Chapter 10

Confessions and Training Don't Mix

I lay there, thinking about what had happened a few hours ago and wondering if I really should have told him. After I had said everything, Hiei had just gotten up and left without saying a word. I hadn't turned to look at his face, so I didn't see his reaction. I sighed. Oh well, I said what I meant to say and there's nothing I can do about it now except wait. I kept telling myself that over and over, but inside, I was falling apart. In reality, I had taken his silence as rejection. But another part of me knew that Hiei would have reacted that way whether he felt the same way about me or not.

I got up out of bed to see the sun almost up. I looked up at the top bunk, and then remembered that Natalie wasn't in the room. I found her with Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara in the big room connected to the kitchen.

"Unh…hey," I greeted them sleepily. They looked at me, then away. This confused me.

"What?" Then I noticed that they were all blushing. I looked at myself in a mirror across the room to see my hair a total mess, my shirt bloody in the stomach area, various stains of both dirt and blood on my face, neck, and hands (most of it not mine) and…AHH MAN!

There was a huge line of snot going from my nose across my cheek to my ear.

DID I LOOK LIKE THIS WHEN I CONFESSED TO HIEI?

I screamed and ran from the room into the kitchen, where I quickly washed away the blood and dirt and dried snot, then raked my fingers through my hair. I washed the ripped and bloody clothing as quickly as I could. Then, I took one last look in the mirror and decided that I looked presentable. When I walked back out, Kurama had something – make that two things – in his hands. One was a bowl of some sort of skin-colored cream, and the other was a cup of rather foul-smelling liquid. I smiled when I realized what they were.

"MY CURES!" I screamed happily as I engulfed Kurama in a back-breaking hug, being careful not to make him drop the objects. As I let go, he said-

"All you have to do is drink the potion once, and your body will be permanently immune to all allergens. As far as the cream, you must apply one coat to any part of your body that might receive sunlight once a day for the next week before it will have a permanent affect. I believe I made enough for that."

"That's it?" I asked.

"That is it."

"Thank you so much!" I squealed, hugging him again and taking the potion from his hand. I gulped it down right then and there with a sour face. Then, I took the bowl of cream up to my room and applied it. It was extraordinarily liquidy and soaked into my skin as soon as I finished smearing it on. I watched in amazement as my usually translucent skin took on a slightly darker shade. Then I quickly changed into a non-ripped black cami and light-weight black jacket and sweatpants and went down to meet them. What I saw surprised me.

Koenma and Botan were there, too.

Botan turned to me with a cheery smile and greeting. Koenma was simply floating in the air as usual. I decided to say something. "Umm…is there something you guys wanna tell me?"

"Actually, yes," Koenma started. "About that demon you fought a couple days ago…" Uh oh. "His name was Noriyori and he was on the Spirit World's Top Ten Most Wanted list. He was, in fact, an A-class demon."

I felt my jaw drop. "Are you freaking kidding me!?" I yelled.

"I would not 'kid' about something like this. The fact that you defeated him single-handedly and rather easily – if I'm told correctly – is very interesting. Also, the fact that you already have control over one of the Phoenix's powers-"

"Define 'control,'" I interrupted.

"-Is rather surprising and to be perfectly honest, it's unsettling," he continued, completely ignoring me. "So, just to be sure, we will be sending you a few other teachers who will be able to train you in other areas of the Phoenix's power, whether you control them yet or not. I also believe that Genkai has completed her mission, so she may be able to train you as well, as I believe that some of your light-bending power may be connected to psychic abilities. She may also help you gain better control of your premonitions." Hope surged within me at that. Finally, someone who could help me!

"When does she get here?" I asked excitedly.

"They will all get here later today."

"AWESOME!" I yelled, laughing with joy. "Well, let's get this show on the road. Who's my first teacher?" I remembered Hiei at that, and my hope dimmed, then brightened again when I decided that it didn't matter if he didn't "like" me right away. Something inside me said that he would eventually. I liked that idea.

"I am!" yelled Yusuke enthusiastically, reminding me that I had just asked a question.

"Sweet. Well, let's start!"

"Follow me!"

"You sure that's a safe idea?" I asked, giggling. The others joined me. Yusuke just slouched and started heading outside once again. As soon as we got to the training spot, Kurama and Kuwabara declared that they were going to start teaching Natalie some stuff, and Koenma and Botan said that they needed to take care of some "pressing matters" in Spirit World.

"Well, kid, it looks like it's just you and me," Yusuke said, hands on hips and trying to look like Genkai.

"You know, that would be a lot more comforting if you weren't such a dimwit," I responded, starting to laugh again.

"Watch it, girly, I'm still your teacher." He wagged his finger at me.

"I thought we agreed that I would be teaching her first." A black blur materialized in front of Yusuke, and there stood Hiei, hands in pockets, back to me. I felt myself blushing immediately.

"Oh right, well, since you weren't around, I thought I'd-"

"Whatever, Detective. I'm around now so I will take over this so-called lesson."

"You got it, Hiei." With that, the Spirit Detective ran off to join Natalie and the others.

He stood there for a few moments, with his back still to me. I could feel my face burning up.

"The first thing you should learn is how to fall when either thrown back or dropped," he started, turning to face me, but not looking me in the eye. Without another moment's hesitation, he sped up and hit me – hard – in the middle of my stomach, sending me flying upwards about fifteen feet. Luckily, I came to my senses as I reached the peak of the arc and switched positions on my way down so that I landed on one knee…although none-too-gracefully. I felt a pounding pain in both legs as I made contact with the ground.

"Not bad," he said without feeling.

"Ya know, you didn't have to hit me so hard. I mean, I am still sore from yesterday."

Before I knew it I was flying through the air again. This time I had expected it, so I stayed in a standing position with my arms up and one knee bent as I came down, then as soon as my foot touched the earth, I brought everything down to the proper landing position on one knee without hurting myself.

"Very good." Same toneless voice. "Now you need to know how to stop yourself when thrown completely backwards." And without giving me time to brace myself, he pounded into me, sending me straight backwards. I ended up doing a back-flip before I regained my composure and planted my feet into the dirt and leaning as far forward as was needed, sending my arms out to the side to act as a parachute. I skidded to a halt before dropping to my knees. I was definitely going to need hardier shoes.

"Well done." His body was at least thirty feet away now and my skid marks lasted a little more than half of that distance. My chest and stomach hurt terribly, but I'd felt worse than that and was able to ignore it. The next thing I knew, I was being carried up into the tallest trees, everything around me a green blur. It was amazing; going this fast! I felt so free. "You know how to fall from a height, but there will be times when a foe will be falling with you. No matter what, you must do your best to stay above him."

And then we were falling through the air and I was looking up at the sky past Hiei's face. It was so confusing. Then I remembered Hiei's words and tried my best to rotate while trying to breathe through the intense pressure of falling so fast and far. I succeeded, only to have him rotate us once more so that he was on top again. I didn't have enough time to rotate him again, so all I could think of to do was hold onto him as we continued our free-fall. I had to admit it. I was afraid of falling.

Then Hiei did something totally unexpected. He rotated us again before I could blink and he took the major portion of the fall as we hit and rolled over on the ground several times before coming to a stop. Even though he had been below me as we hit the ground, we had rolled so that I was underneath him again. My face heated up as I took in the situation and could only think of one thing to say.

"You're still really heavy."

The next thing that Hiei did made my heart pound against my chest so that I was sure he could feel it.

He placed his hands on the ground on either side of my head and pushed so that most of his weight was on his hands.

But he was still pressed up against me. Through half-lidded eyes that were looking me straight in my wide ones for the first time today, he said in a raspy voice-

"Better?"

Before I could respond, he descended upon me and pressed his lips to mine. Realization sunk in and I felt like I would faint for joy, but I managed to stay conscious and kissed him back. He seemed to take this as an invitation and pried my lips open with his tongue, wrapping it around mine. Without knowing it, I started squirming under him and wrapped my arms around him, caressing his rock-hard back and shoulder muscles. I pulled off his cloak/dress-like thing so I could feel his chest muscles better. He certainly didn't seem to mind, as he had already taken off my jacket.

Done exploring, I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing us closer together. I still had goosebumps and it was like little waves of electricity shooting through my body so that I wanted to shiver. He was so warm against me, and being sandwiched between him and the ground, I couldn't help but feel safe; protected.

Before, I had wondered if I had actually meant it when I told him I loved him. Now, I had no doubt at all.

And I knew he wanted me.

In that knowledge, I felt complete. I know it sounds cliché, but if something is cliché, then there's a reason for it.

I never wanted this to end.

Our bodies continued to press and move against each other, and I felt something stiffen against my lower stomach (remember he's shorter than me), and it dawned on me that he probably wanted to go further than this. But I found that he wasn't going to. He seemed content with just…this.

You aren't ready for that yet, Onna.

Wait, are you reading my mind?

What do you think, Onna? You opened your mind to me, so I wanted a look around.

And you know that I'm not ready?

Hn.

And you're okay with that?

Hn. For now. I felt him smirk against my lips. But sooner or later...

With that, he moved his mouth down, kissing and nibbling my jaw-line, then my neck, then started to move down further. I moaned in pleasure as shivers ran down my body where he had left soft little kisses. Before he got too low, though, he came back up and said, or rather thought-

You get the idea. His mouth covered mine again and as he nibbled my lip I moaned again. I was still squirming against him, and he moved so he had his weight on his knees and put his hands on either side of my waist, holding me down, making my brow sweat more.

We shared a few more passionate kisses before he pulled back, saying "Someone's coming." He lightly brushed my lips with his one last time before pulling me up with him. I really didn't want to stop then, but knew that it would've had to eventually. In a few moments, the team came through the trees, followed by…

Genkai, Jin, Chuu, Touya, and Rinku.

Genkai spoke first. "If you two are done flirting, we've got some business to discuss." Knowing what was proper, I bowed halfway to the master and said-

"Of course, Master Genkai" with a cheery smile.

"Well isn't that nice? For once I'm shown some respect. You should hang out with the dimwits here more often."

I laughed. "I assume that Koenma has fully explained the situation to you."

"Yes, and that's the only reason I didn't punish him for using my temple without my say-so." The old woman always cracked me up. I giggled again, still slightly "high" from my "training" with Hiei. "I understand that we had an unexpected visitor recently."

"Yes, Master." The giggles stopped.

"And you defeated him somewhat easily it seems."

"If my blood mixes with the opponent's at the same time my psychic abilities surface, I can kill any foe."

"Hmm. Very interesting. I don't think I've ever heard of your kind of psychic ability. Could you describe it to me once more?"

"Sure. Every now and then, my conscience will leave this world and enter another in which someone is dying. Sometimes, I'll be in the mind of a murderer. Otherwise, if it's a suicide, I see it in a 3rd person point of view. If it's an accidental death or something like an explosion or terrorist attack, then I'll be in the mind and body of those who are dying, experiencing everything that they are. I can't control when it happens or what I see, but it's always someone dying."

"From what I've heard, it's always someone dying a rather bloody and dramatic death."

"That is true."

"How long has this been going on?"

"About 5 years, since a terrorist attack on my country in 2001."

"…Very well," said the pink-haired old master. "Continue with your training. As soon as any new powers show up – like the ability to fly – Jin and the others will take over. Natalie?"

"Yes ma'am." The brunette stepped forward.

"You have healing powers, no?"

"So I'm told, but they haven't shown up yet."

"That's not a problem. Usually, powers such as that only surface when they are needed."

"Cool."

Genkai turned back to me. "What have you learned so far?"

Hiei stepped forward. "I'm teaching her defense first."

"Very good, Hiei. You stick with defensive techniques for the week while Yusuke and Chuu will teach her offense. After that, you will begin teaching her how to use a sword, understood?"

"Hn. I don't take orders. I'll only do it because that was my plan to begin with."

I laughed. "Haha. That's Hiei for ya."

"Ya got that right," chimed in Yusuke. "You should've seen him after his fight with Bui, he-"

"You mean how he fainted from exhaustion only after he had threatened you guys?" I finished, laughing slightly.

"You even saw that!"

"I've seen it all."

"Man, do you even know what kind of underwear we wear?"

"For Kuwabara, yeah. Remember at that creepy house with the psychics and they had to steal Kuwabara's clothes and you said-" Yusuke joined in with me for the next part.

""At least we've answered one question; boxers or briefs. Hahahahahaha!""

"If you're quite done, I think we should get back to work, you nimrods!" yelled Genkai.

"Sorry, Master. I got carried away," I apologized, teary-eyed and still laughing.

And so, me and Hiei continued our training (without physical contact this time as Jin and the others stuck around to watch while Genkai and the rest of the team went back with Natalie). He taught me several more ways to block and defend myself, and I caught on pretty quickly to everyone's amazement. I had several bruises and cuts by the time we were called in for dinner.

Again, I WAS STARVING!

This was possibly the BEST meal I'd EVER had, if only it was the first time that I was able to have all the foods I used to be allergic to. After the main meal, Hiei suggested "sweet snow" for dessert, making everyone laugh. I tried the plain vanilla, and…

It was like falling in love!

Haha. No, just kidding. But it was really good! I could see why Hiei liked it so much. After we finished everything and Kurama and Natalie had done the dishes, everyone sat down in the living room (the one connected to the kitchen) and just started talking about random things. I was talking to Jin and Chuu about the Dark Tournament. Rinku and Kuwabara were chatting and Genkai, Touya, Kurama, Natalie, and Hiei were discussing the best ways to train us. Yusuke and Yukina were nowhere to be found.

After several minutes of just talking, Yusuke, Yukina, and Botan came into the room carrying some…dice?

"Umm, what are those, Botan?" I asked.

"Yeah, and why are you back?" voiced Kuwabara.

"Both excellent questions. These are Truth or Dare dice. And I'm back because we are going to play whether you like it or not."

"I'm sorry!" yelled Yusuke. "I tried to stop her but she's just too convinced that this stupid girly game is fun."

"Stupid?" Natalie yelled.

"Girly?" I protested. "That's it! We're gonna play and YOU'RE first, Yusuke Urameshi!"

"Ah, ah, ah!" said Botan, wagging a finger at me. "We have to play by the rules. This die has the words Truth, Dare, XTruth, XDare, Doubledare, and Twintruth on each side. XTruth and XDare mean you can chose to do the dare or truth or you can simply remove an article of clothing. Doubledare and Twintruth mean that the giver of the dare or truth can chose two people to do it. Regular Truth and Dare simply mean that you must do the Truth or Dare. The other die just has everyone's name on it. Sarah, you can roll first."

I picked up the die with the names and rolled. It landed on Yusuke. "What a coincidence." I let Yusuke roll the other die. It landed on Doubledare. "Oooh, what will I make you do?" I snapped my fingers as an idea popped into my head. "I know. You're gonna hate me forever for this. I dare you and Kuwabara to hold hands, confess your love to each other, and make out. Oh, and it must be convincing."

"WHAT?" Everyone else started laughing hysterically.

"You gotta do it. The dice say so," laughed Chuu, taking a huge swig of his beer bottle.

"You are SO DEAD, NABORS!" Yusuke yelled at me.

They did the dare, both gagging and spitting and coughing and begging for mouth wash afterward. Then, it was Yusuke's turn, he rolled and hit Jin. Jin rolled and hit Dare. "Time for my revenge. I dare you to kiss Sarah. HA! Take THAT! Ah! Don't kill me!" Hiei had growled and held the katana to Yusuke's throat, catching everyone off guard.

"Hiei, calm down, it's just a dare," I said, breaking the silence.

"Ummm…what just happened?" asked Kuwabara.

"Don't ask," I said, scratching the back of my head.

"Sarah?..." Natalie clearly had her suspicions…I gave her a look that said "hush, you."

"No way…SERIOUSLY!?" the brunette yelled. I groaned and covered my eyes, laying down on my back.

All was silent as everyone looked, open-mouthed, at me and Hiei. Everyone's heads turned in unison from one to the other. Finally, Natalie squealed and hugged me. "I knew it! I knew it I knew it! Oh, I'm so happy for you!" Apparently Kurama had told the others about the situation, because Yusuke and Kuwabara slapped Hiei on the back, saying things like "It's about time" and "So how's it feel to be in love, Mr. I-don't-have-stupid-ningen-emotions?" Kurama simply chuckled and smiled, saying "Well, Hiei, I'm glad you were able to work things out so quickly."

The dare was forgotten as everyone congratulated us and "mocked" Hiei. I sat back up. "All right, that's enough. Let's get back to the game."

"You still have to kiss Jin," Yusuke reminded me. I sighed and Jin floated over to me. He gave me a quick peck on the cheek. When Yusuke gawked at him, he said-

"Ay, but you never specified where I should kiss the lass, now did ya, Urameshi?"

Yusuke sighed and said "Oh well, it wasn't exactly the best payback dare I could think of anyway." And so the game continued. Hiei and I were dared to spend the night together. Natalie had to confess that she used to eat glue when she was younger. Touya and Rinku were forced to switch clothing (now Rinku's fishnet shirt and toga were hanging off of him and Touya was hardly able to squeeze into the pink and yellow shirt and bluejeans of the child fighter). Yusuke was dared to sweet-talk and kiss-up to Genkai. Genkai refused to put on a leopard-print bikini (to everyone's relief) and simply took off a shoe. Botan had to hang upside down on her oar until the end of the game while singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Kurama and Natalie had to kiss for a full five minutes after doing a Romeo and Juliet dialogue. Chuu had to do the booty-dance in his underwear while singing "Shake, Shake, Shake Your bootay" (which wasn't a problem since he was drunk anyway). And finally, Yukina and I were Doubledared to sing.

"Wow, Yukina, I never knew that you were such a great singer," I said.

"Thanks, but you were much better," she said modestly.

"No, I was just louder."

"But seriously, both of you are amazing!" said Kuwabara.

"Yeah, well you haven't heard Natalie sing. She has a beautiful belting voice."

"I'd like to hear that sometime," said Kurama, putting his arm around Natalie.

"I'm sure you will," she replied, putting her arms around his waist and giving him a kiss, receiving several catcalls and whistles.

"Get a room!" yelled Yusuke. Natalie stuck her tongue out at him. I glanced at the clock and realized that it was almost 11:00 p.m.

"All right, everybody. I think it's time to stop playing and get some sleep. Botan, you can come back now." Botan's cherry red face turned right-side up and she took several gasping breaths before taking the dice and saying good night, flying out the window and off back to Spirit World.

Kurama and Natalie went off to his room. Jin, Touya, Chuu, and Rinku went off to my and Natalie's room since we wouldn't need it. Kuwabara and Yusuke went to their room, and Genkai and Yukina shared the last.

I went outside with Hiei. We sat at the base of a tree, me sitting in between his legs. He put his arms around my waist and nuzzled against my neck. I leaned against him and covered his hands with mine. We fell asleep like that, and I slept without nightmares for once.

But only because the real nightmare was about to begin.