Yes, I know I'm posting this early, but I'm feeling generous 'cause today is my birthday! Which means: BONUS CHAPPIE! —throws lots of confetti— Aaaaand that about does it for my birthday enthusiasm. So far all I've gotten is a bunch of hugs, one card and a store-bought cake. Whoopie. Enjoy the chappie!
Magus784: Oooh, so very, very close with that guess! It does involve a dragon. And the twins. But that's all I'm telling! n,.,n And I'll keep the Kuno-speak down to a minimum. Hard enough talking like Shakespeare in plays and the like when you're following a script. Pain in the ass when you're making it up as you go.
Silverwing013: It has to be a secret because you're supposed to keep reading to find out what it is, that's why. And yes, poor Kohaku. No fluffy-fur for her.
DevilDucky1304: Whee, a new reviewer! I never have enough of you people! Do you have a suggestion for the fourth story's title?
I'm also putting in responses to Wonderful Journey reviews just cause I feel like it. n,.,n♥
Silverwing: You get two acknowledgements in one chappie. Huzzah! And another huzzah and a cookie for being the first to review WJ!
Luna's Lady Love: o.O ooh, a new reviewer! Haven't gotten one of those for a while! Yay! n,.,n♪ I will forgive you for not reading the stories these characters came from if you review once for one of them. Doesn't matter which, I'm not picky.
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Three people walk up the dirt road towards a low building roofed in red terra cotta tiles and flanked by expanses of lawn filled with statuary and blocks of stone. One is a slender woman just under five feet in height, dressed in a long, light-blue wool dress despite the heat of the day. Her hip-length, snowy locks are held back in a French braid, wine-hued strips by her ears dangling free.
The second is a young woman about five foot five with silver hair left loose, dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a violet t-shirt with a Latin phrase, 'Faber est quisque fortuna suae' written in silver across the front. Her ruby eyes are half-hidden behind violet hippie-style sunglasses, but are busy taking in her surroundings.
The last is a young man only an inch or two taller than the girl, with hair so black it shows blue highlights under the bright sun, his amethyst eyes hidden behind blue hippie shades that match his sapphire t-shirt over black jeans and sneakers. His hair has been tied back with a sapphire ribbon to keep it out of his face. His shirt says 'Appearances can be deceiving' in white.
"Boss-sama, where are we?" asks the girl in Japanese, her voice low.
It takes a moment for the smaller woman to respond in an equally low voice, "We're in southern France, Zephyr, and that is the Church of the Redemption just ahead."
The young man tugs his shades down to blink over them at the quaint building at the end of the road. "But I thought we were here for the Lily."
"We are." The conversation lapses into silence until the trio reaches the small gate in the filigree iron fence. "Stay here, please. This is something I'd like to do alone."
"Okay," comes the uncertain reply from two throats as their leader enters the quiet churchyard and begins to pick her way around the tombstones, her goal apparently a dark green bush near the center of the left-hand side. The world around them is quiet except for the sound of birdsong and the faint crunch of feet on grass, what with this place being several miles from the nearest village, and then Aislin reaches the bush.
She kneels down about a foot away, her fingers trailing over the simple marble headstone with an equally simple epitaph rendered barely-readable by time. "'And with the grace of God go I'," she reads aloud, easily translating the European words after she'd spent the last twenty years learning nine human dialects. "You always did know how to stay on Koenma's good side, Yuuki."
Her fingers drop away from the 'warmth' of the stone, hands coming to rest on her knees. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Yuuki? Nearly two and a half centuries, if I recall correctly what year this is. I know you can't really hear me; you've probably reincarnated a few times over and forgotten everything about the years you spent working for the toddler and that frustrating moral code of yours."
Zephyr and Obsidian, in his guise of Haru, watch their teacher kneel and start talking too softly for even their keen hearing to pick up in this silence, a wistful half-smile making her turquoise eyes mist over with remembrances. "What's she doing, brother?"
"If I remember what she told us a long time ago about some of her adventures," Obsidian says slowly, "I'd say she was paying respects to a long-gone opponent. This is the Church of the Redemption, right?" A nod from his companion. "Well, don't you remember the stories she used to tell about the man named Yuuki Miyami, you-know-who's first Detective?"
"Ohhhhh."
"You'd laugh to see me now, you annoying human," Aislin chuckles in self-deprecation, her eyes misting further, this time with tears. "After all the crap I put you through I ended up turning myself in because of love. I miss the old days, Anthony," she adds quietly, using the fallen Detective's real name for once, instead of the one she'd known him by. "They were so much simpler than these times. Back then it was just steal, drive you crazy, and steal some more. Now it's go to school, obey the terms of my parole, save two of my band from a vengeance curse while keeping your latest successor busy chasing his tail at the Lair." A soft laugh. "You'd be proud of him though, so very, very proud."
An approaching life-energy makes her look up in time to see a young man dressed as a monk nod politely to the twins she'd left at the gate before stopping a few feet away from her. "Pardonner moi, mademoiselle, quoi es te faisant?" His tone is polite interest, and she can't sense anything on him that would indicate that he is other than what he appears: a monk.
(("Just paying my respects to someone I've hear stories about for a very long time,")) the koorime replies in a quiet voice, blinking away the mists of the past.
Blue eyes flick to the tombstone and read the name and date, lighting in understanding. (("Ah, so you've heard stories about this strange hero?")) he questions cheerfully, tucking his hands in his robe sleeves. (("Quite an interesting legend, isn't it?"))
(("You might say that,")) she answers with a faint quirk to her lips. Considering I'm the cause of that silly legend…
(("Do you mind if I talk with your siblings while you're talking to Barbarac, then?")) The monk tilts a head of short raven hair towards the two still standing by the gate, watching him warily. (("We get so few guests here these days and I'd like to hear some of the more recent news."))
(("They're actually my students, not my siblings, but if you can get them to talk to you, be my guest. I'm afraid they don't understand a word of French, though."))
(("I do, too!")) comes the indignant shout from Obsidian, Zephyr clapping her hand over his mouth with an embarrassed grimace.
"Baka! Sore wa kyōkai desu!" she hisses at him while Aislin and the monk chuckle.
(("I stand corrected: Haru knows French. His sister Zephyr doesn't speak a word of it.")) With another laugh and a bow of the head the monk goes over to chat with the young foxes, Obsidian acting as the translator while Aislin turns her attention back to the tombstone etched with the name Anthony Barbarac and the dates 1780–1812.
"His name's Yusuke, and he's as brash as you ever were, you stubborn prick," she murmurs, resuming her train of thought and that far-away expression. "Only you never had the stick up your ass about fighting being the sole way of life like he does. Except for the difference in moral code—if he has one, I've yet to see evidence of it, though he's certainly got pride and an honor code—and that crazy sense of humor he has, I'd swear he was you."
One hand slides from her lap to press her fingertips to the ground, her youki flowing into the soil as a kind of sonar to find what she's come for. It had been in her possession for a century or more before she'd laid it in this man's long-gone coffin; some trace of her energy should still remain. "I'm sorry for disturbing your shell's slumber even so little as I am," she murmurs as the rose-bush's roots twine around that glimmer of 'alike' that shines behind her eyes and slowly shifts it to the surface, the koorime picking up a deep blue stone carved into the shape of a water-lily and its pad; the Eternity Lily. "I know I left this for you, but I'm afraid the two youngsters I mentioned need it far more than you could."
A sad smile as she rises, dusting off her knees and giving both bush and stone a soft pat, the carving vanishing into the pocket-space in her dress sleeve. "They're good children despite their pasts, Anthony," she whispers as her goodbye. "If circumstances had been different…if things change the way I think they will…one day they might end up playing the 'good-guys' like you and Yusuke have."
With that, she bows with deep respect to the grave and offers a faint smile to the rose-bush suddenly unfurling deep sapphire blue double-blooms, then walks slowly back to the gate where the monk is chatting genially with her pupils.
"Come on, you two, we've got a fair walk back and we should get started," she tells the twins in that distant, distracted voice as the monk notices the bush and gapes. (("A pleasant day, sir monk."))
(("A-and you, miss,")) he answers back, still staring in dumbfounded amazement at the bush that hadn't bloomed for nearly fifty years.
Wordlessly, the two foxes fall into step with their mentor and they are several hundred feet down the dirt road and less than fifty from the portal when Zephyr speaks up. "Aislin-sama, are you all right?"
"I'm fine, chibi-Yoko," Aislin replies, still wearing that far-away look. "What were you and the monk talking about?"
Obsidian gives her a sad look. "He said that the church and the surrounding area's been bought by some big-shot American company since the lease ran out in January. It's going to be turned into a resort."
Aislin stops dead in her tracks, the grass around her abruptly coated in frost. "It's…what?"
"It's going to be turned into a resort, Aislin-sama. They break ground next month."
——
Later that evening, it's Hiei that takes up the position of contract-speaker instead of Aislin in the Crystal Chamber, the Eien no Yuri having taken the place of the Ryu no Hiruiseki in the middle of the casting circle. Zephyr, once more in her form of Ivory, looks around as though expecting the koorime to appear from thin air as is her wont.
"Hey, Jaganshi-san, where's Aislin-sama?"
A flicker of interest in those focused garnet eyes. "She's taking care of some arrangement, she said. No doubt she'll be finished by morning." His eyes turn to the stone flower set on the floor—the Tear has been restored to its pedestal in the Treasure Hall—and take on an edge of sharp temper. (!("Oi,")!) he snaps in that strange language. (!("Wake up, you blasted spirit.")!)
Blue fire blooms in the heart of the lily, taking the vague shape of a trim female. The vibe the two in the circle are picking up is one of high annoyance. (!("And hello to you, too, you three-eyed prick. What do you want?")!)
A jerk of his chin at the two gaping between he and the little gem-soul. (!("These two want a contract. You don't have to do anything but bind with them and the Dragon's Tear. They don't have to do anything but bind with you. Those are the terms.")!)
Again the feeling of their very souls being weighed and judged fills the kitsune, and as before, vanishes when the little spirit nods reluctantly. (!("Very well. I agree to the set terms. But no tricks!")!)
Ivory gives her what the vixen hopes is a reassuring smile. "If you have doubts you can talk to the spirit of the Tear. It already said yes."
(!("I can see that, child. You do bear its mark in a rather obvious place.")!)
The impatient clearing of Hiei's throat brings all three back to the matter at hand, and it is with mild reluctance that the two foxes slice their left palms with the crystal knives and press them to the top of the lily-pad. They're getting tired of bleeding. The tiny spirit taps her diminutive foot as the fire apparition intones the sealing contract. (!("Spirit of the Eternal Lily, you are hereby entered into a lifetime contract with Obsidian Avalon and Ivory Zephyr Avalon-Uotani. There are no deeds to be done by either party save the soul-link between you three and the Dragon's Tear which will form on its own. You have heard and accepted these terms as have they. So witnessed, so declared. It is done.")!)
This time, there is no brilliant flash. All that happens is that the character for 'eternity' appears above the jewel in their foreheads, ticklishly drawn in glittering blue.
"That was much more subtle than the Tear's." Ivory's tone is conversational as she looks up at the ceiling.
(!("That show-off always has to go for the dramatic,")!) grumps the Lily-spirit. (!("Since you don't need me for anything else, I'm going back to sleep. Good-night.")!) And the blue fire disappears. Obsidian turns to Hiei, curious.
"What is that language you, Aislin, and the spirits keep using, Jaganshi-san?"
A sideways glance is given to him when Hiei strides past with the Lily, heading for the Treasure Hall. "It's called the Old Tongue, foxling. It's what the worlds used to speak when they were young. The human wizards used to use it, a long time ago." A smirk. "Now go to bed. You've got another easy day of training ahead of you."
Both foxes groan and slump their shoulders, shooting dirty looks at the fire apparition's back. Ivory sums it up quite neatly; "You're an evil, evil person, Jaganshi-san."
"So glad somebody thinks so," is the frustrated grumble as Hiei disappears out of the room.
——
This time when Ivory awakens in the Void, she is very much alone by the Moon Pool, dressed in little more than her hair and some scarves. "Erk!"
"Oh, calm down," a tart voice tells her as a very beautiful woman appears standing on the surface of the water. Elegant blue tattoos scroll all over the otherwise-bare form, her hair cropped short and spiked in one of the current fashions. "It's going to a be girls' conversation only so clothes are completely unnecessary. I only supplied some because of that foolish notion of 'modesty' you mortals usually have."
Ivory stares, then jumps a little when Zephyr appears beside her in much the same (non)outfit as she and looking none too pleased about it. "For the love of little apples, you call these clothes?" With a wave of her hand Zephyr now sits more comfortably in her usual kimono, glaring over at the figure on the water. "Lily-san, with all due respect, little bits of gauze are not my opinion of proper garb, thank you very much."
"Whatever," snaps the stranger, tapping her foot. The sound produced isn't a faint splash—there's not even a ripple—but instead a harder sound like wood floor. "I don't care. I came for talk, that's it."
"So?" grumps Zephyr, giving the stone-spirit as good as she's getting in glares. "Talk, then."
"Are all you humans this arrogant?" explodes the Lily-soul, throwing up her arms and beginning to pace on the water. It stills sounds like she's walking over wood floor. "For the love of the stone-god, you're a pompous little thing!"
Ivory blinks when a miffed finger is leveled at the pacing female. "You are not the one who's going to be going through Aislin-san's training come dawn, Lily-san, and our time in the Void does not mean replenished strength. I want some real sleep tonight."
"What's all that dratted shouting about?" inquires Tear-soul, popping into the air above the middle of the pool.
"KYAA!" Thwack! The spirit falls back, stunned from the deliverance of a rock to its head courtesy of a panting Ivory, suddenly holding a billowy length of cloth to her chest. The other two females blink at her while the Tear-soul groans and sits up, holding its head.
"Geez, Self, jumpy much?"
"I don't think I've ever seen a mortal move that fast before."
"What in heaven's glory just happened?"
Zephyr snickers. "You spooked Ivory, that's what happened. Your head okay?"
A half-hearted glare is sent the way of a blushing Ivory while Lily-soul helps Tear-soul onto its' feet. "I didn't think things would actually hurt in the Void." It rubs its head with a wince. "Noted for future reference."
"Your reflexes always did suck, you flamboyant ass."
"Look who's talking, you hot-tempered she-devil."
The two maidens look at each other, eyebrows lifted. These two sound a lot like Hiei and Aislin. As the conversation degenerates into a shouting match about faults real and perceived, cinnamon and ruby eyes are rolled and the two soul-halves silently excuse themselves from their Voidscape and head for actual sleep.
——
"Zephyr! Stop acting like Hiei's going to bite you and actually try to hit him! Obsidian, this is a fight, not a stage performance! Quit dancing around like a ninny!" Without even turning, "Good morning, Yusuke. Sleep well?"
"Not really," admits the Spirit Detective as he rubs at gritty eyes. "I'm startin' to feel a little guilty about stayin' here without even tryin' to do my job."
"Mhm, honor is a pain in the ass sometimes, isn't it?" Aislin offers in distracted sympathy, her attention claimed by the trio sweeping around the clearing in front of the Lair. "Zephyr, you're human, not dense! Use that stick like it's an extension of your arm and not a piece of dead wood!"
"Incoming!" comes the warning shout as said stick is knocked from uncertain hands and sent spinning towards the observers. Yusuke catches it without even thinking about it and starts to automatically twirl it through his fingers as a habit left-over from Genkai's training. Zephyr runs over, breathless, takes the stick back, and runs back into the practice fight with Hiei. Aislin tsks.
"They did better when they thought they were fighting for their lives." A sideways tilt to that snowy head. "Then again, Ivory was in control at that point. That's probably the difference; her head remembers training with her brother, but this human body of hers doesn't."
A large explosion engulfs the entire clearing in dust and rains down rocks and more dirt on the slow and unwary. Yusuke lowers his arms in time to hear a bashful "Oops" and finds that Aislin has erected a youki-barrier around them to protect them from the flying debris. While the dust settles, the ice apparition rests her forehead on her fingertips and sighs.
"Winsome kit, what have I told you about using Cherry Bombs by the Lair?"
Yusuke peers through the fading clouds to find a sheepish Obsidian standing next to a good-sized crater in which lies Hiei, the breath knocked out of him by the force of the explosion and looking none too pleased as he coughs air back into his lungs. From the renard's hand dangles several small, dark fruits that look like nothing more than ripe Bing cherries.
Several yards away is Zephyr standing comfortably behind her own shield, produced by a fuda on light brown paper and glimmering lavender tinted rose-pink. After she's certain that there aren't any more decent-sized pebbles coming down, the human-bodied girl drops said shield with a calm word that still sizzles in the air and starts dusting herself off.
"Gomenasai, Aislin-sama. It was kinda a gut instinct."
Their teacher shakes her head slowly. "Gut instincts are fine, Obsidian, but you need to remember that stunts like that attract attention and are bothersome to repair." A glance at the recovering Hiei visibly holding himself back from delivering the desired flattening to a blushing fox-boy. "Not to mention rather hazardous to your health."
Obsidian slowly turns his head to find Hiei glaring at him, turns pale, starts to edge away from the hole, then takes off at a dead run. Hiei sprints off after him, snarling threats and trailing dust and bits of soil and rock while Obsidian shouts apologies and flees for his life. "Carelessness is going to kill him one of these days," Aislin sighs as she gives Yusuke a soulful look.
He smirks at her and jerks his thumb towards the sound of death-threats mixing with apologies. "Only if Hiei doesn't beat carelessness to him."
"Point. Porcupine head, stop chasing the poor kit before you make his heart burst! We still have training to do before you kill him!" While Hiei grudgingly gives up his thoughts of revenge on the young fox for the moment, Yusuke scratches at the back of his head in thought.
"Oi. Stop me if'm wrong, but ain't Ivory th' one who swiped that Inari statue-thingie a while ago?"
"Took you a while to figure that one out," mutters Hiei, the spike-haired male busy delivering a legal smackdown on the offending Obsidian in the guise of training. Aislin gives her soul-brother a sharp look while she responds.
"Yes, Ivory did take the statuette, but be fair, Yusuke. It was stolen from my sleeping quarters and she wasn't entirely 'there' for the robbery by any stretch of the imagination. To be truthful, Ivory could barely connect with the body at that point. It took a Dream and a bit of help for that division in soul to be repaired." A careless shrug of a wool-clad shoulder. "Besides, likely as not I would have stolen it back eventually, myself. It is mine."
The Spirit Detective shrugs, pushing back hair that hasn't seen any hair care products like gel for a good week out of his face yet again. Truth be told, the fact that the two criminals highest on his 'wanted' list are right under his nose doesn't really bother him. Even if one is an fugitive from Mid Security and the other is the one who woke him outta a good night's sleep.
No. It's the fact that he hasn't gotten into a single scrap worth mentioning in the last week—give or take a day or two—that's starting to get him riled. He's very like Hiei in that respect; neither are creatures of little action, never have been, never will be. The need to get into some kind of brawl is starting to wear away at Yusuke's temper and his common sense and gets him to wondering if anyone besides Hiei, Aislin, or Yoko could provide a much-desired distraction.
Come to think of it…where is that silver rogue, anyway?
A flash of sunlight on pale hair makes the demon-descended male's lips quirk up. Speak of the devil, here he comes. But the weary resignation in the by-now familiar golden eyes wipes the smile from Yusuke's face and the welcoming smile from Aislin's.
"Sun-risen, aisuhana, Yusuke," the kitsune mumbles, bypassing the human male for a quick hug from the wary koorime.
"What happened to 'good morning'?" Yusuke wants to know. Yoko just rolls his eyes, having given up on politeness for the moment.
"There's no such thing as a 'good' morning, Yusuke."
"Koi's not much of a morning person," Aislin confides in a gentle tone, mildly amused by this thing which hasn't changed in the five-plus centuries she's known him. "So the usual greeting doesn't really apply. Thus, he's worked out his own method in which he acknowledges that the sun is up, but no one in their right mind can expect him to be happy about being up with it."
"Be that as it may, I have some troubling news about our situation," Yoko breaks in, the weary resignation in his body language and expression growing a bit deeper.
Aislin stiffens. "Like what, Yoko?"
Yusuke suppresses a wince. Even he knows that when these two drop the various love-names they have for each other things are serious. As in, on par with the Kikai Barrier dropping in the middle of an S-class youkai get-together. The silver fox runs a hand through his long hair with a sigh.
"Good news: the Ruby is still here in the Makai. Bad news: the Sunstone and the Eye aren't."
"Where are they?" Aislin prompts, a chill icing her spine as she guesses where at least one of the five is.
Taking a deep breath, Yoko answers. "The Sunstone's in the Human World. The Eye currently is being kept in King Enma's Vault in Spirit World."
——
Yoko finds Aislin later as the sun sets up on the Tower, the thin spire of rock created long ago by some heights-loving stone-shaper long before even he had found this place, rising above the treetops and a few stories into the bloody sky above the Lair.
He hesitantly brushes his fingers against that turned-away cheek, finding it warmer than usual beneath his touch. "Beloved?"
"I don't want to do this," comes the quiet comment, at a volume just loud enough to be heard over the wind, that still form never moving. "King Enma is far beyond my power levels and the security he has on that place now frightens me, Yoko."
Knowing what that admittance of fear must have cost his head-strong mate, Yoko edges closer and offers her his side to lean against, expression giving nothing away but his own love for her. She gazes at him for a long breath before accepting the gesture, the taller male coming closer so that she doesn't have to vacate her seat to enable him to tuck her against the length of his side. Together they watch the orange disk that is Makai's sun slide beneath the horizon in silence, speaking only after the demonic stars begin to peer around the night's gathering clouds.
"We could always try asking the toddler if we could borrow or trade for the Eye," Yoko suggests, already knowing that it would be a futile effort. Aislin echoes the thought a moment later in that uncanny way of hers that is neither telepathy or empathy.
"Cha, right," she says in disgust. "That binky-sucking stubborn fool would only do that if we offered the cubs up on a silver platter for him. And you know I prefer to keep the silver for serving up enemies' heads."
Yoko firmly ignores the attempt to lighten the situation. "You and I are the ones who performed most of the upgrades on the current security system, beloved. It shouldn't be too difficult a task to slip around the defenses like the old days."
"Koi, I don't know about you, but I designed my parts of the plans so that even I couldn't break in without tripping something."
The bandit known as the Silver Thief can't really argue with that—he did the exact same thing, though he did it out of a perverse desire to make sure that his success against the Vault's defenses would be the only one people would be able to talk about after he'd turned himself in. It's no fun if someone copies your hard-won tricks, after all.
They sigh in unison, paying no attention to the clouds thickening at a rapid pace above them. "A combined effort wouldn't be much better, then," he glooms, fingers beginning to run through her hair in a habitual gesture. Somewhere in their relationship, she'd become something of a touch-stone for him, capable of soothing away stress with the slightest contact. If he was still the same old womanizer he'd been before he'd met this spunky bit of winter he'd be appalled at the degree to which he depends on someone besides himself. But he's not, so he allows himself to be soothed by this sign of intimacy.
"You foxes," a familiar voice growls behind them. Startled, they turn to find Hiei clinging very unhappily to the thin railing that is all that saves a climber from a long fall. Aislin finds her lips starting to curve upwards as she is reminded once again of just how much her soul-brother despises this particular kind of height. High, with very little purchase and no hope of a safe landing below. He much prefers cliffs and trees; they either provide handholds or are far more solid than this spire.
"Us foxes what?" the koorime prompts in an expectant tone. Garnet eyes burn in her direction.
"You foxes," Hiei grits out, enunciating carefully, "have a damned peculiar desire for all these complicated 'dances' of yours. But every single time, you give yourself a gods-be-damned loophole in case something goes wrong." He turns around and starts making his careful way back to solid ground, never mind that he could simply leap from this height and make a ten-point landing. Phobias aren't supposed to be logical and this one is no exception.
Aislin supposes it has something to do with him getting tossed off the Isle of Koorime when he was less than a day old, yet still aware and able to remember every second of that terrifying fall. "Now if you're finished sulking, the detective has challenged Gambit to a sparring match and I want to see the arrogant fool get his ass handed to him."
The two stare after him for several long moments, long enough for him to have almost disappeared around the curve of the spiral staircase. He turns his head back. "WELL?"
"Ano…I left a pathway through the air-ducts," Aislin admits in a breathy voice, her dulled turquoise eyes beginning to sparkle again. "I'd forgotten about that."
"I made copies of all the necessary key-cards," Yoko realizes, smacking his fist lightly into his other hand. "Now where did I leave those…?"
"Feh!" comes the disgusted exclamation from around the turn. "Foxes!"
Aislin gets up and trots after her soul-brother, rapidly catching up and walking with him down the curving stairs that seem to have been carved for smaller feet than even theirs. "Hey, porcupine head?"
"What?" grits the male, still clinging to the banister for dear life.
"Who were you hoping to see lose? You didn't specify."
A wry twisting of the fire apparition's lips. "Hn. You really need to ask?"
Her laughter rings out into the stormy air as Yoko quickens his own pace to catch up. "Heh, I suppose not." At the very edge of his outermost shields, Hiei can feel a deep swirl of gratitude coloring that space pale, sparkling blue. Despite his nerves of the still-formidable height, Hiei gives his ivory-skinned soul-sister one of his patented smug half-smirks in silent reply.
He knew she'd get around to remembering something along those lines.
All she'd needed was a good kick in the ass to dislodge her head.
"Hiei!" Wham! "You self-righteous prick! I heard that!" The fire apparition openly grins at her now, just daring her to try that head-swat again now that he's reached his comfort zone on this blasted tower-thing. He'd let her hear that last thought on purpose, just to ignite her temper. Indignant Aislin accepts the dare and lunges for him, diving off the stairs when he gracefully leaps the banister in his usual short-cut.
Yoko just shakes that elegant head of his at their antics while keeping to the stairs, resigned to it after all these long years. He still hopes that one day they'll grow out of it, but by now it's an ingrained behavior so he's not holding his breath. As the silver fox listens to the exchange of cheery insults and threats being hurled back and forth below him by the two elementals, he has to admit to himself that he'd actually miss their fights.
Sort of.
———————————————————————————–
Baka! Sore wa kyōkai desu: Stupid! This is a church!
'Faber est quisque fortuna suae': Everyone crafts his own destiny.
Pardonner moi, mademoiselle, quoi es te faisant: Excuse me, miss, what are you doing? (I think, and he says it very politely.)