No special notices this time! Still adjusting to phone life, blah blah blah! Enjoy! I also forgot to mention last time that Lone Wolf had soared beyond 1,000 views! Yay you guys!

PS; I'm sorry if this chapter is very long :P

-B.J.

Chapter 16: Heavy Lies the Crown

It had been 3 days since the 'incident' with Hiei. It had also been 3 days since Kirazuki had seen Hiei, since he had even returned to the temple. She was growing anxious; had that been some strange demonic death seal? Would she suddenly cease living at the drop of a hat? She was still in the dark, and it was weighing heavy on her mind; she made a mental note to ask Kurama when she was done her day of training.

She was currently hiking the stairs of Genkai's temple for somewhere around the 90th time, Kurama awaiting patiently at the top; her leg had improved massively over the last few days, she could walk without the aid of her brace, although she did have quite the pronounced limp, and she did still need it to actually work her leg out. Today was the perfect day for training, it was significantly cooler than it had been, she had barely broken a sweat.

"How many more?" Kira groaned, fumbling momentarily over one of the steps.

Kurama chuckled, sitting himself on the top step, "7 more sets will make it an even 100," He confirmed with a kind smile.

"Good," Kira panted, working her way back down the steps. This was quite the change of pace from yesterday; Kuwabara had been in charge of her and they had gone for a simple stroll through the woods; it hadn't even come close to being as effective as the tree, mountain or stairs, "Are the others training as well?" She asked between breaths.

Kurama nodded, "Kuwabara and Yusuke are with Taryuu, while Kanami is still with Genkai, I'm unsure where Hiei has run off to," He admitted, knowing the fire demon wasn't terribly far as he could still sense him, although he hadn't actually seen him since their conversation the other day.

"Probably working out when to kill me," Kira muttered under her breath, beginning another climb upwards.

Kurama raised an eyebrow skeptically, having heard the faint whisper, "Why would you think that?"

"Later," Kira grumbled.

"You asshole!" Yusuke laughed, standing from where he had been thrown against the wall.

Taryuu's long tail gave a large twitch of excitement, a grin plastered across his handsome face. Kira couldn't help but smile: it would be unfortunate when they had to return to the Reikai, she could tell Ryuu really enjoyed spending time with, at least, Yusuke; they connected on some strange, mutual stubborn hot head level.

"Hey, what about me you guys!" Kuwabara yelled, trapped up in the high rafters of the temples dojo.

"Taryuu seems to be enjoying himself," Kurama chuckled from beside Kira, where they were seated against the wall observing the friendly spar.

Kira nodded, "It will be unfortunate when we have to return." It truly would, she would honestly miss Keiko the most; while she knew Ryuu would certainly miss Yusuke.

"Nonsense," Kurama attempted to comfort, "I'm sure all of our paths will surely cross again,"

"If I'm not dead," Kira muttered, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance as she folded her arms like a pillow behind her head.

Kurama's eyebrows knitted in confusion, "Yes, back to that," He remembered her mutterings from earlier; as far as he knew it had seemed as if the fire demon had a soft spot for the wolf; "What would make you think such a thing?"

"I'm pretty sure he cursed me," Kira gave a heavy sigh, waving her hand in the air for emphasis, "Some fire demon death seal or something,"

Kurama raked his brain for any knowledge of a 'fire demon death seal' before tipping his head to the side quizzically, "I don't believe Hiei knows any.. Death seals,"

Kira put her hands up in front of her, shaking them defensively, "You didn't have it happen to you," She crossed her arms over her chest, resuming her observations of Yusuke and Taryuu as he wrapped his long tail around the spirit detective and threw him against the wall yet again, "I thought my chest was going to implode,"

"Kira, I don't believe such a curse exists," Kurama couldn't help but chuckle, he was positive it had been something she simply didn't understand, "What exactly happened?"

Kira sighed, heaving herself forward as she began to recall the incident, "I had just finished climbing that ridiculous tree for the 50th time like I was supposed to, but then I almost fell, and Hiei caught me, called me a fool, and then did the death seal," She nodded animatedly in confirmation.

Kurama sweat dropped, still not understanding, "And what, pray tell, did this involve?"

"If you end up cursed as well it's not my doing," Kira warned with a pointed finger, "I don't know how it works," Kurama attempted in vain to contain his laughter, but nodded none the less, "I warned you," Kurama nodded again, but flinched unintentionally when Kira suddenly placed an ice cold hand on his cheek; his surprise only furthered when she swiftly rose her face to his, her frigid lips meeting his own.

"Kira!" The sliding wooden door slammed open, "Koenma needs yo-... Oh my..." Botan sweatdropped, stopping suddenly and looking entirely confused.

"Are you two kissing?!" Kuwabara screamed in horror from his place still stuck in the dark rafters.

Kira tipped her head to the side quizzically; while Kurama chuckled nervously as he attempted to regain his composure, connecting the dots within his brain. It appeared perhaps the fire demon was more fond of the wolf than he had originally thought. He quickly placed his hands up in front of him defensively, "Kira was just asking me about something-"

'Don't. You. Dare.' Hiei's threatening voice pierced Kuramas thoughts.

"..She had seen on TV," He finished quickly, a sheepish grin on his reddened face.

Botan blinked several times, "Right.." She exhaled as she restored her calm, "Koenma needs you all to report to Reikai straight away,"

"We're busy training for the mission he's sending us on!" Yusuke retorted, irritated by the twists and turns in this mission.

"He knows," Botan argued, glaring at the spirit detective, "But he's worried the others are starting to plot something without Kira and Ryuu there,"

"Well why don't they just go then?!" Yusuke yelled back.

"He wants this to be a lesson to you all," Botan was rarely angered, but Yusuke was testing her patience. Why could he not just do what he was told?

Kira gritted her teeth together as rage swelled in her chest; she leaves for a month and a half so far and they already think they can start chaos, "Let's go then,"

Kurama was slightly taken aback by this sudden change in demeanor, but nodded in agreement, "I'll find Hiei,"

"I'm not sure what it is they're planning," Koenma spoke in an eerily dark tone as the group stood behind an observation glass which peered into an enormous, brightly tiled room. Within the walls were the 44 other creatures the Reikai had concocted, congregated in the center of the room.

"Unlock the door," Kira spoke coldly, her hand already on the massive, metal vault knob. Taryuu stepped forward towards the door behind her, but she quickly raised her hand up in his direction, "I don't need help."

"Your leg still isn't well," Kurama warned, a fair amount of concern in his voice.

"I've got it," She shot back; this was certainly a different Kira then the one they had gotten to know. Similar to when she had first seen Kanami inside Genkai's temple; the way her shoulders squared and eyes held no joy. It was like she has regressed back to the first day they had met her; lacking any sort of emotional development.

Koenma nodded slowly, pressing a small silver button below the two way mirror; immediately followed by the eerie sound of grinding metal gears and four loud, clanking clicks. Kira rolled her neck and exhaled before grabbing both sides of the vault-like knob and twisted until it opened with a loud pop. As soon as her first foot crossed the doorframe, the entire floor of the holding room began to freeze over.

"Little over dramatic don't ya think?" Kuwabara muttered, narrowing his eyes.

"Are you truly that much of a moron?" Hiei spoke for the first time since they'd arrived, ignoring Kuwabara's defensive retort.

"By freezing over the entire area it all becomes part of her own attack territory," Koenma explained, not daring to remove his eyes, "We can hope it's an unnecessary precaution,"

"It won't be," Kanami spoke meekly from next to Hiei, "There's a power struggle, they don't know what to do with the absence of both Kirazuki and Taryuu."

The chatter that erupted shortly after Kira entered was almost deafening.

"What is this?!"

"Kira!

"Who's doing this?"

"She's back!"

"Look at her leg!"

"This is our chance!"

"It's Kira!"

The expressions varied from happiness, anger, disappointment and some even fearful.

"I leave for a little over a month and this is how you handle it?!" Kira yelled, her teeth gritting together, "What exactly did you plan on doing?"

"Why should you 3 be the only ones to roam free?!" What appeared to be a male tiger demon shouted back, taking a step forward, some in the crowd yelled in agreement.

"I left for all of you!" Kira screamed back, "They don't trust us, I'm trying to gain that trust and you all sit here plotting to destroy it," She was disgusted with their behavior, this blatant betrayal to the Reikai, who they owed their very lives to.

"Not us all!" Shouted out another creature in the back, "Most of us remain loyal, to you," There was an eruption of praise to this statement.

Kira tipped her head sideways with a smirk, "And those who don't?" She called out as if requesting their presence.

The tiger stepped forward at once followed by 3 others, but he was the only one who spoke, "Why should we put our faith in-"

Kira swiftly rose one of her hands; a large spike of ice driving through the bottom of his chin, poking its way out of the top of his skull. "Let him be an example to you," She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She knew she would have some challengers, it was inevitable; especially with her brace being visible, they already knew she was injured. "This is your last chance."

One of the creatures quickly bowed her head, stepping back with quickly muttered apologies. A wise choice on her part. The other 2 didn't even falter.

Kira heard a rush of air on her left, quickly propelling herself up with her good leg to avoid the clever wind gust; but immediately to her right a roll of flames came barreling towards her. Although she managed to dodge the brunt of it, it did graze her bad leg. A large part of her wanted to cry out when she landed, but she knew she couldn't as she dug her teeth into her lower lip to contain the painful scream.

"Open the door!" Taryuu yelled at Koenma as another gust of air pushed Kira back onto one of her knees, digging her nails into the floor to avoid flying into the crowd.

"Give her a minute big guy," Yusuke gave him a pat on the shoulder.

Kira spun around on her knee, raising both of her hands quickly into the air. Two more spikes jutted out of the ground; the first hitting its target, the air demon, directly through his heart and out of his back. The second aimed at the fire demon was a little more sloppy; entering through his hip and traveling up through his shoulder. "Too bad.." She said quietly to herself, rising to her feet as her arm began to glow with energy, her ice sword glinting maliciously in the brightened light.

The fire demon screamed in pain, simultaneously begging, "Kira, please! I was just going along with Tora! He made me! Please!"

An intense melancholy overwhelmed her as she placed her free hand on his warm cheek, "I warned you.."

The pale moonlight reflected as far as the eye could see, illuminating the expansive, forested grounds which housed Genkai's temple. Kira sat high in an old pine tree, fiddling absently with her own fingers in her lap as she lightly swung her legs back and forth, lost in her own head. Just 2 short months ago, this wouldn't have even been a conflicting situation; if anyone challenged her, naturally she would have taken them out. This strange yet wonderful group of humans and demons alike was changing her.

"Wallowing again?" Came the ever familiar voice from directly next to her.

"Yes," Kira replied quietly with the faintest trace of a smile.

Hiei sat down in a similar position on the same branch, closing his eyes, "You did warn the fool after impaling his moronic friend,"

Kira swung her leg to the opposite side of the branch, straddling it and facing Hiei, "That doesn't mean it was right," She followed without hesitation; feeling the comforting warmth radiating off of him. There was a somber ache in her chest she wished would dissipate.

"He had his chan-" Hiei stopped abruptly as a shiver quaked its way from his side, bristling his skin; the tiny ice demoness had laced both of her arms around his own arm, resting her cheek on his shoulder. Surprised would be an understatement: it wasn't every day, or ever, that anyone was bold enough, or even wanted, to be so near to him. Unless, of course, they were trying to kill him. It was an incredibly foreign territory for him; but the mutt certainly did seem to have a knack for that.

"Chance," Kira finished for him with a small grin, she could clearly tell he was taken off guard; Hiei simply nodded in confirmation. They sat in soothing silence for quite some time, almost in fear of fracturing the moment; it calmed her turbulent inner beast in a seemingly impossible way, but she was the first to break the quietude, "Kurama told me you didn't curse me."

Hiei's smirk gave away his mask of a cold exterior as his crimson eyes focused in on the giant moon above with the simplest of responses, "No."