Disclaimer: I got my idea from the fic "Cold" by Flying Whippet (you rock by the way.) Don't ask how it inspired me because it sounds nothing like the other story. Hee-hee! I don't own it, or YYH or HP (1-6). French fries will rule the universe! Mwah-ha!

Chapter 9:

A Chilling Thought

WHAT? Are you sure?…Oh, you got to be kidding me! Alright, bro, if you say so!" click

"Whazzat?" moaned Tilly from underneath the covers.

"Get up." Said Lorea sharply, " Shim' said that Dad's pretty mellow at the moment and Shuiichi's gone with him to help with the introductions." A loud groan came from under the bundle of blankets.

"Get UP!" Rea roared, irritated, " We're gonna go meet Dad! TILLY! Oh, well, I warned you." Lorea's eyes shut and re-opened as glassy black marbles that gleamed coldlyin the moonlight from the window. On cue, the wind suddenly forced the window open and a large gust of wind picked Tilly up, sheets and all, out of the bed and proceeded to dump her onto the floor.

thud

"HEYYY!"

Without thinking, Tilly stretched out her hand, and it began to glow with a light turquoise blue aura.

"YOW!" Lorea ducked and shouted as a full-fledged snowball smacked against the wooden bedroom door behind her.

BAM!

"What in the Hell was that?" yelped a very surprised Tilly.

"Uh,…" said Rea shakily, " I think that we can safely assume that your element is ice!" The Black-haired twin stared wide-eyed at the now half-melted snowball. Tilly gasped as a sharp pain shot through her arm and quickly vanished as it reached her shoulder. However, Tilly, enthralled with her new abilities, began to focus on lowering the temperature. She heard Lorea shiver,

"Brrr! Am I goin' through menopause or has it gotten really cold in here."

Lorea and Tilly put on their coats and walked the two blocks to Genkai's forest.

On the way, Lorea began to explained more of our family history, until they could see the light colored temple set against the darkened sky above the forest. They noticed that as they walked up the last of the temple steps that it was almost as chilly up on the summit as it was down below. They were met at the door by Shim'. He had opened the door wearing a winter coat.

"Wacky weather we're having, huh?" he smiled at Tilly and shivered, his teeth chattering. Pulling Tilly aside, he said,

"You know why Dad's mellow today, right?"

"Nuh-uh." yawned Tilly tiredly.

"Well, this morning, he started to come down with a Fire youkai fever, so he's tuckered out."

"Oh, crap! Is he going to be okay?" asked Tilly.

"Oh, yeah, his body's temp just dropped a little, that's it. He'll have chills, cough a lot, and feel tired for a few days, you know basic 'cold' symptoms, but he'll be fine."

"How did he catch it?" She wondered out loud.

"He caught it by spending too much time out in this cold weather. Unfortunately, he and I both did. That's why I'm so bundled up and look, I'm still freezing." Said Shim' with a wet sniffle, "And he won't be at his full grumpy glory until tomorrow night at the earliest."

"Okay." Said Tilly, amazed at how normal this sounded.

Shimera led her down a dark wood hallway, and slid open the paper-screen door, then he said "Good Luck!" He punctuated that last sentence with a loud sneeze before disappearing.

"Wait! Why do I need luck? SHIM'! Oh, Great!" 'Well,… here it goes.' Tilly walked through and listened as the paper door slid back into place behind her.

Wowie-zowie! Longish chapter! Whahoo! During the second half of this fic I felt kinda sick. So, we'll have to wait and see how I feel before I can type the next chapter. (Narrator coughs and sniffles.) I'll try to type more later…(sneezes) Ha-hachooo! (Narrator blows nose.) Bye…(coughs) Koff-koff!