Here's Chapter Fourteen! This story's probably going to wind up being rated M at some point in the next few chapters... just to warn you now :P
I do not own any of the characters, except for Natalie and Lisa.
After the group split up, Hiei went off on his own, going to the park to sit in one of his favorite trees. Not wanting to be disturbed, he completely dampened his aura. He thought back on the past few days and scowled as his thoughts kept coming back to the dark haired onna.
It actually unnerved him just how often she had been entering his thoughts since he had first met her, but she had been entering his thoughts even more since their fight. And since spending the night with her last night, she had always been sitting in the back of his mind.
His scowl deepened. She's just a ningen onna, he told himself. Forget her.
But he couldn't. He suddenly remembered when he fought against her. Although she was nowhere near his fighting level, she had enormous potential for a human. Hiei knew she could take on Kuwabara with little trouble. And what he had seen didn't include what magickal abilities she could potentially use in a fight. He remembered the murderous glint in her eyes as she was overcome with her rage, the way her muscles had tensed. How she had gotten right back up, chest heaving with her every breath, but more than ready and willing to continue the fight, unwilling to quit despite knowing the odds were stacked against her...
He shook his head stubbornly.
Okay, she was a decent fighter. And she was almost his equal when it came to verbal barrs. She was fiercely independent and very stubborn. As much as he hated to admit it, she did have many qualities that he had to admire. She was unlike and onna, human or demon, that he had ever met before.
And though he would rather undergo extreme physical torture than to admit it verbally, she was attractive.
But that wasn't the only thing that had grabbed his interest. It was something he had seen in her mind when she had invited him to use his jagan on her.
Natalie and Lisa were currently watching episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho on DVD, and were watching Hiei battle against one of his opponents in the Dark Tournament. It was the first time Hiei had used the Dragon of the Darkness Flame Attack.
Natalie sighed. "Isn't he just great?"
Lisa looked at her friend a little warily. "I dunno. He's kinda scary if you ask me. I prefer Kurama."
Her friend grinned. "You realize that he's even more merciless in a fight than Hiei is, right? Although he has his own morals, he doesn't have an honor code like Hiei does. He is pretty cool, though. He's my second favorite of the Yu Yu Gang."
The blonde looked at her friend a little doubtfully. "Um... if Kurama's more merciless, then why does it seem that Hiei's the most prone to threatening decapitation?"
Natalie's grin broadened and she rolled her eyes. "Half of the time he wouldn't go through with it, trust me. Unless, of course, you were an actual threat to him. It's just a tough cover to keep people at arms length. You have to know by now that he has a really hard time trusting people. And who can blame him after those prejudice and superstitious bitches on the Ice World tossed him off when he was just an infant? Not to mention the bandits that took him in turning their backs on him when he became too powerful for their liking."
Lisa considered for a moment, then asked, "Why did they throw him off the Island again? Isn't that a little extreme? I mean, he was just a baby. He couldn't hurt anyone then..."
Natalie scowled. "Because his mother broke a law among the Koorime. They're naturally asexual beings... they don't need to have sex to get pregnant, and so they pretty much shun relationships with men. So when his mother slept with the fire demon and gave birth to both Hiei and Yukina, they tossed Hiei away because he was a male. A male born under those circumstances is known as a Forbidden Child."
"But doesn't that mean that Yukina's half fire demon, too?"
Natalie nodded. "Yes, but she was born female, so she was considered to be different. It's stupid, I know. It's not as if Hiei ASKED to be born under those circumstances, and yet they still treated him like dirt. Growing up with those conditions, I'm actually surprised he's as nice as he is. Not many people could go through the stuff that he has and still maintain their sanity." She sighed a little dreamily. "Beneath it all, he's afraid of being rejected again... of being cast aside like the bandits did to him. So nobody can really blame him for his occasional bouts of temper and threats of decapitation. It's a defensive measure more than anything else. Although if someone actually DID betray him, human or demon, I'm pretty sure they'd be on a one way trip to the Spirit World. He's been through more than enough of that in his life, so I think he shouldn't have to put up with that kind of shit anymore."
Lisa rolled her eyes. "You're talking about him as if he's real or something..."
When Natalie heard those words, she grinned broadly. "OH! I forgot to show you something!" She reached for one of her books and flipped through it. "You're not going to believe this!"
That was when Natalie had first informed Lisa of her discovery that their realm really DID exist. After some persuasion and light hearted teasing, she managed to convince her friend to go on the astral journey with her, and they decided to make the trip the next morning.
But the way Natalie had spoken about him to her friend... she hadn't had a single negative thing to say about him. In fact, had had nothing but admiration for him. Although he refused to believe in half of what she had told her friend (afraid of being rejected... HAH!), he couldn't help but appreciate her words and the conviction with which she had spoken about him.
Realizing that he was thinking of the insufferable ningen again, he scowled and shook his head, trying to clear this mind of her.
But just when he thought he was starting to succeed, he sensed a now familiar aura, much to his frustration. Looking down from the shadows of his perch, he saw Natalie pass by beneath his tree on the trail and watched as she took a seat on a bench about fifty feet away from his position. He wondered what she was doing there, and then scowled when he realized her ward was still shielding her thoughts from him. He considered going someplace else, considered revealing his presence to her, and was a little stuck between the two of those options. But his contemplations were interrupted yet again with the approach of Kurama.
He watched their exchange and frowned when she happily agreed to go with him to his apartment. He felt an unfamiliar and illogical sensation build up within him and his blood immediately began to boil. This surprised him.
Why the hell should I care if the ningen onna goes with the kitsune?
He couldn't answer that. He only knew that he did. Was it possible that he was...?
Hiei refused to even complete the thought. He did NOT feel jealousy.
But before he was even really aware of what he was doing, he was off, following the two of them, carefully concealing his presence and keeping to the shadows to avoid detection. He alit on Kurama's balcony and hid himself in the shadows.
He watched as Kurama gave her the tour, watched her question him about his plants, and then watched as the kitsune led her into the kitchen and prepared one of his specially brewed teas for her.
He frowned when the conversation started turning back to her old world, and her concern about her family's welfare. The onna was still blaming herself, he realized. Though he couldn't agree with her more when she informed the fox that she had no plans to spiritually visit her own realm. She shouldn't dwell on the past.
Just as Kurama was about to change the subject for his companion's benefit, the koorime froze, feeling Youko stirring within his avatar.
Natalie sensed the change as well and stood up in alarm. Suichi warned her to be careful, as Youko's intentions were unknown even to him. The woman watched in shock and not a small amount of fear, as he took control, transforming into the infamous thief.
He saw the lust in Youko, saw the fear in Natalie, realized the woman had no way to escape and knew she had no chance should she choose to try fighting the kitsune off. Youko made his intentions crystal clear to the young onna, then pulled her up against him and slammed his lips against hers hungrily. Natalie's ward fluctuated, her terror slamming into Hiei like a scream for help. The hybrid snarled, his eyes flaring red briefly as he unsheathed his sword and flew into the apartment.
He was barely able to hold himself back as he gave the kitsune a verbal warning and watched as he dropped the woman unceremoniously to the floor. She looked between the two of them, decided it would be in her best interests to leave, and shot out the door as though her life depended on it.
After giving the fox a piece of his mind, and barely tolerating some of his teasing, Hiei shot off to follow Natalie once more.
He rolled his eyes when he saw the men surround the woman. She, of course, seemed more annoyed than anything else, and showed them why as she effortlessly took two of them out. But when the leader pulled a gun out of his jacket and cocked it, the woman froze, her eyes going wide as she slowly turned to face him.
The demon stiffened, realizing she'd never had to deal with having a gun pulled on her before and hadn't thought of a way to counter that form of attack. While normally he would find that pathetic, he remembered that the thought simply hadn't occurred to her before. She normally lived in the countryside with amicable neighbors and friendly, well intentioned people. So why would she think of forming a defense against a threat that she never thought she'd ever face?
A split second before the gun went off, Hiei made his move, easily moving the woman out of harms way and quickly incapacitating the remaining men.
She looked at him with immense relief, surprise and appreciation. That was soon overtaken by annoyance and frustration. After a short vent, she decided she would much rather spend the rest of her night with Atsuko than risk any further incidents and started to leave.
Hiei caught hold of her wrist, removed his headband and used it to see precisely what the Detective's mother was up to at the moment. After being met with a sight he would just as soon like to forget, and informing the woman of the occurrence, she quickly went through her other possible options verbally, and decided with a sigh of resignation to simply spend her night sleeping on a park bench.
His eyes narrowed when she said this. Did the onna honestly think he was going to let her do something like that when she had almost met with disaster twice in a single night?
He said as much to her and then, before she could even think to protest, he had her in his arms and shot off. Natalie let out a cry of alarm and threw her arms around him for additional support. Glancing down at her, seeing her vulnerable expression, coupled with the feel of her body pressed close against his, Hiei had to stomp down the beast he felt stirring within him. He shook his head stubbornly.
He settled down on the branch of a large tree about a mile outside of the city, carefully setting the woman into his lap and holding her securely in his arms. He shook his head again when he was suddenly reminded of the night before.
The woman clung to him for a moment longer until she was sure that Hiei had settled down for good. Slowly opening her eyes, she looked at their location. He rose a quizzical eyebrow when she smiled and shook her head.
"In a tree. Why am I not surprised?"
Hiei shrugged nonchallantly. "Hn. It's more difficult for enemies to sneak up on you when you're in a tree," he said simply. "Unless you would rather sleep on the ground...?"
She shook her head. "this is fine... so long as I don't fall out. It would be a little more painful than simply rolling out of bed in the middle of the night."
"I won't let you fall," he said, trying to keep the insulted tone out of his voice.
She said nothing to this and simply shifted herself slightly, trying to get into a more comfortable position. Unknown to her, Hiei's body reacted when he felt her soft curves moving against him. He quickly put a tight rein on his inner beast and simply shifted his hold slightly to help her, not knowing the effect his hand rubbing the back of her upper thigh would have.
Natalie suddenly took in a sharp breath as she felt Hiei's hand rub under her leg, and the accompanying sensations that flooded through her. She felt heat pool in the pit of her stomach and she turned bright red.
Hiei's eyes widened when he unexpectedly heard the onna gasp and smelled her arousal. His eyes were on her in an instant and he was unexpectedly flooded with a plethora of other sensations.
He saw her flushed features, her wide eyes that were deliberately avoiding looking at him. He suddenly felt the curves of her body against him more completely than he had before. He noticed her lips were actually PHYSICALLY bruised from the treatment the fox had given her. Then he suddenly caught the lingering scent of Youko upon the woman in his arms. Combined with her normal scent, and the intoxicating smell of her arousal, it sent his beast clawing at his suddenly weakening barriers.
All his primal instincts were screaming at him. He wanted to remove every single trace of the fox, to claim her as his own this very moment. The intensity of the sensations left the hybrid shocked and confused, and he found himself struggling to maintain his self-control.
When Natalie looked up at him finally, her face still flushed, she was shocked at what she saw in Hiei's eyes. She couldn't be seeing lust in those ruby orbs... could she? She sensed the tension pouring out of him and realized he was taking slow, deep, calculated breaths.
"Um... are you... okay, Hiei?" she asked hesitantly.
Seeing her eyes now looking into his own, seeing her lips move and her little pink tongue, Hiei's control wavered. Unable for a moment to control his own movements, he leaned forward and ran his tongue over her bruised lips, instantly healing the minor injury.
Her reaction was immediate. She let out a startled gasp and her arousal struck him like a physical blow, sending his common sense reeling. Before either of them knew it, Natalie was flat on her back, Hiei straddling her, on the ground at the base of the tree.
This action caused her ward to crash and burn, and Hiei's jagan immediately picked up on her fear, confusion, and just a bit of attraction.
The fear brought some of his common sense back to the surface and he quickly grasped onto it before he wound up doing something he would later regret. What the fuck was wrong with him?! He had more self-control than this! He'd only met the onna a few days ago, and he was ready to take her?!
Then a sudden thought came to him as he remembered she was a witch. Was it possible that...? Unable, or perhaps unwilling, to consider any other explanation, anger quickly overtook Hiei's lust.
"What the fuck have you done to me?" he growled.
Natalie looked at him in alarm and confusion, seeing anger in his eyes. "What do you mean?" she managed to get out, not sure if she was happy with this change or not. There was no point in denying she was attracted to Hiei, but she sure as hell wasn't ready to do anything like THAT with him!
To her surprise and growing confusion, the little demon vanished from sight and then reappeared standing over her, his sword up against her throat. "DON'T LIE TO ME, NINGEN!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!"
It dawned on her what he was talking about. Her temporary stab of fear at having his sword at her throat was easily replaced with her own temper at his accusations.
"How dare you?! Do you think I'm so desperate that I'd cast a SPELL on you?! What happened just now had NOTHING to do with me!!"
His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Then how do you explain my lack of self-control?!"
She rolled her eyes. "Why don't YOU tell me? The number one rule of spell casting is 'harm none.' That includes anything that would interfere in free will. While it IS possible to cast a love spell, it's a really bad idea to cast one on a particular person because it interferes with their own will. I didn't do jack shit, so don't go blaming me!"
She angrily pushed his sword aside, got up, and started walking past him. He grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded.
She scowled. "I'm going back to Yusuke's! I'd rather deal with Atsuko and her guest than you right now! I'll just sleep on the couch." She tried to pull herself free of his grip with no success. She glared at him. "Between Youko, those thugs, and you, I'm in a rapidly deteriorating mood, Hiei, so don't push me. Let... me... go... NOW!"
"After your encounter with the thugs earlier..."
"I don't need a fucking babysitter, and after you just had your sword at my throat, why are you suddenly acting so concerned?! I thought you didn't give a shit about 'ningens' anyway! I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself!"
Hiei's lips drew back into a smirk. "I didn't see any evidence of THAT earlier..."
Her eyes narrowed into slits. Oh, was he EVER pushing his luck! "That was different and you know it!"
"What are you going to do if another ningen pulls a gun on you and your 'babysitter' isn't there to save you? You looked to be at a complete loss before."
"I'll deal with it on my own, IF it happens again. I could even jump from roof to roof rather than walking the streets if I have to. Like I said, I don't need your protection."
"Using the roof travel would require you to use your energy, which could attract the attention of other demons, and we BOTH know how well you fight against THEM. Both of your strategies are flawed." He found himself enjoying this immensely. He could (thankfully) no longer smell Youko upon the woman and was delighting in watching her reactions to his jibes. He was waiting for her response and soon got it.
He felt a jolt akin to electricity shock his hand where he held her arm. Surprised at this, he quickly released her and the woman immediately bolted.
Hiei cut her off, his speed easily overcoming hers.
Her temper finally snapped and she simply attacked him. Hiei easily blocked or dodged every blow she delivered, which only served to increase her anger and made her try harder to hit him, wanting to wipe that damned smirk off his face.
This went on for nearly a full hour. Natalie didn't care that her energy was getting lower and lower with each failed strike. She was determined to hit him. Until Hiei made one strike at her and she barely dodged, flipping out of the way. When she landed, one of her ankles went out from beneath her and she couldn't stop herself from falling to her hands and knees. She took in several long, shaking breaths and finally looked up to see Hiei looking down at her, his smirk still in place.
"Are you quite done yet, onna?"
Her eyes narrowed into slits at his smug attitude. "Hell, no!!" She launched herself at him, determined to get in at least one hit. Hiei simply stepped to the side, grabbed the back of her shirt, and brought his knee up into her stomach. The air rushed out of Natalie with the force of the blow. She was on her knees again, holding her stomach, her face twisted as she took in lungful's of air and focused on blocking out the pain.
"Are you finished now?" he asked her as though nothing had happened.
Natalie didn't answer. Hiei took that as an affirmative and before the girl knew what was happening, she was in his arms again, back on his perch in the tree. She struggled a moment and then settled down with a scowl. She had burned out too much of her energy with the spar to try getting out of his hold now.
"I told you you were staying with me tonight, onna, and I meant it. Now just settle down and go to sleep."
Her mind was awash with confusion. What the hell had just happened? First he has her cuddled in his lap, then he has her flat on her back. After that he had spouted off blatant accusations about her manipulating him and had his sword at her throat. When she set him straight on THAT and tried to leave, he blocked her way and goaded her into fighting him again. And now that her energy was drained, here she was cuddled in his lap as if nothing had happened in the first place!
This seemed to bring new meaning to the term love/hate relationship. She didn't have a clue what was going in that head of his.
Well, there was no point in trying to figure it out right now. She laid her head against his chest, and allowed herself to drop off into sleep.
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