A/N: Hello again, as of the start of this chapter I have 80 reviews for Ticking Timebomb! I can't believe it! That might not seem like much to some, especially when there are amazing stories like Future Talk that have thousands of reviews, but it makes me very happy all the same! Maybe we can get that number to 100 by the time I post chapter 20? That would be cool!
Also, someone (LegendaryDarkAngel7, love you my dear) over DeviantArt was kind enough to point out a little mistake I had in the last chapter, which was honestly my own stupidity because I went by an official website (which should have it right, damn them!) instead of my own knowledge. Hiei would be ranked as a Ju-dan in the world of kendo; Hachi-dan is an 8th rank, not a 10th so my bad! I would go back and fix it but as you all know I am very lazy. Anyway, here is chapter 18, enjoy!
Disclaimer: Nothing has changed, no one has called me up and told me I am now the proud owner of this wonderful series, darn it! So no, I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.
Warnings: Same as usual, swearing/curse words, violence, blood and gore, sexual themes, adult themes, etc.
. . .
"Kasumi Oneesan?"
It was so quiet that I was almost able to ignore it; I was meditating and I didn't want to be disturbed right now. Unfortunately for me, Hitomi didn't often care about my training or the painstaking process I went through to find an area of the grounds where I could get away from her. Currently, I was up in one of my grandfather's ancient apple trees, my legs folded over the thickest branch I could find. I had thought myself well hidden but Hitomi always knew where I was, it never failed.
"Kasumi Oneesan, I know you can hear me!"
My concentration completely broken I pressed my hands to my face in frustration and groaned, "Go away, Hitomi."
A rustling noise had me peeking through my fingers to see what she was doing only to discover my dainty twin sister trying to climb up the trunk of the tree. She slipped not once, but twice, before she found the right footing to haul herself up closer to the gnarled limb that I was on. Higher and higher she climbed until her hand landed on a rather thin branch…I saw it coming long before she did.
It snapped and she began to fall, luckily she was just close enough for me to wrap my legs around my own branch and lean forward to grab her hand. I reached for the other which she gave me without a word and I lifted her with all my might so she could come up to straddle the branch I currently sat upon.
"Hitomi you baka, you need to be more careful," I said, as I brushed debris from her clothing and fixed her mussed up hair.
"You'll always be there to save me though, right Oneesan?"
I couldn't look her in the eye, not when I would have to lie to her, "Yeah, of course."
She laughed softly and said, "You're lying but it's the thought that counts."
I shrugged and then lifted my head to look her directly in the eye, "That's why I want you to train so badly, Hitomi."
She grinned, one of those wide, infectious kinds that could lighten a person's mood instantly, "And I will always have the same answer – no."
"Why?"
She leaned back on her hands, tilting her head up to look through the canopy of leaves above us and the sun cast patterns of light and dark across her pale skin. Her fresh cut grass colored eyes sparkled and her grin grew. I didn't understand what she found so damn funny.
"I want to do other things with my life…I don't like violence."
It always came back to that, Hitomi had always equated martial arts with violence, but that wasn't the case. It was learning how to protect yourself and the ones you cared about. It was about self-discipline and honor, not violence. No matter how many times I explained this to her she never listened.
Defensive now I snapped at her, "Well you're an idiot."
She rolled her eyes and continued to smile, not taking the insult to heart, "Yeah, maybe I am…"
I pushed this conversation aside for a later date, I probably would never give up on asking Hitomi to learn some form of martial arts and I knew a small part of her also knew that. It was important to me because I wouldn't always be there to protect her. It was an impossible pipe dream to even consider it. Someday we would go our separate ways…I wanted to make sure she was capable of saving herself by then.
"Why did you come here?"
She was off in dream land and she hummed to herself in thought for a moment, "I don't remember."
"Yes you do," I said.
"Perhaps I just wished to spend some time with my sister, is that wrong?"
"It is if you're lying about it," I pointed out.
She turned suddenly somber, the dreamy look leaving her eyes as she lowered her head to look at me instead of the sky, "I had a dream."
My eyes narrowed into a glare, "I don't care about your dreams."
Hitomi was always dreaming about something strange. It had started shortly after we had turned fifteen back in December, now it was spring and she was still having these dreams. She called them visions, I called them lunacy.
"You'll care about this one," she said.
"Oh, will I Hitomi?" I said sarcastically.
"I was awake when I had it."
This stopped me in my tracks, my eyes widened and I stared at her in disbelief, "What do you mean, you were awake?"
"Promise you won't tell Ojichan? He'll only worry…"
I brushed this aside, because I never made promises I didn't know if I could keep, "Tell me first!"
She frowned, displeased that I hadn't made the promise, but she told me anyway, "It was about you…"
She explained that she'd been picking up the kitchen, our grandmother had gone to rest and Ojichan was building something in his workshop so Hitomi had been alone. It had come to her with no warning, while she'd been washing the dishes. In the vision, Hitomi said she saw me with a man, but not just any man. This man was strange, dressed all in black; he carried a sword with a dark oppressive cloud surrounding him – a man full of darkness, with the potential for light.
I snorted at her description and she shot me a wuthering look which shut me up so she could continue her cockamamie story. I mean come on; could you blame me for that reaction though? A swordsman full of darkness– if she wasn't my sister I'd think she was insane.
Still glaring at me so I would keep my mouth shut, she continued her story. She told me that I had gone on a journey to find something important and that I had brought said item back to give to the black clad man. Upon closer inspection, the thing I had given him had resided inside a sack made of what looked like black scales and it had glowed a bright, pulsing red even through the thick layer of material.
"And what was this…item?" I asked.
"I never saw it…but in the dream you said it was the heart of a dragon."
I burst out laughing, great guffaws that had me slapping my knees and wiping away the little tears of mirth that had gathered at the corners of my eyes. That was just ridiculous, the heart of a dragon, did she honestly think what she had seen was real?
"I've heard enough," I said, the last vestiges of my laughter leaving me.
I went to jump down from the tree, but Hitomi grabbed my arm, her slender fingers digging into my flesh. I turned to stare at her and what I saw was not what I had expected. Her face was dead serious, her eyes hardened to emeralds and her lips pursed. My mouth fell open – she did believe what she'd seen.
"Kasumi, please listen to me!" she begged, her eyes turned pleading.
"How am I supposed to believe this, Hitomi? It's madness!"
She refused to let me go, even as I tried to wrench my arm back. Her hold only tightened, almost painfully and her gaze held me in place. Fuck, she was so serious, why?
"Believe it…believe it because I am your blood! We are two halves of the same whole!"
I made a strangled noise in the back of my throat and gave up on getting my arm back. She wasn't about to let me leave, not until she had told me the whole story. I swallowed hard and settled back onto the branch, but I was unable to look her in the eye again.
"Oneesan…you know what Ojichan has been working on day and night, don't you?"
"A sword," I said, voice quiet, restrained.
"Not just any sword, but your sword."
"What's your point?"
"The man in black…he had your sword. It was finished, perfect and he had it."
"So what?"
"That was the important part, don't you see? You trusted him enough to give it to him."
"I thought the important part was the heart in a bag."
She smiled again, still serious, but finding humor in my foolishness, "That is important, but not as important as your relationship with the swordsman."
"Kasumi…?"
My face scrunched up in confusion and I looked around us, seeing the orchard, the apple blossoms and the fresh green colors of spring but not who had spoken my name.
"Hey, Kasumi…?"
Who was that? It was a male's voice but Hitomi hadn't seemed to have heard it, she was looking at me quizzically while I looked around wildly from our perch to find the source of the words.
"Come on, Kasumi, wake up!"
. . .
I awoke with a gasp, large hands were wrapped around my shoulders shaking me and on instinct I hit my assailant with a right hook straight in the side of the head. They let me go instantly, the person jerking away from me so they could grab at their abused skull.
"Ouch, what the hell Kasumi?!"
The fog of sleep clearing I realized the man I had just struck was in fact Amano Ren, my partner. I had asked him to meet me at this very spot, but he had taken so damn long I'd ended up lying down in the grass to take a nap. I'd run the entire way there, which had been a horrible mistake considering my leg was still in a lot of pain. Even now, after I had rested for a bit, it ached. I rubbed at it irritably as I glanced around our surroundings and let Ren recover from the rather hard hit I'd just landed him with.
We were on the same hill he'd taken me to the night of our date, the hill that overlooked the brightly glowing city that was high enough that you could see the stars shining in the sky. I liked it here, it was secluded, the trees making it seem private and there were no houses around so I didn't have to worry about prying eyes or ears. There was only the forest and whatever creatures resided within it.
"Sorry, but that's what you get for touching me," I said, as I crossed my arms over my chest and glowered at him.
He was dressed a little too nice for my liking, tight black slacks and a grey long sleeved shirt that was sporting about four buttons, two of which were undone to show off a bit of his defined chest. Over that he wore his pea coat, also unbuttoned and to complete the outfit he had on the same boots he wore when riding his motorcycle, black and covered in buckles. A blush rose up unbidden and said blush only grew when I caught him gazing intently at me through the darkness, our only source of light the moon up above.
I was a mess compared to him and I didn't understand his heated gaze as his eyes traveled up and down my body curiously. I had my long hair piled high on my head in a messy bun, I wore my police jacket over a simple white shirt which only showed the barest hint of cleavage and I'd been careful to cover that up with a muscle tank underneath. Other than that I was wearing jeans I'd bought in the boys' section of a clothing store and a pair of white trainers. Like I said, I was a hot mess.
His eyes traveled back up to pierce me with their icy shade of blue, "You're not wearing your glasses."
I swallowed and looked away from him, tucking a piece of loose hair behind my ear, "I ditched them. I'm sticking with contacts from now on."
That was true, I kept breaking my glasses and I was sick of paying for new ones. I would keep the pair Yusuke had cracked what felt like ages ago just for back up, because I didn't mind too much having to look through a single broken lens. Besides, I'd probably only end up wearing them at home anyway.
"You look good…without them," he mumbled and I could have sworn I saw a bit of a blush cross over his cheeks as well.
"T-thanks…" I answered uncertainly. I didn't want him to start with the love subjects again, please do not bring that up, I'm begging you universe: make him keep his mouth shut.
Lady luck was on my side this evening, because Ren plopped down beside me and said, "So, why'd you call me here?"
"Well first of all, I thought we should talk about your whole 'powers' thing."
"Oh did you, because I think that's a bad idea," he sounded irritated, almost defensive.
"Why?" Seriously, I was honestly curious as to why he wouldn't want to talk about them.
"It's not something I talk about, just let it go."
He must truly be stupid if he thought I was going to do that, "Then I don't need your help."
I stood up to leave and he shot to his feet in surprise, one hand reached forward to clamp down over my wrist and prevented me from leaving.
"You're just going to leave, no explanation?"
"Yeah, I don't have time to be fooling around."
He dropped my arm like it was a hot potato but his look of disbelief never lessened, "This is serious isn't it?" he sucked in a breath, "Have you gotten yourself into some kind of trouble?"
I stared hard at the ground, unable to look up to his face, a face so intense it could steal my breath away. His voice had been demanding, however, underlying all that was a very real and honest feeling of concern – concern for me. Ren was afraid for me, fearful for my wellbeing. It was enough to make my heart race even as I beat the emotion back into the deepest pits of my soul.
"You could say that," I finally replied.
There was a long moment of silence in which I dared to look up through the canopy of my bangs and gauge his reaction. His face was stony, almost stern. I didn't cower away from him, like a lot of women probably would when confronted with such a look, but instead I looked at him imploringly. He would either agree to help me or he wouldn't, I was just fine going alone anyway.
"What sort of trouble, Kasumi?" he asked. His tone was so dark and serious, hidden emotions hiding behind the words.
I sighed and walked away from him so I could stand at the edge of the hill and become lost in the lights of the city down below. He came to stand behind me, so close I could feel the warmth of his body and it made me slightly uncomfortable, although not enough for me to tell him to move.
I began to speak, telling him of as much of the absurdly insane story the past month had brought me as I could. I left out bits and pieces, such as Keiko's and Kazuma's involvement, as well as anything to do with Hiei, Kurama, and Yusuke. Their stories were not mine to tell, after all. I filled him in on most of what had been wiped from his memory, such as the night of the police operation and how he had shown me his powers just four days ago. I told him of my history, of mine and my sister's unwanted responsibility as gate keepers…and finally I told him of Chronos.
By the end of my tale he hadn't said a word and I was left with a feeling of nonsensical fear rooted within my heart. How would he react? Would he laugh at me? Would he call the men in white coats to come take me away? Or worse yet, would he arrest me here on the spot and lock me up? He did none of those things, my worries proving to be a useless waste of energy. Instead, he wrapped his arms around my middle from behind me, pulling me backwards until I was nestled into his chest and he could rest his chin against my left shoulder.
"You know, if I didn't have some knowledge on the supernatural, I would think you were insane," he said softly.
"About that, are you going to let me in on how you know?"
"My father…he hunted demons. I told you he died of a heart attack…but that was a lie."
Ren's breath against my neck sent shivers down my spine, which he noticed immediately. His face moved closer, burying itself into the side of my neck where his lips dragged across my skin with each new word that slipped from his mouth. I bit back a groan, months of sexual frustration causing a reaction I wasn't really in the mood to deal with. Goddamn you Ren, you always knew just how to push my buttons.
He continued to speak, enjoying his subtle torment, "A demon killed him, ripped his heart from his chest."
I might have gasped, I wasn't sure, and I couldn't say if it was because of his confession or because he had taken it upon himself to suck one of my earlobes between his teeth to nibble on. I jerked back in surprise, breaking his hold on me so I could gain a little distance and calm my raging hormones before this went somewhere we would both regret.
"That's enough," I snapped as I whirled around to confront him.
He scratched the back of his head, a bright blush blooming over his cheeks, "You're right. I'm sorry, now isn't the time for this, it's just –"
"Damn straight it isn't!" I shouted, interrupting him before he could dig his hole even deeper.
His eyes had darkened, half lidded, he stared at me heatedly, "I told you how I felt that night, didn't I?"
My breath caught in my throat and I released a noise that sounded like a mix of dying cat and someone choking – this was the last conversation I had wanted to have. Apparently the fates were not truly on my side this evening. I should have known.
"I'm in love with you Morimoto Kasumi," he said, voice strong and unwavering.
I shook my head in denial, unable or unwilling to believe his words. I plastered one hand to my face to cover my heated blush and the other I held palm outwards towards him to keep him from coming any closer. I couldn't deal with this properly, not tonight. I had too many other things on my plate and it was completely selfish of Ren to do this to me now. A typical male thing to do: put his needs before my own and push his unwanted feelings onto me when I'd made it very clear I wanted nothing to do with it.
"Stop, don't say another word," I warned.
"Kas - ," he started but I dropped my hand and glared at him.
My voice fierce, unabashedly angry, I said: "I have no need for this, do you not get that?"
He turned cold, angry himself no doubt, but I didn't care. His eyes narrowed and a sneer crossed over his features, this I could handle. An angry Ren was something I'd dealt with more times than I could count, it was familiar – it was safe.
"Someday Kasumi, I'll break through that cold fucking shell of yours, I swear it."
"Don't expect me to hold my breath," I said in return, "Now, will you help me or not?"
"You want me to help you find someone?"
"Not just anyone…"
When Genkai had given me that little piece of advice I had tried to remember off the top of my head the 'friends' my grandfather had kept other than the Master of the Reikohado-ken. Out of the limited amount I could think of, two had stood out the most.
After a few hours deliberation I'd come to the conclusion that my first choice probably wouldn't be able to help me. Old Master Hisashi, who was a skilled kempoist and a colleague of my grandfather's who had often come around the dojo, was much too old to be a true candidate. That and I didn't recall him ever mentioning being able to use Reiki. On the other hand, he was psychic that much I did know. He had spoken of being able to see ghosts and the like. And while he was old (he was in his early eighties at the time), he was certainly capable. He had his merit, that was certain, and it was easy to see why he could be useful to me but the second choice was truly my best bet.
While Master Hisashi was a kind man that made it a habit to come for a visit at least once a month, there was another who stopped by frequently, and by frequently I meant at least twice a week (when he wasn't gone, anyway). We called him uncle Takahiro and from the stories my grandfather had spoken of him he was some kind of a hero, in the supernatural sense anyway. I hadn't seen him since leaving my grandparent's at the age of sixteen and because he had no dojo of his own I had no idea where he was. Uncle Takahiro had always been a drifter, traveling from place to place, never really settling down. I could recall the little gifts he would bring back for Hitomi and me, always from somewhere exotic and different. I never understood it; Takahiro had plenty of money, which allowed him to travel, but he never had a true home.
I guess that's why he came around our place so much, as far as I knew he didn't have a family, so we always allowed him to partake in ours. He stayed for dinner, assisted in my training, and helped my grandfather in the forge whenever he had the chance. In fact, it was uncle Takahiro who had come up with the design for my blade as well as its scabbard. He was a talented man, in more ways than one. On top of his prowess with forging weaponry he was also a master swordsman, a swordsman who also knew how to use Reiki.
I'd only seen it once, before my grandfather had forbidden it because I was too young to be exposed to such things at the time. Uncle Takahiro's energy had been a deep, scarlet red and he'd shown me how he could sharpen the edge of a sword simply with his aura. What stuck with me about his little display was how his energy had flashed across the surface of the blade, not only making it physically sharper, but visibly as well.
Yes, uncle Takahiro would be my best option…however; I did not have the resources to find him on my own. I hadn't heard even a whisper about his whereabouts in four years. This is where Ren came in and I prayed he could keep his emotions in check long enough to be of actual assistance to me.
"Are you up for the challenge?" I asked. "This man won't be easy to find."
Ren smirked at me, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants, "I'm always ready for a challenge, if I wasn't, I wouldn't be chasing after you."
I rolled my eyes and watched as he pulled his cell out of one pocket, took a look at the time and frowned, "Sorry Kasumi, but my shift at the precinct starts soon…"
I waved him off, "No worries, get going before you're late."
He hesitated, obviously uncertain about something and I sighed, "What is it?"
"I don't want you walking back alone…"
I smiled at him, a genuine one, "Don't worry…I'm not alone."
His face scrunched up in confusion, "Huh? Pretty sure we're the only ones here, Kasumi."
I wasn't about to give anything away to Ren, so I just smiled softly again and said, "Someone's coming to meet me. Don't worry, I will be okay."
He still had his trepidations about leaving me, but eventually he said his goodbyes and went on his way. As soon as he was a safe distance from the hill, a rustling amongst the forest's trees alerted me to another's presence. One I had noticed some time ago – he would be impossible for me to ever miss again, after all. When he wasn't hiding his energy anyway, which he had done almost the entire time I'd been speaking to Ren, until the man had decided to touch me. I guess he hadn't like that very much, for whatever reason.
"You knew I was here."
It wasn't a question, but I answered anyway, "That little flare up of energy when Ren was hanging all over me kind of tipped me off."
"Hn," he grunted, just as irritable as always.
I didn't turn around, he was somewhere behind me, but I was too busy gazing up at the stars to be interested in the sour look I was sure he would have on his face.
"You don't like Ren, huh?" I asked, slightly distracted but curious all the same.
He didn't answer, not that I had really expected him to. It was obvious he didn't like him and I was sure Hiei knew that just as well as I. I wonder what he would think if he knew Kazuma and him had that in common – a mutual dislike for my partner, it was almost laughable.
With a soft sigh, I counted to ten in my head before turning around to confront him. I didn't feel like fighting with him again and I was still embarrassed about yesterday, so much so I didn't even really want to speak with him at all. Unfortunately for me, I was certain it would be unavoidable considering he had followed me all the way here.
I kept my eyes on the ground as I turned to face him, slowly dragging them up so I could look him in the eye. He was dressed differently for once, lacking the cloak the fire demon was dressed in mostly black, all for one exception: tied around his waist was a bright red sash. Along with that, he wore his usual loose black pants, a pair of slip on black shoes, and a long sleeved black shirt. Must have been one he hadn't managed to rip the sleeves off of yet.
I carefully kept my eyes away from his chest, because the shirt he was wearing was rather tight and showed off his muscles quite well – so well in fact, I feared if he flexed he might rip the thing straight off.
Shuffling my feet and knowing he wasn't about to speak, I took it upon myself, "So…why did you follow me here?"
He evaded the question completely and instead asked me one of his own, "Does it not make you wonder?"
I couldn't say who was the most infuriating with their ability to be ridiculously cryptic, Hiei or Chronos. I swear my fingers were twitching towards his neck of their own volition I wanted to strangle him so badly.
Just to get it over with I spat, "What? What is it this time?"
His lips curled into a sneer, "How a man can speak so nonchalantly about the death of his father."
That one simple statement struck a chord and like a ball of twine all I knew of Amano Ren came unraveled. I thought of everything he'd ever told me, how easily he had lied about certain parts of his life and a smug knowing look appeared in the fire demon's eyes. He could see my doubts, but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of admitting them out loud. There was also the fact that Ren was my partner, I had placed my life in his hands and he had held it gently, like it was made of glass. He had protected me and stood by my side when I'd needed someone the most. We weren't close by any means, for most of our relationship we'd spent it disliking each other and now here we were – him in love with me and I…well, I was just off in the void somewhere between wanting to continue to dislike him and letting him break me down so I could fuck him.
Ren wouldn't be a one night stand though; he would be a dangerous foray into the world of a committed relationship, he'd take nothing less. With the seed of doubt now firmly planted in my mind thanks to Hiei…a committed relationship with Ren was the last thing I should be jumping into.
Hiei was right…he'd told me that tidbit about his father as if it hadn't affected him at all. Like he had spoken those very words out loud to more than one person in his lifetime and then he'd proceeded to try to get into my pants, like what he'd just said hadn't even mattered. There was also the fact that he hadn't reacted much to my story…like he'd already known what I was going to say. Truly, how often had someone been told that their love interest was housing a god inside them and what did he do when rightfully he should have freaked? He completely ignored it in favor of trying to break me down, how absurd. I would have to be more cautious around Ren from now on…all while slowly prying more information out of him.
To save face with the fire demon, I allowed my own lips to curl into a snarl and said, "So what? Maybe he didn't like his father very much."
He released a humorless laugh and shook his head at me in disbelief, "Someday your naiveté will get you killed."
"Perhaps it will but I'm sure you will have a front row seat when it happens," I replied petulantly.
Just so I wouldn't have to look at his overly attractive face a second longer, I turned on my heel and then flopped down onto the grass. My leg was aching again, so I massaged it a bit to relieve the pain and I felt more than saw when the fire demon came to rest at my side. He lowered himself onto the grass as well, pulling his katana from his waist to lay across the ground in front of him within easy reaching distance, then he just turned and pinned me with a heated stare.
With all my might I tried to ignore it but when a warm hand came to brush mine away from my leg I could no longer do so.
"What are you doing?" it came out much softer than I had intended, a husky whisper that shamed me.
Hiei shifted so he was turned towards me and wrapped both of his palms around my shin, a warm pulsating heat spread throughout the limb a moment later. A relieved sigh left me involuntarily as the pain lessened until it had faded completely.
He wouldn't look me in the eye, his head bowed to hide his eyes with his fringe and I was so entranced by his random act of kindness that I almost missed his softly spoken question, "What were you dreaming of?"
"Hmm?" What was he on about now?
"Before that idiot arrived, what were you dreaming of?"
I chuckled a bit at this, "If you were so curious how come you didn't just read my mind?"
He removed his hands as if my leg had electrocuted him and turned his whole body away from me, putting a bit of distance in between us. Something I'd just said had made him uncomfortable, but why?
Quietly he began to speak, "After the last time…I thought it best I didn't unless it became necessary."
I suppressed a surprised gasp and my eyes had probably widened considerably. He spoke of the other day, when he had violated me by watching the memory of the night I'd lost my virginity. Apparently this man had more honor in him than I had first assumed.
I wanted him to continue being open like this with me and so as not to further embarrass him I decided to tell him what he wanted to hear, but first I needed to know something.
"Hiei?" he cast me a sidelong glance to let me know he was listening, "Are there…"
I trailed off, because even though I was sitting next to a very real demon, a beast in his own right, I didn't know if what I was about to ask would sound crazy to him or not. It probably would to anyone.
"What?" he asked, tone annoyed but curious.
I mustered up my courage, "Are there…dragons where you come from?"
He stared at me incredulously, my question making his eyes widen and his mouth open in a little oh that clearly read "are you fucking kidding me?" and it made me quickly look away from him again. How many times had I made myself look like an utter moron in front of him now? Too many to count, damn it!
He snorted derisively, "None that I have heard of."
"O-oh…" I didn't know what else to say, I felt so stupid.
"Why?"
I picked at my clothing, smoothing out my jacket even though it wasn't necessary and plucked pieces of lint off of my jeans, anything to avoid answering him. Of course, I should have known better, because Hiei wasn't the type of person who liked repeating himself, so when he was forced to ask me again and I still did not answer he grabbed my arm and tugged so I would turn to face him.
"Okay, okay! I only wanted to know…because of my dream."
He raised an eyebrow, clearly a voiceless question and so I told him, "I was dreaming of the past…something my sister told me five years ago."
"Your sister?"
"Yes…she had visions, you know. I never understood it."
"And she had a vision of…a dragon?"
"Not exactly…"
I had my doubts about telling him of my dream but I had a feeling that Hiei's chivalry would only go so far and if I didn't tell him at this point he would just find out some other way. A way I was certain would be much more unpleasant than just me telling him the truth.
So I told him of my sister and her visions, how they had started only a year before she'd went missing and then I spoke of the particular one I had just been dreaming about. At first Hiei's face turned grim, a darkening in his eyes and a frown on his lips causing me to worry, but when I began to speak of the dragon's heart his eyes had only widened.
"The heart of a dragon…?" he whispered to no one in particular.
"Yes," I said, "Or at least, that's what she told me."
"And what of the swordsman, who is he?"
As I looked upon Hiei's face, I saw something hidden there…some emotion I could not name. There was also blatant interest and it was so obvious that I was a little surprised. I hadn't expected him to react that way, I'd expected to be called stupid, crazy even, but I hadn't thought he would honestly believe me.
I shrugged at his question, "No idea, but I'm guessing it was Hideki."
He released a low growl at the name and disappointment flashed across his eyes before he looked away from me to stare up at the sky, but disappointment at what? Had he been hoping it was someone else? Certainly I had been hoping for the same thing, but it was unlikely, especially because Hideki had shown himself with my grandfather's sword during one of his invasions into my mind. He was the only person that made sense to me.
I was distracted from my thoughts when Hiei rose from the ground and I was quick to join him, as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and began to walk in the direction of the dirt road.
"Hey, where are you going?" I called after him.
He paused and cocked his head to the side, "I have places to be, are you coming or not?"
I smiled secretly to myself because what places could Hiei possibly need to be, considering he seemed to do nothing but follow me around these days. No, the fire demon only planned on walking me home and though I didn't need the protection or the company, it was appreciated all the same. Not that I would tell him that, for it would never happen again if I made a big deal out of it.
I jogged over to his side and with a normal human pace, if not a little slower thanks to my aching leg, we walked back to the apartment in an amicable silence.
. . .
Hiei had left me on my doorstep, flitting off before I'd even noticed he'd gone and leaving me with a sense of loss afterwards. After arriving home I'd dutifully sat through the lecture Keiko-chan had given me: my reward for disappearing on her. In the time I was gone Yusuke had closed up the ramen shop and returned to spend another night in our apartment. At this point I was tempted to tell him just to move in, but after he berated me for constantly being stupid enough to put my own life in danger, I changed my mind.
I'd told them both to stop treating me like a child and then stomped off to wash the dishes from dinner, the least I could do considering I'd walked out on Keiko earlier.
As I stood at the sink, painstakingly cleansing each dish until it shone was when I felt a ghost of a pain travel straight through my heart. At first I ignored it; it was just an inkling of an ache, nothing more. Residual effects from my previous injuries no doubt and little I had to worry about.
I picked up a plate, took the sponge and rubbed the soapy water around – that was when I felt my heart seize in my chest.
I choked on my own tongue, the plate slipped through my fingers and landed with a loud crash to the floor where it shattered into many pieces. Still my heart hurt, it was like someone had reached through my chest, grasped my heart in their palm, and squeezed with all their might.
I fell to my knees, my breaths coming harsh and fast. I was beginning to panic and my heart tried to beat furiously, ever faster, but it only made the pain worse and the tips of my fingers begin to tingle. What was this? What was happening to me?
I heard Keiko call my name, having heard the plate break, but something came to drown her voice out. It replaced it with a sense of knowing…and a sudden clarity hit me like a freight train.
Hitomi…
Oh god, Hitomi!
"Get up girl, fight through the pain!"
Chronos, appearing at a time like this? At a time when I knew, I just fucking knew that my sister was in mortal danger. She was in trouble and I had no way to reach her, let alone a single clue where she even was. In the years she'd been gone, not once had I felt our connection which is why I'd always fought to reach her, because she had to be alive. She just had to be and I would have felt it if she wasn't.
Now…now Hideki had gotten to her before me, he had found her when I couldn't and he was hurting her and it…it made me so fucking angry!
I screamed in outrage, doing just as Chronos told me and fighting back the pain of my heart clenching tightly in my chest. I screamed again my hands scrabbling at the floor desperately and coming back bloody because I had dragged them through the broken bits of plate, but nothing compared to the pain in my heart.
My twin was in agony and I couldn't save her. I was a failure on every level.
I felt frenzied hands grab at my shoulders, knew they were Keiko's and had the presence of mind not to hurt her, but it didn't stop me from leaping to my feet to get away from her. My hand came up to clench at my shirt above my heart and I caught a glimpse of Keiko's frightened face and Yusuke's look of shock, except none of that mattered because I was feeling my sister for the first time in ages and she was calling to me, calling for help that I couldn't give.
Tears welled in the corners of my eyes, tears of anguish and fury, which I was forced to valiantly fight to keep from falling. I felt power spike through my veins, a power that belonged to me and me alone. It shook the cabinets and made the windows rattle. I clenched my fists and my teeth and felt the floor shake beneath me, heard the dishes rattle in their cupboards, and saw when my friends' hair stood on end.
I don't think I had ever been this angry in my life. I wanted to see blood, I wanted to kill someone. The rage was so potent I could feel it infecting me through my veins. I was shaking, my emotions too uncontrollable even every meditation technique I knew in the book wouldn't help me now.
"Yes, reign in it, make it yours…"
Chronos whispered to me, urged me on and I felt the power surge again. Yusuke pulled Keiko behind his back, his face turned as cold as stone.
I would never hurt her you moron, don't you know that? I wanted to yell at him, to call him names, but he was only protecting her. I could understand that, though his wariness of me only increased my fury.
I watched his mouth move, reading the words "I'm sorry," on his lips. Then he was gone, disappearing in a blur much like Hiei. When he reappeared he was right before me, I never saw it coming when his Reiki covered fist shot out to smash me in the face, the punch hard enough to make me black out…
I awoke sometime later, my eyes shooting open and my mind taking mere seconds to catch up to where it needed to be. I was in my bedroom, lying in my bed and…
The pain was gone…my heart was no longer clenched in my chest and the physical pain was slight when compared to the new agony that had come to take its place. With the loss of my connection to Hitomi I had very little hope remaining that I would find her intact. My mental pain far outweighed the rest.
I felt numb…empty.
"Stop wallowing," a voice said harshly, ringing out in the darkness of the room.
I felt cold, so damn cold. Not even his callous words struck a chord. Go ahead demon, give me your worst. It didn't matter anymore – I was everything you said and more, nothing you could tell me would make me feel a thing.
"She isn't dead."
No…perhaps not, it was a possibility. However, that also did not matter. Dead or not, Hideki had gotten to her first. I had failed once again.
An itch presented itself at the back of my head; obviously he had forgone his former promise not to pick around without my permission. Right now I couldn't care less. Here Hiei, take it all…take everything and mock me and hate me all the more for it.
He did none of those things; he went to something specific leading me to believe he had discovered it on his own without my prior knowledge. He plucked it from the fabric of my memory, all woven together into a mismatched tapestry, and gently pulled it until it could play through my mind like a movie.
It was of the day my sister had gone missing, she was leaving for work and I was enjoying my morning with a cup of coffee before I had to go work the late shift at the restaurant. The thing I remembered most often about this day was more the fact she'd gone missing than the little things...but this was one of those little things and I'd never realized how important it was until now.
It also astounded me that Hiei had noticed, where I had not.
She had stopped in the doorway of our tiny, dingy apartment and just stared at me as I sat at the kitchen table, drenched in sunlight from the one large window in the room that lead out to a fire escape.
"Your hair…looks like fire in the sunlight, ya know."
Still sleepy, I'd turned to smile at her dreamily and replied, "So does yours, dummy."
"Kasumi Oneesan?"
"Hmm?" I was back to staring out of the window, a little bird had landed on the railing of the fire escape.
"I'll come back, I promise."
"Yeah…I'll see you tonight when I get home from work," I said.
"Right…see you then."
I heard the door click shut behind me, a brief moment beforehand where there had just been a pregnant pause, and then there was nothing. I remembered my stomach had felt uneasy that day and it had begun the second she'd walked out that door.
And now I knew why…subconsciously I had known something was going to go wrong. That Hitomi had tried to tell me…that she'd known what was going to happen to her. I'd just been too blind to see it, once again. Considering we were identical twins, I sure did a good job ignoring Hitomi's feelings.
"Why are you showing me this?" I asked out loud.
"She promised to return to you," he replied.
I sat up, the anger returning tenfold, "So what?!"
He was standing at the foot of my bed, dressed the same as he had been earlier except he'd rolled up his sleeves, and he pinned me with a cold stare. This man...Kami, this goddamn man knew how to drag things out of me others did not. Even as I tried to remain cold and unfeeling he brought that fire back so it could burn away at the center of my being.
He folded his arms across his chest, "She isn't just going to die."
"She can't protect herself you bastard!" I shouted, incensed that he was acting as if he knew everything. She was my sister damn it!
He shot forward, pulling me across the bed by my upper arms until I was at the edge. He held me there, his hands squeezing harshly around my arms, and I became lost within his enraged eyes as they sparked in the moonlight streaming through the bedroom window.
"You spent too much time thinking about yourself, instead of paying attention to her," he snapped.
What was that supposed to mean? And how would he even know, the bastard!
He continued on, uncaring that he was making me suffer further, "What do you know of her capabilities?"
That was enough, near my breaking point I lashed out at him verbally, "And how the fuck do you know anything?
"You sit here all high and mighty but you know nothing, you're just as ignorant as you look!"
His grip tightened, near bruising and he glared at me but I wouldn't be fazed, "You can read my mind all day Hiei, but you have no idea what I've been through!"
He let me go abruptly and I had to pinwheel my arms to keep myself from falling off the end of the bed and ultimately flat on my already abused face. I righted myself just to see him standing slightly further away, the same smug smirk plastered to his face that made me want to hit him every time I saw it.
"Nothing is more pathetic than a woman whining," he said, cold as ever.
Whining…how dare he say that! He was the one who'd gotten me all riled up in the first place! Was that his plan all along, he came here to piss me off? You had to be kidding me.
"Why are you even here?" I snapped, not really caring about the answer but wanting to know all the same.
"The detective called Kurama, I happened to be with him at the time," was his answer.
Who the fuck was the detective now? Did Keiko or Yusuke call the cops because of my behavior? And if so, why would this detective call Kurama of all people, it just didn't make sense.
"What the hell are you blathering about now?"
"You truly are stupid," he said.
That was when it dawned on me, "Do you mean, Yusuke?"
He shot me one of those flat looks that clearly stated how idiotic he thought I was and refused to answer my question which he had deemed unimportant and foolish, I was sure.
"Have you finished feeling sorry for yourself?" he asked instead.
No, I hadn't. I still felt like a failure, a worthless waste of space that couldn't even protect the one thing that truly mattered. So what if I wanted to drown myself in self-pity, what business was it of his and who was he to judge me on it?
Honestly, I'd much rather be drowning myself in something much different right now – Such as a large bottle of liquor or a night of sweaty, violent sex. I highly doubted Hiei would volunteer for the latter (as disappointing as that was) so I decided to go with the former.
A plan in mind, I rose from my bed to dig around in one of my bedside tables. I found a small stash of yen there, pulled out several bills and pocketed them. I was still in my clothes from earlier and they were a bit rumpled but who gave a shit, certainly not me. I proceeded to leave, completely ignoring the fire demon's presence, however, as per usual he wasn't about to let me just walk out on our conversation.
"What are you doing?" he asked, when he came to block my bedroom door and I was not immediately forth coming with an answer.
I cracked my knuckles threateningly, prepared to fight my way out if necessary, "The twenty-four hour convenience store down the street."
That wasn't enough of an answer for him and I watched as he planted his feet – my eyebrow twitched in response, I was becoming extremely irritated. How many times did he plan on doing this to me?
We were locked in a heated battle of wills, using just our eyes to convey how angry the other was, when I sort of just deflated. I didn't have the energy to keep up this tough girl façade when deep down, I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry at the loss of my sister and childhood home all in a week's worth of time. I'd forgotten how to properly cry, so it left me with very few options on ways to vent my pain and frustrations. One of those ways was drinking and I'd be damned if he didn't allow me to have at least that tiny bit of short lived comfort.
So I told him the truth, "I'm going to buy booze. You can join me, if you'd like."
His face changed at this, either surprised by my honesty or the words I had spoken, who knows. He raised an eyebrow in contemplation, his eyes flicking up momentarily in thought, and then he conceded. He stepped aside and I left the room in a rush before he could change his mind. The apartment was dark and silent; Keiko and Yusuke must have gone to bed hours ago. I was grateful for that, because the last thing I needed was for Keiko to admonish me for drinking. We all had our vices – this was just one of mine.
I knew Hiei was going to follow me, whether he would drink with me or not was the million dollar question. It would seem the fire demon would have the lucky chance to see one more side of me tonight. He was fast becoming to know me better than even my friends.
And I honestly couldn't tell you how I felt about that…
. . .
A/N: Cutting it off here and leaving you all to wonder how Kasumi acted around Hiei while she was drunk. I planned on waiting to show that particular little scene until a time she was bit happier. This time she was only planning to drink herself to oblivion and nothing more. No, they don't hook up, sorry to disappoint lol! As for what's going on with Hitomi, that you will have to wait to find out and I apologize for the boring, emotionally charged chapter. I can't beat Kasumi up all the time after all, lol. I will begin writing chapter 19 right away, thank you all who have reviewed and read this story, it is amazingly appreciated! Never be afraid to speak up about anything you see here, I like to hear from you all, no matter how small or large the comment may be! I'm friendly, come talk to me!