Chapter Forty-Six: Calm The Waters
A majority of the time, I fail. At games. At life. At sex.
And just about everything that comes my way – like taking off someone's pants.
My pride must be sky high, because every time I fall, there is still an astounding amount
left for me to chip away at with my daily mistakes. Yet, no matter how hard the tumble, the feel of the concrete slapping my ass, or the roar of laughter at my reddened face, I, for
some unknown reason, keep getting up. I really needed to just stay on the ground and kiss the gravel to avoid further embarrassment. When one blushes hardcore, it kind of hurts.
But no, I guess I'll always stand up and dust off my pants.
Last night, I had tried to bring about a night of pleasure with Hiei and I did succeed somewhat, but not with pleasured groans. He had erupted into pleasured laughter.
Laughing sadly at my own misfortune and goofy self, I tossed one of my old t-shirts into my new dresser drawer. Mindlessly, I kept filling up the proper drawers with various clothes.
It didn't take long to unpack all the clothes. I had even hung up the nicer articles of
clothing, fixed the bed with fresh, laundered sheets, and added the toiletry items to the
bathroom. Keiko had stocked the fridge yesterday with a startling amount of food. Yukina and Keiko had given me several patterns of dishes and glasses to fill the cabinets. The house was thoroughly cleaned out by Gaston's superb team. Everything was tidy.
Glancing around, I sat down on the bed. Now, there was nothing else for me to do today in this huge house.
I was alone.
It was as I was sitting there, upon the lavender smelling sheets and comforter, that my mind dwelled on the word 'alone'.
Tonight, Hiei and I were going to be alone. I was going to be alone with Hiei. He and I were going to be sleeping in this bed tonight without Yusuke and Keiko sleeping down the hall –
alone.
These thoughts were frightening.
_Why are you worrying about this, girl_, I asked myself. _Haven't you been trying to find
some alone time with Hiei for the past few days_? Now, tonight, I was going to have him
completely to myself without any interference from anybody. This was what I wanted, I assured myself. This tension, in my body, between us, and the very air was making me frustrated and
exhausted. I was ready to just get this night over with, let it be done with, and moved on in my new life.
But, then again, the memories of last night swam to surface and I cringed.
I am so awkward and last night was just proof that I was and will always be a clumsy girl. I just know I'm going to mess up and be a disappointment. Every time I had tried to be mature, act sexy, and be a woman, I ended up humiliating myself into a blushing school girl. I can't even take off his pants right! How I was supposed to pleasure him when I couldn't even do
something as simple as that?
Holding a hand to my forehead, I bowed my head and closed my eyes. Many thoughts were flying around in my head. With it, came the words that I had tried to shove to the back of my mind, lock away, and find a way to destroy them. I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking of something
else – anything – but the words were persistent. They knocked against walls and clawed at doors.
'_Karen, can you just try._' I kneaded my forehead.
'_Every time I touch you, you tense up_.'
I pressed the palm of my hand firmly against my left eye. '_It's just sex, Karen._'
Biting my lip, I managed to stop the rest of the memories from that night of our fight before the words could slice through the walls of my head and jump out before me with evil smirks.
But what if it was nothing but pain like the first and second time? What if I could never
enjoy what was supposed to be natural? What if I'm just this stiff in bed, frozen, all ice, unable to feel any pleasure at all, and he grew frustrated with me? Was I really going to
have to resort to just faking an orgasm? No, I sighed.
Faking an orgasm wouldn't end well, because he'd know I was pretending. There was no need to set myself up for even more humiliation with my horrible acting skills.
I don't know why I'm making a big deal out of this. It is just sex. I wasn't a virgin anymore. I should be more than ready for sex, because we had already had sex – twice.
I stood up with a glare. Yes, I am ready!
There was a glint of light from across the room and I turned toward the source. The vanity mirror of the lovely table that had come with the bedroom set twinkled back at me. I strode over to it and my reflection jumped out at me.
I stared at my lopsided ponytail with a frown. The brown strands of hair were slightly wavy throughout the tail. It was getting too long. Reaching up, I traced a finger along the side of my face. I felt the smoothness of my cheek, but also the small scar along my chin from
where I had fallen onto the ground during my many accidents. Continuing with my persual, I fingered the small band of my tank top and slid the strap down my shoulder. Hiei did that, sometimes, but what was so remarkable about my neck or collarbone?
"What do you see in me?" I whispered to myself.
I continued to stare at myself, questioning my appearance. I tried to imagine myself naked, but I didn't see anything. Slipping my tank top off, I set the fabric onto the small table.
My eyes traveled over my body, but it was just me – nothing stood out.
I had yet to be fully naked in front of him. Would I be tonight? My cheeks flushed pink. I could barely stare at myself in the mirror like this and he was going to be looking at me tonight without a scrap of clothing on to cover me!
But being self-conscious over my body was something I could deal with and push aside with a strained smile. I think. I could handled the sex, the entire act of it. And if there was any pain, I could deal with that, too, with gritted teeth, because I had done so already.
It was the mentality of it that was worrying me.
…
I don't think I'm ready, or was ever even close to being ready. Even though I had thrown
myself at him last night with eagerness, I had known that we wouldn't have gone much further than touching each other. I believe that was why I was somewhat brave enough to undress for him.
'_Were you expecting it to be pretty?_'
I shook my head and reached for my shirt to jerk it over my head. '_Romanticizing something like this..._'
The memory of his hand pressing my hand against his groin and the hiss of his words made me turn away from the vanity table.
'_... is pathetic._'
I closed my eyes and counted, starting from ten, but my mind rushed through thousands of numbers in a random order.
'_It's hot and sweaty, so whatever childish ideals you have about it in that head of yours can end now._'
I was remembering the heat in his eyes that night, but it wasn't the heat of passion. His
eyes had been livid and furious, burning me into a frozen block of fear. His hand had trapped my wrists against the bed, bruising them into the mattress. He was tearing at my clothes and I was humiliated at his actions.
'_Quit acting like a little girl..._' I opened my eyes.
'_... and learn to open your goddamn legs._' No!
_You're being stupid, Karen_! I growled at myself. _That night was over with_! It's been said and done. I swept the memories of that night under the rug and walked away.
But why was it appearing now?
I'm not scared. I'm not and I was doing fine before today. Everything will be okay. It was Hiei. It was just Hiei. I was just nervous, but I can deal with this! I can!
'_Just have fun with it and relax. Don't stress too much about it. It'll happen._' I nodded at the echoing of Valon's words.
Yes, I just had to relax. If I could keep myself busy with relaxing activities, I can slowly exhaust myself into relaxing tonight. I won't think about it. I'll just focus on being calm.
_Be calm_, I chanted to myself.
I nodded and smiled stiffly, more of a grimace that if it had a taste would be as sour as
lemons. Grabbing my running shoes, I made my way downstairs for, not a jog, but a long run to calm my frenzied mind.
"Hey, you want to hit up the training room with me?" asked Yusuke to a bored demon that was resting his head atop his palm in the aftermath of a meeting. "I'm bailing out on that next meeting."
Hiei lifted his eyes, pinning Yusuke with his cool gaze. A minute of silence, which Yusuke thought was serious consideration of his offer on Hiei's part, passed, but the demon didn't answer. He closed his eyes in a sign for the detective to leave him.
"Aw, c'mon, Three Eyes, don't be like that!"
When Hiei didn't budge, Yusuke leaned down with a sly grin. Hiei refrained from sighing,
which was starting to become a habit that he had picked up from Karen. He didn't feel like
accompanying Yusuke anywhere. Hiei just wanted the meetings to be done with so he could head home to the woman that had been occupying his thoughts all morning, but Yusuke had other
plans. Moving his mouth next to the demon's ear, Yusuke grinned wickedly.
"You know, I think I heard something last night," Yusuke's grinned widened when Hiei
stiffened. "It was kind of like Count Dracula laughing, but it couldn't have been Karen. I wonder who that could have been? Any ideas, Hiei?"
Hiei cracked open an eye and it narrowed in annoyance. Yusuke continued to give Hiei a superior grin, but the demon shrugged and pushed away from the table.
Before Hiei could leave, Yusuke reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. "Don't believe me? Heh, too bad that I have proof right here." Yusuke's eyes gleamed in amusement at Hiei's casual glance over his shoulder. The action may have been casual to others, but Yusuke saw
the flash of surprise in the demon's eyes. He wiggled his phone. "It'd be a shame if I were
to 'accidentally' play this in one of the meetings, like if my ass cheek just happened to sit on the command button for my recent play list."
Hiei's eyes slid past Yusuke to a muscular SDF guard sitting at the end of the long,
rectangular table. His head was bowed and he was scrawling something on his notes, but Hiei saw the guard's ear twitch just a tad to indicate that he was listening. Hiei narrowed his eyes.
While Yusuke was busy wiggling his phone, Hiei had timed the detective's eye blinks. Then, giving a shrug, Hiei turned to resume walking to appear uninterested in Yusuke's threat.
Yusuke was ready to add on to his threat, but before he knew it, his phone was gone. He stared in disbelief down at his hand.
"Interesting," Hiei was shuffling through the contents of Yusuke's phone. "Does your woman know that you took a photo of her while she was getting dressed?"
Yusuke paled. In the blink of an eye, his face resembled the walls around him, making his dark hair, eyes, and brows stand out like the face of a geisha. "Hiei –"
During the time that Yusuke was becoming an albino, Hiei had checked Yusuke's play list, but there was no proof of a 'Count Dracula's' laughter. Going back to the photos, Hiei found the photo of an innocent Keiko standing naked in the bedroom and reaching for her outfit in the closet.
"Send," Hiei said simply.
"SEND?" Yusuke reached forward, but the demon had already thrown the phone up into the air. The detective caught the device and stared in disbelief at the demon walking away from him. "Hiei, you didn't really send it, did you?" Flickering through his picture messages, Yusuke blinked down at the screen. "You sent it to yourself?"
"Proof of your misdeeds should you decide to disrupt my break again."
Yusuke marched after Hiei with a reddened face and a vein throbbing at his temple. Pointing a finger at the demon's back, Yusuke hissed in anger. "Like you don't take a piece of something from your woman to work! This breaks the sacred rule of our friendship. We're men. You don't hold something like this over my head!" When he had stopped talking, Yusuke realized what he said and his eyes widened. "Wait, you don't have a picture of Karen, too, do you?"
No, Hiei didn't, but he did have something that he did bring with him to work everyday. His right hand curled around the lacy fabric sitting in his pocket. The small, nearly invisible tightening of his arm was caught by Yusuke's eyes.
"You have something of hers, don't you?"
He shouldn't have said that out loud, but Yusuke didn't think things through all the time. He had made his accusation while leaping forward to reach into the other man's pocket to snatch away his phone and whatever Hiei kept of Karen. Yusuke was close to Hiei's pocket until his
hand passed through nothing but air. Yusuke had just swiped through the after image of Hiei and was left to windmill his arms to keep from falling on his face. Gritting his teeth,
Yusuke blurred from view to chase after Hiei down the corridor.
The ogres that were working had stopped to regard the scene of the two men with curious
stares. When the men were gone, the ogres shrugged and began dashing about their business.
_Nope, I'm not thinking about tonight at all. No siree_!
I continued running down the sidewalk of the neighborhood, passing several people that were walking their dogs and kids that were riding their bikes. A woman that was watering her
plants was watching me run with raised eyebrows. Two small children waited until I was close enough to them before racing out onto the street sitting atop their bikes to beat me to the end of the approaching sidewalk.
_I wonder what I should do while in bed with Hiei_? I bet he thinks I'm kind of stupid for
just lying there, thinking of mindless things like where my hands should be when he's on top of me. _Should I dress special tonight? Is there a certain type of underwear I should wear?_
_Wait_, I yelled mentally. _What should it matter what kind of underwear I wear if I'll be naked later tonight anyways?_
_Well, then_, my thoughts continued. _Should I just be naked and waiting in bed_? What if I did that and he came in and laughed?
_Oh no, he's going to laugh again tonight! Why did that zipper have to break last night! Why, why, why_?
Two men sitting in lawn chairs and enjoying the weather, glanced at each other with
curiosity. I was too focused on my running to hear their abnormally loud voices, as they were both wearing earpieces.
"How long do you think that there girl will continue to run?" asked the first man.
His friend shrugged. "I don't know, but it's been over two hours." When I passed the two of them, the second man slapped his knee. "Fifteen!"
The first man shook his head, disagreeing about the numbers of time that 'runner' had already passed through the neighborhood. "Are you blind? It was sixteen times!"
Completely focused on trying to drown out my thoughts, my body was on full alert, acting on instinct. A boy of thirteen was crouched behind a bush with two of his friends. They
sniggered together in unison. Right before I going to pass their hiding spot, the preteen boy pushed a wagon out into my path.
_I should try to please him too, tonight. He's always touching me and the first few times he
had done all the work._ My brows furrowed.
'_And if, after all that, it still doesn't work, then just reach down there, grab him firmly, and he'll do anything you want!_'
A blush dug through the heat of the adrenaline from my run and waved at the world.
_A hand job? W-would that work?_ I pondered. _Or you could try being daring,_ argued my mind with a snippy voice. _A blow job_, I mentally squeaked.
_Che, don't be such a virgin! It's completely natural to want to please your man! It's a private act in the bedroom. There's nothing wrong with it,_ my mind snapped back at me.
_Not when you're me_, I fumed. As if I can give a decent job of any kind when I can't even unzip someone's pants. _He probably doesn't even want me near his nether regions after that catastrophe! I might hurt him or something._
Did I really just call it the nether regions? I shook my head furiously to swat away my nearly delirious mind.
A wagon rolled out before me and I hurried to leap over the wagon. A series of other toys
went tumbling onto the sidewalk from behind the bushes. I did a couple of flips to avoid the skateboard and tricycle that tried to disrupt my run. There was the sound of amazement in the air, but I continued down the street.
"Damn!" I cursed when I reached the end of the street. "This isn't working!" Stopping, I tapped my foot onto the cement with a frown. "Alright, a bath. I need a bath!"
Turning around, I began the long journey back to the house.
Yusuke finally chased Hiei into the training room and the two faced each other down with narrowed eyes. There was a series of alarms and a red light began whirring around in the
room, coloring the men's faces every half a second. An ogre shouted over the noise and began a countdown.
"Five," began the ogre from the intercom.
Yusuke cracked his knuckles. "I can't wait to kick your ass." "Four."
The room began to transform and the walls began to melt away. The outside world of Spirit World appeared and the two men were standing on a large platform. The clouds of Spirit
World's atmosphere hovered around them and in the distance ferry girls were flying off on
various tasks. A furious wind picked up and caused the clothing upon the fighters to billow violently.
"Three."
Hiei tossed aside his shirt. "You asked for it, Detective."
He was in desperate need of releasing some pent up energy if he was going to be successful in pleasuring his woman tonight. Hiei had been thinking all morning about the coming night and
assuring himself that he could keep in control of his instincts. He wanted to take his time with her and soothe her, because he knew that she was afraid of what he had done to her when he had taken her virginity so brutally. He hadn't taught her properly, but instead kept her cowering beneath him. All she knew was to be quiet and look away to bare the pain, but not
tonight.
Tonight, they would be alone and they wouldn't have to be quiet because of this big headed fool in front of him and his mate.
Hiei had to do this right. He couldn't lose control, even if he wanted to drive himself into his woman and take her repeatedly throughout the night.
"I have a lot of aggravation to work out. Your face looks like a good starting place," Hiei mentioned coldly.
Hiei unwound the bandages from his arm, preparing his dragon attack for later use. He needed to let it out anyways before his dragon grew too restless and Yusuke was the only one that
was unafraid to train with his dragon roaring in the air. He wouldn't use it on the human,
but the dragon would drain necessary energy from him during the fight and allow Hiei to focus on tiring himself out.
"Two."
"Fine with me." Yusuke dug a finger in his ear, clearing out the wax. "Anything goes, except death. I'm due home by six."
"One."
"Hn."
Hiei met Yusuke's eyes across the battlefield.
Tonight was for her, Hiei thought, as he lowered into a fighting stance. "Arena set up," droned the ogre. "You may begin."
The two fighters blurred away from sight.
Second bath of the day and the warm, scented water was doing nothing for my nerves. I drained the water, sitting amidst the disappearing suds. Once the water was gone, I turned the water on again and reached for the lavender scented bubble bath mixture.
_This is supposed to be relaxing_, I accused.
Thinking better of it, I emptied the entire bottle into the fresh water pooling into the tub.
As I was sitting there with bubbles glistening off my skin, I glanced at the bottom of the tub to admire the water beginning to pool. While staring at the water, my eyes happened to stray to my feminine area in alarm. The sight of it screamed up at me, because I had
completely forgotten what I had done to it yesterday.
Why did I decide to mess around with that bikini trimmer kit?
_Because you were curious,_ came my snickering thoughts.
I covered myself with my hands, as if there was an audience staring at me.
_Gr, this is Valon's fault! I just had to play around with that kit because it was sitting there in one of the bags I had packed, and now I had this – this – retarded landing strip! What the hell am I going to do?_ I groaned.
_Maybe he won't notice_, I reasoned. He might just be in a hurry again and go at it like he's done all the other times. _It's not like he's really interested in getting me naked. He only wanted one particular area bare..._
And that's the area that I'm staring at right now!
_Maybe I should just shave it all off and let it grow out correctly. My area down there looks kind of funny with just that small patch of hair._
But then it'll be completely naked down there!
Pursing my lips, I stood up and the gathering water splashed around my feet. Stepping out
from the tub, I crossed over to bathroom shelf and grabbed all the available bath products. I dumped a box of cherry blossom bath beads into the tub. The beads fell from the box with a
loud hiss and mixed with the aroma of the bubble bath water. I kept adding product after product, trying to create something that would calm my crazy thoughts.
"That might be too much," I mumbled after ten minutes.
There were candles surrounding the tub and flickering with the air pouring from the vent. The tub was brewing with bubbles and the aroma was strong. Heavy steam wafted up from the waters and I lifted an eyebrow.
It looked like I was preparing an underwater burial for a mermaid.
Frowning down at the water, I debated on soaking in that odd concoction I had created. It not be safe to sit in water that was mixed with a dozen types of chemicals. I might get a rash in my sensitve areas.
In the end, I decided to immerse myself with cooking. Food always helped when I was stressed, too.
Hiei hadn't expected his sparring match with Yusuke to last several hours, but the two men had been too stubborn to quit. It wasn't until an ogre managed to track Yusuke down with
several messages from an irate Keiko about missing the dinner reservation he had set up for seven-thirty that Yusuke declared defeat to rush home.
It happened to be eleven o' clock when they stopped fighting.
Hiei had walked calmly throughout the building, ignoring the ogres that chased after him to
shout about all the meetings he had missed. None of the meetings had been too important today and right now, he had other things on his mind.
When he passed through the portal and entered into the abandoned warehouse in Tokyo, Hiei casually checked his surroundings. No one was around and Yusuke's car was gone.
Quickly, Hiei disappeared and reappeared next to his car. Karen had only snapped at him once for being late. The only thing she asked was that he call her if he should ever be late for
dinner. One glance at the dwindling time told him that he was way past dinner time and he had forgotten to call his woman. He checked his phone, wondering if there would be a miss call,
but there was nothing.
He didn't know if that was a good sign or a bad sign.
A part of his old self cursed loudly at his soft ways for worrying about whether or not his mate was angry at his absence from dinner. Yet, Hiei pushed it aside. He had already told
himself that he was allowed to grow softer with his mate. He had spent too many hours telling himself to act differently around Karen and he didn't need the reminder of what his cold
attitude had done to her a week ago. And, Hiei didn't think it was wise to start off with a fight tonight given that he planned on taking her for the first time since they reconciled.
But it might help. They had always clashed heatedly during a fight. It seemed to liven things up and she had a temper that he alone appeared to be able to draw out.
Throwing his phone onto the empty seat next to him, he started the car and brushed off his musings.
His eyes were half-lidded with fatigue from over exerting himself against Yusuke, but he guided the car steadily. He felt as if the car was barely moving, but the speedometer
screamed at him. There was a time when he was able to run about where ever he wanted to go, but he had to adapt to this world. He had had to adjust to using this car since his mate
started wearing those skirts. It was a wise decision. Hiei wouldn't want to flash even more of her skin to the male pedestrians. As long as he ignored the trapped feeling of the
interior of the car, he was fine with driving the cursed automobile.
Hiei's body was shutting down with the lack of energy coursing through him and a few times he had to jerk himself awake. Pulling into the driveway of the new house, he left the car and
walked slowly up to the door. His fingers fumbled with the keys and he growled at himself. He shouldn't have gotten carried away with that detective. He was losing focus!
Pushing the door open, he was greeted with silence. The smell of food was in the air, but it was faded, as if it had been hovering in the air for a long time. His eyes narrowed tiredly in the darkness of the house. He didn't catch her scent on the first floor, but his senses
were dulled by the intense spar from earlier. She must be upstairs.
He entered the kitchen and the counter was covered with several containers. The Bistro table in the corner had smalls bowls set out for dinner, but the kitchen lights were off. Hiei
crossed over to the counter and peeked down at the covered dishes.
Karen didn't usually cook this much, but there was some of everything. Hiei thought it odd that she would prepare several different main course meals and leave them out in the dark
kitchen. Not only that, but it appeared to him that the food had been sitting out for a long time. Was she doing this on purpose, to make him feel guilty for being late for dinner by
deliberately keeping the food out in the open like this? If she was, then she was being
ridiculous, Hiei thought darkly. He wasn't that soft to go feeling guilty over her work. If she wanted to waste food, then it would be her fault, not his.
Still, he lifted the lid off a container. It was Cajun ribs. He grunted in appreciation and took one out to quickly eat. Famished from his fight, he went through each container just
poking about and mindlessly eating.
When he was finished, he made the effort to climb up the stairs. His vision was swimming, but now wasn't the time to hibernate. He needed... a shower. That would wake him.
Stripping off his clothes, he set the temperature for the water. His nose wrinkled at the heavily perfumed air within the bathroom and he glanced over at the tub. It was sparkling clean, but the scent hit him in the face. He didn't like it. It was too strong.
As he waited for the water to heat up, he unwound the bandages from his arm and flexed his hand beneath the light from the ceiling. His hand and arm were burning, but it was not
charred. His dragon's inky form stared up at him and he scowled.
After all this time, he was still having trouble with his dragon. Over the past few months, he had trained extensively with it against demons that could afford to be dead. It was not co-operating with any of his commands despite his punishments against it. He had some
control, enough to keep his dragon roaring through the air and avoiding idiots like Yusuke that were fighting him down below, but only for so much time.
He continued to stare down at the dragon, letting the steam from the shower gather in the
air. His eyes hardened into focus and the tattoo began to fade from his skin. He had noticed that in Human World, his dragon would disappear from view. It wasn't gone. It was simply
hidden from sight. In Demon World, his dragon was more alive and darkened greatly against his lighter skin.
It was his body's way of adapting to this world's environment, or rather, give him the tools to blend in among his prey. He didn't eat human souls. He hadn't for many years. Hiei had
weened himself off the need to feed off souls once the source of humans in Demon World began dwindling years ago, but his body continued to adapt.
He had noticed the changes in his body. It was especially more noticeable when he was
traveling between worlds. The slit of his jagan was absent in Human World. Most of the time, he didn't even notice his third eye. The sun didn't even bother it here in this world, but in Demon World it was different. His eye wanted to open in Demon World, as it sensed the
multitude of auras that thrived in that world, which was why he kept his headband on to keep the eye closed.
Even his fangs were absent in this world, but he knew from experience that they did appear during his nocturnal activities in the bedroom. It had been easy to keep his fangs hidden
from the human women he had taken before Karen, but she was different. He was going to have
to be careful to keep from nipping at her skin too hard. Hiei had been too driven on instinct for his fangs to appear the first two times he had taken her, but he could feel them growing over the past few days.
He was responding too heavily to his mate's innocent advances, which was why he needed to
keep in check of himself. Hiei knew she could handle his rough advances well enough, but he would rather saved those times for later once she grew used to him.
Thinking of his mate, his tongue flicked against the tip of an emerging fang. He closed his eyes briefly to calm himself and the fang shrank away.
Ignoring the heavily perfumed air and his thoughts, Hiei stepped into the steaming shower. He braced his hands against the tiled wall and stood under the hot water cascading over his
aching muscles.
The sound of the water hitting the tiled floor beneath his feet was lulling him to sleep, but he busied himself with scrubbing his body clean. The water felt too good. The water was hot, beating the tired knots out from beneath his skin. He leaned his forehead against the wall,
allowing his bangs to hang in front of his eyes.
He had dozed heavily for two minutes until the air unit kicked on from overhead. Shaking his head, he twisted the faucets off and nearly staggered out of the stall. He grabbed a towel
that his mate considerately thought to stock the bathroom with before he came home and
roughly dried his hair. He wiped down quickly, but already his skin was absorbing the water. He was dried within seconds.
His clothes were in the bedroom and he headed that way tiredly with heavy footsteps. The
stretch of hallway to the bedroom seemed to take forever. The walls were spinning around him, but he pushed through his fatigue.
Hiei was ready to enter the bedroom until he realized that he wasn't wearing anything.
Normally, he wouldn't care. This was his house now, but he thought of his too innocent woman and sighed heavily. Luckily, he had his towel with him. It was dragging onto the floor and he didn't know why he had carried it with him in the first place. Shrugging, he wrapped the
terry cloth around his waist and entered the bedroom.
There on the bed was a snoozing Karen. She was dressed in shorts and a shirt that sported flour and sauce stains on the front. His mate was sprawled atop the bed, as if she had
literally 'hit the sack'. She didn't even make it onto a pillow or beneath the comforter. He could hear the soft puffs of deep sleep passing through her parted lips. There was nothing
feminine about her sleeping position, but it was amusing. She was practically dead to the world and Hiei was grateful that she didn't snore.
Hiei didn't know why, but the sight of her caused the corners of his lips to tip up. Without bothering to dress, he slouched over to the bed and fell down beside her into a deep slumber.
"Ah, sir, you don't have to worry about waiting to go through the check-out process. You've been vouched for and you're free to go home."
Kuwabara's eyebrows lifted in surprise. He peered down at the shorter SDF guard, giving a look of disbelief. "Mind telling me who vouched for me?"
The guard pressed a few buttons onto the keyboard, but his computer screen came up with
nothing. "I apologize, but there is no given name. However, Lord Koenma assured me that you are free to leave. He said to go home to your wife. Perhaps, Lord Koenma began the process? It takes time for the name to appear in our records. It's just a slow day."
Glancing upward, Kuwabara scratched at the fuzz growing along his chin. He needed to get home and shave. This facial hair was itchy as hell, even though he felt kind of suave with it, but Yukina probably wouldn't like it.
He wondered who would take the time to clear through his paperwork for checking out. The
process usually took forever, but clearly someone was kind enough to put it through while he had been delivering Team Two's work to Captain Otake. _It probably was Koenma,_ he mused
inside his head. He must have been feeling generous today. "If you'd like, I'll ask around for you, sir."
"No, that's fine. I'm out."
It had been months since he had driven a car, but Kuwabara maneuvered the car easily through the streets of Tokyo. He pushed through traffic with a rumbling stomach. The radio was loud within his car and filled with odd news. It felt strange to be hearing the radio after the
months of traveling through Demon World. It was kind of creepy. He turned off the radio.
Once he reached a familiar part of the city, he turned down one of the nicer and less crowded areas of Tokyo. Houses littered each side of the street, but he kept driving until he reached a lovely house with flowers coloring the front of the home in small well-kept bushes.
Grabbing his traveling bag from the back of the car, he shut the door. As he turned around to head up the driveway, the front door slammed open. He gave a goofy smile when an elegant,
red-eyed woman came running up to meet him. Kuwabara barely had time to catch the koorime
that went flying into his arms, because he had been too busy admiring her beauty. He crushed the smaller woman to him and inhaled the shampoo from her hair, enjoying the soft, womanly
curves pressing against his front.
Yukina wrapped her legs around Kuwabara's waist and planted quick kisses against his face,
ignoring the bristle of his developing beard. Kuwabara tried a few times to tell Yukina that he missed her, but she was too busy cutting him off with breathless kisses. He gave up after a particular kiss had him stumbling back with a groan.
"In the house," demanded Yukina with the edge of a growl. Their eyes met and Kuwabara saw her half-lidded, darkened gaze. "Now."
Shizuru came strolling out of the house and headed for Kuwabara's car. She twisted the extra set of keys around her finger. Without looking at Kuwabara, she gave him a choppy wave over her shoulder as she passed him.
"Hey, bro," greeted Shizuru.
Kuwabara made a halfhearted attempt to glance over his shoulder to answer, but Yukina
captured his chin with her hand. His insides twisted violently at his wife's hazy expression. Maybe Shizuru would stay at a hotel tonight...
"Bye, bro."
Shizuru got into his car, slipped on her sunglasses, and blasted the music. Driving off, she left Kuwabara to stumble into the house with his beautiful wife.
In celebration for the arrival of the entire group, Yusuke had suggested that the group
attend the carnival that had arrived in Hakone. It had been years since Yusuke had been to any carnival. He almost felt like an old man strolling about with all the younger couples running about with clasped hands and sexually charged hormones. The sight of the younger
generation brought about memories of the fair he had taken Keiko to when they were both eighteen.
If memory served him correctly, he had had a rather enjoyable experience with Keiko during the Ferris Wheel ride.
Stopping in the middle of the busiest part of the fair, Yusuke was admiring the various entertainment stands when he caught sight of a couple making out against the alley wall between two stalls.
He was recalling the many lust-filled dates he had shared with Keiko during their early years
when they had been trying to get to know one another again after his lengthy absence to Demon World. Yusuke couldn't remember the last time he kissed Keiko so fiercely, as the young
couple before his eyes were doing now. He was almost jealous of the young man cupping a feel of –
_The hell_, cursed Yusuke with wide eyes. That was Kenji!
Yusuke suddenly grinned and fist-pumped silently, as he cheered the young man on in his rather vibrant make-out session with some young pretty woman.
There was a cluck of a tongue to his right and his eyes narrowed at the sound of it. He recognized that annoyed sound and he turned to face his wife with a serious expression.
She wasn't looking at him. Keiko had been giving him the silent treatment since their
disastrous fight the other night when he had stood Keiko up at the restaurant. Yusuke didn't know how many apologies he had screamed, but he had uttered enough that his dick was nearly
non-existant. At one point, he even shuffled after her while on his knees. Now try doing that while going up the stairs.
But Keiko was still pissed at him.
"I said sorry, didn't I?" stated Yusuke when she made the noise again. He was half turned to Keiko and giving her a pleading look.
"Yes, many hours later." She finally muttered. "You didn't even call to tell me you were
going to be late!" Keiko crossed her arms. "I was sitting in that restaurant for nearly two hours. Do you know what that felt like?"
_Great_, grumbled Yusuke when he heard her sniffle. The pregnancy hormones were kicking in again, as they seemed to do every hour of the day. He could see the tears gathering in her large, brown eyes. He reached out to touch her shoulder, but she turned away with a breathy huff.
Smashing his fists into his pockets, Yusuke stood behind her with a scowl. He knew she was trying to keep from crying because their friends were all around them and enjoying the
carnival, which was why he was giving her some space.
Karen and Hiei were close by admiring a stand with displays of artwork. Karen was chatting
away while the demon followed behind her silently. Kurama was buying Shizuru a water, keeping extremely close to Shizuru, as the crowd of women eyed him eagerly. His eyes strayed over to Kuwabara and Yukina where the two lovebirds were sitting on wooden bench and whispering to
one another with bright eyes.
It seemed like everyone around them was in good spirits except for them.
Yusuke eyes slid over to his wife that was half-turned to him and he cringed inwardly. He
hated seeing her like this, with her pretty lips trembling and eyes glassy from the on-coming tears.
"Keiko," Yusuke warned with exasperation. "Don't cry, okay? Not in front of everyone."
_Ouch, wrong thing to say_, he thought guiltily. She shrugged away from his hands with an angry hiss.
"Don't tell me not to cry! You don't know how I'm feeling!" Yusuke's eyes flew over to their friends, checking to see if they had heard her outburst. It was another wrong move. She
narrowed her eyes at him, feeling hurt and even more angry.
"You haven't stood me up since you told me to save you a seat at the movie house when we were fourteen! What was it this time, huh?" She poked a finger into his chest and he winced. He
hated it when she did that, because she always knew where to find the tender spot on his chest. "Was Toguro paying you a visit again?"
"I told you I lost track of time!"
"Ooh-wah," she hissed in aggravation. "I'm going home!"
"Hey, Hey, HEY, KEIKO!" Jerking Keiko to a stop, Yusuke spun her around to face him. "I'm here with you, okay?"
Yusuke really didn't feel like fighting tonight. He just wanted to stop this and enjoy
tonight. They could argue all day tomorrow if that was what she wanted, but not tonight. He'd even take the day off tomorrow and let him slap his face until he couldn't feel his cheeks.
Dipping his head to capture Keiko's watery gaze with his own steady brown eyes, Yusuke placed a finger under her chin. He lifted her face up, speaking softly. "Stay with me, tonight,
alright? Just... just forget about all this." She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her
off with a quick kiss. "Just for tonight, okay? Now c'mon, what do you want?" He led her over to a game stall and pointed at the stuff animals, trying to push aside their fight. "I'll win you something, anything!"
Sometimes, Yusuke did alright with his woman. He knew that she was a sucker for his eyes when he made them wide and goofy looking. If the sun was out, he might have even been able to make them sparkle. Yusuke purposely made his lips a tad pouty to soften her anger. It was working. He saw Keiko's lips tip up briefly and her eyes slid to the side to keep him from seeing her amusement.
Then, she lifted a hand and pointed at a large, fuzzy penguin dangling above them.
"That?" he asked. "Cool!" He clapped his hands with determination. "One penguin coming up!"
Paying the necessary money to play the game, Yusuke grabbed the ball that the game man
offered and began winding up. He only had one shot to knock down the entire set of bottles if he was going win that big fat penguin. After a thorough winding, he let the ball fly...
It knocked down one bottle. "Fuck," he hissed.
From a couple of feet away, there was the sound of bottles breaking. He turned to the side with a raised eyebrow and cursed again.
"Here you go, sir," the man said while handing Hiei a huge stuffed hippopotamus.
Without a word, Hiei handed the animal to a gleeful Karen and she set the hippo atop her
shoulders, as if she were carrying a kid. The couple disappeared into the crowd, but Karen's purple hippo towered over everyone's head.
"Here's your prize!"
Yusuke turned back to the game man and took the tiny stuffed snake that he was offered. His fingers wrapped cruelly around the snake's midsection and it's tongue darted out in a
wriggling dance.
"Hell no, let me try again." He pushed a hand roughly into his pocket to whip out his wallet. "I ate popcorn earlier, so my fingers are buttery. Babe, hold my snake!"
Behind him, Keiko had her head thrown back and was howling with laughter. "What?" asked Yusuke at his wife's ever-changing emotions.
"Y-You suck!"
"If you want a haircut, all you have to do is ask." Shizuru told an annoyed Kurama, as he shook his head to get his bangs out of his face. "Maybe then you'll allow me to walk more than five feet away from you."
Kurama eyed the handful of women admiring him from the crowd. They kept whispering to one
another, wondering if he was in some sort of boy band. The only reason he wasn't being
tackled left and right was because Shizuru gave off a powerful and threatening aura with her long-legged appearance and cool attitude.
"This happened before my hair was, as you put it, 'wild'."
"You should wear eyeliner, then even I can't save you from being smothered." Kurama gave the woman beside him a chilling look, but she only smirked.
"Or not." Looking away, she spotted the man next to her lighting up a cigarette. She had kicked the cancer stick habit nearly a year ago, but being this close to the smell of
nicotine made her mouth dry. "Merely a suggestion though, Red." "Do you want to move," whispered Kurama into her ear.
The sound of his lowered voice triggered a memory from years ago of the hazy night between
them involving lots of alcohol during the fox's twentieth human birthday. Quickly, the blurry night faded and she nodded once the man beside her blew out a lungful of smoke.
"I never did tell you that you look beautiful tonight, Shizuru." Kurama turned toward her and slowly allowed his eyes to move over her body, taking in the long, full length skirt she was wearing. When he met her eyes again, his lips tipped up into a smile. "Except your hair," he reached up and pushed back a stray strand from her fashionable braided bun. "I favor it down. However, still stunning."
Shizuru felt like snorting, but simply glance away to admire the carnival rides around them. "I haven't heard that since I turned twenty."
"A lie." Shizuru raised an eyebrow at the taller man. "I do remember paying a similar compliment to you a few years ago."
"I was under the impression that you did not remember that night and that we were going to forget what had occurred between us on said night."
"My memory was blurry, but my hearing was completely in tune to that night." Kurama looked away casually to watch the crowd. Lowering his voice, he murmured loud enough only for her
ears, "you wanted to forget that night and you were the one that avoided me for months. I did try, Shizuru."
"'_We were just the victims of a drunken one night stand, let's not get carried away with anything more_'."
Ah," Kurama sighed. "Quoted so dearly from that day. It brings fond memories of when you slammed the door in my face. You do know how to make a heart ache, Shizuru."
Giving a small grin, Shizuru fixed Kurama with her eyes. "I didn't slam the door. I shut it firmly."
"I acquired an injured foot from such a firmly shut door. To this day, it even throbs a bit when it rains. I think of you when that happens."
Shizuru laughed quietly, but decided to avoid their past. Nodding her head at a nearby roller coaster, she said, "well, I think its time for another ride. You do owe me."
Kurama caught the eyes of the passing women and shivered at the wicked gleam in their eyes. He sighed. "Yes, it seems I do, but does it have to be another one of these rides?"
"I like the big rides." She made her way to the line for her chosen ride. "If you're frightened, you can hold my hand again."
"I'll take you up on that offer."
After two hours, the group had dispersed to different parts of the carnival. I wasn't
particularly fond of the rides that Shizuru had convinced me to join her on and my head was still somewhat dizzy. I had no idea where everyone was at, but I was enjoying my time with admiring all the different stalls of food, games, and items.
Stopping at the large fountain on the west side of the carnival event, I set my hippo down onto a bench.
"What are you going to do with that ridiculously large toy that you keep lugging around?" I glanced at the toy Hiei had won and smiled. "I think I'll save it for the baby."
"A spoiled brat already," he commented.
The only other person that knew of the baby's gender beside me was Hiei. I had told him,
knowing that he wouldn't say a word to anyone else. Plus, telling him allowed me to share the secret with another individual to avoid going crazy.
Listening to the water splashing behind us, I glanced over at a stand that was selling
daiquiris. I wasn't an alcoholic. I was, however, curious at what the stuff tasted like. I saw a man pass near us carrying one of the drinks. It was a red slush-like drink and I
thought of my snow cone from the other night.
I lowered my eyes and placed my hands behind my back. Turning to Hiei, I gazed up at him beneath my eyelashes. "Hiei, could I... have one of those drinks?"
Hiei looked over my shoulder to the drink stand in questioned and grunted. His answer made me smile and I cheered inwardly at being able to try something new. I glanced over at my hippo, but he was safe where he was in this almost deserted area of the town's event. Who was going to steal a hippo?
Following Hiei, I waited patiently while he ordered my drink. The perk of having an older
boyfriend – er – mate, husband... whatever, was that I was able to have him purchase alcohol for me. I wasn't going to abuse the power. Hiei didn't seem to care if I was underage, but I knew he wouldn't let me drink too much. I'm sure if it were anyone else, they'd gasp, but I just wanted to try it.
With my drink in hand, we headed back to my lonely hippo. I sat down on the bench and poked at my drink with my straw. It was a frozen strawberry daiquiri. I gave a little sniff before taking a drink of the slushy drink.
"Mm," I moaned.
This was delicious!
After a lengthy gulp, I held the drink out to him. Lowering his head, Hiei captured the straw between his lips and took a sip.
"That's a bit strong." He leaned away from me and turned back to people watching. "Don't drink it too fast."
"Okay."
I'm glad Yusuke suggested this fair, because an evening of fun and games was needed after my stressful worrying yesterday. Today, I felt more relaxed. I think I exhausted myself too much with all the running, bathing, and cooking, because I had ended up sleeping for sixteen hours straight. I probably would have slept more if Hiei's phone hadn't gone off with a shrill and he had snapped awake with only a towel around his waist. I barely managed to sneak in a kiss with him this morning before he left for Spirit World.
Tonight, though, I was just happy to be spending the evening with Hiei at my side. Just like this, sitting on a bench and drinking a delicious daiquiri.
I continued to smash my drink with the straw and sip over the next half hour. I made idle conversation with Hiei about mindless things like food and Yusuke's horrible baseball
throwing skills.
"It might have been popcorn," I defended.
"No, it was that stupid 'winding up' act he did that resulted in his crappy award."
I wrinkled my nose. "Why would they give away snakes as prizes anyways? I don't find them cute."
"And that hippo is?"
"Yes, because it's chubby."
Done with my drink, I gave it to Hiei and he tossed the cup into a bin several feet away. I thought it was amazing the way Hiei always knew where the trashcan was when we were out. I
also enjoyed watching him throw my trash away so casually, without even having to look where he was throwing the trash.
A dozen gasps tore through the air, disrupting my thoughts. I glanced around in alarm with frightened eyes. The area around us lit up and I turned my gaze up to the sky. Little dots
scattered up into the evening sky, but before they could disappear, a series of 'cackles' and 'pops' split the air. My mouth fell open in surprise at the streak of colors that burst from the noise.
I watched the firework show excitedly, picking out my favorite designs from the bright
lights. There was particular star-shaped one that I found breathtaking. It would flicker into several different colors and fall down in a shower.
Halfway through the show, I lowered my head to share my excitement with Hiei. When our eyes met, my smile faded at the look in his eyes. The fireworks continued to scream up in the air and lights kept illuminating our faces, but we never looked away from each other.
It burned. The look in his eyes burned deep into my body. I had felt a soft sort of fire over the past few days, but this was different. This was more raw and violent. It tore up from my insides and splashed over my skin. My heart was beating, not fast, but strong and steady. I
could hear my heart inside my head. The noise drowned out the crowd's cheers and the roaring fireworks. They just went out without any fading whispers and I concentrated on the slowly
thundering heartbeats.
With my heart drumming loudly, I continued to stare into Hiei's eyes. Gold streaks swam
across his darkened, red pools and the colors twisted into a haunting glow. The fireworks reflected in his eyes and I watched them burst silently. The sky lit up, illuminating half his face and I licked my lower lip.
I wanted him.
And I knew that tonight, he would take me. "I want to go home now," I whispered.
Grabbing my hand, he headed toward the parking lot. Before we had even taken five steps, I pulled away to run back to the bench. I snatched up my almost abandoned animal and hurried back to Hiei's side.
"Forgot the hippo," I explained when I reached for his hand again. We hurried away from the carnival.
A/N: OKAY! I promise the next chapter will be your "special chapter". So I guess that's all the warning you get. You know what to and not to read, so there.
Thank you for all your reviews and I adore each and every one of you. Thanks to the lovely akasoeki for beta-reading! I'll probably be behind on an update or two after next week's
special chapter, because akasoeki has busy plans and I could use some time off to read and recharge my brain!
**I finally posted my sister's version of Karen and akasoeki's dream house on deviant art.** Check it out! Also, as some of you are finding out, I've been doing daily snippets on my
profile. It's just a sentence or two of where I am at with a chapter and even, possibly,
spoiler hints for the story. I've been changing them out everyday for the last few days and already some of you are questioning my hints. But I shan't tell or I might - I don't know.
Love you and see you next week!