Part 5=Eight month/Hiei's new aspect
"You crazy," yelled Yusuke.
"Is that possible," asked Kuwabara.
Suddenly they heard crashing and yelps in the direction of Kurama's room. They ran toward it the room, Hiei being the fastest was there first. Yanking the door open he stepped in as the others approached. Inside pots and plants were broken and lay scattered across the floor. Amidst it all was Kurama, whimpering and whining like a lost kit. She was huddled in a tight ball as best as best could with his melon size belly.
"Kurama," asked Hiei standing beside her and kneeling, stretching his hand out but not touching, "what's wrong?"
"I need the forest. The tree, the plants, the open spaces, I have to go there," she whispered harshly.
Hiei shot a look at the guys at the doorway and they back away. He walked to the door and pointed out.
"Go on," he said. "You can go."
Kurama looked at the door for a second then dashed out, heading for the thick forest. Hiei was a second behind her yelling over his shoulder to Genkai, "Find that damn spell!"
He followed Kurama five feet behind him, keeping his silver hair in sight. Kurama ran to the thickest part of the forest to an empty den under an outcropping rock against a tree. Then she started moving in. Hiei helped her by gathering branches and dead leaves and putting the, nearby the entrance. He caught some rabbits, skinned and put them by the fire he made for Kurama. He stayed in the tree until Kurama fell asleep around noon. He then sent out wards and spells while he was away to protect Kurama and the baby. Running to the temple he went inside and ate the tuna sandwiches Yukina gave him and drank the tea, wanting for Genkai. She walked in as he finished his third sandwich. Shiori and the others were working around the temple to help Yukina do her chores. Yusuke refused at first until Keiko gave him a good head bashing. Kuwabara was eager to help and did the hardest jobs.
Genkai walked in with a scroll in hand and sat down across the little fire Koorime.
"I found the spell you wanted," she said handing the scroll to Hiei, "but it will take a while to make."
"That was fast," he said reading the scroll, but he couldn't make heads or tails of the writing. "How long will it take?"
"It's fairly simple spell. I'll have everything ready in no more than two days."
"Hn, make it quick." And he handed the scroll back.
"Hiei, why are you doing this?" she asked.
"To help Kurama. She needs me."
"Do you love her?"
"Of course I do or else I wouldn't be doing this! Let's just get this over with."
Genkai nodded and went to prepare the spell. Hiei ran back to Kurama's den. Luckily the fox was still asleep. Hiei crawled in and sat beside his lover, brushing back a lock of silver hair from her face. Bending down he gently kissed her lips and covered her with his cloak before snuggling next to her.
`Of course I love her,' he thought watching Kurama's beautiful face. `She's my other half. Like she said.'
"Hiei do you believe in soul mates," asked Kurama, the wind whipping his hair as he sat on the roof of his house. Hiei was sitting at the top against the chimney. They were staring at the stars until Kurama spoke.
"Soul mates?" he asked looking at the redhead.
"Yeah, two people destined to meet and fall in love throughout time. Soul mates."
"Hn, what would I know about love?"
"Come on, Hiei! Even a Forbidden Child can fall in love. You did."
"But I don't know how to use it."
"You don't use it, Hiei. You fall in love and go with the flow. You love me, don't you?"
"Of course! What kind of stupid question is that?"
Kurama smiled and carefully crawled to his love, sitting between his legs and laying his head on Hiei's chest. He looked at the stars for awhile.
"You want to hear something silly," he said.
"What?"
"I believe that there isn't just one whole soul in a body but half of one. And that soul keeps searching for it's other half. Silly, huh?"
"Not so silly. What about you? You have two souls in the same body. Doesn't that make you complete?"
"I am now." And he snuggled in Hiei's arms. Looking at the stars he smiled. "I can see you up there, Hiei."
"Where," said Hiei looking up.
"There." Kurama pointed up and pointed to a group of stars. "Orion the Hunter, Leo the Lion, Gemini the Twins, and Draco the Dragon. They describe you."
"Are there any up there that describe you?"
"I don't think so."
"There should be."
And they looked at the stars all night.
It was near dark now when he snapped out of his memory by Kurama's stirrings. That fox could sleep the day away. He walked out and looked at the stars. He felt kind of lonely without Kurama looking at them with him. He remembered Kurama telling him about the stars and constellations.
"A constellation is a group of stars that form sort of a picture," Kurama had explained when Hiei asked what the star pictures were called. "Then a name is given to each separate group of stars to represent what the pictures mean."
Looking up at Draco, his favorite star picture, he made out the picture of the dragon. He then looked at a cluster of stars beside it and focused hard. It was forming a picture of a sort of animal.
Genkai called him a few days later to try the spell. Standing in her spell room in a circle of candles he heard Genkai chant words of nonsense meaning while the others watched. As she chanted the candles flared and a mist formed around him, hiding him from view. He felt himself change. He grew taller, his ears moved to the top of his head and shaped cat-like. A tail sprouted from his tail bone and his hair grew.
When the mist cleared they looked at the new Hiei. He was as tall as Yusuke with waist length hair, same of the spike still in it, the white star burst above his bangs. A black tail swished against his ankles. He still had his Jagan and tattoo but his eyes changed. Instead of the ruby-red they're used to were now the golden color of Youko Kurama's.
"Whoa," said Yusuke, catching sight of his friend, "that ain't Jaganshi Hiei anymore."
Nope, that's Youko Hiei.
*TBC*
