AN: Editing/rewriting is going pretty fast, so hopefully I'll have the whole story back up in running by the end of the week. I'll try to post 2-3 chapters a night as I'm able to.
No one was ready to go in a timely fashion. Kuwabara, who was supposed to leave with Yusuke and the girls, took a long time to fully wake up and get dressed. None of the girls even knew what to do to "get ready," so instead they milled around aimlessly. When finally Kuwabara joined Keiko and Yusuke, it was nearly noon.
"Make sure you have your cell," Kurama ordered Yusuke.
"Yes, Mom," Yusuke rolled his eyes. The device was in his pocket, which he demonstrated somewhat facetiously to his friend.
"Alright, who's coming with?" Yusuke called, hooking his hands into his pockets. Keiko stepped up beside him, taking in the number of strangers in the house with a twitching eye. Clearly, she was not sure how to feel about Yusuke staying in a house of women-even if most of them were children.
"Who knows everyone size best?" Keiko asked. "That may be the best way to figure out who should join us."
Mazui and Usagi exchanged glances.
"We do." Usagi gestured between herself and the next oldest girl. "We'll go."
"I want to go, too!" Mizu cried. Her bony fingers latched onto Mazui's wrist, clenching it tightly.
"If she gets to go, so should I!" Tarento declared, latching onto Mazui's other wrist. "We're the same age!"
"That's all we can fit in the car, then," Keiko said before any other girls could declare their intention of joining in. "Come on, out we go!" She ushered the four girls out the door, smiling over her shoulder at the girls left behind.
Sagaku crept to the window to peek out and watch her four sisters disappear over the steps.
"What's a car?" she asked no one in particular. Behind her, Kurama sighed.
"Figure it out some other time, onna," Hiei grumbled.
"I'm sorry, but we do need to discuss other things," Kurama told her politely.
Sagaku let Kurama lead her back to the kitchen. Hiei followed at a distance behind them. When Sagaku looked over her shoulder, the other girls were crowding together in the middle of the room. They looked forlorn, as if she was abandoning them.
"We'll get right to the point, while we can," Kurama said as they seated themselves around the low table. He leaned forward, trying to capture her gaze with his so he could be sure he had her attention. "There are simply too many of you to be in one place."
"What?" Sagaku gasped. Her eyes widened in shock and she found herself meeting his eyes. It didn't matter anyways, she tried to tell herself, the younger girls weren't going to scold her for being improper. "We can't leave each other," she tried to explain to Kurama. Her hands were clasped together in her lap. When the direct stare of both men became too much for her, she watched her own fingers twist together and tried to ignore the burning of her cheeks.
"Listen, onna," Hiei commanded. "The scent of seventeen breeds is too strong. Demons will find you here and they will swarm."
"It will be like the warren, again," Kurama added.
Sagaku glanced up, keeping her face tilted down. Hiei's crimson eyes were narrowed dangerously at her from his position near the window. Kurama, though he looked politely concerned, looked immovable. Her shoulders stiffened. If her dark brown eyes were defiant, it passed so quickly that neither demon could say for sure they saw it.
"We've never been apart before," she said softly. It was her last line of defense. She knew they were right. The men were right, she knew it. Even Papa had begun telling the girls that it was getting harder to hide them. He couldn't teach them to hide their scents, though.
"We know," Kurama reassured her. "But if you want to keep your sisters safe, you'll need to trust us. It won't be forever, and we'll make sure no one goes anywhere alone."
Sagaku nodded. The corners of her eyes burned, but she willed the tears back. Fear and doubt wouldn't help anyone right now, least of all her sisters. If separating would dilute their scent enough to be safe, then that would be that. She didn't have to like it.
"Where will everyone be going?" she asked when her throat relaxed enough that she could speak again. Her fingers twisted nervously in the brown fabric of her skirt.
"We contacted some friends to help," Kurama explained. He waved Hiei over. Hiei grunted disagreeably, but picked up a list off the counter and sat as far from everyone as he could while still sitting at the table. Kurama confiscated the list, plucking it from his friend's grasp.
"We'll break you up into four groups. Four will stay here with Genkai," Kurama told her, "she is very able to protect them within the confines of this temple." His finger grazed a line on the paper, before moving to the next one. "Four will go with Jin and his team. You haven't met them yet, but they are very honorable and very strong. Koenma contacted them to meet us here this evening." His line skimmed to the next line. Here, his brow furrowed. "Five will stay in Koenma's palace in the Spirit World. He's not entirely thrilled about it, but more guards have been hired so he will allow it. And the last four will stay with our team in a safe house."
Kurama pulled a pen from his pocket and held it out to Sagaku solemnly. She took it slowly, turning it over in her fingers. When Kurama held out the paper expectantly, she took it as well.
"Write down which sister's you think should be at each location," Kurama told her kindly
Sagaku clenched the paper, wrinkling one side of it, but she made herself put it on the table. Quietly, she smoothed it out with sweaty palms.
"Usagi should stay at the temple," Sagaku said finally. "She'll be easier with only women around." There. One down, only sixteen to go. A frown tugged the corner of her lips as she tried to think about how to split the rest up.
"Yuki will want to stay with Usagi," she finally decided, scrawling Yuki's name beside Usagi's on the paper, "and Bourei will want to stay with Yuki. Giri will keep Bourei in check."
Kurama nodded thoughtfully as Sagaku wrote the other names below Genkai's name on the list.
Sagaku swallowed convulsively, staring at the next name on the list. How could she send sisters to live with a stranger?
"Who is...this Jin? What is his team like?" The name tasted foreign on her tongue.
Hiei snorted derisively.
"They're immature," Kurama admitted. "Despite that, they're strong. They'll protect your sisters with their lives."
Hiei watched the girl stare at the paper in concentration. He couldn't imagine caring about anyone as much as he cared about Yukina, but the way this girl carried on she would make it seem as though she felt the same way for each of her sixteen sisters. Preposterous.
"Immature," Sagaku muttered to herself. "Chisoku and Chishio, then. They enjoy pranks and jokes. They'll be fine there. Minkan can watch over them. She's patient and doesn't get angry so easily. Mizu will want to go with them." She continued scribbling names down.
When she let her eyes wander around the kitchen, taking a moment to collect herself, she saw the sneer on Hiei's face. What, she wondered, could possibly make him judge her so harshly? Kurama cleared his throat gently, bringing her attention back to the matter at hand.
"Who should go with Koenma and Botan?" Kurama enquired, tapping the next name on the list. Lightly.
"Mazui; she doesn't like being here with no structure." Sagaku immediately clapped her hand over her mouth. The look she levelled at Kurama was equal parts embarrassment and apology. "I'm so sorry!" she cried. "I mean no disrespect!"
Laughter built up in Kurama, spilling out into the room. With it came a strange noise that took a moment to identify: Hiei snorted in amusement.
"No offense was taken," Kurama reassured her. "You were raised in a very structured environment. We understand. Just continue with the list."
Kurama pat the back of Sagaku's hand in what was meant to be a comforting way. She blushed, and jerked her hands towards her, leaving a thin line of ink on the paper. Had she ever been in touching distance of a male, other than her father? Discomfort began sinking into her skin.
"Seikou will not want to leave Mazui. They should take Youji and Junsei with them. If Koenma is taking five...Onpu should go as well." Powering through her discomfort was the only way Sagaku could manage at the moment. She wrote these names on the paper as well.
"Who does that leave with us?" Kurama asked curiously. "We haven't learned everyone's name yet."
"Well…that leaves me, Ririshii, Iwaku, and Tarento." Belatedly, she realized "me" wasn't an introduction. "I'm Sagaku." Also belatedly, she realized she had been so focused on placing her sister's where they would be happiest that she hadn't considered herself. Would she be able to manage living with four men while taking sole responsibility of her sisters?
It appeared she would have no choice.
Yusuke and Kuwabara returned with the girls more than three hours later, according to the clock Kurama was teaching the other girls to read. When the girls who had been shopping were returned to their sisters' embraces, there was excited chatter all around. Silence fell across the room when their bodyguards (and Keiko) joined them, though.
Sagaku hadn't told any of them that they would have to split up, yet. They wouldn't take it well and she didn't know how to broach the subject.
The disguises were strange, to Sagaku's eyes, but both Usagi and Mazui enjoyed showing their sisters how to wear the different articles. There were strange wrappings for the legs, in thick, rough, blue material. Usagi called those "jeans" and Sagaku picked up her pair with no real enthusiasm. They looked uncomfortable, even if she did like the color.
"And these are worn like our shirts, but you have to put them on differently!" Usagi showed the girls their new shirts - three layers of them. "You start with the bra," she said and held up a weird contraption, "but Keiko said not all of us had to wear them."
Kurama, who had just settled into the corner to read and guard them as unobtrusively as possible, nearly choked. In the kitchen still, Hiei smirked at his friend's discomfort. Luckily Yusuke and Kuwabara were in the kitchen fighting over food. The two fools would have surely had more than one inappropriate comment to make.
"And this goes over them," Usagi continued, holding up the next article of clothing. "It's called a tank top. The last bit is called a jacket. It's worn over everything else, but only if it's cold. Or raining. Keiko said you could wear it if it's raining, too."
"We don't have to wear all this now, do we?" Iwaku asked, scrunching up her small nose. Sagaku hid a grin; Iwaku sounded about as thrilled as she did.
"Of course not!" Mazui exclaimed, shock evident in her voice. "We need to bathe first! Where is the nearest spring, do you think?" She turned towards the eldest of them. Hiei, still hiding around the corner in the kitchen, didn't bother disguising his snort this time. Kurama, shielded by his book, nearly hit himself in the face. Of all the things he took for granted, he hadn't realized that they wouldn't have showers or baths in the warren.
Although the girls had been ignoring Kurama's presence, since he was sitting so far from them, he felt it only right that he speak up now. "Excuse me," he interrupted politely, "I'm sorry for eavesdropping. If you wish, I can show you how to use the shower. You can use that instead of cleaning in a...spring."
An embarrassed silence spread across the room. Clearly none of the girls wanted to discuss bathing, a personal matter, with a male.
"If you show me, I can teach them," Sagaku finally offered. She kept her eyes averted-learning how to use the toilet earlier had been mortifying enough.
"Sagaku!" Mazui gasped, mortified. "You can't discuss such matters with a man!"
But since Keiko had already returned to her own home, there seemed to be little choice but to let a man teach them.
"We won't know how, otherwise," Sagaku tried to justify herself. Strands of her hair were twisted and wrapped around her fingers nervously. When Kurama stood and walked towards the hall with the bathroom, Sagaku waited with her eyes on her sisters. In the end, it was Usagi who nodded abruptly, giving her permission to follow.
The shower was nothing short of a fiasco. The girls seemed intent on fitting as many in at once, and given the amount of noise that carried through the rest of the wing they were in, there would be quite a mess to clean when they were done. Kurama almost cried, thinking about it. Yusuke almost cried for an entirely different reason.
Sagaku escaped the shower catastrophe first, bringing Ririshii with her. Ririshii curled with her hair still wet and fell asleep in Sagaku's arms in the kitchen. Sagaku stayed in the kitchen, even as she heard other girls return to the living room. She wasn't talking at all, but she watched all four men carefully, wondering how they had become involved. How did they know each other, even? And if they weren't related, then how was it they got along so well? She often found herself thinking she would strangle Mazui if they weren't sisters. She was an exceptionally clear broadcaster, and Hiei found himself tuning in to her thoughts curiously. Her brain jumped from one subject to the next; each time anyone said anything or did anything, a new train of questions was provoked. But she didn't voice any of them out loud.
The sun was setting by the time the rest of the girls were done showering. Sagaku swallowed the lump in her throat and returned to the living room. Mizu, who seemed to intuitively know something was wrong, snuggled against her big sister and held her hand. As the sky outside darkened, the mood in the room followed suit.
It was Kuwabara who first realized what was happening.
"Demon!" he hissed urgently, nearly pushing Hiei off the window sill in his haste to spot the ki he had felt.
Kurama leapt to his feet to herd the girls to a safer spot while Yusuke struggled with Kuwabara for the vantage point. The window was not the place to be, though, because when the demon attacked it was the window that exploded in a glittery waterfall of glass. Some of the girls screamed, or cried. Sagaku found herself pushing her sisters back, fighting to get in front of them. Onpu joined her there, and together they stood, tense and waiting.
In the scant seconds that the boys covered their eyes against the flying shards, the demon managed to slither in through the opening it had created. He slid fluidly into the room, his yellow eyes narrowed against the light. When Hiei dashed forward with his katana, the demon dodged with barely a twitch. Something rattled beneath the robe he wore.
Sagaku sniffed the air tentatively. The demon's eyes focused on her, not wavering even when he dodged the next attack from Hiei. Kurama was quick though, and the demon wasn't expecting to be attacked from two sides at once. When the rose whip wrapped around his torso, digging in with sharp thorns, Hiei slashed effectively. The demon broke free from the whip in the next breath, but he was bleeding fiercely and the fight hadn't even begun in earnest. He spun from the girls now, hissing at the men though he slid back in the direction of his real target.
Sagaku dodged into his path before he got any closer to her sisters, her foot moving low and fast. Her foot swept past his robes and connected painfully with his ankle. He turned to her, his scaly hand reaching for her angrily. With a stumbling dodge, she intercepted the hand that would grab her and aimed a higher kick at his chest. Fangs slid from his mouth, growing green with venom as he hissed furiously. Fingers grasped her wrist painfully. Before Sagaku could worry about that, the four men converged in simultaneous attacks. The demon fell beneath the onslaught of punches and weapons. When the melee cleared, it was Hiei's blade that sliced through the still twitching neck at his feet.
"Ugh," Sagaku gasped, nearly vomiting into her hands.
Usagi thumped to the floor. All sensation seemed to have left her legs. Her eyes were wide and blank. Yusuke kicked the dead body again. Sagaku bent over, chest heaving desperately. It was Mazui who fainted, though-not because of the demon, but because a portal formed amidst the lot of them with no warning, admitting Botan and Koenma into the room.
"Oh, dear," Kurama sighed. They hadn't even had a chance to warn the girls they would all be separating.