Chapter Eight: The dragon heart's own.
((A/N: This chapter may be a little confusing, please bear with me.))
A minute later, they were all in Kurama and Skye's apartment. "So Jin, you still haven't told us the real reason for your visit...or where you've been." Yusuke said, starting to make tea for everyone. "Oh well, 'Ere an' there, an' back agin." Jin replied, watching merrily as Skye/Merina taught the kits how to switch to their three forms, human, demon, and youko, to be specific. Lyana learned a second faster each time, and now they resembled human babies. Skye dressed them in blue baby dresses, Lyana in light blue and Kyna in dark blue. Kurama came back into the room, smiling and pocketing his communicator. "Koenma said we can take the kits to school with us tomorrow, provided we have them change into their youko forms or stay in their human forms." he said to Skye, kissing her on the cheek. "Does he realise how much trouble they could cause?" Skye worried aloud.
Kurama laughed, "I'm not finished..." he said matter-of-factly to her. "Jin will pick them up from there and take them to a designated learning area if they get into too much trouble...in fact, he's registered as an exchange student from an irish school and will be attending all our classes with us. He's also supposedly one of their 'uncles'." he stated calmly, smiling. Just then Kyna growled, and they turned to see her in youko form, playing tug-o-war with Jin with a towel. "My turn, my turn Kyna~!" Lyana whined loudly, looking at her sister with pleading eyes, as she shifted to youko form too. 'Their vocal skills are increasing...' Skye thought to Kurama. 'As they should.' he replied, and they both smiled. Kyna and Lyana already knew many words and phrases, and had met everyone but Keiko so far. So they'd be going in their human forms to meet her tomorrow after school. They had even grudgingly accepted Kuwabara, but they said he smelled human and was stupid. They'd probably have a hard time accepting Keiko, because she would fuss over them too much. Skye worried about how they would act at school, since it was full of humans. It was early evening now, and Yusuke and Kuwabara had to leave.
Jin and Hiei were staying, and had volunteered to stay in the kits' bedroom with them. They felt protective over the two twin youkos. Kurama was cooking dinner for four, and Skye was feeding the twins in Kurama's and her shared bedroom. She soon brought them out and put them in their playpen with their toys, kissing their foreheads and joining everyone around the kitchen table. Throughout dinner, silence was the only sound, till Jin cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. "Would ya like ta hear a tale?" he asked them, smiling. "What kind of tale, Jin?" Skye asked curiously, wiping her mouth on a napkin. Jin looked slightly uncomfortable for a second, before clearing his throat again and saying, "Well...ah kinda lied ta Urameshi earlier, by not tellin' 'im where I went. Ya see, Koenma sent me on a solo mission tha' I wasn' allowed ta tell Urameshi abou'." Jin sighed. 'Go on, Jin.' Kurama telepathically urged his friend, as he sipped his tea. "Well, I had ta go ta Ireland ta visit th' demon world there. An' I was after an artifact tha' Koenma 'ad 'is eyes on, tha' only I knew abou'. It's called th' Dragon Heart's Own." Jin said, smiling as they gave him confused looks. "'Tis a very powerful item, an' Koenma thinks 'twould be very dangerous if it fell into th' wrong hands..." he continued, by now, Jin had captivated his small audience.
"So, I 'ad ta go seekin' this amazin' gemstone, an' 'twas somewhere in th' irish portion of Demon World. Nat'rally, ah asked Koenma wha' it looked like." Jin stated, nodding as he pulled something from his pocket. "This's it, th' Dragon Heart's Own." he added, holding out a pendant. "Koenma's preparing a place for it as we speak, I'm takin' it ta 'im to'morrow." Jin said. The pendant was very lovely, Skye thought, suddenly yearning to steal it. It was hanging on a silver chain, an oval of amethyst, emerald, and aquamarine colors with a silver dragon surrounding it protectively. "Wow...pretty...sparkly..." Syke whispered, suddenly changing to her demon form. The sudden appearance of Merina startled Jin for a second, and when he looked back to his hand...much to his surprise, the pendant was gone. "Bloody 'Ell!! Who took it!?" Jin asked, looking upset. Merina was purring and dangling it from one hand, batting at it with the other. "Pretty, pretty sparkly thing...~!" She cooed, smiling. "Merina, give Jin the Sparkly." Kurama demanded, hoping she would listen.
"Sparkly mine..." Merina went on cooing, completely dismissing Kurama's order. Youko whispered in Kurama's mind, 'Oh, shiny jewels...she completely and absolutely loves them...why do you think I was a jewel theif? It was all she wanted to steal. Heh heh.'Kurama frowned, 'What can I do?' he asked Youko, desperately. 'Hmmm...let me try.' Youko said simply as he took over. 'Merina, give Youko the sparkly...' he said to her, holding his hand out. Merina pouted up at him, but obeyed and in turn, Youko handed the gemstone back to Jin. Jin pocketed it quickly, "So anyway..." he went on, "I left Koenma's office immediately an' headed out. Ah was dead-set on findin' the Dragon Heart's Own." he sighed. "I trav'led th' winds in search o' th' wat'r dragon's lair where 'twas ta be foun'. It was a long, hard journey, but I was determined. Through for'sts, o'er mountains, ta th' seashore I went." Jin said, not missing a beat. "As it grew dark tha' day, ah watched for th' dragon ta leave it's lair. Th' stars came ou' one by one an' th' moon rose o'er th' wat'r as ah waited. Fin'lly, th' dragon slipped out inta th' sea, an' I snuck inta it's lair an' began lookin' aroun'. 'Twas amazin'~!" Jin was so excited now that his ears wiggled.
"There was an allurin' display o' jew'ls ev'rywhere. But I 'ad a mission, so I started searchin' for th' door Koenma 'ad told meh abou'. Ah opened it an' slipped inside, there was a glass box on th' oth'r side o' th' small room. I crossed ta it, an' opened it. Th' jew'l I was after was there, I put it in me pocket an' left th' lair. After a call ta Koenma, th' rest is his't'ry, an' 'ere ah am." Jin concluded. "Well, it's getting late...we should all turn in." Youko stated. Merina picked up the kits and took them to their room, they were already fast asleep. She tucked them in and let Hiei and Jin in, then left. Heading with Youko to their room. Merina's tail swished as she walked into the bathroom and grabbed a brush, closing the door. Youko leaned against the wall beside the bathroom door, having already locked their bedroom door. He heard the shower running. 'Hmmm, I wonder...what should we do now?' he thought to himself. 'Hmmm? about what?' Kurama asked in his mind. 'She still wants that pendant.' Youko responded, smirking. 'And?' Kurama slyly replied, glancing at Youko in their shared mind. 'I was just wondering what to distract her with this time...' Youko stated nonchalantly. 'We already have one set of kits...' Kurama replied with an annoyed look. 'Like I wouldn't know ways around that...I'm a youko, remember?' Youko said proudly, leaving it at that.
Youko quirked his ears as the shower turned off, raising an eyebrow. He had made the bed earlier, now he supposed they would lie in it. His tail twitched in anticipation, he knew something was going to be different. He heard the click of her claws and the sound of a hair dryer being used. He then heard her using the brush and smiled. In so many ways, the everyday noises Kurama would hear and ignore gave Youko much insight into just what was going on. The sounds painted images into his mind, giving him a clear picture of the world around him so that he didn't need to use his eyes to see. Now she was brushing her teeth and staring at her reflection. Finally, she opened the door and looked out at him, her ears folding back but not in an annoyed or upset way. "Spying with your ears, Youko?" She asked nonchalantly, and he nodded. "Get me my black nightgown?" She requested, and he handed it to her with a smirk, quirking his ears. "Please hurry up, I need the toilet, Angel."
He said as she nodded and shut the door. She got dressed and stepped out from the bathroom, allowing him his turn within it as she leaned against the wall. As soon as he was done and came out, she purred and led him to their bed, smiling. They had only been actually sleeping for an hour when a loud cry rang out from the kits's room, causing them to spring out of bed fully awake. They both went alert, Merina putting on a bathrobe and Youko leading her from their room to the source of the noise. They were quick and quiet, soon looking in on a very interesting scene. Kyna and Lyana were sleeping, Jin was watching them and Hiei had an intruder pinned to the wall. The intruder appeared on a first glance to be Botan. "Uhm, Hiei, is that Botan you have pinned to my wall?" Youko asked, cold suspicion sounding in his voice. "No, this isn't Botan. It's a dragon we don't know." Hiei responded gruffly. She had blue hair streaked with purple and green, neon green eyes and double peirced ears, and wore an ocean colored dress.
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