Previously... "That went well!" Kuwabara said cheerfully as he and the demon made their way away from the Room of Requirement. The door was already disappearing into the wall. "Hn," Hiei grunted. "We wouldn't have had to go to any of that trouble if the stupid Crookshanks had stayed away from MY cat..." "Why are you so protective all of a sudden?" Kuwabara frowned. "That's none of your business," Hiei grumbled. "Actually," a new voice said softly, "I think it's about time it becomes our business." Kuwabara and Hiei stiffened in shock and whirled around. In the middle of the hallway stood Kurama and Yusuke, both with stony expressions. Kurama's arms were folded and Yusuke's hands were on his hips. "So," Yusuke said with a frown, "would you two care to explain what's going on?" "Indeed," Kurama said with a note of suspicion. Hiei and Kuwabara looked at each other and winced.
Dokkou: Oh... oh my god... is this... yes it is... it's.. AN UPDATE!!! INCREDIBLE!! I UPDATED AT LAST!! Well sorry everyone. This chapter was giving me SOOO much trouble... I just couldn't write anything I liked. Until now! I've been working on it all morning. Now feel free to enjoy it!!
Discovery
"Um… this isn't what it looks like," Kuwabara said quickly. "We were just… uh…"
"Just what?" Kurama said with a frown. "You two have been acting very odd for quite a while and I think it's time you let Yusuke and I in on just what's happening."
Kuwabara looked at Hiei. The little demon was standing very rigidly, and his face was expressionless. His mind was racing, then with a click it settled on a decision. He looked up and met Kuwabara's gaze.
"I guess we should tell them, huh?" Kuwabara sighed.
"Yes. There is no other choice," Hiei said softly. Then he looked up at Yusuke and Kurama and said, "Come." He and Kuwabara turned and headed back up the hallway. Kurama and Yusuke glanced at each other and warily followed.
"Kittens?!" Yusuke said, his eyes bulging as he stared down at the feline family. "You've been hiding Sandstorm's KITTENS?!" Crookshanks hissed at him, fur puffed out.
"Yes, and do you have to talk so loud?" Hiei said irritably as the sleeping kittens squirmed at the disturbance.
"Oh, sorry," Yusuke said in a normal voice.
"You should be," Sandstorm snapped at him, but all Yusuke heard was a low, menacing meow.
"Oh come on, he said he was sorry," Kuwabara said to her.
"Wait a second," Kurama intervened, "Kuwabara, can you understand Sandstorm too?"
"Yeah, and Crookshanks," Kuwabara replied. Then he put a finger to his chin wonderingly. "But how is that? I just woke up and suddenly I could understand them."
"I think I can explain," Hiei said quietly, and the others looked at him. Memories came flooding back to him in the pet store of his and Sandstorm's first meeting…
"Blood."
"S'cuse me?" Yusuke said, one eyebrow arched.
"You have to taste each other's blood," Hiei said to them. "When I first met Sandstorm, she bit me and drank a drop of my blood. Then she bit herself and flicked some into my mouth… after that moment, I could understand her."
Everyone stared at the little demon in silence. Then…
"That's ridiculous," Yusuke scoffed. "Switch blood? If it was that easy, how come everyone can't understand cats?"
"I think," Kurama said thoughtfully, "that you can only understand the cat language if you drink a lingokeyen's blood."
"Then how come I can understand them, too?" Kuwabara demanded.
"Did you ever taste Sandstorm's blood?" Hiei asked him.
"No!... well….wait a sec…" Kuwabara thought back mere hours ago…
"Wake up, wake up, wake up! Please!" Yukina's voice was suddenly begging and desperate. Kuwabara pulled back, blinking in confusion. Suddenly she smacked him across the face and Kuwabara felt blood run down his cheek.
"Ow!" Kuwabara shouted, bolting up in his bed. The animal on his chest leaped back, bristling. "Wha—what's going on?" Kuwabara looked down at the light-brown cat on his lap. "Sandstorm?" he said in confusion.
"I'm sorry I scratched you," she gasped. "Please, you must help me! My kittens are gone!"
"What?!" Kuwabara shouted, jumping out of his bed.
"I can't find them anywhere!" Sandstorm wailed. "Please help me find them!"
"Hmm," Kuwabara said thoughtfully. "She scratched me… I guess she could have drunk a tiny little drop of blood then… and she somehow flicked some into my mouth? It could have happened, everything was so confusing at the moment… but if I think hard enough I suppose I remember a weird taste on my tongue…." At this point he was talking to himself and the others had turned away.
"Why didn't you tell us about the kittens?" Kurama was saying to Hiei with a frown. The demon gave an uneasy shrug and Kurama smiled dryly. "Were you embarrassed by the thought of other people knowing about your cute little secret?"
Hiei bristled as he spat, "No! Don't be ridiculous!"
"Then why?"
"…" Hiei's nose wrinkled and he turned away with a 'Hn', arms folded. Kurama smiled as he knelt next to the little bed filled with fluff balls. The white kitten raised its head and blinked sleepily at Kurama.
"Do you know what you're going to do with them?" Yusuke asked. Kuwabara and Hiei looked at each other unhappily.
"No," Kuwabara said. "We haven't really thought about it too much."
Hiei started to sneer, "This would have been solved if we had just left them in…" He broke off when Sandstorm blinked and stared at him with wide eyes. "left them in…never mind," Hiei muttered.
"Perhaps we should take them to Dumbledore," Kurama suggested. "I'm sure he would understand the situation if we explained."
"That sounds good to me," Kuwabara said.
"Best thing we can do," Yusuke shrugged.
"What?" Sandstorm meowed in alarm, "What sounds good? Master, what are you talking about?" Hiei knelt down to his cat and said, "We're going to take the kittens to the school principal. He might be able to help them."
"They don't need help!" Sandstorm meowed with a hint of anger, and Crookshanks's fur rose a little. "They're perfectly fine here with me!"
"They won't be for long," Hiei growled. "What if they escape again? We were lucky to find them before someone else did. Besides, even when they get older, we can't have lingokeyens running around the school causing trouble."
"They won't cause trouble," Sandstorm said defensively, wrapping her tail around her babies. "I'll keep them safe and out of sight."
"Sandstorm!" Hiei said in exasperation.
"What?!" The cat screeched, causing everyone in the room to wince. "Why are you trying to get rid of my kittens? What did they do to you?"
"They took me on a wild chase through the school, that's what!" Hiei interrupted with a heavy scowl. "They almost got themselves killed, and could have blown our cover with this stupid mission!"
"Um, Hiei?.." Yusuke started to say.
"Stay out of this!" The demon said venomously and Yusuke clamped his mouth shut.
"Why can't you just trust me with this?" Sandstorm growled.
"Trust you?" Hiei said dangerously, and the temperature seemed to rise a few degrees. "Why would I trust you? You ran off with this rat—" he pointed at Crookshanks, who hissed—"Without even telling me! Now look what you have as a result of your impulsiveness! And, even worse, you dragged all of us into this! It would be easier if…" He hesitated for a second, then went on mercilessly, "if the kittens weren't here at all."
Sandstorm let out a hideous wail of fury and snarled, "I won't abandon my kittens! If they leave, I leave too!" Crookshanks stood up next to her, the fur on his back bristling.
"That's fine with me!" Hiei spat. "Get out of here for all I care! You were nothing but trouble from the start!" Sandstorm's ears laid back against her skull and Crookshanks hissed furiously. Ignoring his friends' alarmed stares, Hiei marched across the room and pushed the door open.
"After you," he said to Sandstorm with a sarcastic bow.
"Now wait just a second!" Yusuke said angrily, stepping forward. "I didn't understand a word she said, but I get the idea. You can't kick her out, Hiei! Just calm down so we can work this out."
"I'm not kicking her out," Hiei said witheringly. "I'm giving her the opportunity to leave. And I'm also telling her that she's on her own from now on." Intense red eyes met narrowed green. "If you need help, don't come looking to me." And with that the demon stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
For a long minute there was silence. Then Kurama sighed and said, "I'll go get him. He's just worked up right now, he didn't mean that." And he quickly opened the door and hurried down the hallway.
"Little punk," Kuwabara growled between his teeth. Then he looked down at Sandstorm.
The small brown cat was stiff and wide-eyed. She stared at the door unblinking for a moment that seemed to last for an hour, then slowly closed her eyes. Crookshanks nuzzled her cheek and murmured, "Don't let him get to you. He was no good from the start and that proved it." He gave her nose a quick lick and stood up. "We should leave," he said softly. "I don't trust that demon. If he comes back he might try to—"
"Please," Sandstorm meowed softly, and the ginger tom fell silent. She looked down at the three kittens curled up against her flank. She gently licked them each on the head and whispered, "You're right, Crookshanks. We will leave, for now. The forest is our best option."
"The forest?" Kuwabara said, his eyes wide. "The Forbidden Forest? You guys can't go in there! It's way too dangerous!" He struggled for a moment before saying, "I've got an idea! Why don't you keep the kittens with me? We can hide them under my bed or…"
"No, Kuwabara," Sandstorm mewed. "That's too risky, and you could get in a lot of trouble. It's best if we just leave." She picked up the white kitten by its scruff and headed for the open door.
"But…" Kuwabara said weakly.
"Don't worry about us," Crookshanks said gently to him. "We are cats. We can take care of ourselves. But we are grateful to you and truly appreciate your help." The cat's face hardened. "And only your help." With that, he used his mouth to carefully set the amber kitten safely on his shoulders, then he scooped up the black kitten in his teeth. He blinked warmly at Kuwabara then, tail held high, pranced out of the room after his mate. Kuwabara watched him go, feeling a horrible pit of helplessness and weary anger.
"Huh?" Yusuke said, blinking in confusion. "Wait…what's happening? Where are they all going?"
"They're leaving," Kuwabara said softly. "To the Forbidden Forest. They said that's for the best."
"That doesn't sound best to me," Yusuke argued.
"No, it doesn't," Kuwabara said, and a wave of righteous anger reared up in him. "This is all the shrimp's fault!" he said savagely. "I can't believe he would just abandon them like that! Next time I see him…" He punched the wall of the cat room, leaving a good-sized hole in it.
Yusuke scratched the back of his head and hesitantly said, "Well… in Hiei's defense, what more could he have done? I mean, you two just barely managed to keep the kittens a secret this long; you wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway. And you know Hiei. He's just not the kind of guy who helps people for nothing, even if they really need it…"
"And that's what I hate about him," Kuwabara spat, storming out of the room. Yusuke followed after him and shut the door. As soon as he did, the door began to fade into the wall until only black stone was left. "Why can't he just think more about other people for once? That's why no one likes him!"
"He doesn't want anyone to like him," Yusuke said softly as the two walked up the hallway together. "He thinks friendship and love are weaknesses, remember? He grew up thinking like that."
"Why are you protecting him?" Kuwabara said, turning on Yusuke angrily.
"I'm not protecting him," the spirit detective argued. "I'm just saying—"
"Forget it, okay?" Kuwabara muttered. "Just… forget it. Our first class is going to start soon. Maybe things will get better with some time."
"Yeah, sure," Yusuke muttered. He sighed as he watched his friend's shoulders slump, and the detective suddenly realized just how personal this whole mess had become.
The rest of the day passed with a peculiar veil of muteness around the four transfer students. Kuwabara didn't say a single word to Hiei the whole time, only gave him dirty looks. Hiei ignored him. In fact, he ignored everyone. He seemed to be off in his own world all day. Yusuke and Kurama, despite their small part played in the drama, felt the tenseness of the secret situation. They were all waiting for one thing; who would go and make peace with the cat family first: Hiei or Kuwabara.
Both held their neutrality very well, even into the afternoon. Dinner was a quiet event for the four. Well, relatively…
"Geez, Kuwabara, what the hell is your problem?"
Kuwabara looked up from the piece of ham he was moodily stabbing to Ron's concerned face. Harry, Hermione, Yusuke, and several other fellow Gryffindors were staring at him in the same way.
"Huh?" he said intelligently.
Ron said in annoyance, "First you go loopy and hang out with Hiei for a week. Today you've suddenly been giving him the death look, and you won't say anything to us except, 'Neh'. What is going on?"
"Did you and Hiei have a fight?" Hermione asked. Yusuke looked down at his mashed potatoes and nudged them with his spoon. It was better for him not to get involved; there was nothing helpful he could say anyway.
Kuwabara looked down at his hole-ridden ham. "Sort of," he muttered. "Hiei and I were… working on this assignment together for a while." His expression took on a bitter edge that the Gryffindors had rarely seen in him. "Then he did something…that I can never forgive. He couldn't have really made it better, but he didn't have to go and make it worse like that. Now neither of us will fix it, even though it's his responsibility."
His friends stared at him blankly.
"Sorry I asked," Ron muttered, taking a bite of Shepherd's pie.
"See? This place isn't too bad," Crookshanks said, looking up at the mossy roof above them. Sandstorm set the white kitten down and squinted around the dark hollow.
"No, I suppose not," she agreed. The cats had entered a roomy tree trunk that had fallen on its side and sunk deep into the foliage. Moss hung from the open end (the other end was closed off by a large rock), providing security and privacy. There was a soft bed of decaying pine needles and moss on the trunk's inside bottom, which Sandstorm and Crookshanks had set the kittens on.
Crookshanks walked around the little area, sniffing at leaves and bracken.
"Nothing has lived here in weeks," he said. "This is the perfect place! You and the kittens will be safe here."
"Are you sure?" Sandstorm asked, pawing her kittens together at her legs and wrapping her twin tails around them. They let out mews of alarm as they looked around their new home.
"Quite sure," said Crookshanks. "At least for the time being. Between hunting I can go look for a better place, if you want me to."
"No no, it's wonderful, really," Sandstorm assured him, and the ginger tom blinked in satisfaction. He went up to her and nuzzled her nose. She purred.
"Think of it this way," he meowed, "We're safer here than with that demon at the castle." At this, Sandstorm stopped purring and pulled away slightly. "Oh come now," Crookshanks said, frowning, "you're not still upset you left him? You saw how he looked at our kits. He was probably going to kill them if we hadn't left."
"No," Sandstorm murmured. "He wouldn't do that…he couldn't…"
"Are you really sure of that?" Crookshanks persisted. "You always told me about how aloof he was from you. He doesn't care about you. Or maybe he does… but not as much as I do." He pressed his face to her cheek. "Please just trust me on this. He's bad news. You can't even think of going back to him." Sandstorm's green eyes filmed over and she closed them.
"We need space, that's all," she murmured.
"Permanently," Crookshanks growled.
"No," Sandstorm meowed miserably and the kittens squirmed, disturbed by their mother's unhappy tone. Crookshanks sighed.
"Let's just not think of this for now," he said softly. "Are you hungry?" Sandstorm thought of all the hours of nonstop walking they had done through the Forbidden Forest, nosing into various holes and burrows, searching for a safe nest to sleep. "Yes," she said enthusiastically.
"Then I'll go out and hunt for something," Crookshanks said, standing up and plodding to the moss curtain that hid the outside world. "I'll be back soon. I promise. Just stay right here, alright?"
"Alright," Sandstorm said, flopping down tiredly in the moss. Crookshanks's yellow eyes cast downward, and his tail drooped a little. "I'll go out hunting again once I find something."
"Okay," Sandstorm mumbled, her eyes already closing sleepily. Crookshanks blinked slowly once, then he turned and pushed his way through the curtain of moss, ready to face what needed to be done.
Hiei stared at the little pile of smoked salmon on his plate. He nudged the pieces with his fork and his eyelids dropped a little. Upon turning one piece over, it revealed a ginger-colored belly. Hiei's face hardened and he stabbed the piece so viciously that several small cracks formed on the plate. The closest Slytherins (about ten feet away) looked over at him uneasily. Hiei let out a large huff and shoved the plate away.
"I think he's finally snapping," Yusuke muttered to Kuwabara, staring at the little fire demon from the Griffindor table.
"Finally," Kuwabara snarled, stabbing his broccoli in much the same fashion as Hiei. "I hope it's ripping him up inside."
"It just might be," Yusuke said, watching Hiei stand up and storm bitterly out of the Great Hall, hands shoved in pockets.
The fire demon kept up a fast pace as he swept down the empty halls, leaving the cheerful voices and laughs of dinner behind him. He was in no mood for joyfulness. He hadn't been since early this morning, when that despicable rat and the traitor had left him. And that look in Sandstorm's eyes when Hiei had opened the door for her… such pleading, and betrayal… and utter and complete misery…
As he passed a stone column on which a gargoyle statue was perched, Hiei punched it violently. The gargoyle on top swayed, alarmed, then waved a stone fist angrily after the demon.
Perhaps I was too hasty, Hiei thought moodily. I was caught up in all the tension and surprise and maybe I just didn't handle it the way I should have…
Hiei looked up and found himself in front of the wall that hid the Room of Requirement. He hadn't even been paying attention to where he was going. He turned and paced the hallway three times, thinking hard. A few moments later a large, forbidding black door appeared and Hiei unhesitatingly pulled on the handle.
He was in a familiar, high-ceilinged room filled with books and, at the other end of the room, a tall arched window and sill. Hiei walked over to it and picked up the memorable black and purple guitar that leaned against the wall. He sat sideways on the windowsill, leaning back against the wall, and absently strummed some chords on the guitar. Doing so no longer hurt his fingers. He'd made enough trips to this room in the secrets of night to be well practiced with the instrument. Unconsciously, he started playing a sad song he'd learned from a textbook. Solemn moonlight filtered down through the window, mirroring the mood of the wistful notes that filled the room and echoed longingly…
With a hiss of disgust, Hiei ran his fingers down the strings, causing a horrible squealing noise. He started playing something else, this time bitter and brooding and the demon was satisfied with playing it over and over into the passing hours.
Hiei's eyes snapped open and he blinked drowsily a couple of times. He was still laying on the windowsill, the guitar held comfortably on his stomach in his arms. He must have fallen asleep sometime in his stupor of depression. He wasn't sure why he'd woken up—until very faint, very fast footsteps sounded in his ears, coming closer.
Immediately Hiei sprang into a battle-ready position, sliding the guitar onto the now unoccupied sill. A few moments later, a creature came bounding into the moonlight—and Hiei was filled with alarm and anger when it was revealed to be Crookshanks, panting hard and stumbling slightly.
"You," Hiei spat. "That you even have the nerve to come here and—"
"Sandstorm!" Crookshanks gasped, "Please! You have to help her!"
The insulting remark Hiei was about to make was completely erased from his brain, leaving his mouth open and nothing coming out. But finally he managed to say, "What?"
"Sandstorm!" Crookshanks cried. "We were in the Forbidden Forest and we had just found a safe spot to rest for the night! I went out hunting, and when I came back the nest was torn apart and there were claw marks everywhere and—and—" he broke off with an anguished wail.
"You—left—her—alone?!" Hiei sputtered, too furious to think straight.
"We thought it was safe," Crookshanks whimpered, backing away from the fire demon. "We were confident that nothing could get to us!"
Hiei let out a noise like an enraged puma. His form became a blur as he raced to the door, but at the entrance he stopped. He turned and looked at the ginger tom and said in a horrible, deadly snarl, "If I EVER see your mangy hide again I will rip out your organs and shred the rest of you to be fish food for whatever is in the lake!"
And with that he disappeared out the door.
Crookshanks sat in a beam of moonlight for a long moment, his green eyes glowing. Then he stood and slunk into the darkness of the hallway, the entrance to the Room of Requirement softly fading into nothing behind him.
No, Hiei thought. No, no no no no. He sprinted down the dark, deserted hallway and turned a corner. The double doors that led to the front lawn lay at the opposite end of the corridor. He hit them at full speed, expecting them to burst open. When they didn't, Hiei ended up getting the wind knocked out of him. He pulled on the handles, but the doors didn't budge.
Locked?! Hiei thought, but why?! He craned his neck to look up at the clock which hung above the doors. It read 11:45 PM. Hiei cursed violently. Of course the doors would be locked at this hour. Hiei desperately looked around then raced back up the corridor. He stopped at the first window he saw. He jumped up on the sill, hurriedly pushed the swinging panes open and jumped down to the dark ground, twenty feet below. Landing light as a cat, he raced off across the dark grounds toward the forest. Hagrid's hut with its dark windows passed by in a blur. Without pausing, Hiei burst into the thick underbrush of the forest. He jerked his bandanna off and his Jagan gazed all around. Rabbits hidden in their burrows and birds slumbering in their nests filled his view, but no felines. Hiei ran forward a good hundred feet and looked around again. Still nothing. Again he ran and it fell into a rhythm. Run, search, run search, run search. Always the result was the same.
The night wore on. Wherever Hiei went in the forest animals were woken and became alarmed. The trees filled with more and more noise.
Finally the moon sank below the horizon. In its place rose the sun, steadily turning the sky from black to gold. It was a truly glorious and peaceful sight… but the demon that fell to his knees in the middle of a small clearing didn't see it, for the canopy of branches above blocked all the light and joy out.
For a minute that seemed to last an eternity Hiei stared dully at the dark ground between his legs. A gentle brushing sensation crossed his neck. For a second the demon didn't react, then he reached behind him and pulled the leaf off. He stared at it, twirling it slowly in his fingers. It was dry and brown, with fading spots of green. The little veins in it stood out, like bones. The whole thing was rather pitiful. And yet… it had been great. It used to be green and full of life, and part of something bigger—that tree. Now… now it had been cast off, replaced by the younger, more vital generation, forgotten by its companions and the tree that was its parent.
But that's how all life is, Hiei thought bitterly. We don't appreciate the small things in life and then when they're gone and replaced, we forget about them and the joys they brought us. We only look forward to whatever will happen next.
Well I won't forget. I won't forget what is gone… what I so stupidly cast off. Never.
Hiei looked up at the canopy of leaves, at the thin patches where the sun cast faintly through.
But a new day comes anyway…
He stood up and slowly walked away through the shadowy trees, his Jagan eye finally closing.
Dokkou: Sandstorm is...gone?...yes... she's gone. Sorry I didn't get a chance to use any of the wonderful names you all sent me. Then again... maybe there will be a chance to use them in the future.
Once again I apologize for this chapter being so repellently late. I'm sure all of you thought this story was one hiatus. Well it's not. The next chapter is planned and won't take as long to appear as this one did. And if it does, you can complain to my face. I have an account on Deviantart. com, if you ever want to look me up. Here's the link:
http:// zerna. deviantart. com/
but without the spaces. Dumb link-preventer on this website... *grumble grumble*
Next Chapter: Name Unknown
Summary: Despite Hiei's cloud of depression, the gang(s) are ready and eager to go to Hogsmeade for the first time this year. Now the story will really heat up, because something is waiting for Harry and our heroes in that little town. Something...not very nice.