A/N: Welcome back, sorry to have left the last chapter where I did! Here is the continuation. Once again, thank you to everyone for all the support! It makes me very happy! By the way, I've been listening to PVRIS while writing these chapters, totally gets me pumped. Just felt like sharing.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Yoshihiro Togashi does, the amazing bastard that he is. I'm not making any money by writing this.
Warnings: Swearing/cursing, violence, blood/gore, poorly written fight scenes, adult themes, etc.
. . .
"K-Kasumi?" it came out sounding so strangled, leaving Ren's lips like a curse, and it caused my blood to run cold through my veins.
Hiei dropped him so he could stand over the other man menacingly while still watching me with narrowed eyes full of barely suppressed curiosity. That neon pink electricity I had summoned earlier, so bright it could blind someone for looking too long, was still writhing up my arms making all the hairs on my body stand on end. The hair on my head floated around me wildly though there was no breeze in the room; it was like I was covered in static. I tried futilely to pat it down, but putting my sparking arms near it only made it worse. What the hell was this? It was just as weird as those glowing veins Hideki had given me, then again, at least that had an explanation. I'd never seen this before and didn't know what to do to stop it. Was it mine? Was this my energy or was it Chronos'?
I stared down at my arms in awe, it was so beautiful, so stunningly bright – I couldn't believe my eyes. Was this actually mine?
"Suppress it Kasumi, before it gets you in trouble," said Hiei softly, though a sharp undertone of warning was present in his voice.
Even as I heard his words I didn't know what do to with them. How did I suppress it? What was it even? Not to mention it made me feel damn good – the best I'd felt in a long time. I wanted to savor it, not get rid of it. I stared at him defiantly for a long moment, unwilling to give up when I had just discovered something completely new and different about myself. I wanted to explore this so badly.
A strong hand clamped down on my right forearm, I glanced downwards to see that it was Yusuke's and it was glowing brightly with blue Reiki. He had a light in his eye that told me he was intrigued by the turn of events, but he knew just as well as Hiei that having this happen in front of Ren was a huge problem. Yusuke pulled me towards him, taking my other arm in a second glowing palm.
"Bring it back into yourself Kasumi, but do it slow or it'll hurt you," he said, suddenly very serious.
"Yusuke…?" Keiko was standing behind him, trepidation clear on her face and her body stiff with fear.
He turned his head to give her a reassuring smile but it did nothing to lessen how worried she looked.
"Maybe you should go upstairs Keiko, this isn't something you need to be involved in," he said quietly.
She looked hurt for a minute, her eyes flickering back and forth between Yusuke and me, before she nodded slowly.
"Okay…should I call Kazuma?" she asked.
"Yeah, that might not be a bad idea, Kurama too."
She nodded again, not looking happy about being kicked out but did as she was told and trekked up the stairs. She took one last lingering look down at us from the top of the staircase before disappearing into her bedroom. The door clicked shut softly behind her and then all hell broke loose.
"Fucking hell Kasumi, what is happening to you!?" Ren screamed from the floor, that same horrified look still plastered to his face.
Shit…he could see it, that wasn't good. Apparently Ren wasn't a completely normal human. I shifted my gaze so I could take a long look at him, trying to find any signs of an aura or anything that would tell me how it was possible he could see this strange energy my anger had given birth to. There was nothing, or at least nothing I could see with my untrained eyes.
At the sound of Ren's voice Hiei turned to him with another snarl, "Be silent you fool!"
My partner glared up at him and then leveraged himself up from the floor. For a second I thought Hiei would hit him again, because the fire demon had clenched his fists at his sides and narrowed his eyes hatefully as he allowed the other man to stand. I waited with bated breath as Ren stood to his full height and Hiei was forced to redirect his glare up at him, as the man towered over the fire demon much the same as he towered over me. He was a good foot taller than the both of us, if not more.
"And what the hell are you going to do about it, you fuckin' midget?" said Ren, a slur to his words thanks to the copious amounts of alcohol he must have consumed that evening.
I cringed because the comment only earned him a swift punch to the gut from Hiei, it made Ren double over with the breath knocked out of him and he fell to his knees, his arms wrapped around his middle.
"Stop it!" I screamed and it caused that pink energy to flare up, making Yusuke grip my forearms even harder.
"Hiei, cool it man, he's human!" but the fire demon wouldn't even listen to his comrade.
He hurled another punch that hit Ren in the cheek and made the other man spit blood that sprayed across my floor like some kind of macabre abstract art. Moonlight spilled down from the bay windows on the landing, illuminating the gruesome scene with an ethereal brightness that didn't belong there. Hiei grabbed the man by his shirt so he could pull him forward and punch him again, Ren's blood covering the white bandages wrapped across his knuckles.
My partner groaned and then in a drunken fueled rage took a swing at Hiei. The fire demon caught the punch easily before hitting him straight in the jaw again. My incensed anger at the sight was building by the second. The pink on my arms turned from little bands of sparking electricity to swirling, fat circles that blurred up and down my arms, along with it was an ungodly loud crackling noise. Yusuke's hair was also standing on end now and he pushed more of his Reiki out through his hands to keep a cap on whatever it was I was accidently releasing. He seemed to be a little panicked, probably not used to having to be the referee during a fight instead of a participant and I watched his Adam's apple bob up and down as he swallowed hard.
"Hiei, Kasumi is about to blow her fucking stack!" he shouted at the demon.
And I was too, I had my hands clenched so hard that my nails had dug into them and made blood well up to drip down my arms. It stopped at Yusuke's hands, collecting there to cover his lightly tanned fingers with the bright red of my plasma. I let out a scream of outrage and fed up with being held captive I lunged at Yusuke, making him break his hold on my arms out of shock. I smashed a foot down onto the tips of his toes, not even waiting a breath I slammed my elbow into his gut and then swung that same arm back up to hit him square in the nose with the back of my fist all in one fluid, continuous motion. I felt his teeth dig into the supple flesh there briefly before he went stumbling backwards and slammed into the wall.
I didn't wait for him to recover and quickly dashed towards Hiei, he released Ren as I barreled towards him and I assumed he would disappear as usual, but instead I ended up launching myself straight into his arms. Using his speed, he slammed me down to the wood beneath us in a blur and pinned me to the ground – a very familiar scenario for me when dealing with the fire demon. The energy traveling up my arms had made my hits stronger and I used this to my advantage as I struggled beneath the man. I loosened an arm and smashed it into his side, it was one of the only true hits I'd ever gotten on him and he grunted, but it did little to deter him. He pinned my arms above my head and barred his fangs, saliva making his lips shine in the moonlight as he leaned closer to get in my face.
Not to be outdone and catching him completely by surprise (fucking props to me) I smashed my forehead into his, head butting him as hard as I could. The move had me dazed afterwards; however, I'd managed to hit him squarely in his Jagan eye. It had him off me and across the room instantly where he stood gripping his head in one hand and snarling. He had hung his head, one hand threaded through his fringe, but I could still see the absolutely murderous look he had trained on me. It made my heart freeze in my chest even while my breath sped up.
I rolled to a crouch only to have the fire demon flicker away and then bodily launch himself at me. He sent us careening into the couch, which flipped over and had us rolling right along with it. Our bodies slammed into the kotatsu, sending it flying until it smashed into the hearth surrounding the fire place and I heard Yusuke yell Hiei's name from across the room. Neither of us listened to him as we traded punches that should have hurt me much more than they did and I didn't have time to contemplate why they didn't. My glasses ended up flying off somewhere and I prayed I hadn't broken them; they were practically brand new after all.
I rolled until he was beneath me but he used his legs to flip me over him and kicked me in the gut in the process with both of his feet. The blow launched me into the air briefly before I came crashing down hard to the wooden floor with the wind knocked out of me. This was a thousand times worse than the fight with Yusuke and a million times more dangerous. Gasping for breath, I tried to rise from the floor and a pair of large, calloused palms came down from above to help me. Ren had managed to make his way over to me at some point and now he lifted me from the floor so he could press me protectively to his side and pin Hiei with a stare so cold it easily rivaled one of the fire demon's own. He handed me my glasses, which he must have caught when they went flying, and I placed them back over the bridge of my nose.
"I don't know what the fuck this is…or if I'm just so drunk I'm seeing shit, but you put one more fucking finger on my girl and I will kill you," Ren said with that same calm I had seen him use in any situation he considered perilous.
Poor Ren, I thought, as I shoved him away from me and in his drunken state he ended up tripping and falling over the couch. His only mistake was being stupid enough to fall in love with me, but I couldn't show him an ounce of mercy right now or Hiei would kill him. He'd been dumb enough to open his mouth more than once and Hiei was not someone who would forgive that type of insolence easily. Even now his rage filled gaze had shifted to my very human partner with the clear intent of murder blatantly present in his eyes and demeanor. This fight wasn't nearly over yet.
I ran at him again and just as last time he didn't move out of the way, he just pivoted swiftly to hit me in the side of the head. The punch had me careening sideways towards the floor, but he grabbed me by an arm to pull me back up before my skull could crack into the wood and went to kick me in the side instead. I put his leg into a grapple, called forth as much of that neon pink energy as I could and then released it. It traveled up my arms and burst from my chest and sent him skidding backwards. It wasn't strong enough to knock him off his feet, but it left a smoking hole in the middle of his shirt. It was enough to bring a small self-satisfied smirk to my face, however, with the explosion of light I'd just let go of I could no longer feel that same power flowing through me. I'd lost it, given it up in order to hit him only once and it hadn't even scratched him.
His eyes narrowed and he stalked towards me, intent on beating me up even more than he already had and the only thing I could be relieved about was the fact he hadn't bothered to bring his sword down from my bedroom. I was sure he would have cut my head off by now if he had. As it was I had blood (some of which was not my own) covering my face, my arms, and it had splattered across my bare stomach in horribly contrasted specks. I could feel bruises already beginning to form in various places and I was surprised he hadn't broken any of my bones. Unfortunately, I no longer had the same protection as before and the next hit Hiei landed on me would surely end me.
I never had to worry about that blow, for Yusuke stepped in between us, moving just as swiftly as Hiei could and smashed a Reiki covered fist into the fire demon's chin. The uppercut had obviously been painful because as Hiei stumbled back and shook his head to clear it he spit a great glob of blood onto the floor.
What Yusuke said next did nothing to placate the fire demon's outrage; it only managed to exacerbate it further. His cockiness must be truly never ending for him to be stupid enough to continue to provoke the obviously incensed demon.
"If you want to fight someone, pick someone who will provide you with a challenge," Yusuke threw Hiei's own words from two weeks ago right back in his face.
A groan from behind the couch alerted me to Ren once again getting to his feet, where he rubbed his head with one hand and wiped blood away from his nose with the other. It smeared across his face, making him look even worse than before.
"I've had enough," he mumbled, the words slurred all to hell.
He reached into his jacket, a move that as I trained police woman I knew well – he was reaching for his gun.
"Ren, no!" I hissed but the cold look he shot me had all other words dying in my throat. I wasn't used to that look being placed on me and it gave me the willies.
He casually pulled his pistol from its holster, had the presence of mind to check the chamber and then held it back up in a grip so steady I could have almost believed he wasn't drunk. I bolt of fear spiked through my belly, because Ren was a perfect shot and that wasn't an exaggeration. I'd never seen him miss a target, not even once. He pointed the police issued Glock directly at Hiei's head and sneered at the other man.
"One more move and your brains are gunna be covering the walls," he said, voice low and full of unfounded hatred.
Hiei chuckled cruelly, a twisted smirk stretching his lips across his teeth, "Go ahead ningen, give it a try."
And try Ren did. I heard Keiko let loose a shriek from upstairs as the gun went off and the sound of someone new pounding on my door grabbed my attention momentarily. From the yelling it seemed to be at least a couple of my neighbors, but I was too busy watching as Hiei literally dodged a fucking bullet to pay much attention to what they were saying. The projectile hadn't even come close to hitting him and instead slammed into the wall behind where Hiei had been standing, right next to the bathroom door. It left a smoking hole there (damage number three to the apartment) and I thanked Kami that our unit was the last one in the hall, so the bullet won't have traveled into someone else's home. He blurred back into view in the same exact spot as he'd been standing before Ren had shot at him as if he'd never left it.
The pounding at my front entrance ceased to be replaced by someone frantically trying to unlock the door; it was thrown open so fast it almost flew off its hinges and if anymore force had been put behind it, it likely would have. Standing in the illumination from the hallway was Kazuma and Kurama. Under both of Kurama's arms were two men (I assumed they were my neighbors) and I watched with wide eyes as he set them down against the wall and left them outside. He slammed the door behind him, looking extremely displeased with the sight that awaited him.
"What the hell is going on here?" asked Kazuma, as he took careful steps further into the apartment, having noticed Ren still had his gun poised and at the ready.
"If it isn't Kuwabara-san, my biggest fan," Ren slurred out sarcastically, without taking his eyes off of Hiei.
"You know this guy, Kuwabara?" asked Yusuke, jerking his head in my partner's direction.
"He's Kasumi's partner at the precinct," he explained and it caused Yusuke's face to drain of color as the realization that Ren was also a cop washed over him.
"Shit," whispered Yusuke.
"Keiko didn't tell you?" asked Kazuma.
"No, I guess she was too shaken up by the way he just barged in here like he owned the place," the shorter male snapped at his friend.
I sighed, because this knowledge would do nothing but fuel Kazuma's dislike for Ren and that was instantly apparent by the look on my friend's face. He had narrowed his eyes and if I didn't know better it looked as if he would begin beating on Ren too.
My attention was diverted away from Kazuma when I heard some kind of rustling noise from behind me. I found Kurama there, with a hand sneakily placed within one of Keiko's houseplants. He'd done it so casually I don't think anyone else even noticed – I was just overly observant.
The plant he must have been manipulating grew up the wall and silently shimmied its way across my ceiling. The plant itself consisted of one thick stalk, with thin branches protruding from it and sparse amounts of leaves scattered across those, personally, I found it ugly but Keiko seemed to like the damn thing well enough. Those same spindly branches stretched above Ren, reaching down towards him and for one horrified second I thought Kurama meant to strangle him with it. On the contrary, he ended up directing the plant to wrap around the barrel of Ren's gun and it was jerked from his hands in one fluid motion.
Ren was left to gape up towards the high ceiling where the plant had retracted to hold the gun hostage. He jumped towards it once, almost lost his balance (and hadn't even come close to reaching it anyway) and then promptly gave up. He clenched his now empty first, holding it level with his chest.
"Whatever, I can do without," he spit.
"I believe it is time to put a stop to this nonsense and have a civilized chat," said Kurama, his tone overly pleasant although I could hear the hidden threat lying beneath the words.
Ren sneered at him and with a rudeness that was usually foreign to the man, he completely snubbed Kurama. His eyes landed back on Hiei, for the hiyoukai had made the mistake of putting his hands on me, and Ren had never handled the sight of that very well.
I could recall a particular time while in the police academy when one of our instructors had forced me to show my other classmates hand to hand combat moves. He had obviously known I wasn't the only trained person there and it ended up turning into some kind of mock tag team fight, where my classmates spent the entire time trying to get the better of me. I did very little teaching in this situation. He'd only arranged it because I was a woman (and a young one at that), tiny on the outside, but much tougher than he had expected. Like most people, he hadn't believed in my abilities until I had given him proof.
After besting five of my classmates in a row, I noticed how Ren had stood away from the crowd lining up to get a chance to fight me and his face had turned to stone as he watched the proceedings. He was so angry I could see even from that distance how tightly he'd clenched his jaw and as the next opponent stepped forward to block my view of him a chill had run down my spine. I lost my concentration, for I wanted to see that look again, and try to decipher it. The big guy that had stepped forward didn't notice or just didn't care that I was obviously distracted by something and he ended up landing a solid kick to the side of my ribcage. I had tried to block belatedly but only managed to keep him from cracking a rib. I was thrown to the mat, where I was able to watch upside down as Ren stalked over to the instructor and dragged him off into another room. His face had been so red it had looked like he was about to explode.
The class had broken out into hushed whispers and the fight was long forgotten when Ren did not return with the instructor right away. After ten minutes, they reentered the room; the instructor came first with Ren sauntering behind him sporting a cocky grin. He looked far happier than he had just fifteen minutes before. Our instructor on the other hand walked straight passed us with a speedy gait, shouting that class was over and to get the hell out as he sped off to shut himself into his office.
That was when I realized that Amano Ren did not like the sight of me getting beat up…and had risked getting kicked out of the academy to put a stop to it.
However, when he had come up on me, brushed by and said, "You're welcome." I hadn't ended up feeling very thankful at all. This time wasn't any different.
"Ren…" the sound of my voice had him turning around to pin me with his gaze, I shivered, just like last time.
"Ren," I repeated, "Tell me why you're here."
His eye twitched, "Why do you think, or are you that fucking blind?"
No, I wasn't, and that was all the confirmation I had needed, "You've started a lot of trouble for me, do you know that?"
It came out deadly, the words quiet but still full of a seething rage. My fight with Hiei and the way Ren was acting had done nothing but piss me off. It was a righteous type of anger, pure and unadulterated – it was no wonder how I'd called forth that energy, whether it was mine or Chronos', it didn't matter.
"Yeah…I can see that," he said unapologetically, casting his gaze around the room's occupants arrogantly before returning his eyes to me, "And I don't care."
"You're walking a real thin line here bud," said Kuwabara and with the gun now in Kurama's possession he had braved walking across the room to stand at my side.
"You're really drunk Ren, you just need to sleep it off," I said, but he just shook his head.
"There's no sleeping you off Kasumi."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I snapped.
"Can I just kill the moron and be done with it?" I heard Hiei ask.
Simultaneously Kazuma, Yusuke, Kurama, and I shouted at him, "NO!"
Hiei lost interest then, releasing a sound of disapproval and folding his arms across his chest. He stared around the room haughtily and then snapped at me, "Then send the idiot on his way."
I pursed my lips and ignored him; the situation was too delicate to just jump into or send Ren home. I was also sure mine and Hiei's little altercation wasn't over yet, in one way or another. He'd be sure to bring it up again sometime in the future, of that I had no doubts. I would have to tread carefully around him from then on.
I walked up to Ren and took his battered hands into my own, "Come on let's go talk about this."
I tried to let my anger fade, to make my words sound sweet instead of threatening. I wanted him to trust me, because I knew after tonight someone would need to modify his memory again and they would be unable to do so if he fought against it every step of the way.
He seemed to break then, my words piercing him like a knife to his chest. God, he was such a mess. What was I going to do with this man? His eyes screwed shut like he was going to cry but the tears never came and he just gripped my fingers a little harder. His hands were warm, not Hiei warm, but nice nonetheless. I had gotten this man hurt tonight, whether it was intentional or not, it was still my fault. It made my heart constrict in my chest and I let go of one of his hands so I could reach up and place it against his bruised cheek, my anger completely gone in the face of this broken man.
"Come on, come with me," I repeated as I pulled on his hand and began to lead him to my room.
"Kasumi, you sure that's a good idea?" Kazuma called to me, his tone full of apprehension.
He wasn't the only one that looked wary of the idea, with Hiei being the worst. His lips had turned into a thin line, a glower in his eyes that spoke of the pain and suffering he'd like to inflict – I couldn't tell if those murderous intentions were directed at me or Ren, probably both. I hadn't paid attention before, but the room had become hot enough to cause us all to sweat and the windows had fogged up, beads of condensation running down their smooth surfaces. Hiei was extremely pissed off, more so than I'd ever seen before. I needed to separate Ren from the situation and this was the only way I knew how to do it. With luck, he would end up passing out and forget all about this shit the next morning.
"Let me handle it Kazu," I said mildly, so as not to incite Ren into another fit of rage.
Hiei's eyes never left us as I dragged him up the stairs. Ren followed me willingly, lost in the bottomless grey of my eyes, and after what felt like an eternity I had shut us up safely in my bedroom. I clicked the lock on the door handle in place, though it probably wouldn't stop anyone currently in the apartment from entering if they really wanted to. They would just bust the door down, no doubt.
Ren disengaged from my hands and wandered around my room. He picked up some of the little trinkets I had lying around and then stopped at one of my bedside tables. There I kept two pictures – one of Me, Keiko, and Kazuma after I'd won a tournament. I was holding up a rather large trophy while standing in between the two of them and we all had wide grins across our faces. That wasn't the picture Ren decided to pick up, though. Instead he selected the second one, the one of me and…Hitomi. It was taken almost exactly one month before she'd gone missing. We'd gone to a concert together – a Megallica concert to be exact and she'd snapped a picture of us down in the pit. They were a band Kazuma also enjoyed, if I remembered correctly.
He ran his fingers over the glass of the frame briefly and turned to look at me, "You weren't kidding about you two being identical."
I'd told Ren a few things about Hitomi, the most obvious being the fact she was missing. He'd vowed to help me on my search and he'd held true to that for a while now. He'd done extensive research into leads that ended up going nowhere and each time he became increasingly more determined to find anything that could possibly help me. Once again I thought of how I should have noticed Ren's feelings for me so much sooner. He had bad luck to fall for someone like me, someone too blind to see what was standing right in front of them this entire time.
I didn't speak; I just let him quietly inspect my room, so he asked another question to fill the silence.
"And where's the trophy from this picture hiding?" he pointed at the other frame, my big tournament win.
"I don't display them," was my answer.
He shook his head at me, "You're unbelievable. Who wouldn't want to display that?"
"Trophies don't mean much to me Ren, they're not a testament to a person's true abilities."
He chewed on that for a moment and then agreed with me, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Though…I did just see you in action, you totally are worthy of lots and lots of trophies."
I sighed at his drunkenness and then walked over to him so I could direct him down onto my bed. He plopped down sloppily and then grabbed my hips so I couldn't walk away from him. His hands were so large I could feel his fingers brush against my back as his thumbs rubbed tiny circles into my stomach. He hung his head and drew my body closer, so I was standing in between his legs.
"I get that…you don't feel the same about me as I do you," he began, "But all I'm asking for is a chance, Kasumi. Just one, so I can prove to you that I'm a good man."
He hiccupped, his hands tightening imperceptibly at my sides, "I just want one fucking chance."
"I know you're a good man Ren, there's nothing for you to prove," I said, bringing a hand up to rest on the back of his head if only to comfort him a bit.
He snorted derisively and hiccoughed, "Right, you've only hated my guts for almost two years."
"I don't hate you…I just…strongly dislike you."
"Big difference," he said bitterly.
"If you know how I feel about you, why are you even here?"
"I don't know…maybe it's because of the feeling of betrayal, or the fact I'm fucking in love with you and can't have you, or just my pain fueled rage, you tell me.
"I have a better idea, how about you lie down and go to sleep. We can talk like rational adults about this in the morning." No, we wouldn't, but he didn't need to know that.
"No, Kasumi, just fucking no!" he ground out, as he jerked me forward out of nowhere so he could rest his head against my chest – he was too tall for his own good.
"What was that shit downstairs?" he inquired suddenly, making my mind race with a million different things I could tell him and they all came up short.
"…I-I don't know how to explain it in a way you'll understand Ren."
"Try me," he pleaded but I wouldn't be so easily broken.
"I can't, please don't make me," I begged him.
"You tryin' to tell me I didn't see you down there with your goddamn arms covered in Reiki?"
I opened my mouth to automatically refute him, but it dawned on me shortly after what he had actually said and it had me snapping my mouth closed with a sharp click. Had he just said…Reiki…like it was a word that commonly came up in conversation with him? Did that mean Ren knew something about that sort of thing?
"What did you just say?" I couldn't have fucking heard that right; there was not a single chance in hell.
He didn't explain with words, instead a soft off white glow spread from the palms of his hands to disperse across my abdomen. I felt my battered body begin to heal, producing the same tingling sensation that both Botan and Yukina's healing energies had given me. Ren's aura advanced until it had illuminated the both of us, closing wounds and taking away our aches and pains along with the blood that had marred our skin. It felt like being covered with a warm blanket, comforting and safe. My vision blurred behind my glasses (I was elated that Hiei hadn't ended up breaking them) so I reached up and took them off to find that my eyesight had sharpened considerably…it was even better than when I used my corrective lenses.
He lifted his head, making my hand slide down so it now rested on the back of his neck and he stared up at me with eyes so haunted they made my breath catch in my throat. I watched in morbid fascination as the deep split in his lip slowly knitted itself back together right before my eyes and then ever so slowly the illumination began its trek back down my body to return to Ren. It seeped back into his hands, still holding me tightly and then it was gone as if it had never been. This little revelation was just about as mind blowing as finding out about demons and the fact that another important person in my life had done nothing but lie to me since I'd met them did not go unnoticed by me.
"What the fuck was that?" I said from between my teeth.
He ignored my question in favor of asking one of his own, "Is your eyesight better?"
I floundered for a moment; for I didn't know if I should start screaming at him or if I should be happy that he knew about Reiki but then I realized that even if he did he still didn't know about demons, that much had been proven from the night of the police operation. I couldn't just start spilling my guts to him, no matter what he ended up telling me. I felt the need to protect the men downstairs, to keep their secrets because they had trusted me enough to give them to me. That feeling included Hiei as well, even considering how cruel he'd been tonight. None of them deserved to get dragged through the mud because of my stupid mistake.
"Is your eyesight better?" he repeated.
"Y-yeah…but how?" I asked, amazed by this turn of events.
"It won't last long…why do you think I'm such a good shot?" he grinned at me wickedly, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
"My Reiki isn't good for fighting," he continued, "It only enhances things, such as the body's natural regenerative process and a person's sight…this is the first time I've used it on someone else."
He sounded mysteriously sober suddenly, "Does it cure hangovers too?" I asked sarcastically.
He laughed, "Yeah, it does actually."
This wasn't a laughing matter and he had stunned me to the point where I lifted a hand and let him have it. I slapped him so hard that the sound practically echoed around the room afterwards. His arms dropped and I stepped away from him, keeping enough distance where he couldn't grab me again without having to get up.
"You're telling me you've kept this hidden for over a year?" I said quietly.
He'd hung his head again, one hand placed over the spot on his cheek where I'd hit him, "I've kept it hidden my whole life. Don't think you're so special that it was only you I kept it from."
I sucked in a sharp breath, "This isn't funny Ren…why didn't you say something?"
"What would I have said, 'oh hey, I've got magical powers?' Yeah right…"
I lunged for him, grabbed at his broad shoulders so I could shake him and force him to look at me. He glared up at me defiantly and that look had me pursing my lips and gripping his shoulders even tighter.
"Now that you're sober, let me explain to you why this is such a big deal," I said seriously, "Those men downstairs, they're not happy with this stunt you pulled."
He opened his mouth to retort but I silenced him by placing a hand over his mouth much like he had done to me earlier, except I didn't remove it so I could molest him.
"And if I'm being completely honest, neither am I," I continued, "The fact you apparently have Reiki makes it ten times worse."
He ripped my hand away from his face and kept my wrist in vice like grip, "Why?"
"You just better hope they didn't sense it downstairs, or one of them is likely to kill you."
He scoffed, "I'm not afraid of them."
"You should be," I said, my tone severe so he would understand how serious I was.
"You can't just let me be happy about this?"
Happy…what was he saying now? What was there to be happy about in this situation? Nothing!
"Are you stupid?"
He sighed, "No, it's just…I've only met a handful of people with Reiki…and I never expected one of them to be you."
"I don't have Reiki…I don't know what that was."
He eyed me dubiously with a single eyebrow raised, "That was Reiki alright, Kasumi. No doubts about it."
I wanted to scream, I really did. This was too much for me to deal with right now. The best course of action would be to have his memory modified so I could send him on his way and then forget this ever happened. The only problem with that little scenario was the fact I would have to ask Hiei to do it and he was much more likely to kill Ren than to help him. I tried to think of another way to get rid of him, my mind unable to come up with anything plausible – I honestly didn't know what to do.
His hand released my wrist so they could return to my sides, he ran them up from my hips, and his thumbs brushed the underside of my breasts through my sports bra. The action sent shivers down my spine and made my eyes droop just a little. They continued upward until he reached my hair and there he buried his fingers within it, taking up big handfuls and enjoying how it felt against his skin.
"Fuck…you're so beautiful Kasumi."
He was looking at me with eyes that were half-lidded, a heady feeling full of sexual tension filled the room and I gulped. I couldn't go down this path…not with him and certainly not now.
I did the only logical thing I could think of…I picked up my heavy metal alarm clock off my bedside table and before he knew what was happening I smashed him in the side of the head with it. He grunted and then fell over sideways onto my bed – it was an instant KO, thank the heavens.
I tossed the broken clock aside and then I dragged his heavy legs up onto the bed. I pushed him around until he had rolled into a more comfortable position and then I sunk down next to him and released a sigh.
"Sorry Ren…" I whispered even though he couldn't hear me.
After I had knocked him out my vision went back to its normal state of blurriness, his power gone. I placed my glasses back over my nose, my vision cleared once again and then I rose from the bed. I took the folded up throw off the end and tossed it over him so he would have some kind of warmth and then I walked out of the room, shutting my door with a soft click behind me. When I looked up from the floor it was only to find a pair of glowing red eyes boring into me. Hiei was sitting in the far corner of the bench that stretched the length of the bay windows, one of his legs planted firmly on the floor and the other pulled up onto the cushions and bent at the knee. He had a scowl on his face and his jaw was clenched, obviously his anger hadn't lessened in the time I'd spent with Ren. He'd only put a lid on it temporarily.
"He has Reiki," it wasn't a question, but a statement. One that made my heart start pumping fast in my chest again. I began to fear I'd have a heart attack before the night was over.
I didn't know how to answer him, so he went on without any prompting, "He hides it, like a coward."
"He isn't a coward," I snapped and it caused Hiei to sneer at me unpleasantly, the kind of look I'd like to wipe off his face with my fists.
"Kurama will modify his memory, as he did for your neighbors," and then he turned away from me so he could gaze out the window.
He folded his arms over his chest and proceeded to completely ignore my presence. Dealing with this man was more than taxing on me, it was downright exhausting. I'd take a belligerently drunk Ren any day over a pissed off Hiei. I breezed by him, doing my best to give him a taste of his own medicine, but he neither noticed nor cared. I went marching down my stairs, to find the other boys cleaning up the mess Hiei, Ren, and I had made earlier. Kazuma was righting the couch, Yusuke the kotatsu and Kurama had taken it upon himself to grab a cloth to clean the copious amounts of blood splattered across the floors.
Keiko came bustling out of the kitchen with several coffee cups precariously balanced in her arms and hands and I rushed over to help her. Pure shock blossomed on her face when she saw how uninjured I appeared to be, as I'm sure Yusuke had already filled her in on all the gory details. I took two cups from her and began to drink from one, the other I held out to Kazuma who snatched it from my hand as he walked by to help Kurama clean up the rest of the blood.
"Thanks Keiko," he called to her.
"You're welcome…" she replied distractedly, as she gave me a good once over.
I decided not to beat around the bush, "It was Ren. He healed me."
Yusuke had heard me and he shot up into a sitting position (he'd flopped down onto the floor after fixing the kotatsu) and yelled, "What?!"
I shrugged, "I had no idea, so don't ask me. He has some kind of Reiki…that's all I know."
"Well hot damn, I didn't expect that," he said, his lips turned down into a contemplative frown.
"Neither did I," I replied.
Kurama came to stand beside Keiko and I, taking the coffee she handed him with an appreciate smile, "Where is your partner now?" he asked me.
"I knocked him out with my alarm clock," he raised an eyebrow at my answer, but I just shrugged and shot him a nervous grin.
"Do you mind if I go…tend to him?"
I knew that meant Kurama was going to modify his memory or erase it completely; I wasn't sure which, so I just nodded.
However, as he brushed by me, I grabbed his arm to stop him, "Wait, how are you going to do it?"
"With these," he opened up the palm of his hand that didn't have a coffee mug in it and inside were tiny black seeds.
"What are those?"
"The seeds from a plant only found within the swamp lands of the Makai, I'm sure you realize what its purpose is."
I frowned, "Yeah…just…don't mess his head up too much, okay?"
He smiled reassuringly, "I will only take what I must."
He left us then, only stopping at the foot of the stairs so he could turn and tell me, "Besides, I'm sure the number you did on his head was far worse than anything I could do."
I could tell he was only teasing me, especially from the sparkle of humor that flashed in his deep green eyes. However, I was far from being in a joking mood so I just smiled at him sadly and let him go on his way. He stopped briefly once again on the landing, to talk to Hiei I assumed, and then wandered off into my bedroom. To take my mind off what he was about to do to Ren, I turned back to Keiko.
I scratched the back of my head and shuffled my feet a bit, "So…" but then I trailed off, unable to think of anything I felt like conversing about.
I took an awkward sip of my coffee when Keiko decided not to fill the void and instead only stared at me with this severe look in her eye.
After a time, she built up the courage to ask, "Why did Amano-san show up like that?"
Yusuke released a derisive snort from across the room, once again lying on the floor using his arms as padding against the hard wood, "Because Kasumi's a stone cold bitch."
"Yusuke!" admonished Keiko as he hurled that same moniker at me again he'd used earlier when he'd overheard mine and Ren's conversation.
"It's true Keiko," I said, not really to defend Yusuke, but because it was the truth, "It's my fault."
As she eyed bewilderedly I began to explain what had happened, how I had been so nasty to him, how I had broken his heart without even really using any words, and then I told her about everything that occurred in the bedroom in the aftermath of the living room brawl. Kazuma and Yusuke made sure to listen in closely to this part of the tale, throwing their own two cents in here and there, which I chose to overlook. After I had finished, Keiko had a deep frown settled over her lips and I knew that look was not hiding anything that was in my favor.
"You never really rejected him though," she pointed out.
"Huh?" What about that whole scenario was not complete rejection?
"You never told him no or even that you didn't want to go out with him. You're going to give him false hope, Kasumi."
I paused to think this over…and realized Keiko was right. I hadn't been entirely honest with him…and now that I thought about it, I didn't know if I really wanted to be.
"Maybe I want him to…think that there's…hope."
Her face turned cross, "That's wrong Kasumi-chan!"
I was quick to explain, holding my hands up in surrender, "Not so I can lead him on! I…kind of…like him…" I had mumbled the last part, in the hopes none of them would hear it.
As my luck would have it, they heard it loud and clear.
"Oh gross, Kas!" said Kuwabara as his nose scrunched up in disgust.
And then Yusuke burst forth with laughter and began to roll around on the floor. What about that was so goddamn funny? I hadn't said I loved the guy, he's just good looking and tough and…well, he's in fucking love with me! What was I supposed to do? I didn't hate him, not really. I'd just spent a lot of time thinking of him as a rival instead of a romantic interest. Then again, I really didn't have time for a relationship and Ren becoming involved with this humongous mess I had somehow gotten myself into was out of the question. That same mess included things like…demons, and gods, and other things that could kill you faster than you could blink. Those were not something Ren should be privy to and I planned to keep it that way.
"Alright, have it your way! Tomorrow morning I'll spin a story about him showing up drunk – "
"Which is true," interjected Yusuke and I gave him a look to shut him up.
"– And then let him down easy afterwards," I finished as if Yusuke hadn't interrupted me.
Kazuma held his arms out apologetically and kind of shrugged a bit, "Listen…I mean, if you think it'll make you happy…don't let us stop you."
I laughed, but there was no humor behind the sound, "No, it won't…and it wouldn't make him happy either."
They all understood my meaning, each of them looking in various directions around the apartment intently so they wouldn't have to look at me. A silence fell over the room…it was then that I took my chance and, coffee cup and all, walked off to shut myself up tightly inside the bathroom. I leaned against the locked door afterwards, slid down its surface until my butt hit the floor, and took one long breath. I pressed my head back against the wood, released the breath, and then rose mechanically to take a shower.
Class tomorrow should be loads of fun…
. . .
I never made it to class the next morning.
Upon leaving my building I bothered to check the mailbox to find a single letter shoved inside. It had a black wax seal on it, which is what had caught my eye in the first place, but when I pulled it out to discover it was addressed to me I was confused. No one sent me mail unless it was bills…so what was this all of a sudden?
I tore open the envelope, pulled one thin sheet of paper out, took one look at the letter in my hands and froze.
"Hey Kas, what are you doing?" Kazuma had come up behind me and I hastily shoved the note into the inner pocket of my jacket.
"Nothing, just checking the mail," I replied.
"Get anything good?"
He hadn't seen what was in my hands…good, "Nope just a bill."
"The sucks," he stepped out the building's entrance and held the door open for me, "Want to walk to the bus stop together?"
I made a snap decision and lied to him, "Uh, my class was cancelled. I don't have another until later this afternoon."
He looked disappointed but then he smiled and said, "Oh, well lucky you. I'll see you later then?"
"Yeah…" I nodded distractedly, my mind still on what I'd just read but thankfully my friend could be so trusting and the thought never once crossed his mind that I could be lying to him.
I waited a beat as he walked down the sidewalk, whistling some tune to himself. I bided my time until he had taken a corner and was out my line of sight, then I took off racing in the opposite direction.
I needed to get to the train station and fast!
In my haste I never noticed when the letter flew out of my breast pocket to float off in the wind. Nor did I realize whose hands it ended up being caught in afterwards – hands that belonged to a certain red eyed, cloak wearing demon. All I cared about was running as fast as I could to the station, where I would catch the first train that was headed straight to Yokohama.
My panting breaths and the crescendo of my heartbeat were all I could hear as I ran through the city at break neck speed. If I didn't catch the train in time…my sister's life may just hang in the balance.
. . .
A/N: Fast update because I had both parts of this written out when I posted the last chapter! Kasumi and Hiei got into their first fight, hot damn. Also, this isn't the end of Ren; he's a determined little (big) bastard. This chapter might have been posted even earlier if the site hadn't been down for so long, grr. Also, I'm a horrible person for leaving it on another cliffhanger, you can yell at me if you want! Thank you to everyone for the reviews, views, hits, and support. You're all awesome! Thanks for reading!