Spreading Your Wings

Ch 29: Yusuke

Kelly wasn't surprised to find that all of her demon friends got along very well. The four on her squad were immediately accepted by her original friends. This made her really happy and everyone could see it. She was surrounded by most of her friends (a few still remained in Human World). She had more friends in this foreign place than she had ever had back home.

She thought it all over as she sat on a wide rock on the side lines of the makeshift sparring grounds. It was actually just a large clearing a couple of yards away from the bug fortress. Hiei and Mukuro often sparred there when they got bored, which wasn't that often now that Kelly was around, but she sometimes found herself sitting on this very rock watching the two duke it out.

Her eyes flitted to and fro as she watched Hiei and Yusuke fight. One thing was for sure, her fellow half-demon had definitely been holding out on her. She hadn't been fighting at full strength either, but even if she had, she still would have lost. His power was amazing, much better than her's and even Hiei's. He could probably even compete with Mukuro. Probably, but not definitely.

Kuwabara stood slightly ahead of her, yelling at the two combatants. Kelly smiled at his ridiculousness, but she didn't say anything. Kurama sat just beside her on the rock. He too was watching the match intently, as was everyone else. They all lounged around the field, sitting on rocks or leaning against trees.

Kelly quickly looked the others over and almost laughed when she saw Sora. He was leaning on the tree that Delia sat below. What was funny was the fact that he sat between her and Shishiwakamaru. Shishi had hit on her when she was first introduced and Sora did not like that. What was weird though was that when Sora butted in, Delia didn't tell him not to. In fact, she was almost responsive to Sora's affection towards her. Now there was a change Kelly liked.

She turned her attention back to Hiei and Yusuke who were still sparring. Hiei had left his sword in her care so that the two could fight with sheer force alone. So his sword was between her legs, leaning against her shoulder.

Blasts of energy sprang from their hands every time they connected. Kelly could see that they were past blocking. It was all about endurance now. And she hated every minute of it. She couldn't stand to see her mate get punched like that. She knew he was okay, but it killed her to watch it all. She could only imagine what it was like for him to watch her fight. At least she knew he was okay. When she fought, it wasn't guaranteed that she would come out fine.

The fight finally began to slow down until at last, the two separated. Yusuke was laughing and Kelly could hear him telling Hiei that it was a good fight. Others joined in the commentary, including Kuwabara who could be heard above them all.

Kurama chuckled from beside Kelly.

"None of them have changed," he said, not really speaking to anyone in particular.

Kelly cocked her head. "Maybe. Not on the surface at least."

"Of course."

She turned to him. "So why don't you go show them that you haven't changed either?"

Kurama's eyebrows raised, but he nodded. "Yes, maybe I will." He stood and walked over to the crowd and talked quietly to them. A few of their older friends cheered while their newer ones looked intrigued.

Hiei nodded and said something to Kurama, then walked back over to Kelly. He took his sword and moved it over then sat in front of her, facing her. She brought her hands out, forming a cup. Water quickly gathered there and began to boil. She spread her hands, causing the water to trail along in midair. She led the water to a cut Hiei had on his jaw, washing the blood away.

"What're you doing?" Yusuke asked as he came up behind Hiei.

"Cleaning his wounds," Kelly answered as she continued to wash Hiei's various cuts. "I boil the wooder with my fire element. Boiled wooder helps to disinfect the cuts. Then, I lower the temperature to just before it freezes. It helps to stop the swelling."

Yusuke watched as she got rid of the bloody water and replaced it with new water. Yusuke could see that it almost froze in her hands before she used it to go over the cuts she had just washed. Hiei sat patiently, not flinching in the slightest when the hot or cold water touched him.

"Well, you got your own personal nurse there, don'cha, Hiei?" Yusuke joked with a grin, "You play doctor and nurse with her every once in a while?"

Kelly's face flushed, but she didn't look away from her work. Hiei, on the other hand, shot a dark fire ball at Yusuke.

"Woah!" he yelled as he dodged it, "Touchy, aren't we?"

"Detective, did your mother ever drop you on your head when you were a baby?" Hiei asked tersely, "Either that or your brain is decaying; your stupidity is progressively getting worse."

Yusuke only laughed and sat down next to Kelly who had finally finished attending to Hiei. He in turn stood and grabbed his sword.

"I'm fighting Kurama," he said to Kelly.

She nodded and gave a smirk, "Have fun."

He gave his own smirk then walked back to the sparring grounds where everyone still stood.

Kelly knew that this was how Hiei was going to get back at Kurama for the date and for making her cry. This would definitely be an interesting fight, to say the least.

The others moved back to their spots to settle in to watch the fight. The two in the middle both drew their weapons and readied themselves. Then they were gone and the fight began.

"So, you and the shrimp are mates now, huh?" Yusuke questioned as he and Kelly watched the fight before them.

"Hard to wrap your brain around, isn't it?" she asked back with a chuckle.

"Yeah… actually. I never thought Hiei would get a mate. I mean… it's Hiei."

"Yeah, I know. But, I mean, it's me too that we're talkin' about," she said as if that explained everything. Which in a way, it did.

"True, true," he answered with a laugh, "You certainly do change lives. Kinda like those books everyone buys. You know, those 'self-help' books. Only, your way more entertaining."

"Thanks… I think."

"You got Kurama to act like a normal teenager, Hiei to act normal period, me to propose to Keiko, and Yukina to stop being so innocent and be more assertive. As for Kuwabara…"

He trailed off and watched as Kuwabara yelled at Hiei and Kurama, just as he had done the last time.

"Well, there was no hope for him anyway," Yusuke finished.

Kelly laughed. When she calmed down, she said, "I'm not life changing. I'm jus'… I dunno. I'm jus' diff'rent."

Yusuke shook his head. "Trust me Kelz. You're life changing. Yeah, you're different, but in a good way. Like Chinese food. Different, but good."

She snorted. "I'm so glad to be compared to Chinese food."

Yusuke only shrugged.

"Thanks though."

"No problem. I was only tellin' the truth."

Kelly smiled as they continued to watch the fight. It was basically even because neither fighters wanted to push too far. Their weapons would contact, then instantly separate, only to be brought back together once again.

"Were you scared?" Kelly asked suddenly, "The first time?"

She didn't need to be specific. Yusuke knew she was asking two questions in one. When he first came to Demon World with the monks as a half-demon, was he afraid that he wouldn't be accepted? And then, when he entered the tournament, was he afraid people would be after him because of what he was? Or was he just afraid that he would die period?

"Not really," he answered, "Then again, I really didn't think much of it.

"Why am I not surprised?" she said with a roll of her eyes.

He grinned at her then continued, "I think I was more excited than anything. Anxious. I wanted to figure everything out. I wanted to test my powers. I wanted to beat the shit outta Raizen for interfering with my fight with Sensui. But I think I was… confused too. I didn't know what I was doing, that's a given. But I also didn't know how to handle it. So I handled it the only way I knew how. With my fists."

"Of course," she answered with a smirk.

"You'll be okay, Kelz," he assured her as he clasped her shoulder, "You've got all of us. No demon would be stupid enough to even look at you the wrong way with us around."

Kelly gave a sigh. "Thanks again, Yusuke."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get all sentimental on me."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

He grinned at her again and took his hand off of her shoulder then turned back to the fight once more.

Kelly too brought her eyes back to the fight at hand. Hiei had finally started to get more aggressive. Payback was definitely a bitch as Kurama was finding out. She gave a small smile as Hiei's sword slowly overcame Kurama's whip.

She just had to pray that Youko didn't come out. She didn't think she could handle watching that fight.