Meeting the family and getting what's mine
…..Hiei…..
I wasn't able to go to the girl's home as I had originally planned. Kurama had to be the good son and tell his mother that I would be visiting the city for a while. His mother, being the naïve and caring woman that she is, invited me over to have dinner with her and the rest of the Minamino family. Something about motels being cheaply run and dingy. Whatever the hell a 'motel' is, and I was not in a position to refuse.
So now I'm stuck being house guest for a time, and it is torturous. His mother would always try to make me feel welcome and part of the family during my stay. A pat on the head, an extra helping of desert, or even the teriyaki steak cooked just to my liking. I hated her for her hospitality. I hated her for being kind and generous. I hated her for being the gullible, naïve human that she is. Yet those are the reasons I care for her just the same. I now understand why Kurama would want to stay with her in his retched human body living in this God-forsaken city. The attention she lavishes onto her children would make anyone want to be cradled in her arms like a child.
I curse myself for falling into it.
Kurama and I walked in silence as we came to the steps to his former home. After he had graduated college, he decided to live with Genkai. Mostly because of the portal that leads straight to Gendar in order to continue business with that goat. Right now he and Genkai are helping train Yomi's heir, Shura. And did I mention the new addition to our dysfunctional "family"?
While in Makai, Kurama courted a female fire cat, Naoko. She was wild, unruly, bitchy, sarcastic, and just a plain menace to society. Compared to his calm, cool, cultured, and well- mannered nature, she was his complete opposite in every way. I never saw the connection the two made.
He opened the door and we were greeted with the warm, welcoming smile of the fox's human mother. Kurama went to embrace her as she gave a peck upon his cheek. "Suuichi, I'm so glad you made it home safe and sound, dear." She looked to me, the smile ever present. "Hiei, it is so good to see you. I'm very happy you could stay for a while."
I bowed low to show my respect. "I am thankful to be here, Kaasan."
Kaasan. A demon's term of endearment for another demon's mother. It was rude to not thank the host for the invitation. It may be hard to believe, but it is a sin to not give respect to mothers since they are held in such high regard in the demon world. They birth us, tend to us, raise us, and, if lucky, love us. I just had the misfortune to never know my mother.
"Come in, Hiei. I have your favorite dish cooking in the kitchen."
My mouth watered at the thought.
"Is Naoko here yet, Mother?"
Kaasan nodded. "Why, yes. She's helping me cook dinner."
I felt my face turn a slight shade of green after that comment. The last time Naoko tried to cook… actually, I'd rather not talk about it. I still have nightmares of that meatloaf.
"Thank you, Mother."
"I hope you enjoy your stay with us, Hiei."
"Thank you, Kaasan." Another reason why I hated being here. Being polite was never high on my list of standards, yet when I'm around this human woman, I feel obligated to do so.
She walked back into the kitchen, retying her frilly pink apron along the way.
When she left, another woman popped her head out from the kitchen doorway. She smiled brightly when she spotted Kurama. "Kurama!" She ran to his arms and smothered him with unrelenting affection. "I missed you." She purred, rubbing her cheek against his.
He kissed her lightly on the lips. "I missed you, too." He was about to give her another kiss when her eyes drifted to me.
I frowned as my eyes dared her to touch me.
She jumped out of Kurama's arms and wrapped hers around me. Swinging me around as she crushed my ribcage. "Hiei! I can't believe you're here!" She held me by the arms away from her, my feet dangling a few inches off the ground. "So how was Makai?" She smiled. I had murderous intent in my eyes. Only she would be stupid enough to hold me like a drenched cat. The temperature of my skin rose as I tried to singe her hands. "Oh Hiei, you know I can do that too!" She crushed me in her embrace again raising the temperature of her skin as well. If we became any hotter, we would burst into flames; so in respect to Kaasan's home, I kept control of myself as I tried to gasp for air. I could barely breath because her abnormally large breasts happen to be in the way of my nose and mouth.
"Woman, release me!" I angrily spat at her with what little air I had trying to push away from her. She may not look like it, but Naoko could crush three inch thick steel with her bare hands.
She let go to have me drop to the floor on my ass. "You see, Kurama? Hiei is so mean to me!" She looked to Kurama with her forest green eyes, trying to feign innocence, the dark forbidding truth just below the surface.
"Well you did start it." Kurama calmly stated, hanging his jacket.
She grinned evilly. "Heh, I know." She looked to me with the evil smile, then playfully stuck her tongue out at me before skipping back into the kitchen.
"Fox?"
"Yes, Hiei?"
"I hate your woman."
"I know, Hiei." He knowingly smiled at me, then followed his mate into the kitchen.
Again. I never saw the connection between the two.
As I sat at the dinning table, I noticed that Naoko was pregnant again. The third time. In a few months she'll gain the circumference of a watermelon again. For both their sakes, I hope this pregnancy is successful.
Dinner was, as always, pleasant. Conversation was kept to a minimum. Kaasan stated that she would be alone in the house for another two days, seeing as her husband had a business trip and her step-son, Kokota,(1) is in college. Kaasan was happy to have her family here. Kaasan seemed happy to have me there. I never figured out why, but it did make me feel… welcomed… for just a moment. I was allowed to glimpse into a life I knew would never be mine, but still be able to experience from a distance. It seemed normal, ordinary, and pleasant. Though I would never admit it out loud.
After dinner, Kurama, Naoko, and myself said our goodbyes to Kaasan. She hugged each of us, telling us to be careful on our journey home to Genkai's temple. She told Naoko to take care of the baby. When we finally left, Naoko had an aura of deep sadness about her. One that could only come from a mother who had lost a child before.
When we reached the temple stairway, Kurama lifted his woman into his arms and carried her up. I went ahead, not wanting to be slowed down by a fox and his impregnated cat.
The relationship never made any sense to me. Cats and dogs normally fought tooth and nail over the simplest disputes, but usually about territory in the Makai. Yet here's living proof that the poison of the human world had infected them, deteriorating their demon heritage one brain cell at a time, but as I see them be affectionate towards each other, lavish each other with continuous warmth, unconditional love, undying attention, and just being the happiest I've ever seen two demons be, I find myself envying them.
When I reached the temple grounds I was bombarded with hugs and cheers as little children jumped on me and held on with their tiny fists. I landed hard on my ass, all seven of them on top of me.
"Uncle Hiei! We missed you SOOOOOOOOOO much! Didn't we, Uzu?" Junior, the one who had me by the neck, asked his little brother who sat on my stomach. He looked like miniature of Yusuke.
His little brother nodded, the pacifier bobbing up and down. He also looked like Yusuke except he had Yusuke's woman's hair and eye color.
"Saji too, Saji too." There was a small girl on my right arm, clinging for dear life. Her red eyes were bright and shining as her turquoise hair blew in the light breeze. Her twin brother latched himself onto my left arm so tight I felt the circulation in my arm stop. Their little sister, the youngest of them, was on my back, her tiny fists in my shirt hanging from my shoulder a few inches off the ground.
The other two were grappling my legs, arguing with each other on who I missed more.
"Hey, Hiei! I see the welcoming committee did its job." Yusuke came out of the temple a cheesy grin on his face.
"Yes, they're annoying as ever." I gently picked them up one by one and set them aside. Each one giving small protests, Samui decided to stay on my arm while the two at my legs refused to let go unless the other let go first. The oaf's twins were a pain in the ass. I was stuck with walking with them on my legs, but as soon as I started, the others climbed on like monkeys going up a tree. Junior hung from my neck, Uzu hung off of him, Hieyoru climbed back onto my back, and the two pairs of twins on my arms and legs. Yusuke laughed at my predicament. I'm sure I look ridiculously hilarious right about now.
This is not gonna work.
"If the little children do not release their uncle soon, the closest ones will be devoured." I gave them a malicious look.
Each one of them screamed playfully and ran away.
"You certainly have a way with kids, Hiei." Yusuke said, his grin still on his face as he advanced forward.
I rubbed my shoulder. "They're heavier than they were last time."
"Yeah, they're grown' like weeds."
"Hn." I went ahead to the temple, not wanting to stay for idle chit-chat.
Yusuke got into step with me. "The nerdy girl's here. She's got someone else that'll give us some more information to find the Aoitsuki." He explained casually.
I nodded once to show I was listening. Good. Another informant. The faster we get this wrapped up, the faster I can get my tear-gem back.
….
All of us sat in the living room, each of the adults occupying a seat while the children played with their toys on the floor quietly. All were present except Kuwabara, his wife, Keiko, Shizuru, Jin, and Touya, who decided to stay in the human world to train with Yusuke.
As I looked around at the occupants, the new informant sat beside Memoru. He was an average 13 year-old's height, short black hair with green highlights covered with a black and forest green cap. It was placed backwards, the bangs poked out from the hole above where the adjuster was placed. His clothing was a frayed black tank top and loose camouflage pants that covered the combat boots on his feet. But to be perfectly honest, I couldn't tell whether he was male or female. He had a boyish hairstyle, clothes, and attitude, but the body seemed more feminine than other girls his age.
I looked to the scars adorning his arms. They were claw marks, long, clean cuts. Three marks starting from just below his shoulder then went a little past the bend in his arm.
His dark green eyes looked into mine, catching me staring. He gave no gesture, no comment, no indication that he was disrespected. He merely blew a giant pink bubble from his mouth, letting it pop, then dragged it back into his mouth again. He smiled.
"…Which means that the rebels are coming from the Northern Islands." Memoru finished. I wasn't paying attention to a word she had said. I was too preoccupied with learning the gender of our new guest. "Jade, since you've been to the Northern Islands you can take it from there." Memoru looked to her companion sitting with her on the loveseat.
Jade. That's a girl's name.
"Sure, why not?" She was half hearted about it. Her voice was definitely female. "The Northern Islands have been isolated since the Great War. They saw themselves as being a superior race to the rest of the demon world, so they closed off their borders. Any practices that are done by other demons they see as being barbaric. Like how the Mazoku need to eat human flesh to survive, or how the Koorime can give birth asexually and only to a daughter, or even that some species tend to abandon their children at birth. They saw this as being inferior tendencies and didn't want to be contaminated with it.
"The prophecy of Arare and the Aoitsuki started there since that is the birth place of the two. A few hundred years before the war, legends say that Arare created the Aoitsuki to be her servants and show the three worlds her vast power. She wanted to create something that was so beautiful that any male would instantly fall in love and yadda, yadda."
As Jade paused, Memoru put in a few words. "It is said that if a male gazes upon a Blue Moon Maiden for too long, he will fall in love with her, but the love shall always be unrequited for the Blue Moon Maiden seeks her one true mate who in turn shall deem himself unworthy and leave her forever, no matter how strong their love for each other."
"I am so sick of Romeo and Juliet sotries. SERIOUSLY! What is the.." Jade looked to our bored expressions. She cleared her throat. "So anyway… after the Great War, the mages sealed Arare away inside the womb of an Aoitsuki. If they tried for any other host, it would be instantly taken over. So her creations were the only things that were powerful enough to contain the vast godlike powers of that dragon. Now thousands of years down the line, Arare's spirit energy has recovered enough to where her soul can fully sustain a body. So if she takes over the present Aoitsuki's body, we are in deep shit. The Spell of Water will stop at NOTHING to take back the three worlds." She blew another bubble. "But the problem is," she talked around the gum, "is that the Aoitsuki should be wiped out, finished, done, no more, completely, and utterly obliterated! Kaput! Terminated! GONE.."
"JADE!" Memoru put a hand over her mouth to stop her.
"So what's the plan of action?" Yusuke asked, leaning forward to give his full attention.
"First we get permission from Koenma to let the twins come here and help us find the Aoitsuki. Then we'll get yours and Hiei's trackers to start searching for her demonic energy. It won't be easy though seeing as the Human world is pretty big." Memoru explained.
"Good thing we got two years to search." Jade chided with a toothy smile.
"Actually it is one year, eleven months, and twenty five days."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"So with that said, I shall be seeing you at a later date. I need to see Koenma for those papers. It might take a while to convince him to let the twins through. We can only hope. In the mean time, Jade and Genkai will be using 10 of your trackers to scope out the nearby areas and hopefully we'll be able to take out a good 300 kilometer radius by the time I get back!." Memoru stood and said her goodbyes before leaving through a portal of Jade's creation.
Jade, along with ten of Yusuke's and my own demons, followed Genkai to another part of the temple in order to start.
I didn't bother with the goodbyes. It didn't matter. I remained at my perch on the window seat, watching the woods, bidding my time till I can go and retrieve my gem from that girl's house.
A few hours passed before the oaf, his wife, Jin and Touya, made their way back to the temple. It became noisy when they returned.
As I tried to tune out the noise, I felt a tug on my cloak. I looked down to see Hieyoru looking into my eyes, reaching for me, asking to be picked up. I complied. I set her on my lap as she gave me a smile. She is the youngest of the children. Yukina's youngest daughter, and what I hate to admit, my favorite of them. When I found out Yukina was first pregnant, I wasn't sure whether to be angry at the fact that she was impregnated, or happy for her. I had chosen the latter once I saw the smile on my sister's face. I was worried about what the children would look like. If any of them even had any similarities to me, Yukina might figure out that I am actually her long lost brother. That wouldn't bode well.
Luckily, her twins Saji, the eldest, and Samui, the son, looked like her and their father. I was able to breath a sigh of relief until her second pregnancy with Hieyoru. I had been worried about the appearance of this one as well. When she was born, her hair was snow white and her eyes were an ice blue. What worried me were the shape of her eyes. They are just like mine. When no one said anything, I thought I had dodged another bullet, but fate decided to be cruel to me later. I was in the Makai for a few weeks and when I had returned, Hieyoru's hair had grown out. The snowy white bled to midnight black. The same color as my hair. The only remnants of the white hair were left at the tips, and stayed there. As she kept growing, so did her black hair. Again, no one said anything. I still don't see myself in the clear just yet, however.
Hieyoru kept smiling at me. Her perfect white teeth shining in the dim light. I can already tell she'll have boys pooling at her feet. Beautiful thing she is. I gently patted her head. "Have you been good for your parents?" She nodded rapidly. She brought her tiny frail arms around my neck and embraced me in a tight hug. I patted her back.
Hieyoru has always been the quite child. She merely whined when she was hungry, giggled quietly when she was happy, let silent tears fall when she was sad. She is three now and hasn't spoken a word. Yukina has been slightly upset at this. There were no indications toward language. She remained always silent.
She gave a tiny peck on my cheek before she let go. She settled herself into my lap and looked out the window with me. When it was time to go to bed, she had already fallen asleep on my lap. Yukina came through the door and looked at her child in my possession, her soft smile amused. She silently walked over, gently taking her daughter into her arms. "Thank you, Hiei." She whispered to me. I nodded. She took the sleeping child into her room, leaving me there to be alone again. My only company being the moonlight streaming through the window.
I stayed upon my perch, the whispers of the wind softly lulling me to sleep.
….
When I awoke, it was midday. Silence surrounded the temple. I was alone. I smirked. Now I can finally get my gem back.
I got up and let a blanket that had been placed upon me fall to the floor. Yukina must have done that. After folding it and placing it back on the window seat, I walked to the door, only to be dragged and pushed out by Yusuke, Kuwabara, Jin, and Touya.
"What is the meaning of this?" I yelled at them. They immediately clamped their hands over my mouth.
"Shhhhhhh. We can't let them know we're leaving." Yusuke whispered harshly into my ear. We made our way down the stairs to one of their vehicles.
"Yeah, shrimp. If they catch us, they'll make us watch the kids while they spend the day shopping." Kuwabara inputted. He held me around my torso, pinning my arms against my side preventing me from connecting his face with the pavement.
"Ya know dey be wantin ta relax demselves for a good while, but HewWEE dem kids be too much handling for just us fellers." I barely understood a word he had said. He carried one of my legs while Touya had a grip on my other one.
"Sorry for kidnapping you like this, Hiei, but we can't have any one else know where we're going. We'd hate for you to be at the mercy of the girls." Touya tried to explain. My response was a glare seeing as Yusuke had gagged me with his wife beater.
I heard the engine of the vehicle start. They all pushed me in. One piled in after another as Yusuke sped off, leaving whatever fate the women had planned for them that day behind.
….
Damn them all to hell. I was so close to going back and getting my tear-gem. Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE these people? I hope they burn in hell and choke on their crisp embers as they are flogged naked for the sick amusement of the devil himself!
We arrived at our destination. Kurama's work place. They said they were going to pick him up then go on to have a guy's day out. They never told me why I had to be included in their plans.
Kurama ran out, calmly getting into the car. "I do hope you know where you're going, Yusuke." Was the only thing he said before the detective sped off toward our next destination.
….
When we arrived at the restaurant I couldn't help but get a strange feeling. I dismissed it when they finally let me out of the car.
"Ya sure this is the place, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked, looking at the building ahead.
"Yup, this is it." Yusuke answered. I hadn't been paying attention to where we were going or where we were. I was too busy dusting myself off, trying to rid of the stench from the human transportation machine, and plotting each of their deaths. "The Blue Moon Café."
I stopped then looked up to the building. I couldn't believe how much fate hated me, how much it liked to toy with my miserable life, how its love of making my life hell was its greatest pleasure.
There in front of us was the girl's tea shop in all its baked goods glory.
My luck had shit dropped on it.
TBC…