"He's your what!?" Yusuke yelped. Kristina clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Quiet, you twit. He doesn't know. And neither do you. Am I clear?" She hissed, idly tracing the dip in his collarbone with one finger.
"Crystal."
"Good."
"Can I ask you one question?" Yusuke asked timidly.
"You just did." Yusuke gave her a look. "Fire away."
"Why did you get so upset when he was yelling at you? Brothers and sisters fight all the time."
"We're not full siblings. And I've been trying to find and kill him for 10 years." Kristina's voice caught, and she swallowed hard.
"Why?"
"H-he ruined my life…and I can never forgive him for that."
"Kristina, it's okay, just-WHOA!" Yusuke cried in astonishment as Kristina threw herarms around his neck and began crying.
Kurama watched as Kristina fell and was caught by Yusuke. Heh, I didn't think he was brave enough to stay out there during that. Then, much to his surprise, after they traded a few words, she flung herself upon Yusuke and started bawling.
"And here I thought she was incapable of being even somewhat normal." Hiei muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Hiei! Don't be mean!" Botan squealed. Hiei gave no reply.
"And when did you become her friend?" Kuwabara wanted to know.
"I'm simply defending a fellow female!" she retorted. "Anyway, let's go see what's wrong." She headed out the door, with me and the others right behind her.
Botan, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Kurama came out of the house and approached, obviously curious. "What do you guys want?" Yusuke snapped, rather unnerved, as he currently had an attempted murderer crying in his lap.
"What's wrong with her?" Kurama asked, in a tone which Yusuke found more than a little uncaring and uninterested.
"I'm not telling anyone, but the last thing she needs right now is to have you around, Kurama. She was really hurt by the way you just treated her. She'll probably calm down by tonight."
"Fine then. I'm leaving." Kurama said, in a very haughty tone. He promptly turned a quick about-face and stalked back to the house.
"Has anyone else noticed that Yoko's been a bit more active recently?" Yusuke asked.
"Now that I think of it, yeah, you're right. He's been surfacing a lot lately, ever since Kristina arrived," Botan mused, watching Kurama.
"Will you guys please go away so I can try to calm her down?"
"We're gone." Botan said, and dragged Kuwabara and Hiei away by their collars.
"Shhhh. Kristina, it's okay. Calm down." Yusuke winced slightly as she dug her nails into his skin and continued sobbing. Thank heaven she isn't in any sort of demonic form. Claws would be really painful.
Kristina was in a state of emotional overload. Everything she'd been keeping bottled up inside her was finding an outlet, whether it was rage in screaming at Kurama, pride in fighting with Yusuke, or pain in crying into Yusuke's bandages. It was all just too much.
She was just barely aware of being picked up and carried over to the hammock that hung between two trees in a quiet corner of the yard. Once there, Yusuke settled into said hammock, carefully arranged Kristina in his lap, and proceeded to gently rock both of them while whispering into her ear. "It's alright Kristina, don't pay any attention to him. The next time he bothers you, I'll make him apologize on bended knee… I'll hang him by his ears from a flagpole… I'll set a pack of foxhounds after him." The soft, comforting sound of his voice calmed her. The day was warm, and the hammock comfortable. Both of them were lulled to sleep by the rocking and the steady beating of the other's heart….
"Mmph! Heehee! Don't wake them! This is priceless!" A babble of whispers and muffled laughter reached Kristina's ears. As she slowly woke up, she became aware of a second presence next to her. As she was still somewhat enveloped in a blanket of sleep, this didn't bother her.
"Isn't that adorable?" No mistaking that cheery tone; it had to be Botan.
"She's gonna kill us if she finds out though." That was Kuwabara. Kristina decided to investigate. Willing herself to open her eyes, she looked around and discovered what was 'priceless'; She had slid over Yusuke while they slept. Now, her legs were draped over his, her upper body beside his; one of his arms was beneath her, fingers entangled in her hair. The shock of realization shot through Kristina's still sleepy brain, fully waking her. She wriggled away, forgetting completely that she was in a hammock. It tipped precariously for a moment, and then flipped over, dumping the two of them on to the ground. As bad luck would have it, Kristina landed first, with Yusuke sprawled over her. He was quite heavy and still sound asleep. Kuwabara peered at the snoozing Spirit Detective. "Yup, he's out. Not gonna wake up for a while." he chuckled. Kristina squirmed and twisted in a vain attempt to free herself. Finally, though she hated doing it, she asked for help.
"Instead of standing there, how 'bout one of you gets this lump off of me!?"
"I'm coming, I'm coming. Geez, hold on. There you go, free." Kuwabara lifted Yusuke off Kristina, but not before Botan had snapped a picture. Once again, Kristina stalked into the house, red with embarrassment. Botan helped Kuwabara throw Yusuke into the pond to wake him up, and then followed. Kristina showered, and then sprawled across her bed to sulk. Dinner was eaten in perfect silence, and then all tournament participants went to bed. They had an early morning tomorrow, consisting of a week by ship and 2 days by train.
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