Jen stared up at her ceiling they had built on the inn to help with the bitter chill of the night air, contemplating what her father had told her. Hiei was her soul mate. It didn't really make sense to her why her ancestors would be so willing to tell her that little tidbit and push them together, considering they frown on cross-breeding, nevermind with a hybrid.
She blew out a sigh and rolled onto her side, facing away from the window and tried to force herself into sleep. Their allies would be here tomorrow for their annual celebration of the arrival of winter and she needed her rest. Thank the Gods Salvatore had disobeyed our father and made allies outside of the kingdom. Sadness stung the corners of her eyes as she thought about her still missing brother. Jettalynn had returned a month ago, unable to find him.
Personally, she hated that it was turning to winter. The sub-zero temperatures played havoc with her energy, as if it could actually physically freeze her energy, much less her body. Typically, she would stay in her warmer wolf-form for the winter, but she refrained, considering the amount of communication she would need to do during the winter. The new ceilings would help, as would the heating machines Yusuke had explained, but it didn't change the fact that outside would still be frigid.
As she closed her eyes, the familiar scent floated through the room of a certain fire demon that she supposed she was dating now. Unable to sense him or even hear him, Jen opened her eyes and screamed, jumping backwards and falling off the other side of the bed. Hiei was kneeling at her side of the bed, and had been only a few inches away from her face. He smirked as she peeked up over the other side of the bed to glare at him. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking? Nevermind foot steps," she mumbled the last part.
Her glare intensified as she crawled back onto the bed and he arched a brow but still remained silent. She glanced around, a little nervous, as he just stared at her. "Did you need something," she prompted.
"Hn."
His lack of elaboration was starting to wear on her nerves as she sat up further and crossed her legs under her, glaring slightly. "Well if you aren't going to say anything, I need to get back to sleep; Big day tomorrow and all."
He answered by standing up and sitting next to her on the bed. After a few minutes, and just before Jen was about to snap at him, he spoke. "I wanted to know what your hair felt like."
Jen considered herself a fairly intellegent individual, who was able to follow thought processes and keep a conversation, but she was completely lost as to what he meant. "What does that have to do with-"
"You had wondered why you woke to me touching your hair by the lake on the morning we came back. I never answered."
She arched a brow. "So you came just to answer a question from months ago?"
He shrugged, but said nothing. She tilted her head, unable to really read his mood, much less his motives. "Well, thank you. I had been curious. What did you find when you felt it?"
His breath hitched slightly, barely noticable. "Softer than anything I've ever felt."
Jen had always thought her hair to be coarse and impossible to manage, yet Hiei seemed to think otherwise. She tilted her head. "You are a very interesting man, Hiei; Very difficult to figure out."
"Hn. Not much to figure out."
Jen shook her head. "A lot to figure out, actually. It seems like as soon as I think I have something figured out about you, you throw a curve ball and blow everything I originally thought out of the water."
"Like what?"
"Like how I originally thought tenderness wasn't your thing. Yet on several occasions, I've seen glimpses of tenderness, before they disappear back behind your concrete wall."
Hiei arched a brow. "I know nothing of tenderness. No one has ever shown me tenderness nor I them."
Jen's eyes widened slightly. "Not even from a lover?"
Hiei scoffed. "The only 'lover' I've had was Mukuro, and only briefly at that. We fought more than anything, beating the hell out of each other between rough kisses full of nothing but fury, hatred and blood."
Stunned slightly, Jen tilted her head to the side, thinking for a moment. What kind of life had he lived that he knew no tenderness? Bolder than normal, Jen reached out to his cheek furthest from her, a pang of sadness hitting her as he tensed, expecting her to strike him.
Carefully, she turned his face toward hers, and pressed her lips gently against his. Jen kept the kiss slow as her hand ran along his jaw and down to rest at the base of his neck. Hiei buried his hand in her hair as she ran her tongue lightly against his lower lip.
Just when she thought he wouldn't open up for her, his lips parted, their tongues dancing together lightly. They stayed like this for a few minutes, exploring one anothers' mouth before she pulled back slightly and rested her forehead against his.
A little embarrassed at how bold she had been, Jen bit her lower lip lightly. "There," she said quietly. "Now you can say you have experienced tenderness."
With a soft 'hn,' Hiei continued to toy with her hair, watching in wonder as her locks slid through his fingers with ease. "You need to rest," he said quietly.
Something in her didn't want him to leave, but she knew he was right. Jen nodded a little as he stood. She laid down as he headed for the window. Jen turned on her side to watch him leave. Just as he opened the window, he looked back and smirked slightly.
"Goodnight, Hiei."
"Goodnight, Onna."
Without another word, he was gone. With a sigh, and a soft smile, Jen closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
Morning had come entirely too early, she decided, as sunlight stung her eyes through the window. With a stretch, she got up and showered. She came out of her bathroom in nothing but a towel as she squeaked, finding Hiei sitting patiently on her bed. He seemed nearly unphased by her state of dress, the only clue to his reaction being his jaw tightening slightly.
"What are you...-" she trailed off as she noticed he didn't have a shirt on and her throat went dry.
"I didn't know what would be appropriate to wear," he said, with a brow arched, a slight smirk playing on his lips as he seemed to notice the light blush on her cheeks.
Shaking the haziness away, Jen walked to the closet that she had moved her clothes from the palace to. "I guess semi-formal would be the official term."
Rumaging around, she found the dress she was looking for and hung it on the door. The halter dress was sleek, the top starting as a bright red that faded to black as it reached the bottom of the dress that went to her knee on one side and flowed freely in a diagonal cut to the floor in the back and other side.
"Hn. Guess I need to make a trip then."
With that, he was gone, leaving her to manage her hair and make up. Leaving her hair down, she dropped the towel around her body and slipped on her under-gaments followed by her dress and a pair of strappy black heels to counter her short stature. With one last look in the mirror, she sighed and departed to meet with everyone else for their allies' arrival.
Jen came up to the entire group waiting by the gate. Each member had dressed for the occasion, every male wearing black slacks and collared shirts. The only thing that varied was the color of the shirt. Her pack wore black, Yusuke dawned a green shirt, Kuwabara a blue shirt, Kurama's a dark purple, and Hiei in a blood red shirt that made his eyes practically glow.
Jettalynn wore a light lavender dress that had a similar cut as Jen's. Yukina wore a full-length light blue and white dress that was simple, but incredibly elegant on her. Genkai wore a black dress, a tic working in her jaw that told Jen she wasn't very happy about wearing the dress.
She sighed before speaking. "Just so you know ahead of time, these allies are...-" she paused, trying to figure out the right word. "Different."
Yusuke arched a brow. "I don't think you have much that could surprise us, considering everything we've seen."
"One is a telepathic demon who calls herself 'Pineapple.' She is unable to control hearing the thoughts of those around her, and is prone to outbursts of shouting. Another is a pixie, who is nearly six-thousand years old, but has the mental capacity of a five-year-old. The third is a teenage vampire who has nearly every form of government and military in all three worlds after her hide and she has a particularly destructive addiction to fire arms and explosives. Don't get me started on the fox who managed to tye-dye her ears and tail and chases bunnies with a sledge hammer for a living."
Stunned into silence, Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei stared at Jen, wide-eyed. Kuwabara frowned. "Wait, vampire? Those things exist?"
Jen nodded slightly. "Most everything exists somewhere in the three worlds."
Hiei smirked, enjoying the increased level of fear that was coming from Kuwabara, but forgot about it as the gates opened and four women came in.
The first one he noticed must have been the pixie. Barely taller than a foot, she flew around their heads, her blue wings a blur as she twisted and flipped in the air. Her hair, eyes, and sparkling dress matched her wings as she studied each person before landing on Vaislen's shoulder, who seemed mildly annoyed, but made no motion to move the pixie.
The next was a younger woman with black hair, tied neatly back in a professional bun, matching her professional black skirt suit. Her black eyes darted about, studying each, staring a bit longer at Yusuke than the others. She must be the vampire.
The fox with tye-dyed ears and tail twitched nervously, looking around at the ground rather than anyone. Her white hair fell to her hips, bangs dancing over sharp golden eyes that matched her knee-length dress. After a few moments of searching, she seemed to refocus on the people around her, eyes locking on Kurama.
"Dear Gods, I don't want to hear about that, Cherr. Stop it," the final woman cried, covering her ears. Ah, the telepath. Her green hair fell to the center of her back and her golden eyes focused on him for a moment, studying his forehead before examining the rest of the group. Her dress was creme-colored, off-the-soulder quarter-length sleeves and knee-length.
Jen cleared her throat and made the introductions. Turns out the vampire went by Peanut and the pixie went by Cookie. As stated before, the telepath called herself Pineapple, and the fox's name was Cherr.
A short time after, two more people landed at the gates; One male and one female, both dressed in black. Their pale white hair and lavender eyes were the traits of the lost dragon-demon race. In addition, they had black tails that swished behind them as they walked.
Jen nodded to them in acknowledgement. "And these guys are Blayne," she motioned to the female before motioning to the male. "And Vayne. Twin dragons."
Jen made quick work of naming everyone else off to the dragons before motioning to head to the palace. "Kurama, Yukina and Jettalynn have made something of a massive feast for everyone, so let the festivities begin."
Everyone cheered and ran for the palace, leaving Vaislen, Cookie, who refused to leave Vaislen's shoulder, Jen and Hiei, who simply walked in that direction.
Jen smiled softly at Hiei as they walked together and he couldn't help but remember last night. It hadn't seemed like much, he figured Jen even thought little of it, but her kiss had shook him to his core. Not to the point where he would start following her around like a lost puppy and displaying affection publicly. Gods, he would never do that, but it was enough to make him enjoy her company just a little more.
She had given him a gift, beyond anything he could give her, still believing he wasn't capable of tenderness. For that, he could tolerate her a little bit more. It seemed to be the general pattern for her; Carefully chipping away at his typical coldness and intolerance of everyone around him. The change was noticable to him, and maybe Jen, but he doubted it was big enough for anyone else to catch on, except maybe the fox, who was intuitive enough to make Hiei wonder a time or two if Kurama could read minds.
As they neared the palace, Hiei grew a little uncomfortable, the music thumping from inside the walls and lights streaming out of the windows. Outside the palace, tables and chairs had been set up with a small clearing, strings of light running from the top of the palace wall out to pillars spaced around the outside of the clearing.
He barely noticed the reassuring hand on the back of his shoulder, that only remained there for a short moment before Jen spoke. "Don't worry. I hate all the commotion too."
Arching a brow, Hiei looked back at her. "You are the one who put it on."
"It is a tradition of our people. My father would surely kill me if I didn't put it on. Besides, a celebration is a morale booster, which we could all use about now."
Hiei nodded slightly. She was right. They had recovered a handful of twenty-something wolves since the attack, some returning after living outside of Aerisia, others who fled on the day of the attack. They had openly welcomed Jen's leadership, though he had a feeling it would only be temporary.
The princess was still unmated, and would be for a long time. It wouldn't be long before the wolves grew restless for a male leader to stand at her side. If only they knew that she would apparently mate to a hybrid fire demon, according to the ancestors. He smirked slightly. That would be interesting to see.
Hiei took a deep breath as they stepped inside, preparing himself for the onslaught of celebration. This is going to be a long night...
A/N~ Yeeee, another one! Aaaand, I got to introduce some of my favorite quirky characters. Now, so you know ahead of time, the next chapter is going to be a bit, uhm, steamy. So fair warning. Not completely going at it, but...- well, you will see. :P It will probably take some time, so I can make it just right.
Review, Favorite, PM, Stalk and Enjoy~
Much Love ~Jessa