Hiei stood on the roof top with the fox standing near him and the small one standing a few yards away with his back to the setting sun. He was standing on the edge of the roof top. Apparently the three human spirit detectives had failed to kill both him and his younger brother.
"State your business Elder Toguro," the fox requested rather harshly.
The small one gave a vicious smirk and laugh that had not phased either Hiei or the fox. "I'll tell you after the fourth member of our party joins us." He looked down curiously off the roof top, tapping his foot in mild impatience. "Any second now," he hummed, flexing the fingers in his right hand. "There!" he shouted gleefully has his hand shot out and stretched down towards the ground. Quicker than expected, a scream echoed off the building below their feet. The fox gave a tense, almost imperceptible, sigh. Hiei bristled with annoyance at the shrill sound. "Found her," the small one laughed as he dangled the girl by her right ankle off the roof top and over the ground several stories below. She looked terrified as she clutched her school uniform skirt desperately against her thighs.
"Let me go, please," she whimpered, eyes closed shut so she would not see the ground far below. It was beyond irritating to witness her start crying out of fear of the small one.
The small one enjoyed her fright at his expense. He swung her precariously as she dangle over the air and let her ankle go for a split second, making her open her eyes and yelp. He gripped her easily again, holding her now from her right calf. "Still want me to let go?" he teased with a laugh. His forefinger extended and twisted tightly as it wound down her leg. She panicked, kicking and struggling uselessly, making him laugh harder. It was a sickening sight.
Like a delayed reaction, she finally summoned up her elemental serpent from her neck. The creature gave an audible hiss, rushed down to rest around her right thigh, hissed louder, and snapped its jaws at the small one. The small one gave a noticeable flinch and threw her quickly away from him and towards the fox and Hiei. She hit the ground half way between the pair and Elder Toguro; rolling involuntarily the remaining distance until she managed to stop herself before running into the fox's legs. She stayed on the ground, resting on her knees with her left hand on the ground and right hand in front of her mouth in a fist. Her hair was disheveled, partly coming out of her hair clip. Her creature stayed around her neck, eyes locked on the small one. The small one looked down at her with a bemused smile, waving his fingers at her. In reaction, she scooted back into the fox's legs, rooting herself there. The fox gave another tense sigh, but refused to even look down at her and acknowledge her embarrassing behavior. She had no idea how to even fake courage in front of an enemy, allowing the small one to enjoy her terror.
"Now that were all here," the small one began with a disturbing smile. "My brother should be inviting Yusuke as we speak. But I insisted on being the one to invite her," he pointed at her and laughed at her shivering, cowering form. She had not even bothered standing up yet. "When my brother and I fought her and the other two humans, we threw the fight on purpose. But soon it will be time to fight for real!" He laughed again, making the girl jump. He kept his eyes trained at her as he continued to speak while she kept her head down, half hiding her face with her hair. "There's a fun little event coming up. The Dark Tournament. It's run by corrupt, greedy, human billionaires for their own entertainment. Each tournament, teams of six, five fighters and an alternate, made up mostly of demons and a small handful of humans, fight, sometimes to the death, until one team emerges victorious." He stopped speaking briefly, scowling at the frightened girl in front of Kurama. "Look at me or I will make you look at me!" he barked. She turned her head farther away from him in defiance. "Ugh. Nanashi..." he hissed out her name, but she still refused to look at him. "You, your cousin, and your other human friend Kuwabara are invited to this tournament along with these two demons your trembling in front of. If you refuse your invitation, I'll kill all five of you tonight, making you watch as I start with the two behind you." Hiei hand itched to grab his sword in response to the small one's threat.
The girl was looking at the small one now, jaw set in determination. "I I I-" she faltered and retried. "I won't let you," she countered from her pathetic crouch on the ground. Brave words for a cowardly girl.
"I'll take that as a 'yes, I'll die in the Dark Tournament instead of dying here tonight,'" he replied cruelly. The small one savored the look at her cowering in front of the fox a bit longer, and then looked up at both the fox and Hiei. "My brother would like me to tell you to rally the humans. You've been too soft on them. He wants Yusuke at least to make it to the final round. As for your sixth team mate, you can choose whoever you want. The alternate can be any of you as well so long as all five names are down on your list of fighters." He looked down at Nanashi again. "I wonder how you'll last? I wouldn't mind going one on one with you, even with thousands watching," he teased at her. Laughing, he stepped back away from them. "See you two months my dear," he sneered before jumping off the roof top. His laugh echoed in the same way off the building as her scream had earlier.
Once he was gone, the girl's hands balled up on the ground of the roof top and she shook violently with fear. Much to his merit, the fox did not suddenly bend down to coddle her. She may want to be coddled in this moment, but she needed a stern hand now or else she would crumble.
The fox's face went harsh as he ordered, "get up," softly. the girl ignored him; only a twitch of her shoulders betrayed that she heard him. "Get up," he ordered testily. Hiei could tell his patience had finally worn thin with her. She shook her head, making Kurama growl under his breath.
"I don't want to do this anymore," she whined out.
"What?" Hiei snapped, not sure what she meant.
"I want to go home," she lisped.
"Come on. Get up and I'll walk you home," the fox promised grittingly.
"No," she bit back, making the fox frown at her childish behavior. "Not home here. My old city. Where my parents used to live." She paused. "I don't want to be a spirit detective anymore," she whined. It was getting even harder to be around her now more than ever.
The fox seemed to be growing angrier with her; now struggling to hold it back. "You chose this. Bar Kuwabara, you had the easiest choice of all of us to become a spirit detective. Yusuke did this to come back from the dead. Hiei and would be in prison in the Spirit World if we do not choose this. Your choice was this or forget and go somewhere else."
"I want to forget now," she admitted.
"You would forget everything. Yusuke? Your aunt? You would lose the wind serpent as well." The fox's patience was at its last end.
Her hand rested on her neck, and she shook her head. "I just don't want to die!" she admitted, tears flowing freely as she brought her hand over her mouth.
The fox's patience ran out and now his temper flared. "Stand up now or-" he began angrily.
Hiei cut in. "Or I will kill you," he threatened. The girl looked up at him in wide eyed shock. "You're an embarrassment." He stepped over to where she was on the ground and bent his knees down until his face was level with hers. She tried to move away, but he grabbed her collar to keep her stuck where she sat. "Letting Elder Toguro enjoy your fear like that." She turned her head away from him, flipping some her hair to obscure her face. "Pathetic." She was shaking again. "Look at me," he ordered, loosening his sword in its sheath loudly to emphasize his point. She looked up at him nervously through her hair. "Are you scared of me?" he asked mockingly. She nodded rapidly. "Speak."
"Yes," she rushed out.
Hiei looked at her curiously. "Who scares you more? Me or Elder Toguro?" She looked back at the ground. "Eyes up."
She raised her head back up, meeting his eyes briefly before looking down at his shoulder. "You," she choked out.
"If your afraid of me, then imagine just how frightened all the other fighters who will be when they face me in the arena." She looked at his face nervously, unsure what he meant. "But when they see you in the arena-"
"I'm not go-"
"Shut up, you stupid girl," he ordered as he pulled her closer to him by her collar. She jumped but held her tongue. "You are going. I'm not dying for you because your just some frightened little school girl who won't stick up for herself. I'll drag you into the tournament and throw you into the arena if I have to. And if you cower before someone weaker than me or Elder Toguro, then they'll enjoy toying with you before they kill you." He shook his hand free of her collar. He stood up from his crouch, looming over her. "So either you stay on the ground like the coward you are or get up, go home, and start packing for your training before the Dark Tournament." She had stopped crying now, wiping the last tears from her eyes. She began straightening herself up too timidly. Rudely, he put his foot on her shoulder and pushed her back down. She looked up at him with a disbelieving scowl. She was pissed off just enough to over ride her fear. "Up," he told her, enjoying teasing her a little too much. She tried to stand up again and was met with another shove down to the ground.
"You dick," she hissed out. She made to stand up again. When he went to kick her down a third time, she clumsily pushed his foot away from her. She stood up hurriedly and stepped away from him and towards the fox before he could shove her down. She looked down at the ground, avoiding the fox and Hiei's eyes. "I'm sorry," she murmured, glancing up at the fox.
The fox took a deep, steadying breath. "It's ok," he told her evenly. He was purposefully being the nice one of the two of them. "Fear is a normal emotion, but you can't let it keep you from doing what needs to be done." He gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Do you still want me to walk you home?"
She started to nod, but Hiei interjected again: "no." The girl looked at him nervously and the fox looked at him confused. "You'll start coddling her the second you see her frown." As if on cue, the girl frowned at him. He pointed towards the door that led to the stairs of the roof top. "Start walking."
She gave the fox a pleading look. The fox looked back and forth between the two of them. "Walk with her please," he requested. She shook her head at the suggestion. She looked like she was going to refuse to move another time.
Hiei grabbed her forearm and yanked her towards the door before she could freeze up, saying "move, girl."
She tugged her way out of his grip and smack his upper arm feebly. "That's not my name," she grumbled, standing her ground.
"I'll say your name when you earn it," he snided back.
She whined, turning away from him and heading for the door, too angry with him to be afraid again. Hiei gave the fox a nod goodbye and started to follow after her.
"Hiei," the fox voice called out, stopping him in his tracks. "I never thought you could be so kind," he said with a sly smirk, "while being so harsh."
"Hn. You've been too soft when you trained her. She won't be able to take you yelling at her when she needs it when she's so used to you being nice to her. Me, on the other hand, she terrified of me, which means I can do whatever I want to her, including yell at her."
"Just don't enjoy it too much."
Hiei turned away and went through the door and down the stairs after the girl. He followed her slow for him, fast for her pace down the stairs. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she rounded on him. "Quit following me," she hissed. She turned away from him before he could respond, running as fast as she could from him.
He caught up with her easily, running alongside her. "Kurama asked me to walk you home. Because your too scared to go all by yourself, girl."
She gave an annoyed grunt and sped up her pace. He had no trouble keeping her. After a few hundred yards, she started looking nervous and missed her left turn home. When she went to make the very next left turn, but he stuck foot out in front of her, tripping her up. She staggered, but kept on her feet. She stopped running and got in his face. "What is your problem?" she asked louder than expected. When he did not responded, she angry enough not to be scared of him to attempt to back hand his face. He caught her hand without flinching, gripping her wrist hard. She gave a whining hum as she tried to pull away from his grip, betraying that she was scared once more. He let her wrist go by just opening his hand. She pulled her hand back, scowling at him nervously. She stupidly turned her back on him and ran towards her original expected turn and took it. He went after her, keeping up with her slower than before pace with ease. He resisted the temptations to trip her up on the rest of the run. He noted she needed to learn to act beyond fear and move faster.
When they reached her apartment building, she was barely jogging. At the entrance of the building, she stopped, seeing the detective coming out of the entrance with a bag over his shoulder.
"Hey, there you are," he called out to her. She ran at him, practically tackling him as she hugged him. He dropped his bag in a hurry, pulling her into his arms. When she started whimpering, Hiei watched all his effort to keep her from letting her fear consume him was wasted because instead of the fox coddling her, the detective was doing it. It was if she wanted everyone she knew to pander to her whims. "Hey, calm down, take it easy," he shushed her. He took a step back from her, hands on both of her shoulders. She was shaking a bit, looking down at the ground. "I'm guessing you got your Dark Tournament invite to huh?" Instead of responding, she brought her hands up to her eyes, crying anew. The detective swore and pulled her back into her arms. "That bad huh?" He looked over at Hiei questioningly. "What the hell happened?"
"She can tell you," he snapped back.
The detective frowned at him. "So can you." He looked back down at the girl. "What happened?" he asked gently.
A long process ensued where she managed to give him the gist of what happened from the small one dangling her from the roof top, the invitation to the Dark Tournament, and finishing with a look at Hiei as she said "he yelled at me."
"Was that necessary?" the detective snapped at him.
Hiei nodded. "Next time I'll leave her on the roof then, crying over how life is not fair."
The detective huffed and spoke next to the girl. "Listen. I've contacted Koenma on the way home about that stupid invitation to that stupid tournament." She looked up at him, nodding to show she was listening. "He's already procured a training ground for the four of you." She looked up at him, mouthing the word four. "I'm going to Genkai's to train." He glanced up at Hiei and looked back down at the girl. "You need to go pack and be at the park on the north side of town at midnight." He put his hand underneath her chin, making her look up at him. "I've already given my mom a vague cover story that were going on a long term overseas mission with that detective agency we intern for." He gave her a wink. "But you've been crying... which she might be sober enough right now to notice..." He frowned, thinking hard. "Hm... She does have herself convinced you're in love with Kurama, even if you were just on a date with that Kaito guy-"
"But I'm not," she interrupted, acting embarrassed. "I don't... um... like him... well, not like that anyway..."
The detective gave a chuckle. "That's not what she thinks... Hm... Give her a mom moment with you before you leave..." With a sly smile, he suggested "tell her because you're leaving for the mission, you went and found him and confessed your undying love, but he, gasp, rejected you because your boobs are too small and you read to many books." She smacked his chest childishly in response. "Hey, I was only teasing. But still, if she notices you've been crying, you probably shouldn't tell her it's because a creeper forced invited you to a deadly tournament and then our three eyed friend here was being a bully." He pulled her in for one last hug and bid his goodbye. "See you in two months," he told the girl with a playful ruffle of her hair. He picked up his bag and walked passed Hiei saying, "try to be nice."