Last Time on Dragon Wielder's Denpa "The truth is," she continued, "I'd go even if I wasn't obligated by ancient family values. If there's a chance that I can protect the ones I love, then I have to try."

Abstract

It was only 8:30 in the morning and she could already tell that it was going to be a long day. Pulling her deep heavy hood up over her head, Hana leaned back and closed her eyes. The rigid bar on the train seat didn't make the most ideal pillow, but she didn't really mind. The high school senior rode the train to school every morning and had grown accustomed to the awkward sleeping position.

Of course she wasn't on her way to school. The grumpy vibes she was getting off of her traveling companion were a constant reminder of that. They weren't helping her mood either. She was already feeling a bit depressed. Who really wants to wake their best friends up with a phone call saying, 'Good morning. I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving to follow an arrogant stranger off to destination unknown. I don't know if I'll be back again. Goodbye.'

Tohru and Uo really had taken it better than she expected, and the fact that they trusted her to make these kinds of decisions reassured her some, though she doubted if she could really do any good.

After the daunting task of saying goodbye, Hana set herself to her next chore, packing. She loaded a few essentials into her messenger bag, a book, hairbrush, toothbrush, a snack for later and a few other must haves were all present. On Hiei's advice she packed lightly. Whether that advice came because they had a long journey ahead of them or simply because he was impatient she wasn't quite sure. Nonetheless she complied. And so, it was with much regret for several pairs of chunky black shoes left behind in her closet that Hana said goodbye to her room and headed downstairs.

When she reached the kitchen she found a pen and notepad and scrawled out a quick note for her parents who were away on business. It wasn't much, since there wasn't much that her mother didn't already know. With her mom's gift of foresight Hana probably didn't even need to leave a note, but somehow she felt the need to say something.

Mom+Dad,

I've decided to join the spirit detectives in their fight. I'll do my best to uphold the reputation of our clan. I want to protect my friends. I want to protect my family. I want to prove myself. I love you. –Saki

Satisfied that all the necessary points were covered, Hana moved to hang the message on the fridge, securing it under her favorite magnet, a lost looking cow with a rain cloud over its head. Then turning around, she tossed the notepad towards its home onto the counter next to the phone.

Hana inwardly cringed at the loud crash that followed. It was the notepad slamming into a glass bottle which in turn smashed against the phone which was about to hit the floor. 'Kuso!' She dived onto the counter in a vain attempt to minimize the damage, but only succeeded in knocking a few more jars onto the floor.

It didn't take long before Megumi who had been in the living room playing his new RPG, and Hiei who had been pretending not to be interested in said RPG popped in to see what all the commotion was about.

"Klutz," Megumi teased as he grinned madly at the heap on the floor that was his sister.

Zap!

Hana blushed slightly as Hiei kneeled next to her holding her gaze with a mysterious look. She felt the heat rise to her face as the demon reached his strong hand out toward hers.

Suddenly her vision was blurred by a flurry of white. An envelope was being dangled in front of her face. "You dropped something."

With a smirk, Hiei stood up letting the note with her name on it fall to her lap. "Klutz," he added as he turned towards the door, obviously ready to leave.

Hana put her annoyance on the back burner for a moment, instead choosing to focus on the note she now clutched in her hand. It had her first named written on the front in her mother's thick flowing letters.

With an unregistered gulp, she began to break the gold wax seal, but decided against it. Something told her that it wasn't the right time yet. A feeling in her gut that said her mom didn't intend for her to read this until some later time, an hour of need which had not yet arrived.

She resolved to save it for later and so slipped it into the messenger bag she wore across her body. Then, getting up as gracefully as possible, she smoothed the creases out of her dress and followed Hiei to the door. With a thin smile and hug, Megumi handed her cloak to her, saying goodbye without any words.

As they turned down the sidewalk though, he called out after them. "Oi, demon! You didn't tell me your name."

"Hn." Hiei continued walking, but called back over his shoulder. "It's Hiei. Curse it and I'll kill you."


Clackety-clack whrrrrrrrrr clack clack whrrrrrrrrr.

The low rumble of the train was soothing in a way, almost therapeutic. The seventeen year old girl in gothic clothing opened her eyes for a moment to stare into the dark abyss of her hood, wondering what she had gotten herself into. Once she had decided to join the spirit detective's team in the fight against Uzgoth, Hiei had insisted that they leave as soon as possible. She knew that's the way it would go, but she couldn't help but wish that she had had more time to say goodbye.

Hana sat up allowing her hood to fall to her shoulders. So much for sleeping, between her mind running a mile a minute and that fire demon grinding his teeth so loudly, she was having trouble relaxing. What was his problem anyway? She glanced around the morning train evaluating her surroundings, it was crowded, which didn't help her mood.

"Stop it. Don't touch me!"

"I'm not touching you"

"Yes you are."

"Are not."

"Are too."

Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr clack whrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Deciding to try an old mediation technique to help calm her nerves, Hana closed her eyes and focused on the smooth rumbly sound of the train. Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr clack whrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It was a nice sound and she tried to hear only it.

"Cough snarf hack hock." The old woman stooped in the seat behind them apparently had a phlegm problem.

Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr clack whrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, a pleasant sound.

"What'd you tell him?"

"I told him that if he liked her so much than he should take her to prom, because I sure as hell wasn't going with him after the stunt he just pulled."

"And then?"

"Then he was like, 'If I wanted to go to prom with her then I would have asked her, but I didn't. I asked you because I want to go with you.'"

"Then I pretended to cry, just to make him feel bad. He was practically on his knees begging." The bleached blonde pulled a cell phone from her backpack. "He even bought me this just to prove how much he loves me."

The pair of high school girls giggled, as they put their conversation on pause to check out the guy who just boarded. Waving flirtatiously.

Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr clackety clack whrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Almost… relaxing.

"Mom, he's still touching me."

"Ryoki, leave your sister alone and hand me the diaper bag. The baby needs changed."

Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr clack whrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Almost… therapeutic.

Slurp, chomp, chomp, slurp. How could a grown man not know how to eat ramen?

Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr clackety clack whrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Almost.

"Hey you, yeah you old man, your in my seat!"

Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr clack whrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Almost…pointless.

With defeated sigh she opened her eyes again and pulled her bag into her lap. Opening the flap, she dug around looking for the aspirin, though she had originally planned to save it for later. Something told her that there would be more than a few headaches in future, and her meager bottle wouldn't go far.

Finding the bottle and pulling her water out of its handy little mesh side pocket, she proceeded to swallow a handful, making sure to stare at the trendy little high school girls who were watching her.

As she placed the medicine back in her bag she came across a pack of gum.

'What now?' Hiei wondered as he noticed the denpa glance at him.

Seeming to make up her mind, Hana produced a stick of gum, wordlessly offering it to him.

He looked at her. "What's that?"

"It's chewing gum. You've been grinding your teeth for an hour now."

Pointedly glancing around at the train full of humans, he looked at her raising an eyebrow. "Do you have anything stronger?" Mock annoyance dripping from his voice.

'What am I doing?' He wondered to himself. 'Since when am I chummy with humans I've just met? Since when am I chummy with anyone?'

It was then that he caught the flicker of a smile play across her dark eyes. It reminded him of yesterday. That genuine smile she unknowingly produced when considering her friends. He had known at the time that it was a jewel, like his tears, precious and exceedingly rare. He had known that, and purposely destroyed it. Now, he longed to see it again.

He really had gone soft. Since when did he care about that sort of thing? He didn't. And even if he had, he didn't deserve to. What had he ever done to deserve a smile like that?

He changed his mind. 'Long' is a strong word and it didn't apply here, he decided.

She interrupted his mental reverie. "Was that a joke? Hmmm…I didn't know koorime were capable of humor." She teased him in her typical deadpan manner and tossed him a small plastic bottle.

But then again, he wouldn't mind either.

Popping off the lid, he turned it upside down and with a shake one pill dropped out. Flipping it upright he peered inside finding it empty.

"Apparently I'm not the only one who finds being surrounded by humans annoying."

"Do you hate them?" He questioned, looking pointedly towards the jerk that had kicked the old man out of his seat.

She glanced around seeing the little kids with their Mom, the old lady hunkered over behind them, the trendy high school girls, the jerk lounged in the back seat, and many others like them. Whiny, sickly, selfish, sloppy, belligerent – all aspects of the human condition. She herself had been all those things at one time or another, how could she hold it against them.

"No, I don't hate them. Do you?"

"No, I don't. Demons are the same way."

"Those two are a bit annoying though. They've been staring at me this whole time."

Hiei followed her gaze, and then smirked. "What makes you think they've been looking at you?"

Caught off guard, it dawned on her that they were actually looking at Hiei, not her. She was so used to turning heads that the idea that they could be looking at someone else hadn't even occurred to her, until just now. She looked at Hiei, crazy hair, odd clothes, disgruntled scowl and all.

"You do stand out."

"Yeah, the one with the painted face and short skirt handed me this."

She unfolded the scrap of paper. It was a… cell phone number! Hana could barely believe it. That girl had some nerve. She wasn't sure what was most offensive about this. Was it the fact that they knew that the little flirt had guilt tripped her boyfriend into getting her that very same phone or was that this person had the gall to hit on a guy who was clearly taken? Well maybe taken was the wrong word, but still they were sitting together, and that girl didn't know any different.

Feeling the weight of Hiei's eyes studying her, she gave him the 'yes, can I help you with something' look.

"Jealous?"

"No." She answered and calmly averted her gaze, but knew that he sensed truth.

They rode like that in silence for a while, both looking forward. Hana making a conscious effort not to seem embarrassed, and Hiei secretly satisfied at making her squirm. When she felt that she had herself under control again she handed him the scrap of paper.

"What in the three worlds would I want this for?" He questioned.

"For all I know, she might be your type."

Hana felt a certain satisfaction when he incinerated the paper in reply, letting the ashes drift to the floor. She was a little relieved that he didn't just tuck it away into his robes, though she was reluctant to ask herself why. So instead she occupied herself with thoughts of the trip.

They had been on the train for three hours now and it had all but cleared out. Most of the morning passengers were going to work or school in the city and had already disembarked hours ago. In fact, they were the only passengers in their car as the train neared its final stop countless miles away from her home.

"It's time you told me where we're going. Surely one can't take the train to spirit world."

"We're not going to spirit world."

"But you do take your orders from Koenma right."

"It would be risky for the entire team to go there. The use of spirit energy that it would require might draw attention. If the enemy doesn't already know we're onto them, it could tip them off. We're going to a safe house here in the ningen-kai. There's a ferry girl assigned to our team. She'll deliver his orders."

A ferry girl. Hana had always wanted to meet one to see what they were like. She had always wondered what kind of personality it would take to deal with death day in and day out for centuries on end. She had the urge to ask Hiei about her, but decided that she had better get the more pertinent information out of him while he was still willing to answer her questions. Who knew when he would clam up again.

"What kind of safe house?"

"It's a temple on a hill in a haunted forest in the middle of nowhere. It was once an ancient battle ground so the area has an unusually unstable energy to it. It's the perfect place for powerful humans and demons to hang out and go unnoticed."

"Is it your home?" She asked and thought she sensed sadness to him when he heard the question.

"No."

"Does anybody live there?"

"It's the dwelling of a crusty old hag, with a penchant for video games." His voice sounded gruff, but she distinguished a certain, if not small amount, of affection when he spoke of her.

He continued, "She's a human psychic, very powerful and well known. The only ningen you'll ever meet who's participated in two dark tournaments."

"You're referring to Genkai." Hana concealed the excitement in her voice, but inwardly jumped at the idea of meeting a living legend. There were many psychics in the world with varying levels of and areas of expertise, but few were as respected as Genkai.

Hana had many more questions but was forced to save them as the train arrived at its final stop. As she got off the train the first thing she noticed was an overcast sky. Normally she loved the rain and relished cloudy skies, but today it just seemed gloomy. She had expected a car to be waiting for them but was disappointed to find Hiei walking, yes walking, down the isolated country road.

There were no buildings in sight and the wide flat lands turned into rolling hills in the distance. She assumed their destination was those hills in the distance. With a sigh she hung her bag across her shoulders and followed the demon.

He set a quick pace and Hana found herself just barely keeping up. She didn't argue though. She knew that he would be traveling twice as fast any other day and was only holding back for her sake.

As the miles passed by, she was glad that she and Tohru had taken up running a few years back. At the time she had grudgingly done it as a favor to Tohru who was afraid that she'd be attacked if she went alone. Physical exertion had never been her idea of fun. In fact three years ago she had gladly taken a 'D' in P.E. class in exchange for sitting out of the endurance run.

Somewhere along the way though, she had come to look forward to her runs. Two years now, and she was still at it. Even after Tohru had to call it quits as their lives grew busier, she still kept it up. It was her time. The time when she got to be alone and let her mind wander. Running made her feel good, and left her with a sense of accomplishment, and thankfully a bit of stamina to go with it.

Was he trying to hike her into the ground? She was beginning to wish that she had worn more practical shoes. Her feet were killing her. Not to mention the groove that her bag was cutting into her shoulder. Add that to the zero sleep factor and the going on twenty miles behind them and one might be able to understand why she was feeling a bit ragged despite her new found partiality toward athletics.

Hana's legs felt like they were made of lead. It was already late afternoon, nearing on dinner time. There were many roots and rocks traversing the shaded mountain path and Hana found that she had to really concentrate to keep her feet from stumbling.

Noticing that the human had fallen a couple of paces behind, Hiei slowed his pace a bit to let her catch up. He hadn't expected her to hold out this long. It was true that he had deliberately set a pace that he deemed would be challenging for the girl. One of the reasons was simply to test her. Hiei wanted to know what kind of shape she was in physically, and how far she could mentally push herself even though her body was telling her to stop. He was surprised that she had come this far. He had honestly expected to have to carry her most of the way there, but that wasn't going to be necessary. Though he could tell that she was definitely fatigued, he could also tell that she was too stubborn to give up now.

While one of his motives for setting such a difficult pace was to see what it would take to tire her, the other reason was simply to tire her. He still had many unanswered questions, and experience had shown that physical exhaustion went hand in hand with mental weariness.

As the skies grew darker with clouds he thought back to yesterday. After they had met in the woods, Hiei had noticed the invisible wall Hana instinctively put up when he asked her about the extent of her powers. He needed to get through that wall. So he fell back on an old interrogation technique. A tired person was more apt to answer freely than one who wasn't.

So after these many miles, Hiei again probed the enigma next to him for information.

"You still haven't told me…" Before he could finish his question, she stumbled on a hidden root and he caught her arm to steady her. Wrapping his hand around her bicep, he pulled her back towards him as she watched a pebble tumble down the steep hillside collecting more as it went.

Their faces were close now and she turned her gaze towards his as she wiggled a bit in an attempt to loose his grip.

He did relax it some, but not entirely as he used the leverage to his advantage. Making sure she didn't turn away in avoidance of his next question.

"…just what sort of psychic are you?"

Why was Hiei so interested in the extent of the denpa's powers? If he troubled himself to answer such a nosy question, he might tell you that he likes to know exactly what he has to work with, especially when there is a battle ahead.

In reality that would be a fair answer, but Hiei knew that that wasn't the only reason. There was something else, a genuine sort of curiosity about this person who seemed to him to be one enormous contradiction. Here was a seemingly fragile girl who possessed an inner strength. She dressed herself in almost entirely black yet remained feminine. She was a loner who fiercely defended her friends. She was a human with demon instincts.

She was an odd one, and for that he was inwardly grateful. The normal ones just got on his nerves. Now, if he could just pry into that little head of hers they just might have a shot at being an effective team.

He firmed his expression as the loud thunder rolled around them, heralding the storm. He watched as the bright lightening bolt echoed across her tumultuous eyes, not entirely sure if it was her or the storm that had created it. As the first heavy raindrops fell on her face, she closed her eyes and pulled away from his grasp.

"Just what sort of psychic are you?" The question ricocheted through her brain.

Was she really ready to tell him? She felt vulnerable just thinking about it, like this near stranger was asking her to bare her soul. In a way he was. This thing that he wanted to know about was what made her who she was.

This outsider, what if he used it against her? What if he was disappointed? She wasn't sure if she could take anymore rejection.

Her back was turned to him now, so she couldn't see the way his head bowed toward the ground, or the way his fists clenched when she pulled away. "Tell me…please." The word seemed foreign to him and he briefly wondered when it had become a usable part of his vocabulary. He told himself it was simply a ploy to get what he was after and tried to forget the subtle waver his usually flat voice had taken on. He would worry about that later.

She breathed deep. This stranger, who really didn't seem strange at all, she felt like she could trust him. What if he wasn't disappointed? She wanted to trust him.

Now how exactly to explain this?

"I'll tell you, but it's not simple… to describe something so abstract." She clasped her arms around herself, and shivered as the rains saturated her outer clothing and dripped from her bound hair. "...to put into concrete terms something I've only recently come to understand myself."

"Hn." Hiei replied, returning to his casual stance. Accepting the fact that this might take some time he continued their trek up the muddy path towards the steadily approaching stairs, allowing her to form the words and ideas at her own pace.

As they reached the long broad stairway that marked the entrance to the temple, Hiei's keen ears noted Hana's rapid and shallow breathing, then the all too familiar dull thump of a limp body falling to the ground.

Turning quickly Hiei assessed the situation. She had finally collapsed from the exhaustion. "Hn, so that's her limit." He muttered.

He considered waking her up, but decided that if he were to ever get his answers, she would need to be in better shape. He knelt down and gently scooped the girl up. She actually weighed more that she looked; though to him she might as well have been a feather.

In a flash he had her up the stairs and into the temple.


a/n- Sorry for the long update. The next chapter is already in the works. Thanks for reading. Thanks for reviewing

Oh yeah, the cow magnet is supposed to represent Sohma Hatsuharu, and the rain cloud represents Hana. It's such a nice pair I had to include it somehow. Hana and Hiei make a nice pair too though, maybe even better. We'll see.