Chapter Three- A new Beginning
Ayumi felt the soft rays of sunlight hit her face as she awoke. Ayumi jumped out of bed and changed into a pair of khaki shorts and a light blue shirt and headed downstairs where she was greeted by her father, mother and siblings who all gave her a giant hug and cried. Ayumi pulled away, "It's okay, it's no big deal…"
Ayumi sat down and talked with her family until time for school and her father offered to drive her to school. Ayumi said no and hurried out the door, ready to surprise and scare the wits out of everyone at school. Ayumi grinned at the thought and walked down the dirt path, through the forest to the bus stop. As she reached the edge of the forest Ayumi heard a voice behind her in the trees, "Do you really think it's wise to go to school now that you're a demon?" Ayumi stopped, she recognized the voice, and it was Hiei. Hiei jumped down from a tree and landed next to Ayumi, "Hn. You're a demon now, and you probably shouldn't go out into public until you can hide your condition." Hiei pointed to Ayumi's back and Ayumi looked behind her to see a light brown tail, like a lizards tail flowing where her spine ended. Ayumi raced over to a water puddle and looked at her reflection. Ayumi jumped back, her ears were now furry and brown, like a foxes, and she had a tail on top of that,
"Hiei! What demon am I?!"
Hiei laughed softly to himself, "A lizard demon, you don't see many of those these days"
"I can't go to school…not complaining though"
Hiei motioned for Ayumi to follow him. Ayumi blushed to herself remembering the night before. Hiei had said nothing and made no sign of it being anything so Ayumi decided to pretend nothing had ever happened, it would probably be better that way. Hiei led Ayumi towards his house and past it, deep into the forest where Hiei usually trained. Hiei stopped at his training grounds and motioned for Ayumi to stop. Hiei turned to Ayumi, "You're not to leave here until you master a few basic skills, one is the art of disguising yourself, for your own sake, we'll start with that, then you can take on a few fighting skills, but first, I'll explain to you a few things about being a demon in general and being a lizard demon."
Ayumi nodded, "Okay"
"Hn." Hiei said, he hadn't been planning on her answer so quickly, "A demon has far more power than a human, I could easily kill any human in a second, your father included. Demons live far longer than humans do, I'm sure you knew that. I was born before your father, and I'll die at least a hundred or so years after your father has died. Most things about demons you already know, Yusuke probably told you that, and Kurama." Hiei paused for a moment then continued, "You are a rare demon. Lizard demons aren't as common as they once were, but are quite powerful since they have the advanced ability to transform into dragons, as they get strong enough. Lizard demons are masters of the earth, are quick and have many powers to them."
Ayumi watched as Hiei approached her, "Some demons like fire and ice demons have no need for a disguise because they look human no matter what but, others need a disguise like Kurama, you as well, now focus all your power into what you looked as a human. Lizard demons fair well in disguise, now try it." Ayumi closed her eyes and pictured herself as a human again and tears flooded her eyes, she'd never be a human again. She'd never be able to be as much a part of society, she'd never be able to go to school again, see her friends…
Ayumi's eyes shot open and Hiei looked at her, "What are those tears for? Quit and transform!" Ayumi looked at the ground and wiped away her tears and focused on being a human again and felt her tail withdraw, strangely she felt little pain, no more than a slight pinch, and as her ears contracted it just felt for a second or two she had fallen asleep on them. Ayumi began to feel a little light-headed too as it seemed to take a while before she felt her human side emerge completely and looked up to see Hiei with the same look on his face as he always had. Ayumi said nothing and Hiei finally spoke, "Not bad for a second try…but you'll need to be much faster for battle, time can be the difference between your death or the opponents death, keep that in mind. You can continue to practice that until you can do it in a matter of seconds, you might have to force it to speed up. Once you can speed it up enough and force it the time it takes will be greatly reduced, now transform back into your demon form."
Ayumi gathered her strength and forced her body to sped up transforming into a demon. Slowly, Ayumi felt her demon side emerge, a little quicker than her human side had come. She felt inside when she was completely demon and opened her eyes. Hiei said nothing and pulled out an array of weapons, bows, swords, ninja tools and others. Ayumi walked over to Hiei who put each in a separate pile, "You need a weapon and an outfit if you're going to be a warrior. Botan gave me this array of weapons, most useless, and an outfit for you to wear." Hiei handed Ayumi a bag and Ayumi looked inside to find a pair of Khaki shorts, a black shirt, a red bandana and a pair of black combat boots. Ayumi put everything back in the bag and put the bag next to a nearby tree stump and returned to Hiei.
"You can pick your weapon, I prefer the sword, or whatever you choose. Lizard demons are good with just about anything, so the choice is yours."
Ayumi picked up the bow and fired an arrow into a nearby tree. Ayumi shook her head and discarded the bow and arrows to the side. Ayumi next picked up the ninja weapons, consisting of a sword, bombs and throwing stars. Ayumi picked them up and placed the bombs and throwing stars in separate pouches and fought the air with the sword for a while, testing it out. Hiei smiled softly to himself, She might make a fine warrior after all.
Ayumi collapsed on her bed. Hiei had had her practice with her sword all day and practice transforming from human to demon form. Ayumi didn't even have the strength to eat. Hiei came into her room. He was allowing…no he was forcing her to stay at his house as a pupil until her training was complete. Hiei had already informed her parents who were very upset but understood after Botan talked to them. Ayumi was stuck with the demon she loved, and now she had entered a new life of being a demon. Ayumi focused her attention on Hiei, who sat down beside her and said,
"You know... it's not easy to be demon. The spirit world entrusted me to train you to be a demon, and you'll be working for them. You're also not allowed to see your friends at school, it might cause problems like it did for your father.'
Ayumi nodded in agreement. She wanted to tell him that was why she broke down crying earlier, but he wouldn't care, this was Hiei, he never showed any kind of emotion. Even if he did show emotion, it was very mild and only once in her life had he seen him smile, even then we might've only been yawned, another rarity that wasn't so rare. That…was one of the things Ayumi loved about Hiei. He was very good-looking, was a tough guy and…there were so many things Ayumi loved about Hiei. Now, that she was a demon too, she had at first hoped things had changed for the better between them, and the other night…
Hiei had left and Ayumi stared at the ceiling, thinking about Hiei. She loved him, but he showed no real affection towards her. Even as a child he had slightly been out of the picture, keeping to himself. Kuwabara, Yukina and Kurama had always been there. In later years, and recently, Kurama seemed to urge her towards Hiei. Ayumi felt herself slowly fall asleep and dreamed a beautiful dream.
There was water everywhere; it was after a party in the treetops of the forest. Her sister and Yukina were there, and Hiei. Bandits caught them and each of them were forced to go down a different waterway. She eventually made it to a wooden plank, far away from the bandits. Yukina and her sister was there. Then out of nowhere came Hiei. He was cloaked in a black sweater and black dress pants. Ayumi was so happy to meet him and she ran up and gave him a hug.
Ayumi heard yelling outside and jumped out of bed and to the window to see her father and Hiei. Yusuke was yelling every curse in the book at Hiei and Hiei remained calm. Ayumi shuttered, how could ANYONE remain calm when my dad loses his temper. It was true, as the years wore on, Yusuke's temper got worse and worse. He never unleashed it on his family, but outside the house, he could strike fear into anyone's heart…except for Hiei it seemed. Ayumi quickly dressed and raced outside and stood in front of her father. Yusuke calmed down and hugged his daughter,
"Hiei what do you think you were doing keeping my daughter here, and training her without my permission!"
Hiei shook his head calmly, "We discussed this earlier, yesterday. You said it was okay."
"But you made no mention about having my daughter stay at YOUR house!"
"She needs to focus on her training. Getting her away from humans is my number one objective. She's a demon now and needs to learn that."
"A demon?!" Yusuke said shocked, "You lie Hiei"
"Really? Would I go against my own code?" Hiei turned to Ayumi, "Show him"
Ayumi nodded and went from her human form into her demon form as quickly as possible. Even though she had her eyes closed, she could see her father, his eyes wide, probably crying, she was no longer his daughter, in a sense. Ayumi opened her eyes and her father stood there, spellbound. Short, pointed ears stuck out of her hair and a long, slender, pale, brown lizard-like tail trailed where her backbone ended. Yusuke shook his head, "How did…. what happened?!"
Ayumi's head dropped, "I couldn't come back as a human…I had to come back as a demon…"
"Demon or not, Ayumi…you're still my daughter…" Yusuke said after a long block of silence.
Ayumi nodded, "Botan can explain it…"
"It's time for your training, Yusuke, confront Botan about this matter." Hiei said sternly.
Yusuke left without a word, no god-bye, only a look of mixed emotions. Ayumi followed Hiei into the forest, ready to continue her training.