Shadowess: Alright, just a few notes here before you start reading... The two girls have serious phobias, one more common than the other so please don't say that one of them is stupid. My friend who created her OC (Kyla), actually has it. Its Gephyrophobia. My OC (Nyssa) shares her phobia with me of Aracnaphobia.

Nyssa: Who names these phobias?

Shadowess: I don't really know.

Kyla: sitting and rocking back and forth Greenbookgreenbookgreenbookgreenbook...

Both of us: swt

Shadowess: Don't ask. Really. It's better for your mental status if you don't know. Oh ya! Thank you to Sensitive and katsuki for reviewing! Warning: Hiei is OOC for this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own YYH, the Waltz to the Moon tune and dance, spiders (thank goddesses)


Chapter Seven: Masquerade and More Dreams

The girls that night had, yet another dream sequence. Kyla was tossing and turning in her sleep. In her unconsciousness, she was running but couldn't move. All around her, plains of bridges were going beneath her feet. Around her, giggles of a small child were mocking her fear. The dream brought her to the middle of a shaking rope bridge.

Fear rose up in her like the freezing of her spine. She shook, causing the bridge to creek, threatening to collapse to the rocky bottom below. On either side of the bridge were two guys. One, she could see as Kurama with his unmistakable red hair. The other… was engulfed in shadows so she couldn't see any features. All she could identify was that it was a guy with a cape holding a hand out to her.

Kyla couldn't move. She was paralyzed in fear. Then the same giggling from before went off as the ropes snapped.

Waking up with a light shriek, Kyla clutched her tail and twisted it in fear. She has had intense dreams like that before, but this one was truly terrifying. Gasping for air, Kyla was still shaking as though she were still there.

"I can't go back to sleep…" Kyla grabbed her pillow and went towards the door. Creaking it open slowly, she eyed Kurama's room. Silently, she went over and opened his door quietly. She didn't dare go see Nyssa cause Hiei would kill her for waking him up.

Quickly, she made it over to his bed, not taking notice to the details around the room. She saw Kurama, lying there without much notice to her. She tapped him on his shoulder, causing him to turn over.

"Pst! Kurama…" Kyla whispered, causing him to sit up. She blushed and thanked that it was dark when she saw his bare chest with a visible six-pack.

"Kyla…? What's wrong?" he rubbed his eyes.

"I had a really bad dream… and I'd go wake up Nyssa but she's in Hiei's room and he would kill me…" she explained quickly.

"I see… what was your dream about?" he asked, looking at her eyes.

"Um… bridges… I'm really terrified of bridges… I was on this shaking rope bridge and you and some other dude were on either side… the rope snapped and I woke up…" Kyla clutching her pillow tightly. Her ears were flat and her tail was drooped down between her legs.

"You can stay here until you feel better." Kurama moved over on his white bed to allow Kyla to sit down.

Kyla hesitantly got on to his bed then relaxed when Kurama wrapped his arms around her protectively. "Thanks, Kurama… I'm sorry for bugging you at this time of night…"

"It's alright, Kyla…" he rested his chin on her head. "You'll be okay. It was only a dream." Kurama rocked her gently. Soon, Kyla's tail was relaxed but her ears were still flat. He didn't find her fear funny at all. He knew that everyone was scared of something. Kurama felt Kyla's breathing slow to a steady pace, showing that she was asleep again.

In Hiei's room, Nyssa was still as the dead as usual. But in her mind, many frightening eyes were watching her. All of them were in groups of eight. Giggling echoed in the area to her ridiculing. She was sitting in a dark spot, with a spot light on her. Her legs were pulled up to her chest, and her head was on her knees, refusing to look up.

The groups of eyes started to form in to monster spiders. Tarantulas with venom dripping from their fangs, and eyes all watching Nyssa, were surrounding her.

She was shaking, puddles of tears and tear gems were growing larger from the drippings of her weeping. All at once, the eight-legged freaks jumped at her, causing her to scream.

Nyssa shot up awake and looked around frantically. The nightmare was still fresh in her head and it wouldn't leave. She wanted the images gone, her fear to vanish from her mind. Carefully, she got off the bed so not to disturb Hiei and sat on the floor.

She held on to her rabbit and tried to get her heart-rate back to a reasonable level. Never had she been so terrified for a dream. All those eyes watching… Worse than the hungry eyes of a maniacal werewolf.

Cautiously, Nyssa stood back up without trying to make any noise. She had to go move around and occupy her mind with something. Nyssa went out the door and downstairs, not tripping or slipping like she did the last time she had a nightmare.

She sat down on the couch but soon realized that there was someone sitting next to her. She jumped and turned to see that it was Hiei.

"Holy shit… I thought you were still asleep." Nyssa said quietly to him, sitting back down.

"You woke me up when you woke up." He said, having his arms crossed. He said truthfully. He hadn't gone in to her mind to see what ridiculous thing awoke her. But he sensed how she was so edgy when she sat down on the floor. He was tempted to ask her what was wrong then, but found it unintelligent of him to do.

"Sorry… go back to bed. It was just a stupid dream on my part." Nyssa sighed and put her hand on her forehead, still trying to will the horrific images from her mind.

"What stupid dream would that be? More aliens?" he lightly joked, though he didn't put any heart in to it.

"No… worse for me… Giant eight-legged freaks…" Nyssa shuddered. "All those eyes…" she whispered.

"You're scared of spiders?" he raised an eye brow.

"Yes. And I'd rather not talk about it." She gave a tired glare at him.

Hiei shook his head. "You're still tired. Go back to bed."

"After you." Nyssa did a hand jester towards the stairs. "I'll go when I feel like it."

"Whatever. Come on." Hiei stood up and swept her up in to his arms bridal style.

Nyssa's face went red. "What the heck are you doing!?" she cried.

"Taking you back to bed. You're going to need rest for tomorrow's mission."

"I never agreed to any sort of mission bullshit. I insist that you drop me on my ass right now." Nyssa hissed at him.

Hiei ignored her as she made comments to threaten him. When he got back in to the room, he felt her struggle less. Nyssa felt herself get lowered on to the bed and was even tucked in. She felt embarrassed, yet her stomach was doing strange summersaults in her chest. No guy had ever done that for her. Not that she really let them.

She was still clutching on to the bunny really tight when Hiei climbed back in to the bed. Then something unexpected happened. Hiei found himself wrapping his arms around Nyssa's shoulders and holding her against him. She stiffened at his touch but soon found the warmth of the fire demon soothing.

"Go to sleep, onna." Hiei said quietly.

"…Thank you, Hiei…" Nyssa said in reply. Soon, both found sleep, and their dreams were non-existent.

(A/N: okay, the scenery change keeps disappearing each time i save so from now on, its a line.)


"Are you girls ready?" Kurama called up the stairs.

"Almost! Ny-chan is doing my hair! Ow! That's hot!" Kyla yelled from her bedroom.

"You're ears got in the way! Now stay still. I'm on the last one." The guys heard Nyssa and Kyla from one of the rooms.

Kurama and Hiei were waiting for them in tuxedos. Koenma made them wear capes or cloaks… because it added a touch of class. Both of them wore white eye masks that made them look mysterious, since it hid their eyes completely.

Kyla started going down the stairs and stopped in mid step when she saw the guys wearing tuxedos and eyes masks. "Holly shit… you guys look great!"

"As do you, Kyla." Kurama held out his hand to her.

Kyla was wearing a light blue dress that was sleeveless, the top piece had white detailing and the bottom skirt flowed out. Her hair was lightly curled, and she held a matching light blue sash. She gave a little twirl and giggled. "I never usually like such girly stuff, but I like this." Kyla put on her green-gold mask before taking Kurama's hand.

"It suits you very well." Kurama kissed the back of her hand gentleman like.

"Well, isn't that just cute?" Nyssa said from the stairs. "I wish I had a camera."

"No, you don't! Camera's are evil."

Hiei looked up at Nyssa. She was wearing a very light navy, thin strap dress that had the top part formed on her. The skirt portion was flowing all the way down to the floor. Her hair was done up in a half bun, allowing some hairs to fall beside her face.

"You know that you guys look like Tuxedo Mask from a cartoon, right?" Nyssa raised an eyebrow. They shook their heads in no. "Oh well. You guys look great anyway." She put on her mask then got to the base of the stairs.

Botan appeared with a portal. "Wow! You all look awesome! Time to head to Koenma's to get your tickets in." she allowed them all to head in to the portal and it closed behind them.

"Alright. Ladies, you look beautiful." Koenma complimented, still in his teenager form. "Here are your invitations, and good luck. A limo is waiting for you on the other side of the portal." He pressed a button and a portal appeared.

They all went through and there was a white limo. An ogre wearing a driver's attire opened the door for them. They all piled inside. The ride itself was fairly quiet. Even Kyla didn't say much.

When the limo came to a halt, they all looked outside to see a giant mansion with a giant front yard. There were a lot of people with partners going in to the building, and there was even music playing. Kurama got out first and helped Kyla out.

"Thank you, Kurama." Kyla smiled at him.

Hiei got out and held out his own hand to help Nyssa out. He didn't look at her as she accepted his hand.

"Thanks, Hiei."

Kurama and Kyla linked arms, heading down the path towards the entrance. Nyssa and Hiei just walked beside each other. At the door, the guys gave the invitations and they were all allowed in. Everywhere they looked, there were demons in their human-like forms dancing or talking at the punch bowl.

"It's going to be a while until the host appears, then we'll note where he leaves and follow him." Kurama said quietly. Everyone nodded. As they went towards an empty table, the music changed to a waltz. Before Kyla could sit down, Kurama took off his cloak, placing it on two chairs to reserve for them. "Care to dance?"

"Um… I can't dance too well… I only know the foot step." She said.

"What is the foot step? I'm not aware of that one." Kurama questioned.

"It's where I stand on the person's feet like I did with my dad years ago. I stood on his feet while he moved." She smiled.

Kurama chuckled. "I think I can handle that. Then you can step back on the floor once you get the general idea."

"Really? Then sure I'll dance!" Kyla smiled broadly.

Kurama smiled in return and led Kyla to the dance floor. Hiei and Nyssa sat down and Nyssa watched them dance.

Kyla awkwardly stepped on to Kurama's shoes then took the proper position. With the beat, Kurama slowly started to dance, making sure that Kyla didn't loose her balance.

Glancing around at all the other dancers, they all had masks. Most of the guys had weird phantom masks or similar masks to Kurama's. When they turned, someone almost stepped on her tail, causing a quiet gasp of relief. She looked up at Kurama and smiled innocently.

"So what's up?" Kyla asked.

"We're dancing, and trying to blend in." He responded.

"I know that. I mean, how are you doing?" she rephrased her question.

"I'm doing alright. How are you holding up?"

"I'm standing on your feet, and you're preventing me from falling back in to some other demon." Kyla smiled up at him.

Kurama nodded and lifted Kyla off his feet. He twirled her and led her with ease. "And now you have a graceful step."

"Think they'll play Waltz to the Moon?"

"Possibly. Or they'll play a waltz with a similar tune."

Coincidentally, a tune started playing, causing Kyla's ears to perk up. "This is the song!" her tail wagged in joy. She looked over towards Nyssa and Hiei to see if she would drag him on to the dance floor.

Nyssa was not looking towards Kyla and Kurama, but was watching a familiar scene off near a pillar. It was a demon secluding himself from the dance floor and another girl going up to him, eventually dragging him out on to the floor.

She just smiled and shook her head. Turning to Hiei, she asked him, "Want to dance?"

"Hn. I don't dance."

"Alright, just asking." Nyssa looked towards the dancers and looked for Kyla and Kurama.

A tall demon wearing a cape with a red mask on pale blue skin came up to her. "Would you care to dance, milady?" His eyes were an unmistakable sky blue.

Before Nyssa could respond, Hiei stood up and took her arm. "You should take notice not to ask other people's dates to dance."

"I was merely attempting to be a gentleman." He called as Hiei led Nyssa to the dance floor.

"I thought you said you don't dance." Nyssa said to him when she got close to the center of the dance floor.

He didn't reply as he took her hand in his and wrapped his arm around her waist. Nyssa put her other arm up and followed his lead. The climax of the song came up and both took position. Nyssa was shocked to see that Hiei led her correctly throughout the sequence. When they continued waltzing, Nyssa sent a message telepathically.

'Since when did you learn that?'

'I read your mind and followed the steps.'

'Take away the fun of teaching. Thanks a lot.'

"Whatever, onna." Hiei said with smirk.

"I have a name, dumbass." She said back.

Hiei glared at her but continued to dance. Soon, they bumped in to Kurama and Kyla. Both Kyla and Nyssa stuck their tongues out at each other then turned back to the guys.

For about half an hour more, they danced. Nyssa and Kyla went to a patio to get some air. Already it was dark outside, even thought it was not even evening time. They talked about how convenient the dance was and suspected that someone read their minds.

Kurama and Hiei were at the table, looking around secretly for the squid demon. The music stopped and the girls came back in as everyone was moving to sit down. When the girls sat down, the sound of a light bell caught their attention.

"It's really dark outside. And there are not any clouds." Nyssa whispered to them. They nodded as they saw one man standing up with a glass in his hand.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming…" his voice was drowned. It was squiddy, Zoryu. "This is just an honoring night for a simple time for all demons that visit the human world, yet return freely to here in the demon world."

"Demon world?" Kyla whispered quietly.

Many waiters and waitresses handed out wine glasses to all the tables. Zoryu lifted his own glass. "I try not to be one for speech. To a joyful night."

Everyone else in the room raised their glass and repeated 'to a joyful night' before drinking from their glass. Kyla lifted her glass and almost drank from it before Nyssa nudged her.

"You're not old enough to drink." She whispered.

"But it was given to us and it would be rude not to drink it." She whispered back.

"You are not drinking that. You can drink after your birthday." Nyssa said secretly dumping her drink in to a plant pot beside her.

Hiei drank the wine as well as Kurama. They were old enough and had high tolerances for alcohol.

"You take the fun out of everything." Kyla pouted.

"But she is right. You shouldn't drink." Kurama agreed.

"You don't want to see her buzzed on even a sip of Smirnoff." Nyssa muttered.

"So you have drunk alcohol before?" Hiei raised an eyebrow.

"My parents gave us a small bottle to share. They took responsibility in supervising us." Nyssa said defiantly.

"And how old were you?"

"…Sixteen… That was last year…" Nyssa grumbled.

Hiei handed her the last bit of his wine glass. "Drink that."

"Why?"

"I want to see how you react."

"Again; why?" Nyssa looked at the glass then back at him. She saw Kyla trying to convince Kurama to let her have a sip.

"I don't have to tell you."

"Then I don't have to drink this." Nyssa glared at him. "How about this… answer one question and I'll drink it."

"Ask."

"Why did you pull me on to the dance floor when the other demon asked me, after you said that you don't dance?" She asked quietly so that no one could over hear her.

Hiei thought for a moment, his facial expression not changing. "We're here on a mission and that demon could have distracted you from the reality at hand."

"Don't believe you so much, but that's still an answer." She took up the glass and sniffed it. It smelt like a combination of berries and fruits. She drank it and her eyes widened. 'Blood…'

'Blood flavored wine.' Hiei nodded.

'Tasty. Sends a deceiving message to the senses of taste and smell.' Nyssa put the glass down and looked at Kyla, who was glaring at her.

"And you told me not to drink it."

"You wouldn't of liked it." Nyssa shook her head.

"What did it taste like?"

"We'll see if we can get some for your birthday, okay?"

"Why not your birthday? It's closer and you can be responsible for me since you'll be eighteen." Kyla tried to pry.

"When is your birthday, Nyssa?" Kurama asked.

"In November." She replied.

"That's next month. We should have a party for you." Kurama suggested.

"Um… could we talk about this some other time?"

"Agreed. Zoryu is leaving." Hiei said, watching the squid man.

Kurama looked over and saw which door Zoryu went through. "Alright. Let's go." Kurama took Kyla up when the music resumed playing. "We'll meet you at the door." He spun Kyla around and brought her dancing in the growing crowd of dancers.

"Come on." Hiei got up and took Nyssa to the dance floor.

They all danced towards the door and went through when no one was watching…

Koenma was casually looking through his papers as the ogre brought them in. With a slight alarm bell going off, he looked up to see a portal open and Zoryu fall in, unconscious.

"What the…" his words were cut short when Kyla came through next, doing a cheer.

"Oh yeah! We blinded him again with the punch drink!" Kurama, Hiei, and Nyssa came through right after. "I'm gonna kick his butt again!" she moved to go and kick the squid demon but was held back by Kurama. "Hey! No fair! I wanna kick his butt!"

"Kyla, I really think that you've done enough." Kurama told her.

Koenma looked towards Hiei for an answer, but he gave a solid look that read 'don't ask'. Nyssa held back a giggle and both girls stopped in their place and looked at Koenma.

"Hey, it's a baby!" Kyla pointed out once she was free from Kurama's grasp.

"Is this Koenma's little brother or something? They have the same pacifier." Nyssa said.

The two girls approached Koenma and poked at his sides going in awe. "He's adorable!" Kyla said with a smile.

"Poor little guy has Botan to take care of him... Now that is rough." Nyssa said, picking Koenma up, who was all but amused by their conversation.

"What's his name?" Kyla asked no one in particular.

"I am Koenma!" he protested.

"How mean of Koenma to try and hide a walkie-talkie on his little brother…" Nyssa said, looking over Koenma for signs of wires.

"He must be mean! I should hire him to look after my siblings!" Kyla said with great thought.

"Kyla, that baby actually is Koenma." Kurama said.

"Ha ha, very funny. Now, seriously, where is Koenma?" Nyssa asked.

'You're holding the prince of the spirit world right now.' Hiei said in to her mind.

"I said that I am Koenma! Now put me down before Zoryu regains consciousness!" Koenma flailed in Nyssa's arms.

"Hokey man/shit!!!" the girls exclaimed, looking at Koenma. Nyssa put him down and laughed nervously.

"You should have said something…"

Koenma cleared his throat. "Never mind about that now. So did everything go well?"

"Yup! We got mister squiddy-who-can't-throw-a-punch-properly!" Kyla pointed at the sill unconscious Zoryu.

"Good work. Now if you want, you can head back to the ball or I can get a portal home for you." Koenma offered.

Everyone looked at one another and nodded. "Home."

With the flick of a switch, a portal appeared and they all went through. Instead of being at the house, they were in the forest. Before they could react, the portal closed behind them.

"If this is revenge for calling him an adorable baby, he's not going to get his pacifier back next time I see him." Kyla grumbled.

"We're not too far from the house though. He probably hit the wrong switch." Kurama suggested.

"Doubt it." Hiei and Nyssa said at the same time.

"If I didn't have this stupid dress on, I'd already be running." Kyla complained, with her ears flattening.

"What's stopped you from before?" Nyssa asked.

"This is a nice dress!"

"Well, we should head back to the house anyway. It's almost midnight here." Kurama said.

"What?! You mean that we spent what seemed like two hours in the demon world and it's already night here?!" Nyssa yelled.

"That's what he said." Hiei rolled his eyes.

"Wait… what's the day today?" Kyla asked.

"I believe that it's the 21st… Thursday." Kurama said.

"Wait! Then that means…" Kyla counted with her fingers for a moment. "Halloween is on Sunday in two weeks!"

"You're right, Kyla." Nyssa said

"So what are our plans for then? I want to dress up!" Kyla said cheerfully.

"We usually don't make plans since Koenma usually has a mission for us on that day." Kurama said.

"Awww… That's no fun. Why can't we just convince him otherwise?" Kyla asked.

"Demons usually take Halloween as that special day that allows evil spirits to roam freely, to take over the world or cause massive chaos." Kurama explained.

"Can't me and Nys stay back and go trick or treating? More tricking than treating?" Kyla asked.

"We'll have to see." Kurama said.

"Oh, wait, don't tell me…" Nyssa looked at Hiei. "You think Halloween is a stupid occasion for stupid humans, right?"

"Hn."

"But it's not stupid! It's the witches new year!" Kyla said as a-matter-of-factly.

"We know. Lot's of demons also celebrate it." Kurama said.

"Cool! Do you guys celebrate it?" Nyssa asked.

"I've celebrated it before I joined Hiei. As well, Youko celebrated it." Kurama said.

"I had no time to do such childish things." Hiei crossed his arms.

"Why not? Don't you ever wish to even try it?" Nyssa asked.

He shrugged. "No point to it."

"He's in denial…" Kyla said with a sad expression.

Hiei glared at her. "Shut up, vixen."

"How about this, when the time comes, we'll either have an early Halloween celebration or a late one." Nyssa suggested.

"Like that one party last year where we went to Steph's place and only one of the other guests showed up?" Kyla remembered.

"Yup. And then we played DDR all night and we watch Phantom of the Opera. That was fun." Nyssa smiled.

"What did you girls dress up as?" Kurama was striking great interest in what they did.

"A witch!"

"A Goth priestess."

"Did you ever go to a Halloween Dance?" Kurama asked.

"Nope… Winkler is kinda dance-a-phobic." Kyla said.

"No, the dances were filled with people that disgusted me." Nyssa responded.

"Yusuke's school usually has a Halloween Dance on the last Friday of October." Kurama said.

"He's still in school?!"

"Since he's a spirit detective, he unfortunately can't focus on school work, but he's still in grade 12."

"Sucker…" Nyssa grinned.

"I'm suppose to be in school still… but don't tell anybody that." Kyla said.

"That's cause you're skipping."

"No! We were on that break and we were taking a road trip then ended up here. And no one is going to make me go to school here!" Kyla protested.

"You were skipping a week because you didn't want to do any school work and piss off your mom." Nyssa said to her.

"Therefore it was a break."

"…Fine, whatever. Shouldn't we start heading back now?"

"Back where?" Kyla asked a bit confused.

"To Kurama's house."

"Oh right. I forgot. Which way?" Kyla looked around.

"This way." Kurama started walking in a direction.

"Okay!" Kyla said as she ran to catch up to him to walk beside him. She sneakily took his hand and smiled up at him when he looked down at her. He smiled back and squeezed her hand gently in his own.

Nyssa who was witnessing all this smiled. She never thought Kyla would have the guts to do that when not on a date. She had a feeling that Kyla liked him a lot too, but was just in denial.

She and Hiei walked behind them more slowly. Both of them soon were walking beside each other just enjoying the silence. Of course that silence didn't last too long. Just then Kyla let out a scream.

"Kyla…" Nyssa said running over to her the best she could in a dress. "What's wrong?" she asked as Kurama gave her a concerned look.

"My dress got caught… and I stepped on my tail, it hurt, ow." Kyla said pointing at the branch that had attached itself to the hem of her dress.

Kurama let out a sigh of relief and then bent down and helped her get her dress free. He at first thought something had happened to her. "You better watch out for your tail or I might step on it."

"Okay." Kyla looked behind her for her tail but couldn't see it. "Um… I lost tail." She panicked. She lifted up the back of her dress a little bit and the tip popped out. "Found it!" she said with a goofy smile.

Nyssa clapped her hand against her forehead. "Girl… you are so stupid." Hiei nodded behind her.

"I thought I went back to my normal self for a moment… speaking of that, when will I go back to my normal self?" she asked looking up at Kurama and Hiei for the information.

"If it is possible for you to become calm." Hiei said.

"I can be calm!" Kyla whined.

"This maybe hard to believe… but she can be calm. It's just not often. She's usually in a bad mood when that happens." Nyssa explained.

"See I can be calm." And with that Kyla stuck out her tongue out at him.

"Do you want your tongue cut off?" Hiei glared at her.

Slowly, Kyla brought her tongue back in to her mouth. She shook her head.

"Can we keep going now?" Nyssa said, getting a little impatient.

They all nodded and kept walking. Kurama and Kyla walked ahead, with Kyla still holding on to Kurama's hand. Both the guys had their capes on but had taken off their masks a while ago. Kyla and Nyssa were still in their dresses and the weather was starting to get a bit crisp.

Kurama, on a gentleman reaction, took off his cape and draped it on Kyla's shoulders. She looked up at him, with a faint blush on her cheeks. "Thanks, Kurama. But won't you be cold?"

"No. You're the one without something to cover your shoulders." He gave a gentle smile.

"Awww… you're such a sweety." Kyla complimented him, causing a light blush to appear on his face.

Nyssa was watching from behind and smiled. "Now that is cute. Is Kurama like that to all the girl's he meets?"

"Sometimes. Only to the detective's girlfriend or to Botan though. It's his weird instinct." Hiei said, shaking his head.

"Weird is right. I've never seen a guy be so gentleman-like on a daily basis." Nyssa commented.

Hiei glanced over at Nyssa then back forward. "Aren't you cold?"

"No. I like this kind of weather. It's only when there are absolutely no leaves on the trees that it's cold." Nyssa smiled. "I actually feel normal like this."

"What's normal?"

"When you feel at an unperturbed state with yourself." Nyssa shrugged at her own answer.

Hiei watched her for a moment then looked back ahead, thinking of what she said. Did she really mean that she was now alright to be a demon? Before she said that having demon's blood was painful. He shook his head mentally at those unnecessary thoughts.

Nyssa took off her mask and rubbed her eyes. That masquerade was interesting… Not only had she got to go to one, another demon asked her to dance but she got to dance with Hiei. She still wasn't sure whether it was jealousy or means of the mission that he danced with her. Most likely the second option.

Walking a bit to close to a shrubbery, Nyssa's dress got caught, causing her to stop and try to get it undone. "Let go, bush."

She didn't notice but Hiei had stopped as well and looked at her. He knelt down beside her and carefully got her dress free from the plant. "You should be careful." He said to her as he looked at her.

"Um… thank you, Hiei." Nyssa felt heat go in to her face so she looked away and stood up.

"You don't want to have that dress ripped. It looks beautiful on you." He said quietly so that neither of the foxes could hear with their adjusted hearing. He stood up beside her.

"Are you really Hiei? Because you just complimented me…" Nyssa didn't look at him because her face was burning with blush.

"Come on. We're falling behind and they'll start wondering." Hiei started walking ahead of her.

Nyssa stood there for a moment then caught up to him. First he danced with her after saying that he didn't dance, now he complimented her. What next? Calling her by her name?

Kurama and Kyla got to the house first and looked behind them to see Nyssa and Hiei not too far off. Kurama opened the door and allowed Kyla inside first. He left the door a bit open for the other two and went inside himself.

"I'm gonna go get changed." Kyla said and went up to the stairs, nearly tripping on the hem of her dress.

Kurama went to go get changed as well. As much as he was used to wearing a suit for some missions, it was uncomfortable to wear in his own home.

Once done, they all met back down stairs. Kyla sat on the floor in her pajama pants that had red and white roses on a yellow background and a yellow tang top with an off shoulder sweater over it to keep warm. Kurama sat behind her on the sofa with Kyla leaning against his legs. He wore green pajama top and pajama pants.

Nyssa sat at the other end of the sofa dressed in crimson, baggy pj pants and a black t-shirt. She had her knees tucked into her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around them. Hiei wasn't far off at his window sill wearing a blue tattered tank top and black sweatpants.

"What do we do now?" Kyla asked.

"We should head to bed since you girls start training with us tomorrow." Kurama said.

"But I don't want to head to bed now…" Kyla crossed her arms.

Nyssa stood up. "Goodnight then." She smiled and went towards the stairs.

"Why are you always ditching me?" Kyla called to her.

"I'm not always ditching you. And I'm tired so I'm going to go sleep."

"Don't forget about that dare!"

"Yeah, I know. Don't forget yours either. You have six more dares since today didn't count." She went upstairs and went in to Hiei's room.

Hiei got down from his window seat soon after and followed after her.

"Goodnight, Hiei." Both Kyla and Kurama said.

"Hn." He went upstairs.

Kyla and Kurama sat in silence. After a while, Kurama leaned forward and rested his chin atop of Kyla's head, flattening her ears. "You should head to bed too, Kyla. Tomorrow is going to be a very rough day."

"But I'm not tired. Can't I just stay up and read or something?" She tried to tilt her head up to look at him.

"I would advise against it. So…" He reached down and lifted Kyla up in to his arms.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Kyla yelled.

"Taking you to your room." Kurama stood up with ease.

"I don't like being carried! You know that!" she cried.

"Don't be alarmed. I won't let anything happen to you…" He put on a smile that would melt any girls' hearts.

That's what it did. Kyla took one look at him and immediately stopped struggling. Her heart skipped a few beats and her face went flush. Her ears drooped and her tail went low. She trusted him.

Kurama looked up and went towards the stairs. He carried Kyla securely in his arms like he was carrying a fragile item. Only this item was a vixen.

He went up to her room and opened the door with ease. He set her down on her bed then kissed her hand. "I'll take you out after we train tomorrow."

"Um… okay…" Kyla was still breathless by how she was affected by the one look that he gave her. "Goodnight…" she heard him give the same farewell and then leave the room.

Kyla casually got under the covers and looked up at the ceiling. Somehow, she felt something leave… internally… Glancing around, she saw that her tail was gone, and her hair was short. Even her skin tone returned to its peachy color. Kyla made note of the feeling yet, surprisingly, fell sound asleep.

In Hiei's room, Nyssa was sleeping yet Hiei was still awake. His mind was wandering about the girl beside him. How she looked in that dress, how he felt when that other demon asked her to dance, and what a feeling it was to actually dance with her.

However, he didn't figure out why he let himself compliment her. He really found Nyssa intriguing. He knew that it wasn't because she had the same demon blood in her, or that she looked… different in her demon form.

He looked over at her and saw her hair go back to blue and blond. Her skin even went back to its regular tone. Curiosity got the better of him as he reached in to her mind to find out what made her go so calm to transform back.

Nyssa was in the ballroom and was looking around at everything. It all looked monotone yet everything was somewhat beautiful. Nyssa was in a similar gown as before yet she didn't wear a mask. Looking around, she noticed a familiar spiky hair demon off to the side.

She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and it was Hiei, without a mask either.

'Dance with me?' the dream apparition, Hiei, asked while holding out a hand.

'I'd love to.' She accepted his hand, which was kissed. Nyssa was led to the middle of the dance floor and danced with Hiei.

Hiei was watching this then took the view of the dream Hiei, going along with the actions. He led her with ease and spun her out, then back in like in the waltz from earlier. When he brought her back to him, they paused.

Nyssa looked up and saw the fireworks and smiled at Hiei. Hiei looked up briefly and looked back down to her. He felt himself lean in and saw her eyes close. But he froze, not purposefully. Everything around them dissolved and even Hiei was kicked out of the apparition of himself, and watched from elsewhere.

He saw the fade in to darkness, and was replaced with a giant creature that gave the impression of a spider. Nyssa backed away with a shriek.

She tried to yell something but nothing could be heard. The creature grabbed her, causing her to scream again in terror.

Hiei took form in her dream on impulse and took up a sword. Instantly, he went and sliced through the dream creature, causing it to shatter like glass. He looked at her.

'Are you alright, Nyssa?' he asked, recovering from such an impulsive attack.

She looked up at him and nodded. 'You… said my name…' she said in disbelief.

Hiei's eyes went wide. He did say her name. But it was a dream, therefore she might only believe him right there as an apparition as well. He decided to take a chance.

He pulled her in to a hug to relax her. 'Yes, I did say your name. Are you sure you are alright?'

'I think so… but… what happened? Why did that thing attack me?'

'It came out of nowhere. I don't know why it attacked you…' Hiei surprisingly felt comfortable, like getting a load off his shoulders.

'I know that I'm dreaming…' she sighed. 'Even if I can't control what goes on in my dreams, I control my reactions… You may not be the real Hiei, but you feel real enough.' She buried her face in his chest.

Hiei blushed but held her. 'You're safe now. I'll protect you here.'

Nyssa smiled and looked up at him, placing a hand on the side of his face. 'You a really great demon… Better than all humans that I know…'

'You are a unique half-breed…' he traced his fingers along her cheek. 'I believe that our dance was interrupted.'

Suddenly, the music resumed playing and Hiei took dancing formation, and led her. After that special sequence again, they looked up and saw the fireworks. Looking back to each other, they both smiled.

Hiei leaned in to kiss her but sensed that the dream was going to end so he pulled himself out. He looked at Nyssa's stirring form and he lied down facing away from her, assuming a sleeping position.

Nyssa woke up and looked at Hiei. That dream felt real… more so to after the hideous creature was destroyed. She knew it wasn't though. It was still dark so she looked away and allowed herself to fall back asleep.


Shadowess: I'd love to say more but I have to run to work! GAH!! scrambles

Nyssa: Swt She'd like for you to review but she's not going to force you. looks around KYLA! GIVE ME BACK THAT SWEETSNOW!

Kyla: YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!!! runs past and away with a giant box of ice cream sandwiches