Separations

Machiko

Yusuke came by Genkai's one night. I was there. I had been training again on her flying obstacle course, but I got bored and when I noticed Yusuke, I glided over to the roof of her house to eavesdrop.

I missed the first thing Genkai said. I just heard the end of a sentence. "…Why would I take on yours?" After a second of silence – video game silence, they were apparently playing a fighting game – she added, "The truth is, you can do whatever you want. If you got mad enough, you could blow this whole world up and nobody would be strong enough to stop you."

I missed the rest of what she said in my shock. Yusuke's gotten that powerful?

Then I finally heard Yusuke's voice. "Easy, Doomsday, I just wanted advice." Then he shouted at the game he was playing.

"Everyone has something that matters to them that they can either protect or destroy. Kids have pets or toys, an adult has a child. Your something, Yusuke, just happens to be a whole lot bigger. With your new powers, you can control all our fates. So what's next? That's the question hidden beneath all your other feelings. Will you become the person that protects, or destroys?"

I stayed motionless, wondering how Yusuke would answer. I hadn't felt this tense since I'd finally managed to drag Hiei to my house to meet my mom five days ago. (We still haven't consummated our relationship, that little meeting had taken nearly the whole day; Mom shut herself and Hiei into a room and told me to bugger off, so I don't know what she said, and Hiei didn't want to talk about it. I haven't seen him since.)

His first reaction was an "Oh, come on," but Genkai ran over him. "Don't take it from me: I'm just an old hag."

I missed the next thing either of them said, as I was moving away from my position of above the door to avoid Genkai noticing me. Not that, in all likelihood, she didn't know I was there anyway.

In fact…

She looked up at the roof. "You're useless at hiding, Machiko, I knew you were there. I suppose you heard all that?"

"Most of it, yeah." I crept back down to the edge of the roof.

"I gave Yusuke the address of the first Spirit Detective. You might want to go with him to meet her."

"…Nah. He's the one with the life issues, not me."

A couple nights later, Botan came by to invite us to Genkai's for a meeting. We spread wings and followed her as she picked up Kuwabara as well. That idiot was so easy to manipulate: one mention of Yukina, and he was on board, no matter what the consequences to his studies were.

Kamiko picked up a book in his room. "Here." She wrote a quick note. "This'll explain everything to your sister, so that she doesn't get…too irritated at you." Then she waved the book at him. "I'll help you study while we're moving, okay?"

"Uh…okay."

As it turned out, Shizuru spotted us before we left. Kamiko yelled that there was a note while we were booking it.

Speaking of books…I glanced at the book Kamiko was still holding. "Um…Kuwabara? You think she'll be mad that Kamiko just punched some holes in the book with her claws?"

"Huh? Oh, crap…Kamiko, tell me you didn't hit any of the words in that thing: I'm supposed to read that cover-to-cover!"

She unstuck the book and quickly flipped through it. "It looks okay to me. I only punched holes in the margins, and not even all the way through."

He breathed a sigh of relief. Then he squinted at me. "Hey, Machiko, you're really hard to see in the dark."

I glanced down at myself. "My stripes break up my image in the dark, I guess."

We finally made it to Genkai's. And that was when we learned that Yusuke was going back to Demon World.

Kamiko was yawning and rubbing her eyes; she didn't do night flights all that often, I was the night owl of the two of us by necessity.

I sighed as Kuwabara punched Yusuke across the room. "Men…"

Koenma ended up explaining to us how Yusuke had gotten a dishonorable discharge over his demonic heritage.

Suddenly we got some visitors through some strange portal! They looked like…Spirit World goons! Koenma said they'd volunteered to kick Yusuke back into Demon World!

Then it was Kamiko's turn to mutter "Men" under her breath. Though Kuwabara did kind of get our attention when he mentioned himself fighting off nasty demons with only help from Kurama and Hiei.

Suddenly, Hiei showed up! "I was personally invited to return to Demon World as well."

Kamiko

I suddenly felt dangerous energy surging around my sister. If she'd been me, she'd probably be turning a dark anger-red. I sincerely suspected everything else anyone was saying was going past her, and ultimately what she said proved it.

"Oh really?" Her voice held a great deal, and she approached the railing. "And…just when were you going to tell me about this…Hiei?" Her hands gripped the railing, claws growing and beginning to splinter the wood.

He looked at her. And then he said probably the one thing he really shouldn't have.

"I wasn't."

A sound started building in her throat. Her demon energy started spiking. The Spirit World Defense people all went into a kind of on-guard stance.

I held my hand towards them. "Easy…her issue's not with you."

The sound she was making got louder as her feet got onto the railing as well, so that she was crouched on it. Then her mouth opened, and right as she leaped for Hiei the sound turned into an outright fighter-plane shriek!

I had just enough time to see Hiei's eyes widen before Machiko swung her hand and slapped Hiei across the face, sending him flying practically right to the Spirit World Defense peoples' feet! "You idiot! You mark me as your own, meet my mother, ignore me for weeks afterwards and then the first time I see you again you don't think to inform me of that little detail that you're LEAVING FOR GOOD?!"

I glanced at the humans in the area. They mostly looked confused. I decided to be nice. "Hiei really stepped in it this time: he ticked off his new mate."

"Mate?" Yusuke stared at me. "What?"

I sighed and looked up at the sky. "Hiei chose Machiko to be his wife, and she agreed to it. As far as I know, neither of them has done anything about it, but…they're connected."

Kuwabara all but recoiled. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

Hiei stood up, rubbing his face, which was now sporting a couple of fine scratches and a red handprint-shaped blotch.

Then Kurama's voice floated out of the darkness. "Is it safe to come out?"

I turned in his direction. "Yeah, Machy's not angry with you, you didn't need to hide." Awful realization struck me. "Wait…you're not going too, are you?"

"I am. I've been summoned by the third demon king. I'll be leaving later than Yusuke and Hiei, for I have things to do first."

"Oh. Well…could you come see me before you go? I…" I looked down at my feet. "I'd gotten something put together for you, but I don't have it with me."

Glancing up again, I saw that a small smile had come onto Kurama's face. "Don't worry, I won't leave without saying goodbye like Hiei was evidently planning to do."

I snuck a glance at Machiko. She was still standing there glaring at Hiei. Then I tapped our twin link for a second.

My throat almost immediately started hurting.

With a tiny smirk, I let the link go. That shriek of rage, followed by outright screaming at Hiei…I think she's just lost her voice. Small mercies.

Kuwabara had started shouting. I was tuning him out, although Hiei's retort was pretty funny.

I was just glad that Yukina was able to talk Kuwabara down. Then Yusuke and Kuwabara started muttering to each other.

I stole another glance at Hiei, who was studying Machiko finally. Then he walked over to her. "Machiko."

She didn't move, or speak. She just let out a soft hiss.

"I don't understand why you're so angry right now."

I glanced at my arm, and the stripes flowing over it. Then I leaped into the yard and, not under my own power, spoke. "I lost my voice with that shriek, Hiei, so I'm speaking through my sister. Had it never once occurred to you that I might have wanted to come with you to Demon World?"

His eyes widened, though he was still staring at Machiko. "But you'd grown up here."

"And what kind of a life do you think I had? A perfect one? Get real; I was always cooped up inside because my hair was so outrageously different, and I could never just let go with my abilities. I lost my voice just now because I'd never had opportunity to practice that particular shriek of rage, and I'd have loved to practice it, by the way. I just don't fit in here." I was nearly feeling sorry for her just speaking her words; I knew it had been rough for her growing up, but I never knew how it felt.

"It wasn't a plus-one invitation, Machiko; I can't just bring a date."

Her stance changed: her claws were put away, and she returned to her standard form with a slight slouch. And, amazingly, tears were starting to appear in her eyes. "Hiei…I don't know what words would be used in Demon World to convey this message. I only know the human words, and they're even really cheesy for me. I…I love you, Hiei, and I…don't…want to lose you. I had no friends until I met you on that Yusuke-rescue mission, and Kamiko doesn't count because I'd been stuck with her since birth. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Hiei's expression was so strange at that moment. It was like he wasn't sure what to make of that confession. I personally wasn't sure what to make of 'stuck with her since birth.'

Then Hiei took a few steps forward and stopped right in front of her. I was amused by the fact that technically Hiei wasn't all that much shorter than my sister: he was maybe…only about eight inches shorter if you ignored his hair. "You're right in that words of love are hardly part of the demon culture. I know you were raised by humans, Machiko, so I'll only say this once. You still can't come with me; even with Genkai's training, you're not strong enough yet for the fight I'm going into. But if I survive, I'll come back for you." His eyebrow cocked, a slight smirk appeared on his face and he reached up to set his hand over one particular spot on her shirt, about where the mark on her collarbone was. "You're mine, after all."

I suspected that he was saying more to my sister than anyone else could hear; he's a telepath, she's a telepath, physical contact and eye contact made both easier…if he was giving her a declaration of love telepathically so as not to be mocked by Yusuke or someone, who was to know? He probably wasn't, but I can pretend.

After a minute where Machiko didn't have me say anything, her tail suddenly circled around between the two of them and then just stopped.

Hiei stared down at it for a second. Then he laughed softly and stepped up onto it. "Still making jokes about my height, are we?"

An ironic smirk slid onto my sister's face as she lifted him up so that he was properly eye level with her.

I looked away at that moment, as the stripes were fading from my skin and there was no reason for me to watch their farewell kiss.

Looking away had me staring at Kurama, though.

Then those three Spirit World guys got Yusuke's attention, saying it was time for him to go.

Yusuke leaped through the portal that had been formed, though for some reason Pu stayed here. Come to think of it, Hiei was still standing there after that intense kiss he'd given Machiko.

Maybe the portal required that people go through one at a time or something.

But then they started closing the portal, leaving me wondering who was going to watch the bird.

Then again…that bird was essentially a Spirit World creature, maybe Botan was looking after it or something.

I glanced at the two demons.

Hiei acknowledged my confusion at his presence. "We're not all going to the same place in Demon World, therefore we needed separate portals."

Hiei went through his portal a bit later, after Yukina gave something to him to give to her brother if he should cross paths with that elusive beast. I laughed softly to myself and felt Hiei's eyes dwell on me for a second. I knew he could see what my thoughts were; I knew he could see that I knew who Yukina's brother truly was, and that I found the entire thing amusing. So amusing that I wasn't about to tell Yukina and spoil the fun.

"An elusive beast, am I?" That was all Hiei said to me before he actually went through the portal, not even giving me a chance to answer. Not that I would have answered that.

Two months after that, Kurama invited me and Kuwabara to his human mother's wedding. Then Kurama met up with me afterwards. I'd sort of anticipated that.

"Kamiko…"

I held up a hand, stopping him. "Yes. I know. You have to go to Demon World."

"On the condition that it would only be through the month of August, yes."

This made total sense; he wanted to get home before his mom came back from her honeymoon.

I pulled an envelope out of my bag and gave it to him. "This is what I wanted to give you before you left. Just promise me that…that you won't open it right away."

He cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Don't open it until…you've come to a decision on your own." I hated speaking so cryptically, but…I didn't want him to decide whether he'd live as a human or as a demon solely based on what I said. And I couldn't just say that, because…

"I think…I understand." He slipped the envelope into his bag. "You have my word that I won't open it until the last week of August, barring circumstances beyond my control."

That's probably as good as I'm going to get. I nodded, and we parted ways.

And I wondered if I'd ever see him again.

Kurama

If there was one thing I could breathe a sigh of relief over, it was that when Yomi forced me to work for him he never chose to use Kamiko as a bargaining chip for my good behavior.

However…I would not make the mistake of believing he wasn't aware of her existence…or thinking he didn't know or at least suspect what she meant to me – no, I wouldn't go that far. How would he know what she meant to me, when I myself still hadn't answered that question?

No…I know the answer to the question. Why else would my heart start racing upon even thinking of her in harm's way? It knew the answer before my head did. Now if I can just manage to keep her safe somehow...