Springtime Sweet

022: Emotion

The demon said he would never have emotions, share in them like Kuwabara and Yusuke and Kurama's Shuichi-kun. That was in December. It only seemed natural, then, that Hiei fell in love with springtime, the human world's treasure.

He woke one morning in a tree to shy buds and blossoms on the slender branches. Light pink and butterfly white petals soft enough to rub his cheek on. Sakura blossoms, the girl said. The detective's girl, when they visited Genkai later that day. Beautiful oysters of the arbor, cherry blossom trees.

"I imagine Yukina would love to see them," the fox had said with a smile. "Don't you agree, Hiei?"

Grudgingly, he had, and that was how he ended up in Koenma's office.

Maybe he did it for vanity, or to mock Hiei's height. Or maybe the blooming of the cherry blossoms prompted Koenma to appear in his adult form that day. Whatever it was, all Hiei knew was he was beautiful.

Despite the increase in his height, the junior ruler was still hidden behind a morass of papers and Hiei had to walk over to the side of the desk for Koenma to see him. Once the demon caught his attention, however, Koenma quickly turned his seat to face him.

"Hiei!" he exclaimed, a note of delight in his voice. Hiei supposed it was delight that he was not the detective.

"Koenma," he said in return, inclining his eyes but nothing more. "I…I came to know something." Koenma nodded and sat back, waiting. Hiei did not speak. Finally, he spoke.

"Yes, Hiei, what is it?"

Hiei did not understand why he was so uncomfortable. He did not like to ask favors, but… "It's Yukina. I want to show her the cherry blossoms."

Koenma smiled at him and Hiei bristled. Was he laughing at him? But his golden eyes seemed kind and not jesting. "That's sweet of you, Hiei," he said at last. "I suppose I can allow her to make another trip to the human world. Perhaps she will find her brother this time?" Now he was mocking him, Hiei knew by the smirk on his face. And what was that- sweet? Kurama was "sweet", Yukina was "sweet", even Botan, the annoyance she was, could be called "sweet" on occasion as well. However, Hiei was not sweet. Besides, it was the fox's idea anyway.

"Don't count on that," Hiei said.

Yukina arrived later that day, accompanied by a height-defying Koenma. Hiei glared. The immortal's hand was on his sister's elbow. Which was worse- her blush or his hand- Hiei could not say.

But the moment Yukina saw them, saw Hiei, she shrugged out of Koenma's light grasp and ran up to her brother, not knowing how she lost him each time she found him, and hugged him around his shoulders. "Oh, Hiei-san, thank you so much for inviting me here!" she said into his shoulder, standing back and smiling.

Hiei could not help but smile back at the sweet girl. "Hello, Yukina," he said. "In the human world, it is spring and, being an ice maiden, I thought you would like to see the s-sakura trees."

"Oh, good thing then. You arrived just in time." Kurama approached them with a shy little smile. "Sakura blossoms only last a few days before they fall."

Yukina gasped. "Oh, how tragic," she said to Hiei. The demon scowled. How long did Kurama suppose Yukina was staying? Not long enough to see the flowers die, so why break her heart?

"Well, Yukina, I suppose it's a good thing we came today," Koenma said, stepping up beside her and placing his hand on her shoulder. Hiei glared and shivered- now which was which? He shook his head.

"Don't pay attention to Kurama," Hiei said to the girl. "You're here now, so don't worry about after. They're not falling yet." Hiei grabbed Yukina's arm a little roughly and led her towards the trees. The girl gazed at the buds in wonder.

Kurama and the immortal watched the pair beneath the sakura trees. The fox laughed quietly to himself. "It doesn't last long, does it?"

"Sakura blossoms?"

"Hiei's smile. He's only gentle with her."

Koenma nodded. "Some might even call it sweet."

End

That was short too, but I liked it. The next theme, the falling of cherry blossoms, is the sequel to this one though, so it is actually longer. Still, they can stand on their own as well. Please review and tell me what you think! Remember, this is one of my HieixKoenmaxYukina stories- tell me how you think I did. Thank you!