Up Again

When Me'ran wakes up, she sees Hiei sleeping on her bed with his legs dangling off. She laughs a little, and sits up without thinking about it. She's achy, but she's still whole. Then she remembers that she couldn't get up, not long ago.

"Whoa," she mumbles. Then she sits at the foot of her bed and watches Hiei sleep. Mainly as revenge.

He seems to know she's watching him, because he gets a little squirmy. He looks like he's having a rough dream. His mouth is poked out, and his eyes are squinty a little. She waits for him to wake up.

It doesn't take long. He opens his eyes and darts upright and stands up. She giggles and stands up herself, putting her feet under her and lifting herself slowly.

"You're moving," he says. "It only took you a whole day of sleeping."

"I took care of you for a night and day straight, and you got the blessing of sleeping through all of taking care of me," she answers. "I don't even want to hear it."

"I didn't ask you to take care of me."

"You did. You appointed me the duty of taking care of you and anyone you hurt. Plus, it would have sucked if I had been stuck in the Makai with nothing but the corpse of my former comrade and half-friend."

Hiei makes a derisive sound. "I'm not your friend."

"Even so, I'm your friend. Thus calling you a half-friend," Me'ran chides as she turns to the closet and digs to find some clothes. She finds all she needs and carries them with her to the bathroom. She puts her clothes on a shelf over her doorway. Hiei moves about the apartment, and she hangs out the door.

"You hungry?"

"No."

"Don't lie. You're hungry."

"Doesn't matter, there's nothing in your kitchen that can be eaten."

"Oh, yeah, three weeks... Yeah, I guess that's long enough to kill what little I had left. That's alright, we can go get food, and then I can go shopping. I guess it's the least I could do for your help."

"Nm," he answers.

"'kaaay," Me'ran sings brightly. "Bathe first, then feed us."

Hiei sat in the hallway of the apartment, between her bedroom door and the bathroom door, and he was only half listening, because the first thing she did when she got in there was start singing, at first quietly, and then more and more loudly. Right now, she's singing in English.

Somewhere between the words "Happy" and another that he did not know, she stopped singing and gave a cry so loud that he was convinced she was dying.

"AAAAAAGGH!"

He started for the door, but no sooner than he had touched the wood, she called out, "Sorry, Hiei, got soap in the wound, hurt like a bitch, but I'm okay."

Her singing continues, but she interrupts herself frequently with cries of pain—so many that Hiei's beginning to feel that he should just leave to avoid listening to any more screaming, but then, after a while, and a final, bitten off shriek, they stop.

He strains to think in a straight line. She likes him, he knows that much. There were traces of that strewn about her mind. He likes her, too. But he has no idea what to do, now. He never entertained a relationship, and the only examples he has are Kuwabara's and Yukina's, which is mostly one-sided (it'd better be.), or Yuusuke's and Keiko's, which is dysfunctional at best.

Why the hell am I thinking this hard on it? It's stupid, there's no point in it, and there's no reason either of them would actually bother indulging themselves on this shit. Not only does he not know how to go about it, but neither does she. In fact, she had all kinds of problems dealing with boys whose feelings she didn't return, and with trying to figure out if she had feelings for anyone at all.

He sighs, leaning against the wall and waiting. She's still singing. Doesn't sound half bad, and she's singing in Japanese now.

He has no business here. He has no business with her. The fox will never forgive him, anyway. She's off limits, she is out of bounds, he is not allowed.

This, naturally, makes it even more tempting. Not only does she tolerate everything about him and insists on refusing to hate him back, but she's Forbidden. He should honor Kurama's wishes, as his comrade, he knows, but she doesn't return Kurama's feelings, and, better yet, she feels for Hiei.

Why is he waiting this long for breakfast? He could go out and steal something just as easily as he could sit here and wait. He doesn't need to be here, he should be somewhere far away from her. Knowing Kurama, he'll be here shortly after school ends anyway, and...

His impatience finally takes hold, and he starts for the balcony. But he hesitates for a second. Maybe she's done. Ten seconds more. If she doesn't come out, he's gone. He goes to stand at the door. Ten. Nine. Eight.

And then he nearly falls backwards, surprised when he's met with her neck. He's caught off guard for a second, but his eyes shoot up to her face. She suddenly seems a lot bigger, and, after he steps back and allows himself to see more of her at once, beautiful. Her skin is glowing, and her eyes are bright, and her wet hair is untamed and hanging beautifully around her face, and he has to fight with himself to not do or say something rude or particularly stupid. He can almost ignore the strange happiness that bubbles in his chest and almost hurts.

"Well, move," she says, pushing his shoulder, letting him step back. She smiles, too, and he remembers, oh, that's why I want to figure this out.

But as she moves for her door, he can tell she's distracted, and she stands next to the door, opening it, and she waves her unused hand to gesture before letting it fall to her side.

He starts out the door, and he reaches out a little and touches at the hand resting at her side, and reach into her head to see what happens.

She noticed, and she didn't dismiss it. She knows how little he does on accident, and she waits until he gets through the door to follow him. But being in her head shows him the turmoil that a brush of the hand started, and he steps back out quickly.

Damn.