Hollie: Yay more reviews!
Kitara: Hiei's really starting to bug me though…
Hollie: That's the point. He bugs everyone. He just happens to be really really hot in the process.
So thanks for the reviews guys. It's really encouraging
I decided to get chapter 4 up by tonight. I think I'm going to start getting into the more romantic parts of their relationship.
Just touching into them, so feelings can start really budding. Teehee.
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Days went by and both Kitara and Hiei treated each other like scum. Just passing by each other bore new scowls and dirty looks. No one found this odd at all; no one except Kurama.
"Hiei..." Kurama caught him in his room one day. "Why are the two of you fighting so often now?"
"Who are you talking about?" He said angrily, knowing who it was.
"Kitara, Hiei. What's so wrong with her? You let her sleep in your bed… you can't hate her that much."
Hiei scowled. "I did not let her. I felt bad for the baka and let her stay since she's new around here. Knowing how stupid she is, she probably got my room confused with hers, hn."
"I think you're quite fond of her."
"Well you're wrong. What would make you think a thing like that?"
"With you, Hiei, when you like a person, you won't show it often. People have to look at the little things you do to see whether you care or not; and by letting her stay in your bed, and asking her what was wrong, you did that, you cared."
"Leave." Hiei commanded. "Now, this is my room, so leave."
Kurama decided not to push him anymore and left his room like he was told. Hiei wasn't being defensive, he was becoming angry.
'Hiei… you'll realize you need someone someday.' Kurama thought.
Hiei was furious. 'How dare he come in here just to accuse me of caring about the girl.' Just as he finished his thought Kitara walked by his room and turned her head as she passed him. He felt something strange inside. A part of him felt drawn to her that second that she looked at him. It confused him.
"Oh!" He heard her say to herself and come back in the direction of his room. "Hey, Hiei, I was wondering if you would mind helping me…"
He smirked. "Finally realize you can't do anything on your own?"
She glared. "I just need help training. I've never even tried to use spirit power, and I have no idea where to start. If you can't help me without treating me like a retarded infant, then I can ask someone else. I just figured you're the strongest of the group."
That was the perfect thing for her to stay. She got him just like she wanted to; he was easier than she thought.
"Fine, I'll help you, starting now." He swung at her but stopped right in front of her face noticing she wasn't about to block him.
"Why didn't you make any attempt to block me?" He didn't think she was that weak…
"I get scared sometimes, alright! You try being locked up in a dark room for 3 years! I haven't even seen any people in the past TWO years! And my last memory of anyone is constantly being hit and…" She stopped. He had taken her by surprise with his attack and brought back memories of when she was captured with the Zratchmana group.
For three years they kept her locked away in a dark cold room all by herself. The only times they came in were to give her a piece of the leftovers or to beat her up and watch her bleed for fun.
Hiei looked at her for a second. Not with an expression of concern or pity, but just understanding. Knowing what it was like to have people treat you like crap and leave scars on who you are for the rest of your life.
"Come on then, let's go out in the woods somewhere and train instead." He brought her to the same forest that she used to live in, by the lake, to train.
They trained for hours out in the woods, until it finally started to become dark outside. Kitara looked up at the stars overhead and smiled. This was the one that she really missed about living out here.
"You're doing well for a beginner." Hiei muttered.
"Really? Well, thanks. It's not easy, mentally and physically I'm not prepared for this kind of thing."
"Yeah, I can tell."
Kitara looked at Hiei and started thinking. "So what's your story?" She asked.
"What do you mean?"
"How did you end up at Koenma's place, with the rest of the guys? Doesn't seem like the kind of thing you would normally go for."
"It's not. I was forced to."
Hiei's short answers were discouraging Kitara from keeping up a conversation with him. She sighed.
"Are you going to answer my question? How did you end up there?"
"I stole from Koenma's father. I was defeated by…" He paused. "Yusuke… and if I didn't help them then I would've had a worse, more tedious fate ahead of myself. I chose this."
"Sounds like the smart choice." She smiled.
"What's your story?"
Kitara was surprised that he asked. That means he listened and actually was interested in her past. Shocking.
"Well… My parents died when I was 12 years old." She dipped her toes into the warm lake. "It was in a fire, with my mother restrained purposely, according to Koenma. Only day later Zratchmana and the other rogue demons came and knocked me out while I was asleep on a sidewalk. They kept me in a cold room underground for long periods of time. I got fed with their scraps and all, but I was their source of entertainment, too." She looked over at the ground. "They would come in when they got bored, and beat at me until I bled. I couldn't defend myself because I was constantly tied up. I only remember being let out of that room twice in my three years being there. They used to mumble things about how stupid I was. What a shame it was that such a pretty face had so many bruises and cuts. They were mocking me, I know." She looked back at Hiei when she had finished talking.
"So how'd you ever get out?" He seemed extremely interested at this point. It made her happy that he was listening to what she was saying so intently.
"Something had happened, between a bunch of the demons in the group. It was during the second time that they ever let me out of the room. An argument broke out, and they started fighting each other. During all the confusion one of the demons that was holding onto me to make sure I didn't run off had gotten hit as well, and lost his grip. I kicked the other one holding me dead between the eyes, so he loosened his grip too, and I got away. Zratchmana saw me leaving; when I looked back we made eye contact. But he let me go anyway. I was just a source of entertainment for him, like a radio or television. I've been afraid though, that he would come back. That they would all get bored again and need to find me, the daughter of one of their enemies."
"Then why the hell did you stay in the forest? Don't you think that would be an easy place for them to get you?"
"Yeah, I know… I just, don't like people. I don't like being around them or seeing them all the time. They make me uncomfortable, and I don't trust them. I guess I would've just rather stayed in the forest the past two years and risk them finding me, than to go through the city everyday being uncomfortable and jumpy."
Hiei jumped up into a tree. "It explains things about you."
"Like what?" She was starting to feel defensive.
"How you go back and forth from being happy and friendly to being upset and defensive."
"I'm sorry…" She muttered.
"It doesn't bother me, it's not my problem."
'Why do I want him to care about me?' She thought. 'Why do I get disappointed when he seems like he doesn't care? Or excited when he's interested in what I have to say? God, I hate this.' A million things and feelings went in and out of her head.
"Do you want to go back now?"
His question popped her out of her daydreams. "Yeah, sure, it's getting late anyway."
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When they came back to Koenma's there wasn't a word spoken to each other. It seemed like they both had clouds over their heads. A tension was in the air that neither had acknowledged yet.
'I find her interesting.' Hiei thought as he walked back to his room. 'I actually like to listen when she talks. She doesn't just babble on pointless things like that baka, Kuwabara. When she talks she has things to say. This is really starting to piss me off. She's probably just trying to get me to be her friend. She's a needy girl. Probably just out to make everyone like her.'
It's obvious that he was trying to make excuses for himself not to like her. But he did, or at least he was starting to.
He walked by her room as he was going on his way to the library they had met at a few days ago. Glancing in, he saw her fast asleep in her bed with the blanket being drooled on. His heart did that… thing again.
'What was that…' He thought as he felt the almost warm feeling in his chest.
When Hiei got to the library Kurama was already there sitting in a chair, reading a book.
"What are you doing in here this late at night?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to read a book to see if I could make myself tired. What were you doing out with Kitara so late?" Kurama raised his eyebrow a little and smirked.
"I was training her. She asked me to help her learn more about her demon abilities."
"Interesting. Seems as though she's fond of as well."
"It doesn't matter if she is or not. We're training, not becoming friends."
"Whatever you like to think is fine. But you're flesh and bones as much as the rest of us Hiei, and so is she. Whether either of you like it, there will always be a part of you that needs someone."
"If I needed someone so badly then I would feel lonely. I don't."
"No, Hiei, that's not true. You don't feel lonely ever because the part of you is buried deep under all of your attitude, and all of your pride. She might just bring it into view for you again."
"You're conversations with me lately are so pointless."
Kurama looked up from the book he was reading at Hiei. The whole time he hadn't looked him in the eyes.
"Maybe they are pointless." He responded.
'But whether you listen or not, Hiei, I know you better than anyone, and I know you're missing something. Even if you don't.' Was Kurama's last thought before he closed his book, and headed to bed.
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Alright, so there's the next chapter, I hope you guys liked it!
Kurama's starting to push Hiei into thinking more and more about Kitara, hehe.
Don't forget to review, they encourage me to do the next chapter sooner.