okay, another song! enjoy!

disclaimer: i dont own Yu Yu Hakusho or the lyrics to You're My Best Friend by Queen

Spreading Your Wings

Ch 14: Dates and Best Friends

Dinner was spent mainly with Kurama and Hiei listening to the two girls tell stories of when they were little. Normally this would have been boring and embarrassing, but the guys were genuinely interested. Besides what he had seen in her mind, Hiei didn't really know Kelly while she was a human, and neither did Kurama for that matter. Not only that, but the stories were about Kelly and her best friend. They were… interesting to say the least.

"'Member the gold rocking chair?" Brittany asked as she picked at her salad. Kelly too had a salad while Kurama opted for a sandwich and fries. Hiei didn't eat anything. He only drank the soda Kelly had forced him to get. He had to appear somewhat normal after all.

"The one from back when I lived in Philly?" Kelly asked with a smile.

"You lived in the city?" Kurama questioned.

"'Til I was two. My brother was born and the row home we lived in was too tiny. We moved into my grandmom's house," Kelly answered quickly. She then turned her attention back to Brittany.

"Yeah, that one. 'Member one of us would sit on it while the other pushed it 'round in circles and then jump on it when it was going really fast?" Brittany asked with a laugh.

"Oh my gosh yes! And then nine times outta ten we fell off! And once, the chair completely fell over! My mom had a fit! She was so mad at us!"

"Then, when we were like ten, you accidentally spit gum in my hair-"

"And we decided that we weren't gonna tell your mom-"

"So we cut my hair ourselves-"

"And it was so short that it looked buzzed! But it was only this one small patch on your head-"

"And we threw my hair into my aunt's trashcan-"

"Where she found it and told your mom-"

"Who told us she had gum remover the whole time!"

The two burst out laughing while Kurama and Hiei watched with amused looks on their faces.

"So basically, you two were just two idiots," Hiei stated.

They stopped their laughter and looked at him as if he were the idiot.

"Yeah," they answered at the same time.

"But we were -are- fun idiots," Kelly added.

Hiei sighed and shook his head. He felt a pull on his mind.

-Yes?-

-Besides, I'm your fun idiot.-

-Hn.- His fun idiot. Not really what he would have called her. But he had learned to not argue with the girl. It was pointless and brought him nowhere.

Their ice cream came a little later. Kelly giggled when she saw Hiei's reactions to the sundae he had gotten. It was like a little kid on Christmas, only much more subtle.

Kurama questioned the two of them as they ate their sundaes. Hiei was quiet but still curious. By the time they had finished, they had learned that the two girl's mother's had met in college. Kelly's mother had married her father when she was only twenty-one and had had Kelly at twenty-two. She had then dropped out of college but then finished it only three years ago.

Brittany was another story entirely. Her mother had had Brit when she was the same age as Kelly's mother, but a few months after Kelly. Her mother had not been married, nor did she marry Brit's father. Her father had contacted them a decade later, only to prove to be a nuisance. Brittany had three half-siblings, one was even her own age (just to show how unfaithful her father was to her mother). But she never felt she missed anything. She had a big family who all loved her and supported her.

After Kelly's mom dropped out, she began to baby-sit Brittany until the girl was five and entered kindergarten, but the damage was done. Kelly and Brittany were bonded for life. They learned from each other, fed off of one another. They needed each other in order to survive.

And now, Brittany was accepted to the University that Kelly had wanted to go to before… everything else. Both of Kelly's parents, and Brittany's mother had went to the University as well. She was majoring in nursing and was going to stay in a dorm room on campus.

When Brittany asked Kelly what she was doing, Kelly answered her rehearsed lines. The police agency that had rescued her in Japan had offered her a scholarship to go to a University in Tokyo. She accepted, mainly because Hiei lived there. She would live in the same apartment complex as him and she was going to major in some type of music, she hadn't yet decided. Brittany easily believed her and Kelly felt bad for lying. The only part that wasn't a lie was that she would visit often. She lied about how though. She told Brittany that the police agency would pay for all her flights.

She hated herself for lying.

Sensing her discomfort, Kurama suggested that they pay the check and leave in order to continue with their date. Kelly eagerly agreed and paid half the bill (Hiei didn't have human money) and then pulled Hiei out the door.

"What are we doing for the second part of the date, do you know?" Brittany asked as Kurama paid the rest of the bill.

Kurama shook his head. "No, I don't know this area. I left it up to Kelly to decide. I kind of owe her anyway…"

"You do?"

"Ah… well, Hiei's not the dating type…"

"Oh, I get it. Neither is Kelly. You made them come?"

"Um… in a way, yes."

"Oh! You didn't have to do that for me!"

Kurama smiled. "I wanted this date to be perfect…"

Brittany blushed and seemed at a loss for words. Finally she said, "Well, how about we split up? They may not like dates, but I'm sure they'll like being alone. There's a movie theater right behind here that we can go to if you want."

"That sounds great," Kurama agreed with a nod and a smile.

Brittany smiled in return and blushed again. She again hooked her arm around Kurama's out stretched one. They walked out of the restaurant to see Kelly and Hiei sitting on the hood of Kelly's car. They were talking quietly and both looked very annoyed. They turned when they saw the other two walk out.

"Kelly!" Brittany called from the entrance, "We're gonna go to the movies. You two can… do something else, okay? By yourselves! Behave!"

Kurama laughed as Kelly rolled her eyes. He gave them a wave and then pulled Brittany in the opposite direction, yelling over his shoulder, "I'll call you when the movie's over!"

Kelly watched them leave and then sighed. "I say we leave 'em here," she said under her breath as she hopped off of her car. Hiei did the same and both got in.

"So, what now?" Hiei asked.

"We're gonna go for a little drive. We'll come back when they call us," she answered as she pulled out of the parking space.

"Mind telling me where we're going?" Hiei asked in his usual attitude.

"You'll see. Nothing you wouldn't like. Don' worry."

It really was a little drive. Kelly pulled over five minutes later. She grabbed her iPod and got out.

"You took us to a barn?" Hiei asked in disgust.

"Shut it. There's a field on the other side. C'mon."

Hiei reluctantly did as he was told and was led behind the barn. Just as Kelly had said, there was an open field, unused for what seemed like years. The grass went up to their knees as they navigated through the field to the middle. Kelly stopped, placed her earphones in, and flopped down into the grass. She laid back and looked up at Hiei.

"You gonna lay with me, or are you jus' gonna stand there and stare like a dumbass?" she asked with a smirk.

"Onna…" Hiei warned.

"C'mon, Hiei."

He gave an annoyed face then slowly laid down, their sides touching.

"So, what are we doing?" Hiei asked once he had situated himself the way he wanted.

She took a deep breath in and then slowly let it out. "Enjoying nature."

"Nature."

"Yeah. It's nice here, right? You can't really smell the pollution and there's no tall buildings, only trees. You can see they sky and the clouds, and you can smell the fresh air. This place isn't destroyed by humans. At least, not yet."

Hiei turned his head to the side to look at her.

"You were once one of those humans."

Kelly turned her head to meet his gaze.

"Yeah… but… that doesn't mean I hafta agree with 'em. I meant it when I said I lived in a world of crappiness, Hiei. Humans… are slowly going down the drain." She sighed then continued. "But there may be hope. My generation's smarter, I think. Not all, but about half. Maybe they can do it."

"You believe in them?"

"I don' know. I want to. I'll prob'ly be able to see it though. I'll prob'ly look the same age as I do now in like a hundred years.

Hiei nodded. "Scary thought?" It was a question.

"Maybe… I told you I was scared. I don' know what to expect anymore. Not from this world or from Demon World. All I know is that I'll be with you. Not that that's an unpleasant thought or anything. I jus'… I have hundreds of years to live. I don' know what I'd do with myself."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, I'm sure we will," she said with her own smirk. She paused in thought then continued, "But even if I do live that long, I will die before you do. I'm only half demon."

Hiei nodded. "I… I know."

"What will you do?"

"I told you before. I can't do this without you."

"Yes you can. If you try hard enough. I don' want… what happened to me to happen to you. I want you to be happy without me, understand?"

"Hn."

"Promise me, Hiei!"

He looked away from her, to the sky. A moment later he looked back. "I promise… that I'll try."

Kelly sighed, knowing that that was the best she was going to get. She closed her eyes, absently humming to herself. She smiled as a new song came on and she stood suddenly.

"Hiei, dance with me," she said as she looked down at him.

"What?" he asked in disgust.

"You danced with me before," she pointed out.

"I wasn't thinking back then."

"C'mon, Hiei. You know you want to," she said in a sing-song voice.

He only stared up at her, an annoyed look on his face.

She sighed and said, "I didn't want to resort to this, but…"

She went back to the ground and straddled his waist, placing her hands on his chest. She bent over and brought her lips to his, giving him a quick, but heated, kiss.

"Please, Hiei," she whispered into his ear.

"No."

She gave a soft chuckle, clearly not annoyed. She moved to his neck instead and began to kiss and suck at the skin there.

"Onna…"

Kelly laughed and lifted her head to look at him. "If that was a warning, it wasn't a very good one."

He only narrowed his eyes at her.

"Dance with me. Please?" she asked again.

He sighed and sat up, causing her to fall back in his lap.

"Fine."

She gave a triumphant laugh then pulled him to his feet and immediatly wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck. He slowly wrapped his own arms around her waist, grabbing her iPod in the process and tossing it to the side. It didn't matter though. Kelly served as their music.

"Ooo. you make me live
whatever this world can give to me
It's you, you're all I see
Ooo, you make me live now honey
Ooo, you make me live

"You're the best friend
that I ever had
I've been with you such a long time
You're my sunshine
And I want you to know
That my feelings are true
I really love you
You're my best friend"

Hiei gave a small smile as he listened to her sing and they slowly swayed in time to the music. This song was particularly special to Kelly. It was her parents wedding song. But now, it had so much more meaning.

"Ooo you make me live

"Ooh I've been wandering round
But I still come back to you
In rain or shine
You've stood by me, girl
I'm happy, happy at home
You're my best friend

"Ooo you make me live
Whenever this world is cruel to me
I got you to help me forgive
Ooo you make me live now honey
Ooo you make me live"

They really were best friends. Nothing would ever change that. They just added a little bit more to the relationship. Hiei and Kelly both finally got what they were looking for.

"You're the first one
When things turn out bad
You know I'll never be lonely
You're my only one
And I love the things
I really love the things that you do
You're my best friend

"Ooo you make me live

"I'm happy at home
You're my best friend
Oh ya
Oh you're my best friend
Ooo you make me live
You you're my best friend."

The music slowly died out and the two separated. Kelly murmured a thank you to Hiei and gave him a light kiss, then pulled him down to lay beside her again. When they were situated once more, she turned to him.

"Do you think if you hadn't left, we'd be like this?" She stroked his face when she said "this" to show what she meant. "Or would we only be best friends?"

"Dunno. Does it matter?" He had calmed down somewhat from his annoyance at having to dance with her. Actually, it hadn't been so bad. It was just like last time, he didn't regret it at all.

She shrugged. "No. I was jus' curious. It's funny, what caused me to almost die was prob'ly the best thing in the world to happen to me," she said with a chuckle.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "No, I should have never left. Don't ever be happy about that."

She gave him a surprised look which quickly turned into one of understanding.

"It wasn't your fault, Hiei. It never will be. Don' feel guilty, because I don' regret it. We both needed it."

She stroked his face again in an attempt to calm him. Slowly but surely, his face regained its relaxed composure, but Kelly left her hand on his cheek, using her thumb to rub against his skin. She silently marveled at the effect she had on him. He was calmer, different, when they were alone together. His cold exterior was almost completely gone.

"Why do you love me?" she asked quietly.

He frowned, not liking her question.

"I answered why I loved you the other day. C'mon, fess up." She removed her hand from his face and brought it back to her side.

His frown deepened but he answered, "You make me feel clean."

"Clean?" she asked when he didn't continue.

He nodded and said, "Like I've never killed before in my life. Like I deserve you even though I don't. And you're not afraid of me. You don't see me as a killer, or a fighter. You see only me." He stopped. He really didn't know how to continue, nor was he comfortable with doing so. He wasn't used to baring his soul to other people. But he felt he should add just a little bit more, for her. Only for her. "I'm not alone with you. And… you're one of the strongest people I've ever met."

She gave a wide smile as she processed all that he had said. She knew there was more but he would never tell her, just as she would never tell him every reason. But that was okay. They didn't need to.

Kelly knew deep down, they would be okay. They would make it. Together.

Hiei slowly, almost hesitantly, brought his arms and wrapped them around Kelly. He pulled her over so that she was laying on his chest with one of her legs thrown over his waist, the other tangled with his. She buried her head in his neck again and brought one hand to rest on his shoulder, the other got lost in his hair. Hiei kept his arms wrapped securely around her waist and he closed his eyes.

Yes, they would definitely be okay.

sorry, this is a little sappy too but necessary i think. so if you're not a fan of all the sappiness, then im sorry! cause actually im not a big fan of it either, but like i said, i do think it was necessary... but w/e

yeah so i love next chapter, mainly cause it was way fun to write. ooooo but chapter 16 is actually my favorite chapter of the story. why? b/c i had that scene in my head from day one. before i even put my pen to paper, had then begining or end of either stories, i had chapter 16 planned out. it's kinda like all my writing of Facing Your Inner Demons and Spreading Your Wings led up to that one scene. it really isnt all that exciting, but i love it. so yeah... lol