In the Wake of What Follows

Chapter Sixteen: Providence

The month was filled with visitors, many of whom Terra had never met before. Genkai had a lot of admirers. There were people she saved, students she trained, warriors she bested.

Terra learned a lot about her ability to read energies during this time. When the psychics who had attended Kuwabara and Yukina's wedding visited, Terra still couldn't tell they had higher than average spirit energies.

Kaito had been refreshing to speak with. His Master's dissertation had a lot of overlaying topics of psychology in modern Japanese literature. Terra had read a number of the books he was covering when she was in college. To have a normal conversation for once was like remembering what it was like to be a human. No talk of demons or energies. Other than knowing he was a psychic, Terra didn't even know what his territory was.

The other psychics were just as interesting to get to know, if only briefly. "Too bad we didn't get to chat during the wedding," Yana said, lazily tossing and catching and apple. "They should've stuck you at the human table."

"Ah, yeah, maybe," Kuwabara said, snatching the apple out of the air and taking a bite. "But we had an extra seat at table three because Touya couldn't make it."

Touya was someone Terra had met a few days prior. An ice demon whose mourning was as cold as Hiei's once was. The ice demon apologized for missing the wedding and spent most of his time with Yukina, telling her of his adventures in the Himalayas. She was excited by the idea of one day traveling to a place in human world so much like her homeland.

"I guess that makes sense," Terra said, holding back a yawn. "Maybe it was better. The demons were so clueless about humans I wasn't under any pressure to act like a civilized individual."

"Yeah, but that's what I like about you," Yana laughed. "You're snarky. It's fun."

There were lots of other psychics who came to visit. Terra spoke with only a handful of them. Sometimes they came when she was training; other times, she was just too worn out to deal with new people. But she couldn't sense a single one of them, no matter how powerful Kuwabara told her they were.

The demons were a different story. There were so many of them, many of whom she had met before, all with distinct energies that clouded her senses. Hiei took the opportunity to try and hone that skill. Whenever a new demon arrived, he had her categorize her senses and make her best guess as to what their unique powers were, as well as their strength level. The first she was getting better at - Terra was able to accurately name all the wedding guests she had met and about half their powers. Even demons she didn't know she guessed talents or types correct about half the time. Strength level was still beyond her. Everything was either a threat or not, friend or foe.

"What good is that?" Hiei scoffed at her. "Knowing someone is a threat but not knowing if you could reasonably take them in combat? Worthless."

Terra rolled her eyes. "It's not like I designed my psychic ability," she reminded him.

Hiei smirked at that. She got the sense she was missing a joke. A new energy advanced on the temple, another mourning demon come to pay respects or curse her spirit. "What's this one?" Hiei challenged.

The energy was intense, but that didn't equate to the strength of the demon, only their emotion. Still, the sheer weight of this demon made her nervous. "He's strong?" she guessed first.

"Very," Hiei said, looking towards the direction the demon was nearing. "Though he wouldn't last long in the World Tournament."

"Is that your way of saying you're still stronger than he is?" Terra laughed. "He smells like a swamp."

"And what would that tell you?" he asked. Scents were harder to understand than physical sensations. Touya felt like ice. Jin like wind. Chuu smelled massively of alcohol, but that wasn't news. Terra had learned that Chuu got stronger when he drank, a talent she never would have known about if she wasn't told.

"He could be a plant manipulator, like Kurama, but with a different focus," Terra hedged at. "Or a demon like the type of animal that lived in swamps. Who is it?"

"No one I know," Hiei said. "Let's go find out."

Hiei disappeared. Terra sighed and followed him outside. Hiei stood on the back porch but held out his hand to still her when she reached him. There was something wrong. Hiei unsheathed a sword Terra hadn't even know was on him. The nerves this swamp demon gave her only twisted further in her chest.

Before it came into view, Kuwabara came rushing out of the house. "What's going on?" he asked in a loud whisper. If even Kuwabara was coming out here, worried, this wasn't a stranger to be messing around with.

"Be quiet, fool," Hiei snapped.

The three of them waited. Moments ticked by until a rustling of trees came from the woods just before the clearing. Then he appeared.

He was a little shorter than Kuwabara, but broader by far. Terra would have considered him stoutly if not for his height. Beyond that, it was difficult to make out his features. He was covered in a thick robe, and long matted hair covered his face.

Ignoring the three of them, the demon kept walking forward. He seemed to know exactly where Genkai's shrine was and headed directly to the small grave plot. As he didn't react to their defensive presence, they merely kept an eye on the demon and let him mourn Genkai alone. Or, they would have. Before reaching the shrine, the demon stopped and sniffed the air. Then he turned to face them. The slimy slick feel of lake algae crawled over her skin, paired with a scratch of something she couldn't identify. Not them. He turned to her.

"Nakashima?"

All eyes were on her.

"You know this thing?" Kuwabara asked in a frantic whisper.

Terra shook her head. There was nothing familiar about this demon, and the fact that he knew her was downright terrifying. It roared her name. Then he charged, a stampeding force, faster than Terra would have imagined for such a large being. She froze in fear.

Hiei dashed forward, a near mirage of speed compared to the beast. For all that Terra had seen Hiei move at full speed, it still caught her off guard just how fast he was. A sword was to the strange demon's throat before she even had a chance to process the situation or make her own legs move.

The demon reared his head away from the blade. A few fumbling steps pulled him back as his weight shifted too quickly. He stilled once he'd gathered his balance, sneering from under his matted hair at the sword Hiei kept at his neck.

"What's going on?" Yukina's soft voice asked. For the first time ever, her energy chilled Terra outside of Yukina's healing touch. It was like ice in her veins. In unison, both Hiei and Kuwabara told Yukina to get back inside. Terra heard the sliding door click shut, but didn't turn to look.

The demon sniffed the air. "No," he said, voice a low rumble that shook through Terra's bones. "Not Nakashima."

It didn't make any sense. He knew her name. She was right there. "What do you mean?" Terra asked. How could it not be her?

"A girl?" The swamp creature slurred. A toothy grin flashed her way and he threw his head back with laughter. "Yes, definitely not Nakashima." He sniffed the air again, backing further from Hiei's sword. "Nakashima's blood, though," he muttered. "Get that thing out of my face." The hulking beast stumbled back towards the shine and fell to his knees before Genkai's headstone.

Hiei sheathed his sword, but the fact he didn't head back inside meant he still considered the stranger a threat. Terra wondered what had set the warning bells off in his mind. When did the switch happen from strange demon to strange demon to worry about? Terra knew when the moment was for her, but Hiei was stronger by far. He shouldn't have such worries. Hiei remained silent, a deathly intent in his eyes. Now wasn't the time for questions.

Terra looked back towards the swamp demon. From his current position, a thick tail swiped out from below his long robe. It was scaly and reptilian. She had never met a demon that didn't look mostly human. Weird hair, birthmarks, and pointy ears or horns aside, their faces were like everyday people. This creature was not like them.

Through all the tension and confusion, the swamp demon let out a loud belch. Then he fell over sideways.

Kuwabara's eyes bugged and Terra raced forward. Hiei blocked her path quick enough. Kuwabara sniffed the air in a similar fashion to the stranger. "Is he drunk?" The burp had smelled strongly of alcohol.

Terra rolled her eyes. "It seems so. Hiei, let me through. He's out cold. I'm not in any danger." Hiei didn't move. It was an odd display of protection or dominance. Terra couldn't tell, but she also wasn't putting up with it. She crossed her arms and made sure to catch Hiei's eyes. "That's the snore of someone who's not waking up anytime soon. I just wanted to get a better look at his face. What's got you so twisted about this dude?"

Hiei huffed but didn't budge. "He was projecting," he told them.

"Projecting?" Kuwabara asked. "Projecting what?"

"Now that Genkai was dead, he thought it was his place to tear down the temple."

Aggressive thoughts would have triggered both her and Kuwabara as well. It made sense. She wondered just who this demon was.

Yukina opened the door again and cautiously poked her head out. "Is everything okay?" she asked, eyes flitting between her husband and the strange demon. "It's very quiet."

Terra deferred to Hiei. She thought everything was okay for now, but Hiei was oddly persistent in keeping her away from the drunk demon.

Kuwabara spoke up first. "The guy just passed out. We don't even know who he is." When Kuwabara went to inspect the fallen stranger, Hiei let him.

"Really?" she asked Hiei. He glared her down.

"I'll make an extra plate. Just in case," Yukina said, heading back inside.

"There's no reason to be hospitable to an intruder," Hiei snapped, but no one listened to him.

Terra finally slipped past Hiei, coming to Kuwabara's side. "What kind of demon is he?" she asked, tilting her head to the side to try and make out more of his face.

"Wani," Hiei supplied bitterly. "He smells like a swamp because he's a damn alligator."

It was sometime later that the stranger woke up. It was the smell of Yukina's cooking that did the trick. The guy seemed ravenous, as if he hadn't eaten in some time. Terra was just thankful that he didn't eat people. Hiei made the wani eat outside, if Yukina was going to insist on feeding him.

"Don't be rude," Yukina had chided, "he's our guest."

"He's not." Hiei spat. Yukina simply brought everyone's meals outside so they could join the wani, if Hiei was going to be so obstinate tonight. She would have fought harder to let the newcomer inside if Kuwabara hadn't agreed with Hiei. That's what sold it for Yukina. If Kuwabara couldn't tell for certain if someone was good or not and wanted to err on the side of caution, it was probably a good idea to listen.

The wani's name was Rizu. Sitting across from him at the table that Kuwabara dragged out, Terra could finally get a look at his face. Much of it was still covered in matted hair, but his skin was a muddy green and covered in scales. That was the rough, scraping texture she couldn't place earlier. She imagined touching that skin would feel exactly like that added layer of his energy when his anger spiked.

Still a little drunk and with food in front of him, Rizu was more than willing to talk once prompted.

"How did you know Genkai?" Kuwabara started.

"Teammates," he croaked before a burp. Terra's nose scrunched at the smell. Hiei looked more displeased than usual as well. "Was something of half a cent ago. Haven't heard from the little lady since we won that forsaken tournament. Damn powerful girl. Had to pay my respects to the only teammate I didn't hate." Rizu shoveled more of Yukina's dish into his mouth, chewing loudly.

"Tournament?" Terra asked.

"On that blasted island," he said with his mouth full.

"Wait. The Dark Tournament?" Kuwabara sputtered. "You teamed up with Genkai?"

"Hn, that would mean he was teammates with the Toguro brothers as well," Hiei remarked.

"Bastards," Rizu said, sucking the meat off a rib bone. "Practically blackmailed me into risking my life for them. But I foolishly wanted my glory. Now look at me!" He barked a harsh laugh and Terra had to dodge flying food particles.

"Genkai fought with the Toguro brothers?" Terra asked the table at large. It wasn't part of the story she'd heard before.

"They used to be quite close when the brothers were still human," Hiei said. "It's why she joined us against them when we were the invited team."

"You runts were in the tournament?" Rizu asked with another burp. "Let anybody in these days."

"Yes," Hiei snapped. "And we killed those brothers."

"Hey! Don't get ahead of yourself, shrimp," Kuwabara butt in. "I was the one who killed the creepy little one. You just killed some dude in armor."

"If you remember correctly, that creepy little one showed up only months later, and it was Kurama who dispatched him for good."

Before the two of them could get into a bigger argument, Terra cut over them to ask the question that's been bothering her for too long. "Who did you know that I was related to?"

Rizu looked up, eyes still obscured by his hair, and sniffed at her. His large, sideways nostrils flaring as he did. He was blind. The way he pat his hand around for food or turned his head towards sounds was indicative of his unseeing nature. She wondered how long he'd been that way. "Nakashima," Rizu said. "Nakashima Ryunouske. Our fifth."

"Fifth?"

"You need a team of five to compete in the Dark Tournament," Kuwabara told her.

"Nakashima Ryunouske is the name of my great-grandfather," Terra said. "You're saying he used to be a martial artist who… who knew about demons and then just. Worked for Nintendo?" It sounded preposterous. Too coincidental to be reality. She looked over to Hiei. His eyes were fixed on her, face blank. Her stomach plummeted. "Did she tell you? Is that why she took me in?"

Hiei returned his death glare to the wani. It wasn't an answer, but in the same way, it was. Hiei knew.

"News to me," Kuwabara said. "Kinda freaky, huh? How things happen like that."

Terra stood up, her mind like static. She couldn't be here right now. There wasn't a reason this gripped at her heart so badly, but the anxiety spiking in her system was triggering her fight or flight, and she was choosing to run. In the confines of her room, Terra forced herself to calm down. Breathe. Breathe.

The static in her brain got worse. Questions attacked her like daggers and she couldn't keep them out. Why did Genkai never tell her? Was all Genkai ever saw in Terra was a memory of her old fighting buddy? All Terra could think about was why she was even there. What was all of this training good for?

Terra leaned back onto the wall and slid down until she was sitting. Rizu's swamp-like energy began to fade away. He must have been leaving. She wished she had asked more, pried as much as she could about her ancestor, but Rizu wasn't someone Terra wanted to get involved with. He gave her a bad vibe.

She cursed herself for not having a computer. The fight or flight in her system was hard to ignore, and now that she wasn't running, Terra craved something to absorb her frantic energy. The static wasn't just in her mind. It was her whole body that spun and crackled as she couldn't get enough breath.

Providence.

That was the word Genkai had once used. It was providence Terra ended up at the temple. A girl with spirit awareness was the one to survive out of the three of them - not the two ordinary humans. A girl who just so happened to be a descendant of someone in Genkai's youth.

"Calm down."

The static caught in her chest. Hiei was at her window. He slipped inside, like a liquid shadow, his feet silent as he landed on the floor. Terra pulled her emotions in tight, not wanting to show weakness in front of him. It was too late. She knew that. Hiei saw everything, after all.

"I just don't understand," Terra whispered. "How did my life get so twisted that I don't even know my own history?"

"You act like everyone should know their whole lives from start to finish," Hiei commented, leaning against the window frame. "How could you seek out answers to things you didn't know were mysteries?"

She had so many things to ask, but she still couldn't get past the static in her head. "I feel like a fraud in my own life."

Hiei didn't comment on that. "It's late. You should sleep."

Terra laughed, a weak breath squeezed out of her lungs. "Me? Sleep?"

"Try."

She stared at him, a pair of red eyes in the darkness of her room. The frantic energy inside wouldn't quit, but she crawled over to her futon anyway.

"Close your eyes," he instructed.

"You going to stay in my room? Because I gotta say, it's kind of creepy."

"Close your eyes," he repeated with a sneer.

Fighting against the twist of her gut, Terra did as she was told. From behind her eyelids, she could see the faintest purple glow. The stress eased and her mind grew heavy, and before she knew it, Terra was asleep.

Terra woke up to rays of morning sunlight. It took her a moment to clear her head. Terra couldn't remember the last time she had slept so long. It took her a long time to remember the previous day's events. Rizu. Ryunosuke. Genkai's secrets. Hiei.

Terra sat up. She was wearing yesterday's training clothes and her blanket was on the floor. Her window was closed. When did he leave? How did she sleep so well? Terra couldn't even remember having any dreams. She reached out her senses for his energy. It was becoming trickier to find now that he wasn't angry all the time, but his familiar temperature was settled next door.

She debated whether or not to change first, but figured she might miss her window if she stayed in her room too long. Terra rolled out of bed and shuffled over to her door, body slow and heavy as it still woke up. The quick trip from her door to Hiei's passed in a few steps. She knocked boldly without really thinking of what she was going to say on the matter. Surprise rocked her back on her heels when Hiei actually answered the door. A large part of her hadn't been expecting him to pay her any mind.

Once the door was open, Terra realized she hadn't seen inside the room since she was its occupant almost a year ago. When she had stayed there, it had been barren except the futon. Somehow, Terra had expected it to still look that way. More surprising than Hiei answering the door was how settled into that space he had become. Several katanas adorned the wall and a clear pile of laundry was forming outside of the open chest of drawers where some clean clothes poked out.

"What?"

Terra turned her attention back to Hiei. The morning was for studying, so she hadn't needed to meet him at a specific time. Even still, she was a bit disoriented from the shift in her normal schedule. "Last night," she said, looking him in the eye. She tried to search for something, anything that would reveal his thoughts. "Did you… help me fall asleep?"

Hiei looked away, an embarrassed sneer curling over his lips. He wasn't angry; otherwise he would have kept eye contact. She was starting to learn to read him, at least. Although she still couldn't fathom why he would help her in such a way.

"The barrier around your mind is slipping. We should work on teaching you how to block psychics on purpose," he said, as if his act of goodwill was a callous dig at her weak mental fortitude.

Terra didn't like the sound of that for many reasons, least of which being Hiei's rude dismissal. "Have you been reading my mind?" she asked, unamused. If she weren't carrying that wall with her, then she wouldn't be getting warning headaches if Hiei ever tried to probe her mind.

Hiei snarled again and this time looked her in the eye. "I told you, I don't care about the sniveling thoughts of a pathetic human."

Terra rolled her eyes, whatever surprised fondness she held for him vanishing in an instant. "I'll take that as a 'no' then."

"Are we done here?" Hiei asked, voice dripping with disdain.

She waved him off and headed off to the kitchen. Sleeping so long miraculously gave her a bit of an appetite. There was a faint, burning smell that wafted into the hall. Kuwabara was cooking again.

"Oh, hey Terra," he said as she walked in. "You want some eggs."

She shrugged and reached a hand out for a plate. They couldn't be that bad. They sat across from each other and ate the breakfast Kuwabara had made. It wasn't good, but it was prepared for her so she wouldn't complain.

"Where's Yukina?" she asked between a mouthful of burnt scramble.

"Sleeping," he mumbled. "She doesn't do it often, but when she does, she's out for days. It's like her schedule isn't on earth's clock."

"It probably isn't. Do you suppose Hiei's the same way?" she asked. She knew demons didn't need as much sleep as humans, but she hadn't thought about maybe their days were longer than on earth.

Kuwabara nearly choked on his eggs. He slammed his fist a few times into his chest and shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe." He cleared his throat and speared another chunk of rubbery egg off his plate. "Speaking of the shrimp, did something happen between you two while we were gone?"

Terra frowned. "Like what?" Kuwabara knew all about how Hiei took over training. What else could they be talking about?

Kuwabara scratched his cheek. "I can't pin it down, but I've noticed it for a while. Then yesterday, the way he jumped right in front of you like that." The way Kuwabara's face contorted was truly a masterpiece of human design. Indeed, a unique sight. "I've never seen Hiei get protective over anyone except Yukina before."

The way Terra's stomach bottomed out was both unexpected and nauseating. She pushed her plate away and studied Kuwabara's nervous face.

"Wait. Do you know? "Terra had brought it up once when Kuwabara was at the table, but he hadn't seemed to overhear. It hadn't even occurred to her until just now that it was even less of a secret than Hiei believed.

His eyes flicked over her face. "About Yukina and Hiei? Yeah." Terra glanced at the hall leading back to her room. "He can't hear us. Ran off to the woods before you even made it here."

She looked back at Kuwabara and frowned. "Okay, so you know that they're siblings?" Kuwabara nodded. "Yukina knows that they're siblings." He nodded again, confirming what she already knew. "Why the hell is it this taboo secret that Hiei is desperately convinced he's keeping?"

Kuwabara dragged a hand over his face and sighed. "I don't get it either," he admitted. "Kurama told me some of it, at least. See, Hiei got the Jagan implanted so he could find Yukina, but the guy who gave it to him gave it to him on the condition he could never tell her who he was."

Terra was dumbfounded. "That's barbaric!"

"I think Hiei honestly didn't care at the time. He never planned to tell her in the first place," Kuwabara continued. "The other demon even took back the condition after Hiei won a fight or something and they don't bring it up. Either of them."

"That's so dumb."

Kuwabara shrugged and scrapped the last bits of his eggs from the plate and into his mouth. If Terra hadn't understood Hiei's choices before, she understood him less now.

"The way I understand it, at least from what Yukina says, they get to be who they are to each other because of who they've known each other to be, and not because they're related." Absently, Kuwabara took Terra's plate and began eating her eggs. "Like, by pretending, they get to choose each other instead of, I dunno, feeling obligated."

It was almost poetic. Still dumb as shit. Maybe it was a perk of living so long. They didn't have to worry that they were wasting their time not communicating.

"You think they'll ever just talk about it?" Terra asked.

"It's been over ten years," Kuwabara said, the weight of those words dulling his eyes. "I really don't know."

Ten years. More than. To never freely admit that someone means something to you. It made Terra's heartache for the both of them. Even if they did get to be who they wanted to be to each other, a relationship based on experience and action rather than blood and obligation, that didn't change the fact they weren't being truthful to each other. No matter what, that would add a strain between them that didn't need to be there.

Terra excused herself and headed back to her room. After changing for the day, she still had plenty of time before her afternoon training with Hiei. She should study more. While the basics of chakra and pressure points had been easy enough to memorize, learning how acupuncture affects the flow of chi in the body was a little more complicated.

Terra never made it to her study room.

Almost as if her feet had their own destination, Terra found herself in Genkai's old room. It was the same as it always had been, with one significant exception. The life of the room was gone. It seemed duller than before. Stale. On the far side, there was a wall of books that Terra had never seen Genkai touch - although there was a notable section missing from where Genkai had pulled Terra's study materials.

The thing about all of the texts she had been reading is that, while they may apply universally, they were written about humans. Terra's powers were only poison to demons. She looked over what was still on Genkai's shelves to see if there was something like a bestiary for the makai. Maybe learn more about the wani that had visited.

It wasn't long before Terra couldn't lie to herself anymore and abandoned her pretenses. Terra rummaged through Genkai's things, a seed of guilt growing as she did. This was Genkai, the woman who took her in and made her strong. It felt as if she were betraying the woman by merely being in the room. Terra pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind and continued searching.

Eventually, she came across an old photograph.

"She sure was pretty," she whispered. In the faded image, Genkai stood with the Toguro brothers, judging by Yusuke's descriptions, and two other men. One looked much like Rizu, broad and tall in the same way, but this man was human. The last seemed too familiar. There were many photos of her family in the homes she lived in with her parents. Her father often pointed out the one who earned them their fortune. Her great-grandfather Ryunosuke, who worked for Nintendo. He looked about seventeen in the photo. Flipping the paper over, the names of the members were scrawled in kanji - her own surname jumping from the page at her.

That was him. Her ancestor. Genkai's teammate.

There was nothing else. Terra combed the entire room and that was the only item from Genkai's youth - the only thing that hinted at the ties between them long before their meeting.

"Find what you're looking for?"

Hiei's voice startled her. She hadn't sensed his energy at all. The surprise of his appearance had her heart speeding like a hummingbird. Despite her immediate fear of being caught red-handed, there was no hint to emotion in his voice. He didn't seem irritated that she was rummaging through a dead woman's things. When Terra turned to face him, his face was stoic, as if being there was a passing fancy that had already lost his interest.

"Not really," she admitted. Terra looked back at the photo in her hand. The odd mix of emotions that had been stirring in her gut since the day before twisted like a sharp knife. "Can I ask you." She stopped herself.

The weight of her unfinished question didn't sit well in the air.

"Ask."

Terra wasn't sure what she wanted to know. Or what she wanted to know first. If she hadn't swallowed the words, she wasn't sure what would have come out of her mouth. She thumbed the worn-out photograph and looked back at the faces that gathered on it.

"Rizu isn't a demon in this photo."

Hiei's bored expression didn't falter. "Neither are the Toguro's," he said. Before she could make sense of that, he jerked his head to the hallway. "You're late for training."

He began walking away, but the fact that his pace was slow enough for her to follow could be considered encouraging. As they walked, Terra gathered her courage to ask the question she feared the answers to.

They were almost at the dojo by the time she spoke up. "What did Genkai tell you that she never told me?"

"Many things."

Terra clenched her jaw. He was being obstinate on purpose. "That relate to me," she clarified.

Hiei stayed silent as he opened the dojo door. He paused and looked at her, hand still on the shoji's edge. "Genkai swore never to associate with her teammates from that year of the Dark Tournament," he told her. Then he entered the dojo and headed to the equipment closet.

"That doesn't answer anything, Hiei," Terra snapped.

She watched as Hiei calmly reached past the practice naginatas and instead pulled out a pair of weapons that had definitely not been there just days before. The sharp blade of curved steel was soldered to the top. He tossed it her way and Terra dodged on reflex.

"Are your arms broken?" he sneered.

The shock of seeing a real naginata had been surprising. These were a little longer than the wooden practices ones, and the staves were ornately engraved with an intricate pattern. It was almost enough to distract her from her needling curiosity.

Almost.

"No, you told me I could ask." She crossed her arms, ready to wait out whatever stream of insults Hiei would throw at her.

Hiei looked at the fallen naginata then back at her. He must have seen her stubbornness and decided not to test it because his response came without any more pressuring. "She took you in because you showed promise," he huffed. "Not because of your relation to that man. She didn't even figure it out until you returned. Nakashima is a fairly common name. She liked to tout providence, but life is full of coincidence."

Terra stared at the naginata. Genkai had made a point on her deathbed to tell Terra exactly what Hiei was saying. Genkai had told her to never forget. I decided to train you for you. Yet here Terra was, second-guessing her place at the temple.

"How did she know?" Terra asked. "That I was his great-granddaughter."

"Similar energies. Pick it up."

Terra crouched by the weapon and examined the staff more closely, but did not touch. She couldn't be sure, but the twisting markers felt dense with power.

"If Ryunosuke was like me, then why was my reiki so confusing?" Terra asked.

"They felt similar, not that they acted the same. She didn't say a word about his fighting skills," Hiei snapped. "Pick it up."

"Why did she tell you?" Terra asked, hand hovering over the long hilt.

"She didn't tell you because she didn't find it important," Hiei huffed, impatient with her now.

"But why did Genkai tell you," Terra insisted.

Hiei moved closer. Only a few steps, but the closing distance was enough to send the hairs on the back of Terra's neck on end. His mask was calm, void of irritation, but there was something in his movement that was threatening. "Genkai initially told me of your ancestry to get me interested enough to train you. It takes a lot of power to win the Dark Tournament. To be someone both Genkai and Toguro chose to rely on demands some deal of respect. If you were the ancestor some someone that strong, then perhaps you did have the potential to be someone worth the effort. As far as humans go. You'll never be strong enough to be a real opponent."

"I knocked you down once, didn't I?" she retorted, reminding him of how she poisoned his chi with her own.

"And now I know your trick I know better than to let you touch me. You would die so quick against anyone with half a brain cell in the makai." Hiei looked at the naginata again. "Pick. It. Up."

Terra did so, pursing her lips in frustration. The moment her fingers wrapped around the wood carving, she felt a rush of foreign energy, almost like a burst of caffeine to her system. "What is that?"

"This naginata was made with a sacred wood. Even a simpleton can use it to enhance their spiritual energy. For you, it can be used to give your spirit power range. The weapon is an extension of your body," Hiei said, going back to pick up his own naginata - one less ornately designed than her own. "Let your energy flow through it, and you can pierce someone's chi while still maintaining a safe distance that hand to hand does not afford you."

Terra looked down at the weapon in her hands. She didn't know when she would ever need to truly fight in her lifetime. She didn't know what lay in her future when her time at the temple came to an end. The idea of actually using this in combat felt so far out of the realm of possibility - even in a world of magic and demons. "Where did you get this?" she asked. She was sure they didn't have real ones at the temple. Or at the very least, only a normal one like Hiei was holding.

After all his claims of her frailty, her weakness and human failings, Hiei had gone out of his way to best ensure her safety should the occasion ever arise.

A complicated emotion twisted her stomach.

He never replied. They went through her basics, spending hours getting used to the new weight of the bladed staff in her hands.