Chapter 5- "Training, or Something Like It "
Akemi started to back away from the window...when she suddenly heard a loud explosion-type noise from outside. She was startled and she stumbled, landing into the wall.
"Take it easy, Hiei, this isn't a real match after all," said Kurama's, his voice carrying from outside.
"Jeez, Genkai said to take it easy. I need some energy for later!" came Kuwabara's voice worriedly.
"Hn, I am taking it easy." There was another loud noise, but slightly smaller this time. Akemi couldn't see them out the window, so she slowly walked away from it. As she did so, she looked at the door, briefly before she heard a knock on the door, followed by a voice.
"Akemi, are you ok? I heard a noise coming from your room. It sounded like you were coming through the wall." Akemi remembered falling into the wall. She opened the door and was greeted by Yukina.
"Hi, Yukina," she said.
"Is everything ok?" Yukina repeated.
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," Akemi answered, allowing Yukina to walk into the room, "I just jumped a little when I heard that noise from outside." She motioned towards the window.
"Oh," Yukina said, she smiled, "I think Kuwabara's training, and by the sounds of it, it sounds like Hiei is helping him. Genkai is probably stalling until you're ready to start."
"Is Kurama here?" Akemi asked Yukina.
"Um, I believe so," she answered, "Why?"
"Just wondering, I thought I heard him outside, but I wasn't sure."
"Oh, well, you don't look fully awake yet so why don't you go take a shower, and then come get some breakfast before your training starts?" Yukina proposed.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Yukina smiled again, then turned towards the door, "Um, Yukina, how did all of my stuff get here?"
"You know, I'm not sure," She paused, "Well, I'll leave you to it then." With one last smile, she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Akemi sighed, deciding it wasn't that big of a deal. She walked to her dresser, found some new clothes, and walked into the bathroom.
20 Minutes Later
Akemi finished drying her hair and quickly pulled it into a ponytail. She walked into the kitchen, but found nobody there. She walked into the living room. "Yukina!" She called, but she didn't receive an answer. She sighed, 'Oh, well'.
She walked outside to see Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara just standing there. Not doing anything, Akemi was confused. Then, Kuwabara collapsed, exhausted. Hiei sheathed his katana and leaned against a tree, crossing his arms in front of him. Kurama merely shook his head, looking at both of them. Kuwabara looked up and saw Akemi, and suddenly looked very relieved.
"She's here!" He announced, "Hiei, you can go now. Where's Genkai?" He stood up, but his smile vanished as he heard what Genkai had to say.
"I'm right here," Genkai said, walking towards them, "Don't leave, Hiei, I'm going to need your help." Kuwabara groaned and Hiei "hned". Genkai walked over to Kuwabara and Hiei and began talking to them. When she continued to talk to them, Akemi walked over to Kurama.
"Why does she need Hiei to help with our training?" She asked. Kurama kept looking straight ahead.
"I'm not one-hundred percent certain on that," Kurama answered.
"Kuwabara doesn't look too happy about it," Akemi stated, looking up at Kurama. They both laughed softly.
"I don't blame him," He looked at her, "Hiei's no pushover."
"I kind of figured that when I heard the noise from their 'training session' earlier. It was either that or Kuwabara was just having a really bad day." She added.
"Sometimes it's both." Kurama stated. Akemi laughed. Kurama wondered why she wasn't worried, it was like all she could do was laugh. And Hiei was definitely no laughing matter. If she did have spirit awareness, then she would definitely know that.
Akemi stared at Kuwabara, who, by the looks of it, was still trying to change Genkai's mind. Akemi smiled as she watched him practically beg. Kurama watched Akemi while she smiled and laughed at Kuwabara. 'She is so calm. How can she be calm knowing that her training is going to include Hiei?' But, then again, she didn't know Hiei the way the rest of them did. Akemi looked up at Kurama, who quickly looked away, his heartbeat racing. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She hadn't looked away yet. Kurama looked back at her.
"What?" she asked, still smiling.
"Nothing," Kurama answered, looking back at Genkai. Akemi smiled at him again, then looked back at Genkai, who was now walking towards them. Kuwabara, behind her, was now staring nervously at Hiei, who was not returning his gaze.
"Alright, Akemi, this simple exercise is going to help you improve how fast you can detect spirit energy. We'll work on accuracy later, but for now we're going to concentrate on speed. Hiei is going to be 'flitting' around while you and Kuwabara try to hit him with these," Genkai held up two orange dodge balls, "He will recover them easily when you don't hit him, but he's going to be throwing them back at you. So make sure you can sense him fast enough to catch the ball before it hits you. You should be able to sense which way the ball is coming from." Akemi nodded. Genkai turned to Kurama, talking very quietly, "You should probably stay and watch for any..." She glanced at Akemi, "symptoms might show up." Kurama nodded, "Of course." Genkai nodded back, then turned back to Akemi and led her towards Kuwabara, who was no longer standing by Hiei. (A/N: If I make some changes involving "location" I'm sorry, but I need it to fit the story.)
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Genkai asked, after placing Akemi next to Kuwabara and giving them each one orange ball, "Begin!" Hiei got an evil smile on his face, then flitted off.
Akemi waited, she knew she didn't have a chance of seeing Hiei, so she concentrated and threw the dodge ball to her right, Kuwabara slightly after her. She didn't expect to hit Hiei, and it didn't look like she did when both orange balls kept rolling, until Hiei picked them up that is. Akemi looked at Kuwabara, who looked worried now that he was completely defenseless, and that any moment now Hiei was going to throw a ball at him. Akemi started to turn her head to her left, when she quickly turned back around and caught one of the balls just before it hit her in the chest.
'Jeez, he throws hard,' She thought. She didn't throw the ball. She waited, then wheeled around quickly so she was facing Kuwabara.
"Duck!" She yelled at him as she ducked herself.
"What?" Kuwabara looked to his left just as one of the orange balls hit him on the side of the head. He staggered for a moment, the fell to the ground.
Akemi dropped the ball she had been holding and stood next to Kuwabara, Genkai doing the same thing.
"He'll live, Hiei just caught him off his guard," Genkai announced as Kurama approached them as well. Hiei had already stopped flitting.
"Would it hurt you to take it easy just once?" Kuwabara asked as Akemi helped him stand back up.
"It seems to hurt you more than it hurts me," Hiei responded. Kuwabara opened his mouth to respond, but Genkai cut in.
"You two," Genkai said, pointing to Kuwabara and Hiei, "Continue with this exercise," she turned to Akemi and Kurama, "I've just realized what Koenma has been talking about. Akemi didn't sense where Hiei was, she predicted it. You don't have spirit awareness."
"Then what do I have?" Akemi asked curiously. Genkai sighed.
"I'm not sure, but I think I know how to find out. Come over here, you too, Kurama," Genkai said. She walked away from Kuwabara and Hiei, who started training again. She stopped when she was a fair distance away.
"Akemi, I don't know exactly what it is that you possess, but it is not spirit awareness. You don't sense things. You see them, you predict them before they happen. It will be very difficult for you to train to your fullest by yourself so I am going to think of a new exercise that will need someone else's assistance, and seeing as Kurama is the only one that is well-informed of your powers that isn't in trouble for the summer (other than Hiei), I think he is going to end up helping you quite frequently. Your probably going to be doing this same exercise for a long time, just so you know. So rest up, because you're going to need your strength for tomorrow's training." And with that, she turned around and walked back to Kuwabara and Hiei. Akemi sighed.
"Why do I not like the sound of that? 'Rest up, because you're going to need it'," She quoted.
"Don't worry about it. You are always going to need plenty of energy for training. Whether it's hard or not," Kurama stated.
"But it's usually hard anyway, right?" Akemi asked, looking up at him.
"Yes, but if it wasn't it would defeat the purpose of training wouldn't it?" Kurama asked back, looking at her.
"I guess so, but it doesn't look like it's doing much for Kuwabara either way." They both laughed as Hiei hit Kuwabara two more times with the dodge balls.
"Kuwabara can be tough when he wants to, at least, more than that."
"I hope so," Akemi replied. They watched the other two train for about two hours, never getting bored, especially when Kuwabara got hit in the head again, but he managed to stay on his feet most of the time. They eventually switched to not using any balls at all, and Kuwabara had to dodge or block Hiei's attacks. He wasn't doing to well. In the midst of all of this, Akemi remembered something, "Have you seen Yukina at all since you've been here?" Kurama thought for a moment.
"Not since earlier this morning. Why?" He questioned.
"Just wondering, I talked to her earlier too, but I haven't seen her for a while. I'm going to go look for her again, maybe I'll have better luck this time," She began to walk forward, "It looks like they're done." She stated as Hiei and Genkai walked back into the "house", leaving Kuwabara lying on the ground. "Looks like Hiei was 'taking it easy' again."
Akemi walked up to Kuwabara, Kurama beside her. Kuwabara was just looking up at the sky, not blinking. "Are you ok?" Akemi asked. They waited a minute, then Kuwabara blinked and looked at them.
"What? Uh, yeah," He sat up.
"Here," Akemi offered him her hand to help him up. He took it and all three of them walked back into the temple.
"Well, you look like you've been working hard," Yukina stated as they walked into the living room. Genkai wasn't in the room, and Hiei was in the corner of the room, his arms crossed across his chest and his eyes closed. "Looks like you guys are pretty burnt out, training hard?"
Kuwabara didn't answer as he sighed and collapsed onto the couch, but sprung back up quickly, "What time is it?" He asked.
"Um, about 9:30, why?" Kuwabara didn't answer as he ran towards the door.
"Yusukes's gonna kill me. I gotta go bye!" He yelled as he ran out the door. Kurama walked towards the door as well.
"I should probably be leaving as well, but I believe Yusuke and everyone else are going to be coming by later," He said as he walked out the door.
"Ok, bye, Kurama!" Yukina and Akemi called after him. For some reason, Akemi was didn't want to see him go.