Chapter Thirteen

Impasse

"I'm going to Mount Tsukuba this weekend."

Ashley had convinced Hiei to get another phone. Or rather, by the third week of their decision to work together to keep Ashley safe from the Legion's revenge schemes, Ashley had bought Hiei another phone. As she handed the small, easily-breakable device to him, she told him, while avoiding his gaze, "I'll only call you when I need to talk to you. I won't contact you other than that."

It was a nice gesture, and it didn't go above his head that she was still trying to respect his wishes that she not contact him. But now that she knew everything about the Legion and what they were trying to do, the art of not contacting him had failed. There were times when they needed to communicate, and both decided that texting was the last thing either of them wanted, especially since the last time when Dion took Hiei's phone, the demoness was able to have access to all past conversations.

No, talking by phone was definitely safer. And Ashley taught Hiei how to lock his phone, just in case.

Three weeks after they had decided on their little arrangement of his protection, she called him one morning. Hiei could hear water flowing somewhere behind her; she was likely doing dishes or cooking when she decided to call him.

It was almost endearing the way a thought would pop into her head and she would put everything else on hold while she tried to complete a call to him to let him know about something that had slipped her mind that she thought he should be aware of.

Almost endearing.

"What's up there?" he asked. Truly, he wasn't interested in her personal life, besides what he needed to know.

"Just some hiking trails. Beautiful scenery, fresh air, that sort of thing. Dad used to take me and my siblings hiking as a kid. Grandfather was a huge survivalist, and taught Dad everything he knew to survive an End of Days type situation. Dad then taught us bits and pieces so we could at least survive if we had to… and you don't care, do you?"

This entire trip really meant she was missing home, he knew. Yukina would often do similar things when she thought of the ice maiden village they had been born into. Deciding she wanted to see snow in the middle of the summer two years ago and trying to plan a trip to South America was one of those things. Once she saw the prices of plane tickets, however, Keiko introduced her to some website. Pinrest, Pinterest, or something.

He really didn't need all the information that Ashley gave him, but it allowed him a glimpse into her personal life, at least. Whatever she gave he would accept.

Even if she was sometimes annoying.

He ignored her last question. "So you'll be there just Friday and Saturday or what?"

He was in the tree outside her flat, but she didn't know that. Or maybe she did. Somewhere along the way she'd gotten smart to Knox's knowledge of where he was. He had been watching the flat for most of that afternoon, and mostly watching Knox watch him. Finallly, he saw her move into view of the window, drying her hands on a towel, phone cradled in the space between her ear and her neck, and wearing -

He immediately averted his eyes. What he'd caught was the slender legs of Ashley, wearing nothing but a t-shirt that just barely covered all the important bits. Seriously, did she never close her window?

The blush crept along his nose and colored his cheeks, and the distraction nearly prevented him from catching her next words.

"Yeah, just Saturday. I figure I'll spend the night here and then head out early Saturday. Just a day trip. Nothing major."

From his peripheral vision, he saw her move out of view of the window again. He muttered a simple, "Sounds good," and disconnected the line.

Ashley did not actually go for her hike that weekend.

By Wednesday it was plastered all over the news that Typhoon Nakri was supposed to make landfall that Saturday. He called her as soon as he found out about it. "Oh, that's a thing? I didn't even hear about it."

How she managed to stay functional without him he didn't understand.

Rolling his eyes, he growled, "How were you planning a day outside and didn't know about this?" Even he checked the weather. The phone she had given him was great for that. It let him know exactly what to expect. As a human, who was the actual one to give him the phone, she should know the phone's functions and take advantage of them.

"Hey now," she chided, hearing his condescending tone and correcting him. "I just hadn't looked. Anyone could be taken unaware. I'll just stay in, then."

"Hn," Hiei responded. She was at work and this was his usual time to be sleeping. Trying not to let Ashley die was cutting into his daily break from making sure she didn't die.

"Do you have somewhere to stay?"

The question caught him off-guard and woke him up instantly, the thought of sleep suddenly a long ways off.

When he didn't respond, Ashley continued, "If you need somewhere to stay, you can stay with me. Two birds with one stone and all that."

He barely recognized the phrase, but hung up the phone rather than ask what she meant.

The storm wasn't supposed to make landfall until Saturday in the wee hours of the morning, but by Friday it was already raining. Classes had been canceled starting Thursday, supposedly, to allow families and employees to get ready for the oncoming storm. It wasn't more than a light rain; barely enough to even make it through the canopy of his tree, but he wondered, briefly, if he would take Ashley up on her offer. Normally, in a situation such as this one, he would have stayed in that spare bedroom of Yukina and Kuwabara's.

This wasn't a normal situation, however.

As soon as he had the thought, though, he immediately chided himself for it. He would be fine out here. He'd survived worse in the past.

By three that afternoon, it was pouring, the wind was picking up, and lightning had started striking every so often.

By five, it was like the world was ending.

Knox's sudden barking made Ashley jump, Hiei saw through the sliding glass door, but really, he didn't care how scared she was. At that moment, he was more concerned that she open the damned porch door before the wind tore him apart.

With a little effort on her part, the door was open, and Hiei slipped inside before too much rain could follow him in.

Knox was still barking as Hiei ignored him and made a bee-line towards her bathroom, knowing he was dripping everywhere. After enough times of coming into Yukina's home dripping everywhere he'd learned his lesson to not linger in places inside the home where he could drip.

"Is it raining?" Ashley called out as Hiei heard the porch door latch. Her words were dripping in sarcasm.

"Shut up."

She snorted in laughter as he began stripping his cloak off. "Do you have a shirt I can use?" He called out, which wasn't necessary as Ashley came to lean against the frame of the bathroom door, arms crossed across her chest.

"Oh, so needy!" She teased him, a smile growing on her face and lighting her eyes.

"I'm here because of you."

"No," she replied as she walked away, her voice growing just a tad fainter. "You're here because you didn't bother to put a code on your phone and then lost the damn thing to Dion." Having returned, she held the long-sleeved shirt out to him with a smirk. Rolling his eyes and ignoring her, he grabbed the towel off the rack and started drying off. She could leave the shirt on the floor for all he cared.

"You're a little more built than I am, so it might be a little tight, but I think it'll work." She said as she finally hung the shirt on the inside doorknob. "Need shorts? I've got a pair here I think will work, too." She held them out, too. Truthfully, he would love shorts. Admitting he would love the shorts was a different matter.

He didn't answer, and that was all the answer that Ashley needed to hang the shorts on the doorknob with the shirt. "I'll leave you to it," she said and pulled the door closed.

Peeling off the wet fabric was uncomfortable, but soon it was off, he was dry, and he'd donned the clothes she'd lent him. Really, it was all about the right size. Even the shirt, which was tight, but not constricting, was okay.

It was workable at least. And a thousand times better than his drenched clothes had been.

Slipping back out of the bathroom, he nearly ran into Ashley, who had begun cooking something while he changed.

"Oh!" she squealed as she turned and nearly lost her balance. After righting herself, she tilted her head, cooking spoon in hand, wine glass in the other, as she took him in.

At the same time that she took him in, he took her in. Sometime during the day she'd donned some shorts, even though they were almost too short in the back, and a simple shirt. Her hair had been pulled up and out of her face in a simple tail.

"You look..." A pink blush started creeping into her face and she quickly turned, showing him her back, and busying herself with something else. "Good," she finished, her voice slightly strangled. "Don't you want to take off your headband, though?" she motioned to him over her shoulder, not looking directly at him. "Your hair was drenched. That's gotta be too."

Even though she knew his secret, seeing the line where his Jagan was was - or even seeing the Jagan itself - was not something he even wanted to broach that night.

"It's fine," he grunted, hoping she would leave it alone, and walked away to the kotatsu.

By now, after months of having knowing her, he should have known that wouldn't be an acceptable answer for Ashley. She was nothing if not curious and stubborn, and she seemed slightly tipsy, too. Three qualities that didn't always work well together.

She stopped whatever it was that she was doing and turned, slowly, to face him.

"But it's wet."

"It's fine," he insisted, trying to school his features into a bored mask.

She tilted her head again, this time a mischievous glint hardening in her eye.

Hiei's stomach dropped.

"You do always wear it," she observed, and, leaving the cooking spoon in the kitchen, stalked closer. "Is it to keep your hair out of your face? You do have very poofy hair."

She was close enough to reach out to try to bop his hair. Hiei dodged, stepping just out of reach for her, which only ignited the curiosity further. He watched as it consumed her as his mind frantically tried to search for a way out.

"Or maybe you've got a scar under there? Something you don't want people to see? Or you just want to look like a bad-ass?" She made a grab for the headband, then, which Hiei, again, stepped away from.

She smiled. He could almost hear the words whip across her mind: Challenge accepted.

Fuck.

Realistically, he could leave. He could bolt out the patio door, but that would only lead him back into the apocalypse that was raging outside, and he'd only just gotten dry. He could lead her around the room using his dizzying speed, but that would just incite more questions. Questions he didn't want to answer just then. She knew he was a demon. That was all she should know for now.

For all intents and purposes, he was trapped.

Again she reached for it. Again, he stepped out of her way. Again and again, it happened, the two creating a dance of sorts around the small room as Ashley started laughing at the game they played. Knox stayed way out of their way, watching them, tongue lolling.

Finally having enough of it, Hiei caught her wrist and twisted, trying not to cause her harm, but caught her off-guard and off-balance, and the two went tumbling to the floor.

Suddenly, Ashley was beneath him and reaching for his headband. Quickly, he caught her wrists beneath his hands and pinned them on either side of her head.

Next thing he knew, her legs had found purchase as they wrapped themselves around his abdomen.

Surprised, Hiei released her wrists to reach for her legs. Immediately, she was trying to pull the headband off again. She pinched it, but in an instant he had her wrists pinned beneath his hands again.

His headband was slightly skewed, but it was still on.

Ashley howled with laughter, smiling up at him and crying she was laughing so hard. Her legs stayed around his torso. He could break the grip on her legs easily. But he didn't.

As she laughed, he watched her come alive. Her hands pinned beneath his, she couldn't swipe at the tears rolling down her cheeks, so she didn't try to struggle to get at them.

Slowly, she quietened, and finally blinked back the tears of mirth to find him staring at her.

"Well," she finally said, laughter still ringing in her voice. A deep blush had filled her cheeks at some point, and deepened as she stared up at him. "It seems we're at an impasse."

It was in that moment that he realized the shape of her beneath him, and noticed what position they were in, with her pinned beneath him and her legs still wrapped around his abdomen. What felt like an electric current hummed through him as he took her in. Honey blonde hair splayed out around her head, and her pulse thrumming to a rhythm that matched his own. Her eyes were the color of the rainclouds outside.

Suddenly, he found himself struggling to breathe normally.

The silence stretched between them, like a gravity that neither dared breach.

In an instant, he'd untangled himself from her and fled, muttering a faint, "I need some air," leaving her on the floor of the flat.

- End of Chapter Thirteen -

Thank you to Oddity Empress, WistfulSin, ZeroDarkNex14, and Guest for reviewing on chapter twelve! If you like what you read, please review!

Here's a look behind-the-scenes: This chapter has been in my head since the beginning. Originally it was supposed to debut around chapter eight, Hiei was supposed to disappear on her (what is now chapters 10-12), and then they were supposed to get together for real, but the plot underwent major changes. Now, here we are at chapter thirteen, and still a far-off ways from where Hiei and Ashley will be at by chapter twenty (what was originally chapter 13).

I do not own, in any way, the characters, places, or ideas of the Yu Yu Hakusho universe created by Yoshihiro Togashi. I only own my own characters and plot.