Undeniable
After what happened last night, the mysterious person who was causing a lot of trouble to dig a tunnel to bring demons into the human world was something the gang had to find out. Yusuke was looking after Eri this time and she stayed at his place; his mother didn't expect him to bring a kid over that she thought he would kidnap or at least get a girl pregnant.
Eri couldn't understand this connection around the others that she was so lost and spaced out. She was with Yusuke and Kuwabara at Genkai's temple as the two decided to talk in private, along with the girls Shizuru, Botan, Keiko, and Yukina.
"She's been like that all day. Not once has she started playing with anything we give her," Yusuke said, glancing over at the girl sadly.
"I thought children like toys. Maybe we aren't just trying hard enough?" Botan inquired.
"It's not 'just' the toys." Yusuke corrected. "It's about something Eri knows, but can't tell. Underneath those bandages were scars and lots of them that she's too scared to tell us who did it and the person trying to get the demons to come here."
"So, what do you suppose we should do?" Keiko asked.
Shizuru thought for a moment and said, "Well, we should probably get him some clothes. You've guys didn't take her shopping for new clothes?"
"We've been busy, sis," Kuwabara replied.
"Well, that's what we should do," Yukina suggested with a small smile.
Eri sat on the floor staring at the things that Yusuke had given her to keep her entertained. How can she be happy after what HE did to her?
She heard someone enter the temple as she lifted her head to meet Hiei's. Eri can see a cold look in those eyes that reminded her of the person that treated her so cruelly.
"What are you staying at, girl? Go play." Hiei said in a deep tone.
"I-I don't want to." She spoke softly.
Just before Hiei could say something Yukina came over with a warm smile on her face.
"Hello Eri," She greeted crouching down at her level, still smiling as the little demon sat a few inches away from her, looking up at big red eyes that showed kindness.
'Her eyes...she has kindness in them.' Eri thought.
"Eri, me and the others are thinking we should take you shopping," Yukina said.
"Shopping?" Eri repeated.
"Yes. You could use some new clothes rather than these rags."
"Okay?" Eri tilted her head to the side as she looked at Yukina and back at Hiei.
'Are they siblings? They look so alike.' Eri thought.
"What do you say? We can start today and Yusuke doesn't mind at all."
The little demon takes a minute to process and slowly nods.
"Okay, let's go." Yukina takes her hand to make her stand up as she goes over to the others that were interrupted by them. "She says it's okay to go."
"Good. We shouldn't be gone too long." Keiko said. "Eri, you're going to have the funniest time of your life."
"What's so fun about buying clothes?" Yusuke inquired.
"She's going to be adorable in the clothes section for the little girls." Botan smiled.
"Just don't be gone too long," Kuwabara said worriedly.
As the girls left the temple to take Eri shopping, Yusuke slightly frowns knitting his eyebrows together as Kurama enters the temple with a genuine smile on his face.
"Hello, I just passed the girls that were taking Eri someplace." He said.
"They are taking Eri to go clothes shopping and she does need some new outfits. I barely had any to fit her in my size." Yusuke replied.
"I'm worried," Kuwabara spoke up.
"What's up?" Yusuke asked.
"I'm worried about what happened to Eri and why she was acting so strange. When Koenma brought up the topic of that person trying to unlock the gate to the demon world here. It almost seemed like Eri knew exactly what he was talking about." The orange male said.
"It's true. I wanted to know that as well, and this person may have a reason to harm Eri in the first place." Kurama said very domestically, staring at his friends.
Yusuke crossed his arms over his chest letting out a soft sigh, "What I want to do is to get Eri to smile. Maybe the girls will cheer her up while they're away. We should start watching over Eri more cautiously so that we can make her feel more welcome."
Kurama and Kuwabara both grinned at each other agreeing with that idea. They want to make Eri feel like she's home and not such a loner because she's only a child. A child needs attention, affection, and support from a guardian.
"I think that's a great idea. We should take turns even though we've kind of started this a bit too early and I guess we didn't have a chance to discuss this." Kurama genuinely smiled, rubbing the back of his neck, "However, it is a good thing that we can spare our time between school and spend time with Eri. She'll stay here and one of us can take her around the city just to enjoy anything she would like to do. If that's possible."
"Yeah, I'm with you on that." Kuwabara grinned.
"Yeah. All of us and the girls can watch over her too." Yusuke said.
Kurama glanced over at Hiei," You're going to be involved in this too, Hiei."
"Hm? I'm not here to babysit that little girl and she doesn't want me to watch her." Hiei protested.
The fox demon narrowed his eyes towards him saying, "You take the advantage of watching her closely, don't you? Last night we rescued Yusuke and you were there to keep an eye out for her."
"That was because he didn't spend the day like he said he would." Hiei backtalked.
"True."
"Hey, I may have not watched her yesterday, but I planned on making it up today." Yusuke outspoken.
"You're going to have to work together with us, Hiei. She needs you too." Kurama said.
The fire demon gave him a dark look in the eyes replying, "She doesn't need me at all. I have no business with the girl and she knows it too."
Kuwabara lets out a loud groan, "Look, Eri is just a small kid and she needs us. Don't you think so too? I mean what were you like as a kid, Hiei? Because I think Eri would like to get to know you if you weren't such a grouchy old short stack."
"I shut your mouth if I were you." Hiei sneered glaring at Kuwabara with fire in those eyes.
The detective went over to Hiei saying, "What Kuwabara means is that…" He sighed. "He wants us to make Eri happy. Didn't you take a look at her face? She was scared and you can say that she may be weak in your view, but that doesn't fix anything."
"Where do you see any happiness in this living hell?" Hiei grunted.
"Happiness comes from the people that care most about you." Yusuke starts simply explaining to Hiei. "It comes from the people you trust, love, and care about the most." Yusuke frowns a little, whispering, "Eri has not smiled since I saved her. She is in some type of trauma that we need to fix and that's what we'll do."
"Why are you forcing me to do this? I told you I'm not-"
"I don't care. You're helping us and this is not by force or at least it's…" Yusuke huffed. "Just do us this favor and help us make Eri happy. That's what she needs."
"Hn, I will do this silly task for you all," Hiei replied facing away from them as the three were glad they talked about this over with him.
This feeling ached Hiei's heart as he walked out of the temple to stand outside clenching his fist. He glared down at his feet remembering what happiness he had grown up and lost.
'You can never find happiness in this wretched world.' Hiei thought carelessly. 'Humans and their weak affections they use against us demons are no match for us.'
The others wanted to make Eri happy, but how can she smile in this cruel world that a child has to grow up in. Now, he had to babysit her like he's a parent and he doesn't know how to take care of a child.
Evening
"We're back!" Botan called out holding bags in her arms as she set them aside as the other girls came in with Eri.
"Hey, how did the shopping trip go?" Yusuke asked.
"It was exhausting. They had the cutest girl clothes that we bought a lot of things for Eri to wear." Keiko replied as Yusuke glanced down to see Eri still not smiling just giving him a blank expression.
He crouched down, "Hey," He starts softly. "You alright?"
Eri nodded.
"You know you can talk to me or anyone. Okay?" Yusuke asked.
"I-I know." She squeaked.
"She's been like that all day." Botan sighed. "When we were shopping we will show her the clothes she might probably like and it is a yes or a no. That's it."
"I see." Yusuke furrowed his eyebrows not in an angry way, just rather upset that the shopping didn't go so well.
"Well, I'm about to fix something to eat. Eri, what would you like?" Yukina asked the little girl as Eri only shrugged.
"Maybe something she might like to eat and enjoy at the same time. Surprise us." Botan suggested.
"Good idea. Keiko, would like to help me in the kitchen?" Yukina asked her human friend as Keiko followed her to the kitchen to help prepare dinner.
"Why don't you go take a nap, Eri?" Yusuke suggests as he picks up the small girl to lay her on the floor with a pillow resting under her head and a warm blanket. "You lay here until dinner is ready, okay?" Eri nodded as Yusuke got up to go somewhere in the temple while Eri rested.
Eri P.O.V.
Why are they being so nice to me? It's not that I'm scared of a human, I know they are nice. But still...they can be scary when I see a monster they created is to harm against me. I worried that they might do something to me after escaping the prison I was left at.
As I laid on the floor tossing to the side holding the pillow on the side of my head remembering everyone that I met so far is so nice to me.
"Are you okay?"
Yusuke was worried about me and asked if I was okay.
"Shh, Eri it's alright."
Kurama is so gentle.
"We will until we figure out where her parents are. They might be looking for her."
Kuwabara is kind and warm-hearted.
"You fools will screw up everything if something happened to her."
Hiei is cold, but I can tell he is worried about something happening to me.
I held onto the pillow not realizing that I was crying until I heard Yusuke entering the room along with Kurama as they stopped their tracks to see me crying. They were confused about what was wrong with me.
"So warm..." I whispered.
"What did she say?" Yusuke asked.
Kurama glanced over Yusuke replying, "I think...Eri never experienced this kind of feeling before. It's a warm feeling to her when she's around us."
"You mean she never had anyone around to do this for her?" Yusuke asked.
"No," Kurama replied in a blunt tone. "Let's have her rest for now. She needs it."
I felt my eyes grow heavy and I soon fell asleep and felt their warm hands touch me on my head to comfort me.
.
.
.
It's so warm.
