Attractions

A/N: VERY QUICK SPOILER ALERT! If…anyone's concerned about reading anything with, um…a sexual element thrown in (aka, anything more detailed than "they kissed"), then be extremely wary reading Hiei's POV.

Kurama

About a week after the Sensui incident, I caught an interesting smell at school. It took me a second to place the smell, and a little longer to place where it was coming from: Kamiko.

I remembered well enough all the times she'd ended up in my arms during that fiasco. To put it frankly, she intrigued me…maybe more than merely "intrigued." I wanted to get to know her a bit better. Her knowing I was a demon…and my knowing she was one…would help in our communications, at least a little.

I slipped up behind her, into a range that was a bit more believable for a human identifying a smell, and took another breath. "Is that mint, Kamiko?"

She lifted her hair with a smile to show a couple of small mint stems tucked into her ponytail. "My little garden had overgrown a bit, so I decided to take some with me today. If you want one to go with that rose of yours, you can have one."

"I'd like that, thank you." I considered plucking one myself, but decided that'd be a bit too forward for our being at school.

She tugged one stem free and let her hair fall again, turning to face me. "I always liked the smell of mint, and it's so easy to grow." She held the small stem out.

I took it from her and twirled it a little with my fingers, watching the leaves spin. Then I looked up at her. "Kamiko…would you care to join me for…lunch, today?"

Her eyes grew wide, and a small smile played on her face. "I'd like that, thank you!"

The fact that she'd repeated back what I'd said to her was not lost on me; I smiled right back as I hid the mint in my hair.

We sat together at the back of the cafeteria. For a couple minutes, neither of us said anything. Then I decided to start the conversation. "So…what did you do with Yusuke's cut hair?"

A small giggle escaped her. "I still can't believe I asked to keep all of it. Um…I'm weaving it into a cloth. I haven't…quite decided yet what I'm going to do with the cloth."

"Are you weaving it…like you do with, ah, your own hair?"

Her face turned a bit pink. "Ah…figured that out, did you?"

"Eventually, yes. So…"

"Yeah. …Maybe I will make it into, um…clothing. I don't know. For the Emperor's clothing, I have to use my own hair…"

"The Emperor's…oh!" I laughed. "The Emperor's New Clothes! Of course! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, go on…"

She grinned at me. "Actually, Matchy coined that first. But anyway, I could make some footwear or gloves from Yusuke's hair. …Maybe both – that was a lot of hair."

I nodded in agreement, and we both fell silent again.

After another minute of silence, Kamiko spoke. "Okay, if this is Q-and-A, then it's my turn: how's Hiei doing? He's all Machiko will talk about nowadays."

I blinked for a second. Then I nodded. "He's…Hiei."

"That just about sums it up. Matchy said Yusuke was going to make sure he got that Chapter Black tape…"

"Oh, he got it. He destroyed it."

She stared at me. "He…destroyed it." She sounded like she wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Sliced it with his sword and then claimed his sword slipped."

She started giggling again. "That's so Hiei! If he does something that's ultimately for the benefit of humankind, he claims it's an accident!" Then she cocked her head. "There's something that's been bugging me a little – not all the time, just when I happen to be reminded. In the Hell Cave, or whatever it was called, when you were going to attack Gourmet…Hiei had…blocked my view of what you were going to do. I didn't mind, if just seeing what Toguro looked like afterwards made me throw up then I didn't want to see the deed that happened first…" her face had turned slightly greenish upon that part of her sentence, but it quickly faded again as she shoved the memory away, "but my question is: why? Why did he go to that trouble to make sure I never saw?"

I stared at her for a second. "I asked him about that, believe it or not."

"Ah…and here I thought you'd been focused on Gourmet."

"I was; that didn't stop me from being aware of my allies."

"So what did he say? Did he even bother to answer?"

"Hiei answers me straight when I ask him a question…usually, anyway, which is somewhat more than he does for Yusuke or Kuwabara. He said that there were two parts to his deciding to do that for you. The first part was that he was amused by you."

Kamiko blinked at me. "Amused? How in the world did I amuse him?"

"Ah…" How do I put this? "I did request clarification on that one. I had a theory, but I wanted to be sure. Um…"

After a second of silence, she glided her hand across the table towards me. "My ability to read minds isn't limited to Machiko; it just usually requires physical contact or eye contact. A really good connection requires both."

I looked at her hand for a second. Then I set my hand over hers and looked back up at her eyes. After getting briefly distracted by the deep amethyst color – that had been the first time I'd truly made eye contact – I spoke, letting the images that associated freely with the words appear in the front of my mind. "You amused Hiei when he saw your…what did Machiko call that? Your 'Keep Away From Me' fear coloration. It reminded him of what he looks like in his fully powered demon form." The picture she was probably seeing in my mind was two images side by side: Kamiko in that coloration and Hiei powered up.

I knew exactly when she got it: she started laughing. "I look like him when I do that! No wonder he was amused!" Then she cocked her head. "But amusement doesn't seem like quite enough of a reason."

"Which brings me to the other reason he'd named: you reminded him of his sister." The quiet girl appeared in my mind.

And as we were still touching, still looking at each other's eyes, Kamiko saw her. "Oh. So…Kuwabara was completely wrong in his assessment of her during the perception challenge?"

I cocked my own head. "You hadn't come into the room for that point; did Machiko tell you about it, or had you been eavesdropping through her?"

"Yes. So am I right?"

My smile started to change into a grin. "Actually…yes…in fact, he's met Yukina himself." And he's in love with her.

Her eyes got round. "Wait…a…minute…" a grin was starting to tug at her face. "So…Kuwabara might possibly…end up Hiei's brother-in-law?"

Suddenly, an image leaped into my head through the connection. The angle was a little odd, and there was a general tone that said "Machiko's memory." The memory was looking up at Yusuke and Hiei as Hiei was walking away.

"Look, what I'm trying to say…is I could really use your help on this one. Kuwabara could really use your help on this one." Yusuke asking for help.

"But I hate Kuwabara." Hiei's response.

We both started laughing. Kamiko laughed so hard she started crying. "At least," she gasped, "at least he's honest!"

I lifted my hand from hers to brush the tears from her face. And that was when I noticed something interesting.

Where my hand had been resting on hers, there was a light purple splotch in the vaguest shape of a handprint. And there ended up being a light purple streak where I brushed the tear away, a streak that had for an instant had hair-thin white stripes sparking away from it.

"Kamiko?"

She gasped a couple more times. Then she blinked up at me, her face still filled with mirth. "Hm?"

I pointed to her hand. "I've been meaning to ask you: what does that color mean? It's not the first time I've seen it, but I'm not sure…"

She stared at her hand. "What, lavender?" Then her neck – a nice well-hidden spot, only someone right in front of her would see it, and they'd have to look for it – turned a bright rose-red as the splotch on her hand faded. "I'm, um, not ready to talk about it yet."

"I see." Then I tapped my own face about equivalent to where I'd brushed the tear away. "You've got more lavender, ah, here." It was in slightly the wrong placement to be makeup; best to clear it away before anyone noticed.

She did manage to return her face to normal, and to tone down the red on her neck to a shade closer to what she'd picked for a flesh tone. "Thank you. I…I will tell you what lavender means…eventually."

The bell rang, and we went to class.

As we walked, I glanced at her. "You really do have trouble with your color holds, don't you?" I…thought 'color holds' was the term I was looking for; I didn't actually take art class here. What I meant, and hoped she would read into what I'd said, was that her colors 'bled' easily into something else.

She sighed. "It stems from the fact that technically I don't have a color. Mother told me when I was old enough to start interacting with other children to pick a set of colors to wear all the time and stick with it – you know, one color for the hair, one color for the skin. After ten-plus years, the blonde with fair skin has become habit...mostly. Blending in with humans is hard; my coloration is something I have to keep in the back of my head all the time, so that my emotions don't betray me."

"Would you rather have a demon life?"

She paused. By then, we'd arrived at our next class. Then she looked at me again. "Watch my face in class – I'll note you."

I wasn't sure what she meant, but I nodded.

We chose seats next to each other, and then I got to see what she meant: she was writing words across her cheek with a thought! She'd put a sentence on her face and then look at me from the corner of her eye, making sure I'd caught it. I would nod at her to signal that I'd read it, and she'd write another sentence.

In this method, I received her answer:

"I've been thinking about that off and on for weeksmonthsyears a while. On the one hand, I wouldn't have to be thinking about my coloration all the time even subconsciously – demons wouldn't care. On the other hand, though, from what I've seen of Demon World, it's… A bloodbath, a gauntlet, a survival-of-the-fittest type of world, and I'm not a fighter particularly. I got some basic survival skills when I visited, learning how to use my claws and tail in self-defense by going on offense, but I don't WANT to fight anyone. I'm torn, and I don't know what I'd pick if someone asked me to decide within five minutes; Machiko would choose Demon World in a heartbeat, but she's also had difficulty socializing here. Besides, she's got…other motivation."

True. I nodded one last time as the final sentence faded off her face. Then I returned my attention to the class…mostly. There was one other thing about Kamiko that I hadn't been able to read very well during the Sensui incident, and that had been…

The wind blew Kamiko towards me, and I released her tail before she impacted me. My hands ended up resting on the backs of her still-spread wings – they too were covered in short silky fur. I knew this was hardly the easiest way for the two of us to stay in the air, so I started sliding my hands upwards along her wings towards the leading edges. Her fur was short enough to where it didn't have a direction that it flowed in, but I was still pushing it in an odd direction compared to its usual state. And when I started doing that, her wings started trembling; not a great amount, but to someone touching her it was noticeable. What had it felt like to her when I did that?

Machiko

I'd gotten myself into some advanced schooling with Genkai after the Sensui incident. She'd taken one 'look' at my desire and basically said "All right, but be prepared for me to go even harder on you because you're a demon."

And what's my desire? "I want to be able to fight Hiei into the ground!"

The techniques I'd learned in the Forest of Fools got refined, and I got some practice in channeling my demon energy. Mostly I used that channeling to up my speed.

Genkai even set up a complicated obstacle course, turned to me and said, "Fly that. I'll be timing you."

So I started practicing flying more. At first, I crashed a lot. Then I was slower than I'd like. But finally I got good enough to where Genkai decided to put weights on me while I was flying so that if I ever had to carry somebody my size again, I'd be strong enough to last longer than five minutes. And also, finally I got to try turning on a wingtip in a space barely big enough for me! Genkai had started me turning on a wingtip in an open area first, and then started narrowing the opening. "No sense crashing when you've never done this before."

Kamiko didn't join us much; she basically only showed up for the flying practice. She wasn't as fast as me – nobody's as fast as me – but she'd earned the weights and she'd mastered the Hallway Wingtip Turn, as I liked calling it. Personally, I felt she'd only mastered that first because she was taking that move slower than I was.

Did Hiei ever appear to watch? Well…uh…I don't know. If he did, I never saw him, or sensed him.

Hiei

I stood in a tree and watched as the two demon-girls flew an obstacle course. When I'd first started watching them, they were clumsy at this, which meant either they'd just started or they'd been doing this for a while and I'd come in after Genkai had added something to make this harder. It had been a couple of weeks now, though, and they were getting better. Occasionally they went within walls, and I had to resort to my Jagan Eye to watch them.

In my opinion, the part where they had to turn on a wingtip in a closed-off area that was smaller than their wingspan was the highest point of their training. This was largely because even though I had to use my Jagan Eye in order to even see them in it, there was plenty of space to watch either spectacular performances or spectacular failures. One of my personal favorites was when Machiko flew into that hallway at top speed, came up on a right angle and actually succeeded in spinning on her wingtip.

A two-hundred-and-seventy-degree spin; if she'd spun ninety degrees or one hundred eighty degrees, she'd have gone out at least a corridor, but as it was she hit a wall. That got a small laugh out of me. "Well…you almost had it."

Whenever those girls ended up on their wing-bearing backs, I would almost feel sorry for them, but at the same time I was taking notes. When they're in this form, if they end up on their backs with their wings spread, they can't get up until they've put their wings away.

After a time, Kamiko would continue running the obstacle course while Genkai would take Machiko aside for some actual combat training. She was getting good.

…She was getting very good.

She was probably gaining on being a B-class demon by now. Machiko had some serious driving force behind her training.

A few days later, I decided I was going to speak with her...possibly more than just speak. I leaped down from my tree and approached the course.

I didn't actually find Machiko first. I found that hag Genkai first. "Hiei. What brings you here?"

"Not much; just wondering how those demon-twin girls have been doing under your instruction." Nothing personal.

A small smirk appeared on her face. "Well, Kamiko had no interest in actually refining the combat techniques she learned in Demon World, only in strengthening her flying capabilities."

That fits with what I've observed.

"Machiko would probably do much better in her flight practice if she actually attempted the maneuvers at something less than Mach Five. Her combat skills have improved, though."

"Improved, hm? Improved by how much?"

Then I sensed a presence behind me. "Tch: Hiei. Oh, I've improved, all right – I'd probably knock you flat in less than a minute."

I glared over my shoulder at Machiko, who was standing in an 'at ease' position lounging against the door frame with her tail twirling about her ankles and her arms crossed over her chest. However, my glare quickly turned into a stare. Why does she always work out in such a short shirt?* Does she have any idea just how hot she looks dressed like that? "You know, you are really asking for it!" Asking for what, anyway? My voice sounded harsh in my own ears. I couldn't help it; lately I'd felt more than a little hypnotized by her stripes just watching her, and at this moment with her standing right in front of me she was more fascinating than ever. Somehow, I was having trouble thinking straight.

Her golden eyes blazed and a fierce grin spread over her face. "I'm begging for it! Who's going to give it to me – you?"

And with that challenge, she's sealed her fate. This girl is mine.

I let a grin of my own appear. "Oh, absolutely!"

"Okay, I'll only set one condition for weapons."

I cocked my head. Not quite what I've got in mind, but it's a start. "Name it."

"You don't use that dragon tattoo, and while I might still spread my wings, I won't actually fly."

"Deal!" The Dragon of the Darkness Flame takes a great deal of energy I'd rather use elsewhere, anyway, and it's not like I'm interested in killing her.

She glanced at Genkai. "Shall you be referee?"

The hag shrugged. "I'll definitely be monitoring you two." She led the way to a large cave. "This will be your arena. Try not to bring the roof down on yourselves. Ready!"

I took a stance at one side of the cave, and Machiko stood ready on the other side.

"Begin!"

The first thing either of us did was start running. We were racing about the room, ricocheting off of stalactites and stalagmites, or off the walls themselves, studying each other and seeking an opening to strike. She nearly equaled me in speed, and it was possible she was still wearing weights at this moment underneath those green ankle-bands, so maybe she truly was my equal in that quarter! I tossed my sword to the side quickly; I wouldn't need it.

In that moment of distraction, I felt something soft, warm and strong grab my ankle and I was yanked off my feet and spun around!

I barely had a chance to see that she'd caught me with the end of her tail before she lost her grip and sent me flying towards another stalactite. I didn't get my feet behind me in time and broke right through it.

"Whoo! You want some more of this?" Machiko called to me.

I stood up and dusted off. Machiko, there's no way you're getting rid of me! "I'm just getting started!" Then, with a grin, I rushed straight for her.

Then she delivered a kick to my stomach, sending me back into a stalagmite. And that kick tipped me off to something else.

I'd seen her training; I'd seen her use her feet to completely rip apart bags with a particular twitch. However, the kick she just gave me had been an ordinary side kick.

She doesn't want to kill me, either.

"Giving up, shorty?" she called.

"Why?" I got up again. "Are you getting tired?"

"Who, me?" She was breathing harder than before. She probably was getting tired. All to the better: it would mean she wouldn't be able to escape me when I choose to make her mine. Of course, then she rushed me with a series of punches, spreading her wings to give herself an assisted jump and rain those punches on me from above.

I didn't get touched until I had to deflect her kicks as well. Then I was getting scratched a bit.

Then her tail tripped me up from behind just about the time her parachute trick ran out. I landed hard on my back, her feet grabbed my ankles and her hands grabbed my wrists. She probably thought she had successfully pinned me.

Riight… Oh, I was pinned, all right, but it wouldn't hold me for long.

"Do you yield, Hiei?" She was gleaming with sweat, and she was even sexier now than she'd been when I first saw her today.

Just recognizing that fact sent my own temperature up a few degrees. Rational thought was leaving, but one thing occurred to me while I was lying there. "You don't know all that much about demons, do you?" Then I slipped my left wrist out of her sweat-slick grasp - my bandaged right wrist wouldn't have moved as readily - grabbed her shoulder and dragged myself upwards towards her.

Her right arm gave out, making us tip over. I didn't care; when her feet lost their grip on my ankles, I hooked one leg over her hip and forced a continuation of that roll, resulting in her winding up on her back and me sitting on her.

I paused for just a second, studying her - every stripe, every detail. "You have no idea," my voice rasped, "what you've been trying to do." Then I grabbed the shoulder strap of her shirt, leaned down swiftly and set my teeth into her collarbone.

Machiko

I yelped right around here. Of all that Hiei could possibly have done right then, I wasn't expecting him to bite me!

Yelping was about all I could do, because I was stuck trying to decide what I was going to do first: shove him off or put away my wings. Both tasks required about the same amount of focus, especially when I was tired and he was clearly determined to hang on -

Then I felt a sudden energy surge enter the place where Hiei was clinging to me with his teeth. Is this...Hiei's demon energy? What's he doing?

Yeah...I regretted not asking Mother more about demons since learning that I was a full one. I also regretted not mentioning Hiei to her.

I don't know how long we lay there. Hiei's energy flowing into me kind of made time...unimportant.

When the energy flow stopped, though, I got my brain working enough to ask. "Hiei...what was that? And while we're at it, what did you mean I didn't know what I was trying to do?"

He let go, finally. He didn't answer immediately, though - he sat there for a second, studying his handiwork on me. After that second, though, his expression turned very, ah...I think that expression on him means he's satisfied; I can read Kamiko far easier than this guy, there was a lot of energy surging around him I didn't get. "That is a message to other demons." He traced a kind of circle around it with his fingers.

"...What...kind...of...message?" I couldn't get more intelligent than that at the moment.

Finally he made eye contact. And that was when I understood all the 'warning signs' I'd been getting every time I'd either made eye contact before, hit him or otherwise grabbed him.

He wasn't in a usual state. Intelligent, rational thought was the last thing on his mind right now. There was, in fact, only one thing on his mind right now.

"A message that says you're mine," his voice had that weird harsh tone again. "Mine and no one else's."

I didn't have time to react to that before he bent down again. This time, though, he kissed me full on the mouth!

Well, now I could effectively say I knew what it felt like to be kissed by a live power cord, because that was about what it felt like. Hiei's energy was still sparking chaotically, and it came through in that kiss.

Weirdly enough, though...I kind of liked it.

Come on, Machiko, I thought to myself, this is what you'd been hoping for, even though it didn't come in quite the package you were expecting! Try to get back some control of the situation! I ignored my wings and kissed him back.

I'll be the first to say I...had no experience with any kind of romance...okay, fine, I'll say it: I'm a virgin. I knew the possibility that Hiei was going to hurt me, accidentally or on purpose, was quite real. Still, I have every intention of enjoying myself for as long as the only pain I was feeling was that ownership mark he'd just given me. (Actually, it didn't hurt all that much anymore; maybe it was Hiei's energy dulling the pain or something.)

I lost control of the situation again almost immediately. For one thing, Hiei deepened the kiss. Then he broke off the kiss and started licking my neck.

I was wearing fur on my neck at that moment - spreading my wings tends to give me most, if not all, of my fur - but he didn't seem to care. He hadn't cared about the fur when he bit me, though, so I guess he's just ignoring it. I cared, though: with every touch that shoved my short fur around one way or another, I got shivers! Yeah...around then was when I almost completely forgot just about everything but the moment.

Almost.

"Ka-Kamiko, what ti-ooh...time is it?"

"It's five-fift-...Machiko, what's going on?"

"Aaaahhh..." It's impossible to lie in telepathy; or if it is, I can't do it with Kamiko. But Hiei had chosen that moment to drag the elastic of my sport bra upwards and apply the attention of his mouth and hands to my breasts, and that made me lose practically all my mental coherency. Plus, I started shuddering and...I think I was making sounds, but I'm not sure.

"Machiko. Dinner's at six-fifteen, you're the one who has to set the table today, it takes at least forty-five minutes to fly home from Genkai's and if you're going to make it home in time to avoid losing your allowance, you need to be ready to fly at five-thirty."

I tried to get my brain working to translate what she'd told me. I need to leave at five-thirty...it's five-fifteen, that's...ooh, Hiei...that's all Kamiko could have been about to say then...

Hiei shifted so he was sitting on my legs, and his hands caught the waistband of my workout shorts.

And that was when the world suddenly snapped into near-painful clarity. I don't know how long it would take me to recover from what Hiei's planning to do to me! If I let him follow through, the odds of my making it home in time aren't all that good! ...I'm beat, though. He let me wear myself out on him in our scuffle before turning the tables.

"I...might need rescuing. Bring K-K-Kurama." A conversation I'd had with Hiei some time back - I don't remember why we were being civil that day - he'd told me that he'd picked Kurama as his partner because he knew he wouldn't kill the fox. I'd read "wouldn't" as "couldn't." "I'll try to stall Hiei."

"O...kaayyy...sister dear, you got yourself into a situation again, didn't you? At least this one isn't likely to kill you. I'll find Kurama."

"Don't take too long!" Granted, I didn't have anything against what Hiei wanted, but...his timing could have been better.

The first thing I did was tug my sport bra back down. If Kurama was really going to show up, I didn't want to be indecently exposed. I left my wings out; after all, if I was going to be flying in fifteen minutes, there was no point putting them away.

I closed my wings and started attempting to sit up again...preferably sitting up without lifting my hips and giving him the opportunity to undress me. My biggest problem was, if my wings were present, the only way I could get the momentum I needed to sit up was if I lifted my hips. Hiei, you cunning...beast! You managed to maneuver me into a situation I can't get up from!

Then Hiei's laugh rang out inside my head! "You're just as good at the maneuvering! You managed to challenge me to a fight during my mating season!"

It was as if my world had come to a complete halt. Two reasons for that. Reason One: that was the first time Hiei had spoken to me telepathically. Reason Two...

Mating season? Demons have mating seasons?

Interesting trivia, Machiko, but don't you think you'd better work on stalling him for fifteen minutes?

"Ah..." I reached down and caught hold of his wrists. "I've...never done this before, and I need to be flightworthy fifteen minutes from now."

The look he gave me for a few seconds was nearly blood-chilling. "Is there someone else?" His voice was just as dangerous.

"Kamiko, having Kurama show his face right this second would be a singularly bad idea."

"I heard that, don't worry."

"Just...Mother. Kamiko and I take turns setting the table for dinner - it's a human thing that we still do even though we're demons - and today's my turn. Mother will probably punish me if I'm late, that's all."

His diamond-hard gaze softened again. "I see. Very well: the consummation of our being mates can take place some other time, when it's more convenient."

He backed down awfully easily... I was just starting to relax, letting my rigidly-closed wings start to open again.

You'd think I'd know better than to relax around an aroused fire demon. (Yes, I'd figured/found out that he was a fire demon some time ago.) Hiei suddenly all but vaulted off my legs and laid himself out on my left wing! "Still...even without the consummation, there's a great deal that can be done in fifteen minutes." With his right hand, he pulled my sport bra back up partway, and his left hand suddenly outright slipped under my waistband!

"Whoa!" I yelped, my right wing flailing for some kind of leverage.

He laughed softly, his breath sending shivers through my short fur.

Then he did...something...with his left hand, and I got lost in sensation. I tried to keep hold of something resembling sanity, but it was probably the hardest thing I'd ever done. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like if he used his tongue down there!

Hiei

I could tell she was no longer keeping track of time. Fortunately, now that I knew time needed to be marked, I was. When ten minutes had passed, and she was a shivering pile of striped fur, I withdrew my hand.

She lifted one of her hands and studied its shaking with dazed bedroom-eyes.

"Is your sister coming?" I asked. My heat was starting to cool, and I wasn't being controlled by the need to take her anymore.

"Hm?" She turned those golden eyes towards me.

"You have a sister. Is she coming here?"

"Oh. Mmm...yeah." Her voice was a little slurred.

I looked again at the mark I'd left. A smile barely made it onto my face. Then I got off her wing and held out my hand.

It took her a second, but she accepted the help. And for the record, I only offered her help because I knew she had trouble getting up when her wings were involved and I doubted she was going to put her wings away at this point.

When she was upright, she wobbled badly, her wings flaring. "Whoa-oh!" Her voice was slowly becoming clear again. "That...was...intense." Then she glared over her shoulder. "And I think my tail fell asleep."

I laughed a little. Then I walked around behind her and caught her tail, which sure enough hadn't been swishing right before I caught it.

"Kamiko...might be bringing Kurama. She was concerned that...she was concerned for me."

"I see." I ran my fingers through the fur of her tail.

"You're taking that information...better than I thought you would." I heard a shift of cloth-on-fur, and guessed she'd just pulled her shirt back down.

"I'd warned Kurama off of you a few days ago."

Her tail glided through my hands until I was only holding the last couple feet of it as she spun around to stare at me. "You didn't!"

"I wanted him to know I considered you mine, even though I had yet to mark you. He agreed, basically saying he'd had no interest in you anyway."

"You were that sure of yourself?"

"I was that sure of myself when I saw you after you'd had some training in the Forest of Fools. It only got stronger with time."

Machiko didn't have time to answer that before her sister walked in. "Actually, Kurama, I'd have been able to track down Machiko even without asking Master Genkai where she'd sent them."

Huh; when had Genkai left?

"True," Kurama answered her as he followed, "but it's still a good idea to ask." He looked at us as I walked back around into view, letting Machiko's tail finish sliding out of my grasp. "Hello, Hiei." Then his eyes tracked over to Machiko. I knew at once he was looking at my mark. "So you finally got around to it?"

"Yes."

"Matchy," Kamiko took a couple running steps toward us, "are you okay?"

My mate shrugged. "Yeah, I'm good." Then she struck a pose I'd come to recognize as "ready to run." "So let's get going, sis!"

Priming to run put her shirt's strap easily within my reach. I caught it and pulled her over for one last scorching kiss on her lips. "Catch you later." Then I turned to leave.

Out of the corner of my eye, right before I leaped off, I saw Kamiko's color change while she was staring at her sister.

She'd turned a very bright green.

Hm; I think this is the first time I've ever actually seen someone turn green with envy.

Kamiko

I was well aware I'd gone green over that extremely possessive kiss Hiei had just given my sister. I couldn't help it. It was just…I couldn't figure out any good way to, um, 'court' Kurama, and here was Machiko, having just managed to scuffle her way into Hiei's heart. Kurama was an enigma to me still.

Machiko was in point. I was flying in her slipstream just off her left wing. She hadn't noticed my color yet, and if I had any say about it, she never would see what color I'd taken upon Hiei's farewell kiss.

But oh…it just left me so…

In the next wingbeat, my color shifted from envy-green to a melancholy dark gray. It's so unlikely that Kurama will try to kiss me, it's depressing. I was the one to kiss him that one time, and that was on the cheek. I wouldn't dare try anything like what Matchy received.

I did manage to get my colors to return to normal before we went into a dive and shot down into our backyard, spreading our wings with loud – to us – snaps to reverse our bodies mid-air and land lightly.

Machiko dashed inside, and I just heard her say "I'll get the table set in thirty seconds, Mom, don't worry!"

Speed demon.

* If Hiei knew girl's clothing, he'd have known that Machiko was wearing a sport bra. Of course, then the question would have been "where's her shirt?" The answer to that question is that she doesn't bother wearing a shirt when she knows she's going to spread her wings; her mom had complained numerous times about having to mend a ripped shirt, and at least if a sport bra gets ripped the damage can be hidden underneath a shirt.

A/N 2: Thanks for the suggestions on making Hiei's actions more believable!