Chapter Twenty-Seven

September 22, 2020: Part 1

There was no sound here.

Really, there was sound, like a deep humming noise, but beyond that? There was no sound.

There were no birds, no crickets, no passing of a nearby train. No one was talking or whispering or yelling or crying.

But there was that humming.

There was no here nor there. There was no up nor down. There was a world, but there was no ground or sky or trees or clouds. But she wasn't in a room, either. There were no walls or doors. She just was.

And within, there wasn't panic, even though she was in a place that didn't seem to be, and there was no anxiety. Coupled with the humming, there was just a calm, weightless feeling of existing in between.

It surrounded her, until the weightless, calm feeling was all she knew. That, and the humming.

"It has been awhile, Ashley."

The voice was deep, and the words confident but wavering, as if words had not been spoken in years. As if the voice didn't actually remember how to speak.

Ashley turned, as best as she could without her feet touching the ground, to see him filling her vision. A giant, black dragon. Slender, but powerful body taking up her field of vision. Sharp, crimson eyes, the color like lava, trained on her. She was but an ant next to this monster.

"Have we met?"

"A long time ago. It's good to see you well."

The dragon was familiar, in the same way that a memory or a dream from childhood might be familiar. She was positive she'd never met him, but in the same moment, she felt relaxed with him here. As if everything would be fine. Like a friend. But she was sure she'd never met him. "I don't remember you," she admitted instead.

"You shouldn't. Not until it's time," he said, watching her from above. "But I remember you. And I feel you now. You have grown in your power."

She looked away, remembering. "Only because I got in the way." If she hadn't been close to Hiei, she never would have been taken. That wasn't to say she'd end things with him, or change her relationship with him. But, if she could go back and do it all again, perhaps she could train sooner. Learn to control her power quicker. But that was the past. Time couldn't go backwards. "I was a liability."

The dragon didn't even pause, as if reassuring her. "You are going to do great things. You are powerful; I know it. Hiei knows it. You need to know it, too."

"I don't feel powerful. I feel weak, and scared," Ashley insisted. For whatever reason, it was easy to admit this to the beast. The dragon, she knew - somehow - would understand.

He didn't respond. Not right away. Instead, he called upon some of his power, the air around them and between them filling with his dark crackling electricity. Feeling it rise, it also rose the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck. Danger! Instincts whispered urgently. She felt the electricity's call as surely as she'd felt the lightning in the clearing the other day. It sang to her, pulling her to it. But this was only a sampling of his power, she knew, though it still stole the air from her lungs. He was powerful beyond imagining.

"As you once did, use what you can of my power," the dragon said, but he didn't need to. His power rising, she knew somehow that she needed to reach out her own and use it, too. "Become confident in your ability, again. Rise."

Raising a hand, reaching toward the black electricity, she called it, and grasped it, gasping as it tore through her body -

Ashley started awake, sitting up with a gasp. Heart racing, she collapsed back onto the bed in shock. What was that?

Stretching her arms out, she realized that Hiei was nowhere to be found, but the bed beneath her arm crinkled. Blankets normally didn't make that sound.

She grasped at the paper, folded once with her name written on the outside.

-Meet me at the training grounds.-

"What are you doing?"

He turned, as if surprised to hear her voice. Sweat glistened across his body, even in the early morning sun. The sight made a flush rise to Ashley's cheeks. His shirt had been discarded, and the sight of him - from his chiseled chest, to his crimson irises, to the black dragon tattoo encircling his arm - was nearly overwhelming. It took all of her control not to cross the grass and kiss him.

Black dragon tattoo. The thought appeared in her mind as soon as she saw it. Had that been-?

But she didn't have time to dwell on it. "You've been asking me for awhile, so I thought I should," Hiei continued, not noticing her pause.

As nice of a gesture as it was, he was right: he'd declined her request how many times, now? "What made you change your mind?" she asked aloud.

Hiei merely shrugged. That is, if she didn't know him, it might have merely been a shrug, but at her question, he tensed slightly, and a crease formed between his brows. Whatever thought had occurred to him perturbed him.

"You've been asking, and I realized the only reason I didn't want to was out of discomfort for myself." There was something else he wasn't saying, but Ashley didn't ask further. "Yusuke and Bjorn are better with hand-to-hand; I'm better witha sword, but I can still teach you. Now, come here." He motioned to her, and she approached, stepping closer.

Truthfully, it was their last morning at Genkai's. Tomorrow, she'd have to go back to her classes and teach her students as she was hired to do. They only had a few hours before they needed to pack and make their way back to Sarayashiki, but Hiei took every minute.

The sun had just peeked over the horizon when she'd joined him. He showed her how to wrap her hands so as not to damage them too badly. He wrapped her left, and then let her wrap her right, stopping to correct her when he saw a mistake.

For the next hour or so, Hiei showed her how to fight. Or at least, he showed her individual moves: how to punch, how to kick, how to block. Oliver, thankfully, had showed her proper form in a right hook, but that had been all he had showed her. Hiei went through individual moves until she knew enough to put them together into combos.

He lost his patience only twice, but each time he amended his phrasing to not come across quite so demanding.

Before too long, the cool morning bled into a hot one, and they took their training inside. Genkai had, at some point, converted one of the rooms of her temple into a training room. In the center was a large mat, and along the outside edges were weights and punching bags.

Even inside, however, it didn't take long for Ashley to accumulate enough sweat to shed her t-shirt, leaving only her sports bra on, instead. Hiei, watching her, smirked, his eyes trailing down her body, which only made her grin as well. "We're quite the pair, aren't we?"

He didn't respond, but instead launched back into his lessons on combos and how to put what she'd learned outside together. He eventually donned training mits, so she could practice the combos against him and not have to worry about injuring either one of them.

Going through the combos, one after another, moving her body, and training - pushing her body to its very limits, euphoria flowed through her. For the first time since the warehouse she body sang with power. Not her electricity, but with the confidence that she, herself, was powerful physically, even if she was still weak compared to Hiei.

"You need a break," Hiei finally called it when Ashley had started her fifth combo for the twelfth time and lost her balance as she was going through it.

Getting back to her feet with a hiss through her teeth, she ground out, "I can do more."

"You haven't stopped in three hours." Ashley ignored him, and tried to shake out the shakiness she'd felt start to overtake her muscles thirty minutes ago. "Did you even eat before coming to find me?"

She ignored him again. Of course she hadn't eaten. He'd told her to meet him at the training grounds and she'd done just that. "Not yet."

They geared up again for another round of combos, Ashley internally screaming at her body to make it not shake in exhaustion, but she went through the combos until the final punch. Apparently she put too much effort behind it because she was immediately off-balance and careening into Hiei, who's surprise reflected in his wide eyes for only a split second before he caught her and they both with tumbling to the ground.

She barely had the strength to support herself on her forearms above him - both from lack of eating and from exerting her body so much so she let herself fall to the side, so she wouldn't land on him. Panting, she tried to catch her breath as Hiei sat up next to her. "You… We're stopping and you're eating!" Hiei exclaimed, exasperated with her.

He made to get up, but her grasped his wrist and pulled him back to her, kissing him with what little energy she had left. Feeling his body above her, she caught his bottom lip between her teeth and gently tugged, a low growl slipping past his lips. He kissed her harder, one hand running down her side, pulling her to him, and then he was gone, moving away and leaving her blushing and gasping.

"You two need to eat," Yukina said, stepping into the room. She paused, however, as if she wasn't sure what she was coming in to find.

"We'll be right there!" Ashley managed to get out, sitting up next to Hiei.

Yukina swallowed a very obvious smile and turned away, slipping back through the door, and Ashley snuck a glance at Hiei, who, for the first time since she'd known him, was blushing, not looking at the door.

Ashley pulled herself up, as Hiei did the same, and stepped away from him, a coy smile on her lips. "Meet me in the showers later?"

He regarded her. "I'll be there."

Ashley hadn't expected to have the wind absolutely knocked out from her as they approached her apartment building.

A week. It had been a week. And while it looked the same as it always had, the flourishing gardens next to the playground - nothing had changed - her memories of it certainly had.

Her gasp must have caught Hiei's attention because his grip on her elbow tightened, and he stopped as she did, stepping in front of her so that all she could see was him. "You're okay," he said immediately, gaze not leaving hers. "I won't leave."

He didn't say anything about the fear that must have shown on her face, but rather bypassed it, straight to the issue. "You can do this." Of course, the way he said it left little room for opposition, but he was right. Ashley needed to do this. She could do it. Her breath still caught, and she felt light-headed as her heart raced, but Ashley still made her way with Hiei across the gardens to the front doors. She only relaxed onced the apartment door shut behind them and the lock clicked into place.

The flat was just how she and Yukina had left it. Yukina, bless her - the flat was perfectly organized.

"We need to come up with a plan on how to catch the guy - or girl," Ashley said, turning to face Hiei, who'd been watching her from the door. "What had Sophia said about them?"

"She definitely called "them" a him," Hiei said, watching her. His expression was unreadable, and his arms were crossed over his chest. "And she said you see him twice a week."

"Well, that narrows it down to my Tuesday/Thursday classes."

"We can just do what we talked about before: You teach as normal and I'll read them. If anyone stands out, I'll let you know."

"And if they do, I'll call them after class."

Hiei stepped closer, running his hands down her arms. "Will you confront them there?"

"No," she said thoughtfully, her skin alight with his touch. "I'll set a separate location. Somewhere public, so they can't make a scene."

He quirked a brow. "Do you think they would?"

She shrugged, shaking her head. "I have no idea. I have no idea what this guy could be capable of. I wonder if he would even know? I mean, we didn't know before Sophia outright told us. You said yourself that my memories of before are likely behind a wall. And since you can't remember anything, either, yours likely are too. I wonder if his would be?"

The night before, since Ashley was having a difficult time sleeping, they had stayed up late talking. Eventually, they'd come up with the idea for Hiei to read her, to see if he could find her memories. She certainly didn't remember anything of the before, but perhaps the Jagan could find them.

Surprisingly, it couldn't. Hiei had worked through her memories for nearly an hour, ignoring the details - they were for her to keep - until he had hit a brick wall, or rather, a fuzzy wall, similar to the one that Sophia had in her mind. But where Sophia's was made of static and had ultimately caused pain for him, Ashley's was solid, and there was no way to go through it. He could go around it, and found more memories of her childhood, but he could not penetrate the wall in her mind. There was an entire section of her memories that had been blocked out. But as frustrating as it was, at least Hiei had knowledge, now, that something was behind that wall.

Knox had been taken with them to Genkai's, although Yukina mostly took care of him for her since Ashley had been so involved in her training. She'd seen him and walked him some while she was at Genkai's, but now that they were back at the flat, and she needed to walk him where she'd been taken, her anxiety skyrocketed. Easily, that was the biggest difficulty upon coming back. However, Monday passed without incident, excitement growing for Tuesday, while nerves fluttered in her belly.

Although she never wondered it aloud so that Hiei could hear, had she really gotten to know her students at all? She'd been teaching them for five months now, and she'd only just learned that Ren was a wind demon and Tetsuya was a strongarm. And obviously one of her students had sent the three worlds back by years.

What kind of teacher was she if she didn't even know this?

By Tuesday, she knew what was coming as most certainly as she knew the sun would set that evening, come what may. By the end of the day, they'd at least know who the time manipulator was. Of course, neither really understood why they needed to find him, only that two Connections had told them to.

Tuesday began with her earliest class at 10:00 sharp. Of course, she was awake by 7:00, cuddling in Hiei's arms until 7:30, not wanting to pull herself from the futon. After this, it would all change, wouldn't it?

"You're physical today," Hiei muttered, still half-asleep as she wrapped her arms around his torso and snuggled into his chest. He smelled like a campfire, as he always did. He slept only with a pair of shorts on, which meant that his heat usually filled the blanket that they slept with. Unless they were touching, Ashley usually was the only one with a blanket, but it was usually thrown on and off throughout the night. She remained silent, though, not wanting to admit her true feelings.

Hiei, though, must have felt her heart racing and thought it was racing for a different reason. "It'll be okay," he said gently, or as gently as he could. It was odd. Normally, he wasn't as careful with her, but ever since he'd brought her from the warehouse - no, after that - after he'd returned from the House, he'd made to touch her more, and speak to her with a carefulness and gentleness she'd never heard from him. At least never heard from him over an extended period. She half expected him to revert back to his usual self every time she took his hand, or ran a hand over his arm, or the night before, as she kissed him as he went into the bathroom for a shower. But he accepted her affection, and returned it. And as odd as it was, it was nice. It was what she'd been craving from him for months, she'd admit, but she was also terrified that he would retract his affection on a moment's notice, and they'd go back to how they were before.

She wanted to tell him what was going through her mind, but would he think of her as weak?

She didn't get a chance to think about it more: Knox whined at their feet, ready for his morning walk.

Ashley made a noise of annoyance in the back of her throat, turning away from Hiei and looking at Knox. "Can't you walk yourself for once?" She grumbled, but got up anyway, Hiei laughing at her as she did.

By nine she was out of the flat and headed to the train. Hiei had promised her he'd meet her there. He'd made the point that it was likely wise not to arrive together. If this guy was some incredible time manipulator, he likely knew who Hiei was. So instead, Ashley walked alone to the train station, eyes scanning her surroundings, constantly. Once she got a little closer to the train station did she begin to relax. With so many people around, likely no one would be stupid enough to take her again.

She passed her favorite tea and coffee shop on her right, and her pace slowed. She often didn't treat herself to a morning tea, but that morning she'd left her tea sitting on the counter as she'd left the flat. And she had time before she had to catch her train, if only a few minutes, but the train was right around the corner.

She popped in for just a moment, the line, thankfully, short.

"What can I get for you this morning?" the cashier asked, glancing up at Ashley with a smile.

She usually only drank mint tea, but she was wanting something different that morning. Something comforting. "Do you have any Earl Grey?" She asked. Mum used to make it for her with milk and sugar before Ashley got adventurous and started branching out.

"We do; would you like a cup of that?"

"Yes, please, to go."

After paying for her tea, and fixing it the way she wanted to at the coffee bar in the corner, Ashley set off toward the train station and boarded without incident.

The tea definitely calmed her nerves, but by the time she reached her classroom and her class was ten minutes from starting, the nerves were back. She should have saved some of the tea for the actual class.

"I'm right outside," Hiei's voice entered her mind. The Jagan. "You're nervous again?"

"I'll be fine; just being silly, is all." She quickly changed the subject, hoping he wouldn't comment."You can read them well enough from out there?"

He didn't. "I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

His snark was obvious. "Well, don't get caught," she thought back with a smirk.

"I'm in a tree. I won't get caught." Ashley immediately pictured a cat-Hiei crouched in the trees outside, and Hiei chuckled through the Jagan. "You focus on not showing your thoughts on your face. We don't want them to think you've suddenly lost your mind."

"I've been gone for three days because I was… taken by the Legion. Of course I've lost my mind." She thought back with a laugh, and that was the end of that because the first student walked through the doors with an excited exclamation to see her.

Her 10:00 class as well as her 2:30 class were over the moon to see her. Family emergency, she explained, and no one questioned it. Also, no one in the class caught Hiei's attention as the possible time manipulator, which left her final class at 7:00.

Of course, they had three hours to kill before then, so they wandered over to the student center where Ashley bought them both dinner and they holed up in her classroom in the back, pushing desks together. As they ate, their legs touched. Hiei was the one to initiate that contact, surprisingly.

"Something's been bothering you all day," Hiei observed between bites, crimson eyes watching her like a hawk. "I want to know what it is."

Of course he would notice.

"I've just… I've been wondering, how terrible must I be if I missed that this person is in my class?" Hiei sucked in a breath in irritation, but Ashley plowed ahead. "I mean, really, Hiei. How terrible of a teacher must I be? I mean, I didn't even know that Ren was a wind demon or Tetsuya a strongarm until this weekend? I've been teaching them for five months."

"In case you hadn't picked up on this little fact at Genkai's, let me reiterate something for you," he said, each word deliberate, although not berating, "unless you've had extensive training and work put into your psychic ability it's unlikely that you can tell another person's power just by being in the same room as them. Unless they've told you specifically what their power is, it's not on you to figure it out if you haven't had the training."

It made sense, although Ashley was slow to admit it.

As much as she'd been dreading her final class after the first two came up empty, Hiei's words put her mind at ease, and by the time her students were filing in, she was the calmest she'd been all day.

As the other two classes had, her final class made a big deal about her return. Even Ren and Tetsuya put on excited expressions, and played it up. Ashley gave her apologies and her excuse as she had the first two classes, and began teaching.

She hadn't even made it halfway through the hour and a half class before Hiei's voice was in her mind. "It's the boy in the back. With the glasses." Thankfully, she'd just instructed the class to turn to their neighbor and share some sentences she'd just have them write, or she would have stuttered to a halt and made a fool of herself.

Because she knew without looking who the boy was who sat in the back with the glasses. It was Nobuyuki. Quiet Nobuyuki who was always at least an hour early with his earbuds shoved in his ears, and had been that day, as well.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." His tone left no room for question. Thankfully, she had a moment to compose herself, before clearing her throat and starting class back up again.

She had managed to get through the day, which she thought deserved a reward, but by the end of class, she had one more thing to do.

Nobuyuki usually was the first to enter and the last to leave, taking his time to carefully put his belongings back in his bag, making sure he didn't just throw them all in there haphazardly. So by the time he stood and made his way toward the door, the rest of the students were already gone.

"Nobuyuki, do you have a moment?" Ashley asked, coming to stand at the edge of her desk, his latest test already in her hand. She'd been wanting to have this conversation with him for awhile, but hadn't found the right opportunity. Now, it was glaringly obvious.

He stuttered to a halt, eyes wide and flicking to the door, as if he was wondering if he could get through it without her catching him.

"Y-Yes, Miss Ashley?" He asked, voice quiet. She was sure that was the first time he'd said her name since she knew him, but at the same time it felt both familiar and wrong.

"Do you remember the tests I had everyone take a few weeks back, before my absence?" He nodded, hands nervously picking at the skin around his nail beds. "I've noticed something for awhile, and it was obvious on your test recently as well. It seems that you're exceptional at English, even though this is just a beginner course. I was wondering if I might meet you for coffee sometime and discuss with you how you came to be so good at it?"

Silence filled the room. A heavy silence. Nobuyuki didn't make eye contact. In fact, halfway through her request, his gaze dropped to the floor and he started shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"N-No, I don't think so." He said, dashing her hopes that he might say he would. Well, this left them with little room to work with. Should she have demanded his audience? "May I go?"

Ashley nodded. "We'll talk another time, then."

Hiei slipped through the door just after Nobuyuki disappeared through it, radiating tension. Before he had a chance to say how she blew it by making the demand a request, Ashley beat him to it. "I know I messed up. I'll find another way, I promise. We'll think of something." She closed the space between them, leaving the test on her desk. She didn't try to touch him, not while they were still at school. He'd never reacted well to being touched in public, especially not while he was pissed about something, and he didn't try to touch her, either.

Instead, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, gaze on the door. "We'll figure it out tomorrow."

- End of Chapter Twenty-Seven -

Jesus Christ, I actually finished this chapter. It only took me two months but I finished it. I didn't think I was actually going to be able to post tonight, but I wanted to go ahead and get it out. It's not edited - I'll do that later - but I wanted to get it out to everyone who's been so patient with me, thank you.

It hasn't been an easy hiatus, I'll say that. I want to do a tumblr post on things that have been going on, but that'll have to be another night. For now, know that there has been some serious drama with my family. Drama that has taken a lot out of me mentally and physically, and has affected my ability to write. If you've checked out my profile, you've noticed that I've abolished the regular update schedule, so I don't know when 28 will be out, but I'm hoping it'll be out in the next 10 days. It'll be another short one, and then we have 29, which I'm thinking may end up being my longest chapter yet.

But before I go, I want to thank each and every one of you for being so patient with me in my hiatus. At least until November and National Novel Writing Month, I don't plan to take another hiatus quite so long again. A big thank you to AQunariElf, Lestatsgirl15, and lilbee17 for your beautiful reviews on chapter 26, and Tsarashi for your reviews on chapters 21, 22 and 23.

Also, before anyone asks, that first scene is supposed to be confusing since we're following Ashley's POV. We'll learn more about what the dragon meant later and why Ashley was able to call on his dark electricity.

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.