"And here I was assuming you were avoiding me," Koenma turned and stared as Amon-Shinpi walked up to him.
"I keep my word," she shrugged. "I understand that you have doubts about me, Spirit King."
"Well, when you agree to consider my ultimatum and then announce you plan on taking over your land again, it makes a man nervous," he was in his teenage form now, as he had been the whole tournament so far, and those brown eyes seemed to assess her differently.
"I have already made up my mind on the matter," she waved her hand, trying to get to loosen up.
"On the matter of your soul? How can you be so flippant?" he demanded, his voice raising. She came forward and cupped her hand over his mouth, growling a soft warning.
"My options were either go to hell or work for you correct?" she reminded and he nodded, her hand still grasping his jaw as her palm covered his lips. He mumbled something and she constricted her grip to silence him. "I will work for you, Koenma. But that will not last forever and when I have paid my debts I want to be able to live my own life as I please."
She released him and stepped back.
"I will be your bounty hunter Koenma, and I will take on Yusuke's workload so that he can start his life too." She bowed slightly at him. "And when we're squared away I will rule my lands and live my life."
"Again, I have to wonder if demanding money is going to have the same effect," he warned and she nodded.
"I'm not demanding money, you're paying me as a service. I won't turn down a case just because it doesn't earn me cash." She shook her head. "The bounty hunter part is for when I pick someone up on my own merits and you agreed to it."
"Fine," he sighed. "Father is going to kill me."
"I'll protect you," she laughed. He seemed to consider that for a second before nodding slowly.
"I might need it."
Hiei sat on a tree branch, one leg dangling the other bent at the knee. His arm sat on top of the bent leg as he went over the last week or so of events. There was a code somewhere he had failed to decipher and he needed to know what it was.
"She is quite the enrapturing woman isn't she Hiei?" red eyes flew open as the fire demon jumped to the ground, sword drawn. Hiro gazed at the display without humor or respect. "Let's not be irrational."
"You have thirty seconds to give me a reason not to kill you," Hiei warned, sword raised.
"Amon-Shinpi wants to do it herself and I doubt very much you'd rise against your master," the golden haired man smirked at the shorter demon, eyes alight.
"She is not my master," the fire demon stepped forward. "but she does want to kill you herself. She's looking forward to it actually."
"You two are rather cozy," the lightning user noted. "for you not to be…under her."
"We are teammates, equals," Hiei smirked then. "Not that you'd be able to understand what it means to fight at someone's side instead of behind them."
"We were partners, the very best."
"Not better than her and her brother from what I've heard. Not even equal to a child."
Silence followed that remark, as Hiro's golden eyes darkened dangerously.
"I'm going to invite her to come back with me, if she'll swear obedience," he told Hiei in a voice that suggested it was in her best interest to do just that. "Back to her homeland."
"But not her power," the fire demon stated and Hiro nodded. "She'd kill you for even suggesting it."
"It's better than living a lie alone." He shrugged. "Wolves, they can be such solitary creatures, but in the end they tend to require at least one companion."
Hiei walked up deliberately, standing so close to the other male he had to lift his head to gaze at gold irises with narrowed eyes. He let the fire in him warm the space as a carefully guarded smirk came to his features, darkening his gaze a bit.
"She is not alone anymore, and she has no need for your companionship," he stated firmly.
"Because she has you?" he didn't seem at all bothered. Hiei just smirked and didn't bother elaborating, instead stepping passed the taller demon. "Has she offered to give everything up to be with you or something?"
Hiei's smile widened and he stood up straighter, raising his eyebrows as he turned to look over his shoulder.
"No. And she won't have to."
Amon-Shinpi stared at the bracers, her fingers tracing the pattern raised on the silver metal. A knot of vines cultivating into a circle containing a triskelion. Her blue eyes looked for imperfections but found none. A part of her wanted to just take them, but a newer piece of her mind tsked.
"How much are these?" she asked curiously, her voice deep. Yukina and Botan leaned over her shoulders to see what she was studying so hard, then all three sets of eyes roamed up the tall man who own the small stand they had stopped at.
A small impromptu bizarre had broken out in front of the arena, probably having fifteen or so stands marketing different items from miracle solutions that smelled faintly like vinegar and sugar water to secret weapons that looked like supped up axes.
"For M'Lord?" he eyed the two women cautiously before she nodded. "Free."
"Nonsense, I offered to pay, and I'll be insulted if you don't charge me something," she sighed heavily. "The craftsmanship is truly one of a kind. A blacksmith of that quality deserves to be paid."
"Do you have an opening for such a man in your ranks sir?" the man asked quietly, though a few nearby shoppers leaned in to hear her response.
"I have to get my land back before I have openings for anyone," she told him coolly. "And even then I have a few years coming between me and ruling again. But perhaps one day, if you live long enough."
"The consideration is all I ask," he smiled and thrust the bracers at her and smiled. "That is payment enough."
She stared at the metal covers and took them quietly, her thumbs running along the surface.
"How do they hold up against electricity?" she requested and he stopped for a second.
"I don't know yet, but against weapons they are nearly indestructible." He stared at her seriously. "Perhaps with the proper coating they could be resistant to such attacks."
She tossed a small coin of gold onto his table and nodded, closing the first of the pair over her left wrist so that it went up just before the joint of her elbow. Attaching the second one she was yanked in the direction of a small tent selling food by Yukina and Botan.
"Don't forget we have to be back soon," she warned them, afraid they were about to get carried away.
"What's with this meeting you called anyways?" Botan asked, inspecting a large fruit that very suddenly snapped at her nose. She pulled back quickly.
"It has to do with the meeting Koenma and I had before the tournament started," she shrugged. "I feel, thanks to Yusuke's adamant requests, that I owe the team an explanation."
"Oh, speaking of the team," Keiko and Shizuru were with them, a little ways down. Amon-Shinpi had offered to take the girls to the shops so that the boys could train. They'd insisted they didn't need protection, but she wouldn't hear of them wandering so close to so much danger. Keiko looked at the masked warrior slyly, "Yusuke mentioned that he might've interrupted a moment between you and Hiei."
Ichi straightened and was glad they couldn't tell she was blushing.
"No, no. He was trying to throw me in the river," she waved it off with upwards closed eyes. They exchanged a look.
"Do you like him?" Botan asked, bouncing in front of the shorter girl happily.
"My original opinion has been changed recently, yes," she tried to sound curt but it didn't quite work.
"I think you and Mr. Hiei would be a good pair," Yukina smiled.
"Uh, maybe we should discuss this elsewhere guys, don't want to get the lord in any trouble," Shizuru nodded to the lively crowds around them. They nodded and continued shopping. Sighing the wolf demon headed to the counter.
"I'm going to need three bottles of your strongest drink," she let her shoulders hunch. "It's going to be a very long night."
The man behind the counter smirked at her and nodded, passing the alcohol over as she slid him some more gold.
Amon-Shinpi was sitting around, with her hair down and in her training wear, with the group of girls. All of the boys had gone to inspect the next round of bouts, leaving them in their peace. Genkai was with Koenma elsewhere too.
"I'm not saying I have feelings for him, because I don't. Not like you all seem to think anyways," the red head sighed heavily, legs swinging from where she was situated on the outer kitchen counter, her words coming out around a sucker.
"Well, how do you feel about him?" Botan demanded, leaning over the back of the couch.
"He's a great fighter, and he has a lot of promise." She shrugged. "But his temperament is a bit concerning, while he isn't exactly hell bent on world domination, it does seem like too much power very well could corrupt him."
"You know, all this denial isn't good for you," Keiko chastised with a smile. "I mean, if you like him, you should tell him. At least try."
There was an edge of sadness in her voice that made Yukina turn towards her sympathetically.
"How are you and Yusuke coping lately?" the small ice maiden asked kindly.
"Slowly," the brunette sighed. "Ever since he came back from the Makai it's been nothing. I mean, he's trying, I can see that, but he promised that we'd get married. We can't even afford a place together yet because he can't keep a job because of his work with Spirit World."
Amon-Shinpi looked down, studying her swinging feet. So Yusuke was engaged and yet he still busted his back for Koenma. It bothered her that this job was keeping him from what he and his love truly wanted: a happy life together.
"You are exactly what that boy needs," she told Keiko, looking up through her bangs. "If he's trying then the time has more than come. He'll make good on his promise soon."
"What?" she looked at her red haired friend with wide eyes, "What are you planning?"
"Persuasion," the demon smirked.
"Now, by persuasion do you mean persuasion or 'persuasion'?" Shizuru asked, adding air quotes around the second word. She received a steady grin in response. "More power to you if you can beat him. He's kinda hard to kill."
"I don't want to hurt him, or even fight," Ichi shrugged. "I'm just going to remind him that the time is now."
"After the meeting?" Botan guessed.
"I can't do it without the meeting Botan."
"What's it about anyways? This mysterious gathering you've called," Shizuru stared, leaning casually against the wall as she puffed on a cigarette.
"I've just made a decision that effects the team, that's all." She shrugged. "I think that they deserve to know about it like I said."
"So what's this about anyways? Announcing your undying love for Koenma or something Ichi?" Yusuke joked loudly, lounging on the couch with Keiko and Yukina.
"Shut up nitwit," Genkai demanded calmly, "not everyone is as childish as you are, so your humor is lost on most of the group."
"Oh stuff it Grandma," the hanyou lifted his nose into the air.
"Your verbal prowess is enthralling as usual," came the curt response.
"If you two are done I actually want to hear what she has to say," Kuwabara stated, standing behind them with Kurama at his right and his sister behind him with Botan. Hiei was against a wall off to the side, closest to the door watching the wolf demon as she stood beside Koenma.
"Is everything alright Ichi?" Kurama asked softly, his voice managing to cut through all the squabbling. She nodded.
"You all know I had a meeting with Koenma before we left for this tournament ," she stated in that air of leadership she could create out of chaos. They all nodded, quietly listening. "Well it was about a proposition. Apparently my soul was in danger of being considered tainted."
"That's an understatement," Koenma snorted from her side, earning him a silent glare.
"As I was saying," she glared at him again, watching him cower slightly away from her. "There was a proposition to save my immortal soul. Long story short it was either hell or work for Koenma. I chose the lesser of two evils and decided to work for Koenma."
"For a price," the prince muttered and she smirked.
"I don't see why anyone who works for you should have to do so for free, and we already discussed that. I will only get paid for the ones I go above and beyond to capture. Everything else is pro bono, yes?" he nodded at the clarification so she turned back to the group. "I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be sticking around for a while, until my soul is cleared at least, and I'll more or less be a part of the team."
"You're already a part of the team," Yusuke told her sternly. "And why the hell are you getting paid when I never got a check from the brat? I mean, I bust my ass and you waltz in and get money?"
"I asked for it," she shrugged and he blinked. "Don't worry Yusuke, I'm sure this will free up much of your time to focus on real work."
"I guess so," he leaned back into the cushions of the couch and watched her. "So how long is a while?"
"As long as it takes," she shrugged.
"You don't look very happy," Kurama pointed out and she stared at him blankly.
"I haven't quite decided how I feel about this yet, but it's the most practical option at the moment."
"You need a drink," Yusuke grinned brightly as Keiko groaned.
"Way ahead of you," she pointed to the three large bottles on the counter. "The strongest they had."
"Perhaps a sort of boys' night is in order?" Kurama chuckled and Kazuma loudly vocalized his approval. Ichi looked to Yusuke, then to Hiei and Koenma. Everyone seemed to have consented.
"Sounds like a great way to bond," she finally agreed, a small smile on her face.
After that it was set, and the team of boys, minus Koenma and suddenly including Chu, Jin and Touya found themselves in a small clearing in the forest close to the rivers but off the beaten path. One bottle lay empty off to the side, the other two were carefully guarded by Touya and Kurama. Neither of which had elected to drink themselves, acting as the alarm for the rest of the gathering.
The sun was setting and the general group was laughing, Amon-Shinpi in her mask, and the others relaxed in their various ideas of clothing.
"So anyways that's how the dog got into the tree, and how I got it out," Ichi burst out laughing and Jin was leaning on her right shoulder, his arm strung around to her left. They were situated in a small circle, having pulled some logs close to use as benches. The entire group held their guts after the story. "Oh, man, that was nothing compared to this one fight I got involved with. Long story short, it involved jell-o, a chicken, two carts and a one eyed gryphon."
"Damn Ichi, for such a tight ass you sure did have one hell of a childhood," Yusuke wiped his eyes from where tears had formed during his fit of laughter.
"It was amazing," she chuckled, passing her cup to Kurama so that she could get more drink. "You understand why my soul is a bit on the dark side though, now."
"I also understand exactly what happened to make you such a badass name around these parts," he nodded. Jin prodded her side and promptly got shoved face first into the dirt, her foot on his back and his arm awkwardly held in her hand behind him.
"It's downright sexy when ya man handle a boy like that," the Irish wind demon chuckled from the ground, apparently unbothered by his position.
"I just noticed you and Jin look like brothers," Hiei pointed out, leaning a bit closer to them from her left side. "With the red hair and blue eyes I mean. And you both control wind."
"Ay, watch it there Hiei, I don't wanna start thinking about 'er like a brother or sister or anything," the shinobi complained as she released him.
"He has a point, we do look an awful lot alike," the girl bent down while staying seated so that her face was close to his. "I mean with my mask on, I'm surprised more people don't assume we're somehow related."
"Ya can shut up now, ya know," the wind master scowled a bit before bursting into laughter. As he rolled over to get up he landed in front of Hiei, in turn getting nudged out of the smaller youkai's foot space.
"You get pretty delightful when you're drunk," Chu laughed, slurring as he leaned forward across the circle where he was tucked between Yusuke and Touya.
"I'm not drunk," she smirked behind the mask. "I've only had two drinks. I'll let you know when I'm drunk."
"She's funny when she's drunk, if I remember right," Jin chuckled.
"You do seem more relaxed," Kurama noted. He received a shrug with shining blue eyes. "And your past is sort of entertaining."
"It has its highlights," she agreed, then her eyes rolled over to the grinning hanyou. She could see Keiko's worried and saddened eyes in her mind, and as she finished her second cup she rose and walked over to Yusuke, grabbing a bottle from the ground as she did so. She was going to need some liquid courage to confront this particular demon. Taking the top off she took a healthy swig then pointed at the dark haired teen with a look that could've stripped paint from wood.
"You're the worst kind of idiot," she told him darkly and he swallowed a bit. Well that came out worse than I thought.
"What are you talking about?" he asked her, straightening where he sat so that they nearly looked each other in the eyes. She was only a faint bit taller than him as he sat.
"You didn't even hesitate did you? To make an ass of yourself I mean," he didn't seem to be following her so she took another hearty sip and explained, "Keiko is head over heels for you, you jackass. She's going to wait as long as it takes, but I don't think she should have to suffer in silence. She loves you, and she's worried out of her mind and all you can do when a chance to be with her pops up is say 'I guess so'? If you were my fiancé I'd have kicked you in the temple."
"Suffer in silence? What are you rambling about?" he reached for the bottle muttering, "I think you've hit your limit sister."
She smacked his hand and stepped back. "Look, I know I do my best to be one of the guys, but I'm your friend and I'm hers. She wants a wedding."
"And she'll get one," he told her with a glare. "It's hard okay? It's not like we can just up and suddenly do it, just like that."
"No, which is why after this tournament you're going to focus on saving up to give her the wedding she always wanted," she reached forward and jerked him up by the shirt, lifting him off the seat slightly. "You two are going to be married by next summer, or so help me Yusuke, I will turn your world upside down and inside out."
"Where do you get off, threatening me?" he growled trying to push her back. She dropped his shirt, set the bottle on the ground and ripped her mask off. Then she got in his face.
"Listen to me carefully," she told him in quiet voice full of danger and last chances. "I've had to live through waiting Yusuke, and all it does is hurt. You didn't see her eyes earlier today when Yukina asked how you two were doing. You don't know what that constant pain is like, in your chest, burrowing like a worm. I know you want to do right by her, you want to do this safely and just like she wants, but you don't want to involve her in this world."
He nodded, everyone else having fallen silent except for the woman warrior.
"All she wants is you Yusuke, that's all that will ever make her happy. Give her that and the rest will be okay, alright? Not easy, not simple, no. But it will work out," she pledged. "I don't care if I have to wipe out half of Makai to see to that, but the girl and you both deserve your fairytale, got it?"
"Ichi," his eyes softened as her blurred a bit, mist shaking her vision.
"Promise me you'll be married by next summer and mean it Yusuke, promise me you'll start to work on a real life with Keiko as long as I handle the Spirit World drama. Promise it." She demanded imploringly and he nodded slightly. She shook him a bit by the shoulders. "Out loud you moron. Say it."
"I'll be married to Keiko by the end of next summer," he told her, "I swear."
"Thank you," she breathed and released him, picking the bottle back up. Not bothering with her mask she let out a heavy breath and took another sip. Then she started to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Kurama asked.
"I need to think," she told him without turning around. "Don't worry, I just, I need to somewhere else."
"Be safe," he called after her and she waved over her shoulder. Green, blue, and brown eyes turned to red.
"Do you know what that was about?" Yusuke asked, rubbing his neck. "She sorta just went hormonal on us and that's not like her at all."
"And she stole the booze," Chu pointed out.
"Sounds like she's empathizing with Keiko because of her passed with Hiro. She waited a long time for Hiro to prove himself and he never did and it probably hurt her every time she denied him. She's witnessed how that can ruin relationships and people," Kurama, as usual, pointed out with a deft proficiency the probably motives behind the actions.
"Poor girl is harboring a tattered heart," Jin muttered softly. "She's not exactly heartbroken anymore, any fool can see that, she's managed to overcome that part. But still, she remembers. Sometimes that's harder for some people."
"When did you turn into a philosopher?" Hiei asked gruffly, standing. "She's overprotective of the girls, like most of the team."
"Are you going to follow her?" Chu asked with a grin.
"One of us ought to make sure she doesn't get herself killed before her fight with Hiro," the fire demon snorted. "You're drunk, Jin's just going to piss her off, Yusuke probably would say something to get him killed and Kurama and Touya have to guard the last bottle from the rest of you."
"Yeah, yeah, excuses," Yusuke waved his hand, "just make sure she doesn't like, kill anyone too important or go streaking or anything. That stuff is pretty strong."
"For some reason I doubt any of that will happen, " Hiei stepped through a gap in the logs and headed out after the girl. "Though perhaps a good fight would help her to keep her emotions under control."
Chu waited until the small demon was out of ear shot before he leaned over towards Yusuke and Jin.
"Anyone notice that fella has a soft spot for the girl?" he asked and Yusuke burst out laughing as Kurama chuckled. Touya rolled his eyes, mumbling about maybe drinking wouldn't be too bad, as Jin shook his head.
"Man, you're slower than a turtle crawling through syrup," the hanyou cackled, falling backwards off of his log.
Amon-Shinpi leaned forward with her forehead pressed into the back of the tree trunk, having killed and dropped the bottle she'd been carrying a little ways back. The soft smell of decaying underbrush tickled her senses, as did the thick scent of green life from the tree, but it did little to quell the rocking sensation of her brain. If Chu were there she'd tell him she was drunk. But he wasn't so she had no need to admit it. The dull numbness of her brain, and her senses, made her face flush as she smiled to herself. Another great reason to never get drunk near the boys.
She was a very, very, friendly drunk.
"Wandering around drunk isn't a very safe thing to do," Hiei's deep voice pointed out behind her. Turning she pressed a steadying hand, then her shoulders, into the trunk at her back.
"Who cares?" she grinned at him, feeling giddy. Damn. She hadn't had this much alcohol in her system since before Kin had died. She could smell his scent from across the small clearing, even as the breeze shifted it away from her.
"You dying would be a problem for the rest of the team," the noncommittal answer covered up the fact he was watching her lopsided smile widen. She came forward two staggering steps.
Maybe that bottle had been a bad idea.
"Everything about me is a problem to someone," she laughed, pointing at him. She wanted to spin a circle. No, behave. Act like a damned adult. Her blue eyes twinkled, "I'm like a walking example of Murphy's Law."
"Are you back to feeling sorry for yourself Shinpi?" the fire demon's annoyance was clear in his voice.
"Just stating the truth actually," she grinned again, showing fang. He hadn't seen her smile this much since they'd met. "Don't worry Hiei, you'll get a break from me soon."
"What?" the absence of a smart retort eluded her.
"Chu and Rinku and them invited me to live with them for a while." She told him a bit seriously. He watched her eyes gain a faint clarity as they watched him.
"Are you going to?" he questioned.
"I might, just to get a head start on cases for Koenma, so Yusuke can have time off. Of course, killing the clown would make it worth dealing with Chu." She mused after a long moment of internal debate. "I haven't decided yet though. I'm going to wait until the last minute."
"Hn." He looked at the darkened sky to avoid watching her. The stars were starting to come out.
"The stars here have always been beautiful," she told him with a small smile as she gazed up at the sky with eyes full of wonder and reflected dots of light, pushing her bangs from her face. "I never wanted this place to be a battleground. These trees weren't meant to thrive on blood."
Rubies watched her stare at the canopy of tree branches netted above them, stars peeking through the gaps like flirtatious lovers. Moonlight fell in patches over the two of them but he mused the wait it painted her eyes silver, brightening her face and hair was far more intense than how he looked. She suddenly seemed very different from him, as she grinned at the night sky and the moon, as if she was at home in the silver beams and out of sorts with the heavy gear weighing her small body down.
He wondered how she'd look in the moonlight if she weren't dressed like man.
"Deaths follows warriors, their homes get involved," he told her watching the words pass over her features.
"I chose to fight to defend and protect everything I cared for, and so far I've lost it all," she shook her head with a sad smile. Her eyes met his as she stepped forward a bit. "I don't like watching my life get destroyed."
"So what happens if you don't win your land back?" he asked her seriously.
"Then chose between failure and force," she shrugged. "I was never really that keen on admitting defeat."
She had started walking forward again and her foot snagged on a root precariously jutting out of the ground, causing her to stumbled. Stiffly she stuck her arms out to catch herself but the ground never came. Warm arms slid under hers, catching her as her hands gripped bare skin. She laughed, hands on Hiei's arms, and he realized her cheeks were flushed.
"Your skin is a lot softer than I thought it would be," the red head giggled as the fire demon's cheeks warmed. "You know, it's been a very long time since I've had to have someone catch me."
She made no move to pull away from him so he slid his hand onto her back, to help hold her more comfortably. Her grip on his biceps tightened slightly, with the movement.
"Lucky that I felt too generous to let you fall on your face," he smirked, looking down at her. Her eyes seemed to be getting heavier and heavier.
"Lucky me," she agreed, whispering as her eyes roamed his face.
"What are you staring at?" he demanded gruffly.
"I know you won't appreciate this, but I'm too far gone to care right now," Hiei furrowed his brow as she brushed his bangs back from his face. Her touch was very light, but he felt it. "My mother once told me that eyes are the reflection of the soul within. That's how you can learn so much from someone by watching their face. I've been watching yours, and I've realized that despite everything you've endured yours are still beautiful to the point of nearly being majestic."
"You shouldn't drink so much, it makes you delusional," he stated flatly, narrowing his eyes.
"I knew you'd say something like that," she laughed at him.
"Then why bother?" he wondered darkly, an eyebrow cocked.
"Because tomorrow I won't be brave enough, or this happy," she giggled again, and this time it was a purely feminine sound he'd never heard he make before. It caught him off guard as a knot twisted in his stomach.
"Anything else you need to say now, before you lose your nerve?" he asked a bit flatly and she looked like she was having to think about it. Her eyelids kept closing halfway, as if she were fighting sleep.
"Just one more thing that you should know," she told him, grinning deviously. He bowed his head down as she motioned for him to, rolling his eyes.
"You revert to being such a child-" he was silenced as her lips pressed against his, her hand finding a place on the back of his neck as she gripped his arm tighter with her other hand. Hiei growled softly his hands on her back pressed her closer to him until she pulled away. Her cheeks were light pink, her grin wide and lopsided, eyelids heavy. She took a deep breath.
"You smell like fire wood," she muttered, eyes mostly closed as she nestled into his shoulder. The words were sluggish against his shirt. He stiffened, unsure what to do with her.
He was about to respond when he felt her body sag in his arms, her grip on him relaxed. The small snore he heard confirmed what he'd just suspected. The girl had fallen asleep.
"Stupid onna," he mumbled half heartedly, looking for a place to lay her down. He couldn't balance her in a tree like this, and he couldn't exactly hold onto her all night. Carefully he scooped her small body into his arms.
Settling on an idea he walked over to the tree she'd been leaning on, careful to avoid the roots, and gently laid her on the ground. He sat beside her after removing his sword, bending one knee so that he could rest his arms on it with his sword across his chest. Amon-Shinpi had snuggled up to his thigh, placing on hand on his knee and the other under her head.
He watched her sleep for a short time, cautiously scanning the forest occasionally.
"Hiei," he looked down as she muttered his name a bit disdainfully. He blinked when he realized she was still fast asleep. So she talked in her sleep, that was interesting, he smirked.
His mouth twitched at the corners as she softly spoke his name again. That decided the matter. She was dreaming about him and since it did involve him, he saw no problem with seeing exactly what her imagination was conjuring up.
They were back to back in tattered, blood spattered clothes, as a small ring of demons surrounded them. They moved together seamlessly, without words. The way they covered each other was fluid as if they'd been doing it for all their lives.
"I'm getting bored," he spoke over his shoulder to her, making her shake her head slightly. He had four demons left on his side, she had three. Both their swords were brackish with blood from the many they'd slaughtered to get up to this point, the bodies laying strewn around them.
"Then shut up and fight so we can do something more stimulating," she called back lunging forward to strike out with a killing blow. He smirked and went after his enemies, swiftly annihilating two with one arc of his sword.
She grunted as one of the last two demons on her side dug a spike into the side of her thigh, blood spilling out to cover what remained of the white pants she'd donned. Hiei spun in her peripheral vision, watching her with concern. It wasn't too hard to dispatch the last two demons on her side, stopping afterwards to nurse the wound.
Looking up with confused eyes as her red hair shifted in the wind that brushed passed him to her she sprang forward in a swift motion. He turned in time to feel the blow on his temple that made him see white and a strong punch to his stomach that sent him sprawling backwards. If there hadn't been a body behind his feet he'd have stayed upright, but he tripped and fell, but not before instinct kicked him. His sword reflexively lashed out, taking the offending demon's head off.
He hit the ground with his eyes closed, a headache pounding at his temples.
"Baka oni! You know better than to worry about me," Ichi's voice was barely concealed anger and concern. "You're getting sloppy."
He kept his eyes closed and his expression neutral like he was sleep as she leant over him, her face upside down above his. Red hair fell onto his chest, falling through the holes in his shirt to brush against his skin.
"Hiei you can't pretend to be asleep if you're going to smirk," she sighed. "Are you hurt?"
His hand flashed out and landed on the nape of her neck, pulling her head down closer to his so that their lips met. He released her neck slowly, allowing her to pull away. He looked up at her through one open eye.
"I'm fine," he lifted himself onto his elbows, staring at her. "How's your leg?"
"It's not bad enough for you to nearly die over," she complained bitterly, thoroughly unimpressed. "Hiei…"
The fire demon stopped his intrusion then, his brain trying to decipher what he'd seen. In fact he wanted to decipher everything that had happened that day. Amon-Shinpi was not making it easy to understand her strange motives or behavior, and the dream hadn't helped. On one hand he was annoyed that even unconscious she thought he'd make such a rookie mistake.
On the other hand her reaction in the dream, and the dream itself, had been interesting. She'd actually been angry and worried that he hadn't done as well as she'd expected. They had been partners, equals in the dream.
He looked at the sleeping wolf demon and thought the question he'd been trying to avoid. They were equals, but had they been more than that in the dream? The way she'd fretted over his safety had suggested more. But it hadn't been clear.
What had been more than clear was her lips pressing against his before she'd passed out.
Growling he jerked his face to the sky, his eyes cutting down to her in a glare.
"Frustrating girl."