Content Warning: mentions of alcohol and drinking
Chapter Thirty
Drunken Shenanigans
Dinner was an uneventful affair, but afterward some demons returned from patrolling, bringing sake and beer. Old friends of Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara. Hiei quietly explained that they had all met over a decade previously, during something called a Dark Tournament. As much as Ashley wanted to ask, the tallest one had crossed the room, already slurring his words, and embraced Hiei in a hug, much to the disdain of Hiei.
Ashley, of course, couldn't help but laugh, or at least try to hide her laughter from Hiei who shot her a scathing glare over the muscled forearm of the man.
His name was Chu, she learned soon after he embraced her, as well. Hiei looked ready to take his arm off, but really, it was okay.
The others were Jin, who was only about as tall as she was with his flaming red hair, sky blue eyes and small horn sticking out of his forehead, and Touya, who was quiet and watched everyone carefully. Ashley guessed he probably noticed more than he should, with his sharp gaze. Really, while he was the shortest, he was the most intimidating. Jin, however, could have made friends with drying paint. He was light on his feet - another elemental demon - and high energy. Immediately she liked him the most, though trying to understand him through his Irish accent was close to impossible. Even Chu with his Australian accent was easier to understand.
Hiei looked like he wanted to slink away from the group, but it was decided - without his input - that they should open the sake and beer on Genkai's porch and catch up.
At least, they were there until Genkai kicked them off and told them to get smashed elsewhere.
They didn't go far. A fire pit had been placed several feet from the main porch at some point during Genkai's ownership of the temple. Only two chairs surrounded the pit, and a few logs as well. Yukina and Keiko both took a chair with Kuwabara and Yusuke leaning up against the chair at their feet. The others gathered around the pit as Yusuke goaded Hiei into lighting the wood in the pit. Ashley took a seat on the ground, against one of the logs, and soon Hiei joined her, sitting on her right side. They were just barely touching, but Ashley could still feel the heat rising off of Hiei, and his proximity felt like a live wire.
He had joined her at the kitchen table in Genkai's kitchen earlier that day, placing a hand upon her leg. Honestly, she had been wondering if he'd eaten something bad. He never touched her with others around, but even now, as they settled together against the log, he threw his left arm over her shoulder, hugging her to him. One knee cocked up, he had the other arm braced against it, watching the others chatter.
Ashley's chest warmed at the touch, as heat raced through her. "Are you sure?" She whispered to him, turning only slightly. This close, he smelled like the pine trees he so often liked to perch in, and hints of the bonfire he just started. He smelled like home.
He, in turn, shifted to look at her better, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Without a word, he turned back around and squeezed her closer to him.
She relaxed into his touch.
The others also gathered around the fire: Kurama, Chu, Jin, Touya, and Bjorn. Within an hour, conversation dissolved from catching up to games as the night wore on.
"So, the thing you have to do," Ashley began. Somehow the game "Never have I Ever" had been brought up and Ashley and Keiko were the only ones who knew how to play. "Is say something about you that's true. So like, for example: Never have I ever kissed someone I didn't like. And if you have done that thing, you take a drink. But you have to keep track of how many drinks you take. If you get to 10 things you have done you're out of the game and the rest of us keep playing until there's a winner."
"So the winner is the person who has done the least amount of things that other people have done, right?"
"Yeah, that's about it," Keiko added, hands wrapped around her beer as well. The sake had long ago run out, but there was still plenty of beer.
"Well I know who's going to win, then, don't you?" Chu cackled, rolling back as if he was the funniest man in the world. "I bet all'a you by the end of this it'll be those three still standing having a go at one another."
Ashley suppressed a groan. Keiko didn't look too amused, either. Yukina, for all her innocence, only smiled politely.
"We shall see, won't we, Chu?" Yukina asked, sipping on the cup of water in her hand. She had drank some of the sake when it was being passed around but now she only nursed a water. Kuwabara, at her feet, looked far more amused by Chu's comment than anyone else around the fire.
"So do you all want to play or not?" Keiko said.
Chu held up his hands with a grin. "We can give it a go, eh? See how it goes."
"Did Nobuyuki not want to join us tonight?" Ashley asked. Hiei shrugged.
"We asked. He said he didn't," Kuwabara replied.
"But he's not your prisoner, right?" She asked it even though she knew the answer. After Kurama and Hiei had returned to the kitchen, they'd explained that Nobuyuki, while he'd turned back the clock, he hadn't done it with malicious intent, nor intended to turn it back quite so far. They'd also filled Ashley and Yukina in on the biggest details they could, though Ashley was sure that they left some things out. In the place where Hiei had stumbled in explaining, Kurama picked up and changed the subject. The biggest thing, however, was that she and Nobuyuki had been friends in the first time line. Friends. Best friends.
It still boggled her mind.
But after the questioning period that the boys and Nobuyuki went through, Nobuyuki didn't show his face again. Hiei assured her that he was somewhere in the temple, likely with Genkai, but that didn't frustrate her any less.
Hiei and Kurama had explained that she and Nobuyuki had been close, and then it felt like he was avoiding her. Maybe she could find him later and they could talk. Whatever reason Nobuyuki decided not to join them, Ashley couldn't figure it out.
"No," Kurama spoke then, answering her question. Even sitting on the ground against an old log he looked elegant. How in the world he managed that Ashley would never understand. "He said he wanted to be alone."
"Grandma's keeping him company, though," Yusuke shot, taking a drink of his beer.
"Alright, then," Keiko shifted in her seat, trying to pull the conversation back to the game at hand. She thought for a moment, finger at her chin. "Never have I ever… kissed a girl."
It was like the entire group paused, thinking for a moment and trying to wrap their mind around whether they had actually kissed a girl. As one, all the boys took a swig, as well as Yukina and Ashley.
As Ashley lowered her beer bottle from her lips, she nearly choked on her drink. The look of absolute shock that had taken over Hiei's expression was enough to send her into fits of laughter, but she didn't want to asphyxiate on her drink, either.
And when he realized that Yukina had also taken a drink -
"Try not to look so shocked, Hiei." Yukina said, the sly smile back.
"You both… have…?"
"Breathe, Hiei," Ashley poked him in the ribs. He barely moved. "I'll tell you all about it later, if you like."
"No, no," Chu cut in, "I'm going to need a story for that one. A little thing like you kissing another girl? I don't believe it."
If Hiei had looked like he wanted to take Chu's arm off earlier, now he was wishing for his head. With a quick glance at Hiei out of the corner of her eye, Ashley took another swig of her beer. "Some guy at a party wouldn't take a hint. So, Isla and I pretended to be dating…"
Surely she wouldn't have to fill in those blanks.
"And you?" Chu pointed at Yukina.
"I grew up with the Ice Maidens," she said, gaze never leaving Chu's.
It was silent for a moment. Then when she didn't continue, Jin crowed, "Well, it looks like the playing field just got a bit more evenly matched, don't'cha think?"
Yusuke was next, at Keiko's feet. "So we can say whatever we want as long as it's true, right?" Several nods met his question. He thought for awhile. "Fuck, I can't think of anything!" Then he caught Ashley's eye from across the fire, and started giggling like a schoolgirl. "Never have I ever read a book in a day."
Grinning like the Cheshire cat, Yusuke watched Ashley take a full swig, eyes narrowed and never leaving his. He didn't even catch Kuwabara or Yukina do the same.
"So it's like that, huh?" Ashley ground out. "Usually the sabotage doesn't start until later."
Yusuke shrugged. "Not my fault. Maybe you should read less."
"Or maybe you should read more." Ashley held his gaze. "Watch yourself, Urameshi." Yusuke's grin didn't falter.
And like that, the game took off.
Bjorn leaned back. "Never have I ever smoked weed."
"No!" Ashley exclaimed. "What do you do, all the way north? During those winters of yours?"
Bjorn chuckled. "We have pissing contests off the fjords to see who's piss freezes first." Yusuke and Chu could barely contain themselves in laughter. Ashley, however, drank.
Chu's was, "Never have I ever kissed a human," when he couldn't think of anything. Ashley, Yukina, and Yusuke drank. When Yusuke asked why the hell Keiko wasn't drinking, she merely leaned back in her chair. "I didn't kiss you until after your demon energy woke. Or did you forget?" Kurama, of course, chuckled politely.
Touya sat a moment, pondering what he had never done. "Never have I ever won the Dark Tournament."
Two groans met his ears as Yusuke and Kuwabara brought their bottles to their lips. Kurama also drank.
"Hiei, you need you drink, too!" Jin piped up from Ashley's other side.
Hiei merely lifted a brow. "Are you not going to play?" Ashley asked.
"No," Hiei replied. "But I'll sit here while you all do."
Ashley sighed, and leaned over Hiei to ask Touya, steeling herself for talking to the demon, "Okay, so what's the Dark Tournament? This is the second time I've heard that name tonight."
"What's the Dark Tournament-?" Chu burst with surprise. "Hiei, have you been keeping her in the dark?"
Next to her, Hiei bristled. "It's never come up."
"Never come up," Chu repeated in shock, rubbing a hand down his face.
"Ashley, the Dark Tournament is what these four won over a decade ago. It's a tournament that's here in Human World where all the best demons come to fight for the title." Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei had all gone silent, listening to the others tell Ashley what it was. "If you win, you can have anything you ask for. Many die, but it's great to watch, all the same."
"It's terrifying," Keiko finally murmured, running a finger over the lip of her bottle. "Terrifying and awe-inspiring."
"You've seen it?" Ashley asked.
Keiko motioned to Yukina. "Yukina, Shizuru, Botan, and myself got to watch it the same year the boys competed-"
"Competed is a little much, don't you think? Forced to compete is more like it." Yusuke muttered under his breath.
"And," Keiko continued, not deterred by her fiance, "It's where Hiei mastered the Dragon."
Ashley's attention whipped to Hiei. "Dragon?" He shifted, almost uncomfortably. "Is that the dragon tattoo I've seen on your right arm?"
"Hiei!" Yukina was laughing with incredulity. "You've really told her nothing?"
Hiei's scarlet gaze locked with Ashley. "I've told you the important stuff." Ashley's lips rose in a small smile, and she scooted closer to him.
"I'd like to see it, she muttered in his ear, trying less to be sexy and mysterious and more trying not to let the others hear. "I don't know if there's footage of it, but I would like to see what you can do." She leaned back. Hiei shifted, uncomfortable again, though this time for a different reason. "I've never seen you fight."
He didn't respond, so with that, it was her turn.
"Never have I ever…" she began, searching for something she could use, but thoughts of the Dark Tournament still swirled in her head. "…Nearly died."
After a tense moment, though Ashley couldn't figure out exactly what she'd said to make it so tense, everyone except Bjorn, Keiko, and Yukina, drank.
Jin was next. "Never have I ever…" he looked to Kurama, next to him. "Sustained a wound to the stomach."
Next to her, Hiei took a tense, deep breath. Kurama drank.
"Are you okay?" Ashley asked, leaning in close.
Hiei's lips formed a thin line of frustration. Something was bothering him, but what, exactly, was lost on her.
"I will be," Hiei said instead, and hugged her closer.
From there, the night passed smoothly. The declarations of things they had never done ranged from "broken a bone" to "been in a fistfight" to "flirted their way out of a speeding ticket." On that one, Kurama, Yukina, and Ashley had drank.
After another round, at Keiko's next turn, she said, "Never had-have," she said, mixing her words, though between her and Yukina, they were likely the least-drunk participants, though Yukina had been drinking quite a lot. Girl could hold her beer.
At some point they had given up counting down from ten for elimination purposes and instead just started playing the game for grins. "Never have I ever," Keiko began again, "had psychic or demon powers."
"Hey!" Yusuke exclaimed from her feet. "Just… one!"
"Fine," she pushed his head away from her in good fun. "Never had I ever had psychic powers."
Kuwabara, Ashley, Bjorn, and Yusuke drank. By the time the round reached Bjorn, he was grinning. He was about as sober as Yukina, but only because he'd been taking less sips than anyone else. "Never have I ever had demon powers."
Half the group groaned in protest, but drank anyway. Yusuke leveled a finger at Bjorn. "Fuck… you." He drank, anyway.
Chu took his turn, and the round reached Touya. "Never have I ever been able to speak more than one language." He was thoughtful about it, almost sad. Ashley, Bjorn, Kuwabara, and Keiko all drank.
"What languages can you speak?" Touya leaned forward to see Ashley on Hiei's other side.
"Let's see," Ashley began, leaning forward so she could see him in turn. The last few rounds had convinced her that Touya didn't so much as have a stick up his ass, as he was just quiet. "Japanese, obviously. English, and German," she said, repeating the names of each in their native tongue, too.
"Hey, I can speak, German, too!" Bjorn exclaimed, lighting up. Bjorn listed his, "German, Norwegian, obviously, Japanese, and English." After him, Kuwabara listed his, as did Keiko.
"We must confuse these heathens who don't know German," he said in the language, a mischievous smile lighting his eyes. Ashley immediately caught on.
"We must teach it to them!" she exclaimed back. The others either looked confused, amused, or a cross between the two. "For life is meaningless without German! You just have to sound like you're angry!"
"Slaving away for years and years to learn German. How could they not know it? You would think they didn't have to learn multiple languages in school," Bjorn replied.
Ashley decided to change the subject. "Did you ever try to learn Russian? I decided that would be a great language to learn and three days in I wanted to pull my hair out!"
"I did not," Bjorn replied, amused. "I knew I would hate it, so I decided to avoid that particular tor-"
"We get it!" Yusuke finally shouted at them in his native Japanese. "You can both speak multiple languages. Next!"
"Hey Yusuke," Ashley hissed at him as she settled back against Hiei. She missed the annoyed expression he wore. "That was just one!"
He looked ready to knock over the fire pit in agitation, but Ashley spoke her truth, "Never have I ever spat gum in my sister's hair out of spite."
"That sounds more like something you actually did," Chu replied at once, catching the smirk on Ashley's face.
"Oh, you're right." She drank. "Next!"
"Never have I ever punched someone in the face," Jin said.
Ashley was one of the ones who took a drink. Hiei shifted so he could see her, brow raised.
"Some guy back in college wouldn't take a hint. He kept asking me out, and I kept saying no," she said with a shrug. "He started following me between my classes, showing up at my extra circulars, blowing up my phone, talking to my friends behind my back. So I punched him in the face. He took a hint after that."
"I guess he did," Touya muttered.
The night wore on. Eventually Yukina and Keiko went inside and brought out cups of water for everyone. The game disovled into light chatter until Yukina and Kuwabara were the first to rise and head inside for the night. Kurama was next, along with Yusuke and Keiko. The others stayed outside talking for longer, Jin moving closer to Bjorn, Chu, and Touya.
Ashley's attention moved to Hiei, who was watching her, the firelight dancing in his eyes.
"You surprised me tonight," He muttered. His arm was still wrapped around her shoulders, his other still braced against his knee. And where the others sat, it created almost a barrier between them and the other guys. Ashley had long-ago abandoned her beer. The two bottles she'd drank sat empty on her other side. Two was just enough to give her a light buzz, but after the water, her head felt mostly clear. Her hand rested against his chest as she had turned to him. Between the heat rolling off of her fire demon and the fire he'd started just feet from them, she could fall asleep in his arms, the warmth cozy and reminding her that she was safe.
"I'm not as innocent as I seem," She replied with a coy smile. "I wish you would have played. Now you know more about me than I know about you."
His jaw clenched as the wheels in his mind turned. He finally dropped his arm that was braced against his knee and turned to the others. "We're headed in, too," He said, getting to his feet and pulling Ashley to hers with him.
They said their good nights, and walked through the darkened hallways, back to their room. With a glance at Ashley to see her brow raised in question, Hiei sighed. "I promised you earlier in the week that I would tell you about myself, but things with Nobuyuki happened. Do you still want to hear about them?"
It seemed almost too easy, but Ashley bit her lip, eager nonetheless. "Of course." It wasn't like she'd been asking for months or anything.
The futon was pushed against the wall, so they sat on the futon, and leaned against the wall, talking long into the night. Hiei told her everything, everything he could, at least. There were times when his voice stuttered to a halt and the words wouldn't come. When his fists clenched, and he looked away from her, lost in memories. But she learned everything. Everything from being found by bandits as an infant and raised with them, how he grew in power as he matured, his search for the man who could give him a Jagan eye. "I have… a sister," he said carefully when she asked why he wanted it so badly, especially when he told her of the effect it had on his body and his power.
"Have you found her?" Ashley asked. Even though they were alone in the room, they spoke in hushed tones, as if they were afraid to speak too loudly, as if that might jinx the moment they shared.
Hiei's jaw clenched and he looked away again. Ashley didn't press. "What happened after the Jagan was implanted?"
He continued, telling her how he met Kurama, and then Yusuke, then Kuwabara. He told her of the Dark Tournament, and how Yusuke's demon power was awakened during their fight with Sensui, and how he allied himself with Mukuro, and then the Makai Tournament. He told her everything he could. Everything that might answer the questions he knew she had harbored for months. He didn't just want to answer her questions, but a part of him yearned for her to know about himself.
And Ashley didn't interrupt him to ask questions. She let him talk until he would take a breath, or was about to change subjects.
"What about the Dragon they mentioned?" She asked toward the end, between yawns. Surely it was past midnight by then.
"The Dragon of the Darkness Flame," Hiei said, unwrapping his right arm from the bandages he wore. The smoky dragon marking was as clear as the first time Ashley had seen it on that bus to Nikko so many months ago. "I am it's master," he said, glancing up at Ashley to see her expression, but she only held curiosity in her eyes.
"Weren't you worried you might lose your arm?" She asked. He had told her of it's power, and the pain he had experienced as a result from it before he mastered it.
"Not until after my fight with Zeru," he admitted. "Not until it turned black from the burns." Ashley blanched.
"And it will come when you call it?"
He nodded. "From the depths of Spirit World, it will come."
Ashley paused. Hiei could see the thoughts churning behind her eyes and held off saying anything else. She opened her mouth, only to close it. Then opened it again. "I think I had a dream with it."
Hiei turned his head to the side, not believing what he was hearing. "That's impossible."
Ashley laughed. "I can't explain it, but I had a dream of a dragon last week. That day you and I trained before we left here, you remember? I woke up from the dream with it."
Most of her dreams left her after a day or two, if not minutes after she awoke, but this one had stayed with her. How could she forget?
Hiei carefully replied, "I don't think it could have been the Dragon."
He didn't believe her, and why should he? It was impossible. She'd only just learned of the Dragon's existence that night. How could she dream of something that she'd never known about until then?
But the moment after he said it, he looked at her again, and his Jagan began to glow behind the cloth wrapped around his head. "Do you mind?"
She shook her head, and she felt him enter her mind and examine the memory.
The gaze between the two of them never broke. "That's him," Hiei whispered in amazement. "But how-?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Ashley replied as the Jagan's glow faded. "Maybe Genkai knows?"
"It's after midnight," Hiei replied. "Tomorrow?"
She smiled. "Tomorrow." A promise.
For a moment, Ashley wasn't sure what had woken her.
Lying in the futon, she pushed her hand out toward where Hiei usually lay, but his place was empty and cold; he hadn't been next to her in some time.
From far away, thunder rumbled. It was so far, she felt it rather than heard it.
Sunlight streamed through the opened window; Hiei must have opened it on his way out. Rain dripped from the roof, creating a soft patter as it fell.
Thunder rumbled again.
Ashley lay there, debating whether to get up for the day or to drift back off. She and Hiei had been up so late the night before, she was half tempted to continue sleeping, but something urged her up. Something in the back of her mind told her she needed to get up. It was important to. Something just felt… off.
Sitting up, she could see outside easier than she had laying down. The rain had stopped.
But the thing that she realized as she gazed out the window was how silent it was.
Usually when it rained, especially all the way out in the country, the frogs would croak. Birds would sing. This early in the morning there were definitely usually birds.
Ashley swung herself out of bed, her feet cold on the floor, and walked to the window. There was no reason, of course. Being able to see out a window more clearly would not explain where the frogs and birds were.
But even as the rain stopped, there was no sound. No wind. No thunder.
Silence reigned, eerie and unnatural. Gooseflesh rose on the back of her neck.
Then, a sound came, loud and clear and echoing through the world. An unnatural cacophony from the pits of hell itself: like universes shattering, tearing apart worlds. But the noise did not abate, instead growing more intense, and shaking the earth to its core.
- End of Chapter Thirty -
So this chapter was inspired by two events from my college days. The first happened in my freshmen year at college. I went out to some guy's ranch with my friends from church (one of them knew the guy), and he had a fire pit. We sat around it for hours talking and laughing. Then, during the summer before my senior year at college a bunch of my friends and I gathered on my best friend's patio. There were probably ten of us on a little four by six foot patio, all crammed together playing Never Have I Ever. That was the first and last time I've drunkenly played the game and I loved it. It's one of my most cherished memories, especially since most of the people on that balcony I no longer talk to. So I wanted to combine the two memories for Ashley and Hiei.
A lot of you have mentioned how ready you are for Hiei being a supportive boyfriend. I am SO right there with you. I can't tell you how many of my boyfriends never wanted to touch me in public. One, whom I dated about six years ago, never wanted to even hold my hand in public. Behind closed doors was a different story, but on our last date together he finally took my hand in public as we were leaving a restaurant. I had treated him. We both knew it was going to be one of our last nights together because he was leaving for work at the end of the week and he didn't want to have a long-distance relationship, so we were going to end things. That didn't actually happen, but the point is, we dated for three months and he only held my hand in public at the end, and I cannot tell you how much it hurt, both at the time, and looking back on it. I'm really glad we're at the point where Hiei is shaping up to be a good, supportive boyfriend because I don't know how much longer I could have written him being a dick. Hold your girlfriends' hand in public, you ass. I will also probably never write this type of relationship ever again. Two people deserve a relationship where they don't have to walk on eggshells around each other, but more on that another time. This author's note is long enough.
Also, if you haven't noticed, I don't really write accents. This is especially true with Jin and Chu's accent. But we all know the anime so you are welcome, of course, to read it in their voices. I tried writing stories, at one point, with different accents, but it's just too hard. For one, it clogs the reader's ability to continue reading without stumbling over what the characters could possibly be saying, and two, it's really hard to write accents if you're not already familiar with them. And I'm not. So, I decided to save all of us the headache of me trying to write accents. Some readers are particular about this. If you are, I apologize! But you really don't want me to try, I can promise you that.
I know I've posted two chapters in two consecutive weeks (le gasp!) but this is the last time for awhile. I actually need to get things done next weekend. Chapter 31 will be out the weekend after next, so sometime during the weekend of February 16 and 17. I'm no longer going to give an exact date because we all know I never get it out on time anyway…
The people who reviewed last week absolutely have my heart! What a surprise to come back and get so many reviews! Thank you! JohnGreenGirl, OdinsReaper, musicnutftw, and WistfulSin you are all AMAZING.
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.