Inner Fangirl: Why is that?
Me: I'm a sadist, that's all... --' Ah yes, I believe the manga version Yukina does eventually figure out Hiei is her brother, but I'm not sure whether or not he knows she knows...
P.S. Here is your 'Much Cuteness and OOC' warning.
P.S.S. I'm not sure if the Tanabata festival is held wherever they live, and I'm too lazy to check... or to see if the city they live in is real or fictional :)
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Your call is coming
I'm dreaming away
For what lies hidden
It needs to be found
Sounds of freedom make me wanna try
--Sounds of Freedom, Within Temptation
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"Yukina?" A small voice whispered by her bedroom door. Yukina sat up, rubbing her eyes and stretching. She opened her eyes and saw Hiei standing there, his teddy bear clutched close to his chest with a blanket wrapped around him, and his eyes wide with some unspoken fear. She pulled back the blanket on her own bed and patted the mattress, an invitation Hiei instantly accepted. After the little boy had situated himself beside Yukina, she pulled the blanket back over him and wrapped an arm around him, feeling him cuddle into her and begin to warm up. The boy was shivering.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Yukina asked in a soothing voice, trying to calm him down a little bit so the dream would not return if he fell back asleep. She felt him nod his head and snuggle closer, as though hoping she could keep whatever was in his dreams away from him. It was strange, knowing how he had been before and then seeing how he was now. He had moments were he was a killer, moments where he was a child, and moments where he was both. Right now, he was clearly a child. Yukina gently began to stroke his hair and felt the little demon relax a little. "Do you want to talk about it?"
No, she felt a vigorous shake of his head that indicated that. It worried her, not just because he normally didn't keep many secrets from her but because these nightmares were increasing in frequency. Several weeks ago she could easily calm Hiei back down and send him back to bed. Now he looked so scared after these nightmares she didn't have the heart to do such a thing. After a few moments she felt him fall into a light sleep, and instantly begin to shake.
"Brother," Yukina whispered gently, wrapping her arms around the small body and pulling him closer. She didn't think she could chase away his nightmares, but she could try at least. To her surprise, he slowly stilled within her arms and fell into a deeper sleep. She smiled and rested her head against his. She slowly fell asleep.
Hiei woke the next morning still in his sister's bed, cuddling his teddy bear and tucked tightly into the blankets. Yukina was already gone, probably to start making breakfast or clean or something. Hiei fought with the blankets for a moment before freeing himself and climbing out of the bed. He seized his teddy bear and blanket and headed out, going towards his room. Despite the horrible nights sleep he felt happy, not quite cheerful but definitely happy. Then again, why shouldn't he be happy? It was the festival today, and Nana was coming over!
He grinned and bolted into his room to find something to wear and to clean up. His demonic half began grumbling, he could hear it calling him foolish for being so excited about having a 'stupid human girl' come over, but he ignored it. His child half was too joyful and excited to care much about what his demonic half was complaining about.
He threw both his bear and his blanket onto his now bare bed and began cleaning his room. His sword went into his closet, safely tucked behind some old baby toys that had not yet been removed, so Nana wouldn't find it and try to play with it. He made him bed, removed his dirty clothes from under the bed, and put several of his books away. When he was satisfied the room was clean he started looking for something to wear. Hadn't Nana said she was wearing a yukata? He frowned a little and pulled out a pair of pants and a t-shirt, not having a yukata of his own to wear. He was about to dress when his door began opening and he dove under his bedcovers with a yelp. He heard someone enter and close the door behind them.
"Hiei? Is that you?" Hiei poked his head out and scowled, it was just Kuwabara. Kuwabara was in his normal blue school uniform, though Hiei suspected that he would change into something more festive once everything began. It was still early morning.
Kuwabara grinned at Hiei as though he had not just barged in. He had a shopping bag in one hand and different colored papers in the other. "Hey Squirt, wanna help me make paper cranes?" Hiei shook his head, climbed back out from under the covers, and began pulling clothes on. Kuwabara sat down on the bed, as if thinking about something. Hiei finished dressing and looked at him, annoyed and curious at the same time. Kuwabara finally snapped out of his trance and smiled.
"I'm going to go find the others, they're suppose to be helping Genkai and Yukina decorate," Kuwabara said, getting slightly starry eyed and getting up to leave. Hiei felt a headache creeping its way into his head and was incredibly relieved when Kuwabara left him alone again.
"Now I've gotta make my bed a...gain..." The shopping bag Kuwabara had been hanging onto sat on top of his bed, slightly open. Hiei stared at it, thinking Kuwabara must have left it behind by accident when he started thinking of Yukina. He reached over and grabbed the bag, thinking he should return it. Still... There was no harm in peeking, right? He carefully reached into the bag and touched something soft, like cotton. He pulled the item out of the bag and shook it out so he could see what it was.
He stared for a long time, feeling his throat and chest tighten so suddenly it was almost painful. '...Darn him, how can I hate him when he pulls this crap?'
"Aw man, why do I have to do this stuff?" Yusuke complained, folding a piece of paper into what looked somewhat like road kill. So far Yusuke had successfully folded four paper cranes, Kuwabara three, the girls collectively had folded somewhere around thirty, and Kurama was up to twelve on his own. Keiko smiled, setting a perfectly folded crane down. "Quit complaining and enjoy yourself, Yusuke. As soon as we're done here we'll change and head down to the festival," She said, taking another piece of paper and folding it carefully. Yusuke groaned and seized a new piece of paper while Kurama chuckled.
"Cheer up Yusuke, the festival should be fun," Kurama said, setting down his own paper crane. "Besides, Genkai did say she needed help with the paper kimonos and you-"
"There's no way I'm gonna hang paper kimonos with the old hag!" Yusuke yelled, grabbing another piece of paper after messing up the last. "Knowing her she'll turn it into some stupid kind of training and-!"
"Geeze you're loud, I could hear you way outside the temple," A young voice said, sounding more amused then annoyed. Yusuke looked over and saw Nana standing there in her overalls with two bags beside her. "Hey Nana, uh, why do you have two bags?" Kuwabara asked, noticing the larger bag and the smaller plastic one.
"To spend the night, duh," She answered, picking up the plastic bag. "This one has my yukata for later, can I go set it out somewhere?" She asked, looking at the others. Yukina smiled and stood up, leading the small girl out of the room and down the hall. At Yukina's room they laid out the yukata, being careful not to further wrinkle the material. As they spread it out, Nana gave Yukina a thoughtful look.
"...You're very pretty Miss Yukina," She said softly, looking at her yukata once it was spread out. Yukina smiled at her, and then noticed the slightly troubled look on the girl's face. Yukina set her hand on the girl's shoulder before speaking. "Nana? Is something wrong?" Nana started.
"Oh, no Miss Yukina! I-I'm just thinkin' is all, um, do you know what kind of movies Hiei likes?" She said, abruptly changing the subject. Yukina smiled apologetically at Nana. "I'm sorry, but I don't think Hiei watches many movies," She said, smiling as gently as she was able. Nana looked slightly crestfallen. "Oh... well that's okay. I can ask him if he likes them when I see him... Where is he?" The little girl asked, realizing she hadn't seen her friend at all since her arrival.
"I think he's getting dressed in his room. He's been in there a while now, so he might be done by now," Yukina said, heading out of the room with the small girl. Nana smiled and began to run down the hall, straight towards Hiei's room. Yukina smiled and began walking back to where the rest of her friends were. She had paper cranes to make.
Hiei struggled, trying to figure out how to tie the belt around the yukata so he wouldn't need to worry about it coming open on him. He remembered doing this before when he was older, but for some reason he just couldn't get his fingers to work correctly. That, or maybe he didn't know how to tie one of these belts when he was older either. He heard the door to his room open again and quickly yanked the yukata shut.
"Kuwabara, can't you knock like a normal-" He heard a giggle, a girl's giggle, and winced inwardly. Holding his yukata tightly closed her turned and glared at Nana, who was laughing at the blushing boy. "Nana! Get out of here! I'm trying to get dressed!" Hiei yelled, sounding oddly squeaky suddenly. Nana broke into rib breaking laughter, toppling to the ground and giggling madly with tears in her eyes. Hiei went even redder. "NANA!"
"Keep your shorts on," Nana said, sitting up and wiping tears away from her eyes. She giggled faintly and walked over to him, covering her grin with one hand. Hiei backed away from her, still red and angry. "Come here, I'll fix it for you," Nana finally said, smiling.
"I'm doing just fine!" He said, looking very uncomfortable suddenly. Nana tilted her head slightly to the side and placed her hands on her nonexistent hips. "Is that why you're dressed like a corpse?" She asked, pointing to how he had wrapped the yukata around him. Hiei looked at her, confused. "Only corpses are dressed with the right side wrapped over the left, and unless you're planning something weird I don't think you want to wear yours like that," Nana said, seizing the edges of his yukata and rewrapping them without the slightest look of embarrassment on her face, unlike Hiei who could now be used as a nightlight. After fixing the front of his yukata, Nana took the obi and secured it around Hiei, keeping the yukata firmly shut.
"There, was that so painful?" Nana said, heading out without waiting for an answer. Hiei followed her, mumbling something that sounded like 'you have no idea.' Hiei's yukata was a light blue with a white design on it, the shade of blue making Nana giggle and prod him. Hiei was scowling by the time they made it outside to help with the decorations and Nana was giggling again. Yukina smiled at the two.
"Hiei, you look so cute in your yukata!" She said, hugging the small demon. Hiei winced at being called 'cute' but didn't growl or grumble, mainly because it was his sister hugging him and not someone else. She released him and handed him a string of paper cranes to hang up before turning to give Nana something else to hang up. Hiei sighed and began hanging cranes while Nana began hanging streamers. Hiei pulled at a streamer with disgust.
"Why do we have to put all these things up? It's not like they actually do anything," He said, sounding sulky. Nana gaped at him. "What?! You can't be serious! You mean you really don't think they'll do anything?"
"If they had any kind of power then-" Nana pulled a crane down out of the string in his hand with a stern look. "These things can to make good things happen, I know they can," She said, sticking the crane in her pocket. Hiei rolled his eyes and continued putting up strings of cranes. Nana huffed and continued putting up streamers, looking angry at him for some reason he couldn't quite understand.
When they finished Nana walked away to go 'get ready' for the festival, still angry at Hiei. Hiei looked at Yukina, utterly confused by his friend's behavior. "'Kina? What'd I do?" He said, sounding confused and a little sad. Yukina smiled at him gently. "I think you might have hurt her feelings, Hiei. She really does believe that these things help people and you were very adamant that they did nothing. You have to remember that she hasn't lived as long as you have, so to her these things still do what stories say they do," Yukina said, gently ruffling the child's hair. Hiei sighed and looked a little annoyed before getting up to go find Nana.
'Human's are so troublesome...'
Nana stood in the bathroom, stripping off her overalls and pulling on her yukata. Left side over the right, like it was proper to wear. Nana tied her obi tightly around her and sighed. She drew the crane out of her overall pocket and sighed gently.
'Stubborn boy... Stubborn, stubborn little troll,' She thought, setting the crane beside the sink and washing her hands and face. She pulled two hair sticks out of her plastic bag and set them beside the crane. She carefully gathered her hair in her hands and began to twist it until it formed a bun at the back of her head. She took the first hair stick and carefully skewered her hair with it, and then secured the bun with the second stick. She sniffed a little and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, looking at her reflection.
A skinny little red head with slightly watery blue eyes. She sighed and thought of Yukina, who seemed so much prettier then she was. She shook her head hard. 'I can't worry about how I look now, I'll be freaking out about that enough when I'm older. Right now... right now I have to worry about how I'm going to walk in my shoes,' Nana thought picking up her bag and pulling out a pair of geta. She bit her lip and then carefully slid them on. After a few seconds on walking, Nana put her overalls and shoes into the plastic bag and tucked the crane into her yukata. She headed out the door to go put away her things.
Hiei, who had just managed a very painful and slightly humiliating 'thank you' to Kuwabara, was feeling a little worried. He hadn't been able to find Nana, and everyone had changed and was ready to go. Was Nana not ready yet? He bit his lip, waiting.
'Would you stop it? You're embarrassing, wearing that thing and being so pathetic. It's just a festival and you're 'friend' is a misled human! Stick with the detective and his friends, at least they can fight and take care of themselves.'
'Would you shut up already? Nana is my friend, and I don't see how that's a bad thing-'
'Don't you remember what that demon in the tournaments did to Kurama's human mother?'
Yes, he remembered. He had sent another demon to track Kurama's mother so he could beat Kurama and win the tournament. But still-
"Hey Nana! About time!" Hiei jumped, looking in the direction Yusuke had called. He saw something pink heading in their direction and sighed. It figured she'd have choose pink. Kurama laughed at Hiei's slightly disgusted look and patted his head, making the small demon scowl. Nana finally ran up to them, and Hiei stared at her. He knew she'd be wearing a yukata, but he'd never realized how different it would make her look.
She was clean, which was a shock in itself, and her hair was pulled back rather then hanging in her face. The geta she wore made her an inch or so taller. The pink made her look as though she had some color, rather then the washed out, pale skin he was used to seeing. She looked... kind of pretty. Hiei's child side instantly became overwhelmed with sudden shyness and he moved behind Kurama without understanding why.
'Idiot.'
Nana tilted her head at him and frowned. "What the heck's wrong with you?" She said, running over and grabbing his hand with a sudden, wicked grin. Hiei chose not to say anything, which was probably the safest option with his demonic half calling him names and his child half ready to climb up the back of Kurama's shirt. He figured his most natural response was somewhere between the two feelings, but neither half were cooperating to make that happen.
Kurama chuckled as Nana began pulling Hiei towards the stairs, talking happily to a mute Hiei. Kuwabara didn't seem to get it, and Yusuke was already thinking of ways to tease the boy later. Keiko then grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs, smiling and telling him if they didn't hurry, they'd be late. Yukina hurried along, and Kuwabara followed so he wouldn't be left in the dust.
Hiei was a little surprised by how quickly Nana could move in her geta, but easily kept pace. It was strange, how angry she had been before compared to how happy she was now. Maybe all human girls were like this...?
Note: Ain't it cute? Anywho, festival is coming next. I'm glad this was easy to do... -Bashes head against 'Writers' block- GRAAAAH! Okay, done for now. -Bandages head-