Yu Yu Hakusho: An Alternate Reality

by Last of the Star Makers

What if Shinobu Sensui had one more bad guy? And what if Kurama's classmate got caught up in the whole saving the world mess? Starting in the midst of the Chapter Black Saga, Episode 73 of the anime, join CrisicMelody and Star's on-going roleplay full of action, adventure, and a little romance along the way. There's probably gonna be fun too. We think so. AU. OC/Kurama, OC/Hiei.

152. Episode 236

A/N: 'nother "chapter," as it were. Continues right where the last one left off.

Symbols Guide:

* : Written by CM; She writes primarily for Akari and Hiei

3 : Written by Star (supposed to be the 'heart' symbol, but FF doesn't like the 'less-than' sign, so it's a 3 instead); She writes primarily for Shikiyoku and Kurama

~!**!~ : A universal transition between scenes or characters, sometimes used to indicate a passage of time, but most often used to transition between major scenes that are happening. As the story progresses, this will evolve into mainly separating the (usually two) scenes happening between authors/characters.

As a general rule, anything in italics is thoughts.

Unless it's used in a sentence like this, which merely indicates emphasis.

(Words in italics and within parenthesis is dialogue between Hiei and Shikiyoku via the bond between them after Hiei became Shikiyoku's Consort. As soon as the 'thought' occurs, it can pass between them, and does not actually have to be formed into exact words-feelings and sensations can pass through as well-in order to be picked up and the meaning translated immediately by the other. For the sake of the coherence by the reader, words and sentences are used as normal. It cannot be picked up by telepathy.)

"Quotations are usually reserved specifically for telepathic dialogue being transmitted from one being to another, but sometimes this can also mean a character isn't being careful about what they're thinking and anyone with telepathy in the nearby vicinity can listen in without taking any effort."

The only exception to that last rule is for the Shiba Inu dog, Nabu. All of his "spoken" dialogue will be in italics and quotations, but is communicated through body language or dog-like noises, so unless a character is able to translate those they are unlikely to pick up on what he is saying any more than the average person might understand his general moods like aggression (bared teeth, ears back) or excitement (wagging tail).

The Nabu Exception also applies to anyone when they are in an animal form, if the dialogue is in italics and quotations, unless stated otherwise.

---

There had been a moment where Shikiyoku wasn't exactly sure what he meant to do as she had felt nothing of his desires since she stood over him in the other room, and even then she had only read his reaction to her height and hadn't gotten a sweeping sense of anything he truly wanted.

As he pulled her closer against him down further on the bed, her now-freed hands came up between them and rested against his chest and she relaxed.

(As you wish.) 3

A long breath found its way from his nostrils and sent some of her hairs fluttering around his nose, subsequently making it itch and forcing him to rub at it briefly before settling again. A part of him wondered why she wouldn't let him be her mate so that this would be a constant for the rest of their lives, but the other part of him was scared of the answer she would supply.

Scared she'd brush him away again, as she always did when that topic came up.

So instead he let it go this time, hugging her tighter as if he simply couldn't get her close enough. *

Shikiyoku let out a sigh of contentment.

(I count myself lucky, you know.) She stuck her nose a little higher into the air. (Lucky that you've finally come to enjoy moments like this, and likely will forever. I couldn't have made you my Consort otherwise.) 3

(Is that so?) Hiei asked of her with his own calm sense of accomplishment that warmed the bond. Internally, he felt warmly of her praise and her compliment. She'd been the first to ever tell him anything of the sort, really - that she knew she'd made a good choice in choosing him as a companion. And really, he felt himself lucky as well, to find someone such as this to be in his life.

His lips finally gave way to a smile.

(The feeling is mutual, I assure you.) *

(Well, I somehow doubt it would have worked unless you were willing to become more lax on a few things.) Her lips twitched with amusement. (Or be willing to be stuck with me from then to eternity. Which you are, you know.) 3

The bond came alive with his quiet chuckles, both verbal and internal in response to what she seemed to be hinting was a bad thing. If he hadn't wanted to be tied to her, he wouldn't have gone after her. Plain and simple.

(That's too bad.) he replied sarcastically, bond still warm with his amusement. (However will I cope with such conditions?) *

(I haven't the faintest idea, though you seem to be doing an excellent job of it at the moment.) It was astonishing how much she had missed him, and how much she hadn't realized he had been missed until he was back by her side. (But I guess you have ample time to come up with your own solutions, difficult though it may be.)

She could no longer stop herself from smiling. 3

(Glad to be of service.)

There was a pause where the fire demon seemed to be thinking, his mind wandering to different places, to different thoughts, one after another. Each thought was wrapped up in the person he himself was wrapped up in, just as the rest of his being was. It was a pleasant feeling, really, to be so completely wrapped in someone.

He wished he'd found her sooner, truth be told.

He wanted to ask of her again, to reiterate the idea of him being her mate for the upteenth time, but again, he left it be.

He couldn't bring himself to say anything else on it until the ring was done, until he felt he had given his vow to not dishonour or disrespect her again.

Until then, he'd remain as he was.

And without his knowledge of it passing, his most prominent thought of the moment slithered across the bond:

(...how I love you so.) *

As Shikiyoku felt Hiei's thoughts turning around in his mind, she let herself sink into the familiar warmth of his closeness and allowed it to lure her into a sleepy state that she knew would be the most restful she had gotten since the last time she had been in his arms.

Dropping off into actual slumber, her breathing evening out and her mind becoming more blank by the moment, she felt an overwhelming amount of affection pass from Hiei over the bond, but she was not coherent enough to truly read what he had 'said' to her.

Instead of trying to wake up enough to respond, she only cuddled up closer to him and in her sleep tilted her head up to give him a drowsy kiss.

~!**!~

Shikiyoku arranged it so that within the next day or so, she and Hiei were free to return to the bar on the other side of the world and retrieve the ring for him as he wished.

She still felt a little unhappy that she had to work and leave him laying around in her room by himself, but he seemed content enough so she went about her business and came back to his waiting arms each evening as she could.

They were nearing what would be the end of their negotiations with the other company when Kurama and Shikiyoku stumbled into the hotel room in the midst of a bout of laughter, both looking overly disheveled and the amount of energy filling the air around the she-demon indicative of the amount of alcohol the two of them had consumed.

It had not necessarily been a celebrational dinner party, but having been invited out to drinks with the owner of the company they were attempting to woo was as good a sign as any. And of course, given those involved, the drink flowed heavily throughout until the redhead had caught one of the looks given in Shikiyoku's direction and sobered up enough to start wrapping the encounter up in his usual, succinct and thoroughly manipulative manner so that the other owner appeared to come up with the idea himself. He hadn't noticed when her hair had come down during their encounter, but it certainly did not help his venture as he had a harder time doing so what with all the others wanting nothing more than for her to stay.

"And if he's not a demon-" Shikiyoku was saying as they both laughed and barely made it into their hotel suite before swaying backwards into the door they had just shut behind them, hardly able to keep their feet. "-then he's the first human I've ever seen to practically drink you under the table."

It had actually been an ongoing discussion between them: whether or not the owner of the company they were seeking to merge with was a demon.

They started to take another step forward, Kurama's suit jacket nearly slipping out of his grasp as he started to point at her with the hand that wasn't wrapped over her shoulders.

"You mean you, Yoku." He narrowed his eyes playfully at her. "You've drunk me under the table plenty of times." He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek as she laughed again.

"I seem to be out of practice." Her energy shimmered as he kissed her and she eyed him from her peripheral.

"No!" He exclaimed in pseudo-astonishment. "As the owner of a bar? Couldn't be."

"I don't exactly drink as much as everyone seems to assume I do." She tried to move again, towards the kitchen area, laughing as she felt the world doing the strange sort of spinning it managed when she had drank nearly too much, and couldn't get her high-heeled feet under herself, instead managing to fall backwards into the wall and using it to hold herself up.

"Well, there's very few that can tell." Kurama reassured her, starting to remove his arm from over her shoulders until he felt her dropping away from him somehow, pivoting with her as her grip on him tugged his body and ending up standing over her, a hands planted just to either side of her head to catch himself.

"Can you tell, fox boy?" Shikiyoku's green eyes swirled in a dangerous manner that Kurama felt welcomed into as her hands found his button-up shirt and started to pull him closer, her energy billowing silently around them.

"Always, seductress." He breathed with a smirk, appreciating how her long hair had taken on a mild wavey quality from being up in a bun all day and flowed over her shoulders, noting in the logical part of his brain how intoxicating she smelled, the alcohol having nothing on her. "In fact, it's my pleasure to do so, as is fulfilling your every whim."

He resisted her tug for a moment longer before taking the last step to completely close the distance between them, bending down and beginning to kiss her.

The arm without the suit jacket immediately dropped away from the wall to find her waist and the place where part of her blouse had come untucked, slipping underneath it to find her skin, overly warm from the drinks of the evening. 3

Pretty much as soon as Hiei had gotten his hands on the ring and had been left alone in Shikiyoku's room, he'd transformed it. The lamps that had been on the bedside tables, along with the bottle of wine they hadn't finished, had been moved to the vanity at the end of the bed, which had also been moved several feet to the right to allow proper walking space. The nightstands, having been cleared of objects, had been placed side by side at the end of the bed and left there each night, his jewelry making tools strewn about the small surface in a haphazard looking fashion. The previous ring had been pulled apart gem by gem - as if there were more than a few - and he had been reforming the metal little by little. When the metal had been transformed in the way he had wanted it to be, he had turned to working on carving out a round stone from a chunk he'd found on his way back several days prior.

He hadn't gotten very far in this process over the last few days, pausing and cleaning up when he would sense Shikiyoku growing near so she would not see what it looked like. This time, though, he'd been so wrapped up in the fine cuts of the little pearl-like stone that he'd not sensed the energies approaching, the vibrations of the bond.

So when the door in the next room opened and laughter was heard, the fire demon's head snapped up in alarm, nearly cutting himself with the tool in his hand in the process, and he began gathering everything up one by one. All of the jewels and the shavings from his work, the metal, everything was thrown into a small bag that he stored away in the pocket of his cloak.

The only thing he left on the little nightstands were the tools used to work on the jewels, deciding they were harmless and would give nothing away of his doings at the end of the bed.

Finally, deciding he'd meet Shikiyoku in the main room for the first time in days, Hiei sauntered around his little workspace, to the door, pulled it open, and looked up to greet Shiki, who-

Who was…

He frowned.

She was more than willing to not only allow Kurama the pleasures he sought from her, but was also just as willing to follow his lead without any resistance.

The fire demon froze in place, his mind only just then realizing that the giggling that he'd ignored had been drunken giggling, and that the energy he hadn't felt initially had actually been released in a sort of bubble around the female who was up against the white walls of the entry way.

For a moment, he couldn't move, couldn't think, didn't know what to do in the situation where the person Shikiyoku had not told him about until recently was kissing her, was touching her, was-

Drunk.

The fire demon suddenly blinked, the thought bringing with it a new realization that neither one of them were sober, and thus were more than happy to let down certain restraints and express certain affections for one another.

It brought out a sort of white-hot fire within him that he didn't understand.

Hiei converged upon the pair, a hand slicing through the air to take hold of Shikiyoku and pull her free of the fox demon who had been enraptured by glittering energy. Without pause, he continued to pull her away, towing her from the room and into the next, closing and locking the door behind himself. *

The separation had happened so quickly that neither party had the means to react before Shikiyoku was suddenly not there, suddenly finding herself in the other room after releasing her grip on Kurama's shirt in surprise at feeling the foreign hand grabbing ahold of her to pull her away.

She registered the click of the locking mechanism, even while drunk knowing that if Kurama truly wished to come after her, no door would bar his way. Especially not a locked one.

"Hiei..." Shikiyoku's energy still made the air around her shimmer as she took what had been Kurama's place over her instead over Hiei, stopping him from moving away from the door when he turned around and towering the few inches over him. "I don't think you realize what taking me away like that means. But I'd be more than happy to educate you." She did not appear upset in the slightest, purring the words at him as she gazed into his eyes and reaching up with her hand to rest her right hand over his left cheek, her thumb moving over the swirls of her marking on the side of his face. 3

He didn't know what he'd expected of this, what outcome he'd foreseen of his actions. In truth, he'd acted merely out of whim, out of the thought that the last time she'd enchanted someone as she was Kurama, he'd had to kill the poor fool because he'd gotten too entranced in her energy. Of course, there were other reasons, but he told himself that this was the main reason.

That he was her Consort, her protector.

But when he found himself suddenly pinned in place, his back to the wooden door and his eyes up to the drunken Shikiyoku, he couldn't help but remember a time where this exact thing had happened. Excepting, perhaps, her current drunken state.

He was reminded of that with the buzzing of the bond, the smell of the booze on her, and the red dashed across her nose and cheeks. The hair that fell around her shoulders. The words she spoke. The look she gave him.

Stop.

He blinked, clearing away thoughts that he hadn't known had been there, meeting the glossy, glimmering gaze of Shikiyoku with his own calm, even one.

"You're drunk," he stated factually, a hand moving to catch the hand at his cheek and pull it from his face. "Perhaps if you were sober, my answer would be different." He took a step forward, and then another with both hands finding her upper arms in the hopes to guide her to sitting on the edge of the bed. *

One of her eyebrows quirked in amusement, but she allowed him to move her, still looking down at him with her energy swirling contentedly around herself.

"Ah. I did not think you meant it. In which case-" She started to pout, "You're absolutely the meanest, flame boy. Youko, at least, has encountered me before in ages past. And really, you ought to be thanking him. He had enough sense to get me away from that dinner before I had the entire party follow me home." 3

"Good for him," Hiei retorted as he shifted her around until she was sitting on the bed, his eyes staring unblinkingly down at her now that she wasn't taller than he. He understood what Shikiyoku said about Youko, and wasn't surprised in the least. On some level, he felt as if he should've put two and two together long before now. Youko had been her Champion long ago, after all, and he'd have been an idiot to refuse himself such relations with this one.

However, he pushed those thoughts away, his main concern being with the person he took a step away from and crouched in front of, his hands beginning to undo the shoes she wore.

"Congratulations to him for being a decent Demon and keeping out of trouble," he mumbled under his breath as he dropped one shoe to the side. "You can thank him when you're sober." *

"Not really decent, considering he just wanted me all for himself." She had begun holding her nails out as if examining them, but when he started to remove her heels, she clenched her teeth together, her eyes closing as she had to take a moment before being able to speak, "And if you're serious about stealing me away and not intending on letting me take advantage of you, I would suggest you stop undressing me as it's sending mixed signals."

The energy around her had grown more agitated in the last few moments, at least as agitated as the sort of energy it was could be and she took a deep breath through her nose in an effort to remain seated, refusing to open her eyes. 3

Hiei didn't respond at first, his hands pulling the other shoe from her foot and allowing that one to fall on the floor with the offhand thought of maybe leaving them on would've made it harder for her to get away.

He stopped moving and let his eyes stare at the carpet under her feet with furrowed brows and a frown that pressed his lips into a thin line. "And you think that I don't want you to myself?" The words came out barely above a whisper, and in a sort of grumble. He hadn't meant to say it aloud, but his response had slipped from his tongue before he'd been able to stop them. He had no right, really, to want her for himself. Not since he had yet to finish her ring and properly apologize for the things he'd said and done in times past.

He frowned at himself for a moment before he looked up again, sitting back on his feet and looking to Shikiyoku with an unamused stare. He knew she wasn't kidding, and for a few moments he found it difficult to remain where he was and to not remove himself from the energy-ridden room. Energy that continued to pull at him, to taunt him. To entice him into leaning forward slightly and almost reaching a hand out to touch her warm skin again.

He frowned up at her.

Why can't you be this way when I want you to be?

"Lay down and rest, My Jewel, and I will work on the ring." *

"You make it sound so easy." She had not moved, but had only done so under great duress. "Unfortunately, it is unlikely to happen at this point, though-" The energy in the air shimmered again as she gave a wry smile, managing not to say what she had intended, but aware that her energy had all but done it for her.

She knew on some level that the walk back to the hotel suite with Kurama was responsible for part of this, as her mind felt a sort of clarity she was not usually afforded when she had consumed this much, her words having not been slurred or slow since the two of them left dinner.

Another wave of energy crashed into her from within and she swallowed, twitching and trying to decide if jumping out the window was an option, or if she could live with the regret she would have if she just went ahead and coerced Hiei into thinking he wanted to do all the things she wanted to do to him... 3

Hiei's frown deepened momentarily before disappearing altogether, his expression turning flat and neutral for the first time that evening in an attempt at calm control. He planted his hands on his knees and pushed himself to stand in one fluid motion, turning away from her and moving to the end of the bed, staring down at his tools as he considered working on the ring like he'd said.

Instead, he sat on the edge and planted an elbow on the surface of one of the nightstands, his chin finding that hand and his eyes closing.

"You're drunk," he repeated, this time in a calmer tone. "And I'm assuming you have work tomorrow. Thus, you need to sleep, to sober up." He gave a small breath, ignoring the energy that continued to pulsate around the room. "If you feel similarly tomorrow, I won't intervene." *

She could still smell him, even though he had moved far enough away that she would have to exert some effort to get to him, that strange cinnamon and cloves scent she knew was his and his alone.

"Sleep is not what I need right now." Shikiyoku grumbled under her breath, standing up and trying not to think too hard as she turned and moved towards the other side of the room where a second door stood in the wall. "What I need is a cold shower. Very. Very cold." She intended to open the door, which led to the bathroom, and make good on what she needed, grumbling as if to herself as she passed the tables at the end of the bed that he sat behind, "And I always feel similarly with you." 3

If Hiei had had animalistic ears, they would have twitched to catch what she was saying on all counts. Instead, he turned to glance at her from the corners of his eyes as she passed him by, a brow raising at what she had to say.

He only took it as drunken rambling, since the last time she'd responded in kind, she had pulled away to tease him about enjoying the moment, and when he'd followed up with more affections, he hadn't gotten a response. He remained quiet, choosing not to reply to her at all in case it gave her cause to stay in the room.

It was hard enough as it was, ignoring her energy. Add to that the look in her eyes and the words she'd possibly say?

He'd be in deep trouble. Trouble that he'd happily let himself get into, if he thought she'd smile about it in the morning.

So when she was out of the way, he stood and moved around the room, gathering his jewelry making things again in hopes that it would help him recover from the evening's happenings. *

"Damn hybrid and his damn good looks and-" The rest of what she continued muttered was closed off from the main room only to go on as she stripped off her clothing once the bathroom door was shut behind her, making good on her promise to herself and turning the walk-in shower down at the end of the room on as cold as it would go before stepped into it.

The shock almost immediately resulted in her energy retracting from the air around her and she did little actual "showering" and instead just stood there making angry grumbling at how the night had turned out as a whole, which was in a word disappointing. And frustrating. And-

It was only once she was shivering so hard she couldn't mutter anymore that she even considered turning it off. 3

Hiei laid out everything he'd previously put up, suddenly not caring if the design was discovered by her- not that it truly could be revealed when the ring didn't even resemble anything more than a metal band. He continued carving on the dark stone, only one side beginning to look like he'd worked on it at all.

After a few minutes, he felt that the tension at his shoulders had relaxed and that he was breathing easier, calmer, and that his mind had slowed to a normal thought process despite the lingering scent of Shikiyoku's energy in the room.

Damn woman, he thought as he shaved away another piece of the rock. *

There was no point in saying that she had actually sobered up, but she certainly felt cranky enough that the result was very similar.

Her body trembling like mad, Shikiyoku grabbed for the white robe that had been placed in the bathroom and didn't bother drying off, her hair hanging limp and wet around her shoulders as she managed to stick her shivering body properly into the robe itself, the parts of her legs below the knees and not covered by the soft material obviously cold, though the rest of her hadn't exactly warmed up either.

She sort of tied the robe before leaving the bathroom, her arms crossed in front of her as she stood for a moment watching Hiei.

"...if you don't...want me...to accidentally knock it all over...you should probably...put it away." Her teeth were chattering so hard that she kept having to stop to let the shiver run down her body before going on. "Because I'm...about to cuddle up to you...flame boy." 3

Truth be told, Hiei had gotten so wrapped up in his jewel again that he hadn't initially noticed when the shower turned off, or the door opened, or when he was being watched. He simply cut away at the stone, letting shavings fall to the surface of the nightstands little by little. But the moment he did become aware of watching eyes, he paused in time to hear chattering teeth and broken up words.

When he looked up, it was with an expression that held back the sudden amusement at her words, how they were interrupted by chattering teeth and chills, and her not-request request.

His eyes twinkled at her for a moment before he gave in and began picking up his gems and metals again, letting them gently fall into a little knapsack where they clinked together until he stored the little bag away again.

Without pause, he moved to the bed and got comfortable, this time beneath the covers so his own body heat would circulate for her and warm her up faster, and he waited with expectant eyes and open arms for her to join him. *

By the time she actually made it to the bed, he was already prepared for her and she climbed up, still shivering, to settle up against him just as close as she could get, burying her face in his chest, her arms still crossed in front of her.

"This...does not...make us even." 3

"Mmm," he replied nonchalantly as he threw the blankets over her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. "I don't play to get even." He turned inward, mentally toying with his own body temperature until he felt it raise just a few degrees more, as if he were trying to control his own flame without actually having said flame. "I simply play for fun." *

"Was not...fun...jerk." She knew eventually she'd get warmer, given her current circumstances, but it felt like it was going to take forever. "I play...for fun...you...are frustrating." 3

This time, the sparkle turned into a ghost of a smirk across his lips as he got comfortable beside her, his head resting on the pillow and his eyelids closing. "And that, to me, is fun." Really, it wasn't, but for the moment it was all he could say on the matter. Really, he didn't enjoy moments like this where she said things he wished she meant but knew she didn't.

He let out a breath.

"Or perhaps I still don't know of fun," he joked. *

She gave a mostly playful little growl at his first comment.

"If that...is your idea of fun...then maybe you're right. Should just...let me teach you...fun." Her teeth still chattered, but her lips stretched into a sidelong grin. 3

"You're a bit indisposed at the moment," he mumbled back at her, a finger prodding momentarily at her cheek before that hand returned to her back. "Maybe when you can speak properly, that will be a possibility." *

"Mm." She let her eyes close, knowing she still wasn't sober enough to listen to him talk like that. And if she thought he meant it, he would have been in even more trouble. As it stood, not only was he continuing to be frustrating, but he was turning into a bit of a tease.

And the worst kind: one that never delivers.

She continued shivering. 3

Hiei shifted around a bit before going still, and he settled with his nose against the top of her head and his fingers laced together behind her back. A long breath of air sent her hairs around his nose swaying in place as he took note of the shivering that continued all along Shikiyoku's body with a small sense of relief.

"Go to sleep, my jewel."

~!**!~

Days passed, blurring by in a haze of Hiei's fingers shaving away at gems and polishing metals and changing out stones. His eyes remained fixated on the ring that took form little by little in his hands over the days he spent in Shikiyoku's room, some hunched over a coffee table and some spent sitting at the end of the bed with the end tables. Eventually it turned into something similar to the fire demon's original vision, and he had to tweak the design a little until it morphed into the new and improved vision.

Finally, he was beginning to see the finished product. After weeks of work and many derailments, the fire demon sat back on his feet and gave a little puff of air onto the near-finished product. The dull color of the reshaped jewels stared back at him, unfinished and unpolished, but set nonetheless. He poked at both stones carefully, testing the setting precariously and finding himself pleased that they were staying put. He tossed a charcoal-colored cloth over the ring and began rubbing the smooth satiny side against the stones, simultaneously hiding it from sight of the woman moving around the hotel room.

Shiki and Kurama had sealed whatever deal they'd been working on, and finally, they were getting ready to leave. Finally, Hiei would be allowed time alone with Shikiyoku, on their own terms, in their own place. Uninterrupted.

It made the satisfaction so much greater within him. But as he began to apply a polish to the stones within the ring, he decided that he'd give the new piece to her just as soon as he was able. *

Shikiyoku could not remember bringing this much stuff to the hotel.

What was I thinking?

Obviously not of how the packing for the return would go.

To be fair, she had accumulated quite a bit more than when she started. It would not have been polite for her to turn down any gifts that had come her way, not to mention how accepting said gifts may or may not have spurred on her and Kurama's end.

And the gifts were as numerous in quantity as they were variegated in quality. A pair of socks, flowers, several bottles of wine-I must have garnered some sort of reputation, I suppose-a handful of expensive dresses, a diamond necklace, a stationery kit-Of all things-as well as other just as mundane and inconsequential items. Most of which she had already begun throwing out.

She marched out into the living room where Hiei had been studiously working since her arrival-Kurama was thankfully still out and about, though she was packing for both of them-with her arms full of various bits of clothing. Most of it were the expensive gowns she had been given and dutifully wore when the occasion arose.

"Burn this. Burn this. Burn this." She tossed them his direction, landing them over the arm of the couch nearest to him. She paused. "You know this one is actually kind of nice. Burn it anyway." She threw it with the others, then turned away, "And please don't make a mess. I have enough to do without having to worry about ashes everywhere." She waved an arm as she moved back for her temporary room, the bond between them unable to hide what was obviously amusement and, if he had been looking at her, a flirtatious smile aimed his direction. 3

Hiei's hands stilled over the ring, his fingers holding the little cloth in place to hide the jewelry as footsteps vibrated against the floor and warned him of Shikiyoku's approach. He lifted his eyes to see the woman waltz into the room with various articles of clothing in her arms, all of which she began tossing in his direction. He assessed each piece as she threw them to the arm of the couch, not surprised when she ordered the pieces to be burned. When she hesitated at a particular dress, he raised a brow and gave a small smirk as she tossed it to the burn pile.

"No ashes?" He asked after her, eyeing the smile she tossed his way with a raised brow. "Boring." He turned back down to the jewelry he'd hidden from her and began rubbing at it again, satisfied when he began to feel the luster take to the gems.

"One or two of those were nice," he commented to the room about the dresses. "Not going to keep any of them?" he teased to the woman in the next room. *

"If you think they're so nice, you keep them!" Shikiyoku called from the bedroom where she had started flipping back through the hanging clothes to see what she had missed and grabbing another handful. 3

Hiei paused again, this time to blink in surprise at the door to the bedroom they had been sharing the past few weeks. The bond they shared quivered with his inner dilemma about his response before he gave a shake of his head and set the ring on the coffee table, hidden underneath the cloth for good measure. He turned to the dresses and plucked them from the couch, and in one swift ball of fire, they disappeared.

"Not really my style." *

"You didn't even try them on." Shikiyoku countered as she reentered the room with another couple that she tossed his way before disappearing again. "I think that royal blue one would done you a good many favors!" 3

"No," Hiei responded quickly with a hand ready to catch what she threw at him. "Never." He sent the two dresses in his hand up in flames as well, this time letting them burn long enough to entertain him before he turned back to his original task. "Maybe if they were black."

He took to polishing the ring again, his eyes turning focused and his lips pressing together in thought. *

"I have three!" She replied almost cheerily as she took them from the closet, "And they're all different shades too!" Rummaging more, she drew another couple out after inspection. "But really, you wouldn't even have joked about them being nice if you'd known the desires behind each and every one of those that gave them to me. As they gave them to me." She stepped back, let out a tiny huff of air, and then grabbed all the rest of them into a huge pile in her arms, heels clicking on the tiles of the other room as she returned, her bun a disarray that she seemed to have forgotten about, though her glasses remained firmly fixed atop her head in spite of it all.

She flopped them onto the couch next to him, "Thanks." She planted a solid kiss on his cheek. "You're the best." 3

Hiei made a face at the cloth he peeled from the ring and the bond sent the impression of his reaction to Shikiyoku - a mixture of disgust and amusement. He held the ring up to the lamp nearby to inspect for smudges, then turned it over to inspect the inside of the silver. He considered replying, but instead turned back to rubbing the cloth against the parts of the ring that had smudged even as she re-entered the room again.

He heard the fabric hit the couch, sensed the closeness of Shikiyoku, but didn't really expect the kiss that she gave to him. He paused and turned to watch her, a smirk on his lips. "I know." When she turned to leave the room again, his left hand snaked out and took hold of her wrist to stop her. "Wait." He tugged once on her hand in a request for her gaze. "I have something that's yours." *

Shikiyoku let her eyes rove heavenward in response to his quip, but said nothing to retract her statement or counter his, a testament perhaps to the truth of both.

Without further comment, she started to rise, intending to leave her mess in favor of seeing to Kurama's things, when Hiei suddenly had a hold of her before she even had a chance to lean away again and almost startled her. It earned him the most quizzical expression as both her face and the bond let him know she hadn't the faintest idea to what he could possibly be referring. 3

Hiei hesitated for a moment as he stared at the expression she wore. It amused him to some degree, and yet made him almost nervous. He'd been working so hard on the ring that he hadn't considered how to tell her what it was for, how he'd explain that it was his way of atoning for what he'd done, for how he'd treated her. He didn't even know where to start explaining such a thing.

He didn't know how to apologize to her in a way that would get across everything he felt on it, and…

Well, he'd gotten her attention, so there was no going back, he supposed.

He tugged on her hand and pulled her closer, back down to the couch where she'd sat a moment before, and he planted a kiss on her lips. He turned to face her with his entire body for this moment, to lean into her as his lips met hers.

In the hand that did not hold hers, the cloth fell to the floor and he spread her fingers apart between them. In a swift, smooth movement, he slipped the ring onto her ring finger. He lingered on her lips longer than usual, longer than he had in some time, and he clutched her hand between his own two hands briefly before he released her and pulled away. *

Shikiyoku blinked for a moment when Hiei first kissed her, having still come up with nothing he had possession of which was hers for him to return.

Well, aside from the ring she in the midst of it all felt him slip onto a different finger this time.

That realization was muffled as her core shot her energy through her body like wildfire the very instant he began kissing her, despite her initial, blinking response.

Though he had taken one of her hands, her left hand almost reactively rose between them to rest in a familiar way against the warm skin of his neck as the tingle and shimmer ran up and down her limbs and perfumed into the air from the bits of pieces of hair that had come free of her bun.

And the longer he kissed her, the more pronounced it all got, the sensations and the sudden, rapid beating of her own core leaving her breathless, that she almost felt as if she'd forgotten what it was like before.

When he finally moved from her, she blinked at him through energy-filled eyes that still couldn't quite see past the hammering waves of what he had done to her, the state he had left her in.

The hand with the ring felt warm from his touch and she took note that he had been holding it rather dearly during that time.

Her face filled with questioning that was different than her previous expression, as if this time it were he himself that truly puzzled her. 3

The energy in the room, on the air, was heavier than he remembered it to be. Sure, he'd felt it a while back when she'd come in the room drunk and- whatever - but still. It was as if this time, the reaction was stronger to Hiei's actions. Maybe out of surprise?

When she blinked at him with sparkling, glowing eyes, he found himself lowering his gaze to the hands that held hers, that continued to hide the ring from her. He didn't have to see her expression to know what it was, to know that she was completely perplexed by the entire moment.

But after a slight hesitation, his hands released hers. He didn't however, look up when he finally spoke.

"I…" He hesitated again, the words caught in his throat and his tongue suddenly heavy. He swallowed. "I have wronged you in the past. This is… my vow… to never do so again." *

The hand at his neck had not moved, though from intention or neglect it was uncertain.

She continued to stare at him in the same manner even when he started to speak, at first unable to follow his train of thought.

What wrong?

Her gaze softened as he continued to be unable to look at her and the thumb at his neck shifted once, twice, back and forth gently as if she in some way felt the pain of whatever baggage he had been carrying around silently.

"What wrong?" She slid her hand beneath his chin, eyes never leaving him even as they danced with the joy of the moment before. "What could my Consort have possibly done that deserved to plague him for this long?" She meant for him to look up at her, to see the truth in that she no longer remembered, her expression kind as she lowered her voice, "You must have asked for my forgiveness, Jaganshi Hiei, and I must have given it, for I have forgotten whatever it is you had done."

The bond rang clearly, quietly, between them with the loving truth of her admission:

(I do not remember.) 3

Silence hung on the air as Shikiyoku went quiet, Hiei not responding immediately. He let her hand pull his chin up so he would meet her gaze, and even still his eyes turned to the side briefly before he closed them from her view. He let her response stew for a bit, let it dispel a fraction of the turmoil within his very core before he took in a breath and opened his eyes again.

He couldn't remember himself if he had ever asked for forgiveness once he'd woken up from his fever dreams. Maybe he didn't want to remember, or simply couldn't because of his own guilt.

"I invalidated you; I threw you away." He restrained the cringe that he almost gave, and instead met her gaze squarely. "I wronged you, and for that, I am sorry." *

"That sounds terrible." She almost frowned, but the expression was filled with a softness of a distant observer. "You should be." Her eyes glimmered as she smiled gently before adding. "You are. You were, prince of fire, then too, otherwise I would recall." She stuck her nose in the air, "I hold a terrible grudge, you know. Towards them that are remorseless."

Shikiyoku finally moved her hands-the one from her lap where he left it and the other from his chin where she had it-to slip them around his neck, the tips of her fingers just buried in his hair as her thumbs rested against the sides of his face just in front of his ears. "It is your job to let yourself be free. I accepted your apology. I accept this one as well."

(And an excellent apology it was too.)

The admission, laced with no small amount of coy intent and appreciation at the kiss she had just received, shot across their bond before she could stop it and her eyes widened as she immediately blushed, her hands jerking away from his skin just far enough that she was no longer touching him as her eyes darted to the side and an abrupt, "Sorry," came short from her lips, quickly biting the bottom one. 3

The longer Shikiyoku talked, the more words that fell from her lips, the softer Hiei's expression became. With each word spoken, the weight that he'd been carrying around dissipated more and more until, finally, his expression broke and gave way to the smallest smile and a tilt of his head at the woman who suddenly jerked away from him. He stared at her with a calm gaze and a warmth at his core that swirled around and around, as if made from the tattoos that decorated his skin.

His hands slowly reached up to cup her face and he leaned forward while simultaneously pulling her head down until he could plant a kiss upon her forehead, and then her nose, before he pulled away again.

(Thank you.) *

Nine levels, what awful timing to think something like that, was the sentence running through her mind, having completely thrown herself off by putting voice to what had been floating around her head the entire time she was attempting to be comforting.

His reaction, or rather lack thereof, made it all worse when she felt him press his lips to her skin twice more, only serving to turn her more red than before.

"You're welcome." She said more gruffly than she meant it, still self-conscious as she lowered her hands back to her lap. She wasn't all that sure what he was thanking her for.

Though she still blushed, she took note of the ring as she fiddled with it absently, starting to smile again, "They're dancing! Is the new gem me? It's perfect." 3

When Hiei pulled away, he let his hands fall to his lap and he sat back a little to watch her, to observe Shikiyoku's expression as her eyes turned down to her hands in her own lap, and in turn, to the ring on her finger. His smile grew a fraction at her observations, glad that his vision had not only come to life on the ring, but that she had seen it as well.

It hadn't been easy, creating the infinity-type setting with the Tear Gem and the darker stone that he'd found on one of the lower levels of the world. It hadn't been easy making the new gem stay, as it was a gem he'd never seen before, never even heard of, and had had to improvise with. So, he was pleasantly surprised when it set so easily into the mold he had created for it, and that its luster was just as bright as the Tear Gem's was.

It made him even happier still to see that the glinting of the light on the new stone was reminiscent of the way her own eyes sparkled.

"It is my promise to you that I will forever work with you, beside you." *

"A daring promise, Consort." Shikiyoku looked up at him with a particular gleam in her gaze. "And for so long. Are you quite certain? Have I never told you about Renai and Kearia?" 3

Hiei's brows rose slightly in mixed curiosity, intrigue, and amusement. He tilted his head just slightly. "I'd rather it be with you than with another." *

"Oh, as would they, perish the thought." A smile toyed across her face, "Working...with one another, however, has become a rarity between them, so I hear. They appear now to more enjoy hindering than helping. And quite gleefully so. Did I ever tell you why Renai agreed to taint my energy in the first place?" 3

Hiei's brow raised further in the classic 'tell me more' fashion. His eyes were lit with a bit of amusement, and at the same time with a flash of anger at the idea of Renai and what he'd done to Shikiyoku, the how's and why's…

"No, you haven't." *

In her bemusement, she caught the tick she had been waiting for once Hiei remembered that Renai was the one who had quite literally tortured her into her current state.

(You would not be my Consort had he not, fire prince.) She reached over and took his hand.

"Otento was not after me of his own accord: Kearia was pulling the ultimate strings of he and the fake Youko and everyone else involved in the supposed invasion of Spirit World and had only promised myself to Otento completely if he complied.

I was meant to perform the ritual to bring the three worlds together, not Kearia's twin children, and apparently my participation would have skipped the imperfections with the Veil and the layers entirely and made everything like New Human World is now. It would have also, however, killed me in the process.

Renai was aware of all of this and could not pass up an opportunity to meddle in his lover's plans; if I was reduced to a Kuraku state of existence, my energy would no longer hold the perfection necessary to do the ritual and Kearia could not use me." She took a breath. "Or Renai would kill me himself if I did not agree."

"In the end, being Kuraku was agreeable to Renai and myself as it would serve his purpose of thwarting his Consort-mate and sever our Ward-Champion connection as I had been seeking to do." She let out a self-aware half-chuckle, "Our distance was quite literally killing me at the time anyway." 3

Hiei frowned and made a face at Shikiyoku, remembering the days when they'd been separated and the very moment when he'd felt the bond be severed. He blinked once in contemplation, looking for the words that might turn the conversation away from Renai and Kearia altogether, and he found a sudden twitch of his lips bring a smile to his face. A knowing, almost mischievous type of smile that toed the line between a smirk and a grin.

"Should I ever have any harebrained plans to change the universe, I'd hope you'd thwart me - or attempt to, in any case." He made a small sound at the back of his throat. "Though I don't plan to do so anytime in the near future." *

"Mm. If you're changing the universe, there must be a good reason for it, so I'm probably onboard." She appeared as if she considered the notion. "I'm...not really certain I could thwart you anyway." 3

Hiei raised a brow. "Of course you could." He leaned back against the arm of the couch and crossed his arms over his chest in amusement. His ruby gaze remained steady on her, as if searching her for something beneath the surface, and he let out a breath. "If you couldn't, then no one could. You do, after all, know me best." He tilted his head at her a little. "Weaknesses, strengths, all of me." *

Not quite all of you, but I like to think that's no fault of mine.

Her lips curled into a reflection of her not-so-appropriate thoughts, but she regarded him with the same sort of steadiness he afforded her.

"Weaknesses, Gouka?" She folded one arm underneath her chest and rested her other elbow on it, hand coming up to her chin in a thoughtful sort of pose as she gestured with it slightly. "I was not aware you had any. The admission surprises me, but truly I can think of none." 3

Hiei's brow disappeared underneath his bangs and his lips twitched further upward at the name she called him by. He took in the pose she went into with even more amusement than before, and after a moment he let out a scoff.

"Everyone has them," he said matter-of-factly. Mine just happen to all pertain to you. *

"Well, you are not everyone," Shikiyoku pointed out, going silent for a moment longer before dropping her arms and shrugging, giving up, "I am stumped. I can think of nothing, save perhaps water, which realistically has no hold over you." She thought about rising from the couch to continue packing. "I'd best just hope you never come up as opposition to me, I suppose." 3

Hiei's smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed at Shikiyoku as the word water crossed her lips. The sheer idea of Shikiyoku catching up with him as he ran the levels, setting anything and everything on fire, and her dumping ice water on him… His eyes narrowed further as the image passed over the bond with the general sense of don't you dare.

"No." *

"I'd be absolutely at your mercy." She added as if continuing her previous thought. She didn't even notice his sudden shift of mood. "My weaknesses are numerous and simple upon reflection." Her eyes were cast sort of upward and to the side as a list began tallying behind her gaze, more things appearing upon it the longer she thoughts about it. "Hm. Not water though." 3

Hiei's expression suddenly turned neutral and he shifted around a little until his legs were crossed one over the other along the couch. "Shouldn't you be packing?" He reminded her with a pointed glance towards the door to her room. *

"Ah, you're right." She made as if to rise, looking slightly puzzled, "I'm not really sure why I stopped." 3

"No clue," Hiei responded with a shrug as he leaned around her to grab the dresses at the arm behind her. "It seems we're both forgetful today." He pulled them from around her and set them ablaze in his palms with a satisfied sort of smile on his face. *

Shikiyoku started to stand up until he began reaching around her. Upon seeing the dresses he pulled into view, her face lit up and she opened her mouth only to close it seconds later when he began doing as she asked.

"No ashes, please." 3

Hiei looked up from the fire in his hand to peer at Shikiyoku thoughtfully. He considered her for a moment, and the bond warmed with his inner conflict of ashes or no ashes? He pursed his lips before the flames burned hotter, leaving nothing in his hands when they disappeared.

"Sure thing." *

"Thanks." She shifted slightly like she might lean forward, having the urge to do something, but unsure what. "You're the best." She suddenly made a face of mild confusion, feeling distinctly like she'd said it before. 3

Just as before, Hiei's lips stretched into a semi-smirk and he shrugged one shoulder, "I know." He leaned back into the couch and got comfortable, though his eyes remained on Shikiyoku. "Packing, remember? Throwing me flammable objects for entertainment…" *

Shikiyoku immediately stood up, actually scoffed that time, and rolled her eyes, "Now I know you've said that before. Go back to...doing whatever it was you were doing and try not to hurt yourself." She moved away towards Kurama's room this time. 3

Hiei stared after Shikiyoku as she moved to the other bedroom this time, his eyes tracking her movements with vague amusement until she was out of his sight and he was left with the empty hangers in his lap and the polishing cloth he'd been using on her ring. As he lifted his legs and stretched them across the couch, ankles crossed, he let his eyes close and he let out a small breath.

With that puff of air, he released all of the emotions that had been sitting in his gut, unidentifiable to him but present all the same until this moment. When he let that breath escape his lips, so too did the guilt, shame, and regret.

He felt… better. Better than he had in a long time, really. His shoulders didn't feel as if they held as much weight, and he could breathe a little easier. Relax.

She'd accepted his apology, and he finally felt as if he could move forward.

And that was all that mattered in that moment.

~!**!~

Night had yet to fall on the First level, but in the time that Hiei's feet dragged through the dirt and towards the bar, the sun had begun to dip below the horizon line and throw shades of pinks and blues across the skies. He stood up a little straighter, and when his back popped with the motion and released some of the pressure between his shoulder blades, he found himself slouching forward again.

This particular job had been taxing on more than just his muscles. He hurt from head to toe, inside and out, and he was more than grateful that he'd sent his group home before he'd decided to take the job on himself.

He didn't want them to see him like this.

He rubbed at his face in an attempt to wipe away the expression that had broken through his calm mask, and he took in a deep breath as if to stifle the heaviness at his core. He didn't dare blink his eyes for fear of the images he'd see there, not even when he could feel the bond within his mind warm with the growing closeness between himself and Shikiyoku.

He took another steadying breath to quiet his soul, to reign in the last vestiges of emotions that had been otherwise out of control until this moment. He carefully pieced together his usual stoic mask and he forced himself to stand up straight and pick up his feet as he walked.

By the time he was close enough to the bar to communicate with Shikiyoku, he sent a wordless greeting across their shared connection, perhaps to replace the one she would usually get upon his return and would not receive this night.

Finally, after his own sort of eternity, the fire demon pushed the door to the bar open, strode across the floor and towards the door at the other side of the room, and he climbed those stairs until he was at the top. After a brief pause, he turned and shuffled his way towards the room with the warm energy inside.

Before even he knew it, Hiei had silently moved through the room and towards Shikiyoku, and he leaned himself over her back and wrapped his arms about her shoulders, careful not to halt her movements in whatever she was placing on her vanity, and he rested his chin on her shoulder.

Before he could see himself in the mirror in front of himself, he let his eyes close and he let out a long breath, releasing with it the tension that he'd been carefully hiding during his walk through the bar.

I'm home.

~!**!~

It had been several weeks since Akari had hired Ryouta, and it had easily been the best decision she'd ever made, and likely the easiest. Once he was hired, Mimi was able to take some time to herself, to go see Gramps and Grams, and take a good few weeks off to prepare for her entrance exams to the college of her choosing. And, little by little, Akari had been learning, picking up things here and there until, finally, she felt comfortable in her environment and in her role. She finally felt prepared to hire on three other associates, and before long, Akari found herself in her office with Mimi.

"Are you sure, Mimi?" She sat forward with her arms crossed on her desk and her head tilted to one side. "It's still quite early."

"Yeah, I'm sure. I've already gotten my acceptance letter, so I have to start preparing to move closer to the school and find a job there." The human tilted her head and gave a sweet smile. "I wouldn't leave if I thought you couldn't handle it, Aka."

A little chuckle slipped past her lips and Akari leaned back in her chair. She ran a hand over her tired eyes; while her visits to the Fourth had been less frequent, they were always longer in duration these days. And the bond she had with each pack member seemed to grow louder with each passing moment. She shook her head to return herself to the present and offered the other a smile, "Congratulations on your acceptance. I'll miss having you around the shop."

"I'll miss being here, honestly. Even though it's not what I ever wanted, I still love this place like it's my second home." She looked around the office with that same fond smile. "I'm glad you haven't changed anything. But, eventually, you should make it your own too, you know?"

Akari shrugged. "Why change the place that the customers love to come to? This place is charming in its own way."

"True." A silence fell over the pair as they stared at one another, neither really wanting to say goodbye but both knowing it was inevitable. But stretch on it did, and neither of them were uncomfortable with the silence.

Though, Akari couldn't help it. "Let's meet up now and then, okay?"

"Of course! And you'll hear from me through Grams and Gramps too, of course." She turned to look towards the door. "I like who you've hired. You've got a wonderful set of baristas under your belt, my friend. I have no doubt that this place will continue to grow along with you."

Akari's smile became a little sheepish. "Between you and me, I hope they have as much faith in me as you do. Some days I can't quite seem to figure out what decision is the right one."

"You'll figure it out. You always do." Mimi finally moved to stand, the papers in front of her signed and a set of keys left on the desk. "And if you ever have need, I'm sure Ryouta would not mind helping you figure it out. He's got that consultant's vibe. I'm pretty certain he used to own a consultancy or something."

Akari shrugged again. "He's here now, and that's what matters." She pulled open her office door and let Mimi take the lead on the way out.

"Hey, you should keep up that specialty menu. The customers love being involved with new beverages and snacks, and you've got a real knack for flavor mixing!"

She opened her mouth to respond, but the kitchen doors swung open and Hana, her newest hire, bounced through the door with her doe-wide eyes and gestured to Akari. "You have a customer asking for you, ma'am."

Akari smiled wide at the girl; she hadn't been able to break the 'maam' habit yet, but she didn't quite mind it. "Thank you, Hana. Let them know I'll be right there."

The girl disappeared on the other side of the door.

"I bet it's that guy again. What's his name?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yuuichi."

"Right! He's pretty cute, and he's so into you! How's that going? You gonna finally let him take you on a date?"

Akari shook her head, "Mimi, I've already told you, he's-"

"Not your type, I know. At least give him a chance! He's been nothing but sweet, Aka." The pair made it through the door, and sure enough, Yuu stood on the other side of the counter with a slight smile on his lips. He waved and said a hello to Mimi before he turned to Akari.

"Hey. Come to dinner with me. My treat."

Mimi turned a look to Akari, who ignored the other and gave a little sigh that completely contradicted her own slight smile. "I suppose it depends on where you're thinking of going."

"Hot pot."

Akari blinked. She never told him that she liked Hot Pot.

His smile grew. "It's my favorite too."

Mimi nudged Akari with her elbow. "I'll see you around, Akari! Bye!"

The canine demoness gave a small sigh and turned to peer at Ryouta. "Don't forget you're off tomorrow. Go spend some time with your Fiancee."

The raven nodded. "Thank you."

"I'm leaving for the night. Call me should you need me."

"Have a good night, Akari." Ryouta dismissed her by turning to serve a finished beverage to the customer in front of him, which left Akari turning to Yuu with a small smile.

"Hot Pot, hm?"*

~!**!~

A week or so later and Kurama had given Shikiyoku her much-deserved break.

After they had taken a bit of one together of course, he had let her return to her bar uninhibited for a time, promising to call on her if he or the company had need.

This particular night had Shikiyoku not at her usual post within the bar itself, but instead upstairs in the small apartment-type area she had made for herself and Hiei, within her room and seated at the vanity as she pulled things from drawers and waited for the curling and flat irons respectively to warm.

The band of which she had arranged for herself to be manager were opening tonight for another, more famous group, but Shikiyoku had arranged for word to be spread and she intended for them to have an equal turnout, if not better one, than the band for whom they opened.

Soon such gigs would be beneath them. In fact, Shikiyoku planned for this to be the last.

For some reason, this particular venue, the size perhaps or the impending number of attendants, had her band feeling more nerves than usual, which had resulted in a phone call, and Shikiyoku's subsequent acquiescence to being physically present, and in costume nonetheless.

That had not been too long ago, and though there were still many hours before she would be needed, she had begun preparations-from arranging for a shift-cover to picking out her clothing-as soon as she had hung up.

She took notice absently of Hiei's arrival on the First Level, but it was not until he leaned into her and sent her hair fluttering with his breath that she blinked and took stock of his reflection in the large, oval mirror before her.

She could feel a strange sort of mixture of turmoil beneath the surface of his somewhat stonier than usual façade, and fully expected him to debrief her on whatever had happened since she had seen him last.

With an intention of providing comfort, Shiki reached up with the hand upon whose shoulder his chin rested, she placed her palm and fingers gently to his outside cheek, turning and pressing her lips firmly to the cheek nearer to her for several moments before rising up out of her seat, gathering up her petticoat into a hand and silently moving towards the closet to retrieve her shoes from within. 3

Hiei was okay with the silence of the room, the only sounds around him being that of his own breathing against Shikiyoku's, and the occasional sound from something she moved. He didn't really mind that she moved around, simply because all he wanted was to hold her, to feel her warm skin against his own for as long as he could.

The kiss she planted to his cheek did wonders in smoothing over a few emotions, in reassuring him of things that he wouldn't ever be able to voice to her while under their turbulent influence. He briefly turned his chin down until his forehead met her shoulder, but with her moving to stand, he opened his eyes and slowly pulled away to allow her to maneuver freely around the room.

For the first time, he noticed that she wore what seemed to be a blouse and skirt meant to go under another set, and that her makeup was in the process of being applied little by little. Her hair was pinned back in different places and parted, obviously waiting to be styled.

He wanted to hug her again, but didn't want to stop her from getting ready for whatever it was she had been called for. So, instead, he moved with her, taking each step she took and yet staying out of her way. Here and there, his hand would brush hers or he would just graze her shoulder with his own, but never did he seem to miss a beat to move out of her way when she shifted directions.

"Going out?"

~!**!~

Yuuichi did all the things that Akari had seen humans do for one another. He held doors open for her as she left buildings, he offered to buy her a beverage for their walk to their destination, and at one point, he even offered her his arm, which garnered a rather amused smile from the female.

Since their first meeting, he'd been doing little things like those to gain her favor, and he'd visited her shop on more than one occasion to partake in whatever she felt like making him for that day. And then, he would stick around for her break until his own was up and he was called back to work.

Before she knew it, she'd gotten used to his presence. On the days he didn't stop by, she found herself looking for his energy in the area and watching the door to her cafe in case he waltzed through with the usual crooked smile and gleaming eyes.

But, even on the days when he was with her, like today, she could smell the last remnants of another on him. Even as he offered his arm to her, she couldn't mistake the perfume that wafted from his coat sleeve. So, she smiled and shook her head no, and he cracked a joke about her being too good for him.

"That's precisely right, sir. I'm far too independent to let someone else, much less another Alpha, offer to lead the way." She cast a lopsided smile in his direction.

He looked at her from the corners of his eyes, the stars seeming to sparkle there. "Well, eventually you're going to have to budge one way or another. This little dance of ours won't last forever, my dear."

"I think you greatly underestimate my stubbornness." She took a step back as he pulled the door to the restaurant open, and she slipped by him as he held it for her.

"And you seem to underestimate my drive." He followed behind her, holding up two fingers for the hostess to indicate their numbers for a table. He gave her a thoughtful expression as the hostess lead the way to their table, and even as he pulled her chair out for her, she could feel his eyes on the back of her head.

When he finally sat across from her, she met his gaze squarely. "We've already discussed this, Yuuichi." Akari turned to the waitress who appeared, gave her drink order, and then turned forward again. When Yuuichi was done ordering his drink and an appetizer, she continued on, "I'm not currently looking-"

"Yes, I know." He leaned forward and planted his elbows on the table. With his chin rested on his interlaced fingers, he tilted his head at her a little. "...Can you still hear your pack?"

She blinked. Neither of them had broached this topic yet, and she had hoped it wouldn't be brought up.

"I can tell, you know." He gave a frown. "You look like I did the first year." Chocolate eyes searched her face and she watched as his lips pursed. "...Have you considered breaking your ties with them?"*

~!**!~

At first, Shikiyoku didn't necessarily take direct notice of the hovering of her Consort, though her energy seemed keenly aware of his closeness, releasing silently into the air around them in almost invisible swirls of shimmers when he intentionally brushed against her as he shadowed her every step.

However, once she stood with black, lace-up boots in hand facing away from the closet and about to take a step only to feel for the first time how the backs of his fingers were drawing themselves with extreme intention back and forth across that same hand, she stopped and peered up at him curiously, taking a breath that she was suddenly very aware of being full of his scent of cinnamon and cloves as he stood over her.

She blinked, and almost entirely missed his question as she felt a quiver and then heavy dip of their bond as she felt all at once a portion of his turmoil and coinciding tumultuous emotions related to the experience from which he'd just returned.

A mission he'd taken on by himself. Escorting a demon who sought a certain, specific Infected. Finding her, the markings on her that tied her to the Mate with markings of his own that had enlisted Hiei's assistance. Managing to kill her. Payment. Separation. And finally a wave of horrific realization as to the mental state of the Mate left behind as his thoughts, too much not to overflow and be picked up by Hiei's telepathic ability, revealed his own plans to never make it home himself, devastated, broken. Unable to live without his other half, and so choosing with a clarity of certainty to join her in death.

When Shikiyoku felt the knot of her eyebrows that were joined together in a dark frown of sorrow loosen as the moment passed, her subsequent blinking and return to the room around her allowed her current position to filter into her mind, one that she had not cognizantly made, but ended up in somehow, somewhere during the narrative that had passed over in the span a single breath.

Her arms were wrapped tightly around Hiei, her forehead buried against him, head tucked beneath his chin and the fabric of his cloak at his back clutched between fingers that had tightened around the dark material as they became fists.

The tension that had been her grip dropped all at once as she blinked again-a single tear squeezed from each eye to fall down either cheek-and swallowed, starting to let go of him as a wordless apology passed between them for the strength of her reaction that had in fact left her somewhat breathless in her sadness.

For all her time with him, she still could not in this moment sense his desire for physical comfort from her specifically, and so unless he were to speak otherwise, would rather withdraw than overwhelm him who seemed to have aversion to touch with anyone that might dare draw close. 3

A part of him had hoped that the bond would not open itself up and shove Hiei's emotions in Shikiyoku's direction, but it was hard to miss the very moment that it did so. His own emotions seemed lighter as arms wrapped themselves around him, and as he saw the images passing by the bond, he wrapped his own arms around her as if to ward off the memories and the thoughts that accompanied them.

Had things been any different, he himself would have easily been in a similar situation. Had Shikiyoku been unable to recognize him, Hiei would have most definitely been crushed. And, if for some reason he found himself in that situation in the future, Hiei wouldn't be able to say that there were any differences between himself and the client he'd met with.

It had awakened an entirely new beast within him, and strengthened a fear that had been implanted within him during his time on the Ninth. During his entire trek home, the fire demon had been unable to turn those thoughts away, and he'd been trapped in his own mind and the ugly reality of another that had almost been his own.

Even now, as the last vestiges of his experience washed across the bond, he found himself hugging her closer and wanting nothing more than the reassurance that she was still there, and that there was no likelihood of her leaving this realm any time soon.

So, when he realized that she was beginning to pull away, that she was slipping from his grasp, his eyelids snapped open and he tugged her closer.

"Stop moving for one minute, woman." He clasped his hands behind her back in hopes that it would stop her from moving away. He felt his mask crumble and his earlier calm dissipate, and he lowered his head to rest where her neck met her shoulder. He took in a shaky breath of her scent, "Just… don't move. Please."

~!**!~

For a brief moment, Akari dropped her gaze from Yuuichi's and turned her eyes down to stare at the empty plate in front of her. With his reminder, she found herself fighting the urge to rub at her eyes, to yawn, to slouch forward a little, or even to simply let out a sigh. And the connection she had with each person in her pack suddenly seemed louder, more active, leaving her for a moment staring blankly.

Finally, she lifted her eyes to meet his again, and she wasn't surprised that his calm demeanor hadn't even twitched away from that usual smile. "No, I haven't."

He tilted his head at her and again looked her over. "You've not been an Alpha for long, have you?"

She watched as something flickered across his features, a darkness momentarily passing in front of the twinkles in his eyes and briefly causing a wrinkle between his brows. But it was gone just as fast as it had come, and she was left wondering if she'd seen anything after all. "No. The previous Alpha... died."

If he noticed her slight hesitation on her last word, he didn't mention it. "And you were the next in line." When she didn't answer, he let out a breath and leaned away. "Well, maybe it won't be so hard for you, then, as it was for me to let go of the pack. I'll teach you." When he thought she might shake her head no, his lips turned down and his stare seemed to soften. "I've seen too many Alphas and the like go mad from being unable to let go, Akari. If you don't break away, you may follow them into madness. And then who's going to run your shop, hm?" When she remained silent, he continued, "and who's going to care for your companions? Nabu and Kiyoko?"

Only then did Akari react, dropping her eyes and turning to look out at the rest of the restaurant. She scanned the area as if it were important to her, and she let out a sigh. "I never wanted the job in the first place," she murmured. "And now that I've accepted it, I don't think I can run from it again."

Yuuichi let out a long breath of air. "Who cares that you didn't want it initially? Not everyone is born to be an Alpha, or the world would be overrun with them." The waitress came by again, and Yuuichi ordered for the both of them and sent her on her way. "Listen, Akari. No one is going to fault you for disengaging yourself from them. Especially not since you've been fighting for them for this long." There was a pause, and suddenly, he had hold of her chin and was turning her face towards him. "Look at me, and listen. If you continue to run yourself through for demons who will never know you did so, there will be nothing of you or your pack left. You can cut ties to this one, and start over. Start a new pack, and grow and prosper just as you're already doing."

Akari slowly leaned away until she was out of his reach, and her stare remained unwavering once he settled into his chair again. "Yuuichi?"

He raised a brow at her.

"Do that again, and you'll lose that hand."

He blinked once at her, and after a moment, a smile crept across his features. "Finally, the real Akari makes her way back to this world. Now, do what you have done since we've met, and fight. Okay?"

Before she could answer, the waitress was setting a large pot of boiling broth between the two of them and setting out different meats and vegetables around the centerpiece. *

~!**!~

The instant that Hiei refused her departure, Shikiyoku froze for a moment, trapped in what felt like the middle of uncertainty that clenched at her stomach in a way little else did as he even went so far as to draw her back towards him.

She let herself relax as his words and actions appeared to leave little room in those moments for second-guessing what he wished, though she would have been lying if she had said she did not want to begin to plant reassuring kisses across whatever of his skin she could reach. But that, perhaps, would have been what she would likely want in those moments were she in his place.

Instead, she simply let her arms stay wrapped around him, though she did nudge at him once with her forehead before she turned her face so that her cheek rested against his warm chest as she murmured with a smile tugging at her lips, "I would stay here as long as you liked, flameboy." 3

"Mm."

Once Shikiyoku's lack or resistance dawned on him, the fire demon let himself fall wholeheartedly into their bond, where he could fully sense her presence and let it wash over him. Little by little, it ate away ate his worries, his sadness, his fears, and all other unnecessary emotions until all that was left was her.

When he unclasped his hands behind her back, his fingers were sore and numb. When he finally lifted his forehead from her shoulder, he was certain there would be a red mark where he'd rested for some time. When he finally opened his eyes to look at her, his expression was no longer a mere mask, but a true representation of the calm that had made its way across his soul.

The longer he stared at her, the harder it was to remind himself that she had obviously been getting ready to leave. Slowly and with hands that tingled with pinprick-like numbness, he took her face in his hands, cupping her cheeks gently.

"...thank you." He breathed the words out just before he leaned down to plant a soft kiss against her lips, finally giving her the greeting that he'd not been able to give her before.

~!**!~

The waitress set down the last plate of vegetables and turned away, leaving Akari and Yuuichi to their dinner and conversation. Akari grabbed her chopsticks, broke them apart, and began to dip her choice of meats and vegetables into the boiling broth to cook. Yuuichi did the same, though his gaze didn't exactly remain on what he was doing. He watched her in silence, and Akari herself didn't seem to mind the gaze.

Akari watched the cooking beef in the broth, contemplating what Yuu had said. She tossed his words around in her head as if actually considering such notions. But, really, she'd known since realizing he was an Alpha that his pursuit of her was for reasons only an Alpha would have.

And none of those reasons was she able or even willing to fulfill. Her interests in no way aligned with his, and she was pretty certain that he was aware of her stance.

But he had mentioned creating a new pack.

She glanced up at him briefly and, when she found him staring, she stared right back at him. He raised a brow at her in curiosity and a slow smile teased at the corners of his lips as if he knew what she was thinking.

"You do realize I have no intention of having another pack," she said as she reached for a bowl and began to pull her meat and veggies from the boiling broth between them. She looked away from him and to the hot pot, completely missing the glint that lit his irises.

His chopsticks joined hers in the soup, pulling from it the different ingredients he had claimed. "Sure, sure." *

~!**!~

Not that she usually kept specific track of time while with him, but Shikiyoku found herself lost in those moments of silent companionship as either she held Hiei or he held her or they both held each other. She couldn't really say.

She felt no urgency, no need to cut short those moments, simply staying where she was in silent contentment that she couldn't say she did not enjoy, and one that as their time together lengthened she found for the first time wishing it would not end.

When Shiki felt Hiei's complete restoration result in his disengaging his arms from around her, she was slow to shift herself around, almost moving carefully as if he might at any moment gather her up again, until she could look up at him with a calm of her own.

A calm that became much more pink in nature as his hands found her cheeks and his lips found hers, finding his kiss this time being somewhat reminiscent of an expression of his thanks for her assistance beyond simple words.

A kiss that she realized he had waited until now to give her instead of immediately upon seeing her as was his custom.

When he pulled away, his face so very serious in those seconds where their eyes found one another, she could not help her sudden, slightly coquettish grin as his kiss did remind her that his jewel had gotten hidden beneath her blouse and she reached up to pull it out from under the neckline and into plain sight, but said nothing. 3

Hiei stared at Shikiyoku for a while longer after pulling away, memorizing each eyelash, the way the shadows danced across her face, and every sparkle in her eye. He took careful note of the lines that had been between her brows earlier, and how they'd smoothed over perfectly with her calm expression. And, when her lips curved upwards, he memorized which muscles moved first.

Though, when the light of the room suddenly glittered from the jewel she pulled from her shirt, he blinked in realization that, for the first time, he'd forgotten to pull it into view. He'd forgotten a part of his routine, and she was rather quick to point out as such.

It made his lips twitch ever so slightly upwards and he leaned down to give her one last kiss, as if doing a redo of his hello. When he pulled away again, he smoothed over the hair that he'd ruffled earlier, and even repinned it next to her ear as it had originally been parted.

"Going out?" he asked her, again taking in the little makeup that had been applied so far, the parting of her hair, and the outfit she was slowly preparing for herself. His gaze found the boots that she'd dropped at some point, and he reached down to pick them up and offered them to her with a slightly wider smile. "The band, I assume."

~!**!~

Dinner went by in companionable silence, and when it came time to pay, Yuuichi insisted upon paying for their meal. Unphased and unwilling to argue, Akari let him. As soon as the waitress brought back his change, Yuuichi stood and offered his arm to Akari in a silent offer to walk her home.

Mildly surprised by his almost gentlemanly offer, and perhaps out of her own curiosity for his reaction to her response, Akari let herself wind her arm through his. He stood a little straighter and lead her from the building, leading her out the front door by the hand first before following behind her.

In that same silence, he walked her through the darkened streets and towards her apartment. In moments where they passed someone on the stairs up to her apartment, he would lead her by the hand.

It wasn't until she was standing in front of her door that she realized he had lead her towards the apartment. Of course you would.

She reached for her keys in her pocket as she turned to Yuuichi. He leaned a shoulder against the frame of her door, and the look he had on his face made her pause for the briefest of moments.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" she mumbled.

His answer came as a look up and down. She blinked, realizing that perhaps she didn't like the look he was giving her. When he pushed away from the doorframe and closed the distance between the two of them, however, her recognition of his intent to kiss her left her at war with herself.

In the seconds where he leaned over her, she found herself stuck between distaste for the idea of kissing him and mild curiosity of what it'd be like to kiss this person who was so very much different from the last person who had done so.

The morbid curiosity outweighed her more cautious side, and Akari let her eyes slowly close as Yuuichi's lips met hers.

Almost instantly she felt that this kiss was not in any way satisfactory. His hands found her waist and he pulled her closer, closing any and all distance between the two of them in a moment. She opened her eyes to stare, wondering mildly how long he planned on kissing her without any reaction from her.

It's… not the same. I feel nothing.

She didn't know what she was comparing it to or even what she was supposed to feel, but this, whatever it was, was not it.

When he finally pulled away and opened his eyes to gaze at her, she saw nothing but delight and excitement. When he stepped away and gave her another glance over, she simply turned away from him and unlocked her door. She pushed it open and stepped inside.

When she turned around to face the door and Yuuichi, she gave a small smile. "Goodnight, Yuu."

And she shut the door before he could even give a response. *

~!**!~

Shikiyoku let out a chuckle that was as much to her own body's reaction to Hiei's second kiss-another waft of energy swirled away from her-as it was to their quick return to normalcy.

She nodded and made a noise of affirmation as she sat down on the end of her bed and bent over to slip the black, leather, lace-up, heeled boots on and fiddle with them for a moment until they were firmly secured as she explained the situation.

"-but it makes them feel better." She shrugged and stood, a good three or four inches taller than before, busying herself with arranging her skirts before looking over at him. "And that's my job, after all." 3

Hiei listened as she explained the venue that her band had been invited to play at, and the band for which they would open, and the sheer amount of people who would be attending the concert. He listened as she explained the phone call, and he noted with amusement the smile that graced her features here and there as she fiddled with her shoes.

He opened his mouth to respond, to say something about the band having nothing to fear with her as their manager, but he quickly closed his mouth when she stood. He found himself staring eye-to-eye at her as she arranged her outfit until it was comfortable, where she finally let the skirts go to fall around her.

He blinked once and found his head tilted to one side.

"I've never seen that costume," he remarked. At least, he didn't think he had seen it before this moment. *

Shikiyoku smoothed her fingers down around on the skirts first and then the top and its sleeves.

"I've never wore it before." She provided easily in response, not noticing his reaction to her height as she went to sit back down at the mirror and continue work on her face and hair. 3

Hiei's eyes followed Shikiyoku as she moved across the room and took her seat at her vanity again. As she began working at her hair and makeup, he took a moment to eye the ruffles in her skirt, the black trim of the white outfit, and finally, the heels of the boots he could just see. It was an interesting outfit, and just like everything else she wore, it seemed to mold itself to her as if it had been made for her.

He moved to sit on the couch nearby, and he turned to lean into one armrest so that he could watch her curiously. He'd never seen her put together such an outfit before.

"It's… different. Intriguing." he commented mildly as he crossed one leg over the other. As he continued to watch her, lapsing into a watchful silence, he took to admiring her profile and what he could see of her reflection. He watched each motion of her hand, each strand of hair that she curled or straightened. Her precision. Her care. Her detail orientedness.

A part of him wanted to wrap his arms around her as he had upon his arrival, but the rest of him knew that doing so would hinder her movements and ability to ready herself for her evening.

And as much as he wished to do so, he would not keep her to himself this night.

...No matter how appealing the thought was. He would simply have to content himself in her presence for the time being. *

It all came together as it always did, in the same amount of time it always took.

For her, perfection of a look had happened many decades, if not centuries, earlier, though she had needed to take some time in this, Toriko's body, to adjust to the difference of complexion and hair color.

And from that perfection, she improvised into what she had seen the others of the band doing, and though this time was different still from all the others-as all the other outfits and situations had been unique-they were in large part very similar in nature and flair and she came away from it feeling happy with the result as she pinned in the hairpiece that stood up against a styled bit of hair on the top of her head.

Gathering together the rest of what she would need to take with her, eventually Shikiyoku stood in the midst of her and Hiei's companionable silence and found briefly that she did not want to take her leave of him.

She turned to face him for a moment, having to satisfy herself with the reassurance that...

(We will have time.)

...as she gazed over at him for a beat longer before moving over to him with a quiet rustle of clothing and reaching for his hand. 3

Hiei didn't mind the silence. It wasn't one that begged to be filled with mild chit-chat, and it definitely didn't come across as awkward as it seemed to do with some others. The silence was most welcome as he watched her, because he wouldn't have had any words for her anyway.

Especially not when she shifted and finally stood from her vanity. The skirt swished around her before it settled peacefully around her, the ruffles making only the slightest sound with her movements. He could just hear the heeled boots she wore as she made her way in his direction, and he almost missed the silent promise that she sent over the bond.

Without standing, he knew that she was taller than he. He could tell that she had not been standing at her full height earlier, and now that she was, there was more of her to appreciate. The coat she wore over her blouse accentuated the curve of her neck into her shoulders, and it brought attention to the space at her waist where it ended and gave way to the skirt. Her hair, partially curled, partially straightened, and mostly pinned up, framed her face in a way that accentuated her jawline and cheekbones, which in turn drew attention to her eyes and the makeup she'd applied there.

By the time he'd realized she had a hand held out in his direction, he'd given her several looks up and down to appreciate the entire costume and her artistry with the canvas that was her own face.

Instinct drove him to reach out and take her hand, where he stood without being asked to so she would not ruffle her outfit more than necessary.

Must you always do this?

He stared at her some more, again letting his eyes trace the planes of her features and appreciating the makeup she'd applied, the hairstyle she'd crafted, and the way it accentuated this and that.

Must you always steal my breath? *

Shikiyoku's smile was all for the fire demon hybrid that stood up as his fingers wrapped around her own and she wanted nothing more than to spend the next day, the next three days, with just him, as they had done so many times in the past.

But this time, instead of him being called away from her arms, it was her leaving him to tend the bar in her stead.

And instead of outright kissing him as she wanted to do, she simply leaned her face forward over his shoulder in the silence and brushed her cheek against his as she planted a kiss to the cheek that had not gotten her kiss earlier. 3

Hiei's eyelids fluttered closed briefly as Shikiyoku's lips pressed against his skin, and even after she pulled away, the sensation of it lingered, the warmth remaining behind. His eyelids came open again, and after a beat, he tugged on the hand he held and pulled her into another hug, this time not looking for any sort of reassurance, but only for the contact. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his nose briefly against her cheek, as if to kiss her, but instead he let out a breath.

"Indeed, we will have time."

After a moment, he finally released her, and again he found himself stilled as he stared some more. He wouldn't keep her from her band. *

Shikiyoku felt her core quiver as Hiei embraced her again, and it did so once more as his breath flowed over her skin, leaving her all but sparkling under his touch.

It made her want to do anything but leave.

And for his sake, when he released her, she stepped back, and moved for the door before she felt compelled into actions one or the other of them might regret. 3

A few hours after Shikiyoku's departure, Hiei stood behind the bar with bottles in his hands and a large glass in front of himself. He layered the different alcohols before sending it down the bar, where the drink stopped neatly in front of the designated patron who nodded a thanks. The other bartender passed by behind him, saying a few words about swapping out with the other who'd gone to break, and Hiei nodded.

A waitress paused at the end of the bar, and Hiei deftly passed her a tray of drinks and took her empty one from her hands.

"I also need these," she began ticking off more drink orders for a different table, and the fire demon nodded his understanding so she could get on her way.

He worked on the new batch of drinks silently, only looking up when spoken to and only speaking when asked a question. He was too focused on his role to make idle chit chat with others, and no one seemed bothered by it.

Though, he had already turned away a few people asking after his guild's services, which wasn't quite so out of the norm as he liked to think it was.

He passed another drink down the bar. *

Shikiyoku had kept the group sober by reminding them that no one else's drinks would be as good as the ones she might make for them, but their desire to celebrate was even a strain for her to contain, herding not only the band, but all of those that followed into the doors of her home bar, knowing that there would be little she could do to stop them once they arrived.

Not that she had any intention of stopping them at that point.

They all burst through and left her shaking her head at the lot of them as the last few stragglers made it into the bar and the noise level took a sharp upward turn.

Shikiyoku made her way for Hiei and a strong drink for herself, but one of the regulars came up beside her and started up conversation just as she made to slide into the seat across from her Consort.

"Hey stranger, come here often?" He gave her a wink and she just laughed.

"You should know." Was her reply. 3

Being as observant as ever, Hiei didn't miss the moment when many more people set foot on the land that the bar resided on. In fact, before they even entered the bar, he had a headcount and a decent mental scan of them all, save for the band and Shikiyoku. He even took a moment to look to the demon next to him to give a quick heads up, and he received a simple nod of understanding before the two were back in their own heads with orders and things.

He looked up briefly once the door finally opened, and a different sort of calm overcame him at the sight of Shikiyoku and her shaking head. He gave her a brief greeting within their bond, and even started a drink specially for her in the midst of the other drinks he made.

Hiei's hands became blurs behind the bar as the waitresses began to bring orders for the new influx of customers, and somewhere in the midst of trading trays, he set a layered purple and white drink down in front of Shikiyoku.

And while he seemed to be too preoccupied with drinks to hear any sort of conversation, he couldn't help but hear the one going on in front of him. *

"How does that line go...?" He seemed to consider the wall of beverages and mixers on the wall behind the bar in front of them before turning to her again, "What's a woman like you doing in a place like this?"

Shiki gave Hiei a grateful smile as she reached for the drink, appreciated it's aesthetic, and then took a long draw of it before coming to the moment where she could reply. "Yes, I do think that's the one."

"I don't feel like it's terribly applicable here."

"Not to mention the fact that this is my place, so I have every right to be doing something here."

"Are you doing something here though?"

"I think that depends on the something."

"Fair enough. I'm sure you have particular tastes."

"I'm sure everyone does."

"You would certainly know."

"Oh, I do."

"That always fascinates me. And it's a rather low-key way of getting a question across." He leaned closer to her with a certain look about him that Shikiyoku did not immediately dissuade.

She raised an eyebrow at him and gave a small shake of her head after a beat, clicking her tongue twice in something of disapproval as she sensed from him what no one else might.

"No, I don't do that." Her smile had a similar tilt to his as she regarded him, his desire still sweeping over her senses. "But I know someone who does."

"Really!" He laughed and the moment was gone.

"Indeed."

"You must know lots of things."

"I do."

"Then you must know, I have another question for you, Kuraku..." 3

Hiei looked up as someone beyond the bar waved to get his attention, and he shook his head once at the group of guildies in the center of the bar before he turned back down to his work. He didn't watch as their 'guest' left their group, but he didn't have to to know that the man left the building altogether after his decline.

He turned and traded trays with two different waitresses, who also slid little notes on the top tray for the more 'secret' orders to be sent to different denizens in the area. Amusingly enough, he found himself setting one of the specialty drinks in front of Shikiyoku, before he had to move further down the bar to set one in front of another customer. Though, on his way away from the conversation, a little puzzle piece seemed to click in the fire demon's mind, and he realized that he hadn't really been listening to the conversation or taking notes of the underlying one.

He set a drink down for three different customers on the opposite end of the bar before he returned to his usual station. This time, he didn't intentionally overhear the question that was posed to Shikiyoku, and he blinked down at the drink he was making.

What the hell was a 'date'? *

Shikiyoku managed to sit down the other drink she'd just finished back onto the bar without spitting the stuff everywhere as the demon next to her asked a question that she knew to be quite sincere, despite all of the other inappropriate conversational banter they had been having up to that moment.

It was laughter that she held back, not disdain, as she quickly quipped something about how she 'didn't do that either.'

She could sense his desires, what he thought of as a date, which ended in a place Shikiyoku didn't exactly envision as her proverbial cup of tea in regards to this particular demon.

"No? Color me oh-so-surprised, seductress." He remarked with overly dramatic tones. "Then should I just skip to the real question hovering between us?" He leaned closer to her again, but Shikiyoku was staring at the empty glass she had just set back down on the table, the one that her hand still curled about the bottom of.

"What about being my mate?"

She only barely heard him, contemplating through the beginnings of a buzz what exactly had been in that drink, the color, and the possibility that...the drink might not have been directly from Hiei himself... 3

Hiei took a moment to dissect the word and all of the things that he could sense underneath the meaning, and after a moment, the thought of 'why didn't I think of that?' spread like fire through his mind. After all, it was something he'd heard of humans doing, and he'd even heard of Yusuke and Keiko partaking in one. He'd simply never really thought about it before now.

But with the next question, Hiei found himself having to walk away. It was hard for him to ignore the conversation in front of him, even with so many drinks to make and so many orders to fill. It lit a fire in his soul and ignited a worry at his core.

He hadn't asked her yet.

As he set several drinks down at the furthest end of the bar, he found himself hoping that she'd say 'no', or even a 'never'.

He blinked, realizing that the demon in front of him had asked him a question, and Hiei raised a brow. "That depends on your request."

The woman tilted her head at him. "I do have a peculiar… problem that I've heard you're in the specialty of."

Hiei took only a moment to scan her over before he stood back and nodded towards the table in the center of the room. "For your particular request, visit Akihiko. I'll leave the decision to him, since that's his expertise."

She nodded and moved away from the bar, leaving Hiei to return to his spot in front of Shikiyoku. *

She could feel the eyes that had found her, and subsequently the drink that she had just finished, and that coupled with the realization that she had no idea what that drink meant made her core give a funny little shake as she looked up at Hiei who stood on the other side of the bar from her, her eyes wide and no words able to even form in the bond.

...as much as she may have teased him with it, she never actually intended to drink what others offered her. When it had been him to place the drink near her elbow, she thought little of the consequences, but now when she looked at him and realized he had only been the messenger, a blip of concern spiked across her face as she turned to scan the rest of the room for the pair of eyes that awaited her gaze.

Before she could spy them, the demon at her elbow demanded her attention by leaning in closer with an expression she did not understand until her mind played back the last sentence, the question, he said to her.

She laughed in his face, for she knew just as well as he that there was no way she would tell him yes.

"Be your mate?" She said, leaning closer with just a hint of a cruel smile reminiscent of days long gone by as she slid from her seat and raised her chin in haughty fashion, "I am so far out of your league that we do not even play the same field, worm. As you are well aware."

She moved off in the direction of the demon who had given her the drink.

(...the nerve of some people...) 3

Having worked so fast that he no longer had a drink to make, the silent demon took a glass in one hand and a towel in the other, and Hiei began dutifully wiping away any smudges that might dare to form on the perfect dish. He glanced up only when he sensed Shikiyoku staring at him, and he noted the odd little dips in the bond as her own unease slid its way through.

He raised a brow at her just before she turned away to look for the sender of her requested beverage. Internally, he frowned slightly; he'd thought she would know the meaning, but it seemed that she didn't, even beneath the cool exterior that she held for the others in the room.

But, he'd be lying if he said he hadn't been waiting on her answer to the demon sitting next to her. He'd be lying if he said that he was disappointed in her answer. With her wonderfully blunt 'no', a relief filled him and he was able to turn to his next task without another thought.

He began to wipe the bar in front of them, not looking up as Shikiyoku began to move away.

(Indeed.) *

Shikiyoku continued moving down the length of the bar towards the door at the far end of the room, following a shape that ducked out of the crowd and made its way for the same door that had its required 'exit' symbol above it.

By the time she had the door shut behind her and stepped out into the small alleyway, the dark-coated, taller slim figure with hair the color of midnight was already leaning against the building with a cigarette inbetween his lips and his hands just pulling away from a successful lighting to pocket the box of matches away on the elegant coat.

He caught her look at the matches and let out a small huff of a smile as after a draw he took the cig from his lips to puff out the smoke and then speak, "She doesn't let me carry my lighter in this thing." He held out a sleeve that had the frills of his cuffs stylishly dangling from his wrist and gave it a slight shake. "Says it's too risky for the fabric."

His eyes, white with the dark ring around them and giving the slightest of gleams in the low-light of the crescent moon above them, caught her own as they looked up at one another at the same moment.

After a beat he turned his gaze away, then raised it to look at the sky, thankful for the darkness around them that would hide the sudden pink tinge to his cheeks.

She was...beautiful. And looking at him.

After another brief pause, Shikiyoku moved over next to him and took to leaning back into the wall herself and tipping her chin upwards to take in the stars, unsure if she had ever done so before this moment.

Hara had the cigarette in his left hand, on the other side away from her, and he tapped it a little with a finger to drop the ashes on the end to the ground before reaching across and shyly offering it to her.

Shikiyoku took it from him after a moment and his hand dropped, him still watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"I didn't think you'd accept." He said softly as he saw her turn the cigarette back and forth twice in a manner that told him she had certainly done such before. "The twins said you never take drinks from anyone."

She sent a glance his way to find that his eyes dropped momentarily to the cigarette in her hand and she suddenly realized what exactly it was she had promised to do.

If his desires had not indicated as such in a small spike that flickered across her body, his body language would have informed her next action as she twisted her wrist back the other way and lifted the cigarette to her lips to draw on it, pulling it away to release the smoke and knowing that Hara was watching her, only after she had finished and drew her arm over her body to rest her elbow on it and hold the cig in the air near her face did he look away fully again.

She considered several responses before giving a small shrug and being honest.

"If I could," She started, "I would tell you I accepted because I knew it was you, but..." She gave a little shake of her head. "...sorry. I had no idea who, or what for that matter."

Hara blinked and looked over at her, somewhat surprised, and saw that she seemed sheepish.

"I...find your honesty refreshing."

She laughed a little self-consciously.

~!**!~

Somewhat more than mostly drunk, and somehow not appearing to be so, Misaki cut a path through the bodies towards the seat at the bar that had opened up a minute or so before, finding herself in the need of another drink that would perhaps give her the courage she sought this time.

When she found that the seat was in His station, she found herself suddenly tongue-tied, ordering something simple that managed to find its way over her lips, and giving a thankful, listening, ear to the demon to her other side, who had apparently been at their show and had much to say about it. 3

Hiei cleaned several glasses before he took on anymore orders, using the time to mull over what he'd witnessed and what he'd do different when asking Shikiyoku on their own date. And, during his time cleaning the smudgeless glasses, he found himself acutely aware that he was entirely out of his depth in such a situation, and had no clue where to even begin to plan for such an event as a date.

And, perhaps a small part of him was afraid he'd garner a similar reaction as the one who'd just tried the same.

A frown almost broke his cool exterior as he set the extremely clean shot glasses and tall-drink glasses in their designated place under his station. What would one truly do on a date? More accurately, what would Shikiyoku want to do on a date? Was that even how it worked?

A little voice in the back of his head sprang to life:

Ask someone.

He tossed his towel over his shoulder and robotically took the drink order of the person who slid into the chair in front of him. Who would he ask? Were it not for the subject of interest, he likely would have asked Kurama's advice on such endeavors. He briefly thought of Yusuke, but in his mind, he could only guess how the other would give all of the wrong ideas.

Keiko was too odd to ask things of. He didn't know her, as it stood, and he hadn't ever wanted to.

Botan?

Too bubbly.

He set a drink down in front of the person sitting across the bar from him.

Yukina?

...That could work.

He mulled over the idea of asking Yukina for advice, and he found that his soul was at peace with it. While it would still be a rather… interesting conversation, he simply couldn't see himself asking anyone else.

He'd just have to pay her a visit soon.

Tomorrow?

No, in a few days.

Finally content with his decision, Hiei began to line up several large glasses and a few shot glasses along the surface in front of himself, and just as quickly as he could, he began to mix drinks for the waitress who was already on her way to the bar. And before she would arrive with her empty tray and her order, he would have it ready for her. *

~!**!~

"No, really, I do!" He insisted, seeming to be entreating her to believe him. He checked himself and leaned back into the wall without directly meaning to appear as if he were playing it off. His voice returned to his former calm, his hands found his pockets as continued, "It's...not something I get very often, so it's nice."

"Well, I find your honesty refreshing." She said with a certain frankness as she sent him a smile that made the edges of her eyes crinkle with her mirth.

He sent her a quick glance of suspicion only to be met with the upward turn of her lips and finding himself having to look away again, feeling his core beating a somewhat unsteady rhythm in his chest.

His fingers twitched a little, but had no cigarette with which to distract himself, only to find the one she had passed to her being given back as she puffed another breath of smoke into the air.

He took it from her and did the same, grateful for another chance to give in to the urge that the smoking awoke in him.

Shikiyoku took a few steps away from the building, her hands clasped together behind her back as she looked up at the sky and took long sweeping glances overhead before spying the moon behind them, hanging over the bar itself.

Hara watched her as she didn't seem to notice him, his eyes lingering on her face as she took a couple more steps and was bathed in a bit of moonlight herself.

She took his breath away. In a way that Misaki, her apparent doppelganger, never could. And it wasn't just because it was something of a thrill to be around her-his inability to look at her and know her weaknesses as he could with any other demon did give him a charge of sorts and what he could only translate for himself as the power she must have to be able to prevent him from doing so was intoxicating in and of itself to consider, but...

...but there was just something about her. Something he had no name for. Something that he saw in her eyes when she looked at him. In that way no one else ever had.

"Ah, there you are."

Hara dropped the hand that held the lit cigarette down lower so that his body might hid the tiny orange light at the end of it, staying hidden in the shadows as another person stepped up next to Shikiyoku. He had never seen this being before and he stayed silent as Shikiyoku turned to face the newcomer.

Her chin tipped upwards this time to make up for the height of the one next to her.

Long-limbed, black hair slicked back down his head, an ovoid jewel in the middle of his forehead, his clothes were somewhat grey or blue or black and nondescript and Shikiyoku frowned up at him, feeling a familiarity with him that she could not place.

"I have been looking all over for you. Come along, love." He reached out and took Shikiyoku's elbow in hand, taking a step towards the street as if to pull her with him only to find that she tugged back on the arm he had taken a hold of and resisted him.

"I am not your love, and I am not going anywhere." Shikiyoku remarked, giving another tug and seeking to free herself from his grasp.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Hara interrupted him.

"Didn't you hear the lady?" Hara pushed away from the wall, flicked the butt of the cigarette to the side, and stood up to his full height, still a foot shorter than the other, but with a dark glare that made him seem larger. "No, means no."

When the other didn't immediately let go, Hara walked forward menacingly, reached out and plucked the other's arm away, giving it a small push as he released it back towards the newcomer's side before draping an arm protectively over Shikiyoku's shoulders.

"You don't really want any trouble. Leave while you're not in any."

The other stared first at Hara, then Shikiyoku and back again before with a narrowed-eye glare taking that step back and turning to stalk towards the street and disappear into the night.

They watched him go in silence.

~!**!~

The drink had helped somewhat, and Misaki had even managed to begin her usual banter with the other bartenders as they passed as well as those carrying out trays of drink into the crowd.

She knew almost everyone within these walls.

"I'm sure they're glad to have you back." She gave Hiei a grin as in a moment where he had finished an order she interjected with one of her own and watched him mix it for her. 3

Hiei passed tray after tray between the waitresses as they moved around the room, no longer bothering to tell him their orders as they all finally fell into the usual groove of him simply knowing the orders and where they went before they even had a chance to ask it of him. He even occasionally passed drinks down the bar when one of the others would end up tied up with another customer.

Being as focused as he was, he almost missed the commentary after the order from the female in front of him, and he began to busy himself with mixing her drink. Once he sense that she was watching him, however, he slowed down a little and finally lifted his eyes to peer at the customer.

He eyed the black dress and the makeup that would have looked similar to Shikiyoku's were it not for the different styles of application, and he noticed that while her dress was similar to that of Shiki's, Misaki's was also different in a way that seemed to mirror the doppelganger effect that happened when the two were in the same room.

He raised a brow at her briefly. "Perhaps not so much as when Shikiyoku is behind the bar." He set her drink in front of her while simultaneously sending another down the line. Without missing a beat, he picked up a tray, suddenly weighed down with full glasses of alcohol, and he traded it with an empty one to a passing waitress before he went to work on yet another table's orders. *

~!**!~

After a moment, Hara suddenly lifted his arm up from Shikiyoku's shoulders, his eyes wide as his mouth dropped open and he started to stammer some sort of apology for a second before completing his half-coherent sentence with, "-it was the first thing I thought of!"

Shikiyoku turned towards him with a soft smile and a wink, "If I didn't want you to touch me, I would certainly have made that clear, Hara."

He swallowed and return her smile with one of his own as he dropped his arm fully to his side, his moment of awkwardness gone.

She turned and rustled quietly back over to the building to lean against it again, enjoying the atmosphere and company and admitting to herself that if there was any drink she was accidentally going to partake in, this offering was really probably the best she would ever get with such blind, dumb luck that she had been strangely afforded this night.

Her eyes trailed after Hara's gaze, who for several seconds had stood staring off after whoever had just tried to take her away.

"Weird." Hara muttered as he finally turned away and came to join her, him being on her other side and this time the one closer to the door nearby. He half-leaned his shoulder into the wall, body mostly facing her and his eyes still searching the dark street in the direction the guy had gone. "I guess he wasn't expecting resistance. That's what came across as the most effective way of getting rid of him." He shrugged.

"Thank you."

He gave her a similar look to the one she'd received earlier about how she didn't know he'd sent her the drink, finding the gratefulness not out of place for her, but still felt weird to him.

"You're...welcome."

Just over Hara's shoulder, Shikiyoku caught sight of a certain profile moving out of the door, the one that belonged to the demon she had been speaking with earlier, who had asked her to be his mate, and had most definitely come out the door thinking he might find her.

Without a single second of hesitation, Shikiyoku reached up and grabbed for Hara's lapels and pulled him down over her.

The sudden jerk was met with no resistance on his part-though his left forearm came up and rested quite satisfactorily on the wall behind her, between her face and the door and hiding her from view-as he took the few shuffling steps needed to stand above her instead of falling over off-balance.

Her tugging did not stop until she had him close enough that kissing him took little effort aside from an upturn of her face to meet him, and while Hara's eyes bulged out of his head for a second, when he felt her lips start to move against his, his lids slid shut and he began to respond, his right hand finding the curve of her waist and resting there.

~!**!~

Misaki let out a laugh that the others gathered around her echoed.

"I'm sure she's glad to have you back to." Misaki quipped knowingly with a grin, reaching for her drink and gesturing towards him with it. "As are we all."

Not unsurprisingly, those nearby also echoed her sentiment of appreciating his face being there once more.

"...some of us more than others." Misaki added half to the edge of her cup as she brought it to her lips and was no longer looking at him.3

Quite the charismatic, Hiei thought to himself briefly, mentally noting how the one before him had been talking so easily with the demons throughout the establishment. He hadn't realized it until now just how drawn to her some of the people here were, simply by her willingness to integrate herself into the different groups within the four walls.

Though he himself hadn't talked much with her, he'd noticed her comings and goings as he had everyone else's.

Hiei parted his lips to answer her first remark about Shiki missing him, but he paused when he heard a glass topple over somewhere in the midst of the room to see what he'd need to remake. As he began to remake the concoction, her second quip of him being missed passed over the air, followed by several agreements, and he found himself glancing from each person that had spoken up with the slightest hints of a smile.

Indeed, he had missed being here.

"And I rather enjoy being here," he finally answered as he set drinks in front of the people around him, each one tailored to the individual in a sort of thanks for making this place his home and being as welcoming as they were. Then he turned and passed a loaded tray to a passing server again, and an extra to her for the table that she had been about to visit.

He barely caught the last of Misaki's words, but even still he found himself raising a brow in amusement at her before continuing on to more orders. *

~!**!~

The warmth of the body below him set Hara's core on fire in a way that he had yet to experience, and sent his energy coursing madly through his veins as he took a single step closer as if they were miles apart and found to his happily unraveling senses that as he slipped his hand around to her back and pressed her against him, she did not back away or push him off or otherwise make a move to slip from his grasp.

She left him breathless for a different reason this time.

Once he had drawn himself up to her, her fingers no longer urged him to finish the distance between them and let go of his coat to rest with palms to his chest, shifting against the fabric.

Shikiyoku could hear the feet that had stepped out into the moonlight, and even as she opened her eyes could just make out a glance to the left and then right, hear a huff and then the following footsteps slowly fading out of immediate hearing.

It was then that Shikiyoku paused as if listening harder, and found that Hara drew back just enough to be out of reach, his eyes coming open to find her own and perhaps the reason for her attention wavering.

She gave him a sheepish grin, unaware of the pulsing of her own energy that had set her scent wafting dangerously, if invisibly, around their heads and sought to curl around Hara himself.

"Sorry. It was the first thing I thought of."

He did not respond for a moment, only staring at her with an intensity that made her suddenly and intimately aware of the silent roaring at her ears of her core's quickening tempo.

She became aware, too, of being practically backed into the wall, of the feeling of being pinned, being held so wonderfully to him in a way that only confirmed the little crush she had for so long known Hara to have for her.

Not...quite so little, I suppose.

Shikiyoku took a shaking breath that filled her lungs with the air they had been robbing one another of as she watched him do the same, their eyes remaining locked.

Just as he found that air full of her scent, she could smell nothing but him within this proximity as the seconds grew.

"If I didn't want you to kiss me-" He finally said, a tiny but wicked grin pulling at his mouth, "-I would certainly have made that clear...Shikiyoku."

He could still taste his cigarette mixed with her on his tongue, its somewhat sweet flavor that came from his own recipe of demonic plantlife.

She could feel his breath move over her lips as he spoke, as he mimicked her earlier imitation of his words and twisted them back in her direction so delightfully.

And before she could manage to say anything else, he suddenly leaned down and this time enveloped her lips with his own.

~!**!~

Misaki nearly lost her drink as she watched Hiei's expression shift for once in his goddamn life, coughing a little before managing to regain her composure.

She stared at him for a moment as he kept working, a stupid sort of grin plastered on her face that could have at least partially been a product of her minor stupor.

"You've got a nice smile, you know." The folks around them did not appear to be taking notice of their conversation, too occupied with their drinks now. "You should do that more often." 3

He could sense her watching him. Misaki's stare bore into him in a way that Shikiyoku's sometimes did, though he couldn't quite place the similarity nor give it an actual name. So, he continued to make drinks without looking up, deciding that he didn't want to meet her gaze or let her know that he could sense her stare.

And when she spoke up, so too did a waitress nearby, asking Hiei for something or another just as, in the furthest corner of the room, energy seemed to explode within the room. Sharp eyes snapped up to stare at the two demons in the corner furthest from the door, assessing the situation as he lowered his glass to the bar and threw his towel over his shoulder again. He took one step towards the yelling pair of men, but before he could actually do anything about the situation, his Guildmate, Tarou, had the pair by their collars and was dragging them from the establishment.

Curses flew through the otherwise silent room, followed by threats between the two and at their handler as the brute continued to handle the situation single handedly, allowing Hiei to turn to his post and pick up where he had left off.

"Ge' yer damn han's offa m', yah-"

"Should've thought of that before you picked a fight with ya buddy here," Tarou used the demon as a means to push open the side door, where he tossed the other out unceremoniously. Just as effortlessly, he shoved the second out after the first, a bit of a grin on his face as the pair stumbled and fell against one another in the dirt. "Take yah problems elsewhere, will ya? My boss ain't got time for ya crap and the owner of this bar works too damn hard for ya to mess it all up. Go on! Get lost!"

He waved his hands as if to shoo a couple of toddlers, and he watched with glittering gray hues as they scrambled drunkenly to their feet and went separate directions. And as his irises followed their movements, he found himself staring at a couple caught in a rather heated moment, and a sheepish smile lifted the corners of his lips.

He took two steps backwards, scratched at his beard, and muttered a "sorry 'bout that" before he closed the door behind himself and turned to see the entirety of the bar had gone back to normal.

He shuffled his way towards his friends and held his hand out palm-up. "Pay up, ya jerks. I caught the kids in the act!"

"Ah, Tarou, your word isn't enough, man. Proof?" One of the others asked.

"Wait til they come through the door, then you'll see." He took his seat again, and picked up their earlier conversation where it had left off.

Hiei, having been busy remaking drinks and rescanning the room, finally turned his eyes to Misaki again. "You were saying?" *

~!**!~

At some point, Hara's hand had found the skin where Shikiyoku's neck met her shoulder and eventually worked its way around to her hairline at the back of her head, his thumb stroking gently across her cheek as his lips and tongue pursued her own, at times with a fervency that she only seemed to match.

If his mind had not been consumed with her, Hara might have considered this to be a dream, the events leading up to this moment almost unreal, but then she would move against him and any half-formed thought as such would flutter away to be replaced by the slowly growing inferno within him.

He handled her as if she were divinity, and found with joy that she appeared to hold him in the same regard even as her fingers linked together behind his neck and partially buried themselves in his dark hair.

Moments later he found his lips at her jaw as she stretched her neck away from him in further invitation that he responded to by trailing kisses further and further down right up until the both of them started in place at the door next to them being slammed into the wall.

Shikiyoku's eyes flew open as Hara stopped all at once and pulled inches away from her, able to feel his breath as it wafted over her warm skin as the seconds ticked by and whomever had been the interruption muttered some apology or another and went back inside.

Their breath, as they caught it, happened in sync and finally slowed as Hara stood back up to tower over her again, but with enough distance that Shikiyoku suddenly found herself able to think again, the waves of her energy that had been crashing against her skin quieted to a dull sensation by their abrupt separation.

She let out a huff of amused breath that brought a small smile to his face.

"Probably not the best choice of venue."

"Definitely not." He agreed as he shifted away from her a bit more. "And I am certain to be missed from a celebration such as this." He dipped his head back towards her and nipped lightly at her jaw before planting a final kiss to her ear.

"HARA!"

The voice yelled from around the building, in the direction of the front doors.

He let out a breath and stood back up, "Apparently this smoke break has taken long enough." He gave her another small smile, "Thanks for...you know...accepting and stuff."

Luckily, he didn't need an answer from her as his name was yelled again, this time a little closer and accompanied by something about a line of shots with their name on it. He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh, reaching up to smooth down his hair somewhat as he turned to stalk around that corner of the building.

Shikiyoku could hear the exclamations of 'there you are' followed by what she assumed to be his trying to convince the other that they didn't need to take a line of shots and likely being overruled.

She became aware of the cool bricks against her back and her own heated skin. He had surprised her by disengaging so quickly, and appearing to be otherwise little affected.

She, for one, could still feel the energy hovering in the air around her, as well as the heat of the desires Hara had awoken in her limbs as she had taken on his as her own as well.

And with no relief in sight.

How absolutely frustrating.

~!**!~

She had her elbow resting on the bar with her cheek in her hand and was, in a way, unabashedly looking at him.

Misaki waved her other hand about a little, "Something about a nice smile. Do it more."

In typical fashion, when an idea took hold of her, she whipped around and stared intently at the rest of the room before slipping off the stool and stomping out the front doors.

A minute later, she returned, dragging a somewhat reluctant, and still slightly intoxicated in his own right from his encounter with Shikiyoku-his eyes were still swimming with images of her-Hara, further into the bar and down to the twins so that they might all drink together. 3

Hiei only raised a brow at Misaki's nonchalant compliment, and while his hands stayed busy, his eyes remained on her back as she retreated from the bar and went out the front door. He shook his head slightly and turned down to the line of glasses in front of him again.

He wasn't sure if someone had ever complimented his smile before.

Without his direct notice, his lips twitched upwards briefly, but the gesture melted away the moment he sensed eyes on him again, and he was pulled back into work mode and was passing his tray away to another waitress. *

~!**!~

Shikiyoku swallowed, still trying to catch her breath and still finding herself stuck in those moments prior, feeling how Hara had-

Stop it.

Recalling it was going to help nothing.

She felt her scalp give an answering poof of energy into the air around her head, and she hadn't even realized how much she had been holding onto it during the encounter until the sparkles shimmered into the air in front of her eyes.

With an irritation she had rightly earned, she swatted at the energy as if that would get it to go away, her hand waving through the sheen that had formed around her.

Sighing, the energy whirled with her breath as she reached up behind her ear and scratched briefly at her hair as if that would make the effervescence that bubbled all over her skin stop itching so badly.

It's a losing battle.

...I need another drink.

She rubbed her hands over her eyes delicately, cognizant of the makeup that had so far lasted well that night, and pushed herself up off of the wall, turning to the door nearby and ducking inside, ignoring the doors to the bathrooms on either side of her and similarly entering the main room of the bar, hidden quickly with bodies that blessedly seemed to take no notice of her.

When Shikiyoku realized that the number of bodies at this side of the bar had increased due to the line of shots that were being set up, she continued to skirt the edge of the crowd that was gathering around the celebrating band members and crew.

Finally looking up from the floor, her eyes found Hiei at her usual station nearest the entrance, on the other side of the room, and without her direct notice, her steps began to slow as she watched him, unaware for now of her gaze as he was kept busy mixing drinks, and the glitter that most would not directly see around her head starting to shimmer behind her eyes.

Damn.

He had started wearing the vest and long-sleeved white dress-shirt with the slacks at some point around the time that he'd finally gotten her to start wearing his jewelry around the bar-a feat that had taken substantial effort on his part when it had finally come to it and he had surprised her by being absolutely serious about that particular conversation they'd had the one time. He'd claimed something along the lines of if she was representing his business in such high fashion, he wanted to do the same with hers.

...

...that's what I want...

Not Hara. Not even Youko Kurama. But him.

Her Consort.

The one being in her little world that knew her the best of all.

And that relationship...

It made him that much more attractive. More so even than he had been at first sight. More so than anyone else that might ever approach her.

This time her core was racing because of her own thoughts, and not because of someone else's excitement. And she'd done it to herself in the time that it took her after her steps had slowed to a brief pause to pick up the pace again and move through the bodies whose noises had faded from her senses as she drank in the hybrid whose cheek with the dark swirls tattooing his profile she would occasionally catch sight of as he would turn his attention this way and that.

She finally rounded the end of the bar, unaware at this point if anyone at all was sitting with him-his banter may have never won him patrons, but his looks always would-and made a grab for his hand to pull him to face her and entwine her fingers with his own, all at once reaching with her other hand to find the warm skin at his neck just beneath his collar and slide towards the back of his head to tip his face up towards hers, leaning down those few inches of difference between them her heels afforded her to cover his lips with her own for a kiss that made the rest of her surroundings disappear.

Her core pulsing quickly inside her chest and her energy swirling madly now behind her eyes and beneath her skin and shimmering out of her hair as Shikiyoku's eyelids dropped to cover the yellowish gleam that glittered over the green surrounding her pupils.

That burning sensation Hara had earlier awoken in her still coursed through her veins, but this time it was all her own and it was all for him, the one whose lips she pursued with a fervor she felt slowly draining away from her that in the moment she was at first too immersed in her own need to understand.

When at the last she finally released him and slowly started to pull away from his lips, her eyes began to open and the awareness that the bond between them had transferred the heat of her desires completely into him sank in as she felt the last of them fade away as if into a black hole from which she felt nothing in return.

As the realization made her stomach drop, she twitched and nearly disengaged from him, certain that she had never really expressed any of it to him and without any feedback suddenly feeling naked in a way that left her twinging with shame at the sensation.

She let out a small puff of air, her hands now merely resting where they were as opposed to holding him with the ferocity of the earlier moment, and her gaze dropped, the blush of her cheeks no longer that of pleasure, but of embarrassment at having finally lost control.

"Eheh...sorry..." 3

At some point after the initial line of shots, the group of band members had decided to make it a sort of competition - the first to drink five being the winner - and the idea had been quickly backed by the entirety of the group that had gathered at the bar to watch. Amused that he had somehow become the designated bartender for this little game, he'd gone along and lined up five shots for each person.

At the back of his mind, he knew he was being watched. The gaze would have likely caused him to look up were it not for the lack of animosity and his business at the moment of it reaching his awareness.

He reached forward and set the last of the shot glasses in front of the twin to his right, and before he could reach that same hand for the bottle on the counter to put it away, he found it grabbed by another and pulled until he was facing the person that he hadn't noticed coming behind the bar. In one swift motion that was almost too fast for him to react to, he found himself wrapped up in Shikiyoku in the most blissful way.

There was a sort of intimacy in the way her fingers interlocked with his that complemented and yet somehow contradicted the way her other hand found his hair and the way her lips hungrily sought his. Initially, he was too stunned to know what was happening; her energy completely overwhelmed him, beckoning him to take the extra step that was needed to close the last of the distance between them and respond to her in kind. Accompanying her warm energy was the need that he'd been looking for from her, a sort of need that he'd only felt from Shikijo during his stay at the Last Stand so long ago.

And so it was with complete and utter joy that he responded to her. His hands found the curves of her waist and he pulled her closer, as close as he could get her, before he let his own lips tell her just how much he enjoyed their little moment.

He didn't immediately notice the diminishing of her desires or the sobering of her train of thought. He didn't immediately notice that she slowly began to lose that interest in him. In fact, even when she pulled away, leaving him breathlessly staring up at her through a small flurry of snowflakes, he didn't recognize that those desires had ebbed and faded away.

He noticed her twitch and his eyes found where a snowflake had melted on her skin. He wiped away the wetness with his thumb and rested that hand against her cheek, but otherwise did not release her of his hold. Instead, his lips twitched ever so slightly upward at one corner and he let out a breath.

He didn't quite understand why she apologized. He didn't understand why she looked away when all he wanted was for her to continue staring at him the way she had obviously been doing during her strut to and around the bar.

After a long moment to catch his breath, he leaned closer and turned her head slightly towards him until his lips were near enough to her ear that no one else would hear what he whispered to her.

"No one on the Nine Levels of existence could ever compare to you, my jewel." He pressed his lips briefly against the skin in front of her ear, unashamed that he smiled against her. *

He made her skin tingle.

And she was intimately aware of his hands on her person, knowing without a doubt that if he so chose could in simple measure reignite all of the emotions she knew were locked up inside her in an instant just by moving those hands.

His breath at her ear sent sparkles shimmering over her cheek in response, a shimmer that continued down her spine with his words as her eyes slid slowly closed again as if it might let her feel him in that moment all the better.

The edges of her mouth twitched upwards as her body relaxed into his embrace, her hand at his head coming down to curl around his shoulder to rest gently.

"I'm afraid I must disagree, my dear Hiei." Her eyes opened to slits and turned to their corners to watch him as best she could. "You are a much finer thing than I." 3

Hiei let out a slow breath as his smile slowly melted away into a line of comfortable content that completely contradicted the wanting that had been ignited inside of his very being. While in their own little bubble, it should have been easy for the fire demon to give into those little thoughts, those little ideas that would have tied himself to the woman he held in ways that he had yet to be.

And yet, in the midst of his own fire and her energy that was slowly fading from his senses, he found a little voice in the back of his head that spoke of unsurities and hesitations. While she had moments before displayed so much want of him, he could no longer sense such emotions, and he couldn't decide if it was because she had never meant to act as such with him or if it was as simple as the moment passing him by.

If it were the latter, he wasn't sure how to reign that moment back in and pull it under his own control. Were it the former…. Well, he didn't know what to think of that notion.

He kissed her again, this time lingering for a moment longer against her skin before he responded, "Perhaps agreeing to disagree will have to do for now."

He finally leaned away from her to peer up into her face, where he suddenly realized that she stood taller than he, just as she had earlier this evening. He blinked once before he found himself staring unashamedly, suddenly locked into place by his own fascination and admiration of her. *

Her eyes closed again as her lips more freely spread into a smile at his second kiss.

Though, when he settled back in front of her, she felt almost certain that he had meant to do something else instead of stare up at her and it brought her eyes open once more, the energy within them starting to settle away again as her eyebrows lifted as if she were waiting for whatever it was he intended.

When it became clear in another second that whatever he intended was not going to come to pass, she blinked and let out a breathless chuckle that shook her shoulders ever-so-slightly.

I keep forgetting this.

This...height difference bringing him to a halt.

She stood straighter and just for a moment let herself smolder, eyes flashing as she leaned over him and teased, "Perhaps one of these days we should make an effort to agree on something, my little fire." 3

Hiei felt every muscle in his body tense from the sheer effort it took for him to not lean away from Shiki as she leaned over him. He met her gaze with his own, though perhaps it came across more challenging than admiring in that moment.

He still held her at her waist, and he only realized that he did so when she moved and her skirts ruffled beneath his palms. His fingers flexed momentarily with the desire to pull her closer and down into another kiss, but he couldn't quite seem to make his body obey his demands.

So, he remained staring up at her, though his lips pursed into a fine line for a moment.

"I'm quite agreeable where you're concerned," he responded coolly. "You simply have yet to discover just how agreeable." *

She chuckled fully this time, losing the intensity of the former moment at least in regards to her own baring.

"There are few who agree where I am concerned, you'll find. And I think it would be dangerous to be agreeable in my case anyway."

As she looked back down into his crimson eyes, her gaze flickered down towards his lips briefly, but before anything else could happen, a rather emphatic shortening of her name stirred her awareness back into the noisy bar around them.

"SHI-ki!"

She blinked and looked over to see Hara grinning at her, his white eyes bright with the sight of her and her attention at the last.

"You owe us at least five."

This time she laughed and let go of Hiei with one last squeeze of his hand and a parting wink-

(I have every intention of escaping upstairs to your arms within the next hour. I hope you will endeavour to be present for it.)

-to start to move back around the bar and join the rest of the band at the other end of the room.

"And you owe me five more besides that, if you'll recall." She retorted as they moved off together. 3

Hiei raised a brow and let out a little scoff as Shikiyoku pulled away from him, the sound of her name being called suddenly bringing the rest of the world crashing into their little bubble. (As if I'd say no…) He watched her go until she was around the bar and joined with her band before he finally turned to rejoin the bartender behind the bar.

During the hour that Shikiyoku remained busy with celebrations, Hiei remained busy with supplying their customers with ordered beverages, and he only stepped away when that hour passed and another bartender stepped up to take his place.

Once he retired to the apartment with Shikiyoku, that's where he stayed. For a couple of days, he let himself be completely engrossed in her presence, completely ignoring the rest of the world and making her the only part of his world for as long as he was able to manage doing so.

On the third day, the fire demon finally made up his mind to visit Yukina; He'd been entertaining the idea of taking Shikiyoku on a date, but other than what he'd picked up from the last demon who'd asked her on one, he knew nothing of the concept. He battled with himself on ideas until he was just on the edge of sleep, only then deciding he would seek the advice from one of the only beings he currently trusted with such confidences.

And so it was only natural that when he did fall asleep, he dreamt of the subject of his thoughts:

Just as he had several nights prior, he found himself wrapped so wonderfully in the arms of the woman he'd been pursuing. Again, she had found him busy behind the bar and had taken him by surprise with a kiss that screamed her emotions at him, and in the midst of their heated moment, she pulled away to trail kisses along his jawline and to his ear.

Bumps rose on his skin as her breath washed over him, and just as he pulled her closer - if it were even possible at that point - she breathed out the words that he'd been wanting to say to her for the last few weeks.

"We've been dancing this dance for far too long, fire prince." She planted another kiss against his ear. "If you'll have me, I would take great pleasure in being your Mate."

Hiei shifted a little and opened his mouth to respond, but darkness began to creep into the edges of the dream, and before he could tell himself to fall back into that deep slumber again, his eyes came open to see Shikiyoku laying with her back to him and almost to the edge of the bed.

For a beat, he almost couldn't discern reality from dreamland. But as he reached out to her with the intention of pulling her closer, he became more aware of the reality of his life and where he was, and a frown pulled at his lips.

"...dammit…" the word slipped from his tongue, barely more than a breath.

He gently shifted Shikiyoku around until she lay in the middle of the bed with him and he buried his nose in the hair at the top of her head. He closed his eyes, but he didn't sleep for the remainder of the morning.

The fire demon took great joy in the silence of the morning as the time went by, and at some point before even Shikiyoku was awake, he became aware that one of them was about to be called upon. At first, he thought it might be his guild, what with his own track record of being the one most often called away. However, as the sun peeked over the horizon and brought with it the start of the day, Shikiyoku's phone began to buzz.

It was rather fortunate for Hiei that it was Shiki to be called away this day. In reality, he hadn't been sure what to tell her about him going to see his sister, or even how he would tell her. He'd considered leaving before dawn, but he hadn't been sure if Yukina would even be awake. He'd considered telling her that he was running a simple errand, but he had no idea how long he would be out.

So, when the pair said their farewells and parted ways, Hiei said nothing of his endeavors for the day and he simply slipped from the bar to make his way towards the apartment he'd learned Yukina was sharing with Botan.

Because of that knowledge, Hiei took his time in approaching the apartment complex. He mulled over this and that, but never really settled on what he'd say to Yukina once he was there, or even to Botan to get her to skip out so he would be alone to confide in the Ice Maiden.

So when he finally knocked on the door that had Yukina's cool energy behind it, he found himself suddenly unnerved; not only could he sense Yukina and Botan in the apartment, but he could also sense Shizuru and Keiko within those walls as well.

I… did not think this through.

~!**!~

Akari smiled to her customer as the woman reached for her beverage with a thank you. Caught up on all orders now, she finally felt free to clean up her station, and she started with a wet rag to the espresso machine.

Internally, she was glad for the moment of quiet as the few customers in her shop did their separate things. A few of them worked on laptops, one worked on some sort of paperwork, and the woman she had just served sat with a coffee in one hand and a book in the other. There was no idle chatter or talk among any of her guests, and this left her calmly listening to the television above the counters play music from one of its many stations.

She made the station spotless. And when she realized it was spotless and she had nothing else to do without customers, she turned and began to take stock of what she had in the fridge below the barista bar.

She counted each item and wrote the numbers on the palm of her hand in black marker. This task took her only a minute or two; the fridge was so small that she didn't really need to move things around to see what they were. So, by the time she stood upright again, she was moving for the register to put those numbers in an email to herself.

The front door opened and the bell chimed before she could get there, and Akari immediately dropped the idea and turned to greet the customer with her usual, "Welcome to the Corner Cafe."

Her hazel eyes met kind and gentle brown ones filled with familiarity, and the smile Gramps gave her was a tired but pleasant one. She found herself grinning as she stepped from behind the bar to offer her hand to shake.

"It's been awhile. How're you, Gramps?"

The older gentleman's smile widened just a touch as he grasped her hand in his, though his eyes wandered around the shop. "I'm making it. How are you, my dear?"

She released his hand and moved towards the bar again, this time intending to make him the drink she remembered him to have every morning when he'd been her boss. "I'm doing good. After Mimi left, I hired a few baristas to help me keep up. They're a pretty good bunch, I think."

Gramps finally turned to meet her gaze over the espresso machine as she set to work on a beverage, and for a moment sh couldn't decipher the thoughts that gleamed behind his irises. "That's good to hear. It looks like business is still going as usual. How do you feel about being the manager?"

Akari nodded and turned to her work. "It's fun. I'm learning a lot still, and there's even more that I don't know that I'm slowly learning, but I enjoy it a lot."

She didn't see the brief crease between his brows. "It seems like not much has changed. It's very nostalgic to come inside and see it the same as it's always been. I almost want to get back to work."

The demoness gave a little laugh. "Yeah, I get it. I have trouble giving myself days off because I like working so much. I just get too bored at home."

"Is that so?" Gramps continued to look around the quiet room, reminiscing a bit of the first days of the shop being open and the vision he'd had for it. When he turned back to Akari, a part of him felt a little sad at the stagnation he could feel around the place. "I'm surprised you haven't changed everything to make it suit your interests rather than mine." *

~!**!~

Her twin-sense had been tingling all morning.

Since the early hours, in fact.

But that sense had remained a constant almost background hum for the Koorime as since rising she had been kept busy with the magazines and grandiose ideas that Botan had flung her direction-as well as coffee and breakfast-in regard to the wedding that Yukina had continued with quiet stubbornness to insist was going to remain a small, intimate affair.

Botan was only stirred on by Shizuru, who was staying the weekend on a vacation from Genkai's dojo, as well as Keiko, who had shown up apparently on Botan's behest in those same early hours.

It explained for Yukina the size of the breakfast that Botan had prepared, since there had been obviously too much even just for the three roommates.

The knock at the door came as no surprise to either Yukina-who had sensed his approach long before that moment-nor to Shizuru, whose instincts had told her the twin would be visiting today, and the teal-haired woman, still the quietest among these females though her timidity had long ago melted, rose silently from where they four sat with materials spread about on the main room's floor to answer.

Her smile for him touched her eyes as she said nothing, the noise of the room behind her drowning out anything she might have said in those moments as she stepped to the side and let Hiei move over the threshold.

"See!" Shizuru was emphatically standing over and pointing to a detail upon a brilliantly near-white, half-finished kimono arranged on what had to be a headless mannequin. She was insisting something to the other two still seated in the middle of the floor. "Those napkins would make the most sense because the embroidery is made with the same style."

Yukina just shook her head as the other two hurriedly scuffled up from the ground to look, another pseudo-argument breaking out in the midst of their conversation even as Yukina turned to Hiei apologetically and asked quietly, "You came a long way. Are you thirsty? Can I get you something to eat? There's plenty." 3

Hiei thought nothing of her lack of surprise at his sudden appearance at her door; for all he knew, Shizuru had warned her ahead of time of his arrival, given how gifted the human was at such predictions. When she took the step to the side to allow his entrance, he quietly stepped into the apartment and peered around the room to see the cause of the commotion nearby.

Hiei raised a brow at Shizuru, but his eyes followed her gesture to spy the detailing on the kimono that was displayed away from the scattered magazines and papers. He took in every last detail of the embroidery on the dress, at first not hearing Yukina's question. He memorized each stitch and each design on the fabric before his eyes turned down to the magazines to see the napkin that Botan pointed at in the midst of her own argument.

His head tilted to the side slightly as he assessed each magazine as well, and he spotted a particular page on a smaller magazine that lay seemingly forgotten on the side. "They both would work," he suddenly found himself pitching in, "so find a hybrid of the two." He nodded his head at the page of the magazine where he saw a particular set of napkins that appease the both of them, and still hold the same decorative design that the kimono had.

Without waiting for their answer, he turned to Yukina with the realization that she'd asked him a question or two. He stared at her momentarily before shaking his head. "No, thank you." For a moment, he almost forgot why he was there in the first place.

Were it not for the movement of the girls near the kimono wafting a certain scent his direction, he likely would have forgotten for a short time his original reason for visiting. However, with Shikiyoku's aroma wafting from the kimono - presumably because she was the one crafting it - he was quickly reminded of his reason for his trip and he felt his nerves return with a kick.

How was he to ask her advice with so much going on? He glanced towards the others again, this time with a slight frown.

I really didn't think this through.

~!**!~

Akari blinked at her old boss as she passed him a latte, not really sure what he meant about changing the shop to 'suit her interests'. She didn't have any interests. She just worked. She'd always been this way.

"Yeah," she began as if she had an answer, "I just like the shop how it is. And so do the regulars. I didn't want to change something that's always been productive enough to not need changing." She shrugged and took to wiping down the counter again. "But I also think it's charming."

The look Gramps had was somewhere between amusement and confusion. "Well, I hope someday you change it to suit your style. I'd love to see you prosper and grow in ways my wife and I could not."

Surprised, the demoness blinked at Gramps. She hadn't ever considered the thought that changing the shop could bring in more customers, much less help her prosper. She had always thought that things were fine as they were, so why change them? Plus, they made enough to pay the bills and the associates and for restocking product, so more money wouldn't be a necessity. At least, that's what she thought.

"Thank you," he said over the sudden silence, gesturing to her with the paper cup.

"You're welcome. Oh! How's Grams? Has her wrist healed completely yet?"

"No," he shook his head. "She fell again a couple weeks after you took over and broke it, and right now she's in bed, ill." He lifted the hand she didn't shake earlier, and Akari noticed for the first time the medicine bag from the drug store. "I was out picking up her medication and decided to stop by."

Akari gave a kind smile. "Well, I better not keep you then. Please tell ehe I say hi and that I hope she feels better soon."

"I will, Akari."

"And please come see me when you're able to too. I miss hearing updates about everyone from Mimi."

Gramps' smile grew fonder and Akari couldn't help but match his expression. "I'll come visit as soon as I am able. You take care until then, okay?"

"Of course."

Gramps took his leave through the front door, and for a moment, Akari found herself contemplating the lifespan of humans. Before she could start to feel too sad about it though, she turned and busied herself with entering the stock numbers on her hand into the computer. *

~!**!~

"See!" Shizuru exclaimed again, this time towards Yukina and pointing at the newcomer, "Even Hiei thinks you should have those embroidered napkins!"

She took her cigarette from her mouth and let out a puff of smoggy air as if taken aback by her own statement.

"...I can't honestly say I ever thought I would live to make a statement like that."

"Well you won't live to make another like it if you keep smoking near the thing." Botan pointed out.

"Shikiyoku would have your hide." Keiko commented knowingly with a grin that Yukina and Botan shared.

Yusuke had done similarly and they had been witness to it along with Shizuru, but Kuwabara's brown-haired sister was too preoccupied at present with putting the cigarette out.

"Shit. You're right." Shizuru cursed and at the last just pressed two fingers over the lit end to extinguish it before pocketing it for later.

As Botan and Keiko let out a laugh, Yukina simply passed a calm look to Hiei as she moved towards the kitchenette and reached up into a cabinet to retrieve a glass, going to the carafe on the table and pouring some for Hiei as well as filling her own glass again. 3

Hiei only raised a brow at Shizuru, too preoccupied with his own thoughts to give any response to her reaction to his suggestion. As the conversation between the women continued on, Hiei found himself staring at the kimono on display in the room, mulling over the realization that Shikiyoku had in fact been putting it together by hand.

He let out a breath through his nostrils; aside from the once she'd fixed his cloak, he hadn't ever seen her put those skills to use. It made him wonder what else about her he had yet to discover.

He turned to Yukina again, robotically accepting the glass she offered to him without much thought to its contents. He took a sip as he looked her over in contemplation.

"...It suits you."

Of course it does; Shikiyoku is creating it. He took another sip from his drink. *

Yukina gave him a smile, "I'm glad you like it. You should see her when she works on it. It's so amazing. She's amazing. She's offered to let me help before so I've done some of the embroidery. She's such a patient teacher. I'm not a real tailor like her though. I get super nervous and mess things up." She laughed thinking about it. "She never says that though. Doesn't fix it herself either. Usually says there's nothing to fix." Her eyes drifted over towards the clothing and she got quieter, "Says it's me that makes it beautiful."

"... ...I'm glad you'll be there." 3

Hiei hadn't really been expecting her to say so much in response to his one comment. It had him watching her with a sort of warmth at his core that almost tugged his lips up at the corners. The expression didn't quite reach his features, however, and he was left simply watching her as she spoke and imagining the scene she described.

When Yukina glanced again at her Kimono, Hiei's gaze followed. Finally, after a few more moments of him staring at the fabric and imagining the two women working together on the piece, his lips formed a smile and he turned to his twin again.

"She's right. It's made in your image, for you. No one would ever look so marvelous in it as the person it was fashioned for." He thought of his jewelry at home, and realized that he could just as easily craft a set for her and gift it. He made mental note to get to work on it later before he pushed the thought to the side.

"I wouldn't miss it for anything."

Hiei lapsed into a silence that was filled with his own thoughts and contemplations, and more than a bit of awkwardness as he tried to gather his thoughts on how he'd ask Yukina's advice, or even what he'd ask.

His gaze refocused on his sister. "...He makes you happy."

He hadn't broached the subject with her before now, but even with Kuwabara being nowhere around, he could see that she was happy with being with the carrot top. In the beginning, he'd hated the idea of the silly human boy having such eyes for his twin.

Now…

Now he was simply glad that she would be taken care of, and happy. Now, Kuwabara was no longer a 'silly human boy'. He was a celestial being, from what he'd been told, and… Well…

Hiei hadn't had any real reason to dislike the idea, except for his own stubborn protectiveness of his twin. And after seeing her smile when they were together, even that had melted away, forgotten.

He turned to eye the others in the room.

…...Would Shikiyoku be as happy with me as Yukina is with Kuwabara? *

Something was said that got the three others in the room up and moving as a unit into one of the back rooms on a mission of some sort still regarding the pending wedding.

She gave Hiei a look.

"You didn't help with that, you know. That comment about the napkins. I want a small wedding. They're talking reception and dancing and-" She sighed and shook her head, setting down her glass and moving into the main room and standing among the scattered papers before sighing again and getting drawn to the kimono.

Yukina reached out and let her fingers trace over some of the embroidery. Her touch made a shimmer of sorts cascade behind her movement over the fabric and she sighed a third time, this one with a smile. 3

The sudden silence as the trio left the room is what pulled Hiei's attention back to the present. His irises refocused on Yukina, who wore an expression he didn't at first have words for. When she began speaking, he found himself raising a brow slightly; he hadn't taken the time to read her mind on the matter before speaking. He hadn't wanted to, and it had resulted in him contributing to something she'd obviously been bothered about for a while.

He set his glass on the counter and his hands found the inside of his empty pockets. His eyes turned to the side and he twitched his nose as if it itched.

"I apologize." Hiei gave a little sniff. "...I know nothing of these arrangements," he admitted after a moment. He leaned back against the counter and busied himself with taking in what he could see of the room, appearing interested in the patterns on the hand towel on the counter and the dishes he could see drying on a rack.

He himself saw no reason to not enjoy a dance or three with the one she was tying herself too, but he also did not know her pain with only seeing the one she cared for once a year.

When he looked up finally, it was to see her smiling at the kimono.

He frowned to himself. Here she was, busy with preparations for her own life, and he'd dropped by without so much as asking if he were welcome to ask her for advice on his own endeavors.

And he hadn't seen her in some time either, which he realized made him all the more selfish for it.

He looked away again, this time to stare at his own half-full glass. "And I apologize for not visiting before now." After all, he knew how much she enjoyed his visits in the past. *

Yukina looked over at Hiei as he began to speak and she took a moment to really look at him.

After a pause, all at once she moved over and hugged him. She buried her face in his chest for a moment before shifting to rest her cheek against him so she could speak.

"I know you're looking out for me. I like to think I can feel you sometimes. It makes the distance not so bad." She pulled back, reached up and poked at his temple, pressing her finger there as she looked up at his forehead. "...I found out about that too." She smiled up at him. "And I didn't get a single word of it from you, so your vow is unbroken." 3

Of all the things he'd expected, a hug was not one of them. So when Yukina wrapped herself around him and her coolness contradicted his warmth, he blinked down at her with wide eyes. His hands had slipped from his pockets and were now held palm out in her direction, as if surrendering to her, and before he could even return the gesture, she pulled away to poke at the eye hidden behind the cloth wrapped around his head.

Again, he found himself blinking at her.

"You… were never supposed to know," he commented almost dumbly, unable to think of anything else to say.

He blinked again before he let out a breath through his nostrils and forced himself to relax. It didn't matter now; she knew and had known for quite some time. Shikiyoku had pointed it out to him at some point, and up until now he had completely forgotten that the ice koorime knew that he was her twin.

He stared at her in silence for a moment longer before his lips finally gave in and slid upwards at the corners. "I'll visit more often," he promised with that same little smile.

He paused a moment to let himself gather his thoughts and, while he had the gumption to do so, he let the words fall from his tongue without restraint.

"Truthfully, I'm visiting you today to seek your advice." His eyes shifted to the side again, "...I find myself wanting to take Shikiyoku… on a… date. However, I'm not entirely sure…" He frowned to himself as his words trailed away, unable to finish his sentence out of pure embarrassment. Finally, he lifted his eyes to look at his twin again, this time hoping she would understand what he was asking of her.

He had a hard time asking for help as it was… *

Yukina smiled at him and his bravery in even asking.

In truth, it surprised her that he was capable of doing so.

She has changed you, hasn't she?

...for the better, I think. Like Kuwabara did for me.

"A date?" She repeated after a moment, head tilting to the side as if she considered the word. "Oh!" She brightened. "Yes, it is so strange, isn't it? It's a human custom, but since the merging, a lot of our kind have taken to it in some fashion or another."

She smiled that private smile that meant she had Kuwabara on her mind, "Kazuma had taken me on many dates before he was lost in the past." Yukina returned to the present and clasped her hands together, eyes bright once more, "I think Shikiyoku would love it!"

"Would love what?" Shizuru asked absently, coming back into the room as she chewed on the end of a pencil and looked down at a clipboard in her hands.

"A date!" Yukina chirped merrily.

"Who doesn't like dates?" Botan commented rhetorically, also bouncing back into the room with swathes of fabric in her arms.

"Depending on what Yusuke proposes?" Keiko replied, coming in behind the other two. "Me." 3

Hiei raised a brow at Yukina almost expectantly as she seemed to contemplate what he said, and he couldn't help but feel slightly amused by her sudden smile and the way she folded her hands together. It was almost as if she were taking hold of her own happiness to cherish it, and for a moment, he let himself enjoy her happiness.

He gave a start when Shizuru's voice entered the conversation, and he turned to watch as the three ladies re-entered the room carrying various items and chipping in their various responses to the conversation that he had never intended on them joining in on.

He glanced uncertainly out of the corners of his eyes to his twin again, his discomfort with the situation seeming to magnify tenfold in the seconds where the others joined the conversation. Sensing his discomfort it seemed, he watched as she reached forward and took hold of one of his hands and smiled up at him reassuringly.

And instead of having his usual snarky comment to fire at any moment, he found himself remaining silent and almost retreating into himself. He had no form of self-defense in what he would usually consider to be an intrusion in his own business, and he wasn't really sure what to do in the moment.

Though, with Keiko's comment about not enjoying some dates with Yusuke, he pursed his lips together, took in a breath through his nostrils, and decided to relinquish his want of control over his situation entirely. It wasn't like he could suddenly leave anyway, no matter how unnerved he was; he'd already gotten this far, and they already knew why he was here. So… why not?

He turned away from Yukina and, not giving himself enough time to rethink his decision, he asked, "What exactly is a date?" *

Yukina gave Hiei's hand a reassuring squeeze as she looked back up at him, thinking absolutely nothing of the red of his cheeks.

Meanwhile, the other three women in the room paused to stare at him, blinking, the whole of the conversation sinking into their systems.

Botan hurriedly pulled her lips into her mouth and bit down on them as Keiko covered her mouth with her hand, both of them appearing to resist something that tugged deeply within them.

Shizuru reached up and rubbed her fingers at the bridge of her nose, half-contemplating a cigarette.

"Just...get it out of your system, would you?"

"Can't." They told her in a strained manner.

"He'd probably kill me." Botan managed to squeak.

"How about he kills you anyway for not answering his question?" Giving in, Shikiyoku be damned, Shizuru retrieved the cigarette from earlier and lit it again to take a long draw.

"Kazuma explained it as an event where just the two of us go out somewhere together."

Still resisting something fiercely, Keiko and Botan woodenly brought their piles into the room and dumped them on the floor. 3

Hiei frowned at the pair of ladies who withheld their reactions. He knew his knowledge of the topic was severely limited, but he didn't quite see the need for the both of them to laugh. For the first time, he realized that the warmth across his skin burned hotter than usual, fueled not by his energy but by whatever emotion flared up, and he gave a little puff.

And then another when he still couldn't think of a snarky comment to fire at them.

...never ask you anything ever again.

Hmph.

He stood up straighter and made an attempt to push away his emotions, to create his usual stoic mask of calm, and instead he wondered if he didn't look angry. Even when he turned to peer down at Yukina, he felt his brows were furrowed and his lips were pursed.

His brows furrowed further, creating confused little wrinkles between them.

"And what do you do?" Other than attempt to win the affections of the other? He briefly glanced at Keiko. "Are there… guidelines? Rules?" He frowned some more. "...Are there specific places to go and specific things to do?" *

All at once, Keiko and Botan had their arms wrapped around each other and were both speaking at once.

"I-don't-care-if-he-kills-me-it's-so-CUTE!"

Shizuru just nodded, "There it was. Feel better?"

They made a noise that was somewhere between an 'aw' and a squeal, let go of one another and rushed over to stand on either side of Yukina, their eyes bright with excitement.

For the moment, they were able to resist their initial instinct, which had been to hug him and they clasped their own hands together in front of them, Botan practically bouncing up and down in place as Yukina started to speak up.

"Well," Yukina's head tilted to the side as she thought about it, "Kazuma and I have done lots of things. We've spent a day at the fair. He came and saw me when I was visiting Shizuru and we walked around Genkai's land. We've sat and ate ice cream together. Went and saw a movie. One time he took me up to the top of the apartment building and we had a picnic. We've gone to the arcade. He took me to his favorite place one time, but I can't tell you that one. He made me promise to keep it a secret." She smiled, thinking of the evening they'd spent on the cliffside overlooking the sea. "We spent a whole week at a spa once. Oh, we went up to a lodge in the mountains! That was my idea. The snow was beautiful. We've made meals together, just the two of us-" She looked thoughtful, "I think that's the important part. It was always just us."

"You can do double dates." Shizuru commented with a bit of a grin as she took another puff, "I just don't think little brother would have noticed anyone but you when he was on one." 3

With the outcry from the two women who had shuffled silently by only moments before, the fire demon found himself surprised. He'd been certain that they'd been trying not to laugh at him, though he couldn't rightly say that those words weren't much better. Well, at least they're not laughing.

He released his hold on Yukina's hand to cross his arms over his chest, all at once feeling calmer, but still more than a little self conscious.

"I'd only kill you if you laughed," he grumbled out after finding his tongue again.

He couldn't remember the last time he talked so openly with someone other than Shikiyoku. Not even his guildmates got to hear him say so many words in a day.

When Yukina spoke up and began listing things that she and Kuwabara had done together on previous dates, he found himself ticking off each idea and making note of the ones that he thought Shikiyoku would enjoy doing. Going out for Ice Cream, for example, was something he already knew they hadn't done together in a long while. And when she mentioned that the important part was that it was only the two of them, he blinked.

It made sense, really, that it would only be the two people on the date. But didn't that mean that he and Shiki had already gone on a few 'dates'? Perhaps it's a specified ordeal.

He didn't know any specific places to get sweet snow, other than the stores that sold it by the tubs. Shikiyoku had been at the bar so much that Hiei wouldn't think it fair to ask her on a date and keep her locked into their apartment for the duration of it. They did that on any other day anyway.

Making a meal together?

...He'd never made a meal with anyone before. In fact, what he made was usually a throw-together meant to get him by until he was home. His recipes were usually made up as a spur of a moment thing.

...That could be fun.

Hiei lifted his eyes to look around the kitchen, searching for ideas. Wasn't there supposed to be a book for cooking? He turned to Yukina again, "Do you… have a… meal book?" That didn't sound right. "No, sorry… a cookbook?" *

"Laugh at you?" Botan and Keiko exchanged incredulous looks and frowned, "Why would we laugh at you? The fact that you're asking obviously means you care a lot."

"...which-is-really-cute..."

"And want to get it right." Keiko turned back to him, her hands lowering, but her smile still there. "Yusuke used to go behind my back and ask my girl-friends what they thought I would like when he didn't want to spoil a surprise." She covered her mouth with her hand again for a second, "He even took me to see a ballet because he found out from them I really wanted to go. And he ended up liking it, too."

"Kazuma and I went out dancing!" Yukina chimed in again from where she had slipped into the kitchen and was searching in the cabinets for a cookbook for Hiei.

"I've been asked to meet someone for coffee, for dinner. I even had one brave soul spend the day sparring with me for a date." Shizuru winked and let out a ring of smoke from her lips. "That was definitely a winner."

Botan had a finger to her chin and Keiko looked over at her as she seemed to think.

"Well...there was this one time-" She laughed and tossed her hair back over her shoulder, "One of the elite was putting on this masquerade ball at his manor and a gentleman that comes into the shop a lot asked me to go with him. He bought me this gorgeous gown and wore a fancy suit and came and picked me up in his limo. There was lots of dancing and fancy food and they had hired a small strings group to play for us all night." She laughed again, "It was really fun!"

"You should definitely keep in mind what the other person likes, though." Shizuru mentioned at the last. "I've had plenty of guys who just did what they wanted to do, didn't even bother to ask me or find out what I liked, and they never got very far with that mentality."

"It's a balance." Keiko added. "I may not enjoy doing all of the same things that Yusuke enjoys, but it's fun to surprise him with wrestling tickets for us and stuff like that just like he surprises me with ballet or an orchestral concert. And whether or not I enjoy the reason for going or not, I enjoy being there with him. And he enjoys sharing with me the things that he likes. But there are things we both like that are even more fun when we do them together." 3

Hiei's attention shifted back to the ongoing conversation, where he almost forgot that the others were chiming in with their own experiences. He realized that by them sharing their individual experiences, they were supporting him, giving him ideas to go off of, and doing so without any form of judgement on the matter.

The realization had the last of his nerves melting away, leaving him calmly listening to each person in turn. With Yukina's mention of dancing, he remembered the time he'd come home from a trip with the guild and been beckoned to dance with Shikiyoku the moment he'd walked into the bar.

Shizuru's tale was amusing, and other than coffee or dinner - which he was already planning - it wasn't something he thought Shiki would enjoy.

Botan's tale opened up different doorways, and the fire demon found himself staring at the blue haired being with wide eyes. He never would have thought to take her out dancing before. They'd only ever danced a handful of times, and most times had been because she had felt obliged to do so for the gain of another, not for amusement's sake.

The possibilities swirled around and around in his head. Ideas bounced around like a ball against concrete, and before even so much as a minute had passed him by, he had a solid plan in place.

He glanced out the window to gauge the time of day, and he found himself confident that he'd be able to get everything planned out before night fell.

That is, if he hurried.

Shizuru's cautionary words stalled him, though, and he turned to listen carefully to her words. He soaked them in and took heed of the warning, and was even beginning to seriously reconsider everything until Keiko chimed in.

Things we.. both enjoy?

He blinked. He didn't like dancing much, but dancing with Shikiyoku was fun. And they both liked sweet snow. And food? Did she enjoy cooking? He wasn't sure. Toriko was really good at it, he suddenly remembered.

After several moments of contemplation, he decided that the things he had been planning on would make for a rather entertaining evening, and there wasn't much that he could see her not enjoying. Finally, after a few more moments of contemplation, he nodded his head to himself and stood up straighter.

"Thank you all," he said suddenly. "I appreciate you all." He turned and gave Yukina a brief hug of thanks, promising her that he would visit again soon, and he made a quick dash out the door without looking back.

Hiei took some time to look around the city, looking for different ice cream parlours and even stepping inside of each one in search of specific ingredients before he finally made note of a specific one he liked and he moved on to his next task.

He made a trip to the bar, where he greeted Shikiyoku before he disappeared up into the apartments, gathered different forms of money, and he left again, taking a couple of his guild members with him. Together, he, Akihiko, and Tarou scouted the city for a specific venue, and within the span of an hour the trio had narrowed down their choices to one that had not been booked for this party or that. The fire demon arranged to rent the venue, gave payment, and even found someone to act as the stand in host for him for the event he had planned.

Another trip to the bar, more guild members pulled from their table, and Hiei was out again. With clear instructions and many thanks, his guildies parted ways again in various tasks around the city, each one smiling their own little secret smiles as they set out to finish their task.

From there, Hiei visited a boutique, a bookstore, and a grocery store before he let himself into the two-story home that had once been inhabited by Toriko and Maneshi. He looked around the place, set out his book on the counter and his two hangers on the bed upstairs, and he set to sprucing up what little there was to clean.

He emptied the fridge of what little was there - it had gone bad anyway - and he cleaned it out until it was spotless. Once that was done, he flipped through pages of the cookbook he had bought - Yukina having not found hers - and he memorized the pictured ingredients of three different recipes before he set out again.

A third trip to the bar and Hiei again went up the stairs into the apartment, where he gathered not only some more money, but a set of jewelry as well before, once more, he set out. He stopped by the house again to drop off the jewelry set, and he made a trip to the grocery store.

Up and down the aisles he went, plucking this and that from the shelves until he couldn't carry any more, at which point he grabbed a carry basket. When that too was full, he grabbed a rolling cart and proceeded to finish off his checklist.

After paying - the cashier gave him a rather amusing look when he handed her a handful of money and told her to keep the change - he made a third trip to the house again, this time with arms full of grocery bags that several strangers offered to help him with, and he stored all of the ingredients together by recipe in the fridge and cabinets.

Once that was done, he gave a look around the room and decided to pull plates, cutlery, glasses and napkins from their various places and he set up the table so that when the meal was ready, so too would be the table.

Finally, just before the sun began to set, Akihiko walked into the front door, gave Hiei a nod and a rare half-smile, and he disappeared again. With that, Hiei left the house and set out for the bar again, this time with the slightest of smiles on his face.

When he entered the bar for the fourth time this day, he paused at the door to look around the room. He noticed how empty the center of the room seemed without his guild taking that table, but otherwise everything seemed normal. Finally, his eyes alighted on Shikiyoku behind the bar, and he watched as Tarou - who had slipped in the side door - planted a small glass in front of her. He said a few words, gave her a smile, then turned and left through the door that he'd come through without even a glance back. *

Shikiyoku's business over at the company had not taken long, and soon she had returned to her bar and her station with a certain satisfaction.

Most of what she did nowadays for Minamino Corp. was behind the scenes, as she had intended all along, and usually she was only called for when her presence itself was actually required.

In any case, though everyday life mixing drinks was interesting enough for a demon who owned an establishment used mostly by other demons, Shikiyoku kept glancing up every time Hiei came in and out, puzzled equally by his disappearances as much as his reappearances.

Suffice it to say that it was all exceedingly suspicious, given that even if he came in and out on any one day, it was never with quite so much...urgency, as he seemed to be exhibiting.

And while he may have never said anything to her directly about his actions, that did not prevent the steady hum within their bond of busyness as he gallivanted about.

She almost didn't even look up as he came back in for a fourth time. She had never felt him leave the level and while she could gauge the distance and the return, she especially could feel the returns and this one had been no exception. ...and he had already done it so many other times today that her expectations were of such that he would be walking back out again in the next moments.

The glass plunked down on the bar in front of her and caught her attention, her eyebrows twitching briefly as she raised her gaze higher.

She knew precisely what that drink meant. She'd gotten it countless times over the years since the bar had opened and demons had started to actually go out on something akin to the humans' "dates." She was aware of the concept.

Those same brows rose as she found it was Tarou's hand encircling the glass, the expression on the jokester's face a foreignly serious one.

"Just so you know, I'm only the delivery boy. This was the boss' doing, Miss Shiki."

His hand retreated from the glass, as did the rest of him, leaving Shikiyoku to stare at it for a moment longer.

The sender didn't usually accompany the drink so directly, so she had not for an instant assumed it had been from that particular guildmate of Hiei's.

Her eyes lifted from the drink to watch Tarou as he ducked out the side door, then moved back across the bar to spy Hiei himself, who had not moved from the main entrance.

If anything, her expression was puzzled. 3

Hiei lingered by the door to gauge Shikiyoku's reaction. He stood with his hands in his pockets and his eyes aimed at her unblinkingly. When she looked up with an expression that was not the one he had immediately hoped for, his lips twitched upwards slightly. The bond, which had been humming all day with his own busy feedback and her occasional confusion about it, told him that her puzzlement was not about the definition of the drink or the meaning behind it. Instead, her puzzlement was aimed more towards the reason behind his asking.

More accurately, she seemed confused over his asking her on a date.

He crossed the bar and stopped in front of her station, where he leaned an elbow against the wood as he continued to watch her.

"Because, Shiki, no one on the Nine Levels of existence could ever compare to you." *

Since at the moment she had no immediate drink orders that needed to be filled, as she stood there in her haphazard bun with the tendrils of misplaced hair and the apron she always wore over clothing that was probably chique, but hidden underneath the black apron she had pulled on over her head at the beginning of the shift as she always did, Shikiyoku's hands were busy drying glasses in absent fashion, an especially menial task that let her mind wander in thought or revel in stillness as she felt best.

She blushed all at once at him and dropped her eyes down to her hands as they finished one task and picked up the next mug, feeling her energy prickling along her scalp and releasing from her hair in a silent puff at his response.

She remembered him saying as much a few nights ago when she'd kissed him-an interaction she'd never quite forgiven herself for as of yet.

She'd lost control and came to him in search of a solution to her problem, and found that her hopes had not been misplaced: his strange sort of nonexistent desires had washed over her and rid her at that moment of her own. She had definitely been more careful about who she interacted with at what level since then.

"S'not true..." She finally managed to murmur, unable to meet his gaze. 3

Hiei could sense the heat in her body rising before the color even touched her skin, but that didn't keep him from momentarily enjoying the pink that dusted her face or the energy that wafted over the air. His lips tilted into a slightly wider, yet crooked smile as she looked away. He wanted to reach over the bar and still her hands, to pull her attention to him entirely and without distractions.

But her response distracted him from that urge, and he tilted his head at her a little, and he let out a little puff of a laugh.

"Whether you believe so or not, my mind will not change on the matter." He slid the drink that Tarou had volunteered to deliver closer to her. "So, Shikiyoku, what do you say to a date with me?" *

I...

Her eyes lifted just to the glass itself and the idea of it all made her lips twitch into the ghost of a smile.

It was...hard to believe him, even still. She never really knew what he wanted. She felt uncomfortable taking someone at their word. She could come up with infinite examples of times when, even today, in this bar, the words one spoke and their true desires had been diametrically opposed to one another.

And she was around those examples all the time. Day in and day out. And had been exposed to the deceit of the tongue under the 'caring' eye of her very first Champion, so the roots were well-established for her habit to be to feel the truth as much as listen for it.

She so rarely felt anything from Hiei, and those times were fewer now than they ever had been.

She freed a hand and reached for the drink, "If..."

Her fingers curled around it and she lifted it, pulling it towards her.

"-if it is truly what you wish-"

She finally looked up at him, dipped her head a little while gesturing with the drink in a fashion that made it seem more like a toast for him as she finished-

"-then I would be honored."

...my Love.

-and drank the entire glass. 3

Hiei waited patiently for her answer, silently watching as her eyes surveyed the glass in front of her as his fingers slid away from it. He noticed the hesitation, as brief as it was, before she finally reached for the cool beverage and pulled it closer.

With her initial words, that being of it being what he wished, he wondered if perhaps she were about to accept or deny because it was what he wanted, and not she. But before he could linger on it too long, before he could even entertain the notion, she accepted with a little gesture of the glass in his direction before she drank its contents.

Half surprised he had gotten this far, his expression lit up and he stood upright again. He looked around the bar, seeing how many demons were in the establishment and how many of her staff were present; if things were going to go smoothly, it would be best if they left sooner rather than later.

He turned to stare at her again, his eyes alight with his own excitement, and he held a hand out for her to take. "If it would not hinder your staff, my jewel, I would like to steal you away for the night." *

Wait...now?

There was no mistaking that he had something planned in the immediacy, and the prospect threw her, the master of planning, entirely off-guard.

She had...most certainly not made a guess at this. It explained his behavior, but still left her staring at him for a second.

...she had never actually been on a date before. Not as the humans viewed it, which is how the drink he gave her had been mixed.

"Oh, I'm sure they could not last even a few hours without me, much less days at a time." She quipped dryly, all other faculties having abandoned her except for her defensive tongue. Her lips did not so much as stir, a testament perhaps to her awareness of the ridiculousness of the statement. 3

He could sense the bond suddenly lighting up with… something from Shikiyoku's end. A mix of emotions, he knew, but he couldn't even begin to sort through them. Not when he noticed that she still held the now-empty glass in one hand and her towel in the other.

He raised a brow at her, hearing her commentary and yet not really seeming to acknowledge it as her answer. He was too busy remaining amused at her seemingly frozen state.

After a brief moment, he let out a little sound that could have been a laugh if it had been louder, and he moved around the bar to take first the dirty glass from her, then her towel, and he set them on the bar before taking her hand and leading her only a few steps away from her station.

Only then did his eyes alight on the apron she wore, and his brow raised higher. "You won't be needing that," he informed her as he circled her and tugged on the strings that had been tied around her waist. He didn't give her time to react before he had the apron over her head and hung on a nearby hook, and this time instead of offering his hand, he offered her his arm and a reassuring smile. *

There was in truth very little going through the front of Shikiyoku's mind as she let Hiei move her and her things about.

Because...really...she wouldn't know what she needed, now would she?

The gesture of his arm she at least recognized and slipped a hand through the crook of it in a natural sort of fashion that seemed as absent as she in those moments. 3

Hiei tried his best not to chuckle at her again, knowing full well that he had completely surprised her. He didn't know if things like this were usually planned before the question was asked, but for him it seemed to have worked best in this way.

So it was with great pleasure that he escorted her from the bar and out onto the street, where streetlamps were beginning to come alive as the sun began to set. He lead her through town and to the two-story house that he had previously been flitting around inside, and once there, he held the door open for her and gestured for her to be the first one in.

Inside the kitchen, he knew there to be a cookbook laying open on the counter, a piece of paper marking the page that it was open to and two other places in the book. "Our first venture is to the kitchen," he informed her as he stepped into the house behind her and shut the door. *

The breath of fresh air was appreciated, certainly.

...but the lack of control she could not yet say she had embraced.

After years of leading, of planning, of making sure things in her corner of the world was done just so, and her knack for remaining in the loop, she felt strangely disconnected from her element in a way that even her limited knowledge of what exactly a 'date' was-she had little time of her own to read or watch movies that might have informed her aside from what impressions she got from those in and out of her bar-did little to help her.

She thought perhaps it was something about the word being used that made her feel rocky. She and Kurama had after all, in relatively recent memory, been on what many would likely call dates, but she and he never used that language for it. And it had been mutual in any case, typically activities that either they both enjoyed or were for a specific outcome. It never had that strange 'official-ness' that she knew many of their kind were nowadays going through the motions of emulating, regardless of whether their intentions behind the gestures actually mirrored their human brethren.

Without resistance from her, he led her to what Shikiyoku still thought of as Toriko's home, stepping inside the door and waiting for him. 3

Hiei didn't mind her silence. He took it as her still processing, her still being puzzled by not only his asking her but by his actually having plans already made. And really, he didn't feel the silence to be awkward.

So he didn't mind leading her to the kitchen either, his hand taking hers as he moved through the house, past the already set-up table, and towards the counter that had the cookbook lying open. He stopped her just in front of it and gestured to the page marked for the Soba Noodle Salad.

And for the first time since leaving the bar after her acceptance, his nerves returned. "...Would you like to cook dinner with me? I chose three different meals for us to decide on." Finally, he turned his eyes away to stare at the page, his lips still holding that smile from before but twitching with the sudden self consciousness. *

Of all the things...

Cooking together.

Shikiyoku found herself smiling down at the cookbook, all at once reminded of the fact that though she had never been on an official date, Hiei had likely never done anything remotely akin to this in his entire life.

So, this was even more of a 'first' for him than her, really.

And she had not forgotten her vow to help him learn how these things might be done.

She tugged on his hand for a moment as she turned and stretched up to softly kiss his cheek.

"I would love to." She told him with a sudden gentleness to her as she settled back down off of her toes.

She reached forward with her free hand to flip between the three choices, meditatively considering them all before going back to the first one.

"Let's do this one." 3

When Shikiyoku tugged on his hand, Hiei leaned down out of habit so that she could more easily reach his cheek, and he found that when he looked to her, she seemed to finally have unfrozen from her earlier state of being. He could sense her gentleness returning, her generally happy demeanor finding its way to the surface again, and it proved to push away his own nervousness and replace it with his own calm.

He watched as she flipped between the three tabs, from the noodle salad, to the curry, and then the udon soup. When she flipped back to the noodle salad, he nodded his head and squeezed her hand.

"If that's what you want," he said as he moved towards the nearby cabinet. She had chosen the easiest of the three, and the fastest meal to make. If he were honest, he had hoped she would choose this one, if only for the sake of time. That wasn't to say that he wouldn't have enjoyed anything else she chose either, however.

He pulled the soba noodles and sesame seeds from the cabinet, and he set those down near the stove so that they could get noodles boiling. From the refrigerator he pulled the vegetables, all of which he spread out across the counter in front of him as he leaned to look at the book.

"...If you'll boil the noodles and toast the sesame seeds, I'll slice the vegetables?" he turned his eyes to Shikiyoku again. *

Shikiyoku made a slight noise of agreement as she nodded once in reply to his question, looking at the recipe more closely before turning and starting to pull the cooking implements she would need for those tasks from the drawers and cabinets around her and set to work. 3

Hiei pulled a knife from a nearby drawer and a large bowl from one of the bottom cabinets. He washed each vegetable before he began to slice long tendrils from each carrot and cucumber, letting the slices fall into the bowl.

He opened his mouth to mention that he'd visited his twin that morning, and that he'd seen the kimono that the two ladies were working on. However, his lips just as quickly shut, the thought of her realizing that he'd gone to her for advice silencing him on his original topic.

Despite himself, he gave a little sound of amusement.

...If she figured it out, would it really matter? He wasn't entirely sure that one of the others wouldn't say anything about it to her the next time they saw her anyway.

Plus, even if she did put two and two together, she'd proven in times past that she would not be his judge.

"I visited Yukina today," he said mildly, his lips spreading into a fond smile. "The kimono the two of you are putting together is marvelous, and she's excited that it's a project that you both can work on together." He slid the knife over the carrot, let the tendril fall to the bowl, and paused to glance at the cookbook again. "I'll have a hard time creating a set of jewelry that matches the quality of the craftsmanship of the kimono." *

There was a little smile on Shikiyoku's face that had begun to sprout once she kissed his cheek, and it had gone nowhere as she worked next to him.

"I wish I had been the one to think to ask her to help me to begin with. Once we got the measurements finished, she watched me put together the larger pieces of the fabric, but it wasn't until I started on the detailing that she spoke up and I realized she wanted to help."

She glanced over at him and let out a self-conscious little laugh, "I...was hoping you would, actually. I just wasn't sure how to ask." 3

It was easy to fall into the conversation with Shikiyoku, as always. And it was even easier to let himself work alongside her, to look over and see that she too found herself at ease in the moment, unlike how she had been during their approach of the house. He turned back down to the cucumber he had picked up and he let his hand slowly glide the blade along it until a ribbon fell to the bowl.

"I have a few ideas, but none that match the exquisite quality of what's been embroidered into the fabric," he admitted with a little huff of a laugh at himself. "...my only contribution thus far is pointing Shizuru and Botan to a napkin style that matched what they both liked." His laugh this time was a bit more self conscious. "...She apparently wants no napkins," he shook his head at himself, amused that he hadn't even thought about directing the question at his own twin at the time.

He went quiet for a few more moments as he read the instructions for a dressing on the salad, and it wasn't until his back was to the rest of the room and he was looking into the cabinet for more ingredients that he spoke up again.

"As for not knowing how to ask, just ask, Shiki." His smile was lopsided, though she couldn't see it as he reached into the cabinet. "I'd never turn down a request from you." *

"She doesn't particularly want anything." Shikiyoku commented. "If those two were there when you visited, I can only imagine their fervor about the whole ordeal to be a bit off-putting. To my knowledge, Yukina wants a small ceremony. Short. The basics. Just close friends attending. And I think that very practical of her. Kuwabara will have few enough hours with us, with her, as it is. Get them through and on their way."

As for the rest of it, the bit about her crafting and 'just asking' him, she had nothing she could think of to say, opening her mouth briefly, but only falling silent again. 3

Hiei's hand retreated from the cabinet and he returned to his spot at the counter, where he placed a new bowl and grabbed a measuring cup. Occasionally glancing over at the book, but always listening to Shikiyoku, he mixed the ingredients together to create the dressing that had been optional. It smelled interesting, he thought, but he would leave it on the side in case one or both of them decided not to use it.

He nodded as she went quiet. "One night a year, right?" he asked, but he didn't wait for an answer. "I can't say I disagree, though I can't honestly say I agree." He glanced at her from the corners of his eyes.

If I only got to see you once a year, I'd want to monopolize your time too.

"Then again, my knowledge of the human custom of weddings is limited, and thus so is my ability to comment." He shrugged. "I'm going to have some water. What would you like to drink?" *

"Well, he has twenty-four hours, so not just the night. But the way them two and Keiko speak of it, they could fill all of those and then some. ...I would just as soon leave them to each other." Shikiyoku quietly stirred at what she was working on for a moment. "...she is very happy. I...could not be so strong. I would tell the Kami that if they took him, they'd have to take me with him. I would want to tell them to find another Celestial Warrior, but he has every right to that position. They'd just have to find a place for me too." She sniffed derisively as if she imagined how the conversation might go down.

"Water is just fine for me as well." 3

"Hm," Hiei hummed to show his interest in the conversation as he moved towards the set table and took the two glasses from it and moved back to the refrigerator. He took ice from the freezer and carefully dropped a handful into each class, all while listening to Shikiyoku.

He had filled the glass from the filtered system attached to the sink by the time she finished speaking, and he passed it to her as he swirled his own around thoughtfully.

"If it comes down to it, I would be more than happy to aid in their 'disappearance' from the party." He finally took a sip from his water, mulling over the possibilities. Removing the spotlighted pair from their own celebration would be rather difficult, but he could do it, he was sure.

"After dinner, there's a Sweet Snow place I want to take you to," he mentioned as he went back to work on pulling edamame beans from their shells to add to the salad bowl. *

"I suppose we should all just give in to the fact that there's going to be a party, shouldn't we?" Shikiyoku shook her head ruefully, "And take you up on your offer."

"Oh! Uh, okay. That sounds good." When he'd said 'for the night,' Shikiyoku supposed she should have taken him at his word, but hadn't actually thought they would be doing anything else besides making dinner. The news rattled her a little again, reminding her of the fact that she was not in control as was her custom, and she fell silent. 3

Hiei gave a little shrug. "I think they just want a reason to be together as a group again," he mused aloud, more to himself. But when he realized that he'd said it aloud instead of keeping it to himself, he continued on in a quieter voice, "it isn't like any of us get together for anything. After the Eighth Level and that blast that threw us in different directions, keeping up with one another hasn't seemed exactly a priority."

He paused and glanced out of the window over the sink. After a few moments of staring, he seemed to regain his senses and he shrugged again.

"I suppose creating a life outside of the one that used to be one controlled by the Spirit World takes quite a bit of time and effort." He dropped more beans into the bowl, seeming to miss Shikiyoku's response and her following silence. *

"It's hard to keep up with someone that is gone for all but one day out of the year." Shikiyoku nudged at Hiei with her shoulder. "But I think you're being a bit pessimistic. It's true that the original group has lost their main reason for close contact, but just because you aren't there for day-to-day interactions doesn't mean you don't still share that connection you once had. I think you'd find any one of them to be game for a round of drinks if you really felt the need to catch up. But we know what they're all up to."

She turned back to her work. "You just watch. Something awful will happen and the world will be in peril again and everything will be back to normal for you guys for a bit. I can't picture anyone else that would care enough to step up and take care of the rest of us. And until then, invite them over for a drink every once in awhile." 3

Hiei swayed in place a bit when Shiki nudged into him, but his hands expertly continued their work without pause even as he glanced at her from the corners of his eyes. He raised a brow at her as he considered her words, and after a moment his lips pursed slightly.

"Inviting trouble to our backyard, are we?" He shook his head and turned to his bowl again, his lips twitching slightly as he denied himself a smile. "I could do without anymore world-ending chaos."

The last bean fell into the bowl and he reached for spinach.

"There's enough chaos on the other levels to keep me entertained for the next decade or three." *

She shook her head, "It would be nothing that could not be handled as all the other times before it. After all, that's what you're experts at, is it not?"

She only smiled down at the food in front of her, knowing he was right on the other point. 3

Once all of the vegetables were in the bowl, Hiei turned to the sink to wash his hands. He didn't have anything to counter Shikiyoku's point, so he lapsed into a calm and happy silence as he again stirred the dressing within the bowl he'd mixed the ingredients into. He watched as the oils and seasonings merged, and he dipped a clean finger into the mix.

He licked the dressing away and both of his brows raised in an appreciative manner as he extended the bowl in her direction and offered for her to do the same. It was sweet and light, refreshing in its own way, and not quite so heavy as he thought it might be.

"The rest is ready when the noodles and sesame seeds are." *

The silence brought attention to the simmering of the pans as Shikiyoku finally lowered the heat and began to bring things to a close.

She caught sight out of the corner of her eye of his movement of the bowl towards her and she lightly pressed the pad of a finger onto the mixture and turned to finish up her own things as she brought the finger to her tongue briefly.

"Very tasty, my Consort. We'll make a chef of you yet." She followed the instructions in the book as to how to add her portion together and after doing so stood back to survey their work with satisfaction. 3

Hiei stood back to allow Shiki the room she needed to merge her noodles with his vegetables, and with her praise of the dressing, he decided to add it to the dish as was intended. He mixed it all together and let her toss the sesame seeds on top, and only then did the both of them take that step back to survey the finished dish.

Hiei glanced to her, surveying her expression and the pleasant hum from their bond before he nodded to himself and reached for the large serving bowl that they'd put the finished product into. For the first time, he realized that he hadn't eaten all day, and he did his best to ignore the rumbling of his stomach.

With his free hand, Hiei gestured for Shiki to lead the way to the table, and he set the bowl in the center before he moved to find serving utensils. He opened a few drawers before he found the right one, and from it he pulled tongs that, when he returned to the table, he passed to Shikiyoku to use first.

Then he sat across from her, and without really thinking about it, he found himself watching her every move with more than a little admiration behind his stare. *

As he placed the food, she set their glasses of water at their respective place settings.

She had almost forgotten what the two of them were doing together that night, as a part of her found it somewhat natural, and if she were being honest fun, for them to work together in an environment that was one, if not initially of her own doing, that Hiei had sequestered her away to. Something away from everything else.

She remembered once they actually sat down and she found herself looking over the table at him.

Her gaze lowered, thankful for the distraction of serving and then beginning to eat the food as a redness rose into her cheeks again. 3

Hiei served himself some of the noodle salad only after Shikiyoku had gotten what she wanted, and he began to eat just as quietly as she did, though his was more out of calm appreciation for the moment and his company. He noticed that her face flushed again, and that her energy shimmered its way to life around her, and his brow rose in curiosity.

The hum that the bond sent his way was different than the pleasantness from before, and he analyzed it for a beat before he turned to his own serving again.

He swallowed his mouthful before he asked in a low tone, "are you unnerved?" He didn't immediately glance up, unsure if it was by his own nerves or simply because he feared he'd get distracted if he looked up at her again. He fished a few noodles from his plate and had them in his mouth before he finally did look up, his expression a calm and curious one. *

"N-no." I am now that I feel like I have to explain though.

She shuffled her food around a bit, her blush starting to fade now that he wasn't staring at her like that anymore.

"You were...staring." She admitted, taking another bite. 3

Hiei stopped chewing for a moment as she spoke up, and he turned his eyes down to his plate to grab another serving. With her admittance, there was a beat where he paused again, seemingly unsure how to react, and then he lifted his eyes again.

He raised a brow at her. "You mean like this?"

He stared some more, this time his calm demeanor an actual mask to hide his amusement. Is that all it was? ...Silly woman. *

There was a second of tension when he asked, as if she knew what was coming next, but it passed and she continued eating, but didn't look up at him.

Once she swallowed, she spoke up again, "Not...exactly." 3

"Oh?" He tilted his head to the side for a moment before he let it go and turned down to the salad again, and he shrugged. "...didn't know I had different stares." He paused with his chopsticks just by his lips, then lowered them again as he looked up.

"You know, before today, I didn't know you could sew entire outfits." He said it almost as if it were a question. He imagined the kimono she had been putting together and the time she had patched his cloak, and his curiosity bubbled and mixed with his amusement. "What else have I yet to discover about you, my jewel?" *

You have many different stares, flame boy. But it's just the few that get me into trouble.

She kept eating as he spoke, smiling a little as she thought of his earlier praise of the kimono.

"I...am not sure, Hiei." Nothing that won't get me into even more trouble. "I already thought you knew about the tailoring, so I do not think I am a good gauge for such an inquiry." 3

"I suppose I'll just be pleasantly surprised then, should anything new come up."

Hiei ate in silence for a few moments, even finishing his portion and considering getting seconds before he sat back in his chair and contented himself with sipping at the water left in his glass. His eyes traveled the room for a few moments, taking in the things that hadn't changed since he and Shikiyoku had last been inside these walls, until his gaze fell on her again.

And in that silence he remained, knowing that they didn't always need to fill that silence to keep the air clear of discomfort. *

Shikiyoku smiled down at her food, the silence filling her with the memories of the house, with thoughts of her early days with Hiei, with the sounds of Taka's laughter and the sensation of Kitoushi's mind brushing her own.

It threw her thoughts back even farther, to their times together on the Ninth that were twinged nowadays more with a happiness instead of the deep-seated sorrow that had been present when they had just passed over, and reminded her of something that related to Hiei's statement about being surprised by learning something new of her as she sat there across from him in the present.

"I forget-" She began softly, still smiling just a touch, "-that I have not truly known you very long in the grand scheme of my life. And even then, the time that we have spent together is almost shorter than the length of time we have known one another, since we have each spent a decade away from the other." She finally looked over at him, eyes gleaming thoughtfully. "As you get older, you count less the passage of time, as each day becomes less of an interval. At two, a year was half my life. But at 200, a year was only a fraction of it. And the fraction is only ever decreasing as the years increase."

Her thoughtfulness turned more meditative as she gazed at him steadily, "But even still...it is so strange. I always feel as if I have known you forever, Hiei. Yet, there was so much to both our lives before you became my Champion. Which means there is much about one another that we did not get to experience."

She shook her head a little, "It is something that I tend to not remember. So, in a way, your being surprised...always surprises me." 3

Hiei lost himself in watching Shikiyoku, his thoughts clear of anything outside of her and the time they were spending together. He lost himself in the way she smiled to herself as whatever thoughts passed by her mind, and in the way she paused every now and then to contemplate on those thoughts.

And when she spoke, he lost himself in the tone of her voice and the words that danced from her tongue, each word enunciated by the smile that just touched her lips. And when her eyes finally met his, he lost himself within the greenness of them, leaving him unable to look away even if he had wanted to do so.

There was an odd sort of sentimentality in her tone, as if she felt fond of the experiences she spoke of, whether they be past or present. There was a warmth in the way she talked of their time together, and it had his core doing this odd little ba-thump every once in awhile.

After a moment, he lowered his chin, closed his eyes, and gave a single, near-silent hn of amusement. At himself or at her, he wasn't sure.

"I suppose it's easy to feel that way-"

He turned his eyes up to hers again.

(-when we live in one another's heads.)

He took another drink from his water, finally finishing the glass and setting it on the table.

He continued to watch her as he had been before. *

She laughed, "Fair enough."

(It feels as if you've always been there. Or in any case, it's hard to remember a time when you were not.)

"I think of things in my past or even things I have done more recently and, 'oh of course he knows about that,' when you weren't even there. When we hadn't even met. Sometimes-" She grinned, "-before you were even born." 3

As she went on talking, Hiei quietly slid from his chair, grabbed the dishes from the table, and just as quietly set them in the sink to be cleaned later. What was leftover from their meal, he covered in a clear wrap and slid into the fridge near the other ingredients.

Before she had even finished talking, he was standing by her chair and offering her a hand up.

He chuckled slightly at her, definitely familiar with what she spoke of. His eyes glittered at her.

"Tell me, do you know what my favorite part of my day is?" *

Shikiyoku took his hand and rose, feeling that at any moment the heat that waited just behind her cheeks might rise again as she suddenly remembered this date thing that they were in the midst of.

She shook her head, but did not look at him. 3

Hiei laced his fingers through hers when she stood, and his free hand pushed the chair under the table before he turned and lead her out into the cool nighttime air. He locked the door behind them, and was leading her down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace before he finally gave her an answer.

"Telling you about my day." He went quiet as his core did that little ba-thump in his chest again, and his eyes remained forward. His lips twitched upwards for only a passing moment. "And in turn, hearing about yours." *

The slight inner flinch she had was borne out of her inability to prevent the heat she had just felt at the ready from filling her cheeks when she found that he entwined their fingers together, and she nearly missed his answer entirely.

"My day is never nearly as interesting as yours." She grumbled, staring down at their hands. "I always tell you that." 3

"Perhaps not to you," he countered, his eyes momentarily looking to the sky and taking in the stars that dotted its canvas. He surveyed the patterns in the gleaming and twinkling lights, and for a moment he was reminded of the glimmer that came with Shiki's energy.

He lowered his gaze to the path in front of him again.

"...before you, I had no interest in other people's lives, and hardly any in my own." At the last, he turned to watch her from the corners of his eyes. *

She huffed, not distracted enough from their hands to stop blushing, flecks of her energy sparkling a bit around her hair, but her eyes did shift the other direction to watch the sidewalk as they moved over it.

"I knew that the first time I saw you." She mumbled. "It was written all over your face."

And etched deeply into your heart. 3

Hiei let out a little huff and turned forward again, though he couldn't quite hide the smile that tugged at his lips again. It was almost too hard to not stare at her, to watch every little reaction she had to his words.

But he feared that if he did that, he would not only lose his controlled tongue, but his calm demeanor as well. After all, it was taking great effort to force the words out against his own nerves and keep control over the odd feeling that was bubbling at his core.

As that thought crossed his mind and pulled his attention back to the ba-thump in his chest, he found himself lowering his nose until the scarf around his neck and shoulders hid half of his face. *

As they continued walking, Shikiyoku could feel little beyond her own strange discomfort at her situation.

In the silence that ensued, she had ample time to consider the fact that it wasn't...exactly...unpleasant, this feeling of being caught off her guard, of the situation being somewhat out of her control.

Granted, had it been anyone else in Hiei's position relative to her, they would never have gotten her quite so far.

...and she was too caught up in her own thoughts to take note of any awkwardness Hiei might have had. 3

The pair rounded a corner and was halfway down another block before Hiei took a deep breath and lifted his chin again, his eyes once more finding the skies overhead. The warmth that had been at his cheeks and ears slowly dissipated, having been combated by the cool breeze.

He blinked up at the stars, realizing for the first time that while he spent a lot of his time outdoors and running after this Infected or that target, Shikiyoku spent most of her time indoors at the bar or in Kurama's company building.

He took a deep breath of the fresh, clean air, noting how it lacked a certain stench that the other eight Levels had.

He slowed down just a bit more, in no hurry to get to the ice cream place now that he knew they'd make it before closing time.

"...Do you like to camp?" he asked her suddenly, without taking his eyes away from the clear sky. *

"I have done so often." Shikiyoku replied without hesitation. "Not...within recent memory of course."

The air and the silence had steadied her somewhat.

...as long as she refrained from thinking about his fingers curling around hers... 3

"Hm."

He thought back, trying to remember the last time he had done something similar to camping without the reason having to do with his guild in some way. And, no surprise to him, the fire demon couldn't think of a time where he enjoyed the outdoors as they were. Not since the time before he met Shikiyoku, in any case.

He remembered the times he used to lay in the tops of trees for that express reason. However, it seemed that he hadn't let himself do as such in far too long.

He'd have to remember to set aside a time for the both of them to do just that.

When they finally reached the little ice cream parlor, Hiei led Shiki inside with their joined hands first, though he followed close behind her so that he wouldn't have to let go. He lead her to the case that displayed the different flavors and toppings, and he peered at the choices thoughtfully.

"...what's a pistachio?" he mumbled under his breath, the green sweet snow looking anything but appetizing. *

"I haven't the faintest." Shikiyoku told him, when they had come to a stop finding herself shoulder to shoulder brushing against him. "But I plan on avoiding anything of that color, since as I recall the last time I partook as much I believe I left you afraid I was gone from this world."

Perhaps that was...mint something. She felt best throwing a blanket 'nix' over anything that reminded her of it. 3

Hiei raised a brow at Shikiyoku's reflection on the glass, at first not remembering the incident she referred to. He remembered stealing sweet snow from a store, and eating it with freshly sliced strawberries, but…

His eyes roved the choices again, looking for something that seemed familiar, and he instead found himself staring at another green choice. Green and brown, it looked like? He read the label, Mint Chocolate Chip, and frowned some more.

After another long moment of staring at the oddly familiar nameplate, he blinked and turned to Shiki again. "Oh. Right. That." The image of her laying on the kitchen floor with a tub of ice cream in her hand flashed across his mind's eye. "...No. Prohibited."

He turned back to the choices. "Any other choice is welcome. I," he looked up to the human behind the counter, who had been staring silently since their entry, "would like the vanilla one."

The teen bobbed his head and began to scoop some of the treat from its container. "And for you, miss?" *

Shikiyoku let her eyes scan over the contents for another moment before pointing at a vanilla looking one inside of which she could see chocolate shavings. She read the sign for it in a somewhat surprisingly easy fashion.

"Stracciatella." 3

Hiei blinked and turned to look at Shikiyoku with a raised brow. Both confused and impressed, he couldn't help but ask, "what language is that?" He paused briefly to turn and look for the word she'd said on the different name cards. "Is that even a word?" he grumbled to himself.

"Any toppings?" the boy on the other side of the counter asked, and Hiei turned to Shikiyoku to let her ask first - more or less to see what other crazy words fell from her lips. *

Shikiyoku shrugged, "Italian."

She asked after and pointed to a few basic things that she thought might go well with hers, after a moment glancing up over at Hiei with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" 3

Hiei watched as she picked different things to add to her little dessert, and he was almost disappointed by the normalcy in the things she ordered. Amusingly enough to him, he found himself wanting her to say something else in a different language.

It wasn't often he got to hear from the different places of this world, really. Though, before this moment, he couldn't say that he had been particularly interested in it either.

"Strawberries," Hiei informed the clerk when Shiki had said she was done.

Just as he had at the grocery store, Hiei paid the clerk with a random bill he pulled from his pocket, and he grabbed his bowl of sweet snow from the counter and turned to find a seat before the clerk could even process what had been handed to him.

"What do you mean, 'what'? Had you not been the one saying the word, I'd have believed it to be gibberish." *

"Mm." She nodded at the guy that had been helping them as she took hers as well and waiting for the hybrid's lead.

"I think you'd be surprised by what other crazy things can fall from my lips, Hiei." 3

Hiei took a moment to survey the building before he realized that there were tables and chairs outside the establishment as well, and he made his way for one of those. He let go of Shikiyoku's hand to grab a couple of spoons on their way out, and he pushed the door open for her to walk through.

As she passed, he raised a brow at her.

"I'd believe just about anything were it to come from those lips." He took a bite of his ice cream before sticking her spoon in her bowl as she passed by.. *

Grateful for the utensil, she busied herself with poking it around a bit at what was in her bowl, standing and waiting for him to pick a table.

"That's rather dangerous of you, I must say." Her mouth twitched a little, but she did not actually smile. 3

With the spoon still hanging from his mouth, Hiei let the door close and he made his way to one of the middle tables, and he sat with his back to the street. He pulled the spoon from his mouth and pointed it in her direction, "You've given me little to no reason to doubt anything that's been said by you." He dipped his spoon into the vanilla and strawberries. "And even if you had, there'd be no point in attempting to avoid such danger."

He put a frozen spoonful into his mouth, and once it was melted enough to allow him to do so, he spoke around it. "You're stuck with me forever, woman." *

She finally smiled and sat down across from him, eating at her own and listening to him, eyebrows lifting as if to say 'who me?' at the most of it.

"I think it's closer to the truth, flameboy, to say you're stuck with me." She nearly stuck her tongue out at him. 3

Ruby eyes stared at the bowl of ice cream and fruit as he plunged the spoon in again, this time breaking it up into different sections and slowly mixing it together in hopes of evenly distributing the chunks of strawberries.

"I see no difference," he replied nonchalantly as he pulled the spoon from the mixture and watched a line of the frozen treat hang from the utensil. "I'm happily stuck with you, and you're…" He glanced up and stared for a moment, then shrugged, "stuck with me. Happily or not." He slid the spoon into his mouth again and gave a little smirk in her direction. *