Youko's ears picked up Hiei's boot's heals clicking against the floor, as well as his yell, when Hiei was about to turn the corner. Caley heard the footsteps as well, and pulled away.
"Caley!" Hiei yelled again when he saw his daughter standing there by Youko, looking a bit dazed.
"Yes, daddy?" Caley asked, slowly shaking off the daze, licking her lips.
"What are you two up to? But first, tell me why you didn't answer me when I called you two minutes ago," Hiei asked. Caley always heard him. What made Hiei question what was going on was Youko's presence. Hiei never saw the two together. The of look of dazement on Caley's face made Hiei look at Youko suspiciously. Something about his daughter's expression told him something happened, but he decided to leave it up to Caley and Youko to confess. Hiei knew how Caley's mother was. She was a thrill-seeking fifteen year old - only two years older than Caley was at the present time- and a flirt. She was a great fighter who nearly beat him in a fight - their only fight. Caley was pretty much the same exact way as her mother was two years earlier than her mother, with the exception of the fight against Hiei.
Everytime HIei thought of how much Caley was like her mother, his heart began to sink. He'd never been in love before until he met Caley's mother, who disappeared without a word, but left a note and the engagement ring Hiei had proposed to her with.
"I didn't hear you..." Caley answered honestly, knowing how badly it sounded like a lie to her father - and Youko.
"And...?" Hiei wanted to hear both answers, and also noticed a slightly different look in Youko's eyes whenever he looked at Caley.
"She wanted me to give her an oppinion on her singing. We've only been here for a few minutes, Hiei. She was about to sing but then we heard someone coming...Who turned out to be you," Youko answered for Caley, knowing she could sing. He had walked by her room late at night sometimes, hearing Caley's powerful voice. The odd thing was that Caley had never been to the Human World before, and Demon World contained no music at all.
"Good-bye to you...Good-bye to everything that I knew..." Caley sang, beginning to walk away.
Hiei's eyes grew wide, looking as though they were about to tear. Youko noticed and couldn't help but ask.
"How's...How do you know that song, Caley? You've never been to the Human Worl-"
"Her mother..." Hiei answered truthfully, "Used to sing it...She sang it when she left the Human World...How Caley knows it, I don't know..."
"I only remember those two lines...Because...When she left us...I woke up and could hear only those two lines..." Caley said, beginning to walk and disappear into the hallway.
"She doesn't like Mukuro, Hiei, and you know that. Why keep her here? She rarely ever shows her face at meals...if ever..." Youko told Hiei, and began to disappear into the hall as well.
'I could swear people've gone against me lately...' Hiei thought, following behind Youko. When Hiei turned the next corner, Youko was gone. Hiei dropped his head, sighed, and just went back to his room until dinner.
' "It's strange what two years can do to someone..." '
It really was true. What seemed like the shortest amount of time can cause changes in people - no matter how big or small the change may be. It was still a change, and Hiei now knew that. It was all because of Caley's mother. She had started the change in Hiei. Now, Caley would be the one to continue, and possibly finish, it. All Hiei's goal was was to give Caley the life he never had. He didn't want her to grow up to be a thief. However, he would teach her to fight and master swordsmanship. He had been training her himself. That was really the only time Hiei would see Caley anymore. Youko was the one teaching Caley her school stuff, and Caley would do well with it, too. 'I wonder what she's doing now...She's gotta be at least 29 by now...' Hiei drifted into his thought.
Caley was mad at Hiei most of the time because he refused to move out of the castle. She often accused her father of being in love with Mukuro. However, on days like that, when Caley and her father would fight, Youko was always there to calm Caley down and help her cool off. Caley had no idea as to what she'd do.
Some days, Caley would rarely leave her room because she just wasn't up to doing anything, which were days when chances of Caley going crazy at any time unexpectedly were really high. Days like those were the days that no one would even try bothering Caley. The only one allowed to bother her was Youko because he never tried getting her to leave her room. Everyone would obey Caley's wishes, even Hiei, most of the time.
