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Chap. 6- Late Night Dances
Botan circled Natsuki. What was she a buzzard in her past life? She finally stopped, good thing too. Natsuki was starting to get dizzy.
"Well she certainly doesn't look dangerous." Hiei let out a grunt of disapproval.
"Everyone seems to think that." Natsuki said grimly. Botan realized she had offended her and didn't press matters any further.
"Koenma doesn't really have any orders. He just sent me to inspect, as one might say." Botan smiled. "And I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to stay." She concluded.
"Great," Kurama said smiling.
"Yay!" Keiko cheered. Everyone else just smiled, except for Hiei. To tell the truth he wasn't thrilled about her staying, but he wasn't exactly unhappy either. She was powerful. She would definitely make a good apprentice, but would it be safe to leave her with those techniques?
"Would anyone mind to take me shopping for some new cloths?" Natsuki asked over everyone's talking. Keiko's face lit up.
"Yeah, we could make it a "welcome to the group" shopping spree!" Botan and Keiko agreed to take Natsuki shopping. Keiko talked Yusuke into coming, so Kuwabara went too. Natsuki talked Kurama into coming, but Hiei refused.
"I will not take part in some stupid human rendezvous." He turned to walk away but Natsuki grabbed his arm. He turned around looking extremely angry and blushing.
"Don't touch me!" he spat, but Natsuki held tight. After he had given up on trying to loosen her grip on his arm, he looked her in the eyes. She was starring at him with a look of admiration and almost pleading. He hated that look. It reminded him of Yukina. Why did she make him feel like this? Why couldn't he just hate her?
"Please Hiei; I don't want to leave you behind." She said in a soft voice only Hiei could hear. Hiei looked at the others. They were talking among themselves, not really paying attention to what he and Natsuki were talking about. He looked back at her. She was still looking at him with those large red eyes.
"It will mean a lot to me if you come." Damn her and her innocence! Hiei thought to himself. Finally he let out a long sigh.
"Fine, just don't drag me into this again." He said trying to jerk away from Natsuki's grip again but something unexpected happened. She leaned forward and hugged him. Hiei froze, unable to move. It had two have only lasted a couple of seconds, but it felt like an hour. She stood, arms around his neck, her face leaning up against his. She muttered a soft 'thank you' into his ear which made a shiver go down his spine. She let go. Hiei wasn't quite sure what to say.
"Why?" he said maintaining his cool manner. Natsuki smiled.
"Well I do feel a little bad about almost killing you." She said coolly. Hiei smirked.
"Sorry to disappoint you but you didn't even come close to giving me a scratch," he said in an amused tone. He walked over to listen to what Kurama was saying. Natsuki's eyes followed him. She liked Hiei more and more every day.
Around ten, they decided to head out for shopping. Shopping turned out to be a rather eventful experience. Natsuki actually got some nice cloths. Her jeans came up very high, so she decided to rip the hem off the top. This way they fit loosely around her hips. Her shirts (which were all black, navy, or red) either had the sleeved ripped off, or two or three rips in the sleeve if it was long sleeved. The gang found her fashion sense somewhat weird, especially the chains that hung off her jeans and the thick leather bracelets she liked to wear.
"Your fashion is very interesting." Kurama said trying to be polite. Natsuki knew he was lying.
"Thank you Kurama." Natsuki said smiling. "Why don't you try one of these on, Hiei?" Natsuki said slapping a leather bracelet on his left wrist. It startled him and he tried to shake it off.
"You don't shake it off!" Natsuki said annoyed. "Like this," she reached over and unraveled it. It curled up in a little circle after it was removed from Hiei's wrist. Hiei glared at her. She just smiled at him. Natsuki ended up buying the bracelet for the reluctant Hiei.
Keiko and Botan ended up trying on clothes but not buying them. For a training outfit, Natsuki ended up getting a black workout outfit. She ripped the sleeves off as soon as she bought it. Hiei approved of this since he often ripped the sleeves off his shirts. As they walked down the street a shop came up that peeked everyone's interests. An exotic weapon/clothing shop. They eagerly entered. Hiei went for the swords, Kurama for the strange miss-matched weapons, and Yusuke and Kuwabara for the weapons that seemed most dangerous, and Botan and Keiko went for the Indian looking clothes.
Natsuki trailed off to the back of the store. She was looking at a long patchwork skirt when something caught her eye. An outfit that was too perfect for words, hung on a rack marked 'giving away'. The top was made entirely out of coins, the skirt had coins sewn in around the waist and going down the light black fabric. Her eyes got wide as she touched it and the coins clinked together making the most beautiful sound she had ever heard. She quickly grabbed it off the shelf and took it up to the counter.
"it is about time someone took that!" the cashier exclaimed bagging the outfit. "I got tired of having in my shop so I marked it as a give away." She told Natsuki who was looking anxiously at the bag.
"Thank you very much!" she said taking the bag from the lady. She could not wait until she could try it on tonight!
When everyone was done shopping they searched for a place that looked good for eating. It was about three thirty and all the boys were complaining about either being tired or hungry; some complaining louder than others. Finally they stopped at a sushi bar Natsuki had pointed out. She had been wanting to try this "sushi" every since the sign caught her eye on the first night. It turned out to be very good! Yusuke ordered sake and got himself wasted, much to Keiko's dismay.
"Yusuke, I told you not to order it! Now look you've gone and gotten completely plastered!" she yelled at him.
"Come on K-K-Keiko 'hic' I'm perfffectly fine..." he said slurring his words terribly. When she didn't reply, he grabbed her boobs. Keiko's face turned scarlet and she hauled off and smacked him so hard he flew into Natsuki's lap who was sitting three seats down from him.
"Idiot!" Natsuki yelled as her plate of sushi fell onto Yusuke's head.
"Hey Natsuki!" he said sleepily. He dozed off right then and there.
It took Hiei, Kurama, and a swift kick in the stomach from Genkai to wake him up. Kuwabara had to help him walk on the way back to his house. They left Keiko to take care of him. She bid her farewells from the doorway as the rest of the group made their way towards Kuwabara and Kurama's houses. Natsuki hugged Kurama good bye and thanked him for everything. Then she waved to Kuwabara as he disappeared into his house. Now there was only Genkai, Natsuki, and Hiei.
"Well, Hiei, are you going to spend the night?" Genkai asked. Hiei scowled.
"I would not refer to it in that context. If you have a spare room, I would like to stay somewhere besides a tree tonight. Also I would like to get some training in tomorrow..." He said looking at Natsuki. Natsuki nodded, as did Genkai. She then looked up at the sky; it was getting to be dusk. It had to be around six. She wanted to try on her new outfit tonight.
When they finally got to the top of the stairs leading up to Genka's house, it was twilight.
"Well, Natsuki, you need a room; and so does Hiei. Let's see. I have a guest house with two rooms in it. It is out by the bath house, follow me. She led them down a little stone path to a small house. She opened the door with a wave of her hand. The first room was a kitchen/dinning room/living room. Then a hallway led back to two bed rooms and a bathroom at the end of the hall.
"Feel free to go wash up in the bath house. This should be okay for you." Genkai said turning towards the door. "Good night" she said and quickly closed the door.
Hiei and Natsuki starred at each other for a moment then Natsuki broke the silence.
"I'm going to the bath house." She said walking toward the back door. She found outside a small path leading toward the outdoor baths. She followed it until she reached the hot springs. She removed her clothes and quickly got in. The warmth felt so good. She really needed this bath. The steam overcame her and she closed her eyes.
Back at the guest house, Hiei sat down on the couch. He was thinking about today. He looked down at his left wrist were the thick leather bracelet was strapped. It wasn't that bad, he thought to himself. Maybe he would go ahead and wear it. He lay back, looking up at the ceiling. His bangs fell softly to the side of his face slightly. He felt sleepy all of a sudden and closed his eyes. Without even realizing it, he fell asleep.
Back at the bath house, Natsuki was getting out and drying herself off. She had almost stayed in too long. She dressed and made her way back to the guest house. She opened the door quietly and walked down the hall, looking in both rooms to see which one Hiei was in. He wasn't in either of them. She went into the kitchen/dining room/living room and saw him asleep on the couch. Her stomach filled with butterflies as she looked at him sleeping. No one would ever know how mean and cold hearted he was by watching him sleep. He almost looked like an angel. What am I thinking!? Natsuki asked herself quickly. He's a fire yokai! Far from being an angel if you asked her, but she couldn't help but stare at him. Finally she tore her eyes away and walked to one of the rooms.
Hiei's eyes snapped open. Thought she was never going to leave. He though silently. He sat up. How long had he been asleep? He got up silently and walked over to the window. The moon was waning, it almost looked full though. Well it was full last night. All of a sudden he heard a soft noise, the sound of coins clinking together. He heard it move through the hall and out the back door. Curiosity got the better of him and he followed.
Natsuki was trying to be as quiet as possible. The coins attached to her outfit made that very difficult. She walked down the path to a clearing she had spotted. The moon was flooding though the trees. It almost seemed like she was on a stage. She closed her eyes and began to dance. The coins on her outfit clinked together in rhythm as her hips swayed to and fro. Her arms fluttered lightly about her in the most graceful way, even though she was not really thinking too hard about it. She just danced out what her emotions were. Right now she was thinking about Hiei.
Hiei stood in a tree near by watching in amazement, unable to take his eyes off Natsuki. Her movements were so graceful. The way she moved was so hypnotizing. Her outfit was so....he won't go there. He had only seen her like this one before, the first night she had stayed at Genkai's. This time was different though. Her movements seemed to be filled with passion and emotion. Wonder what had changed her?
