AnonymousHieiFan101: Wow…I didn't have a single person say to start over. YAY! I'm so happy you're all addicted! Anyways, here's the next chapter.
Chapter 6
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BE-CRASH!
An alarm clock slammed into the wall right beside the door just as Kurama was opening it to check on his little sister. The covers over the bed began to move a little, and the arm that had recently chucked the annoying noise maker sunk back beneath them. The lump sat up and a head popped out from underneath.
Ookami's hair was in a mess, her flicking tail was more scruffy than usual and her Inuyasha style robes were messed up and wrinkled. She looked over at her brother with sleepy eyes. Kurama laughed a little and threw her the hair brush from the desk in the room. She brushed her hair lazily as he took a seat on her bed.
"So, are you ready to start your training?" Kurama asked.
"What time is it?"
"8:30 the same day."
Ookami nodded and suddenly noticed her ultra bushy tail and started brushing it as well. Kurama chuckled, and she stood up still half asleep, straightening her clothes as well.
"Where is everyone?" she asked sleepily.
"They're all in the kitchen, eating breakfast. Come on before it's all gone. Yusuke and Kuwabara are here as well," he answered.
The 2 siblings made there way to the kitchen. As soon as they entered, Yusuke jumped up and yelled, "DEMON!" and fired his spirit gun at her as Kuwabara readied his spirit sword.
Ookami dodged and let out a menacing wolf's snarl and glared at him angrily enough to put even Hiei to shame.
"Yusuke, don't!" Kurama exclaimed, stepping in front of his sister. "It's only Natalie."
"Ookami," she corrected.
"WHAT?" Kuwabara and Yusuke yelled.
"GAH!" Ookami shrieked, falling to the ground clutching her ears. "Sensitive ears!" She rolled onto her side while trying not to get rid of the pounding in her eardrums.
"Get off the floor, scruffy," Genkai barked.
Ookami sat up and said, "Hey! I brushed my hair."
"Would you prefer halfwit?" she asked.
"Scruffy is fine thanks."
Neko and Kitsune started laughing at Ookami's new found nickname.
"Can it, dweebs," Ookami snapped. "Hey, why aren't you guys still in your demon forms?"
"Genkai showed us how to transform before we went to bed last night," Kitsune answered.
Ookami nodded a little and took a seat on the floor at the table. She dished up her food and ate it slowly and politely without much notice of anything else. Kurama, Genkai, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Yukina all stared at her in amazement as she finished. She had barely eaten anything. The only ones not surprised were Neko and Kitsune.
"What?" Ookami asked. "Why is everybody staring at me like that?"
"Are you anorexic?" Yusuke asked.
"No, what the hell gave you that idea?"
"You only ate a piece of toast and four bites of scrambled egg."
"Just because I don't devour the entire table doesn't mean I'm anorexic."
"You're going to have to start eating more," Genkai said. "Your training is going to take quite a toll on your body, and with how much you eat, you won't have enough energy to make it through without hurting yourself."
Ookami looked at her slightly annoyed, grabbed another piece of toast, took two bites out of it, dropped it on her plate, and walked out the door to the back yard.
"I have a feeling this is going to be more difficult than I first expected," Genkai mumbled and walked out the back door as well. Hiei followed and then Kurama, leaving the other fox and the cat to finish their breakfast.
"Do you think Ookami really is the guardian?" Kitsune asked.
"I don't really know, maybe," Neko answered.
Ookami followed Genkai far back to the back of her temple yard, almost to the edge of the forest.
"Follow my lead," she stated simply.
Genkai sat down cross-legged and put her hands on her knees with her back perfectly straight upright. Ookami followed in an exact fashion. She glanced over as Hiei and Kurama took identical seats on opposite sides of her, facing each other as she was Genkai. (So the made a square, all looking inward towards each other.) Genkai closed her eyes and began to meditate. The others followed suit.
Ookami could feel the energy levels of her comrades and new sensei rising and began to clear her own mind as well.
She slowed her breathing to where anyone would think she were dead had she not been sitting straight up. Slowly, the outside world began to fade away until all she could feel was a soft whisper from the wind, like the brushing of an angel's feathered wings. Even the beautiful singing of the sparrows and robins seemed distant in her meditation state. She began to grow farther away from the real world, and eventually, she couldn't hear or feel anything except a strangely comforting silence.
Kurama, Hiei and Genkai had come out of there meditation states to stare in wonder as Ookami's aura slowly and steadily grew. Kurama had never seen an expression on her face like the one she now wore. It was completely calm and focused; peaceful even, but definitely not her normal harsh features. Angelic, Hiei thought.
Ookami slowly became aware of the eyes on her even in her tranquil form. As the world steadily came back to her senses, something stopped her. The void nothingness in her mind began to darken. She had thought her mind was black, but it was as white as snow compared to this overpowering darkness. This was evil.
She couldn't explain it. It wasn't so much what she saw, it was what she felt. An ominous evil, a lusting desire for blood, and a brooding sense of desire. As she forced herself to come out of meditation, it only seemed like she was falling deeper in. Like a rush of bursting through the surface of a hectic ocean, she felt herself return.
Ookami's eyes snapped open, wide with terror. Three worried faces cleared into focus and she noticed she was drenched in a cold, dream sweat. For the first time in many, many years Ookami was scared, terrified even. She locked eyes with her older brother, breathing much more labored than normal, and a single tear slipped away from her right eye. As it fell from her lashes and onto her cheek, it became as crimson as blood; it was blood, and left a streak of crimson down her face, like ink on parchment. Whatever she had beheld, it had definitely shaken her to the core.
The tear made it halfway down her face before she quickly wiped it away, looking at the ground and slowing her breath.
"Are you alright?" Kurama asked.
"I'm fine," she replied hurriedly. "Don't worry about me."
"So you are the guardian," Genkai stated softly.
Ookami looked up at Genkai and then back down at the hand she used to wipe away her tear: it was smeared with blood.
"You two, go inside," Genkai ordered Hiei and Kurama. They did so. "No more meditation. We get straight down to business, now."
By the time Genkai and Ookami came back inside, it was at least two hours past dusk. Even Genkai was worn out from the training, but Ookami was about to drop.
They got inside, and as Genkai went into the kitchen, Ookami had to lean against the wall to stay standing. Her breathing was twice as labored as in her meditation, she was drenched in sweat, her muscles were swore, her mind was swore, and she felt like she was going to melt.
As she regained her breath, Yusuke walked into the main room and saw her.
"Damn," he said, "what the hell happened to you?"
"Is her training always this intense?" Ookami managed to ask between pants for air.
"Not really. I wonder why she trained you so hard, and on your first day too," he answered. "My training didn't get as tough as yours till we were already at the Dark Tournament."
"The what?"
"Oh, that's right, you don't know about the tournament, or Toguro. You want to hear the story?"
Ookami nodded and sat on the couch cross-legged facing him as he sat down in the same way.
"Okay, I guess let's start when Kuwabara and I first met the Toguro brothers," he said. "You see, we got this mission from Koenma to save an ice maiden; Yukina."
"You rescued Yukina?"
"Sure did. Well, in order to save Yukina we had to fight the Toguro brothers. Elder Toguro can shape shift and even move his organs into unnatural places at will," he explained, "and younger Toguro can change his muscle size, making himself stronger and stronger…"
And so Yusuke told the story of how Yukina was rescued. Ookami even made him go back to the beginning to when they fought the minions outside. Pretty soon, they had lost track of time.
"He came back to life?" Ookami asked.
"Actually, he had never died," Yusuke said. "He fooled us into thinking he had. And so now we have to fight in this tournament full of demons which we probably would get killed in or Toguro would come after us and definitely kill us."
"You're still up Yusuke?" Kurama asked, coming into the room sleepily. "Oh, hello, sis."
"Hey, Kurama," they said simultaneously.
"I was telling Ookami about how we met Toguro and was just about to tell her about what happened at the Dark Tournament. What time is it?"
"It's almost 1 in the morning."
"Oh, shit! I got to get to bed. I'll be road kill for tomorrows training if I don't get at least a little sleep," Ookami said. "Night guys!" and ran out the room to her nice cozy bed.
The training continued as it had that day for the following week. Yusuke and Ookami would get together in the living room and he would tell more of their fights in the Dark Tournament. Before they all knew it, it was Friday evening.
"So where did we leave off?" Yusuke asked, as Ookami came into the living room for their usual "story time".
"Kurama had just beaten that ice guy," she said.
"Oh yeah! Well, anyway, he fell unconscious, but the freaky thing was he was still standing," Yusuke explained. "This freaky dude came up and started beating up Kurama. Some stupid glitch in the rules said that Kurama could still fight. Just as he was about to hit Kurama again, the team leader stopped him 'cause I had my Spirit Gun ready to kill the guy.
"So, this dude Jin steps up…"
And so it went on as such.
Kurama walked into the room at about 11:30 completely unnoticed. He looked at his younger sister and had never seen such an interested expression on her face before.
As he watched the two, the front doors opened and Keiko walked in.
"Oh, hey, Keiko!" Yusuke greeted cheerfully.
"Hello, Yusuke," she said, and Botan, Shizuru, and Koenma appeared in the doorway behind her.
"Wow, it's everybody."
"Thanks for the info. Sir Points-out-the-obvious-a-lot," Ookami commented in a bored manner.
"Now, now, Ookami, be nice," Kurama tutted from behind her and Yusuke.
Ookami jumped and whirled around, startled. "When the hell did you get there?" she exclaimed.
"I've been here for about five minutes," he answered calmly.
"Hn," she said crossing her arms over her chest and glowering, "whatever."
Kurama simply chuckled and took a seat on the couch. Ookami and Yusuke were on the floor in front of the couch and beside the coffee table, Botan, Shizuru, and Keiko sat on the couch across from the one Kurama was sitting on, and Koenma sat in one of the very numerous armchairs in the room. Kitsune, Neko, Kuwabara, and Yukina came in not a moment later. Kitsune practically tackled Kurama, so the two had the couch to themselves seeing as how they were sprawled across it.
The two foxes however, failed to notice the glares from Ookami and Botan. Ookami: because Kitsune was clinging all over her brother. Botan: because, well, who the hell knows why she was glaring?
Neko, Kuwabara and Yukina sat in three of the other armchairs.
"We thought we'd come over and get to know the noobs here a little better by having a little party," Shizuru said.
"I see Kitsune and Kurama are on friendly terms," Keiko giggled.
Ookami rolled her eyes, stood up and left.
Even after a whole week, Ookami still wore her Inuyasha style clothing, ran around bare footed and was still on her demon from. She had grown rather fond her tail, and would often find amusement in simply seeing it lazily twitch back and forth as an impulse of boredom. It had also become a good tool for discreetly whacking either the dimwit or the oaf with the added bonus of not getting into trouble for it.
Ookami sighed as she heard the sounds of a party starting within the temple. Little did she know, she was being watched yet again. She fingered the hilt of one of her katanas. She suddenly froze, feeling the presence of eyes upon her. Just as suddenly, she relaxed and rolled her eyes.
"What is it Hiei?" she asked.
The young fire demon flitted over from his place in the trees. He was literally a head and neck taller than the she-wolf, meaning she just barely made it to shoulder, and that was when she had shoes on, which she practically never wears.
She looked up at him curiously. He stood to her left, facing her.
"Something on your mind, Hiei?" she asked.
Hiei just let out a "hn" and turned to face the front yard as she was.
Ookami sighed and looked at the ground. "You're impossible," she mumbled.
"So are you," Hiei countered.
Ookami looked up at him and twitched a little smile, and then looked out towards the forest to their right. She suddenly turned back to him.
"Hey, you wanna go for walk…with me?" she asked, a slight hint of nervousness in her voice.
"Hn," was the only reply that she got and the two started into the forest.
Back inside the temple, Kuwabara slowly made his way over to Neko.
"Um…Neko?" he asked quietly, getting her attention. "Uh, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure thing Kuwabara," she answered and followed him out onto the porch where Hiei and Ookami had previously been. "What's on your mind?"
"Um…I know I'm not all that smart, and…not really all that good looking," he recited the speech he had set up in his head, "but I was wondering if maybe, you know, if you want to, if we could, like, do something together sometime? Like, go to the arcade or a movie or something?"
"What? You mean like a date?" Neko asked.
Kuwabara blushed and nodded his head slightly.
"I'd love to go with you," she said, surprising the hell out of him.
"R-really?" he exclaimed.
"Of course; who cares if you're not much of a looker. I've seen worse, and besides, you've got a good heart."
Kuwabara was smiling, quite literally, from ear to ear making Neko smile as well.
"Hey! Does anybody know where Kuwabara and Neko disappeared to?" they heard Yusuke's voice holler from inside the temple.
"We should probably go inside," Neko said.
"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed.
The new couple walked inside only to see Kurama and Kitsune leaving out the back door to the courtyard.
"You're battle skills have been improving," Kurama stated, as they walked down a little path.
"Oh, um, thank you," Kitsune replied.
The two stopped beside a little pond in the middle of the courtyard. There were all kinds of flowers and plants everywhere around them. Some were even from the Makai. They took a seat on a little stone bench on the edge of the pond.
"Kitsune, um, would you go out with me?" he asked as calmly as he could manage.
Kitsune looked up at him. "You mean it?" she asked. Kurama nodded. "I'd love to!" she blurted out. "I…I mean, that'd be nice. I'd enjoy that very much."
Kurama chuckled at her attempt to cover up her out burst. He stood and offered hid hand to her. Kitsune took it and stood.
The two stood less than half a foot away from each other. Kurama put his hands together to make a dome and a soft light glowed from inside. He removed his left hand and lightly gripped between his fingers was a pale silver rose. As he held the rose it blossomed to his fullest.
Kitsune let out a small gasp. "It's beautiful."
"Like you," Kurama said, making her blush, even though it did sound a little cliché.
Kurama took her hand and placed the rose in it. Kitsune slowly leaned up and their lips met in a soft kiss.
Hiei and Ookami continued on deeper into the forest.
"Do you even know where you're going?" Hiei asked her.
"No, but isn't that the whole point of exploring?" she asked in response, gaining a smirk from him.
As they went deeper into the forest, the forest did what most forest do, the trees got denser and roots and vines began to make travel more difficult. Ookami however wasn't fazed by this. If anything, her pace increased. She scrambled over roots and under vines and low hanging branches.
Hiei suddenly sensed a demon nearby.
"We should head back," he said.
Ookami turned to him. "How come?"
A large demon suddenly lunged out from behind some of the trees and dragged Ookami to the ground. The demon's claws scraped against her back creating shallow cuts down it. Ookami yelled out in surprise and pain.
Hiei got between the demon and Ookami with his katana raised, and beheaded it in the flash of an eye.
Behind him Ookami rolled onto her side and grimaced. "Remind me to take your advice first and ask questions later next time," she stated.
"You alright?" Hiei asked.
"I will be," she said, sitting up.
Hiei kneeled down and examined her cuts. "They're only shallow; they should heal up in a couple of days."
Ookami looked up at him. "Thanks, Hiei. I'd have been a goner without you."
Hiei hned, and grabbing her hand, helped her stand. Ookami, being the klutz she is, tripped and fell into him. Hiei caught her with the least effort imaginable and wasn't budged at all by the impact. Ookami regained her feet and stood upright with a little blush on her face. She looked up at Hiei's face when she noticed that his hands were now resting on her hips. She was suddenly pulled against Hiei, making her hands go to his shoulders and a light blush appear on her face. Hiei leaned closer, and just as it seemed he was about to kiss her, he flitted away, leaving her to find her own way back.
AnonymousHieiFan101: Well, that's that. Please R&R. I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner next time.