Part 25: Realizations

I sighed as I made it down to the breakfast table by myself…though Ryumi was following closely behind me. I was thankfully recovering and getting used to having my wings. It really was encumbering to have wings suddenly bestowed upon you. It tended make life suddenly extremely difficult. As I sat at the table with everyone gathered around, I realized there was something else that tended to make life difficult: having an awkward moment (such as kissing someone the night prior) and then being in the same room and in close proximity to said person, and then having said person trying to stay away from you without the others in the room knowing or discovering anything. I quietly sighed to myself as I took in these facts. I almost wished Hiei and I hadn't kissed the previous night.

…

After breakfast, Ryumi decided that it was time to get me to start using my wings. She knew from experience with her dragons that if the dragons didn't use their wings not too long after they got them, the wings would be useless to the dragons; she didn't want that happening to me. So, she helped me change into my workout clothes and took me outside. When I got out there, a shiver ran down my spine. It was a little cold outside.

"Hm…you up for cleaning off the rink?" I looked at Ryumi incredulously. "What? You need to get back into shape, and the best way to do that is to start with some small stuff. Sweeping the rink with my help won't be too bad, promise." I sighed and agreed.

It turned out that "sweeping" turned into me moving the leaves, dirt, and other things off the rink by manipulating the wind. It went by a lot more quickly than I would have thought. I was thankful.

"It looks good. Now it's time for you to start getting used to using those wings."

I looked at Ryumi pointedly and asked in a dry tone, "And how, might I ask, am I going to accomplish that?" Ryumi grinned.

"Practice!" I groaned while she grinned.

~x~

Kurama looked out the kitchen window as he prepared lunch for everyone, and he chuckled at the sight that awaited him: Kimiko was chasing Ryumi around the rink throwing balls of water, clumps of earth, and gusts of wind at the purple haired female; Ryumi was dodging them in turn, making Kimiko more annoyed and trying to hit Ryumi that much harder. From the looks of things outside, Kimiko had not made much progress in learning how to use her wings. If any at all, Kurama mentally added when he saw how Kimiko's wings were still hanging limply off her back. This made the fox worry slightly. Weren't the girls supposed to be outside to have Kimiko learn how to control and use her wings? So why had no progress been made? Kurama was about to place the food on simmer, cover it, and go outside to see what was going on when Ryumi and Kimiko both stopped and starting laughing. Reading the girls' lips, Kurama discovered that they had been warming up (mainly for Kimiko) before moving on to working with the wings. Kurama relaxed a bit and went back to preparing and cooking the food while watching the girls work outside.

~x~

I winced at the feeling of something moving and tugging at my back. That was going take a lot of getting used to. "Good job Kimiko. Now that you are able to hold your wings up, let's see if we can get you to flap them." I winced again (more out of agitation than pain) before closing my eyes and focusing on controlling the new muscles in my back that controlled my wings. I felt them constricting and expanding as my brain sent the instructions to start beating my wings. I felt cold wind at my feet after a few minutes of standing there doing nothing but thinking about beating my wings. "Awesome Kimiko! You're doing it! Put more force into it and see if you can get off the ground."

I did as I was told and felt my feet lifting off the ground ever so slightly (perhaps a centimeter from the ground). I was about to see if I could go higher when my wings stopped flapping and I fell to the ground and landed in a kneeling position, panting. Ryumi was at my side in a millisecond. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"I got tired," I said still panting. She nodded, though her eyebrows furrowed in either confusion or worry (I wasn't sure which, possibly both), before she stood and helped me up and into the house as Kurama opened the door to tell us that lunch was ready. As soon as Kurama saw me leaning on Ryumi, he instantly came over to help while I mentally sighed. There I go again, needing help. Couldn't I take care of myself anymore? Apparently not, I decided as I was set in the chair for lunch. Yusuke asked what happened to me.

"I just overexerted myself is all; I'll be fine in a bit," I said before anyone else could say anything. I really hoped that things got better for me in the near future; otherwise I might go slightly insane. I felt a pair of eyes looking at me to my left and glanced over in said direction to see Hiei looking away from me. I almost frowned; what was with Hiei this morning? He studiously avoided me, and now he was looking at me when I came in from training with the help of two teammates. He was confusing me. I thought that he didn't like me, but if he didn't, why had he kissed me last night? I shook my head to clear it of that thought because I had a feeling that if I didn't, I would go insane. If I thought about anything concerning Hiei for too long, I would go insane; that was a fact…a fact not proven, but I didn't want to prove that one.

After lunch, Ryumi let me rest outside for a bit by working with the elements. When I had asked her how this was rest, she replied with, "Well, for one, you're not using your wings to work with the elements, and two, you're not moving around too much. Therefore, you're resting." Senko, who had followed us outside, snickered at me from behind. I turned to glare at Senko and then blew her away with a little gust of wind. When she tumbled over a bit, it was my turn to snicker.

~x~

Hiei watched the onna train with Ryumi from his window in the house. His eyes darted to follow her movements. After a while of staring, Hiei finally realized what it was he was doing and shook his head, turning away from the window. He sat on his bed and took down one of his swords to polish it, but somewhere during the polishing process, he moved himself onto his window seat so he could watch the onna train some more. He nearly growled when he had realized what he had done a few minutes after moving. Why the hell was he trying to keep an eye on the onna? This morning he had tried to avoid her in attempt to lessen the pull he had felt while around her; it had only made it worse. Then, when she had been brought in from training by Ryumi and the fox, a bubble of anxiety had developed in his stomach and he couldn't help but look at her to make sure she was all right. That bubble had really annoyed Hiei at the time, and it still did. Why the hell was he acting like this? He did not like females, especially the onna, because all they brought was trouble…so why was he doing all these things? And then it hit him.

Hiei stared ahead of himself dumbfounded. He had become…interested…in the onna. "How the hell did that happen?"

Sorry that this part is so short, but this was all I could do to actually get a new part posted. I hope you all liked it, and please (as always) let me know what you think via review. Thanks a bunch. ~Selli