Ok. Disclaimer: No own, no sue.

I climbed up it and got comfortable. The tree would have offered a perfect view of the Western sky to show the sunset, of at least the Makai equivalent of it, had it not been the middle of the day. I just stared at the sky, not thinking of anything in particular, when Hiei's voice cut through the silence like a knife. Or, in his case, a katana.

"So I see that you have been accepted by the Hanyou's Claw. Bravo, not many are accepted. Most are crushed by it because only a true hanyou can rest in it or be anywhere within five feet of it." He said with a smirk. I jumped.

"...Eh? 'Hanyou's Claw'? 'Hanyou', as in 'half-breed' or 'halfling'?" I said, my mind spinning.

"That's what I said."

"Why was I accepted then?"

"You're a hanyou."

"Dumbnuts, I knew that. I'm saying, why me and not someone else?"

"Ask Kurama, it's his tree."

"I should have known that."

"And you didn't?"

"Sorry, but my common sense is a little off right now. If it was a normal day for me, I would have known whose tree it was."

"Hn." "And that particular 'hn' meant 'And I care about that useless piece of information why?'"

"Hn?"

"And that one meant 'How did you know that?' I know how to translate what I call 'Hiei speech'." Hiei was silent for a moment. Then he looked at me.

"Your mother was very irritated that night. Why was she yelling?" He asked in, surprisingly, a gentle tone. (AN: it's the sign of the apocalypse!)

"I didn't get the best marks in the lesson like she wanted me too. She seems to think that I can be a straight 'A' student like she was in school. She was also the worst neat freak that I've ever seen. Wait... It was you who was watching me!"

"At least you knew your mother..." He looked down. I sighed and hopped out of the Hanyou's Claw. And then I did the stupidest thing I could ever do. I replied to his comment.

"Hiei, you know as well as I do that she would have loved you with all her heart. Her friend wanted to keep you until you were a little older, but she wasn't allowed." Instantly, I slapped my hands over my mouth and closed my eyes, waiting for the impending sword in my skin or the flames of the Makai coming to burn me to ashes. But it never came.

"You're not gonna slice me into mincemeat? You're not gonna burn me into a little pile of ashes?" I managed to squeak out. He looked at me but changed the subject.

"I heard you talking about Karasu. What do you think about him?" He asked.

"Three words. Karasu. Is. Gay." I said. 'He's creepy too. He tried to get all touchy-feely with Kurama and... GOD that's just wrong!' Hiei nodded. Sometimes it's far too easy to forget he can read minds. I closed my eyes and thought back to the episode where Kurama runs into Karasu while trying to leave the stadium and Karasu tried to feel Kurama. THAT just made me shiver, it was SO wrong.

I opened my eyes to find a little glowing marble-thing in my hand. It was a bright purple with streaks of shocking yellow in it. I stared. The marble-ball-glowy-thing was about the size of a pebble and was pulsating with energy. Hiei stared at it as well.

"What is that?" He finally asked me.

"I have no clue. I'll call it the Cherry Bomb. It looks like a marble."

"What's a marble?"

"Its a little glass ball that Ningen children like to play with. Let me rephrase my comment. It looks like a hiruiseki. Only it's weird colors." I threw it at a huge rock that was nearby. Huge as in as big as a garage. The rock exploded. Hiei and I stared.

"Hiei. That," I said pointing at what little dust remained, "That never happened." I managed to say. There were two things on my mind. One was that I just blew up a boulder, and two, Hiei openly stared at something. This was all waaaaaay too freaky.

"Agreed. That rock was never there." He said, his eyes wide.

"Ok, that must have really surprised you because you are staring at it. You usually never stare at ANYTHING without good reason." Then, yet another random thought worked its way from my mind. I get way too many of those. 'How many stairs ARE there leading to Genkai's shrine?'

'Two hundred and twelve.'

'I'm not going to say a word.'

'You just said seven.'

'Holy shit. Has Hiei finally discovered what a sense of humor is?'

'Hn.'

'That's better.'

'Hn.' Can we say 'random thought'?

'I just figured out that Touya is kinda cute. I like his eyes.' At that very moment, Touya and Jin walked into the clearing.

"Well, that was oddly on cue." I said. Hiei said nothing but ran off. My ears drooped. "Yeah, leave me with the two healthy members of the Shinobi. PERFECT." Jin was busy flying around the clearing. He caught sight of me and nearly fell out of the air.

"Oi, Cat-Girl! Keep 'er away from me!" He yelled as he dove behind Touya. I almost didn't catch what he said because I was busy inching away from Touya.

"Oh, god, it's Ice-Dude. Ice-Dude is lethal. Must keep away from lethal Ice- Dude." I kept muttering over and over. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

'He won't hurt me.' The rational part of my mind said. 'But he hurt Kurama!' said my fangirl-ness. 'They had to fight, he had no choice.' said my rational mind. 'But he's still lethal!' came the reply. 'He won't hurt me, he has no reason to.' I sat down on the ground. 'But—'

'As much as I like to hear you argue with yourself, SHUT UP!' came Hiei's voice, breaking off my train of thought.

'Thanks, Hiei, I needed that.' I opened my eyes...

...To stare into a pair of teal ones. I was so surprised that I didn't react. Was it me, or was the area colder all of a sudden? I got nervous and started to fiddle with the tip of my tail. Suddenly, my fur sparked. CRACK.

"Ow!" SNAP.

"That hurts!" CRACKLE. That's when I figured it out. Sparks form with dry air and if the air is cold, then it's mostly dry, too. "Ok, move away, Touya. You're making the air cold which makes it dry which makes my fur spark." I said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know." He said. He backed away from me and the air returned to normal. I started to get nervous. Jin seemed to forget about me and he sat in the air some twenty feet away, fiddling with his ears. I, being me, just had to say something.

"Jin, you could hurt something with those ears if you're not careful." I said quietly. I started to get nervous again so I stood up and started to walk out of the clearing.

'Hiei, this would be the perfect time to COME AND GET ME?!' I thought.

'And why would I do that?' he replied lazily. I growled quietly and stopped walking.

'Because if you don't, I'll track you down and poke your Jagan so hard you won't be able to open it for a month. Ask anyone I know, they can tell you how hard I can poke. And THEN I'll tease you endlessly about that one time that Yusuke actually showed some brains and beat you using the Spirit Gun and the Forlorn Hope. THAT'S why. Though I DID like the way you beat the crap out of him before hand.' I said.

'Hn. I'll come and get you if you can guess which tree I'm in.' he replied. Most people would have panicked when they saw all the trees around, but I just sighed. I know Hiei almost as well as Kurama does, if not just as well.

'I'm not stupid. You're in the tree right above me. Any idiot would know that.'

'So you are smarter than you look.'

'Well forgive me if I'm not Kurama! Now COME AND GET ME OUT OF HERE!'

'Hn. Fine.' I heard some shuffling above my head and I moved to the left just as Hiei landed in the spot where I was. My nose picked up the scent of pine needles and fresh water.

"Sorry to disturb you, but I need to take this girl back with me." He said. (AN: He talked in whole sentences!) Touya nodded and Jin just sat there. Hiei started to walk and I followed him.

"Hiei, would you believe me if I said that I never saw the finals but I know who wins the tournament?"

"Depends on what you know."

"What if I said that I know what team will win this tournament but someone will die."

"I'd have to ask who died."

"...Yusuke gets himself killed a second time, this time with a stab through the chest... At least... I think so..."

"So who wins?"

"Oh, I'm PRETTY sure you guys do, but no guarantees. I know that something happens to Puu and some such... Kurama uses that Fruit of Past Life potion thing that Suzuka gave him... And since -when- do you talk this much?"

"Hn."

"Well, that's normal, at least... Oh, and when Kurama goes ballistic, it looks so friggin awesome! But after he kills Karasu, they call that Karasu still wins. I dunno why, though." Hiei went 'Hn.' again and we kept going. There was silence until I brought something up.

"Hiei, I know why you tolerate Kuwabara." I said quietly.

"Hn. And why do I do that?"

"...Because you want to see Yukina stay happy. You want her to be happy even though she hasn't achieved her goal."

"Why won't you just state that one simple fact that everyone seems to know?!" I stared. He NEVER yells.

"Hey, I may have the observance skills of a rock, but I'm not stupid! And besides, the baka doesn't know, for obvious reasons."

"Hn."

"Hiei?"

"Yes?"

"That guy who gave you the Jagan, Shigure I think, said that YOU couldn't tell her, right? Well, what if, even if you don't want us to, someone ELSE told her? That wouldn't affect you because it wasn't you who told her. And he specifically said that YOU couldn't tell. Loophole!"

"Yes, but you WON'T tell, now will you? Because you know what will happen if you do." He gave me a feral smirk. I decided that I did NOT like that smirk.

"Eep."

"Exactly." The rest of the trip went in silence. By the time we made it to the hotel room, I was tired. As in, sleepy. Everyone else was doing their own thing, so I walked into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. I drifted off to sleep thinking about how the hell I got myself into this mess.

Dream Sequence

I was standing in a dark place. It was so cold and everything was blackness... I rubbed my hands over my arms to warm them. My ears flattened to the top of my head in an effort to keep warm. I wrapped my tail around my waist as tight as I could.

Slowly, the place started to warm up. It got progressively hotter. Soon, my sweatshirt was around my waist instead of my tail and my pants were rolled up to my shins.

That's when it happened. All around me, flames started to appear.

At first they were normal red and orange flames. Then they turned yellow. Then blue with a white core. I knew from science that blue flames were second only to white in heat. Instead of going to white, the flames began to darken. The blue turned to black and the white cores went violet. They were turning into Darkness Flames.

Up until this point, I was holding in my fear. Now I lost it. I screamed.

Suddenly, the flames started to die out and return to Mortal Flames. I was relaxed and I calmed down. For no reason at all, I began to hear a rumbling sound. It took me a second to figure out what it was and where it came from. I was purring! I stood there for a minute and then I woke up.

There. New chapter. R&R!

-LoneHowl