Asilin: Dru, would you say we're emotionally challenged?

Dru: What do you mean?

Asilin: Nothing really, just reading a review.

Dru: Oh. Well, I'd say you're emotionally challenged.

Asilin: >growls> Thanks for the support.

Dru: You're welcome.

Chapter Six

>Dru and Asilin>

Dru had gone where she always went to think--Times Square. Rather ironic, considering. But she liked to sharpen her empathy, and sometimes, if she was lucky, she could find a rather large demon to kill.
Her mind flashed with familiarity, and she turned. She stared at Kheldarson, who stood about ten feet from her. Dru saw light glinting off of something and moved away as a fast-flying dagger almost pierced her arm. It clattered on the pavement and bounced off to the side. Dru pulled her sword out and went into her battle stance.
The people all around her began to scream and run, ducking through alleys and such until the street was almost completely empty of life. There were a few brave-or crazy-souls who dared to watch the two, waiting for the match to begin.
Steel clanged as daggers and sword clashed. The two combatants struggled to push the other back. Bluish-grey eyes glared at granite-like ones in a battle of wills.
Suddenly, their weapons went flying, leaving them to grapple in hand-to-hand combat. The two punched, kicked, grabbed, flipped, and rolled in their battle for vengence. To the spectators, this was worse than any cat-fight they had ever seen.
Asilin growled out, "What the hell did you tell Hiei?!"
"What about you and Kurama, huh?" Dru retorted.
"I told him nothing that-"
"Well, Hiei's just a punk and-"
"But Hiei said he was going to leave me alone, so-"
"Kurama just kept on pushing, which means-"
"YOUR STUPID ADVICE DIDN'T WORK!" they both yelled at each other. They both glared at each other.
It was at that point a lightning bolt struck the middle of Times Square and revealed a massive demon with wings. He roared, "Beware, pitiful humans! Your master has arrived!"
Dru and Asilin turned in unison and screamed, "SHUT UP! You're interrupting our fight!" Then they blinked. The demon just stared at them in shock.
"Insolent fools," he hissed and attacked them. The ensuing fight was short, simple, and bloody. The demon soon lay before Asilin and Dru's feet, his head severed and his body mangled.
Dru panted, "Give me just a second, and I'll be ready to kill you next, Kheldarson."
"Not if I'm ready first," was the tired reply. They both just looked at each other.
"Why were we fighting again?" Asilin asked sheepishly.
"No idea," Dru laughed back.
Above them, somebody coughed. Both girls looked up to see Hiei and Kurama just watching them. "Oh yeah," Asilin growled. "It was about them being idiots!"
"Shall we teach them a lesson then?" Dru's eyes had an evil glint to them.
"Let's." Asilin moved into the nearby alleyway and tossed out Brink to Dru as she returned with all three of her daggers. They were about to climb up the fire escape when a black van drove up.
"DRU! ASILIN! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE!" The Boss screamed. "YOU TWO ARE SERIOUSLY PUSHING THE LIMIT HERE!" A squad of men jumped out of the back of the van and surrounded the two girls.
Asilin and Dru sighed but came willingly. However, both of them glared daggers at the two boys and mouthed, "You two are so dead when we get out."

>Dru>

Dru and Asilin sat in the chairs as the boss stood circling them like a vulture. He was yelling, his face turning red from lack of oxygen. He got louder and louder every minute, and these tallied up to be quite a few minutes and quite a bit of volume.
"SO YOU WANNA EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THE HELL YOU WERE THINKING?" he demanded.
"Sir, I--" Dru began.
"I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!" he screamed in reply. He continued on another mad spree. The two remained seated and quiet, listening for there to be a pause. They were trying so hard to explain what was going on.
"SIR!" they yelled together.
"WHAT!?" he yelled back.
"We want to explain this to you!" Asilin said.
Dru's serious expression began to give way. "But, we're not sure if we can," she said. With that, she threw back her head and let out a good long laugh. Asilin watched her a moment, and then she too began laughing. "You were all Ms. I'm gonna kill you," Dru laughed hysterically.
"And then you said--" Asilin was laughing just as hard. "You said--" She stood up and mimicked Dru as she bent over and raised a finger to indicate a minute. The two commenced to laugh until both had fallen out of their chairs and had doubled over on the floor, clutching their stomachs. They laughed so hard that tears were flooding their eyes, and when Dru fell over on her side, this only increased the volume in the room.
The Boss watched, mouth hanging open, not sure whether to laugh with them, get angry, punish them or let them go ahead and go after the demons. So he watched until they finally calmed down.
They straightened their throats and sat back down in their chairs, trying to don the serious expressions they had been masked with earlier.
"So you're telling me," the Boss began calmly. "that you two started this fight over those two?"
Asilin nodded. "Yeah," she chuckled, wiping a tear from her eye. "It wasn't completely their fault."
Dru nodded. "Yeah. We gave them some bad advice." Asilin chortled as Dru stated this, making a loud nasal noise. At this, the two began laughing once more.
The Boss raised an eyebrow. It was rare to see Asilin and Dru laughing, especially at the same thing at the same time.
He sighed. "Well, I was gonna punish you two, but seeing how no one got hurt and no one really got a good look at you, and that you killed a demon we've been after--"
The two cracked up again. "Your master is here!" the two said in unison, mocking the thing. This sent them laughing even more.
"GIRLS!"
The two couldn't stop though.
"Aw, damn it, I give up. Just go home," the Boss said. "Get out, go on!" he said, chasing them out of the office.
The two walked down the stairs, still laughing until they got out of the building. Dru looked at Asilin. "Ready to go chase the bastards?" she asked, her voice chuckling spontaneously.
Asilin nodded, forcing down laughter. "Let's hunt some demon ass."

>The Boys>

Kurama lounged back on a park bench and looked up into the sky. It disappointed him to see so few stars visible in the night sky. Vaguely, he wondered if Dru would ever consider to go out to the country with him.
Above him, Hiei rested on a tree branch, per usual. His eyes were closed, and a vagrant wind played with his gravity-defying hair. He wondered what had possessed him to tell Asilin his past like that. It was bound to make her hate him.
"Hiei?" Kurama interrupted his thoughts.
"What, kitsune?" Hiei growled.
"Why do you think the girls were fighting today?"
"How should I know? They're just baka ningen onnas," Hiei said with finality.
"You don't mean that."
"Hn."
"I think it had something to do with us."
"Hn."
Kurama frowned. "That's quite infuriating, you know that?" Hiei was silent.
Kurama sighed at his lack of response. "Well, I got a hold of Koenma today."
Hiei smirked. "What did the toddler say?"
"Well, he freaked out a little," Kurama grinned at the memory. "But I think I convinced him. He'll be coming here at some point to check out our story and give us a final answer."
"Hn."
"You do that on purpose, don't you?" Hiei gave no response. Kurama just shook his head and looked back up at the sky.
"Look at what we found here," a voice rasped from the shadows.
"Two very bad boys," another voice replied. Hiei and Kurama both jumped up into fighting stances, only to be hit in the back of their heads by the hilts of daggers or a sword. The last thing they heard before blacking out was one of the voices giggling as it said, "Good night, boys."

>Dru>

Kurama's eyes opened lazily. A sound of shuffling entered his ears. He went to rub his eyes to help ease his pounding head, but found his hands and arms constrained.
"Ah," came a soft voice. "You're awake."
Kurama blinked and tried to focus his eyes through the darkness. He finally spotted someone moving through the darkness, and with the sight of light glinting off of steel, three bullets were fired around his head. His breath caught. Dru was the one standing in the shadows with the gun.
He swallowed. "Dru," his voice came out shaky. He cleared his throat and tried again. "What in the world is going on?" he asked.
Dru looked at him, almost as if she were studying an animal in captivity. "Target practice," she said softly.
Kurama's eyes popped wide open. "Dru, if you miss--"
"I know."
"Dru--"
"Don't worry about it. You'll merely transcend into your next life, won't you?" She watched him for a second. "Or at least, that's what I've been lead to think." She smirked, waiting for a reaction. "You wanted to be honest, let's be honest." She approached him and waited. "You went after some very powerful and dangerous artifacts, didn't you? An orb, a sword, and...oh, what was that last item?" she asked, watching him.
He froze.
"A mirror, I believe it was."
Kurama swallowed. "Yes."
"Why?"
"That's in the past."
"So is my step-father. It's my turn to pry." She pointed the gun and fired a bullet right above his head. She brought back her gun. "Now. Why did you want that mirror?"
"How did you know about it?"
"Did you think Asilin was the only one who could gather information?"
Kurama and Dru watched for a while. "I went after the mirror for...for my mother."
"Your mother?" Dru asked, a chuckle in her voice.
"Yes. She was dying."
"And you thought this mirror could help her."
"Yes."
"Did it?"
"Yes."
"I thought it took a life as the price for a wish."
"It did."
"Well, you're alive and here, so I assume it didn't take your life." No answer. "Whose life did it take?" No answer. Dru raised Alucard and sent it right above his head.
"No one's!" Kurama yelled. "A friend of mine made a selfless wish and the mirror made an exception. All right!?"
Dru paused. "And what about this...other self?"
"Other self?"
"The demon part."
"What about him?"
"What is he?"
Kurama scoffed. "We share a soul."
"Good for you. So what's the difference?"
"He's stronger."
"Hmm." She began polishing Brink. "Very well."
"Very well? That's it?"
"No. I have more."
Kurama sighed. "You're ruthless."
"Not so much as you. But that can wait. I can even overlook that."
"So?"
"What did Asilin tell you?"
"What?"
"Her advice."
"That's confidential. What did you tell Hiei?"
"None of your business."
Kurama shifted his weight. "It seems we're at an impasse."
"Seems so."
"Are you going to let me go?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Cause now I know you're not getting into trouble, and you won't be stalking me at my home all the time."
"Does it bother you that much?" Kurama asked.
Dru looked up and sat down her sword. "It does because I'm trying to keep you from getting hurt."
"Again with the pain. How about you let me decide what I can and cannot handle? Quite frankly, if I have to endure pain to be with you, then I'll take it."
"No, you can't," Dru said quietly.
"What?"
"You'll die."
"Your friend again?"
"Maybe."
"Who was he, Dru? And what is Dru? I know that's not your name. Everytime I look into your eyes and say that name, your eyes betray you. You're not a Dru, are you? What is your name?"
He suddenly felt cold steel against his throat. Dru was pressed against him firmly. She was angry and he could see it and sense it in every pore. "My name now is Dru. That name portrays a life that caused me pain. That girl was weak and petty, and I can never escape her because like you, I share her soul. I'll never be able to leave my past behind when someone keeps trying to pry into it and tell me what I should and should not be saying."
"Why do you want to leave it so badly? It hurt Dru, I know it! But that doesn't give you a reason to turn on it."
"I am in a business of saving the world. I can't be going crazy every time a man touches me. I can't collapse on the battle field every time I see fire or hear my gun go off. I have to be strong and that means eliminating every weakness I can." She held the gun to his head. He closed his eyes. There was a soft shuffling. "But not you, Kurama. Not you," she whispered.
Kurama opened his eyes just in time to see a door shut.
Dru walked up the stairs and stopped. She leaned against the wall and began thinking about everything that she had just said. She sighed and tilted her head to the ceiling wondering what she would do with him in the morning. Unlike every other man in her life, Kurama had gotten under her skin. She felt as though she couldn't let any harm come to him.
She shifted her weight and frowned. She felt as though something were wrong. The building began to rumble...

>Asilin (at the same time)>

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Hiei twitched as the noise kept on being repeated at random intervals.
"Damn it, Hiei!" a girl's voice snarled. "Wake up!"
"Hn." He stubbornly kept his eyes closed.
"Fine. Then the next one goes where it'll hurt." Hiei's eyes snapped open at the threat and met Asilin's.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She hefted a dagger. "This." She threw it at him. He didn't even flinch as it landed next to his ear. "Only I wasn't aiming for the spot."
"Baka onna!" He growled and leapt at her. Well, attempted to leap at her. He was chained up at the moment. "Let me go."
"Uh-huh, Hiei. I've decided that it's time for you and I to have a little talk, and I kinda don't want you attacking me." She pulled a chair up and straddled it.
"Hn."
"Let me put it another way. You don't talk, I stop being so generous and start hitting body parts." She glared at him.
He met her gaze to force her to back down, but after several minutes, it was obvious that she wasn't going to. "Fine, onna," he growled.
"Good." Her face split into a smile. "First question. Did you mean it?"
"Mean what?"
"What you said right before leaving me at the park."
He blushed. "Hn." A dagger landed between his legs. He stared at Asilin in shock.
"You didn't answer. I have no real limit to the number of daggers I have here, so this can go easy or hard. However, the longer we go, the worse the daggers get, which means my aim may be off a little. So I suggest you play nice."
"I meant it," Hiei muttered.
"See? That wasn't so hard. Now, why'd you leave me?"
"To give you time to think."
"I'm sure," she replied in a sarcastic tone. "Why'd you leave?"
"I-" He couldn't finish.
Asilin's eyes softened slightly. "You still can't admit it, can you?"
"Admit what?" he glared at her.
"You're as scared as I am right now."
"I'm not scared!"
"Yes, you are. But know what? So am I. So we're even. All you have to do is admit it. Maybe then we can discuss letting you go." He stared at her. "It's not that hard, Hiei." Her voice was soft.
All Hiei could do was sigh. "You're right. I'm a little scared." His eyes dared her to challenge his statement.
She smiled at him. "I knew you could do it." She stood up and touched his cheek. "By the way, what did Dru tell you? That I wouldn't like you because of who I dated first?" He just looked at her.
Shaking her head, she laughed as she undid the chains. However, as soon as she finished, she found herself on the floor, Hiei on top of her. "Did you honestly think you could get away with all of that without some payback?" He smirked. Asilin's eyes widened. "Now, who's afraid?" His hand snaked behind her head as he began to kiss her. He started gentle, but as time went by, deepened the kiss.
Asilin moaned as his tongue entered her mouth. However, she decided that it was her turn to have some fun. She reached up with her tongue and licked Hiei's. He stopped and looked at her quizzically. That was all the break she needed. She reached up and kissed Hiei herself, entering his mouth much as he had done hers. She felt him smirk beneath her lips, but he didn't stop her.
She ran her tongue over his teeth, along the top of his mouth, across his tongue. She was amazed at how this felt and knew that she couldn't go back to the way she was. Especially after Hiei started groaning in his throat. She pulled away.
"What?" she giggled. He just mock-glared at her before pulling her back into another kiss, rougher than the first. However, it was cut short as the two of them looked up in surprise. The building had begun to rumble...

>Dru>

Dru reached the rooftop door and flung it open. The building was beginning to shatter as a force came closer and closer. She knew that feeling. She had felt it before. She watched in awe and fear as a blue orb of light came crashing into the rooftop, making a long ravine in the rooftop. She stood her ground, preparing to jump should it reach her.
The thing slowed, the massiveness becoming slowly larger until it stopped right in front of her. She looked in and could see through the blue crystal lightning that there was someone inside. It was a man. He had long black hair touched with gray, a scar cut across his face. His eyes blazed with red fire, and the ball around him soon disintegrated and turned into nothing.
Dru tried not to let her fear get the best of her. She pulled out her sword and began walking forward. With a great amount of anger and strength and speed, she brought it over her head towards the demon's. He lifted his arm and deflected the blow with a crackle of lightning. Dru fell back and continued staring at the offensive being.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed through clenched teeth.
The man grinned. "Now now child. That's no way to welcome your father."
Dru's eyes narrowed. "Father? I never had a father. If your referring to the man who merely gave me half of my genetic material, then I would have to agree. But the name for that would be paternal genetic unit."
The man grinned. "Always the sarcastic little thing, weren't you?"
"I see you got your wish."
"That I did."
"Leave."
"I just got here!" he said. He watched her and pouted falsely. "What's the matter? Not happy to see me?" he asked.
"Quite the contrary. This eliminates the whole me having to search for you and then kill you. Now I can just kill you!" she said. She raised Alucard and let a shot ring into the demon's head. The man fell over and lay still. "That was too easy," she said quietly, turning.
"That rather hurt," came a voice. Dru froze and turned. He was not sitting up. He felt around on his forehead and brought a bloody glove to his face. "Hmm. Gotten quite handy with that thing."
"Care to see another practice shot?"
"I daresay I would," he said, standing.
Dru backed away a bit. She glared. "I told you to die. You just wouldn't listen. Now we have to do this the hard way."
The man smiled. "Do we?"
"What?"
"I came here with a proposal."
"For?"
He smiled. "There's a war beginning, you know." Dru didn't answer. "Demons and humans are preparing to fight one another. Only...the humans don't know." He took a step forward. "I want to ask that you return home with me. I want you to be my general, my right hand in this war."
Dru's eyes narrowed again. "I think I'll stay on the side of good, thanks."
The man laughed. "Ah, I knew you would say that. Always the firey spirit." He closed in on her carefully. "There's good and evil in everyone, Victoria." Dru flinched at her real name. "But beyond that, there's even more need--the need to feel loved, the need for power--whatever it is, it is there. I am feeling a lot of need from you right now. So many different things..."
"All I need is my sword and my gun--" she pointed the gun again. "And I'm good to go."
The man threw back his head and laughed. "Ah, my darling daughter, firey and free-spirited as usual. Well then--" He grabbed her wrist and brought her close to him. "I can't force you. You're the only one with the strength to kill me." He kissed her forehead and threw her back. He watched her regain her balance and regard him dangerously. "Now now, none of that."
"Get, out of here!" she nearly screamed.
"Just leaving," he replied quietly, walking to the edge. Dru kept her gun pointed and watched him literally walk off of the rooftop. She blinked, then fell back once more as a blue orb flew into sight and took off like a rocket into the sky. It flew high and far until it became nothing more than a dot in the sky.
She swallowed and fell to her knees, suddenly weakened. She sighed and felt her forehead. Damn. He had made her sick.
She stood shakily and went through the door. Up the stairs came running Asilin and Hiei, Kurama just behind. "Dru!" Asilin asked, noticing Dru's flushed cheeks. "What was that?"
Dru cleared her throat. "Nothing. Really."

With that, she began to descend the steps. She suddenly went dizzy, and tipped forward. Kurama pushed past Asilin and Hiei and grabbed the girl.
"Hey!" came a loud voice.
Asilin looked down the long flights of stairs to see the boss staring up at the from the third story of the building. "What the hell is going on?" he yelled.
"Dru was attacked!" Asilin called.
"Attacked? By what?"
"I don't know, but I felt it. It was powerful."
"Did she kill it?"
Asilin turned to Dru who shook her head. Asilin then looked back down. "No!"
The Boss sighed. "Bring her down here!"
"No..." Dru said. The three turned to her. "I just need to go home and rest. I'm sure I've just caught something," she said softly. "I just need rest, I'm sure of it."
Asilin looked at Kurama and sighed. "All right. We'll take her home," she called the last part to the Boss.
The man could be heard grumbling. "Fine. But tell her that if she dies, I'll kill her!" and with that, there was the slamming of the door and silence.
Asilin looked at Kurama. "Ok. Let's get her home."
"I can go by myself!" Dru swatted at them, standing on her own. She took a couple shaky steps and fell over again into Hiei. "Ok," Dru said. "Maybe I need to sleep first," she said quietly.
Hiei seemed alarmed at first, not sure what to do. Kurama came and took her into his arms and began carrying her carefully down the stairs. The three remained quiet as they took Dru home.

>Asilin>

Asilin unlocked the door to Dru's apartment and allowed Kurama in first. As she entered in, Hiei followed her at protective distance. "You don't need to do that," Asilin whispered.

"I may not need to, but I want to," he replied and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned back into his embrace and looked worriedly towards Dru's bedroom. She didn't understand why she was allowing Hiei to see this emotion, but found she didn't want it any other way.

Kurama exited the room, closing the door behind him. "I take it you two fixed your problem." Hiei and Asilin shrugged in unison. "Ah. Anyway, Asilin, has she ever gotten this sick before? And this suddenly?"

Asilin frowned, attempting slightly to get out of Hiei's grasp. It failed. "No, as long as I've known her, she's never gotten sick. Not even a cold. But I've only known her for a couple of years now, so..." she trailed off.

"So it's possible that this could've happened before?" Kurama pressed.

"I suppose. But the only way to find out is to ask her, and I don't think she'll tell us."

"I'm sure the three of us could convince her."

"Hn. Leave me out of it, kitsune."

Asilin grinned at Hiei's response. "Hiei's actually right, Kurama. We'll leave this one alone." She pulled away from Hiei at this point and walked over to the window. "There was something strange about the feeling I got from whatever was at the agency. It was familiar, yet very strange. It's worrying."

Hiei chuckled low in his throat. "And, of course, there's the fact that it's something you have no info on."

"Yeah...HEY!" Asilin turned around to glare at him, only to find him behind her again. Kurama laughed at their antics.

'I never knew Hiei would allow his walls down for a girl, especially a human girl. Maybe there's something to the belief that there's a single person for everybody,' Kurama mused as he watched the two. Then his thoughts turned to the woman he loved. 'What happened to her? Kami, I hope she's willing to tell us when she wakes up.' He sat down on a chair and stared at Dru's door.

Meanwhile, Asilin and Hiei had made their way to the deck. Asilin leaned against the railing and looked out on the street with a sigh; Hiei stood against the building and watched her. They stood in silence for a moment, listening to the song of the city. "I don't know why humans desire to be in places like this," Hiei muttered. "It's loud, crowded, and ugly."

Asilin smirked. "Well, some people are afraid of being alone and being required to take responsibility for themselves. What they don't realize is that by being here is making them more alone and responsible than anywhere else. But it can be fun here." She grinned at him.

"Hn."

"You've got to stop doing that." She looked away from him.

"Why?" he whispered in her ear. Asilin shivered as his warm breath tickled her.

"Because it's very annoying, you baka." She looked up and glared at him. He smirked and captured her lips with his, turning her in his arms. It was a short one, and Asilin rested her head on Hiei's chest when they ended it. He wrapped his arms around her.

"What are you thinking about, onna?"

"Quit calling me that!" she snapped, then sighed as he just smirked. "I was just wondering about Dru. She's my partner, and I have no clue what happened to her. I don't want anything to have happened to her." She laid her head back down on his chest.

"Hn. She's as strong as you are. Don't worry so much."

"You're so good when it comes to comforting someone," Asilin said sarcastically.

"What did you expect?" He laughed.

She growled. "Fine. Then I guess I'll have to find something else to comfort me." She extricated herself from Hiei's arms and stalked over to the sliding door.

He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. Asilin struggled to break his grip, but he refused to back down. So the two just stared at each other, neither one blinking, neither giving up. Then the door opened, and Kurama poked his head out. "Guys, you need to come in here. We have a visitor."

Asilin broke away from Hiei's gaze to glance at Kurama. "A visitor? But nobody knows where we're at except the Boss, and he wouldn't send Sam here now."

"It's not Sam, whoever he is. Or your boss. It's ours."

She just stared at Kurama. "Your boss?"

"Yeah." Kurama looked at Hiei. "He wants both of us in there now."

"Hn." Hiei reluctantly let go of Asilin and disappeared, literally, into the house. Kurama and Asilin followed.

"So where's this boss of yours?" Asilin asked, looking around the room.

"Right here," a strange voice said behind her. Asilin turned to see a toddler floating in front of her. "Yo," the toddler said. She took a step back and drew a dagger. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you! I am Koenma, prince of the Reikai."

"Whatever." She thrust her dagger back into its sheath and flopped onto the couch.

"What do you want, toddler?" Hiei demanded from the window.

"Well, we've recieved news that a new demon has risen in power and is attempting to start a war between humans and demons. However, we have no clue who this demon could be or what his powers are."

"And you want us to go look for him?" Kurama asked.

"Yes."

"Forget it," Hiei said bluntly. "Get the detective to do it."

"He's looking for the demon in Japan. I want you to see if he's here," Koenma stated. "Plus, it'll give me a chance to see how the demon hunters work here." He glanced at Asilin. She just stared back. "Well, I'm off!" He disappeared.

Asilin looked at the two boys. "Your boss is a toddler?" They nodded. "And he's in charge of the Reikai?" Another nod. "So you two follow a guy who sucks on a blue pacifier, floats, and probably still wears diapers? This is too rare!" She burst out laughing.

Asilin: Well...this is probably one of our longer chapters.

Dru: So we'd like to ask for more reviews. Maybe 30 before our next chapter. Reviews make us happy.

Asilin: Yes they do. So review okay?