TheHeartsPath: TA-DA! Chapter 12! Now there's a nice even dozen chapters. Please read and review! Hope you like the chapter! Enjoy!
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 12: Explanations Begin
Yusuke's POV
Ayla's a frigging mystery and a half.
She obviously likes to annoy people, but she also seems to like being friendly to people. Her saying Hiei's hair was shaped like a black flame shocked the hell out of me. So did the comment about a fox.
Made me wonder if she actually knows more than everyone thinks she does.
As she, Genkai, Yukina, and her sister were coming into the temple I saw her blush after glancing at Hiei. He'd said earlier that he wasn't attracted to her, but for her to blush after just glancing at him told me she found him attractive.
After the girls had gone off to get Ayla changed, me and Kuwabara did our usual joking around. Wondering about how she'd look in her kimono and Kurama warning us about what we were saying. When I was yanking Hiei's chain about what he said earlier I hadn't expected him to actually pull his sword on me. He really was serious about killing us if we tried anything perverted with Ayla.
No way in hell was I going to piss Hiei off that much. I've already died twice and I don't want to die again until I'm really old thanks.
On the bright side, it confirmed my suspicion about him being attracted to Ayla. He's got it bad. I seriously doubt that anyone that's out to get Ayla will live long enough to get anywhere near her.
When Ayla finally came into the room after changing into her kimono I was a bit surprised. I figured she'd look alright in it. But damn she was skinnier than I thought. The clothes she'd been wearing when she first arrived had fooled me good. Probably fooled everyone good except for Genkai, Yukina, and the squirt.
It was kinda weird how she wasn't looking at any of us though. She just kept staring at the floor. I thought it was even weirder that she didn't want us to say she looked good until Genkai told her to let us see her real eye color. The squirt saying that we weren't like the people back in America had me guess that her eye color had caused her a lot of grief while growing up.
Ayla still wouldn't look at us when Hiei stood up and walked over to her. He stopped right in front of her. From where I was sitting I had sort of a side view of her face. "Look at me onna." he said in a commanding way. Oh yeah, like that's gonna make her look at you Hiei.
"Leave her alone Hiei." Kuwabara said. I agreed with him, thinking that Hiei should leave her alone. Of course like usual, Hiei completely ignored Kuwabara all together.
When he grabbed her chin I was afraid he might yank her face upwards so she'd be looking at him. Instead he was gentle, slowly bringing her face up.
Hiei being gentle...hell must have frozen over.
Her face could be seen now and I noticed her eyes were closed. Well she's stubborn. "Onna, look at me. Open your eyes." I looked at Hiei, shocked at the way he was talking to Ayla. Did I just hear Hiei, a guy who would threaten you just for getting close to him, speak with an obviously gentle voice?
Oh yeah. Hell had definitely frozen over.
Glancing at Kuwabara and Kurama we all shared a look that said not one of us had been expecting that. Looking back, I saw that Ayla's eyes were open. I couldn't tell the color of her eyes from where I was sitting, but Hiei sure could. They were staring at each other, neither one moving a muscle. Hell it didn't even look like either of them was breathing.
Hiei wasn't sharing any info on what her eyes looked like so I decided to see for myself. "Hey Hiei, we can't see what her eyes look like with you standing in front of her." I said as I got up and started over to them.
Kuwabara got up and followed saying, "Yeah shrimp. Move so we can see her eyes too."
Hiei stepped to the left so that he was out of the way, but still looking at Ayla. The moment I saw her eyes I said the first thing that came to mind. "Holy shit!"
I heard Kuwabara gasp and say, "What the?"
Both her eyes were two colors at once. Some kind of green on the outside of the iris while at the same time some kind of bright brown color on the inside. How the hell is that even possible? I've seen demons with some strange looking eyes, but never with eyes like hers.
Kurama came over to see her eyes and looked surprised as well. Course all he said was, "Well, this is unexpected." That's fox boy for you.
A moment later Ayla turned around, my guess was to leave the room. But all she got to do was put her hand on the door before Hiei grabbed her left arm. "Let go of me Hiei." she said without looking at him.
"You're staying here onna." he told her, his voice back to its normal, harsh tone.
"No I'm not! Now let go of me dammit!" Ayla yelled turning to Hiei. I was close enough that I saw the tears in her eyes that she was trying to fight. Suddenly Hiei yanked her away from the door and pulled her into his arms while her balance was shot. Startled Ayla asked, "What are you doing?"
"Making sure you don't leave." was Hiei's reply. "You are not leaving. If anyone has to leave they do, but not you."
"We aren't leaving Hiei." Kuwabara said.
Hiei turned to the three of us and glared. "Then I suggest you all stop gaping at her, starting now." Hiei's right. We shouldn't be gaping at her. I was about to apologize when Ayla spoke.
"Why?" she asked. It was strange hearing her confusion in that one word. She pulled away from Hiei, still in his arms, but there was about a half foot between them as she looked him in the eye. "Why aren't you gaping at me? Why aren't you looking at me like I'm a freak? A monster? An..." she suddenly stopped talking. It looked like she wasn't going to finish what she was saying.
Freak? Monster? Her asking those questions clearly said she'd had it even rougher growing up than I first thought.
"A what?" Hiei gently asked her. Ayla just shook her head and looked away from him. Her face was turned so that none of us could see her face. "Onna." A couple moments of silence later, she turned back to Hiei with surprise written on her face. What surprised her? She started to turn her head away again but Hiei cupped her face between his hands. When Ayla looked him in the eyes I felt her energy merge slightly with Hiei's.
"What's happening?" I asked.
"I don't know. But I can sense that Ayla and Hiei are connected somehow." Kuwabara said.
Kurama nodded, "I sense it too. The question is, how are they connected?"
"It's alright. I have a feeling that Ayla is telling Hiei what she couldn't say in words." Genkai told us.
"What do you mean?" I asked looking at her.
Genkai just looked at me like I was stupid. "You heard what she was asking Hiei didn't you? Why don't you try using that brain in that thick skull of yours to figure it out?"
Kuwabara spoke again, but softer than usual. "She's been hiding something from everyone. Something painful." I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. If he said Ayla was hiding something like that then he was probably right.
I looked back at Hiei and Ayla to see that Ayla was crying. She wasn't sobbing, she was just standing there with tears slowly rolling down her face. Hiei wiped them away with his thumbs saying to her, "What those people said isn't true onna. You have never been that. You never will." Her tears seemed to come faster after he said that.
He moved his hands from her face to her shoulders. It was like he was letting her know that she could leave if she wanted to now and he wouldn't try to stop her. A second later she went into Hiei's arms on her own and hugged him. Though it looked more like she was hanging onto him like he was a lifeline or something. He wrapped his arms around her like he'd never let her go.
Hiei really cares about her. I still couldn't believe that this was the same Hiei I've known for years now. The same Hiei that didn't like anyone getting close to him in any way whatsoever.
Ayla tucked her face into that area between Hiei's neck and shoulder, with her face towards us. Not that anyone could actually see her face right now. Her shoulders were shaking with how much she was crying now. No more than a few seconds later a small chuckle came from Ayla. And a small smile, not Hiei's usual smirk, appeared on his face. What the hell?
That's all I could think as I continued to watch the way that Hiei was acting. From the moment that Ayla and the squirt Kira arrived he has done nothing but act weird. Scratch that, he's been acting weirder than usual. Usually he'll find a window, sit at it, stare out it, and ignore everything else. But every time Ayla is in sight all he does is stare at her. At first it was kinda creepy, but now...ah hell I don't know.
All I know right now is that Hiei isn't being his usual self. He's been gentle with Ayla and now what looks like comforting her too. Somehow Hiei and Ayla have connected with each other. If that's a good or bad thing I'm not sure. But so far it looks like it's a good one.
Fox boy says that Ayla confuses the hell out of Hiei. If you ask me, she seems to confuse the hell out of everybody.
Genkai's POV
Sitting there watching Ayla finally let out the pain that she has been bottling up inside for so long I was relieved. I had been hoping that one of the boys would be able to do the one thing no one else had been able to do. Get her to open up and let at least some of the pain go.
The fact that it was Hiei that she connected with surprised me. Add in the fact that Ayla had obviously shared some of her memories with him, judging from the way her energy merged with his, and I was even more surprised. Ayla doesn't even like to share her memories with the members of our family. Because she doesn't want us to know everything she's had to deal with.
Because of Kuwabara's high spirit awareness and gentle heart, I thought he would make a connection with her. Similar to what he'd done during the Dark Tournament when we were fighting those controlled humans from the Dr. Ichigaki team.
Well it doesn't really matter who she connected with anymore. All that matters is that she's finally found acceptance.
A few minutes passed before Ayla stopped crying and stepped away from Hiei. She wiped away the rest of her tears saying, "Sorry about that everyone."
"You don't have to apologize for anything Ayla. It is us that need to apologize. I'm sorry for my reaction." Kurama stated.
"Yeah. I'm sorry too Ayla." said Kuwabara.
"Same here Natura. Sorry." Yusuke rubbed the back of his head as he spoke.
Ayla nodded. "Apologies accepted." Looking at Hiei she said, "Sorry I got your shirt wet Hiei."
"Hn. Don't worry about it onna." Hiei replied as he turned around, going back to the window and sitting down.
Ayla chuckled, a small smile on her face. "Well, guess we should get comfortable. You did want to talk after all Grandma Genkai." she said.
I nodded and everyone but Hiei came to the table and sat down.
Yukina asked, "Would you like some tea Ayla?"
"Yeah, thanks Yukina." After taking the tea that Yukina offered, Ayla looked at me. "Dad told me that you wanted to talk to me about my abilities and some other stuff."
Nodding again I said, "We will talk about your abilities in a bit. Originally I was only going to tell you about this Ayla. But now that you need training with your own ability Kira, you need to know as well. First I need to tell you both about the other worlds."
"Other worlds?" Kira asked.
"You see besides the world we live in, the Ningenkai or Human world, there are two other worlds. The Reikai or Spirit world, and the Makai or Demon world. The Reikai is where people, humans and demons, go to after they die. The Makai is where demons live or at least the majority of them anyways." I explained.
"The majority of demons. Meaning that there are demons that live here in Ningenkai?" asked Ayla.
"Yes."
"Learn something new everyday." she mumbled.
"You don't seem surprised about this Ayla." Kurama observed.
Ayla raised an eyebrow at Kurama. "Consider certain factors of my life. One, I have both telepathic and empathic powers. Two, I've been trained to use my spirit energy to an extent. And three, I have known other people with abilities. So why the hell should I be surprised about there being two other worlds and demons existing?"
Kurama chuckled, "Touché."
"Would you be surprised to find out that you already know some demons?" Yusuke asked.
"Uh, I don't know. Maybe a little?" she answered with a shrug.
"Well you do know some. In fact, you know two that are full-blooded, one that is half-demon through a merger with a human body, and one that is half-demon through a demon ancestor." I told her.
"Let me guess. All four just happen to be in this room right now." It wasn't a question but a statement.
"How the heck did you know?" Kuwabara asked.
Ayla took a drink of her tea before answering Kuwabara's question. "Energy. When I met you guys I noticed the differences in your energies from normal people. Kazuma yours is like Grams' and others I've met with abilities, meaning you're a psychic. But the rest of you have energy that is different from what I've sensed before. Yusuke's energy is a mix of two energies. Shuichi's is sorta like Yusuke's but it's not. Can't really figure out how to explain that. And both Hiei and Yukina's energies are the same, totally different from a psychic's spirit energy." she finished explaining.
Kira giggled, "You sounded like Daddy giving a speech again sissy."
"I didn't mean to." grumbled Ayla.
So she can easily tell the difference between spirit energy and demon energy. That will make some of her training simpler. "Ayla, I want you to tell me which of them is the different demons I mentioned earlier." I said.
"I take it that I'm back in training again?" she asked as she set her cup of tea on the table.
Yusuke snorted, "Have fun in hell."
Both Ayla and I looked at him, then each other and smirked. "Finally something interesting to do." Ayla chuckled.
"Interesting?! You find training with the old hag interesting?! You've got to be crazy!" Yusuke yelled.
Ayla's energy spiked, which grabbed everyone's attention. Hiei was no longer sitting at the window, but standing near it. Yukina pulled Kira towards her and moved both of them slowly away from Ayla. Just as I had asked her to do if Ayla's energy level spiked.
Aya had called and told me what Ayla had done at her school with the windows. I was merely taking precautions so that Ayla didn't accidently hurt Kira while her control was messed up from her newest ability awakening. Ayla would never forgive herself if she hurt Kira, even if it was accidental.
Kira was looking back and forth between Ayla, Yukina, and myself. She looked a little scared, probably because she was picking up on the fear that I was feeling, Yukina's worry, and the boys' caution. I wasn't afraid of Ayla herself, it was what she might do without meaning to that I was worried about. Yusuke and Kuwabara both looked startled from Ayla's energy spiking. Kurama appeared calm until you saw the look of caution in his eyes.
Slowly Ayla turned so that she was looking at Yusuke. The look on her face plainly said that she was pissed. Her anger had gotten the better of her control which was why her energy had spiked like it did. "Don't. You. Ever. Call. My. Grandmother. That. Again." she said in a clipped voice.
"What are you talking about?" Yusuke asked.
"Urameshi, I think she means when you called Genkai an old hag." Kuwabara said as he slowly backed away from the table.
"I call her that all the time, so what's the big deal?"
Ayla's energy spiked higher.
"Detective you are an idiot." Hiei deadpanned.
"Agreed." I said.
Kurama nodded, "I'm afraid I have to agree as well."
"You call Grandma Genkai an old hag all the time?!" Ayla shouted.
"I just said so or are you deaf Natura?" Yusuke replied. Ayla glared and started growling. "Is that supposed to scare me?" he scoffed.
I was about to tell Yusuke to shut the hell up when the growl that Ayla was making changed. The sound that was coming out of her wasn't the type of sound that is supposed to come from the throat of a human or most demons. It was the type of sound that came from an animal that was getting ready to rip your throat out.
Hearing that sound come from my granddaughter's throat made me afraid not just of what she might do, but afraid of her, or at least her body. Because if that sound was any indication, Ayla wasn't exactly home in her mind at the moment.
This is not good...