AN: There were some formatting issues in this chapter. Hopefully they're gone now, but if you see weird characters show up you have been forewarned!
Hiei watched the girl's reflection in the window, gauging her facial expressions critically. With an annoyed glare, he once again threw up his mental shields. Why did she have to broadcast so loudly and frequently?
Though there was much to look at, like the giant yellow vehicle that was three times the length of the van and housed screaming children, and the bridges and flowering trees along the road, Sagaku sunk deeper into what could only be a fit of female depressions, as her Papa called them. Only Yusuke's off-key singing along to the radio (that Kuwabara finally got working) was enough to break her from her reverie. For now, there was nothing to do but to settle back in the seat and enjoy the ride.
The old server who carried out the large, flat pies and gave poured drinks for all of them gave Sagaku an appraising look. Kurama frowned, turning his emerald eyes to see what Sagaku was doing...and she was just playing mindlessly with the paper her straw had come in. With a deeper frown, he turned back to the waiter, wondering what he was staring at.
"Sweet drink!" Ririshii interrupted his train of thought. She grabbed at her nose painfully as fizz from the soda tickled it. Kuwabara's chuckle rumbled across the table with Yusuke's loud guffaw. Yusuke's snort sent soda shooting painfully from his own nose, which led even Kurama to laughing. Sagaku smiled, reaching across the table to wipe off Ririshii's face. She had grown accustomed to it being just her three sisters and herself, but her heart dipped unpleasantly as Ririshii waggled her eyebrows just like Chisoku. Hopefully she would be with her family again soon. Maybe then the weird dreams would stop.
The outing was just what the doctor ordered; when they got home, the girls collapsed in a large heap in the living room, giggling and poking at each other. Kurama settled comfortably into the corner chair, smiling over his dog-earred book at the joyful play. Yusuke and Kuwabara claimed the remote as one and then argued at top volume over who would control it (neither would admit that they wanted to watch the same thing). Even Hiei stayed in the room, sitting in the window and staring at the trees that swayed gently in the wind.
Over the next hour, the noise in the room faded pleasantly into deep breathing and soft snores with the occasional whisper of Kurama turning a page. The fire demon found his own eyes slowly closing. With the not-entirely welcome comfort of contentedness and friends, Hiei drifted off. His dream was tinged with red; it was not uncommon, but not frequent for him to dream in colors either. He frowned at the subject in front of him: the shape of a faceless girl beckoning to him. Even without details, he could easily tell who it was by the slender form. Something wasn't right, though...A weird haze surrounded her, deeper and darker red, and other shadowy forms merged with it. As quickly as the dream had come upon him, it faded into nothingness and the short man slumbered on.
When Hiei woke, it was to a strange hunger stirring in his gut. He twitched the scrap of fabric off his forehead, engaging the Jagan eye to search the perimeter of the yard. No demons but for the ones in the house, the ones that belonged there, were near. Still, uneasiness claimed him. He opened the window, sliding out with nary a noise, and climbed to the roof of the house. He was missing something obvious...he just didn't know what.
The weird dreams seemed to be contagious. Kurama's dream was stained by crimson also, though he instinctively understood it was his more demon self that starred in this dream. It was also much more in-depth than Hiei's dream. And much more discomforting, really.
When Kurama woke, slanted in the chair with his book resting in his lap, he understood almost immediately. With that understanding came a sort of fear he hadn't experienced in a long time. The girls were together in a tangled mass on the floor, sleeping soundly. Kurama eyed the mass warily. If he was right, they would have to be very careful. And if he was right, they had a problem.
Gray light from the waking sun greeted Sagaku as she stretched up, carefully pulling her limbs from beneath her sisters. Kuwabara and Yusuke were snoring in the same room, each nearly prone on the couch. Sagaku skirted them carefully, heading for the kitchen. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest, each beat amplifying the fierce throbbing in her temples. Something in her dreams had scared her, taunted her. Now all she could remember was the painful, hot mess of images and motions she didn't understand. It wasn't the first time she'd had that dream, since it had been haunting her all week, but it was more explicit now. Harder to forget. It was also too familiar.
Kurama waited for Sagaku in the kitchen. When she appeared, brown hair tumbling messily down the sides of her face as she rubbed sleep from her eyes, he almost reconsidered. But what he had planned was to keep them all safe, he reminded himself, most of all her.
"Sagaku," Kurama said gently, "I think you need to start training. Today." Sagaku stopped rubbing her eyes long enough to give the fox a measured look. "Tarento and Iwaku too, if they want," Kurama added. "Ririshii might be too young." Sagaku still didn't say anything, just keeping her steady gaze on him. Finally, she nodded. With another yawn, she tried to finger-comb her hair. Her knuckles caught in knots almost immediately. Kurama hid a relieved smile, and started cooking breakfast. Normally she would want to help with breakfast, but maybe this morning he would delegate her to washing duties. She was one giant mess.
Finally, after much grumbling and huffing, Kurama suggested she take a shower. Sagaku gave him her meanest look but took her grouchy self down the hall and into the bathroom where she prepared to wash off. She hated showers, though she wouldn't admit it to anyone. Not that she hated being clean, of course, just the aspect of sitting in a porcelain and glass cubicle, all by herself, letting water beat down on her… It didn't even feel like rain, which she had expected the first time. Worse yet, everyone seemed to insist that the girls wash once a day. Not that they were singled out-Kurama had on more than one occasion insisted that Kuwabara or Yusuke go shower as well.
Yusuke and Kuwabara joined Kurama in the kitchen while Sagaku still suffered in the bathroom. Kuwabara glanced furtively down the hall.
"Okay, what's going on?" Yusuke kept his voice as low as he could without whispering.
"Yeah," Kuwabara said. "I had some pretty funky dreams last night, about...well." Kuwabara trailed off. In his mind, he was betrothed to Yukina. Dreaming about anyone else felt like a betrayal.
"I think we all did," Kurama assured his friends. "If Hiei were here, I think he would say he had a dream about her also."
"I did." Hiei, having heard his name spoken, made an appearance.
"So what's the deal?" Kuwabara asked. "Is she psychic? Can she get into our heads?" His voice gained in pitch. Yusuke smacked the back of his head before he could get too freaked out.
"I don't think it's something she's actively trying to do," Kurama rubbed his hair anxiously before continuing, "I think it's a side effect."
"Side effect of…?" Yusuke prompted the fox, shoveling a few bites of breakfast into his mouth.
"I'm not absolutely positive, but I would venture to say Sagaku is going into heat. Genkai did warn us it might happen." Kurama wished fervently that there was more literature on the Hanshoku. The book Koenma had managed to get him was rather vague at parts and not entirely unbiased.
"Genkai also said she was too young," Yusuke pointed out.
"But they all lived in close proximity," Kurama countered. "Even human women experience a certain amount of hormonal syncing. We'll call Genkai tonight and see what she has to say on the matter. Maybe we're wrong."
"No, it makes sense," Sagaku interrupted them. Scrubbed pink and still damp, she presented a rather pathetic image in the kitchen entryway. "The demon kept talking about my smell. I haven't noticed if I stink, and I shower every day but...I guess I wouldn't notice, would I?" She crept cautiously into the kitchen, avoiding the men, and grabbed an apple from the fridge. "It's easy enough to take care of, though, right? I can just lock myself in the room until it's over?"
A wave of embarrassment spread over the room. Though the men hadn't been talking about Sagaku meanly, it still felt a little rude having been caught talking about her at all.
"Let's talk to Genkai first to see if it's necessary," Kurama decided. "Do you know how long it will last?"
"I've got no clue," Sagaku pressed her lips to the side awkwardly, "none of us have ever...well, this is the first…" Kurama pat her hand delicately, stopping her from continuing on in that vein. "I guess we won't train today, then, will we?" Sagaku tried to smile bravely, but she'd actually been looking forward to learning how to defend herself. If anyone else ever grabbed her, she wanted to be able to stop it.
"I think we can still start training today," Kurama said cautiously. "Yusuke will start."
Yusuke groaned, but when Sagaku turned her hopeful gaze to him, he offered a weak smile.
"Training it is," he told her. "Just you, or the scraps too?"
Sagaku looked at the room where her sisters slept, trying to calculate her family's needs. "Tarento and Iwaku too," she finally said. "They should know how to defend themselves." Of course, when her family found out she would be burned at stake, figuratively speaking. Who would be angrier-Papa or Mazui? Or even Usagi? Because, as everyone knew, fighting wasn't proper.
Yusuke didn't even break a sweat outside. He had assumed the girls knew some defense, given that they were demons. Plus, hadn't he seen some of the older girls move to defend the younger ones during the first demon attack? But, as Sagaku apologetically explained, that was just instinct because didn't all families protect each other? Alone, their instinct was to run which was pretty useless given the speed of most demons. Yusuke had to agree to that. He set the girls to sprinting from one end of the yard to the other, hoping to gauge their actual speed and help them become less winded.
Sagaku proved to be the fastest, almost as fast as Hiei if the others were willing to admit it. Even so, there were other demons out there who were faster (Hiei among them) and even more that were stronger. When even Sagaku could run no longer, he started showing them the most important basics: how to punch without breaking your own hand, and how to kick without losing your balance.
The girls practiced in a straight line, facing Yusuke who stalked back and forth like a general inspecting his army. Ririshii, sitting at the sidelines with Kuwabara who was teaching her a clapping game, giggled whenever Yusuke corrected her sisters' stances or form.
"Okay, good!" Yusuke finally called when another aimless punch would have sent Sagaku spinning to the ground. "Now I'll teach you to throw an attacker!"
The girls stared up at him expectantly. He paused, scratching his head. How could he show them without hurting them? Punches and kicks could be done by demonstration, but throwing...experience was the best teacher there. With a sigh, he decided the only way to teach them was just to go for it.
"Be ready to fly," he warned Sagaku, taking her wrist. "Watch carefully, and try to remember how it feels and how I move." She nodded, waiting warily for what would happen next. With a twist and a heave, she went flying past his side, spinning in the air. Her landing was less than graceful, though luckily her hands were out to catch herself and redirect her tumble.
"Amazing!" she laughed when there was air in her lungs again. Iwaku went flying in the air, and then Tarento too. Ririshii jumped up and down, giggling and asking for her turn.
"Now you try," Yusuke ordered Sagaku. He held out a hand to her. She grabbed his wrist the same way he had held hers, and then twisted and heaved sideways. Yusuke stumbled forward and almost fell, but managed to catch his balance before eating dirt.
"Almost!" he high-fived her. "Let's try again. Don't use your arms so much-your torso and hips should be doing most of the moving. Put more force in your turn."
Iwaku and Tarento giggled, but refused to try to throw Yusuke anywhere so in the end it was only Sagaku who finally managed to flip Yusuke over her hip. Then, because she was bored of waiting at the sidelines, Ririshii asked Kuwabara to spin her round and round. Sagaku watched her sisters with a rueful smile. It was nice to see them so happy, but she did wish they would take defense lessons-the only lessons they'd ever get-more seriously.
Kurama ended the lessons when it was time for lunch. He had watched them from the window, pleased to see that they were learning but disappointed at how basic their defense was. Both Usagi and Sagaku had appeared to have at least rudimentary knowledge in fighting when they'd first defended their sisters, but here it seemed there were greater limits than that. Frowning, he wondered what exactly the breeders could do besides, well...breeding. Because somehow, he didn't think breeding would help them escape.
Hiei, can you find another book on Hanshoku for me? The book Koenma left me is useless. Kurama directed the thought to Hiei, knowing that though his friend was not in sight he would catch the thought.
After lunch, Kurama joined everyone else outside. Sagaku was the only one who still wanted to practice, and the second time she managed to flip someone it was Kurama. She couldn't do it reliably, but at least she had done it more than once now.
Kurama didn't say it out loud, but based on the look Yusuke gave him they had the same thought-she wouldn't be able to defend herself against even the lowest-class insect demons. Maybe if she kept training, she would have an iota of a chance. Maybe.
When Hiei's presence loomed closer to the property, Kurama bowed out of training and headed back inside. Even in close contact with her, he wasn't smelling anything different. Maybe their theory was wrong-maybe she wasn't in heat.
Kuwabara took Kurama's place, theatrically falling to the ground and "dying" when Sagaku placed a well-aimed kick at his right thigh. Then, he tossed her into the air, catching her before she hit the ground. She screamed delightedly, the feel of air beneath her arms almost as good as climbing a tree all on her own. The other three girls demanded the same treatment, begging to fly. Kurama shook his head, hiding a chuckle, and went to find Hiei.
"Here," Hiei grunted. The volume he thrust at Kurama was leather-bound. A faint indent showed where once there had been a title, but it was unreadable.
Kurama flipped the book open to see if the pages at least would be legible. They were very legible, with dark, stark words though the paper was soft and curled in places.
"How did you know this was the right text?" Kurama asked absent-mindedly, fingering through the handwritten pages.
Hiei snorted. "I asked the bookkeeper." It seemed the most obvious thing in the world.
Kurama looked up, startled. "Of course," he said, "it didn't occur to me that it might be in a store...how much was it? I'll pay you back." He reached for his wallet, but Hiei stopped him with a shake of his head.
"Don't worry about it, fox," he said, and then flitted off.
Hiei sat in the tree he'd climbed two nights ago with Sagaku, watching the oaf toss the girls around in the air. They treated it like the greatest game they'd ever played. Even Yusuke was laughing, spinning Ririshii in a wide circle until her feet lifted off the ground. Hiei's eyes narrowed in disgust. How did they expect to learn anything if they were just going to play around? It was a waste of time.
Sagaku finally excused herself from the yard when the sun showed signs of disappearing beyond the horizon. She was sweaty, sticky, and altogether gross, but she was beaming. The bruises from the other night were now hidden beneath a patina of new bruises-the kind of teaching bruises and not hurting ones.
"Are we training again tomorrow?" she asked Yusuke. When Kuwabara tossed a squealing Ririshii into the air, Sagaku laughed. "I mean training for real."
"Sure thing," Yusuke grinned at her.
Kurama was engrossed in the second chapter of the large book, sitting in the armchair he had unconsciously claimed as his own. It was an interesting book, providing greater detail and fewer biases than the book Koenma had given him. It covered a breeder's life span, starting when they were born to when they were too old to bear any more children.
Oddly enough, Kurama hadn't realized there were male breeders also. He had assumed the Hanshoku were like the ice demonesses in a way. But of course, were that the case, other demons wouldn't want them so desperately. Male Hanshoku took on their father's powers, though. Oftentimes, the genes were so strong the male young were clones of their paternal lines. If the Hanshoku female was a particularly good breeder, the insemination and pregnancy worked to amplify the father's powers; the ensuing generation of males would be stronger and better. Males were removed from the mothers as soon as possible, once they were weaned. They were not tied to the family, the way females were, though Kurama could find no explanation for why. Females stayed in the home hearth until they were bid on-something that happened very soon after the first time they went into heat. He hadn't reached the chapter explaining that, though. Not yet.