"I swear to all that is good in this world, if you throw one more goddamn orange at me I'm going to punch you."
Hiei smirked, shaking his head and disappearing from my view. I grit my teeth and tried to find some sort of center. I could feel the pressure in the back of my head as always, but in the last few weeks I had noticed that it had begun to alter from resembling a headache to a constant thrumming that I scarcely noticed anymore. I felt connected to most of what was happening around me the more my awareness grew, the more I learned and the more I practiced. This was exactly what I missed when I left the compound, and what was quickly becoming the bane of my existence once more.
I brought my hands up in defense, cutting an orange in half that was flying at me, and dodging out of the way of another that I sensed coming right up behind me. I rolled, listening to the sound of fruit connecting with the ground where my head had just been, and did a back handspring to avoid a few more, bringing up a wall around me, catching another three. I let out a breath and sent a spiral of water out in the direction I felt him in.
Nothing.
I squeaked, feeling hands wrap around my arms and pull me down, weight pinning me to the ground.
"Still weak."
"I am not!" I wriggled about, trying to loosen his grip. Hiei didn't budge, didn't even tighten his grip. He just stared down at me in amusement.
"Then why can't you escape my hold?"
'Because I don't want to' was the first thought that came to mind, and I tensed my jaw to stop myself from saying that out loud. Where the hell did that come from?
He lifted a brow at my silence, releasing me from his grip standing a few yards away from me with a single blink. I forced myself upward and found that I couldn't look him in the eye, my face red and unbearably warm.
"What's wrong with your face?"
"Shut up." I took my stance again, swallowing hard. "Let's go again."
He smirked, disappearing again, and I breathed out slowly to calm down my heart.
A lot of bruises and a good deal of exhaustion later, I was curled up on the ground with every intention of making it my new bed. I could hear Hiei practicing in the background, destroying bits and pieces of the woods on his warpath and creating chaos with his every move. It hummed as background noise at most, lulling me off further.
"Papà... papà per favore!" I screamed, the water dragging me into the current. I saw a child identical to Kazuma out of the corner of my eye start running toward me before my head went under. I waved my arms, desperate to get above water so I could breath, but something kept pulling me down tugging at my ankles. It started to burn me, wrapping ahold of me tightly and keeping me below. My head was swimmy, foggy, and I would have cried if I could have just one good breath. My hands were small, a child's hands, and I whipped my head around. This was all so terrifying, so familiar.
"What a fascinating child."
I looked up and fear filled my body. I was moving without control, just a trapped observer in the field. There was a man in the water, a man with teal colored hair and glowing amber eyes. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he stared at me with so distant yet observant a gaze that I felt the pressure in my head grow.
"You come too soon, little girl. Don't worry; you will still be of use to us. Grow strong, and we will see you when your power has had time to manifest properly." His voice was like silk, gentle and flowing over me. White light... my lungs were going to burst...
My hands came up to my throat, and my vision started to darken, the surface of the water broken and rippling as people tried to dive and reach me. I was too far down...
Air released itself from my mouth, bubbles floating to the surface above me. Why wasn't I moving? He smiled, his lips promising the wonders of the world while a cold hell burned in those warm colored eyes.
I sat upright, dragging air in as fast and hard and greedily as I could, whipping around to look about me. Trees, grass... no water... fuck...
I sank into the trunk of the tree behind me, closing my eyes and pressing my fingers into my scalp to try and calm myself down. It was just a dream. A terrible, realistic, horrifying dream wasn't going away no matter how hard I shut my eyes or dug into my head to tear the image away. It felt like the second I took my hands away my skull was going to come off into pieces, shattering away with reality.
Hiei's eyes met mine the second I was confident that none of this was going to actually happen, and I jumped, dizziness hitting me. My obnoxious breathing was the only sound between us. I swallowed, breaking eye contact to make myself stand up without shaking like a leaf.
"Sorry..." I mumbled finally, my heart calming down to an almost normal pace. He stood as well, hands going into his pockets and walking away from me like he always did when we were done for the day.
"Get stronger." He stated, disappearing within the treeline. I shook my head, turning around and heading to my bike, jerking my hood over my head as the wind finally decided to pick up. It was a long trek back home, the wind against me for most of the way, and storm clouds rolling in with a menacing drum of thunder. I just wanted to go home and take a shower.
Apparently the fates were not listening to my pleas this year.
"Where were you?" Kazuma pounced on me the second I closed the door, his arms crossed and a glare present on his face. "You were out training with that shrimp again weren't you? I thought you were going to stop when he stopped training me. Why are you still going out there to be beat on when you aren't even involved with what's going on?"
I debated answering, I really did, but I couldn't remember the order the questions flew out at me in so I decided to take the high road and move around him to go upstairs, not saying a word. Kazuma, as socially dense as ever, didn't take the hint and proceeded to follow me.
"Walking away from this isn't going to solve anything! You can't just do whatever you want when you want to do it! Shizuru didn't know where you were, and she takes that out on me, so whatever you're doing affects me." I continued to ignore him, moving to open my bedroom door. He stepped in front of me, blocking my way in with a serious look on his face. "I'm not kidding around, Ella. You should have stopped coming before you started."
"Articulate as ever I see." I finally caved, crossing my arms to mimic him and copied his stance in irritation. "What's the point of this, Kazuma? You never bombard me like this, or make this big of a fuss. What's really going on?"
"I don't like you being around him alone. What if he gets mad and decides to kill you?" He demanded. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and moved around him to get into my room and to my dresser.
"I would have to get on his nerves half as badly as you do for him to want to kill me, Kazuma. Unlike you, I have the ability to interact with other living creatures without throwing punches at first sight."
"Ella, you don't... LIKE him, do you?" Kazuma's gaze burned into my back, and I bit my lip hard. This was getting more uncomfortable with every word spoken.
"It's not really any of your business." I mumbled, pulling off my sweater and tossing it in the hamper. I grabbed a t-shirt and some sleeping pants to change into, grabbing my bag holding my shampoo and body soap as well and shoving them inside.
"Because he's a bad guy, cous. He kills people! He tried taking over the world! You can't trust a guy like that; he's scary and will bite off your head when you turn your back!"
"I think you're a little too quick to judge because you don't like him." I snapped, my patience unequipped to handle this right now. I turned to face him again, feeling my face getting red. "You don't know him, Kazuma. You treat him like crap and expect him to be nice to you? You can't judge him just because he's different. We aren't exactly normal in case you haven't noticed! You can make a sword out of your energy and I can move water! How are we any different than Hiei or Shuichi?"
"Shuichi?"
"Kurama." I corrected, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. That was going to take getting used to. I tried again. "Look, I appreciate that you're concerned for me. I really do. But you have to let me make my own decisions. Training with Sh-Kurama is good for getting you stronger, even if I don't like the toll it's taking on your body. Training with Hiei is making me stronger."
"It's not the same thing-"
"Yes it is. He's training me because for some ungodly reason he wants to despite getting ready for the dark tournament taking precedence. We more train at the same time anyway."
"I don't like it." He snapped back at me, pacing my room anxiously.
"I know." I conceded.
"He's a demon; you have no idea when he'll snap or do something monstrous. I'm just trying to protect you."
"How can you say that?" I stared at him, my heart sinking. "You told me yourself Kurama is a demon. You wouldn't talk about him like that, would you? Or that girl you fell for at first sight - Yukina? Is she going to go on a killing spree if she gets back to the human world? You tell me all the time how sweet she is, how caring, and how your heart breaks because you can't be near her. She's a demon, Kazuma, and I can't imagine her saying a bad thing about anyone let alone hurt them intentionally."
He looked like I'd just slapped him across the face. His words came out stuttered and broken, trying to take back what he'd said and defend himself at the same time. I shook my head and moved past him to take my shower, leaving him to his own thoughts and me to mine.