued his little speech. Erika didn't answer but turned her head to look over his shoulder. A black figure stood between the trees, red eyes shining like those of a wolf ready to attack.

"Let the onna go"

The voice came out as a low vicious growl and it made the hairs on the back of Paul's neck raise. He turned to his opponent, letting momentarily go of Erika. Green eyes met blood red.

"What did you just say?" Paul asked, trying to sound fearless, but the ruby-eyed demon could sense the fear radiating off of him. Hiei's lips inwardly curled into a sadistic smirk, but he didn't offer the human an answer as he continued to glare darkly at him.

"What do you want?" Paul yelled taking a step towards Hiei. When again the demon didn't answer, Paul rushed to him trying to punch him. Key word: trying. Hiei grabbed the boy's arm and twisted it behind his back till the point that one could swear it was going to break in any moment. He wasn't allowed to kill humans, but no one ever said anything about breaking arms. He was about to go on with his plan, when a frightened voice broke the silence:

"Uhm, thank you for helping me but...please don't hurt him" it was Erika's voice and, weirdly enough, Hiei stopped applying pressure on the human's arms and let him go. Paul stumbled forward and, after cursing rather loudly, he started running back to the cottage as if Devil himself was chasing after him.

"Scary-cat" Hiei heard Erika mutter and he turned to look at her. She smiled, "Thank you"

"Hn" he wasn't supposed to answer her, right?

Erika rubbed her wrists as she leaned against the tree-trunk, "Excuse me, but what are you doing here?" Hiei twitched. He knew the moment he decided to step in and save the onna that he was going to have to answer her questions.

"Wandering around" he answered, his voice void of any emotions.

"Oh" the girl mouthed. "I'm having a sleepover at my friend's cottage with some other friends. It's a bit further than here but not too far" the girl continued and Hiei thought she said it more to herself than to him.

"That's your friend onna?" Hiei asked sarcastically, a smirk on his lips.

"Not exactly. He's a friend of my best friend's friend" Erika explained matter-of-factly.

Hiei didn't say anything else, but he watched the girl look around again, the gold-yellow daggers in her eyes getting more and more visible.

"Why are your eyes red?" Erika suddenly asked. He knew she was bound to observe something at him that would make her a little suspicious. He didn't answer her and he heard her sigh. When he turned around to look at her she was sitting on the ground, her back against the tree-trunk were Paul used to pin her, hugging her legs to her chest. She looked frail, but most of all lonely. When she tore her eyes from the ground and locked them with Hiei's, he saw how the gold-yellow daggers' color faded and he knew that a human's eye could barely see them now, but he had a nice view of them.

"You know your eyes are not really entirely red" she stated offering him a smile. He looked at her and she must have seen something in his eyes because she continued, "They're outlined in black, like mine, and then they're crimson but as they continue to the pupil it strays from crimson to a dark fire-red"

He looked at her strangely and probably she noticed because she shook her head, "Sorry, you must think I'm crazy" she told him and he shook his head. He really didn't think her crazy. It was just that she had surprised him on how she could see the difference between the colors of his eyes.

"No, onna" he told her simply and she smiled brightly.

"Still, how come they're red? I don't think you have contacts and judging by how you caught Paul earlier you're not sick either so, how?" she asked him.

"Paul?" he knew he was trying to avoid the question, but he couldn't answer.

"The blonde-boy" she answered and when he didn't say anything she stated simply, "You're avoiding my question"

"Hn"

She didn't say anything and they stayed in silence for a while. When Hiei looked again at her she was asleep, her head resting on her knees. Hiei mentally sighed. His steps were almost inaudible as he walked to her. He didn't make any sound as he picked her up from the ground and leaped into the trees, jumping from branch to branch in the direction of the cottage.

Soon he landed swiftly on the concrete from the balcony of Erika's room. All she did was snuggle into him for warmth and he stopped dead in his tracks, as still as a statue. She didn't open her eyes. He took a breath and walked into her room. Empty. He walked to her bed and was about to place her there when she stirred. She was waking up. Her eyes opened and Hiei was greeted by warm pools of brown with yellow-gold daggers in it and outlined in black.

"Where am I?" she asked, her voice low and soft.

"In your room" he answered.

"Thank you" she whispered back and he moved his head in a barely visible nod. She obviously saw it because she smiled as he placed her on her bed. She was on her side, curled into a ball and half-asleep when he placed her covers over her. He was about to go when he realized she had grabbed a fistful of his shirt. Hiei had a weird feeling of Déjà vu in that moment as he used his own fingers to unclench hers. He placed her hand on the pillow next to her head and moved to walk away when, again, he was stopped. This time, by her voice.

"Wait" she whispered, her voice sleepy and her eyes only half-opened.

"Hn?"

"Who are you?" he knew by the sound of her voice that she didn't mean to find out his name. Somehow he just knew what to answer when the words came out of his mouth. Somehow it was as if he wasn't the one answering.

"Your guardian demon" and with that he vanished. She smiled as she snuggled into the covers and let sleep take her.

Author Note: Dammit...not even this chapter got to what I wanted! I mean...it did...but I had to change the title TT anyway, I think it was pretty good and I really liked the end of it. I do think Hiei's a little OOC...but I really try not to make him out of his character...please tell me if you think he's acting weird or not as he usually does! Ja ne