The next morning, she wasn't surprised to find Jack had left already. Being in the Makai appeared to be making the little dragon more active and he tended to be off finding breakfast pretty early. This particular morning, however, she wasn't very happy about it. Now that she'd made her choice she wanted to start working on it, she had to admit that the combination of going into such (for her) uncharted territory and the rather high probability of rejection, made her as nervous as a little girl about to go confess to her first ever crush.
And she distinctly remembered that hadn't gone very well.
She sighed as she swung her legs over the edge into a sitting position on the bed, leaning her elbows on her legs and dragging her hands through her sleep tousled hair. She grimaced when her fingers caught in some tangles.
She felt groggy and battered, despite having been healed by Yukina the previous evening. She knew when she felt like this she was going to have trouble staying on track. Jumping to her feet she resolutely walked over to the bucket of water she'd taken to placing in her room each night and threw off her PJ's before starting to wash with a thin bar of soap.
She would have taken showergel and what not, but Genkai had told her to travel light and prevent littering. Which had been rather easy for her to say, as the old woman had returned to the comfort of her temple after only one night.
Though she had to admit, the rough kind of lifestyle here was growing on her and she didn't miss the cold winter weather from the human world one bit. She'd even become a pretty adept fisherman, though she still royally sucked at cooking over an open fire.
Quickly dressing in some comfortable clothes and making her bed had her finished within five minutes, and she walked over to the hole that was her window hoping to catch a glimpse of her dragon friend.
Not surprisingly, he wasn't anywhere in sight. She bit her lip as she grabbed a brush and started to untangle her hair with it. Jack wouldn't be able to help her with the Mukuro thing anyway, she should probably focus on that first, before she started to worry about how to win the heart of the most stubborn loner in all the worlds.
Now she just had to figure out how to go about finding out what their relationship was. She could ask one of them directly.. But, if she asked Hiei, he'd know her intentions, and that'd be no better than the awkwardly confessing to your crush thing, which she was certain wouldn't be the way into Hiei's rather unsympathetic heart. He wasn't the kind of sap that would grant her the benefit of the doubt and give her a chance because she'd mustered up the courage to confess to his face.
Setting the brush down and binding her hair up in a messy bun she head out of her room and started down the endless stairs of doom, as she'd come to call them. Then, there was Mukuro, she supposed she could ask her... Keeping things straight between them and not doing anything behind each other's back was always a preferred method in her opinion. But, if those two were together, then she had no idea how Mukuro would react. They hadn't spoken two words to each other and for all she knew, demons might get very territorial when it came to their 'other halves'. She couldn't say she was looking forward to a bitch fight with one of the previous overlords of demon world.
The other side to that coin was that demons valued strength and courage, and if she tried to obtain her information through sneaking and spying, then she definitely didn't exhibit either of those qualities. Plus they still had this tournament to worry about, if Mukuro killed her now they'd need to find another fighter all over again, and time was running short. So she was pretty certain the demoness wouldn't kill her, yet anyway.
Also, regardless if those two were an item or not, she'd have to deal with Mukuro eventually. Those two were far too close, even if it was only friendship, Mukuro's opinion would definitely carry some weight in this. Gritting her teeth she made her choice, she'd confront the demoness, for better or worse. She reckoned it's what any self respecting demon would do.
Knowing her luck, this was probably going to end up becoming a very elaborate suicide attempt, but hey, no pain no gain!
Finally coming out into the sunlight again, she scanned her surroundings. Several demons were walking around carrying supplies and repairing some of the housing and such, but she saw no sign of a familiar face yet, let alone Mukuro herself.
Sighing, she decided to take a look around.
"Looking for someone?" She nearly jumped out of her skin before turning around and throwing a pointed glare at Kurama who walked out of the building she'd just exited.
He smiled casually, as if he hadn't just made her freak out on purpose. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well, I'd say no, but knowing you, you'd know I was lying anyway. So yeah, I am."
He tilted his head ever so slightly, obviously curious what she was up to. "I might be able to point you in the right direction."
She pressed her lips together, assessing her options. She'd definitely give a penny for the fox's thoughts, he always seemed to be up to something, the sneaky bastard.
She sighed and released her arms to set her hand on her hip. He'd probably find out anyway, this guy had a knack for knowing every damn thing. "I'm looking for Mukuro."
This time, a look of genuine surprise crossed over his fine features, though she could immediately see the glint of calculation shifting gears behind his green eyes.
"She can be rather hard to track if she doesn't want to be found. I suppose you won't let me know what you need to find her for?"
Rei narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm afraid that's private."
He shrugged, his face forever a mask of kindness. "Your best bet is by the lake I reckon, she likes her solitude, much like Hiei."
The final comment felt like a smooth stab to the heart, but she ignored it. She wasn't going to mope and feel sorry for herself before she'd confirmed her suspicions. Nodding she set off in that direction, leaving a curiously assessing Kurama behind her.
Once at the lake, she started walking aimlessly. Naturally, Mukuro wasn't the type to sit idyllically by the water's edge, clearly visible to all the world. She was probably more the type to chill somewhere out of sight, if she was even here that is.
Doubt creeping in, she swallowed nervously. Should she call out? Even if she did, could she just call her by her name? Or was she supposed to add a 'Lord' to it?
Trying a different tactic, she swerved out her energy, hoping to pick up on something other than squirrels in the general vicinity.
When that didn't work she sighed. It had been a long shot anyway, someone like Mukuro was obviously adept at keeping her energy hidden. Gritting her teeth she muttered to herself. "Right.. so, if I was Mukuro, where would I be..?"
"Right here I think."
She started for the second time that day and turned around so fast her hair sagged out of its bun slightly.
Quickly pulling the ends of her hair to try and push the elastic higher up again, she looked at the imposing demoness in front of her.
The demoness appeared to be very much at ease and very confident. Patiently letting the small human female look her over, undoubtedly doing the same in return, though it was much harder to tell with only half her face visible.
When Rei seemed to have lost her tongue Mukuro spoke again. "You were looking for me?"
Her voice was strong and imposing, a testament to her years as a firm ruler. Absolutely nothing about this woman gave away her thoughts, and her relaxed posture felt oddly misleading.
Swallowing away the nervous lump that started forming in her throat, Rei looked up at the impressive demoness, once again noticing the glimmer of the Hiruseki stone around her neck, reminding her of her reason for seeking the woman out.
"Yes."
The croak in her voice made her stop, clear her throat and start again.
"Yes, I was. I have something I would like to ask you, if that's alright?"
Mukuro nodded once, a simple curt nod. As if she was curious enough to allow the little human to ask her question, but not so intruiged as to be patient enough to let this 'audience' last longer than it had to.
Though, she might just be reading too much into this, but there was no denying that this former lord of the Makai made her nervous.
Suddenly not knowing how to ask her question without being rude, she frowned to herself. She hadn't realized this particular topic would be sort of a private thing to ask about.
Mukuro didn't speak, but something about the general atmosphere told Rei that she wanted her to spit it out already.
Squaring her shoulders, she decided she couldn't back out now and she looked Mukuro directly in the eyes as she spoke again.
"I don't mean to be rude, but for the sake of clarity I'm going to be so anyway. I'd like to know what exactly your relationship with Hiei is."
After a moment's consideration she added as an afterthought. "Please."
Mukuro slowly looked her over, seeming a little bored yet calculative at the same time. "Why?"
Rei blushed slightly, losing her cool when she realized she was going to have to voice her feelings out loud for the first time. Unfortunately this made her next comment gush out in a way remarkably similar to word vomit.
"I'm interested in him and, though I realize my chances are slim, I'd like to pursue him. But I noticed you and him are very close and I see you two together a lot ever since you came here to join us. And then I noticed you were wearing his Hiruseki stone and everything, so I kind of feared you two might already be like.. ehm.. involved?"
Mukuro remained as unreadable as a blank board, taking her leisure time before responding. "What if we were?"
Rei's eyes widened and she turned back to look at Mukuro again, not even having realized that she'd averted her eyes during her somewhat embarassing little speech.
She hesitated before answering. "Oh, well, then I know there's no use pursuing him.. It's why I came to ask."
She smiled awkwardly, trying to cover up the hurt she felt. "Thank you."
She bowed slightly to her, unable to keep from deferring to her insanely strong presence, before turning to walk back.
"I didn't say we were."
Rei threw a questioning look over her shoulder, a new hope blossoming in her chest.
Mukuro still looked her over from head to foot, a glint of interest in her visible eye, though there was no way to tell if this was positive or negative.
Getting a bit frustrated with having her hopes crushed and then raised again, she turned back around.
"Look, I came to ask you, because I prefer things to be open on the table. If you two are involved, or nearing any such thing, then I don't want to get between that. I didn't come here for your blessing, approval, help or any such thing. I just came to clear things up so I'm positive I came to the right conclusions and I can try to let this go."
The tiniest of smirks appeared at the lifting of Mukuro's mouth's corner. "What conclusion was that?"
Rei narrowed her eyes a little, feeling like Mukuro was playing with her like a cat with a mouse. She was no less impressed by the other woman's sheer presence, but she felt a little more courageous in her rising annoyance.
"That you're together. I don't really see a reason why he'd give you an item so precious as his mother's tear if there wasn't something serious between you."
Mukuro nodded, obviously not surprised by that conclusion.
"So then, you'd step aside? Give up? Because the odds are too daunting? The competition too steep?"
Rei frowned and crossed her arms.
"Now wait a minute, I never said that. But I'm not a home wrecker, if you two are together, then I wish him happiness. I know you demons do things differently, but I respect a person's choice, and taken is taken. Besides which, we're still on the same team here, I'm not going to start internal fighting over a guy when that could seriously fuck over the group dynamic."
Mukuro remained silent for a while, making Rei just about the right amount of uncomfortable before speaking again.
"So.. you think we're mates?"
Rei cocked her head at the word. "If that's what you'd like to call it, yeah."
"And if we weren't?"
Rei gave her a look that clearly said she'd already explained this.
"Then I intend to pursue him, I did mention that."
"And you think he'd have you?"
Rei shrugged. "You sure as hell will never hit a target if you don't bother taking the shot."
Mukuro seemed slightly amused by either her, or just her last comment, she honestly wasn't sure.
"What if I was interested in him? Would you dare compete against me?"
Rei quirked a brow.
"If we're talking compete, as in, fighting, then we both know you'd grind my ass into the dust and then some. But learning to love someone has nothing to do with someone's physical power, and with regards to winning his interest we'd find ourselves on a whole other playing field. The only one who could tell me to back off would be Hiei himself."
Rei ground her teeth when Mukuro once again didn't show any form of response besides looking her over. It was really frustrating and made her feel like a frog being dissected in biology class.
After a tense silence that seemed to go on forever Mukuro gave a slight nod before turning around and speaking over her shoulder. "To answer your question. Hiei and I are not mates."
And with that, the demoness vanished from her sight. She was gone so fast Rei almost had the feeling she'd hallucinated her being there in the first place.
She spent the rest of the day walking around in a kind of surreal stupor. Without realizing it she'd been preparing herself for the worst, kind of accepting in advance that she'd find out that Hiei and Mukuro were involved. But the demoness had denied it... She hadn't given any indication that she approved or disapproved of her interest in Hiei, but she had basically told her Hiei was available.
She'd seen the two together again at the training grounds, but couldn't bring herself to look at them, too lost in her own contemplations. She'd wondered briefly if Mukuro would tell Hiei about their encounter, but she didn't think she would, or at least she fervently hoped she wouldn't.
She was glad her lot didn't end up coming up during training, she was far too distracted to be of any use now. Luckily she was still the new kid, so she didn't have any close friends around who immediately jumped her asking what was wrong when she kept having this spaced out look on her face.
Though she was sure Keiko would've probably asked if she was alright, but the young woman hadn't shown up today, much like a certain dragon.
She was so caught up in her own musings of how to proceed with the Hiei thing, that she didn't notice the suspicious glances Kogasu kept throwing her way.
So she could honestly say that, when she went to go for a swim that evening to wash off the day's dust, she was surprised when the kid cornered her slightly away from camp.
He glared at her suspiciously with bright red eyes that reminded her of his uncle. She raised an eyebrow at his attitude. "Can I help you?"
The kid scoffed, making her smile slightly. Even in his mannerism it was obvious who his hero was.
"I overheard you talking to Mukuro this morning. I won't let you take away uncle Hiei."
Rei gave him a kind of incredulous look. "Ehm.. I think you misunderstood our conversation kid. I have no intention of taking him away from anyone."
He narrowed his eyes and took a step forward in what was undoubtedly supposed to be a menacing way. "You said you're gonna 'purse' him."
Rei snickered. "No, I said 'pursue' which means I want to try and win his affection." She thought for a moment at the blank look that appeared on his adorable face. "You know like, boyfriend girlfriend?" She winced at the words, it sounded so pathetic, but it was the only way she thought the boy might understand.
He seemed to think for a while and then appeared to come to a conclusion when he nodded.
"You wanna have uncle Hiei's babies."
She nearly choked on her own saliva. "Ehm, you're a bit ahead of yourself there I think."
He threw her a haughty look, ignoring her last comment. "He won't give you his babies. My mommy says uncle Hiei doesn't like being 'tied down' to anyone, which is why he's only ever there when he's there and I overheard my dad say that he's too proud to accept anyone loving him."
He seemed distracted for a bit before he mumbled. "Whatever that means.."
Rei crouched down on her haunches to be at eye level with him and smiled. "Yeah I know, but just because the odds are against me you think I should give up? I don't want to, but whatever happens, I promise I won't steal your favourite uncle from you Kogasu."
He narrowed his eyes even further, turning them into slits. "I never allowed you to use my name."
She held up her hands in mock defeat. "My apologies." Then she turned serious again. "Could you do me a favour though? Could you please not tell your uncle about this? I'm afraid if he knows I'm interested in him that way, that he'll run for the hills before I get a chance to win him over."
She pressed her hands together in a begging form as he looked her over. They both turned their heads at the snapping of a twig, Rei's heart immediately jumping into her throat, only to relax again when they were joined by a hesitant Arare.
She smiled shyly. "Sorry."
Then she threw a stern look at her brother. "Don't be so selfish Koga, uncle Hiei deserves to have an important someone. Rei's nice to us and you shouldn't meddle in the affairs of others."
Kogasu self consciously started to shuffle with one of his feet in the dirt, though he still threw his sister a tiny glare in return. "You're just saying what mommy said."
Arare crossed her arms. "Yes, because mommy's right. She and daddy are very happy, don't you want uncle Hiei to be happy?"
He mumbled a nearly inaudible 'yeah..' before looking back up at Rei. "But we don't know if we can trust her."
Arare made an outraged sound. "Koga, that's rude!"
He looked at his sister stubbornly. "So? It's true!"
Rei smiled at their antics. "Look, it's fine. It's good that you're protective of him. Sooo, if you want me to prove myself to you, I will."
She stood back up, gathering her towel more firmly in her arms. "Though before you pass judgement on me, maybe you should get to know me better first huh?"
After a while Arare spoke up again. "Actually mommy send me to find you Koga, it's time to eat.."
He nodded, never breaking eye contact with Rei. "Fine, I'll give you a chance, but you gotta pass every test I give you!" He held up a finger as if he was some reprimanding teacher before turning on his heel and walking back with his sister.
Rei shook her head as she stared after them, this sure appeared to be getting more complicated by the minute.
"Well, well, so someone has finally decided to accept what's in their black little heart have they?" She looked up to find Jack dangling from a tree branch by his claws like some kind of monkey.
"Where the hell have you been all day?"
Not waiting for a response she started walking towards the lake again, hearing the thud of Jack landing on the ground and scurrying after her.
"Well, unlike you, I'm diligently reporting back to our employer once in a while."
She frowned. "Koenma? I figured his contact with Yusuke and Kurama would suffice to keep him up to speed."
Jack shrugged casually. "He likes knowing how his favourite spirit detective's doing. But you're avoiding the topic witch, you decided to 'pursue' Hiei did you?"
She rolled her eyes at the way he drawled out the word 'pursue' as if it was something so old fashioned he ridiculed her for the use of it.
"Yeah, I did. Got a problem with that?"
He grinned maliciously as he hopped up onto a rock while she calmly laid down her towel and started undressing, to which he rolled his eyes and turned his back on her.
"Still no decorum whatsoever."
She just sighed as she tossed aside her shirt. "Still a prudish yet perverted dragon."
Once she was naked, she rushed into the water, not wanting to let the chill get to her and make her change her mind. She dunked her head under and jumped back up, letting out a small 'ahh' at the refreshing feeling as she swiped her wet hair out of her face.
"Now, how about that advice you had huh?"
Realizing the coast was clear he turned back to look at her swimming in the water. "What advice?"
She threw him a look that said he very well knew what she meant.
"What it takes to win the heart of a fire demon."
He smirked evilly. "That's not what I said witch. I said: "if you wanna get in his pants, I know how to entice a creature born of fire."
She scowled at him as she started to cleave through the water before coming to a stop to talk again. "Whatever, I can use all the help I can get."
"Well I'm not denying that..."
She turned to look at him again as she'd been just about to swim again. "Care to repeat that?"
He looked innocently to the side, making her snort before swimming away.
He hopped over to her discarded clothing and picked one dusty piece up with a claw. "Well, for one thing, we need to take you shopping girl. A man needs something good and curvy to make him salivate, and we both know you can use all the help you can get to accentuate your assets.
He barely finished his sentence before he was engulfed in a tidal wave of water, leaving him spluttering and looking like a very pissed off drenched reptile.
Though she wasn't overly convinced that 'dressing up' was the best way to gain someone's true interest, she couldn't deny that looking physically attractive to the opposite sex probably wouldn't hurt her cause. And when it came to Hiei, she could use all the advantages she could scrape together.
The hard part however, was finding an excuse to be allowed back into the human realm for something as mundane as shopping. They weren't exactly on a camping trip and she wasn't about to get a day off for good effort.
So when Keiko unknowingly provided her with the ultimate excuse, she jumped on it.
"Oh my god! You're right, I totally forgot, but I haven't gotten around to my Christmas shopping yet either." Jack gave her an amused look that clearly said he knew her father was on a business trip and they had no Christmas planned, but wisely kept his mouth shut.
The others just looked at her as if she was a few cards short of a full deck. But Keiko ignored their reactions and smiled broadly at Rei. "Great! We'll go together then. I'm sure the boys can miss you for a day." She threw a glare at Yusuke whose protest froze halfway up his throat and that was that.
Now she found herself in the mall accompanied by Keiko, an 'eager to join as soon as the word 'shopping' was mentioned' Botan, Jack who didn't appear to mind being the only male, and finally Shizuru.
She'd always liked Shizuru's character in the story and her aloof manner in real life didn't disappoint. Though she could do without the cigarette smoke, but the young and relaxed woman was easy to like. Being as blunt as her brother could be rash, she opened up their first meeting. "Wow, you've got some weird energy kid."
Rei shrugged and smiled. "Yeah, I guess I would have, I'm a bit of a mixbreed."
Shizuru put out her cigarette and together they walked around, lazily looking into stores. "So I hear you're the latest addition to the team? Good to know it's not another blockhead."
Rei smiled a little awkwardly, she sure had an interesting way to pay a compliment. "Ehm, thanks? I guess?" Her eyes darted to Jack, who pretended, and in her opinion failed miserably, to appear like a stuffed animal lying over her bag. She had to find a way to get to a clothes store without company. She didn't really feel like fessing up what her real reason for coming here was.
Stopping near an underwear store she chewed her lip, Jack had told her she needed new 'everything' so best to start there she supposed. "Ehm guys? Why don't we split up? I mean, we probably all need different stuff right? And I could use some new underwear anyway so... How about we all do our own thing and meet up for lunch at say, one ish?"
There was obvious hesitation, these girls definitely preferred doing their shopping in droves, and Botan eyed her suspiciously. Though Keiko once again saved the day. "Sure, I pretty much know what I want to get everyone anyway, it'll be faster that way. Then we can shop for pleasure together after." Rei smiled and nodded eagerly. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly!" She was about to turn and walk over to the lingerie store when Keiko continued. "Great, I'll stick with you then, since I need some new underwear myself." Rei paled at her words, but didn't comment. "Botan and Shizuru can go to the kids department for the twins, it's probably best to get those gifts early, it'll be pretty busy there later I bet."
Botan still hesitated. "Don't you need something for the twins too?" Keiko shook her head. "Nah, mom's been so crazy about one of my friends having kids she's got the house stacked with enough toys to last us the next decade in Christmases and birthdays." Finally accepting defeat, Botan and Shizuru made their way in the opposite direction as Keiko, Rei and Jack walked into the lingerie store and started looking around.
Rei surreptitiously glanced over at Keiko once in a while, when the young woman finally seemed far enough out of earshot she whispered to Jack. " Okay, help me out here. What am I supposed to be looking for?"
Before Jack could respond a smiling sales woman appeared before her. "Hello. Can I help you?"
Rei couldn't suppress a blush from rising. "Ehm, yeah I guess, maybe."
The woman smiled warmly, looking her over as if trying to assess her regular taste. She was wearing sweatpants and a baggy sweater covered by a thick jacket against the cold, obviously not the 'sexy lingerie' type.
"Ehm well.. my friend told me I need to change my look, to be a little more, like, sexier?"
The woman glanced over to Keiko, who was browsing through the racks some ways behind them. Obviously assuming that was the friend she'd meant, she smiled and beckoned her to a section with some very colourful sets of lacy underwear.
"Of course, we have just what you need. Do you know your sizes?"
Rei shrugged a little helplessly. "Honestly, I've never really worn anything besides sportswear..." She smiled awkwardly, but the woman only seemed more excited at the prospect of a total make over.
"Well then, we'll just try a few and see what works. Do you have any preferences?" She waved her hand over the large collection of mostly uncomfortable looking pieces of cloth and Rei shifted a little.
"Ehm, well I'm not big on frills and stuff."
She jumped nearly a foot into the air when suddenly Keiko popped up beside her. "Hey, did you find anything?"
Before she could respond the sales woman spoke. "Ah, good, perhaps you can help your friend pick something. Since you're the one advising her to change her look, I'm sure she'll look stunning in some of our new Christmas specials."
Keiko gave her a questioning look, which Rei responded to with an apologetic smile and puppy eyes that said she'd explain later.
Shrugging, Keiko stepped forward and selected a velvety dark blue set. "How about this?"
Before she knew it, Rei was shoved into a changing room and trying out all kinds of things. Once her proper size had been established it didn't take that long to find a few items she liked passably enough. Jack insisted on her wearing something padded, but she quite adamantly refused, so they settled for a slight push up.
They eventually left the store with several new bras, she'd never known they even sold push up sports bras.. and since she'd refused thongs, some new satiny shorts that, according to Jack, made her 'butt look cute'.
Keiko herself was quite pleased with one of the sexy Christmas sets she'd undoubtedly selected to please Yusuke, while Rei walked beside her feeling uneasy about her own new acquisitions.
"Soooo... what, or should I say who, made you decide to sexy up your style?" Keiko gave her a very suggestive look and Rei scowled.
"Fine, you win, I came to the conclusion that perhaps Kurama's herb wasn't a 100% defective after all okay?"
Keiko grinned victoriously. "So, you're going for a complete make over?" Her face fell as she turned contemplative. "I wonder if Hiei's the type of guy who'd even notice if you showed up bald though.."
Rei sighed. "Yeah, I know.. It's not like I want to change who I am or something either. But he's still a guy right? And according to the expert.." She cast a pointed look at her 'stuffed animal'. "Fire demons are very passionate, sooo he says I should try to make him burn up a little."
Rei grinned sheepishly at Keiko's slightly shocked look. But then the brunette laughed and they continued shopping together in an amiable atmosphere.
By the time they made it to the rendez-vous café, Rei was carrying so many bags she could barely keep her hands around the handles.
Since she'd be spending most of her time fighting, they'd first focussed on getting her some practical yet sexy sports outfits. Which ended up in her showing a lot of leg and stomach, which she'd complained was impractical, to which Jack had retorted the fabric wasn't going to protect her from getting hit anyway.
She wasn't comfortable in dresses or skirts, but Keiko had convinced her to buy one skin tight strapless black dress for Christmas's sake, though she couldn't imagine herself ever wearing it.
Besides that they'd focussed on everyday clothes, but, instead of the baggy simple stuff Rei usually wore, she now had a load of skinny jeans. According to Jack, they once again accentuated her ass, which made her roll her eyes. And since she liked tank tops, she'd been allowed tank tops, though these were remarkably tighter and much lower cut, showing a fair amount of cleavage.
All in all, they'd found a decent compromise together and Rei let herself drop down in the chair utterly exhausted. Keiko smiled as she sat down opposite her, looking no worse for wear.
"You know, you're actually gaining quite a bit of attention."
Rei just raised a brow at her. Both Jack and Keiko had insisted she wear one of her new outfits with some of the new underwear, to make her get comfortable in it before she had to wear it in front of Hiei, or so they said. Personally she felt like she could balance her drink on top of her breasts now, and she wasn't exactly used to feeling like she was squeezed into some kind of fabric corset from head to foot. The only thing she really loved was the leather jacket she'd found in a blow out sale.
Keiko looked her over curiously. "You know.. If we're going to do this, I think we should get you a haircut too." She checked her watch. "The others probably won't be here for another half hour, let's go see if there's room." Before she could protest, Rei was dragged out of her chair again, quickly grasping her many bags and throwing an apologetic look at the waiter who'd just been about to come to their table.
As luck would have it, everyone was busy Christmas gift shopping. So the hairdresser was practically deserted. An overly enthusiastic woman with very orange hair greeted them upon entering and Keiko unceremoniously shoved Rei forward.
About forty five minutes later she was gifted with a new set of bangs and stylishly layered hair which ended between her shoulder blades. Keiko elbowed her kind of enthusiastically every time a guy so much as glanced her way and she was quite pleased when they reached the other two girls and she was once again allowed to sink into a chair and try to fade into the background.
Botan blinked, quite obviously stunned. "Wow, someone made good use of her time here." Rei blushed slightly, swiping her bangs out of her eyes. But before the inevitable storm of questions could start Keiko butted in. "Yeah, we were done real early, so I forced a make over on Rei. She's so pretty, it's such a waste how she didn't show it you know."
Rapidly shaking her head up and down Botan took a sip from her hot cocoa as she looked Rei over. "Yes, If I had known there was such a babe hidden under all that grunge I would've taken you shopping myself!"
Rei grinned sheepishly at the compliment, she could only hope Hiei would think something similar... somehow, she doubted he'd even notice a change, but at least she'd feel sexier.
They spend the rest of the day together having fun, finishing with dinner and a movie before finally calling it a night and heading home.
The last time she'd entered a portal to the Makai, Rei had been excited. This time, she was nervous as hell...
