Ch. 4
After blacking out, Hiei was the first to wake up. Then, he turned to his side and started shaking the kitsune.
"Wake up fox!"
"Just a few more minutes kasaan."
"Do I LOOK like a ningen woman?"
"Don't worry kasaan, you look beautiful, NOW can I have a few more minutes?"
"." Hiei didn't know what to do, then, after thinking for a minute or two, he leaned in close to the kitsune's ear, took a deep breath and.
"Shuuichi! You slept in too late! You're an hour late to school!!! I thought I raised you to be the perfect child! Oh this makes me sooo sad.I think I'm going to cry!" wailed Hiei, trying to imitate Kurama's kasaan's voice, even though he didn't know why he even bothered to try, Kurama's kasaan had a soft, gentle voice compared to Hiei's surprisingly low bass voice.
"WHAT? I'M SO SORRY KASAAN! I DIDN'T MEAN TO SLEEP IN! FORGIVE ME! I'M UP, I'M UP!" exclaimed a now very panicked Kurama.
"Hey! Where'd kasaan go? I can't believe I made her cry.especially since she was sick.I think.her voice sounded very odd," said Kurama, starting to sniffle. Meanwhile, Hiei was trying to wipe away the smile that had appeared on his usually expressionless face but just couldn't stop smiling.
"What are you smiling at?"
"Baka kitsune!"
"Nani? What'd I do NOW?"
"::smirk:: Nothing, nothing at all!"
"Oh fine! Don't tell me! Anyway, what happened? I remember a bright glowing light and then.nothing!"
"Hn, I don't know what happened either.just that whatever it was, came from your pocket."
"The light's gone.hey wait.is it just me or do you smell something?" asked Kurama as he sniffed the air, both he and Hiei had very sensitive noses, Kurama being a fox and all, and Hiei just being Hiei.
"Hn.it smells like.roses.mixed with.something else.I can't tell what the other thing is."
"I agree.well, let's go check it out!"
"Hn? Excited kitsune?"
"Of course! Now COME ON!" said Kurama as he practically dragged Hiei over to where the scent was coming from. They crept cautiously towards Kurama's clothes.errr.well, Hiei was creeping cautiously.Kurama was almost jogging over to his clothes. Finally, the two approached Kurama's clothes but gasped at what they saw. They approached the object in awe, forgetting about Kurama's clothes. What they saw was a beautiful single rose floating in mid-air. The whole rose was made of crystal, from every thorn to every petal. When the light of the sun from the sky above shone on it, rainbow specks of light were scattered everywhere, making the whole room seem like it were trying to contain all the stars of the universe in it.
"::Gasp:: Hiei.the rose bud.has blossomed!"
"Hn.it's.beautiful.but wait, are we gonna get in trouble because it bloomed?"
"Oh, umm, I don't really know."
The whole time they were talking, they never took their eyes off of the floating rose, then, Kurama was unaware of the fact that his hand was reaching out and touched a petal. Suddenly, the rose glowed a silver color, making Kurama jump back. Then, the rose started expanding in size, growing and growing.
"Baka kitsune! What'd you do?"
"I.I didn't do anything! I just touched a petal!"
"Then why the hell is it growing so big?"
"How should I know?"
They argued and kept stepping back at the same time, but didn't have to keep it up for long because the rose stopped its sudden growth. The rose was now, in width and length, the size of a king sized bed, and the stem was on the floor, coiling in small loops like a rope. Then, they saw a girl's face appear, peeking out at them from over one of the gigantic petals.
"Who are you?" growled Hiei as he took his stance and had a hand over his katana. The girl started to shake a little and took refuge behind the petal.
"Hiei! You scared her! Take your hand off your katana and don't be mean!" said Kurama, who was now heading over towards the big blossom. Kurama carefully placed his foot on an upraised leaf and after making sure it was firm enough to hold his weight, he put his other foot on it and leaned over through the gap between two of the petals. He couldn't believe what it was like in there! Shades of blue, purple, and green cascaded and danced around inside the blossom, unlike the shades of vibrant reds, oranges, yellows, indigo, and many other shades that were dancing outside of the blossom. In the center of the blossom sat the girl they'd seen, on a cushion of thick blue satin, which Kurama assumed was naturally a part of the rose. He looked at the girl carefully, surprised that she looked nearly his age when he was in his ningen form, not the youko's. He wasn't sure about how long her hair was or what it's color was because of the shades of blues, greens, and purples, but he could tell that her hair was probably way past her waist, since it flowed around her like a blanket. If she was wearing clothes, he couldn't tell, her hair covered everything from view.
"Why don't you come out? We won't hurt you, Koenma sent us to save your flower from some youkais.we never expected your flower to bloom on the way back to the Reikai though," said Kurama in his most gentle voice. But the girl just looked at him with fear in her eyes.
"Kurama.I think you'd better put some clothes on," said Hiei. Kurama turned around and noticed Hiei had already put on his pants, boots, and tank top, but hadn't put on his cloak yet. Kurama looked down at himself and blushed; he hadn't realized he wasn't wearing any clothes. He ran over to his forgotten clothes and put them on while Hiei stepped on the upturned leaf that Kurama had been standing on and peeked between the gap. To Kurama's surprise, Hiei started talking to the girl, not in his previous harsh manner, but in a soft, gentle manner, that reminded Kurama of Yukina. He was so preoccupied with thinking of other ways that Hiei reminded him of Yukina that he didn't hear a word that Hiei had said to the girl. When he had finished listing all the little things that Hiei and Yukina had in common, he turned back to the blossom and Hiei and widened his eyes when he saw the girl's head poke out of the gap again, this time a little less afraid. Hiei was smiling in satisfaction at his accomplishment. Kurama jogged back to the two and just stared at the girl. Now that her face was out of the blossom, he could tell what color her hair and eyes were. Her hair was as black as night with a couple different shades of red streaks. Her bangs were grown to the bottom of her face and only one side of the bangs were a shade of turquoise blue. Her eyes were a deep blue, reminding Kurama of the color of the deepest part of the ocean. Her eyes were so calm and serene that they resembled something familiar.what was it?
"Hn."
"What is it Hiei?"
"She reminds me of you."
"What? How?"
"Both of you came from unique places and your eyes are very similar."
"Hiei, incase you haven't noticed.her eyes are blue and mine are green."
"NO BAKA! I mean, your eyes look like pools of green, like emeralds. Her eyes are like pools of calm ocean waters, like sapphires. Both of you guys have eyes like jewels."
".oh Hiei.that's the most romantic thing you've ever said to me!" exclaimed Kurama as he turned into chibi form and pounced onto Hiei's face and clung to him.
"Baka kitsune! Get off of me!" yelled Hiei as he flung his hands around like windmills, trying to keep his balance. Unfortunately, they were too close to the water and Hiei tripped and both he and Kurama ended up soaked. Looking up, they saw the girl start to shiver again and for a moment, Kurama thought they'd scared her again, but then she burst out laughing. She tried desperately to stop giggling but she just couldn't. Her laugh sounded like little silver bells ringing, the sound was so sweet. Kurama and Hiei just smiled, and then joined in with her laughter.
"You should have seen the look on your face when you fell in!" Kurama exclaimed.
"HN! Look who's talking kitsune! Even in your chibi form, your eyes were bulging out!" retorted Hiei. Then, Kurama, Hiei, and the rose girl kept on laughing for a good 2 minutes.
"Hn, now that we've calmed down, what's you name girl?" asked Hiei.
"Oh yah, you never told us, did you?" asked Kurama.
The girl just looked at them and blushed. Both Hiei and Kurama climbed out of the water and Hiei used his powers to dry their clothes and hair. Then, Kurama reached into his hair and pulled out a rose and handed it to the girl.
"Please tell us your name, I'd like to know it very much," said Kurama as she accepted the rose and stared at it.
"Hn.hey kitsune, .what if she can't talk? We know she can laugh but maybe she can't talk or doesn't know our language?" asked Hiei after thinking for a while.
"Oh, I never thought about that.," said Kurama, a little disappointed.
"Umm.I can talk.," said a voice that sounded like the tinkling of silver bells. Both Hiei and Kurama snapped their heads to her direction and Hiei ran over to her, grabbed both her shoulders, and started shaking her.
"Then why the hell didn't you say so before?" yelled Hiei. The girl just started to shake and whimpered.
"Hiei! Stop! You're scaring her again!" yelled Kurama. Hiei stopped shaking her but kept on mumbling to himself.
"I.I.I'm sorry, but I had to take the time to learn how you guys talked.," answered the girl. Hiei stopped mumbling and stared at her.
"You mean you didn't know how to talk until a few minutes ago?" asked a very puzzled Hiei.
"That's impossible!" exclaimed Kurama.
"No it's not.finding a 16 year old in a rosebud should have been impossible but hey! Look at me! So learning a language in 5 minutes shouldn't seem as impossible," replied the girl.
"Hn.great, just great, she picked up your optimism too, Kurama," said Hiei as he slapped his head.
"Umm.but I didn't pick it up from Kurama.that's just me," replied the girl.
"I think she's very nice," said Kurama, "why don't you come out?"
The girl stepped out from behind the petal and cautiously jumped onto the elevated leaf and then down to the ground. She flipped her hair behind her back, since it was getting in the way. When she did so, she revealed that she was indeed wearing clothes. Her dress was snow white colored with short sleeves and a slit from the bottom up to her knees on both sides. It was decorated with beautiful embroidery from pieces of crystal. Around her waist was a thin sash of turquoise blue, just like her bangs, and wrapped around her waist and hips loosely about 4 times before being tied into a knot to the side with the rest of it cascading down her side to her ankles. On her feet were white slippers, (no, not like bed slippers, more like the shoes the ancient Chinese wore, like Tamahome's shoes from Fushigi Yugi), that were also embroidered with beautiful pieces of crystal. When she moved, her dress and shoes glittered beautifully in the light and maybe even if the light weren't there, her dress and shoes would probably still shine. She sat down on one of the rose's leaves nearby and started braiding her extremely long hair into a single braid. It took her a while but she finally managed to do it, weaving in many different colored roses that Kurama had pulled out of his hair. Then, she reached into a crevice in the rose and pulled out a long strand of white leather and used it to tie her braid.
"You never told us your name," Kurama said after watching her graceful moves.
"You guys can call me Seiko," she said.
"Alright then Seiko, how come you're sixteen years old and living inside a plant?" asked Hiei.
"I didn't choose to live in the rose you know.," said Seiko.
"Then why are you in there?"
"I don't know."
"How'd you get in there?"
"Not a clue."
"What's so special about the rose?"
"It's made of crystal?"
"Who are your parents?"
"Next question?"
"Are you mocking me?"
"Are you trying to intimidate me?"
"...-_-+, why.you.little."
"Who are you calling little? I'm taller than you!"
"THAT DOES IT! JAOU ENSATSU KO."
"THAT'S ENOUGH YOU TWO! HIEI, DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT LETTING THAT DRAGON OUT OR I SWEAR I'M GOING TO GET MAD!"
Hiei hesitated but summoned the partially let out dragon back. He knew Kurama was powerful in both his ningen and youko form, so making him mad wouldn't be the best thing to do.
"HN! She started it!"
"Did not! You did!"
"Ok, enough you two, you're acting like spoiled children!" Kurama exclaimed. Oh look, he thought, both of them are on fire.
"I think Yuusuke and the others should meet you.THEN we'll have to see if we should still take you back to the Reikai.
After blacking out, Hiei was the first to wake up. Then, he turned to his side and started shaking the kitsune.
"Wake up fox!"
"Just a few more minutes kasaan."
"Do I LOOK like a ningen woman?"
"Don't worry kasaan, you look beautiful, NOW can I have a few more minutes?"
"." Hiei didn't know what to do, then, after thinking for a minute or two, he leaned in close to the kitsune's ear, took a deep breath and.
"Shuuichi! You slept in too late! You're an hour late to school!!! I thought I raised you to be the perfect child! Oh this makes me sooo sad.I think I'm going to cry!" wailed Hiei, trying to imitate Kurama's kasaan's voice, even though he didn't know why he even bothered to try, Kurama's kasaan had a soft, gentle voice compared to Hiei's surprisingly low bass voice.
"WHAT? I'M SO SORRY KASAAN! I DIDN'T MEAN TO SLEEP IN! FORGIVE ME! I'M UP, I'M UP!" exclaimed a now very panicked Kurama.
"Hey! Where'd kasaan go? I can't believe I made her cry.especially since she was sick.I think.her voice sounded very odd," said Kurama, starting to sniffle. Meanwhile, Hiei was trying to wipe away the smile that had appeared on his usually expressionless face but just couldn't stop smiling.
"What are you smiling at?"
"Baka kitsune!"
"Nani? What'd I do NOW?"
"::smirk:: Nothing, nothing at all!"
"Oh fine! Don't tell me! Anyway, what happened? I remember a bright glowing light and then.nothing!"
"Hn, I don't know what happened either.just that whatever it was, came from your pocket."
"The light's gone.hey wait.is it just me or do you smell something?" asked Kurama as he sniffed the air, both he and Hiei had very sensitive noses, Kurama being a fox and all, and Hiei just being Hiei.
"Hn.it smells like.roses.mixed with.something else.I can't tell what the other thing is."
"I agree.well, let's go check it out!"
"Hn? Excited kitsune?"
"Of course! Now COME ON!" said Kurama as he practically dragged Hiei over to where the scent was coming from. They crept cautiously towards Kurama's clothes.errr.well, Hiei was creeping cautiously.Kurama was almost jogging over to his clothes. Finally, the two approached Kurama's clothes but gasped at what they saw. They approached the object in awe, forgetting about Kurama's clothes. What they saw was a beautiful single rose floating in mid-air. The whole rose was made of crystal, from every thorn to every petal. When the light of the sun from the sky above shone on it, rainbow specks of light were scattered everywhere, making the whole room seem like it were trying to contain all the stars of the universe in it.
"::Gasp:: Hiei.the rose bud.has blossomed!"
"Hn.it's.beautiful.but wait, are we gonna get in trouble because it bloomed?"
"Oh, umm, I don't really know."
The whole time they were talking, they never took their eyes off of the floating rose, then, Kurama was unaware of the fact that his hand was reaching out and touched a petal. Suddenly, the rose glowed a silver color, making Kurama jump back. Then, the rose started expanding in size, growing and growing.
"Baka kitsune! What'd you do?"
"I.I didn't do anything! I just touched a petal!"
"Then why the hell is it growing so big?"
"How should I know?"
They argued and kept stepping back at the same time, but didn't have to keep it up for long because the rose stopped its sudden growth. The rose was now, in width and length, the size of a king sized bed, and the stem was on the floor, coiling in small loops like a rope. Then, they saw a girl's face appear, peeking out at them from over one of the gigantic petals.
"Who are you?" growled Hiei as he took his stance and had a hand over his katana. The girl started to shake a little and took refuge behind the petal.
"Hiei! You scared her! Take your hand off your katana and don't be mean!" said Kurama, who was now heading over towards the big blossom. Kurama carefully placed his foot on an upraised leaf and after making sure it was firm enough to hold his weight, he put his other foot on it and leaned over through the gap between two of the petals. He couldn't believe what it was like in there! Shades of blue, purple, and green cascaded and danced around inside the blossom, unlike the shades of vibrant reds, oranges, yellows, indigo, and many other shades that were dancing outside of the blossom. In the center of the blossom sat the girl they'd seen, on a cushion of thick blue satin, which Kurama assumed was naturally a part of the rose. He looked at the girl carefully, surprised that she looked nearly his age when he was in his ningen form, not the youko's. He wasn't sure about how long her hair was or what it's color was because of the shades of blues, greens, and purples, but he could tell that her hair was probably way past her waist, since it flowed around her like a blanket. If she was wearing clothes, he couldn't tell, her hair covered everything from view.
"Why don't you come out? We won't hurt you, Koenma sent us to save your flower from some youkais.we never expected your flower to bloom on the way back to the Reikai though," said Kurama in his most gentle voice. But the girl just looked at him with fear in her eyes.
"Kurama.I think you'd better put some clothes on," said Hiei. Kurama turned around and noticed Hiei had already put on his pants, boots, and tank top, but hadn't put on his cloak yet. Kurama looked down at himself and blushed; he hadn't realized he wasn't wearing any clothes. He ran over to his forgotten clothes and put them on while Hiei stepped on the upturned leaf that Kurama had been standing on and peeked between the gap. To Kurama's surprise, Hiei started talking to the girl, not in his previous harsh manner, but in a soft, gentle manner, that reminded Kurama of Yukina. He was so preoccupied with thinking of other ways that Hiei reminded him of Yukina that he didn't hear a word that Hiei had said to the girl. When he had finished listing all the little things that Hiei and Yukina had in common, he turned back to the blossom and Hiei and widened his eyes when he saw the girl's head poke out of the gap again, this time a little less afraid. Hiei was smiling in satisfaction at his accomplishment. Kurama jogged back to the two and just stared at the girl. Now that her face was out of the blossom, he could tell what color her hair and eyes were. Her hair was as black as night with a couple different shades of red streaks. Her bangs were grown to the bottom of her face and only one side of the bangs were a shade of turquoise blue. Her eyes were a deep blue, reminding Kurama of the color of the deepest part of the ocean. Her eyes were so calm and serene that they resembled something familiar.what was it?
"Hn."
"What is it Hiei?"
"She reminds me of you."
"What? How?"
"Both of you came from unique places and your eyes are very similar."
"Hiei, incase you haven't noticed.her eyes are blue and mine are green."
"NO BAKA! I mean, your eyes look like pools of green, like emeralds. Her eyes are like pools of calm ocean waters, like sapphires. Both of you guys have eyes like jewels."
".oh Hiei.that's the most romantic thing you've ever said to me!" exclaimed Kurama as he turned into chibi form and pounced onto Hiei's face and clung to him.
"Baka kitsune! Get off of me!" yelled Hiei as he flung his hands around like windmills, trying to keep his balance. Unfortunately, they were too close to the water and Hiei tripped and both he and Kurama ended up soaked. Looking up, they saw the girl start to shiver again and for a moment, Kurama thought they'd scared her again, but then she burst out laughing. She tried desperately to stop giggling but she just couldn't. Her laugh sounded like little silver bells ringing, the sound was so sweet. Kurama and Hiei just smiled, and then joined in with her laughter.
"You should have seen the look on your face when you fell in!" Kurama exclaimed.
"HN! Look who's talking kitsune! Even in your chibi form, your eyes were bulging out!" retorted Hiei. Then, Kurama, Hiei, and the rose girl kept on laughing for a good 2 minutes.
"Hn, now that we've calmed down, what's you name girl?" asked Hiei.
"Oh yah, you never told us, did you?" asked Kurama.
The girl just looked at them and blushed. Both Hiei and Kurama climbed out of the water and Hiei used his powers to dry their clothes and hair. Then, Kurama reached into his hair and pulled out a rose and handed it to the girl.
"Please tell us your name, I'd like to know it very much," said Kurama as she accepted the rose and stared at it.
"Hn.hey kitsune, .what if she can't talk? We know she can laugh but maybe she can't talk or doesn't know our language?" asked Hiei after thinking for a while.
"Oh, I never thought about that.," said Kurama, a little disappointed.
"Umm.I can talk.," said a voice that sounded like the tinkling of silver bells. Both Hiei and Kurama snapped their heads to her direction and Hiei ran over to her, grabbed both her shoulders, and started shaking her.
"Then why the hell didn't you say so before?" yelled Hiei. The girl just started to shake and whimpered.
"Hiei! Stop! You're scaring her again!" yelled Kurama. Hiei stopped shaking her but kept on mumbling to himself.
"I.I.I'm sorry, but I had to take the time to learn how you guys talked.," answered the girl. Hiei stopped mumbling and stared at her.
"You mean you didn't know how to talk until a few minutes ago?" asked a very puzzled Hiei.
"That's impossible!" exclaimed Kurama.
"No it's not.finding a 16 year old in a rosebud should have been impossible but hey! Look at me! So learning a language in 5 minutes shouldn't seem as impossible," replied the girl.
"Hn.great, just great, she picked up your optimism too, Kurama," said Hiei as he slapped his head.
"Umm.but I didn't pick it up from Kurama.that's just me," replied the girl.
"I think she's very nice," said Kurama, "why don't you come out?"
The girl stepped out from behind the petal and cautiously jumped onto the elevated leaf and then down to the ground. She flipped her hair behind her back, since it was getting in the way. When she did so, she revealed that she was indeed wearing clothes. Her dress was snow white colored with short sleeves and a slit from the bottom up to her knees on both sides. It was decorated with beautiful embroidery from pieces of crystal. Around her waist was a thin sash of turquoise blue, just like her bangs, and wrapped around her waist and hips loosely about 4 times before being tied into a knot to the side with the rest of it cascading down her side to her ankles. On her feet were white slippers, (no, not like bed slippers, more like the shoes the ancient Chinese wore, like Tamahome's shoes from Fushigi Yugi), that were also embroidered with beautiful pieces of crystal. When she moved, her dress and shoes glittered beautifully in the light and maybe even if the light weren't there, her dress and shoes would probably still shine. She sat down on one of the rose's leaves nearby and started braiding her extremely long hair into a single braid. It took her a while but she finally managed to do it, weaving in many different colored roses that Kurama had pulled out of his hair. Then, she reached into a crevice in the rose and pulled out a long strand of white leather and used it to tie her braid.
"You never told us your name," Kurama said after watching her graceful moves.
"You guys can call me Seiko," she said.
"Alright then Seiko, how come you're sixteen years old and living inside a plant?" asked Hiei.
"I didn't choose to live in the rose you know.," said Seiko.
"Then why are you in there?"
"I don't know."
"How'd you get in there?"
"Not a clue."
"What's so special about the rose?"
"It's made of crystal?"
"Who are your parents?"
"Next question?"
"Are you mocking me?"
"Are you trying to intimidate me?"
"...-_-+, why.you.little."
"Who are you calling little? I'm taller than you!"
"THAT DOES IT! JAOU ENSATSU KO."
"THAT'S ENOUGH YOU TWO! HIEI, DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT LETTING THAT DRAGON OUT OR I SWEAR I'M GOING TO GET MAD!"
Hiei hesitated but summoned the partially let out dragon back. He knew Kurama was powerful in both his ningen and youko form, so making him mad wouldn't be the best thing to do.
"HN! She started it!"
"Did not! You did!"
"Ok, enough you two, you're acting like spoiled children!" Kurama exclaimed. Oh look, he thought, both of them are on fire.
"I think Yuusuke and the others should meet you.THEN we'll have to see if we should still take you back to the Reikai.