Ari "woke up" , feeling extreme numbness. She couldn't feel her body. She fought her eyes open. She was...in a hospital bed.
"You up?" She heard a voice say faintly. She turned her head, an almost impossible feat and saw...Hiei.
"I...guess," Ari forced her lips to move.
"...? What?"
"I can't feel my body," Ari mumbled. "Just...numb."
"...hn."
"What's wrong with your energy, Hiei?" Ari murmured. "It doesn't feel right."
"One of Kitsune's tricks," Hiei growled.
"Oh," Ari sighed. "How long will it last?"
"One week."
"I'm sorry," Ari muttered, then chuckled. "I thought you were Kurama, at first."
"Grrr..."
"I'm sorry..."Ari sighed. She opened her eyes. She saw Hiei bent over her, looking her in the face. He brushed back her bangs and Ari saw her opening. But she couldn't hardly move. She tried to sit up and Hiei sat up in a hurry. He'd misread her intentions. Ari tried to pull herself to a sitting position.
"Lay down," Hiei growled.
"..." Ari stared at Hiei for a minute.
"What?" Hiei growled.
"..." Ari smiled. She leaned back and sighed.
"What?" Hiei asked.
"Nothing..." Ari sighed. "Really."
"What?" Hiei asked again.
Ari opened her eyes and looked at him.
"Why you here?" Ari asked.
"..." Hiei glared at her. "Why's it matter?"
"..." Ari thought a minute. "Why'd you pull away?"
"From what?" Hiei blushed.
"Kissing me." Ari smiled. "Why didn't you?"
"You're injured." Hiei frowned, blushing.
"Right..." Ari smiled. "I wasn't sure."
"...Hn." Hiei studied the wall. "I'm not supposed to be in here. I think I'll leave now."
"We were just starting to have fun." Ari said.
"..." Hiei looked at her. Was she serious?
"Sarcasm. Don't you love it?" Ari asked.
"..."
Ari experimented in lifting her arm.
"Whoo! Look, I can lift my arm!" Ari celebrated.
"..." Hiei shook his head. Ari tried to lift her other arm.
"Ooh, this one's harder. I can't feel either arm, though." Ari frowned. She concentrated and managed to lift it a few inches.
"Why can't you feel your arms?" Hiei asked.
"I think it was those drugs." Ari frowned and her arm went down and slammed into the bed. "Oops."
Hiei watched her try to lift her arms.
"Can't feel anything else either." Ari frowned. "If I hadn't opened my eyes, and you had kissed me, I wouldn't have felt it."
"...O.o..." Hiei blinked.
"Yeah, that would've sucked." Ari frowned. "How is everyone? Who's all out there?"
"Your human mother, Chetara, Ash, Arika, Kitsune, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Koenma, and some girl."
"Some girl?"
"Yeah. She's a blue-eyed blonde who calls herself Icicle..."
Ari blinked. "Why is Icicle out there?"
"No clue." Hiei blinked.
"And my mother's out there, you said?"
"Yes. She was talking to me." Hiei growled.
Ari laughed. "Oh, boy."
"She told me her name and asked me mine. Then she explained whose mother she is/was. Some people I don't really know. Chetara said that she was one of them and kind of explained the other one was you."
"Ah." Ari sighed.
"Kitsune changed my element into plant element." Hiei growled. "I'm a plant elemental now. I can't walk past a potted plant without having to talk to it. I'm stuck talking to these weeds for the next week."
"..."
"And I still have to kill Chetara, Arika, and Ash. Now, I have to hurt Kitsune as well. It was weird because the entire time since I accidentally kicked you, I haven't thought about anything else. I've been worried about you." Hiei blushed.
"..."
"Ari?" Hiei asked. She had fallen asleep. Hiei sighed, and snuck out of her room and back into the waiting room. Everyone was there, waiting.