11.
Everyone headed to Koenma's office by holding onto some sticks you made from your shadow and shadowing with you. Once in there you asked, "Koenma, do you have any books on the gate to Ssentearg or are in the language of Shadows that we could look at?" Koenma looked up from his paperwork to see all of you there (including Botan, Yukina, Keiko, Kurama, Hiei, and you. Sabera is checking in the shadow realm and Kuwabara aren't there. They said that they would just fall asleep and be in the way so they went to the Ningenkai).
"Yes I do but no one knows what the books in the Language of Shadows say. Why do you want to look at them?" Koenma asked with curiosity and raised an eyebrow.
"It's because I can read in that language and I read about a prophecy that was in a book in the Ningenkai. Please Koenma, we need to look at any books that you have that are in the Language of Shadows or talk about the Gate of Ssentearg. More than likely there's someone that is able to speak the language too and will want to use its power to take over the three worlds. We're going to have to protect the gate if so," You explained to him.
"Fine then. If that's the case then could you show them to the lost language section of the main library, Botan?" Koenma asked and continued working on the file work scattered on his desk.
"Yes Lord Koenma. Come on guys, follow me," Botan cheerfully exclaimed.
After a few minutes of walking through twisting hallways, you all came to a set of double doors. Botan opened the doors and inside you saw a room full of bookcases that went to the ceiling that was probably about at least twenty feet high. You couldn't see it but knew that it must have been a huge room that you could fit your house in the Ningenkai in if you moved all of the bookcases and tables out. "Here we are everyone. This floor has all of the books that no one ha been able to read and understand. It's probably got a lot of books in the Language of Shadows. I have some work to do so I'll show you where we keep the books on the gate of Ssentearg and then I'll have to go," Botan said. Kurama then took Yukina and Keiko with him, saying that he needed them to help him with the researching or something.
You weren't sure what they said because you had already headed for a bookcase and began reading in a random book to see if it was in the Language of Shadows. When you read books, you automatically drown out all other sounds. You read a sentence and see that it's not in the language you're looking for. You put the book back and start looking at other books. After about half an hour of searching, you come upon a book that has 'Eht Dnegel fo eht etag fo Ssentearg (Eht Swodahs Noisrev' on the spine.) You immediately reach for that book when a different hand grabs it at the same time you do.
You look to see who the hand belonged to and see that it is none other than Hiei. He quickly lets go of the book and starts walking in the other direction with his back turned to you. You could have sworn, though, that you saw a light shade of pink come to his cheeks. You smile at the thought and race after Hiei with the book in hand.
"Hey, Hiei. Wait up for a sec will you," You quietly said to him as you caught up. You walked along side him with the book held close to your chest. "Hey Hiei, I was wondering, if you wouldn't mind telling me about that dream you had last night?" you asked him quietly.
"Hn. Its none of your business," was his reply in a harsh and cold tone.
"Well sorry for worrying but I have strange dreams all the time and when I don't tell about them then they always come true. I was just worried that if you didn't tell anyone then you really will be in a situation that puts you in fear and worry. I don't want to see you like that Hiei. I just don't. Please tell me," You reply. As you said this, you looked away, your voice became softer and gentler and your eyes turned to a sky blue (worry and concern). Hiei reluctantly says that he'll tell you and you drag him back to the place where you found the book. You look on the bookshelf more and find at least 20 more books in the language. You and Hiei carry back the books and find a nearby table to look through them.
"Ok. Now we can multi-task. We'll look at some of the books while you can tell me about the dream. Is that okay with you?" you ask. Hiei nods and grabs a book from the pile he brought. He tells you about the dream, leaving out the part about him being worried about you but you expected him to do that.
"Wait, did you say that he said a prophecy said the third eye wielder and ruler of shadows know where the keys were?" You ask when he finished. He nods and you continue, "Lets see. Only when the black fire and shadows join will the gates be opened and controlled to grant any wish the user wants. If I'm right then I'm the ruler of the shadows that they were talking about, because according to Sabera and her story, then I'm now the current ruler or princess thing of the shadows and she was sent to protect me from the dangers of being the princess. You're the only person in the three worlds that's able to control the darkness flame so you're the other person that they're talking about. What about the rest though? Do we have to control our powers together to open the gate?"
You ponder for some time and grab the first book you found that was about the gate. You look through it and soon find something that catches your eye. You jot it down where Hiei can read it and hand it to him. He reads it and You ask, "Hiei. Do you have a necklace or something that was given to you at birth besides your mother's tear gem?" He nods and you shadow you two from under the table to the corner of his room. You leave him in there and go to your room to get a necklace that your human parents had recently given you for your birthday. They said that they got it when you were born and were waiting for the right time to give it to you. (You knew now that they got it when you were given to them and not when you were born) You never wore it much but always made sure to keep it safe because of this feeling you had that said you should.
The necklace was of a black dragon with red stripes entangled around a ruby rose with thorns in the middle was the Japanese kanji for love and shadow in gold. The chain was a thin yet strong gold one that made the necklace goes down to your center chest. You grabbed the thing and shadowed back to Hiei's room. You found him on his bed with something that had a gold chain dangling from his hand. You walked over to him and sat down beside him. You showed him yours and he showed you his. His had a black dragon entangled around a ruby rose with the kanji for love and black fire in the center.
Suddenly both charms started to glow a bright black and engulfed you two. When the light disappeared, everything looked the same. You walked over to the mirror and saw that you were wearing a black, strapless dress that was fitted on the top and then flowed down to your ankles, the top half had red roses scattered around it. You also had on a pair of black gloves that stopped half way up your upper arm. On your head was a simple red tiara that had rubies and onyx stones decorating it, your ears and tail were out as well. You turned to Hiei and saw that he was in an exotic yet simple black suit. On his head was nothing but the white bandana that he wore. You were a bit envious that he didn't have to wear a stupid tiara but it went away and you liked the tiara a bit.
You soon notice that Hiei is staring at you and what you're wearing. You blush a bit and your eyes turn a pale pink. You turn around so that he doesn't see this. You look back to the mirror and fasten the pendant around your neck. Once you finish that you sense a demon about to enter the room through the balcony. You grab your katana from the closet and get ready for the demon. Hiei notices you preparing for battle.
"Are you sure you should fight in that dress?" He asks and draws his sword as well.
"Are you sure you should fight in that monkey suit? I'll be fine. I've fought my Hiten Mitsurugi sensei in a dress before and he was much stronger than this demon even though he was human. This is only a D-class demon. Even Kuwabaka could beat him," You reply. The demon finally reaches the balcony and charges you first, thinking that you would be the easiest to beat. You charge at him and swing the dull edge of the blade at him. It hits and he flies out off of the balcony. You jump off the balcony and slice him in half before he hits the treetops. You gracefully land on a branch and jump back to the balcony.
You land and notice that the sun will set soon. You know that the others will be back soon for dinner so you tell Hiei, "I'm going to change out of this and into a shirt and pants so the others don't get any ideas or get curious about why I'm wearing it. I suggest you do the same unless you want them to think we spent the afternoon on a date instead of researching." And with that you shadowed to your room and changed.
When you came out of your room you saw Hiei in his usual outfit. You also notice a string and a gold chain around his neck and hidden under his cloak. You knew that it was the tear gem and the pendant. You wore the ring that Hiei secretly gave you, and the pendant, though yours was in view.
Unfortunately, when you took off the dress you had on, the tiara wouldn't come off and your ears and tail wouldn't disappear like you wanted them to. (You were able to control on whether to have your ears and tail out in the open before) You walked over to him and you two walked to the kitchen since you were able to smell Kurama's cooking.
"Hn. Why are you still wearing the tiara? And why do you still have your ears and tail out? You know that the baka will want to pet them and people will ask why you have the tiara," Hiei questioned as you reached the stairs.
"Sigh I know, I know. For some reason, though, I can't get this stupid thing off and my ears and tail won't disappear like I want them to. It must be because of that weird black light from our pendants. Not to mention that it just proves even more that we're the two that's in the prophecy," You reply and try one more time to get the tiara off without success. You knew that you would have to get used to the thing since you weren't going to be able to get rid of it. Luckily, it wasn't on very far down and seemed to just lay there like a feather, you couldn't even tell that it was there.
You enter the living room and see Yusuke and Kuwabara playing flat out while the girls were talking to one another. Hiei went over to the windowsill and you went over to the couch to watch the idiots play video games. You would have gone unnoticed too if it weren't for Hiei stepping in front of Yusuke and Kuwabara and caused them to both crash into each other.
"Hey shrimp! Watch where you're going, will you?!" Kuwabara shouted like an idiot and got Hiei a little annoyed. You knew you needed to stop them before it became a fist fight so you got between them and did so.
"Would you two calm down? Dinner's almost ready and we don't want to wreck everything either now do we?" You reasoned. Everyone was watching what was going on and Hiei surprisingly walked silently to his window without any sort of remark.
"Fine. Hey Lea. You finally decided to take my advice and let your ears and tail out huh?" Kuwabara asked as he finally noticed your ears and tail. You growled and walked to eat dinner as Kurama called for everyone. You were stopped by someone grabbing your arm and turning you around.
"Hey Lea, why are you wearing a tiara? And wear did you get it? It's adorable," Botan asked with her chipper voice and made her cat face with starry eyes.
"I'll explain later Botan. Right now I just want to eat. I'll tell you and the others what happened," You sigh out and continue walking to the table.
The dinner was eaten quietly with the exception of Kuwabara's and Yusuke's noisy and rude table manners. When you finish, Kurama asks, "Lea, where'd you get that tiara and pendant?"
"Sigh Well, when me and Hiei were searching through the books this afternoon, I found a section in a book that said that a way to tell who the wielders of the gate keys were, was that they would both have a pendant that were almost identical. They would have the kanji for love and black fire on one, and the other would have the kanji for love and shadow on it. Well me and Hiei checked, and we both have one of those pendants. As for the tiara, well, when we went to show each other the pendants, they started to glow black. The black glow then engulfed us. When it disappeared, I was wearing a dress with the tiara and my ears and tail came out. Hiei's outfit changed too. He was wearing a," You explained. You were about to tell them what he was wearing when he interrupted.
"Onna, you better shut your mouth," Hiei warned.
You ignored him and continued, "Hiei was wearing a simple black tux. We were then attacked by a D-class demon that was defeated with ease. I didn't find out that I couldn't take the tiara off or hide my ears and tail until I went to change. That about sums it up."
Yusuke and Kuwabara started to snicker while the girls all tried to picture Hiei in a tux, they couldn't.(--') Hiei got mad and tried to slash you with his katana but you just slipped into the shadow under the table. This only succeeded in making Hiei even angrier. Hiei saw you come out of the shadowed corner of the kitchen and pinned you to the wall with his katana at your throat. You just stood there relaxed and didn't even flinch when Hiei's katana started to cut your skin. Your eyes were black and your face was stoic and expressionless.
"Hiei. Calm down. We can't have you killing her when we still have the Dark Tournament to win," Kurama tried to reason.
"Shut up fox. Don't worry I won't kill her. I'm just going to get payback," Hiei growled and pressed the katana even harder. Again you didn't even flinch. The katana made a small cut on your neck and blood started to trickle down your throat. Something was wrong though. The blood was a deep red like blood should be, but it flowed down your throat as if it was just water.
Hiei realized this and cut even deeper into your throat. Even more blood spurted from the wound and flowed down the same way that the blood before did. Hiei then gripped his katana tighter and slashed your head clean off.
"Hiei what the hell is wrong with you?! Why the hell did you…" Yusuke shouted. He was interrupted by Hiei though.
"You baka. That wasn't the real Lea. It was only a clone that she made from water and red food coloring. Lea isn't even in the house anymore. Come on kitsune. We're going to look for her to keep her from leaving or doing anything stupid, since she's our fifth fighter for the tournament," Hiei said and sheathed his katana. Kurama nodded and followed Hiei out of the house.