Here is the next installment! I could spend this time apologizing about the wait time, but that would just be a waste and I could be spending that time being much more productive. So... Cheers!

Hermione could see the ships and their brilliantly furled sails, her nose scrunched somewhat at the briny smell and the course language she heard, though now that she had been living with Jin swearing and cursing were no longer something vacant in her life. Her head began to ache fiercely and she scarcely found the energy to drag herself back, back along the winds and back into her own body.

She was sitting along the cobbled wall that was coated with the various hues that came from the setting sun. A cool breeze flowed by her and she frowned slightly as goosebumps prickled up and across her skin. Autumn was coming, and coming swiftly to the Irish countryside and Hermione was unhappy about it. Reaching a hand forward she placed it against the stone and felt their warmth, swiping her hand gently along it she returned the power she had put into her protection circle back into her body.

This wind sight experiment had gone well, she had seen nearly two miles out on the ocean just as clearly as if she had been right there with the ships. Wind scrying, or wind sight was an advanced technique that usually drove a person mad, however she was not the usual person. She was extraordinarily stubborn and when she found a way to scry that wasn't absolute poppycock and mysterious star signs she delved into material she could believe in.

The kitchen smelt rich with food filled with hearty spices and herbs. Hermione inhaled deeply and felt herself growing warming by the second in this cozily heated cottage. There at the stove in a pair of nice cream slacks and navy button down that was slightly mussed with a man she had grown to adore. Kurama turned around and smiled at her, "Miss Hermione, I trust that your scrying went well?"

Hermione nodded and hung her thin shall on a hook by her loft. The young redheaded man had come to stay with Jin and Hermione about halfway through the previous month and they had become fast friends. It only somewhat irked her that Jin brought Kurama here to keep an eye on her when he wasn't around, but he seemed to understand her need for space and preference towards privacy and left her well alone for the most part.

Jin was currently off on one of his "air adventures" as she liked to call them, most of the time she didn't want to know what he was up to, most likely mischief, but really with that smile how could she not get over her anger. He was really like a gentler version of Fred and George in a way.

Hermione and Jin seemed to flow around the tiny kitchen seamlessly as they prepared the night's meal. Soon Hiei, Kurama's lover, would show and they would sit down for their meal. She suspected the Kurama knew of her knowledge of their "secret" relationship, but really anyone with eyes could see their mutual affection and attraction.

There was really no room in the kitchen for eating, so they usually took their meals into the living room, thus Hermione went and arranged some cutlery around a misshaped and dinged up old trunk that served as their makeshift table. Once that chore was done, she washed her hands and face before helping dish wonderfully aromatic food into the slightly cracked and discoloured Chinaware.

Almost as soon as they were sitting Hiei showed up and without a word to either of his dining companions, dug heartily into his food. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione noticed the affectionate crinkling of Kurama's nose as he watched Hiei, yep there was no doubting their relationship.

"Onna." Hiei grunted out in his usual gruff tone of voice and Hermione bristled a little bit at the term, but otherwise let it slide. Hiei smirked, knowing he caused her to react, "You are leaking power from your head."

Hermione paused, not sure if this was a Hiei form of insulting, then shrugged, this might be him being helpful.

"Explicating is the key to life." She replied almost snootily before picking up her finished dishes and returning them to the kitchen. After scraping off her food into the disposal, she didn't bother running it with more food from the other two on the way, she dunked the dish into the already waiting tub of water on the side of the sink- Kurama bless him for thinking of such things.

Hiei was behind her, repeating her movements almost exactly with his plate. "Your head, it is leaking power. I am not sure why every demon in this vicinity is not banging down your door to eat you."

Hermione huffed, but considered what he said, she didn't think that he would lie to her, but on the other hand he didn't have to be so rude.

"Do you have any suggestions?" She could at least try to be polite to the rude little three-eyed fr-man, she thought that she caught his eye twitching at her almost slip up, Hermione had the vague understanding that he could read minds if he so wished to, and apparently he did not like what he heard.

"The wheel of power should fix it." Was that a grin? It was gone before Hermione could check to see if it was there.

"Alright, so what kind of chalk do I need to etch it out?" Hermione asked, almost getting tired of his little games.

Hiei shook his head, this time with a wide unmistakable grin, "Oh, no. This wheel goes on that fat little head of yours." Hermione steamed at the insult, but couldn't help but feel intrigued by the prospect, although she was mildly worried.

"Explication." She reminded him, almost gently.

"You are going to need Kurama's help, because I won't do it. He'll help you through the process of soaking that God-forsaken rat's nest you call hair in the proper ointments and then braiding them."

It was Hermione's turn and her eye twitched widely, what she wouldn't give to give this man a good solid hit with a nice hard object, preferably one that would break and then he would have to fix, the nasty little bugger from hell.

Before she could carry out her plot to hit him with the nearest available cast-iron pan Kurama arrived with several bottles and directed her towards the loo to do something that he called a "ritual cleansing", though she was pretty sure this whole mess was just to humiliate her.

Looking in the mirror later on that evening a large and deep frown marred her facial features and even caused a slight crease in her brow, something that was normally as smooth as a calm lake. She was not calm at all. Turning her head this way and that, she tried not to think vain thoughts, but was failing miserably.

Down the middle of her scalp, from forehead to nape was a big fat braid that she dimly correlated to a fat ugly slug. Other small braids formed circles on either side of her scalp, just behind her temples, and then released down her back in some of its former length. Only two braids were roughly let "free" and they hung on either side of her face, "framing" the "glory" of her looks.

All in all, she was completely miserable and had convinced herself that this was all Hiei's fault and that she would never forgive him if this were all one big joke. Turning her head this way and that she grimaced again, before coming to the decision that, in the case that this was a joke, that this was his sick form a humor, she would kill him and kill him very, very dead.

Placing down the mirror she sighed and climbed up her ladder to her loft bed, snuggling into the covers she found herself missing Jin desperately. He at least would still find her beautiful, though he might laugh at first. It was something that she could always count on, his confidence and support in her. Tucking her head into the crook of her arm, she slept.

iBless!