For Love of a "Pet"

Chapter Twelve

Cassie awoke to find herself lying on a muscular body, a chin resting against the top of her head. She blinked a few times as her brain slowly began to function once again. 'Oh, yes. I fell asleep on the couch with my head on Hiei's shoulder. I remember now,' she thought with a smile. That was a rather fond memory, especially since the male hadn't said a word in protest... not that she had expected him to.

Trying not to wake the fire demon, she carefully climbed off of him, sliding down to the carpeted floor. She looked up at him, assuring herself that he was still sleeping. 'He looks kinda sweet, almost harmless,' she mused, smiling sweetly at him. 'He may not be harmless when he's awake, but he looks angelic when he's sleeping.' She admired him, eyes sweeping up and down his body, examining every inch of him. When she was done, she came to a conclusion--he was beyond hott.

The brunette absently glanced at the clock, and her eyes became wide. 'I'm going to be late! I'm supposed to be at an exotic zoo in an hour!' She quickly raced back to her room, changing into a pair of black jeans and a sleeveless blouse. Then she washed her face, grabbed a fruit and grain bar, and wrote a note to Hiei, leaving it where he would see it.

"Sorry, love, but I have to go." Cassie lightly brushed her lips against his, briefly wishing that he was awake so she could have a proper kiss, and then sprinted out the door.




Hiei awoke, immediately looking around for Cassie; however, he didn't see her, much to his disappointment. Also, he couldn't sense her anywhere in the house; he was the only demon in the vicinity, which meant that Cassie had left while he had been sleeping. She had left without waking him up to say good-bye. He did see a piece of paper with a bit of writing on it resting on the coffee table. Frowning, he picked it up and read it.

Hiei,
Sorry I had to leave, but I had to go to work. Your clothes should be done by the time you wake up. The laundry room is downstairs through a door on your right. I hope you slept good, because I sure did. We'll have to try that again, especially since I've never slept so well. You have a nice shoulder and chest. Take care, and I'll see you tomorrow at Kaline's house.
Love,
Cassie

He smiled at the sleeping comment, found a pen, and scrawled a quick message in response. Then, he changed clothes and left.




Cassie came back home around nine at night. After the exotic zoo, she had visited three other places, each in different towns. She was exhausted, and her feet hurt from all the walking. There were times she loved her job with MARS, and then there were times she thought she could do without it. At the moment, she was leaning toward the latter opinion.

Rubbing the back of her neck, she shut the front door and kicked off her muddy shoes, leaving them on the small mat. "Dear Kami, if I ever have to do that many tours, I'll collapse right in front of everyone," she muttered darkly under her breath, shaking her head sadly. "Especially if each and every one is perfectly clean, and all the animals are well taken care of."

Sighing, she walked into her living room, half-hoping to see Hiei there, even though her common sense said that he had to have left hours ago and she couldn't sense. He wasn't there, but she did find her note with a short message written underneath it.

Curious, Cassie picked up the piece of paper and read what had been written on it.

Cassie,
I got my clothes from the dryer. We'll continue training tomorrow at dawn, so be prepared for me with your sword already drawn.
I did sleep good.
Hiei

Cassie smiled softly, happy that he had taken the time to at least write something in response, even though it wasn't the best thing she had ever read. 'It's not exactly a sweet love letter, but for him, it's probably pretty damn good,' she thought to herself, finding herself unable to picture the fire demon writing a romantic love letter. 'But why do we have to have training at dawn? Haven't I already proven myself?' She sighed. 'I'll have to talk to him about that, maybe get practice time changed to... oh, I don't know... ten in the evening or something. I think it'd be fun try fighting at night.'

Still grinning, she went back to her room, got ready for bed, crawled under the covers, and quickly fell asleep to have some of the best dreams she had ever had. She dreamed of Hiei.

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In the morning, Hiei and Cassie practiced with their words just like the had the last time. Fortunately, they had no interruptions, and the female water demon learned quite a bit during her lesson... not that the koorime gave her any choice in the matter.

In the afternoon, the fire demon left after promising that he would see her at eight in front of Kaline's house. He went to Reikai with a few things on his mind. Although he didn't really like Koenma, he had a few questions for the short ruler, some of which were about the wolf demon, but another was about Cassie's blade.

The Siren Sword kept having a strange effect on him, and he couldn't concentrate whenever it made the watery, song-like noises. He knew that the sword was special. He just didn't know how or why it was so special; however, he planned on finding out.

Hiei walked into Koenma's office, glaring at the onis who stared at him, obviously surprised to see him there. He wasn't known for visiting Reikai unless the tiny ruler called for him.

"Well, Hiei, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Koenma asked, somehow talking around his pacifier in a clear, child-like voice. He was standing on top of his desk, pulling some papers off of a tall stack of paperwork.

"I have some questions," the fire demon stated. "And you're going to answer them."

King Yama's son shrugged at that, completely used to the threats. "I'll do what I can."

"An idiotic black wolf demon attacked me yesterday," Hiei informed the toddler. "Do you have any information you can give me?"

"Hmmm..." Koenma's expression turned thoughtful. "I've never heard of a black wolf demon. I always thought they were brown or white. I'll have to check our files." He hopped off of his desk to shout at a few of the onis outside of his office. At least three of the demons began running around, rushing to do what their boss had bid them.

"And I want all the information you have on the Siren Sword," the black-haired koorime added.

The short boy's eyes became wide. "You've seen it? Where? Who had it?"

Hiei blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected the toddler to react that way. "A girl has it. I saw it yesterday," he answered.

"Do you know her name?" Hope filled his light brown eyes.

He shrugged. "Maybe."

"That sword's been missing for over two thousand years," Koenma said. "It was supposed to be a gift from a powerful demon king to his mistress, so she could protect herself against all males."

"Is that all you know?" Hiei sounded a little disappointed, but his tone was more cold and condescending than anything.

"No, it's not. That sword could be dangerous in the wrong hands," the ruler of the spirit world retorted. "No males can touch it, and a female can make the sword sing like a siren, rendering all males within hearing range completely useless. Since most of the spirit detectives are male..." He winced. "Well, it would be disastrous if an evil female used it."

The fire demon thought over that information for a few moments. "Cassie has it," he stated.

"Cassie?" Koenma repeated. "Is she a water demon?"

"Yes." Once again, Hiei was a little surprised that the other male had even heard of the girl. She wasn't all that strong, and she wasn't evil, so he didn't see why anyone in a high place would be all that interested in her. Well, he could actually. She was beyond beautiful, and he figured that would be enough to cause any male to take interest in her.

The short ruler breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm okay then. She won't abuse the power." He paused. "Actually, I think her mother had it for a few centuries, but I can't quite remember. Perhaps..."

Hiei shook his head and left, leaving Koenma to debate the past of the sword with the walls.




Fifteen minutes before eight in the evening found Kaline outside in a pair of flared jeans and a tight t- shirt, Kurama curled up in her arms. She chatted with Cassie as she watched the light in the west quickly fade from red and orange to a dark blue.

"So, who's car are we taking?" Cassie inquired, pointing at the two vehicles in the driveway.

The blue-gray eyed girl shrugged, a mischievous grin on her face. "I was thinking mine so you and Hiei can cuddle up in the back seat, but if you're opposed to that idea, we can, of course, take yours."

The water demon giggled. "No, that's alright. I have no problem with taking your car." She gave her friend an devious look. "I'd love to sit in the back with Hiei. You're gonna want to turn the radio up a bit if you don't want to hear us making out."

Kurama mentally laughed as the girls talked, enjoying their conversation. Never in his life had he heard someone talk about his fellow spirit detective like Cassie was doing. 'Hiei making out in the back of a car with someone,' he thought, humor in his tone. 'Now why does that sound so far-fetched to me? Oh yeah... he's antisocial and cold to most people. Of course, Cassie has a strange effect on him.'

"If it gets too bad back there, I'll drop you guys off at motel and go see the fireworks all by myself," Kaline threatened, still grinning. She felt something cold press against the hollow of her throat, making her glance down. She saw the fox and laughed. "All right, Youko. You'd get to see them too."

Cassie shook her head, an amused expression on her face. "He's spoiled rotten."

"Yeah, I know," the light brunette replied. "But at least he's fully healed now. I checked this evening, an the last trace of his injuries were gone. Isn't that great?" She held the fox up so she could rub her nose against his.

"That's excellent." The water demon smiled, sharing her friend's happiness. "Now I still have to find a place to stick him."

Kaline blinked. "You haven't found one yet?" she asked, and Cassie shook her head. "Oh well. He's been such a good patient that I won't mind keeping him for a while. If you can't get anyone to take him, I might see about keeping him."

'You'll get to keep me,' Kurama thought. 'I just won't be in fox form. As soon as I have my spirit energy back, I'll switch forms and take you up on that offer for tea or cappuccino.'

The girls kept on talking until eight o'clock when Hiei arrived, and they didn't even let him get a word out before Cassie pushed him into the back seat of Kaline's car and hopped in herself. Laughing, Kaline climbed into the driver's seat, buckled up, with Kurama in her lap. Then, they were off and heading towards the fireworks show, Cassie and Hiei seriously kissing the entire way there.




Five minutes before the show started, the group settled on a nice grass-covered cliff, laying out two different blankets before they sat down. Cassie and Hiei claimed one blanket, the brunette snuggling up next to the fire demon with a contented look on her face.

Kaline sat down on the other blanket, which was twenty feet away from the other one, Kurama in her lap and her eyes on the skies. When the fireworks started, she watched attentively with a child-like amazement. She loved the colors, and the noise didn't bother her all that much. The blue and red ones were her favorites, and she whispered comments of astonishment to the fox as she stared up at the sky.

Cassie and Hiei didn't watch much of the show because they had their own fireworks going. They didn't even notice when the fireworks display was finally over, but Kaline wasn't about to leave them outside all night.

A devious look in her eyes, she went to her car, which was about ten feet away from the couple, and honked the horn. Cassie and Hiei both jumped, breaking off their kissing so they could glare at the blue- gray eyed girl. Kurama just silently laughed, enjoying the whole scene. He almost began rolling in laughter when Hiei started growling and giving Kaline the I'm-going-to-kill-you look.

"What was that for?" Cassie grumbled.

Kaline shrugged. "The show's over, and I wanna go home," she answered. "So, c'mon. You can kiss him once you guys get in the car, okay?" With that said, she put both Kurama and her blanket in the passenger seat and then climbed in behind the wheel.

The dark brunette sighed and stood up, giving the fire demon an apologetic look. A few moments later, Cassie and Hiei climbed into the back seat, quickly going back to what they had been doing before Kaline had interrupted them.

The light-haired girl softly chuckled as she began to drive home, an amused expression on her face. "For some reason, that doesn't surprise me." Then, she turned up the radio.









PWA: Yes, he was being sweet, which is rare.

neolannia: It's alright. I tend to read things fast too.

Yanou: Hola! Buenos dias. And I'm not too worried about the shortness. I just like the fact that you reviewed.

Kuramalover321: *blushes* Thanks. I just enjoy writing... and getting reviews. And who's saying my story's good? I didn't know anyone was even saying a word about it. Hmmm... Interesting.

Midnight: I love the Siren Sword too, even though I have no idea where it came from. And you like the fact that Hiei is a little OOC? I don't have a clue who I like better. Youko has the fox ears and tail... a definite plus, Kurama has the gorgeous red hair and green eyes... which I love, and Hiei has some really cute expressions at times, and his attitude is cool, just like his sword. I think that I'm leaning towards Youko and Kurama. ^_^ RL Cassie has dibs on Hiei.

Luraia Soul: Thanks for reviewing. And btw, where'd you come up with your name?

Sam: Yeah, the wolf attacking wasn't exactly sweet, but the rest was. :) And thanks for the compliment about the Siren Sword. I appreciate it.

Rei-Akita: I'll update as soon as I can, okay? It takes me a little time to write a chapter and then edit it.