Hiei rubbed his hand down his face from forehead to chin and gave his mate a bewildered look. She tilted her head to the side in puppy-ish confusion and Hiei groaned burying his face into his hands.
"Koi?" she called out in concern. She did not understand why he seemed so distressed.
"You have got to be bullshitting me." he mumbled into his palms. Naiyo stepped closer to him and kneeled slightly in attempt to see his face through his fingers.
"Hiei is there a problem? Are you sick?" she asked and she lifted his bangs and gently placed her hand to his head. Hiei peeked through his fingers and looked at her concerned face. Smooth skin. Big, dark purple eyes. And the expression that beautiful face had was just too innocent and suddenly too young. If he blurred his vision a bit he imagined he was looking at Hina. This disturbing thought made him pull away from her touch. Her frown deepened. "What is wrong with you?" she asked taking a step closer.
"Don't." he commanded taking a step back. She halted immediately and tilted her head again. "Stop doing that!" he ordered with a wince.
"Doing what?" she asked tilting her head to the other side blinking those innocent seeming eyes in confusion."
"Oh, God." Hiei murmured sitting heavily on the leaf strewn ground. "How could I have not known?" he clinched his hair in his hands and tried to calm down. Naiyo stared down at her distraught mate and tried to think of anything that was said in the last three minutes that could have caused such a reaction.
"Hiei, are you having an emotional break down because you believe that I am under-aged?" she asked in such a way that it sounded less like a question and more like a statement.
'Well damn." was all Hiei could think. Trust Naiyo to be frank. She walked up to him and kneeled down grasping his wrists and pulling them away.
"Hiei, in Makai, what is the age of consent?" she asked using a voice as if she were talking to a child. Even though the answer cleared him of all wrong, he still couldn't bring himself to look at her when he replied.
"The age of consent is the first heat." he answered carefully.
"Correct. And I had my first heat right after I escaped imprisonment." she said. She grasped his chin and made him look into her eyes. "I had two heats before our face off. You are well in the clear, Hiei." she consoled.
"But… but gods Naiyo you are only…"
"I am a fully matured wolf demon female and nothing else needs to be said. I am not a child, Koi." she chided. Hiei closed his eyes and tried to let that soak in. She leaned in and pulled him into a hug. "You are a great demon, Hiei. I could not have made a better choice for a mate. But I must confess… it took me a long time before I was able to convince myself that you were not my father." Hiei stiffened at that statement. "Even now, when you touch me. When we make love, I cannot close my eyes for too long. I must always see your face, your eyes. I must keep the dark places locked away so that I…." she trailed off and Hiei could feel her energy fluctuate oddly. He pulled away slightly to look at her.
"What? Tell me." he said trailing the tip of his index finger across her brow. Hiei felt something shift within her. It was very subtle, but at the same time monumental. She looked at him so strangely then, her expression both lost and pained. Her grip on his shoulder became suddenly bruising and he winced. Her face became hard, almost cruel at tera fraction of a second and he swore that his shoulder was about to bleed. But then, as quickly as it began it ended. She snatched herself back and turned away panting. From his position behind her he could see her reach up with both hands and massage her temples slightly, a low meditative groan bubbled from her throat. "Naiyo?" he called leaning forward to touch her shoulder. For a reason Hiei could not understand, he felt an undercurrent of fear. It was instinctive. The feeling a deer gets when a lion is near. The hairs on the back of his neck stiffened and he felt the sudden urge to run…
(meanwhile)
The cubs, having gotten bored with spying on their parents, played touch and run (makai version of tag) through the trees. Nura was closing in on Hina and they giggled playfully dodging and weaving through the thick, moss covered tree trunks. Nura was about three yards away from his sister when she suddenly stopped in her place still as stone. In reflex he stopped as well and saw Higan do the same. It was an ingrained cub reflex to be still at the first sign of danger before jetting back to the closest parent. Nura's ears twitched nervously as he tried to pick up any sound or movement. He heard nothing. A quick glance at his brother and Higan seemed to be just as thrown off as he was. The both looked at Hina wondering what happened. Still wary of making any sudden moves, Nura whispered to his sister,
"Hina, what is it?" he asked. Behind him he heard Higan snort.
"Nothing. She is just doing that weird thing again." he teased picking at the shedding bark of the tree in front of him. "No Higan, stop it." Nura scolded his brother. "It's not weird and you know it. Her feeling is stronger than ours. We should listen." Nura knew that his sister had a special talent. They all had it. Her talent ended up stronger than theirs for reasons he did not know. When she felt something, if it was strong enough, he would feel it as well. And although there were times when Hina had false alarms, her percentages to being right were high enough that Nura learned to pay attention. Higan rolled his eyes and began to kick at the tree.
"Aw, come on! Let's keep playin'. I don't sense noth…" Higan stopped mid word with a gasp that was echoed by Nura's. Hina was right, something was wrong. Their instincts told them to get back to their parents, but they couldn't. Because whatever that wrong feeling was… it was coming from their mother.
….and they had felt it before, and knew to stay away from it.
