TheHeartsPath: Sorry that I took so long to update. Had a really bad case of the flu. Please forgive me. And just to let everyone know, I don't know the name of Kurama's step-father. I've looked through both the manga and the anime and found nothing so I decided to make up a name. But if anyone knows what his real name is please let me know so that I can change it. I used the name for Kurama's step-brother from the english version of the anime. Sorry but I found it a bit confusing to have two people named Shuichi so he will be going by Kokoda. I also don't know what his step-father's last name is so all of Kurama's human family has the last name of Minamino.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its' characters. They are owned by Yoshihiro Togashi. I own only Ayla, her family, and any other characters that do not show up in the series.

"Talking" Thoughts ~Telepathy or mind-reading~

Chapter 2: Meeting the Neighbors

We finally managed to get everyone to calm down enough to leave the house so that we could meet the neighbors. Though Gwen was mumbling things like "stupid brothers," "pain," and "must hurt." Meanwhile Sinclair and Haku kept glancing at her nervously while trying to stay a few feet away. Kira was smiling and giggling at the way they were acting. Mom and Dad were up ahead of us, ignoring what was known as 'normal' behavior after what had happened earlier. I was trailing behind everyone watching my siblings with quiet amusement, wondering how in the name of anything holy, I've managed to keep my sanity. What with my siblings constantly causing chaos in one way or another. The main chaos causers being my brothers.

We got to the front door of the neighbor's house and Dad pushed the doorbell.

Mom turned to us, giving us 'the look.' You know the one that says 'I'm dead serious so you better be listening.' "Try to not get into a fight with each other while we're here ok? After all, you kids do tend to get a bit rough." she says smiling at the end.

"Me and Kira will be fine. It's Gwen, Sin, and Haku that have to try." I say with a small smirk. This of course earned me glares from said siblings.

"Watch it Nymph." Sinclair says.

I roll my eyes, "Yeah, yeah."

I felt a strange energy coming closer and I realize that it was coming from inside the house. Odd, wonder what it could be?

The door opens and I have to blink to make sure I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing. Which happens to be a guy with the brightest red hair and emerald green eyes that I have ever seen. Is the weird energy coming from him? I focus for a second and realize it is from him. Maybe he's like me? Or at least similar? Guess I'll find out when I find out. One thing's for sure, he's definitely handsome. Though in a pretty boy way.

I mentally groan. Which means Gwen is so gonna fall for him. Glancing over at my sister I have my guess proved right. Seeing as Gwen's eyes are looking at him like she'd like to eat him up. Knew it. I just hope her heart doesn't get broken again. I'll have to find out if he's got any brains in that head of his, not to mention a heart, or if he's all looks. Also need to find out if he's a danger or not. I hope I'm not just being overly paranoid.

As the guy starts to talk I look back at him. "Hello, I take it you are our new neighbors? We've been expecting you. Please, do come in and relax."

Wow...Never thought I'd hear a teenage guy speak so politely. Sinclair should take lessons from this guy. I thought with a chuckle.

"Thank you, we'd love to come in." Dad replies.

We all head into the house to what I guess would be the living room. It's real nice with a couch, love seat, a couple of cushioned chairs, coffee table, and a couple of small tables by the walls with flowers and pictures on them.

"Wow! Look at the pretty flowers Mommy and Daddy!" Kira says with a really big grin on her face. She runs over to get a closer look at them.

"I'm so glad you think they are pretty little one." says a female voice. Since I've heard it before I immediately identify it as Shiori Minamino. "Welcome everyone. I'm Shiori. Please make yourselves comfortable while I get my husband and our youngest son."

"I'll go and get them Mother." says the red head.

"Alright, thank you Shuichi." Shiori says while smiling.

"I'll be back in just a moment." says the now known named Shuichi.

As he heads out of the room the rest of us get settled. With our parents on the love seat with Kira and Haku since they are small in size, and Gwen and Sinclair on the couch. I decide to sit on the floor near the wall, wishing there was a window that I could sit at instead. I find it to be very soothing and relaxing when I'm around a lot of people. Especially when I'm around people I don't know that well. I guess a part of me wants to be near a possible escape route or something.

Just as everyone had gotten sat down Shiori's husband and sons came into the room. "Sorry we weren't in the room when you got here. I had to replace the lightbulb in the hallway, it blew just before you all got here. I'm Takaro, Shiori's husband." said Takaro. He was around six foot with brown hair and eyes with glasses. "You've already met Shiori, so I'll introduce the boys. The one with red haid is Shuichi and the one with brown haid is Kokoda."

"Hey everyone." Kokoda greeted.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet all of you." Shuichi politely says.

Geez, his speech is so polite it's a little unnerving. Should I check out what he's thinking? No, I don't want to do that. Guess I should at least see what his emotions are though.

I crack open what I refer to as the 'Heart's Door' so that I can 'hear' what is in his heart. Everyone has one even if they say that they don't have a heart. Also when I say 'hear' it's not actual words that I hear like with a person's thoughts. It's more like, hearing a melody. Every emotion has a certain rhythm, with variations not only for each emotion, but also for each person. Thus, I refer to what I 'hear' from a person's heart as their 'Heart's Song.'

I listen to what is in Shuichi's heart. Finding a strong familial love for his mother, father, and brother. I also sense the welcome that's there for us. And something else...something that caught my attention and held it.

Well, well, well, isn't this interesting? I glance between Shuichi and Gwen a few times. Who are sitting next to each other on the couch, and end up looking at Shuichi in the end. He's attracted to Gwen already? I have to say that was unexpected. I'll definitely have to keep an eye on him now and find out what his intentions are towards Gwen. Not to mention give him a proper warning. I smile to myself thinking about what his possible reactions could be to me basically threatening him if he harms Gwen.

I shut the Heart's Door and focused on what my mother was saying. "We're happy to meet all of you as well. I'm Natala."

"I'm her husband, Aya." Dad said, "And these are our kids starting from the oldest to youngest. Gwen has the brown hair and blue eyes."

"Nice to meet you." Gwen says with a smile.

"Sinclair is the other one with brown hair and blue eyes. He and Gwen are twins." Dad continued.

Sinclair nodded his head in greeting, "Hello."

"Next is Ayla with the auburn hair and brown eyes. Who seems to be hiding by the wall." my father says with a chuckle.

"I'm not hiding. I just didn't want to take up more of the couch so that no one else could sit there. Not to mention the fact that you know I prefer the floor or a window to a chair or couch." I state with a small glare at my father.

"Ayla tends to be wary around people she doesn't know I'm afraid." Mom said.

"I was wondering why you were sitting over there dear. You seemed fine being near me yesterday when we met." Shiori said a bit sadly.

I looked towards the floor, biting my lip a little before replying. "That's because it was just you, just one person, not a bunch."

"I see, it's the number of people that you don't know well that bothers you is it not?" Shuichi asked.

"Yeah. It's nothing personal."

Shiori smiled at me gently and said, "We do have a window seat that you could sit at if it'll make you more comfortable around us."

I blinked at her, "You do? Where?" I don't see a window anywhere.

Shuichi got up and walked across the room over to what I realize is a curtain. Well now I feel just a little dumb for not noticing the curtain. He pulls the curtain to the side to reveal a window seat that has three windows set at angles from each other. Giving a better view of outside than it would if there was only one window.

"Wow, now that's what I call a perfect window seat." I say with a big grin.

He smiles with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. "I believe a friend of mine would agree with you on that. As Mother said, if it'll make you more comfortable with us, please sit here."

"Thank you very much." I get up and go over to the window and sit while he goes back over to the couch to sit with his brother and my older siblings.

"Couldn't wait to find a window huh sis?" says Haku teasingly.

"Oh hush." I reply back.

Kira giggles, "Ayla is shy with new people."

"I'm not shy. I just don't have the best of luck with people." I retort.

"Right, keep telling yourself that sis." Haku sarcastically remarks.

I glare at my younger siblings while saying to the Minamino family, "And the two little ones with black hair and green eyes are Haku and Kira. Haku being older making Kira the baby of the family. They are twins and little twerps, just to warn y'all."

"HEY!" said twins yelled indignantly.

Everyone started laughing.

After all the introductions had been made the small talk commenced. Things like, 'what was it like in America,' 'what do you think of Japan so far,' and other things similar were talked about. It turned out that both Dad and Takaro work at the same electronics company.

This went on for a few hours, then Kokoda asked, "So where are you guys going to school?"

"Me and Kira are gonna go to Fuji Elementary." Haku replies.

"Yeah, I can't wait to get back to school!" Kira happily says while bouncing on Mom's lap.

"Cool that's where I used to go." Kokoda said.

"As did I." Shuichi added. "What about you three? If you don't mind my asking that is." he then asked.

Gwen and Sinclair answered in twin fashion, "Meio Academy. We're seniors."

"Same, but as a junior." I said raising my hand for a second.

"Really? That's where Shuichi used to go." Shiori says, "Kokoda currently goes there, also as a junior."

I smirk, "Guess I'll know at least one person in my grade then."

"Cool, you can keep an eye on her Kokoda, and make sure she stays out of trouble." Sinclair laughs.

"I don't need a keeper Sinclair, that would be you." I snip at him with a glare.

"Who says?" he glares back.

"Me."

He growls and I smirk at his 'civilized' retort.

Mom sighs, "Ayla, please stop antagonizing your brother."

"Alright. It was fun while it lasted." I pout.

Both Gwen and Kira giggled at my remark while Haku and Kokoda snickered. Shuichi merely hid his smile behind his hand. And Sinclair, well, he acted like the nitwit he is grumbling, "Dratted Nymph."

"Oh my!" Shiori exclaimed, "It's already seven-thirty! Why don't you all stay for dinner seeing how late it is and all?"

"We'd love to stay for dinner. But since there are so many of us I'd like to help cook. If it's alright with you, since it is your kitchen." Mom replies.

Shiori smiles, "I'd be happy to have your help."

"Oh dear." I groan.

"What's wrong?" Shuichi asks with a worried look. His question having everyone turn to look at me.

"Nothing is wrong exactly. It's just that two mothers in the same kitchen, cooking together can only mean one thing." I cryptically reply.

"And what would that be?" Kokoda asks.

I look at everyone, "They're going to talk about all our most embarrassing moments, little quirks, habits, hobbies, and everything else our mothers know about us."

The kids all groan, with the exception of Shuichi, who just blushed with embarrassement. Meanwhile the parents reacted just as I expected them to. By bursting out into laughter.

Once everyone settled down the moms went into the kitchen with Gwen who offered to help cook too. I knew she wanted to make sure Mom didn't talk about certain embarrassing things and to also find out some stuff about Shuichi. Kira went with them cause she wanted to watch them cook cause as she put it, "'I want to know how to be able to cook all kinds of things when I'm older.'" The dads went to Takaro's study/library to talk about work or something. The boys (meaning Kokoda, Sinclair, and Haku), went to play video games in the den. I had decided to stay at the window in the living room. Shuichi was there too, watching the boys run off.

"Not into cooking or video games?" Shuichi asked me.

"It's not that." I reply.

"Oh?"

I sigh, "I'm not that good of a cook, so I'd be more of a hinderance than a help. Unless they need something baked though. I can bake all kinds of cookies, cakes, pies, and pastries. And I don't want to have to fight for a controller to a game system, or get fussed at by the boys if I beat them in the game."

He chuckles, "Well then would you like to read a book? I have some in my room if you'd like to."

"Got any history or mythology?"

He raises an eyebrow at my question. "Actually, yes I do."

"Cool. And yeah I know I'm weird." I say.

Blinking at my statement for a moment he asks, "Why did you say that?"

"Cause of the look you gave me. You weren't expecting me to ask about those type of books were you now?" I respond, raising an eyebrow of my own.

"Sorry, it's just that most girls your age that I know aren't that interested in books like that. They like ones that are...well..." he trailed off.

"Romance-y?" I offer.

"Exactly."

"Well just to give you fair warning, I'm not most girls. And," I decided to add with a smirk, "neither is Gwen."

The rather startled look on his face was so amusing that I couldn't help but laugh. "I noticed right away how you were looking at her, so don't think you can fool me."

"I didn't realize that I was being that obvious." he replied sheepishly.

My hesitation only lasted for a few seconds before I decided that I would tell Shuichi about myself and abilities. I knew from his Heart's Song that he could be trusted.

"You weren't."

He gives me a quizzical look, "Then how is it you noticed, if I wasn't being that obvious?"

I look towards the kitchen and then the room that the boys had gone to before looking back at Shuichi. "How 'bout I explain in your room? I kinda don't want to be overheard."

Nodding he says, "Alright, follow me."

We head upstairs and he opens the door to his room, allowing me to enter first. I look around the room. Damn, polite and organized. Sinclair definitely needs to take lessons from Shuichi. His room was spotless, like it was just moved into. "Nice room. Gotta say, not what I was expecting from a guy your age." I bluntly say. "Uh...I'm not saying that I thought you would be a slob or anything just..."

He laughs as he sat down on the chair at his desk. "Just thought there might be at least one piece of dirty clothing on the floor or something?"

I laugh nervously. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that." I apologized as I sat at the window in his room.

"It's alright. My friends find it strange as well. Now, what was it that you didn't want to be overheard?"

"Well you see, I can sense that you're different. Not a bad different, just different from what most people consider normal." I say in a rush while looking straight at him.

His eyes widen at what I said, then they sorta 'cooled off.' I knew what he was doing. He was keeping his emotions off his face and out of his eyes. "I see." was all he said in a slightly cold voice.

I could have sworn I even saw his eyes change color to gold for just a second. But that could have just been the way the light was hitting his eyes.

"Look I know what you're thinking and no I'm not a threat to you or your family. At least as long as you aren't one to me or mine." I continued to talk.

He stared at me for a minute without saying anything.

Ok...this is getting to be a bit annoying. I sighed, "Look I'm a telepath and empath, that's how I knew about your attraction to Gwen." I suddenly realized how he might take that and hurriedly said, "I didn't listen into your thoughts, just your emotions."

"You're an empath? You're sure?" he asked me in a disbelieving voice.

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, I'm sure. Hell my grandmother is the one that confirmed it."

"Your grandmother?"

"Yeah, my dad's mom. She lives here in Japan, in a really big temple outside of town. She's a psychic, her name is Genkai. You may or may not have heard of her." I explained.

"Interesting." he said so quietly that I almost didn't hear him.

He didn't say anything for several minutes. I guessed that he was going over what I had told him. Trying to decide whether it was true or not.

"Look you don't have to believe me if you don't want to ok? That was only the second reason I wanted to talk to you alone." I said.

My saying that seem to help him come out of his thoughts. "Then what was it you truly wanted to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Gwen." I stated in my most serious tone.

He sat up straighter in his desk chair. I definitely had his attention now. "Go on." he says.

"I don't care if you like her, want to date her, or fall in love with her. But," I stare at him hard in the eyes and say in a voice devoid of all emotion, "if you ever, EVER, hurt her, in anyway whatsoever, I will hunt you down and make you wish for death."

For a few minutes he stared at me before speaking, "I understand."

I nod then look at his bookshelf that is filled from floor to ceiling with tons of books on tons of different subjects.

"Just one question." he says.

I turn back to him with an eyebrow raised.

"Isn't it usually the brother or father that gives the death threats when someone has an interest in their sister or daughter?" he says with a small smile.

I can see that glimmer of amusement in his eyes and I smirk. "Usually, yes. But they haven't realized your attraction to her yet. They will eventually and that is when you'll get their death threats." I say with a laugh.

"Aren't you going to ask me what my intentions are towards Gwen?" he asks.

"No."

He gets a confused look on his face and I grin mischievously. "You're going to tell me without me asking. Because otherwise you won't be getting near her."

An amused smile appears on his face. "For now my only intention is to get to know her better, seeing as how we have only just met."

I nod waiting for him to continue.

"After I've gotten to know her better I'll tell you my intentions from there."

"Good enough. Even though I've only known you for a few hours I can tell you're a good guy. I want you to know that Gwen's been hurt badly before and that's why I wanted to talk to you so soon." I explain.

He nodded in understanding. "I have absolutely no intentions of hurting her." he promised.

The corner of my mouth twitched. "I wouldn't have let you even sit next to her earlier if you had."

He smiles at my obvious protectiveness of my family.

"Hey Shuichi?"

"Hm?"

"You do realize that you have a visitor in the tree outside your window right?"

His eyes widen considerably. "You sensed him?"

"Yep, guess he's a friend of yours?"

"Yes he is. If you move out of the way he can come in."

"Huh? Oh. Right. The window's the only way in." I laugh at my airhead moment.

I get up and go sit on Shuichi's bed as he opens the window and says, "Come on in Hiei." Hiei huh? Wonder what he looks like?

I didn't have to wait long to have my curiosity sated. Shuichi walked back to his desk while his friend Hiei jumped in through the window and stood near it. Shuichi sat down while I stared at the guy in front of me. I didn't mean to stare but I just couldn't help it. And the longer I stared the more my heart raced. I was probably blushing too, but I couldn't be sure since I was kind of distracted at the time.

It was easy to see that he was shorter than me by a few inches. I was betting he wasn't even five foot. Although with his hair he was probably taller, but that didn't count. He was dressed in black from top to bottom with a white bandanna on his forehead. His hair was that type of black that when the light hits it just right it has a blue sheen. There was a white star burst in his hair right above the bandanna. The way his hair stands up makes me think of a flame. Granted a black flame, but a flame none the less.

Then I got a look at his face. Damn he's even more handsome than Shuichi. But in that rugged, bad boy, don't fuck with me or I'll kill you kind of way. His face was definitely more masculine than Shuichi's by a long shot. And his eyes...they were the most amazing eyes I had ever seen. I've never seen a person with crimson eyes before. I've gotta say, it's not what the people back in America would call 'normal.' I shook my head to get rid of that particular thought.

Damn, being that good looking should be against the law. As well as having eyes that beautiful. Hell, he's the perfect example of a woman's fantasy of a guy that just screams dangerous...I wonder what he looks like without a shirt on.I blinked at that last thought and shake my head, while slapping myself muttering, "Stop that Ayla."

I heard chuckling and looked over at Shuichi, whom it was coming from. "Something funny?" I asked, assuming it was about me slapping myself that he was laughing at.

"Just a little amused at your reaction and what you thought of Hiei." he replied.

My eyes widened, "What do you mean what I thought? You're not a telepath too are you?"

"No, no, I'm not. Hiei is though."

I quickly looked at Hiei, who was smirking. I opened my mouth to talk and ended up closing it when he said, "I didn't listen to your thoughts onna." My right eye twitched at being called 'woman.' "You said what you were thinking quite clearly even though you were mumbling."

It took a second to register in my mind what he meant. "Ah shit. How much did I actually say out loud?" I groaned. Somehow I hadn't realized I was saying part of what I was thinking out loud. How the hell did I manage that? Oh yeah, I was severely distracted by Hiei's looks.

"Only from what you said about 'being good looking being against the law,' all the way to when you slapped yourself and saying 'stop that' to yourself."

I blushed and looked away so fast I thought my head was gonna snap off. Needless to say this caused both of them to chuckle.

I cleared my throat, "Well I doubt that Hiei would just be sitting in that tree outside your window without wanting to talk to you about something important Shuichi. So, um, I'm just gonna go back downstairs to the living room and wait for dinner to be done. Have fun chatting." I started to head out of the room at a fast walk. Just as I reached for the doorknob Hiei said something that made me stop in my tracks.

"Afraid to stay in the same room with a 'dangerous' man?" he asked in a smug tone.

I turned around looking at him and said completely serious, without blushing at all amazingly enough, "No, I'm just embarrassed. Besides, I doubt you'd want someone in the same room while you talked to Shuichi about whatever it is you want to talk to him about. So I'm giving you guys privacy to chat."

He blinked, as if not expecting me to say something like that to him.

I turned back to the door to leave.

"Ayla." Shuichi said.

"Yeah?" I turned to Shuichi.

"Don't forget a book to read." he smiles at me.

I blink a couple of times, "Oh...oops. Forgot about that."

I sensed Hiei's anger spike but it vanished just as quickly as it came. Ok, that was weird. Why'd he get angry? Oh well, I'll just get a book and vamoose so I don't embarrass myself more.

I went over to the bookshelf, looked at what there was, and grabbed a book on Japanese mythology. Cool, I've never read this one.

"If you don't own that book you can borrow it." offers Shuichi.

"Really?" I perk up at that. I caught sight of Hiei smirking out of the corner of my eye. Guess he's amused at my reaction about borrowing the book.

He chuckles, "Yes really."

"Awesome. Thanks, I'll take good care of it." I say, happiness evident in my voice. I go to the door, open it saying, "I'll come and let you know when dinner is done kay?"

"Alright, thank you Ayla."

"No need to thank me. It's the least I can do since you're letting me borrow this cool book. Enjoy your talk guys." I close the door, heading to the living room to start reading. I sit down at the window and open up the book.

I hadn't read very far when I heard the boys squabbling in the next room. I sigh closing the book. I better go make sure that nothing gets broken by the boys. I get up and go to where the squabbling is coming from. Hoping that dinner will be done soon so that the boys' chaos can stop, if only for a bit.