A/N: this chapter is so crazy long. It took a long time to get everything into it that I wanted. I know I'm a few days late to post but I'm excited I'm almost on time. Thank you all so much for reading and especially for those of you that have been reviewing and following the story. I greatly appreciate the time you take to even say the smallest things. It's always a lovely thing to see someone's reactions in my inbox, so thank you.
Kurama carried Shinpi down the hall, her loose arms over his shoulders with her neck under his chin, his arms curled under her legs to hold her upright as he made his way toward her room. The door just before hers opened and Hayato stood there regarding him for a second before he dipped his attention down to the sleeping woman held so tenderly in the his arms.
"Don't wake her. She needs sleep." Hayato came out of his room to quietly walk to Shinpi's bedroom door. He opened it for Kurama to walk through.
"I'm aware." Kurama muttered, accepting the help.
A subdued huff answered him. Kurama felt irritation well up in him at the sound. He was too exhausted himself to put up with whatever Hayato was trying to do. He carefully carried Shinpi to the bed. Again Hayato stepped in, pulling the comforter back so Kurama could lay the woman softly on the sheets. The raven pulled the covering back over her small frame, assessing her. Once he was done he pointedly looked at Kurama then the door with raised eyebrows. Doing his best not to start an argument, Kurama heeded the silent command and made his way out of the room, Hayato following closely behind. Hayato closed the door with great care to not make any noise. With a decidedly unpleasant expression, the raven looked Kurama over as well before rolling his eyes, shaking his head and making his way back to his room.
"I suppose you should sleep as well." Hayato told him opening his door.
"I'll get there." Kurama stated with an edge. "Did I wake you?"
"No."
"Then perhaps you should find some rest yourself. It seems staying up has made a mockery of your disposition." Kurama started walking to his own borrowed room.
Hayato turned to offer him a glare but said nothing as he disappeared through his door, closing it with just as much care as he'd closed Shinpi's. Kurama felt the childish urge to make a face at the wood but he pushed it down. He didn't know what had crawled into Hayato, but it needed to crawl back out or they were going to have more than friendly words later.
Only slightly rested but in decent enough spirits, Kurama stood behind Shinpi, studying her inky strands. A variety of hair accessories clogged the surface of the table beside them as he slowly and precisely wove braids through her hair. He'd been pleased she'd asked him for the help. It had greatly improved his mood upon waking up actually.
"I'm surprised you didn't have Hayato do this for you yesterday." He commented with some humor, his long fingers perfect for the detailed work he had dedicated himself too. "Surely there was more than enough time while you were in the bath."
Shinpi chuckled at that, which made him fuss at her for moving her head too much. "Braiding is not one of Hayato's skills, unfortunately. It never has been."
"At this point what skills does that man have?" Hiei drawled beside them, foot against the edge of the table to push himself onto the back legs of the chair he occupied. The barb lacked bite. He intentionally glanced to the raven in question who was busy at the stove cooking for the four of them, waiting for a reaction. Yukina's apron was too small for Hayato's torso but he had donned it anyway to keep the clothes he wore clean. The ruffled ties strained across his wide shoulders. It made for quite the sight.
"Ones that matter in other ways." Hayato responded dully. "Someone has to master the areas where you lack competency."
"And what areas are those?" Hiei questioned, smirking.
Hayato answered by placing food on the table and gesturing to it. When Hiei reached for the snacks, the raven shoved them out of his way down to Shinpi's end of the table. She thoughtlessly reached out and took one of the cookies, still soft and warm.
"Boys." She chided. "Play nice."
"You think baking is an essential skill?" Hiei asked and then laughed. "I can destroy armies. Let's see how far your cookies get you when enemies are barreling down on you from all directions."
"I can make Hichi's favorite food." Hayato declared as a counterpoint. "Let's see how far your destructive power gets when she's not feeling well and just wants a home cooked meal."
Hiei frowned, eyes narrowing, a nerve struck.
"Hiei has other qualities, Hai." Shinpi sighed from her chair. "Can you two please avoid fruitless, pointless fights today? We're stuck in here until the storm clears. I'd rather if I didn't have to knock you all unconscious to get a moment of peace."
"Other qualities?" Hiei jerked his attention to her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you can't braid, or cook." Hayato grinned at him. "So what exactly are your skills?"
Shinpi sighed again, tipping her head back to look into Kurama's face as though to ask for his pity. Except he was stuck in the same room as the others too and he had no pity to offer. Only empathy. He smiled down at her and then they laughed together.
"Thank you." She told him. "Would you like me to do yours after this?"
"I'll always say yes to having you play with my hair." He nodded.
"For the record, I can braid." Hayato announced somewhat hotly to the room. "It justs takes me longer than most. You just don't like sitting still for long enough. I'm not unable, you're impatient."
Shinpi turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, but Kurama fussed again and tugged at her hair to force her head back where he needed it.
"I'm almost done." He muttered. "Don't make me restart this one."
"I didn't mean to offend you ean beag. We all have vastly different talents. Do you think Kurama, Hiei or even myself could craft the weapons you do? I wouldn't know what to do in a forge to save my life." She appeased softly.
"I'm viscerally aware. That's why I had to keep you out of mine." He reminded her. "You tried to touch molten metal to see what it felt like."
"You do it." She frowned. "How was I supposed to know that wasn't something everyone could do? Maybe if you had handed me gloves to start with I'd have realized I was out of my element."
"You tried to play with molten metal?" Hiei asked her with unbridled humor.
"What does ean beag mean?" Kurama asked, cutting over Hiei's question as he tied off her last plait with a clear elastic. He started to go through and apply her silver braid rings as he saw fit. He'd braided three rows on the left side of her head to pull the hair away from her face. Thinner braids ran through the rest of her locks, some woven with lose hair to create thicker plaits with more texture. He'd learned through watching her do her hair and some of his own research how she liked it to look.
She preferred him over Shizuru nine times out of ten and it was a source of pride. Amazing what a few hours at the library could teach a man.
Something a century and change apparently could not, he mused to himself shooting Hayato a smug look.
"It means little bird." Shinpi explained to him, once again tilting her head back to look at his face. Kurama nodded.
"I think I'd like to learn of your language." He told her with softness, carefully guiding her head back down with his hands.
"It's a complicated language." Hayato and Hiei spoke in unison, Hiei pointing at the raven to indicate he knew exactly what the man was going to say. Hayato shot him a cold glare then he continued without Hiei's further interruption. "Sayolian Gaelic is difficult to master if you're not dedicated to learning it."
"Luckily I am a man who masters complicated things very well." Kurama spoke without an edge, which only seemed to ruffle Hayato's feathers.
"It's hard to speak." Hiei interjected, earning Hayato's curiosity. "What little of it I do know took a lot of effort. The syllables are strange."
"Foreign even?" Shinpi asked. He looked at her dully as she laughed. "Because it's a foreign language. You get it."
"Yes, Shinpi, I understood the joke. It just wasn't funny."
"I didn't know you spoke any Sayolian." Taken aback, Kurama regarded his friend.
"He's learned from listening to me." Shinpi blushed a little then. "Granted very few of the words he knows are worth repeating in polite company. I do have that bad habit of cursing when I'm frustrated."
Hiei nodded, smiling at her. "It's a cute habit. It proves you're not as put together as you pretend to be."
Kurama and Hayato both pulled back slightly at Hiei's casual compliment. Kurama wasn't sure he'd ever heard Hiei use the word cute so gently or even at all before. Hayato too seemed caught off guard and a little disturbed. He looked like a child who witnessed their parents flirting. Shinpi blushed and then smiled at Hiei with a chuckle. She straightened, suddenly remembering something. Turning in her chair now that Kurama's fingers were still she looked her oldest friend over.
"I want to buy you a wardrobe." She told him.
"Unnecessary. I'll get new clothes as mine wear out." Hayato shook his head. "Besides I can't pack that heavily. There's no sense in carrying more than one spare set on my person."
"I'm not talking about tunics and trousers, Hai. I want to dress you up. I want to take you shopping here in Human World and find clothes you can wear out in public without causing a scene." She explained, waving at him. "I know that demons are more common these days but humans are still having a hard time really accepting our existence. In fact I have seen more than a few outright deny it, claiming a government conspiracy. The ones that do seem to know and care aren't ones I want focusing on you."
"Poachers." He frowned.
"You'll let me buy you clothes." She nodded.
"I will not." He shook his head. "I don't spend enough time here to need them. And where would I keep them?"
"I apologize perhaps I misspoke." Shinpi grabbed another cookie and smiled at him but it did not reach her eyes. The bite she took was an aggressive motion, an act of abuse that the cookie did not deserve. "I'm pretty sure I just said that you'd let me do this for you. I hadn't realized I'd turned it into a question. I don't need your permission to do this, only your compliance and even that is negotiable. This is happening, Hayato."
"Hichi." He crossed his arms over his chest. "You have better uses for your resources than this frivolous expense."
She looked him over with a touch of coolness. "Strange. You don't look like Tamago."
"Tamago?" He asked.
"Her accountant." Kurama supplied with a chuckle. He put his hands on her shoulders, one thumb gently rubbing the side of her neck. When she craned back to meet his gaze he offered her a kind smile with glittering eyes. "Hichi, if he doesn't want clothes you shouldn't force him."
Hayato stared at Kurama and something in his expression caught the attention of both Shinpi and Hiei, who had different reactions. She looked mildly befuddled, tipping her head to the side, eating her cookie like a reasonable person now that her point had been made. Hiei however looked largely amused and shook his head as he rose so he could reach over the table to snag himself one of the treats. Despite his heckling, he had to admit Hayato did have a knack for this sort of thing.
Was that something Shinpi looked for in the people around her?
Should he learn to cook? She'd never brought it up. Or had she? He did the dishes, he even went shopping with her sometimes. His thoughts caused his face flatten out as he tried to weigh the odds of this being another small thing that might make her happy.
Didn't Kurama cook for her at times?
Maybe he'd pay Yusuke a visit. The Detective had an unusual skill when it came to food.
"How does a tengu learn to bake?" Kurama pried with genuine curiosity.
"Kuya." Hayato grew rather smug at Kurama's startled expression. "I learned a lot from all members of the family."
"She was a wonderful cook." Shinpi murmured wistfully, tracking happy memories with sad smile. Then the expression grew a little brighter when she turned to Hayato. "I'm glad this part of her lives on in you. Where did you find this recipe by the way?"
"In a drawer. I thought it would be a nice treat given the sorry state of the weather."
The phone on the wall shrilled, breaking through the moment. They all looked at it, and when it rang a second time Shinpi got to her socked feet to pad over to it. Removing the phone from the cradle just before the third ring she brought to her ear with some hesitation. "Hello?"
"Oh, thank goodness." Yukina uttered happily from the other side of the line. "I was worried you had already left. The trains are down because the tracks have frozen over. I was concerned you might be stuck on the tracks, they're having to go out and rescue people. The city is basically shut down at the moment. Are you alright up there?"
"I hadn't realized it had gotten that bad." Shinpi frowned, turning to look through the small kitchen window over the sink. The truth was she hadn't really checked the state of the grounds. She'd decided to put off leaving simply because she didn't want to be wet and cold.
"It's awful." Yukina agreed. "The storms this winter have been so terrible. Have you ever seen a winter this bad?"
"Not here. No." Shinpi's tone turned distracted, her eyes pinching slightly as her mind whirred to life with a battery of thoughts.
"It might be a while before everything clears up. I know we didn't leave much food. I didn't know the weather was going to turn." Yukina sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry. If I had known I'd have prepared for your stay better."
"We'll survive. I should get off the phone. Kurama is going to need to check in with his mother and work." Shinpi explained, still in her head. "Don't worry about us. Just keep yourselves safe and warm."
Kuwabara's voice sounded and then replaced Yukina's as she ducked off the line for him. "Hey, Hichi! We'll be okay. We have plenty of food and stuff. The power is going in and out though. So who won your fight?"
"You idiots were making bets on me again." She told him slyly, knowing it was true immediately. "Whose side were you on, dear Kazuma? Did you really bet against your teacher? Would you break my heart this way?"
"Of course not! I knew you could take them." He boasted.
"Unfortunately, maybe you shouldn't have so much faith in me. I bested Hiei but Kurama took me out." Shinpi rubbed her neck. "I admire you for withstanding his rigorous training for the Dark Tournament. No wonder you're so strong."
Kurama glanced her way, surprised. He had never told her about that. Green eyes shifted to Hiei who answered his silent question with a shrug. What else had Hiei told her about him? He didn't like the idea that she was getting secondhand accounts of his history. Not that he had any room for throwing stones. He had, after all, collected a binder full of her history before they'd had a chance to become real friends. That binder remained in his keep, just in case. Still.
"I'll win next time though." Shinpi promised with conviction. "Everyone has a weakness that can be exploited. I'll find his."
"She will." Hayato kept his voice low to avoid distracting her from her conversation, his words for Kurama. "It's what she does."
"Your cookies are burning." Kurama told him coolly. The raven turned around with doubt but then swore quietly as he opened the oven and smoke poured out.
Shinpi hung up the phone and turned to the room with an apologetic wince. "So, as it turns out we're stranded. Apparently the trains are down and the city is getting buried. We must be on the outer edge of the storm at the moment. They think it might even be a few days."
"How strange." Kurama frowned.
"Indeed." Shinpi agreed. "I'm going to get dressed to take a walk around the grounds."
Hayato watched her go, brow creased. He glanced at Hiei who was still looking in the direction she had left. He pulled the apron off, leaving it on the counter, and set it on the counter before turning off the oven and leaving the burnt cookies in their pan on the stove top. Without a word he moved to follow Shinpi with a look of knowing consternation. Hiei allowed him to go without intervening.
"We were snowed in just a few weeks ago." Kurama explained to Hiei. "It has been a particularly brutal winter."
Hiei nodded without comment. Then he got to his feet and pushed his hands into his pockets moving to leave the room. "She's right, you should check in with your other life Kurama."
Shinpi stood in the frigid open air staring out over the rolling grounds. The snow reached her shins and at this rate, it would be up to her thighs by the next morning. There hadn't been a prediction for a storm, she'd checked. A chance squall blowing in from the mountains wasn't outside the realm of possibility so she hadn't questioned the night before, when the wind had howled and beaten against the windows as she'd laid against Kurama. A full blown blizzard though? This should have been brewing for days. The news would have mentioned it.
She had convinced everyone to come to the temple this weekend specifically because the weather wasn't supposed to sour. Kurama had been missing so much work, she was worried he would get reprimanded. That job tied to his stepfather and therefore his family. She did not want him suffering their disappointment because he kept getting caught in her orbit during these disasters.
Now she wondered where this storm had come from. It was thick, strong, and steady. But it's existence made no sense to her.
"I know that look." Hayato spoke from beside her, standing strong despite the freezing temperatures. He wore his usual clothing, tunic and trousers and tall boots, but he also had a thick jacket pulled on over them, his wings collapsed inward against his skin to become those alluring tattoos once more. On one hip rested his short sword, and across his broad back waited his staff.
"This storm isn't natural." Shinpi looked away from him and turned her attention skyward. "I can't pinpoint the center. It's not moving like it should. I'm going to start paying more attention to the weather patterns."
She started walking and he followed.
"What are we looking for?" He asked curiously.
"Signs of someone else being here besides us."
Hayato stopped, his brow crinkling with worry. "Hichi."
"You can go inside." She told him without little inflection. "I'll be fine. I'm just going to do a quick perimeter check."
"Hichi." He repeated her name and she halted in her tracks, back facing him. Finally she looked over her shoulder at him, her head protected by a thick beanie. Her jacket was buttoned to the very top, Hiei's scarf wrapped around her neck. Hayato stared at her. She stared back.
"Who do you think is waiting for you out here?" He demanded quietly as the snow drifted between them, a biting wind sweeping over the ground. She didn't react to the cold. She only looked away from him to assess the path she'd chosen.
Hayato had known Amon-Shinpi since she was barely done being a child. He had seen her in nearly every possible state of emotion more than once. He could name their cities, trace the paths around Sayol with her in his sleep if asked. That's why the look in her eyes bothered him so much. Cold, detached, resolute. The expression she donned when she knew something unsettling. When she came to grips with the fact she was the only one who would be able to accept a truth. Those were the eyes she bore when she abdicated to fight Mukuro. They were the eyes she had when she accepted the crown following her parents' funeral. He had learned that the look in her eyes meant it was time to face something insurmountable while hiding the pain.
Except nothing was here. There was no enemy. No war. No crown. No fight to be had.
Her hand came free from her pocket to rise to brush over the hair raised on the back of her neck. That familiar sensation of being watched. Her eyes scanned the lands, narrowed. Her shoulder ached, she wanted to roll it. That strange tic she'd developed when Hiei watched her so harshly in the beginning. The hand fell away from her neck and she remained fixed in place.
"I don't know." She answered finally, her voice carrying through the gusts without distorting.
There was a way to find out she decided.
Her aura exploded, throwing itself outward in a wide net of power until she couldn't cast it any further. She did not let the effort show. Hayato stepped back with one foot, as if he had to brace himself. When he looked at her, his eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. She wanted to offer him the slightest prideful smile in her arsenal. That's right, little bird. I am as mighty as ever if not moreso. Feel me. Inside of these new boundaries she brought the wind to a stop. It listened to her. She didn't see the world from her one vantage point then, but felt it through her newly set perimeter. The snow swirled at her call when she bid it to move, though that required a little more focus, more effort. Ice wasn't as easy to manipulate as water for her. Upwards, upwards she sent her probing power, testing the storm itself, prodding at it's heart.
The sensation of being watched persisted.
Her eyes again turned skyward and she bared her teeth at the heavy clouds. They moved, slowly albeit, as she commanded. She released her web and her energy dissipated, fizzling to nothing as the storm returned to it's course. When her energy disappeared so did the tickle on her nape. Frustration bit through her.
Nothing.
No one.
This was so confusing.
"Hichi there is no one here." Hayato told her, stressed. A singular raven flew to him, landing on his shoulder. It was a poofy ball of feathers to keep from the cold. It watched her as he watched her. "I have eyes everywhere. I would have known if someone was close."
She bought her hand to cover her face. This wasn't right. She knew it wasn't right. She knew.
"What the hell was that?" Hiei's voice demanded as he sprung into existence at Shinpi's side, sliding to a stop through the slush created by his nature. He spun around, quickly assessing their surroundings before turning back to the woman. His Jagan was open, his bandana clutched in a tight fist. "I was nearly to the mountains when I felt that outburst."
"Oh." She blinked and then felt like a fool. "Of course, you were out here too. I hadn't realized."
Hiei turned to Hayato for an explanation but the raven stared at Shinpi as though she'd done something concerning. His lips pressed together, his brows pulled downward. Then he forced himself to loosen under Hiei's scrutiny, but his eyes weren't as easy for him to control as the rest of his body. His eyes were dark.
"I think I'm just tired." Shinpi told Hiei, reaching over to touch his arm. The words felt impossibly true suddenly. Maybe she'd overdone it because now her muscles felt weak, her head felt a little strange. It was probably time to actually sleep. "I'm jumping at shadows. I'm sorry I worried you."
"That wasn't an accident." Hiei watched her carefully. "You stopped the wind for miles, Shinpi."
"An overreaction." She assured him, shaking her head. "I think the last few months are finally catching up to me. I'm so tired suddenly. I think I've overexerted myself. It's making me overly cautious."
"What were you trying to do?" He stepped closer to her, head bowed to hers. He watched the snow melt between them as he studied the ground, his concern manifesting into his heat. It was only then that he realized she wasn't melting into his warmth like usual. "Shinpi, what is going on in that head of yours?"
"The wrong theory." She confessed, embarrassed. "I thought someone was watching us, that's all. I felt another presence out here. It was just you, darling. Like I said, I must just be exhausted, my mind is connecting the wrong dots. We weren't supposed to get snow and then we get this massive storm and it all feels unnatural to me. Not everything is a sinister puzzle for me to solve, I have to remember that."
He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her. Cheek pressing to her head he looked to Hayato, matching the raven's mild concern with his own. He hadn't realized how bad off she'd allowed herself to get. Maybe it was for the best they were trapped up here away from her notes and books and life. She needed time to be free. Hayato shared his thoughts it seemed because he nodded in a small motion. Hiei could draw comfort from the fact that between himself, Hayato and Kurama Shinpi would feel safe enough to relax. Maybe she'd get more than a scarce handful of hours of sleep. She lifted her face and pressed her frozen lips to his and finally she seemed thaw, shivering as though her body had only just remembered it was standing in subfreezing temperatures.
"If you're done wreaking havoc, go inside. Get warm." Hiei urged her, unable to look away from her eyes. "I'll do a sweep of the grounds just to be sure. Your instincts are strong, Shinpi. If you think someone was out here maybe they were."
"I didn't find them." Shinpi frowned. "Just you. There's no one here, Hiei. I'm just unraveling. Hayato checked too."
"Well do it inside where I don't have to worry about you dying of exposure." He nodded toward the temple. "You're not built for this weather, princess. Take the royal guard and get warm."
"Alright." She nodded. "I think you're right."
Before she could turn though he brought himself closer to her. "Shinpi, if something is going on you can tell me. Even if it's just a theory. Even if you haven't put all together yet."
Her smile killed his worry because it was honest, but tired.
"Thank you darling." She kissed him again, softly but with feeling. "Don't stay out for too long or I'll worry about you. I know you're durable but my nerves are a little sensitive today, apparently."
"I can capitalize on that." His breath warmed her ear. "Later, maybe after you rest so I can exhaust you all over again."
Her lips pulled to the left and she eyed him, raking her gaze over his form even though it was hidden by his cloak. He felt that stare like nails sliding over his skin. He almost told Hayato to leave so they could settle this here and now, but he suspected the snow wouldn't set the mood he wanted. Even if he was more than enough to heat her up. Shinpi pulled away from his hands and licked her lips for him to see before she trudged her way back to her raven who rolled his eyes.
"Make sure she actually sleeps." Hiei called through the wind before flitting away once again. He used the Jagan and studied every inch of the grounds. He scoured it all from the tops of the mountains to the base of the swamps. He found some demons, but they had been here since his first visit. Nothing that would upset Shinpi to the point of throwing her weight around so grandly.
What the hell had she sensed out here that could make her react that way? He'd never seen her throw her energy so wide before, with so much control and intention. It had struck him between the shoulder blades and in the chest when she'd done it. Alarming was the best way to describe the sensation. Overwhelming force there and then gone, a breath held in his lungs as she stilled the air flow. Until he'd seen her standing in the snow he'd assumed she'd been under attack, reaching for him. While he was glad that wasn't the case, he was going to have sit down and talk to her about her habits. If she was running herself this ragged then something needed to change.
Kurama panted, sequestered in the training room with the door locked so he could be alone. Sweat beaded on his neck, slipping down his spine. He hadn't brought clothes with him for this. He hadn't expected to throw himself into physical activity. He'd only planned on proving his point and then leaving.
"I'm hungry to fight you again."
Kurama swallowed, eyes fierce as he fixated on an imaginary opponent. His whip lashed through the air and he followed a scattered path around the room, chasing shadows. He shouldn't be breathing this heavily yet. He shouldn't have soaked through his shirt with sweat so soon. He really had fallen behind the pack. He was alone in here, it was okay to show fatigue. But he, out of the entire world, wanted to see it the least so he would have to hide it where even he couldn't find it. The only way to hide it would be to get rid of it entirely.
He had to get back to his old self. His whip cracked like thunder, breaking through the air without remorse. He sprang forward and slid across the ground in a crouch. He didn't even know who he was pretending to fight.
"You didn't enjoy fighting me?"
For his sake and no one else's he had to improve. He had let this slip for too long. Human life had made him docile. He'd forgotten what it was like to face a powerful opponent. Chasing Shinpi through the woods had been a biting reminder. And then that eruption of her energy that had nearly made him drop his teacup, gluing him in place as it washed over him so completely. She was on his side. Imagine if that wasn't true, Kurama. Imagine she was the enemy. Would you have survived then? He'd felt her aura when she'd pulsed it outward. That encompassing sense of power. What if that had been weaponized against him? What if she'd been in the mindset to kill him during their fight, would he have been strong enough to win?
"It would be easier for me to call on you if I knew your limits were as boundless as mine."
What if someone attacked his mother? Would he strong enough to push them back, to keep her safe? If a demon more powerful than Hiei descended, would he be able to stand against them? Or would he be helpless, begging his friends for help? What sort of demon was he?
"I'll be very patient."
But would his enemies? Likely not. He had to stay ahead of them. All the wits in the world wouldn't protect him from sheer force. If he couldn't keep up he might as well drop out, but there was no way he would do that. Giving up on staying at the top would mean he would have to bow out as useful member of their group. It would mean he had to admit he couldn't defend those he cared for.
Not an option.
So he could deal with the sweat corroding his pride for now. It wouldn't be long until he was capable of feats even greater than he'd ever accomplished before. He never did anything half-way. Failure wasn't in his vocabulary.
He stumbled over his own feet as he came to a sudden stop, a soft knock at the door jarring him back into reality.
"I know you want to do this alone." Shinpi spoke, her tone gentle through the locked door. "But that doesn't mean I can't support you. You need to eat and drink to stay strong, Kurama. I'm leaving water and a small snack for you. You've been in there for two hours at least."
He walked to the door and pulled it open, unable to pretend he wasn't already spent. He caught Shinpi as she crouched to leave a burdened tray on the floor. Now Shinpi stood with blue eyes peering up at him through her lashes with a soft expression. She didn't comment on his state. His hand gripped the frame of the door more harshly than necessary.
"I told you if you pester me-" He began. She raised a hand to cut him off.
"I'm not here to spy." She assured him. "I just want to make sure you take care of yourself."
He squinted at her, looking for signs of deception.
"Don't look at me like that." She pouted. "I'm trying to be a good friend."
He softened. "I'm used to you being stubborn, I'm sorry. Thank you for your thoughtfulness."
It was then, when he scanned down her he realized she was swathed in his borrowed sweater. The sight of it swallowing her frame made him remember Hiei's comment and his reluctant agreement that she did look rather nice in his clothes. A pity, really.
"That's my sweater." He commented lightly, meaning it only as a small reminder.
Shinpi shirked into the garment as though she feared he might take it from her. Her nose ducked below the neckline and she grew adorably small as he watched. The sleeves swallowed her hands, not rolled up. It fell to her thighs. Honestly, it could have been a dress on her if it were tailored properly. He made his peace with the fact that from her expression he was bidding yet another sweater goodbye.
"I need it." She told him quietly. "Just for another night. I had a weird afternoon and it calms me. I like the way it smells."
Kurama swallowed thickly.
"I'll give it back tomorrow. It won't smell as nice then." She explained. Then, as an afterthought. "Thank you for letting me borrow it."
"You're welcome." He nodded, ignoring the fact she hadn't actually asked him if she could keep it for another day. He stepped over the threshold a half-step, really studying her then. "Hichi, are you-"
"Drink your water." She demanded before turning on heel and fleeing.
Kurama stared where she'd been standing before slowly turning his head the direction she'd gone. When she'd come back from her week with Hiei her eyes had been clear. The clearest he'd seen a while. They skin underneath had looked healthy, rested. Now she looked like she hadn't slept in a week. Maybe she hadn't. Hiei had told him that she'd never really gotten rest the night of her raid on the brothel. Knowing her meticulous nature, she had spent hours submerged in paperwork on her own time. He hadn't noticed, in the heat of their fight, if she'd been this exhausted.
"I'm going to ask you again later!" He called after her as a warning that she couldn't run from him forever. The only time she hightailed it from him when he asked if she was okay was when she decidedly was not.
He picked up the tray she'd left behind and brought it into the training room with him. Honestly, that woman. She spent too much time worrying about everyone around her instead of tending to herself.
Kurama squeezed his wet hair with his towel, wringing the moisture out of crimson strands as he moved down the hall. Hayato walked toward him, eyes closed.
"Oh, Hayato." Kurama stopped. The raven stopped too, his expression neutral. "Could we talk? There were some questions I was hoping you'd answer for me."
"No." The raven's single syllable dismissal earned a long blink from Kurama.
"Can I ask why?" The redhead asked with his own guarded neutrality.
"I don't like you." Hayato stated simply. It was as though he were dropping his own name. "We have nothing to discuss."
"I beg your pardon?" Taken aback, Kurama pulled himself back slightly. He had no expected that sort of candid response.
"I'm pretty sure you heard me." Hayato continued to stand in the hall, his stance loose and open. "I don't particularly care for you. As far as I'm concerned we have nothing to say to each other."
"Well now I have different questions." Kurama stiffened. "Have I done something to you?"
Hayato rolled his eyes and looked around. After a few seconds he allowed himself to turn back to Kurama. "No."
"So, it's just principle that makes you dislike me." The redhead's tone shifted to mild annoyance. "You have no basis whatsoever for feeling this way and yet you won't even speak to me about it."
Shinpi opened a door and stepped into the hall, notebook in hand. She stopped as she saw the two of them together and instantly a smile broke out on her face. Hayato visibly relaxed at the expression.
"This is nice." She told them both, looking between them. "Having you all here together is such a treat. What are you two up to?"
"Hayato was just about to come have a conversation with me." Kurama announced, pinning the raven with a stare. It was underhanded sure, but he knew Hayato wouldn't dare contradict him in front of Shinpi. He also knew that once she expressed any hint of excitement over them bonding he'd follow through with the charade to make her happy. "I thought it would be nice if the two of us finally got to know one another. We haven't really spent time together and given how important he is to you, I'd like to learn more about him."
"That makes me happy." Shinpi's grin broadened. She turned to the taller of the two men, beaming. "I'm glad you're opening up to the others, Hai."
"Me too." He smiled at her but the second she turned back to Kurama he shot the dirtiest look he could muster toward the redhead.
"Before we go," Kurama reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair away from her cheek, "are you doing better? Earlier you seemed a little off."
"Yes, I'm feeling much better. I think I just needed some sleep and to jot my day down." She held up the notebook for them to see. When Kurama's attention lingered on it she moved it behind her back. He raised an eyebrow. "Did drink your water?"
"Of course." He nodded with a warm smile. "You went through all the effort of taking care of me, how could I let that be wasted?"
"Good." She looked back to Hayato. Her hand reached up to touch his cheek gently. "You need more sleep. Don't stay up too late talking to Kurama. I know he can be an entrancing conversationalist but try to remember to rest."
"You give me too much credit." Kurama laughed.
"She sure does." Hayato muttered. Kurama glared at him. Shinpi didn't seem to hear, or if she had she didn't react. "You should go back to sleep. You didn't sleep nearly enough last night. I suppose our special conversationalist is to blame for that."
"I'm not quite ready to sleep yet, but I'll let you two get on with it. I think you two might become good friends." Her hands reached out and took one of each of theirs, offering a squeeze before she released them. "Goodnight boys."
"Goodnight." They replied in unison, each with a smile. The minute she was out of ear shot they turned back to each other.
"Let's do this in the reading room." Kurama suggested, his smile a warning. "Out of the way. We wouldn't want to wake our darling Hichi if we were to get into a disagreement. No need to worry her over such small matters."
Hayato responded by marching off toward their destination. Kurama followed at a more leisurely pace now that he had the raven where he wanted him. This was meant to be a friendly chat. He had just wanted to pry into Hayato's relationship with Shinpi. Now he had a vendetta and that was oh so unfortunate for the little bird. No wonder it had taken Hiei so long to tolerate the man. He'd chalked it up to Hiei being standoffish as usual but now he suspected Hayato's attitude had a lot to do with it.
"You know, it was in this room a few short years ago that I had my first sincere conversation with Hichi." Kurama spoke as he closed the door behind himself, trapping Hayato in the room with him. "She sat in that window reading a book not saying a word to me. I learned a lot about her that day. I think if we had not had that moment I might not have become her friend so quickly or so closely. Maybe we'll experience a similar joining of fates."
"What do you want?" Hayato demanded without preamble.
Kurama simply looked him over then moved to one of the chairs while Hayato remained standing. "I want you to tell me about yourself. That's all."
"Why?"
"We both obviously care very deeply for-"
"No." Hayato cut him off with a wave of his hand. "You don't get to try and use my love for Amon-Shinpi against me. You and I liking each other has nothing to do with me caring for her."
He went for the door and before he could reach it Kurama's voice snaked out, cool and firm.
"I want to know what she sees in you."
Hayato stilled and glanced to the chair. He regarded the man coiled there. By any other's account Kurama might have just been sitting, knee over knee, but Hayato had lived with Shinpi for too long to not recognize a predator's stance when it appeared. This wasn't a conversation it was a hostage situation and the fox wasn't going to let him go until he got what he wanted. He stepped back from the door, fueled by curiosity.
"You're right, we don't have to like each other." Kurama explained simply. "But you should admit to yourself that knowing each other makes caring for her easier, does it not? She hasn't told me much about you. I don't know how much you've heard about me. Things would be easier for us if we came to an understanding."
Hayato walked closer to Kurama until he was standing before him, peering down into those dangerously lit forest green eyes. Then he leaned over the redhead a bit, imposing in his stature. Kurama stared back, unflinching and unmoved.
"This isn't about taking care of her, this is about you." Hayato cut through the facade with the precision of a surgeon slicing through tissue. Kurama felt his eyes widen against his will. He hadn't expected to be called out so quickly. "This is about something you need to know about Hichi."
Those dark eyes shone and for a moment, Hayato seemed to be impressively large as he leered over Kurama. His presence grew, much like Shinpi's seemed to in moments of heightened emotion. Kurama was not so easily intimidated, his chin remaining level, his gaze steady. This was a battle of wills. So be it. If Hayato wanted to pretend he could read Kurama then fine. Kurama would play along. He would let the raven think he had sniffed out the deeper truth and he would use that like he used his roses.
He might not be at the top of his physical prime, but Kurama would never be bested when it came to a game of any kind.
"Last night I asked her why she was so comfortable bathing with you because I find it incredibly odd. It's outside of my understanding." Kurama explained as Hayato continued to loom over him. "I can't quite grasp it, nor can I grasp why Hiei tolerates it. Her response was that you two were simply family. The leaves fall and you are at her side, that's what she said."
Kurama reached up and very carefully plucked a stray hair off of the sleeve of the shirt under Hayato's tunic. He studied the dark hair before allowing it fall to the floor.
"She was mostly asleep so I can't attest for how true the words might be," he went on, "but she finished all this by saying you were the only part of her she loved. That sparked my genuine curiosity. So here we are, having a conversation about what Hichi sees in you and why she doesn't see it in herself."
Hayato sneered and pulled away from Kurama, he turned around a few feet away so he could once again gesture to the fox. "I hate that you use that name for her. I do not understand why she offered it so freely to a bunch of beings she barely knew."
"Because it endeared her to us faster. When we all met, Hichi was playing a game of survival. You have to understand she came to us ready to die. It was only through very careful work on our parts, growth on hers, that she learned to trust us. From the very beginning we were all caught up in a game of her creation, meant to further herself until she could find her sword and eventually find her way back to Hiro to end things. She never intended to stay with us. The name was probably meaningless for the fact she hadn't meant for it to matter long." Kurama explained calmly. "But it started to matter, because her life regained meaning. She took Kuwabara on as a pupil. She helped Yusuke and Keiko work out their proposal. She started to bond with Hiei. And she found kinship in me, the only other person in this world who could even remotely relate to her situation."
Hayato squinted, attempting to read through Kurama's words for any sign of malevolence or deception. Any hint the other man was manipulating him. Kurama watched him struggle for a few seconds which stretched into a minute, the raven licking his lips as he visibly replayed what he'd just heard.
"She doesn't tell me about it."
The words fell between the two men, landing with the weight of a building dropping. Kurama's brows pulled down, he leaned forward. Hayato didn't seem to like his keen interest as he narrowed his eyes once again, holding his gaze. Then he looked away, tracing cobwebs in the upper right corner of the room with his eyes. Kurama opened his mouth but didn't get the chance to speak.
"She doesn't tell me what it was like." Hayato continued evenly, but his expression betrayed him. Kurama could see the suppressed spark of intrigue in his eyes. "I know the facts. I know that she faced Hiro alone, impaired. I know she died. I know she was reborn here, in this world, in that body. I know she lost her new mother to violence and her new father to her own temper. I know she plotted her revenge and she made a connection Sachiko. I know she was careful to not be discovered. And I know she met all of you, which led her back to me. I know the facts, Kurama. I have the bones of her story."
"But not the meat." Kurama guessed, the corner of his mouth threatening to tick upwards in malicious victory. He had Hayato where he wanted him. He alone could offer the tengu the flesh and blood of Shinpi's story. Hiei would never sit down to explain it to him, and even if he did there was so much Hiei hadn't been there for, so much Shinpi hadn't told him too. No. Kurama held the answer key to this particular riddle, the morsels he craved.
Faster than to any of the others, more deeply, Shinpi had opened up to him. When she walled herself in against the others who demanded too much from her too fast she still let him saunter through her gates. In the moments where she struggled to allow connections to be built, pulling away from the others to sit alone in her chair even when her living room was full of people, she told him to stay. When Yusuke was with Keiko, when Kuwabara was studying, when Hiei was in Demon World serving Mukuro, he was the one who came to see her. He would have never gotten that far if it hadn't been for accidentally uncovering her secret so early on. He'd earned her trust not because he'd given her the portrait of her son or because he listened to her talk, he knew she'd leaned into him because he had done what she never expected him to do.
He'd kept quiet about it.
The one thing she didn't want anyone else to know, the thing that could be used to destroy her, he held it in his chest and let it rest there. Him choosing to not exploit her weakness had surprised her. Which is what he'd needed to happen.
Shinpi had been pushing them all through a ruse, using them as a means to an end but she wasn't the only strategist in the fold. He had his own game to play, to win. Hiei going to bat for her had sparked his interest. He wanted to know what the fire demon had seen. Her history had made him wonder what she capable of. Shinpi not offering anything of herself had tugged at his bandit's spirit in earnest. If he saw a lock he wanted to pick it. If there was a code he wanted to break it. If there was something of value his fingers itched with the urge to pocket it. From the beginning it had been obvious that she held him in high suspicion. She knew his tricks. She toyed with him.
On the steps of Genkai's temple, before the flowers and the sword, she had deceived him into thinking he'd given away Hiei's powers. She'd put him on the spot with such ease, giving nothing away even when he asked pointed questions. She quipped with him, blushing like a school girl caught by her crush when her wry words had left her mouth. "You'd be lucky to hold me at all." In the moment it had struck him as interesting but not alarming that she had not reacted the way he'd hoped to his psuedo-flirtations.
Her planting those damn flowers by her gate, undermining his ability to track her, had been a direct challenge. He knew it now. She had been testing his reaction to see what he would do. If he would comment on it. How he'd react. In the moment he'd been thrown, but not enough to dig deeper. If he'd been a little more suspicious he may have caught her then. She'd probably have talked her way out it like she'd talked her way under the radar before.
From the very start she had cupped them all in her palm and had rolled them like weighted dice. Their interactions had all been a farce. In the Spirit World cell she'd been cast into, chained and abused by Hiei's temper, she'd plainly disregarded his attempt to help her. She admitted she'd been watching him for some time when she told him she knew of his tricks. Another blow to his ego, as he had never once bothered to notice her. In that cell though she gave away something, and he was the one to understand what it meant. Her calling in Kuwabara to berate him was an opening in her defenses. A crack in her armor.
It was a slivered view into her vault before it slammed closed once again.
That view had hooked him.
She didn't want them to see her. She wanted to keep them all at arm's length doing the minimum to earn their trust, just enough, to get her work done. She only gave enough to get what she wanted in return. She didn't want them to matter to her. She didn't want friends. She didn't want to want to live. She didn't want any of it. And Kurama knew that. He'd known that from the minute she refused his help in the cell. There was absolutely nothing in her that had any urge to be on their side. So she kept herself hidden. The Shinpi she showed them was cold, calculating, indifferent, calloused.
She should have never asked Kuwabara to speak to her. That display of empathy had cost her everything. That glimpse of what truly lie beneath her veneer had been blood in the water, he the shark. The fact she'd shuttered it so quickly had only enticed him further. With every insidious beat of his thief's heart he wanted to pry her open and take whatever he saw fit. Not because he particularly liked her, because at the time he didn't, but because she was working so hard to hide it all. He wouldn't have cared, or noticed, if she hadn't made that one soft mistake. It was then he knew that he had to earn her trust.
He just had to find a way to open her up. He had to find a way to undo the damage of Hiei's instigation so he could steal through her defenses. They had common ground, he'd been intending to leverage that play. But then he'd discovered Kin Jiro and it has shocked him. It had shocked them both, really. He hadn't expected such an outpouring of emotion and he certainly hadn't expected to feel so emotionally strangled by her expression. This wasn't just a glimpse, this was the vault door swinging wide open, the treasures inside on full display if only for a few minutes. He'd been so caught off guard he hadn't been able to act. All he could do was use it to fulfill Yukina's request.
But that too had worked in his favor. Holding Shinpi's secret close as though it were his own, which it became very quickly, and only asking in return that she do something for someone she already held dear had given him the first number to her combination. Her suspicion of him lessened. What had been a game escalated into something too real for him. He grew too attached. It was his own mistake for actually realizing he enjoyed Shinpi's company. Once again, though in an entirely different way, she held him in her palm. They were friends, deeply and honestly. When Shinpi needed someone she reached out to him with greedy hands, yanking at his own defenses until they came apart and let her inside. He hadn't intended to grow fond of her.
He'd known she wanted to die. Stopping her wasn't in his plan at first. All he wanted was to prove he could plant himself in her trust and use that to learn what he could from her. It wasn't his job to keep her alive. He didn't understand why Hiei was so staunchly repelled by the idea of her death. They didn't know her. There was no bond there.
And then she'd cried about her son. She teased Hiei while spritely flitting out of his reach. She smiled and meant it.
Truly, opening her vault had been a mistake because it caught his attention. Actually looking at why lie waiting behind the door had been his own fatal error.
It wasn't long after that he found the idea of her marching off to die left a foul coating on his tongue. He knew he couldn't allow it. Hiei wanted to deny her, but Kurama guessed that a woman like Shinpi wouldn't heed commands. The only way they were going to keep her safe from herself was if they gave her something she couldn't leave behind without guilt. A guilt stronger than what had burrowed in her bones.
They had to do more than befriend her.
They had to drag her kicking and screaming into a new sense of family. It was the only way. In order to accomplish such a feat he knew he had to dig deeper, learn more. He had to became her favored confidant. A pillar in her life. He invited her to his home to meet his human family, an act of trust that had frightened her so badly at first she refused to go. Three times. And afterward she didn't talk to him for a week, she was so angry with him that he'd dare expose the ones he loved to her. She was a threat. How could he be so careless?
Her door opened another inch when he told her very simply, "It's not careless. You won't hurt them or use them against me. We're the same in that way. We both value our families too much to ever use someone else's as a weapon."
She'd been appalled.
But she'd started calling him when she was in trouble. She showed up at his house completely out of the blue looking for nothing more than quiet companionship. The entire time she was in his room all she did was sit on his bed and read a book, taking notes. That was it. But that was enough. It opened the door for more interactions, for more trust, for more secrets.
All of this meant that Kurama alone was in the position to trade with Hayato.
"I could tell you about her time with us, at least what I know of it." Kurama offered without a smile. "More than the facts."
Hayato stared at him, guarded. "And in return you want me to divulge her secrets."
"Not hers. Yours." Kurama amended for him. "I sincerely just want to learn more about you. She holds you in such high regard. After everything that happened she welcomed you back with open arms. I'd like to know why. Whatever the reason is, it's enough that Hiei doesn't feel the need to question it."
Hayato looked to the door then back to Kurama, weighing his options.
The fox waited for his prey to accept his fate. The best part of this was that he didn't have to give anything away really. He just had to tell Hayato the story of Shinpi. It wouldn't require parting with any secrets or exposing anything best left covered.
"Fine." Brown eyes narrowed as broad shoulders pulled back, arms crossing over a wide chest.
Kurama smiled, eyes glittering with delight. "Perfect. Let's begin."
"Alright." Hayato nodded before flashing a dizzyingly familiar grin. Kurama reeled back from it physically, shifting in his chair until his shoulders bet the cushions. If he didn't know better he'd have been fooled into thinking the raven and Shinpi were blood relatives. "But I have some conditions."
"What conditions?" Kurama frowned, the sense of victory draining some.
"I want to know about you too. You told Hichi we would be swapping stories. You don't want me to tell her you're a liar, do you?" Hayato continued to leer with that damned expression. His chin tucked down slightly. Again Kurama knew the pose because it was one of aggressive defiance that Shinpi often took. "After all, we both care so deeply for her. That's what this is about, right? Us opening up to each other. Making sure we can trust one another to keep her safe."
This was not at all what Kurama wanted to do. He didn't want to open up his life to this bird. This wasn't meant to be an even exchange. He should have known it wouldn't be that easy.
Hayato had made the point several times that he'd grown up at Shinpi's side. Now Kurama questioned which of them influenced the other's behavior. Was that Shinpi shining through in Hayato or was it Hayato who came through in her at times?
"There are certain things I won't tell you." Kurama let him know, offering some resistance. "I have my boundaries. As long as you don't cross one of them I'll answer your questions."
"Perfect. Let's begin." Hayato moved, pulling another armchair from it's spot so he could face Kurama. For a moment he assessed the man before him, long red hair hanging loose, knee over knee, hands placed in a mockery of ambivalence, then he sank down into his chosen seat and mimicked Kurama's body language.
He had learned several useful things from Shinpi during their lives together.
How to crawl under the skin of a formidably adversary didn't even make the cut to be in the top ten.
"How did you meet Hichi?" Hayato asked with a smile.
"We went to school together as children." Kurama responded airily. "I barely noticed her though. We only had one memorable encounter, in my opinion. We went to the same college years later. I didn't even remember it was her at first. We had one class together during our last year, and she approached me outside one day to warn me about Hiei. I didn't know at the time it was a ploy for her to earn my good graces, but I'm not sorry I fell for it."
Hayato nodded. This aligned with the facts that had been laid out for him.
"You have a human family, don't you?" The raven already knew the answer. He also knew he was digging a little close to one of Kurama's hard boundaries. Shinpi had warned him long before not to invoke the fox's mother with any hint of maliciousness. With this in mind he delivered the question, as dangerous as it might be, with the slightest air of kindness.
Green eyes darkened chin tucking downward toward his chest as Kurama sat on his response. There was no attempt to hide his immediate distrust. Seeming larger than he was, his presence swelling in the wake of his defensiveness. Hayato remained the same, regarding the fox with only that satisfied grin lighting his face. He was not afraid. Kurama hated that he wasn't earning a reaction but he suspected that the raven's inflated sense of victory had to do with the truth that locked them in this room together.
Neither of them would act against the other unless positively provoked because there was another presence that filled the spaces between them, protecting and simultaneously limiting them. Even when she wasn't there Shinpi held a command over each of the men. It was true, what Kurama had said earlier. They both cared very deeply for the woman, but the flip side of that was that she just as deeply for them. That was enough to keep this civil. The threat of violating that soft connection stayed them both for now.
"Yes." Kurama answered with a sneer. "I do."
"She likes your mother."
Kurama's gaze lightened, his lips parting and the immediate change gave Hayato room to tilt his head without losing the edge he currently held over the other man. Eyes moving as though he were scanning a bank of data, Kurama thought for a second and then he relaxed and nodded. "I'm surprised she told you that."
"Do they know what you are?" Hayato wondered.
"No. And I hope it stays that way. Were someone to expose me I'm afraid I'd have to act as though my life were threatened." Kurama raised an eyebrow delicately.
"Did Hichi's family know about her?"
Kurama frowned. "No, I don't believe they did. As far as I'm aware no one other than Genkai knew before we found out."
Hayato nodded, tucking that away. So far Kurama had been honest with him. This was all information he'd already learned. He just wanted to set a baseline for how trustworthy the fox's answers would be. Now he dove into uncharted territory. "How did you meet Hiei?"
Leaning back in his chair, Kurama looked up to the ceiling to collect his memories so he could water them down to offer just enough information to keep the raven happy. "He attacked me when I was fourteen because he thought I was someone else. We worked together a few times after that until I chose to walk away when I finally found what I wanted."
"You just left him behind?"
"At the time he wasn't himself. Our goals were opposite ends of the spectrum in many ways. Namely, mine was so close I could taste it. There was no reason to continue with any sort of relationship with anyone for me."
Hayato searched his face, and then his expression turned plain. "You were planning to die."
"I didn't say that." Kurama stiffened. "How did you draw that conclusion?"
"You said there was no reason to continue any relationship. That would have included with your mother." Hayato gestured to him. "She seems quite important to you. I'm guessing this act of suicide was for her. Were you trying to protect her from yourself? Or was it something else? A demand of your life in exchange for hers? A powerful enemy you were going to appease any way you could?"
"You think just like her and quite frankly I do not care for it." The words were a quiet hiss, once again forest green eyes turned dark, the body wielding them growing taut.
"Not just like her." Hayato shook his head. "If I did, I'd be able to accept why she finds you so charming."
"Maybe it's because she sees a lot of herself in me." Kurama's terse response chilled the room. "I suppose that's why she folded into you so well too."
"Perhaps." Hayato allowed. "So, why are you alive if you had intended to die? A change of heart? Did you weigh the price of your life against that of your mothers and decide the exchange was uneven?"
"If you ever suggest I'd allow my mother to come to harm for my own benefit again I will expose you to levels of pain you lack the capacity to fathom, Hayato. Tread lightly." Kurama didn't hide his instant cold, calm fury. It shone in his eyes, wiped all expression from his face while clinging to the air around him. It lined the way his long fingers flexed outward toward the raven, the conversational gesture an obvious threat.
"So what was it then?"
"Yusuke." Kurama dropped the name, trying to keep his anger from tainting the syllables. "He was hunting me down and he uncovered my intentions. His intervention saved my life and my mother's."
"That's how you became friends?" Hayato seemed surprised. Yusuke had always seemed too loud and brash to him to be selfless. It had never occurred to him.
"How could I not repay such an important debt? If it weren't for Yusuke I wouldn't be here and I certainly wouldn't be the man I've become." Kurama explained. "His blind compassion and quick thinking changed my life, my entire world. It's an effect he has on many people."
Hayato, for the first time since the beginning of their conversation, looked away from Kurama's face to reconcile this information with his previous experiences. He cataloged it away. It was a sentiment he knew intimately. A rowdy, outspoken, fool-hardy optimist ruining someone's life by drawing them into their orbit? Sounded familiar.
"He hooked Hiei shortly after. He'd already earned Kuwabara's respect. We've all been friends ever since." Kurama shrugged, his words once again drawing Hayato's attention to him. "We've been through a lot together."
"Bonds like that run deep and hold strong." Hayato acknowledged without malice. "There are some beings who careen into our lives bringing chaos, but also the stability to get through it. Not everyone is fortunate enough to encounter those creatures, but we should both be thankful we were granted the pleasure."
Kurama agreed openly and full-heartedly. "I've been blessed to have two of them."
"Why did you accept Hichi?" He asked quietly, dangerously. "She was your enemy wasn't she? What would possess any of you to embrace her? I know how she can be."
"Hiei's the one ultimately responsible for saving her life, not me." Kurama explained. "He was the one who vouched for her. If it weren't for him she'd likely have been killed by Spirit World."
"I know that." Hayato leaned forward and it caused the light to reflect off his eyes in flash. "I'm asking you, specifically, why you accepted her."
Kurama held his tongue for a few seconds. How to best phrase this without giving too much away? What would be enough to get Hayato to accept his answer and also allow them to move onto their next topic? Kurama wanted to hear Hayato's story. He wanted to dig and scrounge in the raven's history until he could pluck out the pieces of Shinpi that wove through Hayato, and the strings of Hayato that tangled through her. He wanted to be able to find their seam, where they joined and thus where they separated. What he would do with that information he didn't know yet, but he wanted it.
"Because she surprised me." Kurama decided to give as much of the truth as he could without compromising himself too much. "She fooled me from the beginning, something few have been able to do. She played her game so well, so thoroughly and got everything she wanted from it. And then, when twists were thrown into her plan, she maneuvered around them with expert grace. I suppose it all boils down to the fact that I know when someone would make a better ally than enemy."
Hayato listened raptly, perched in his seat with dark eyes intensely probing against Kurama's explanation. He offered little in the way of reaction. Kurama hoped this was enough because he was growing impatient.
"Was she really intending to die?"
The question shocked Kurama. Well, not the question itself but the careful, searching voice that offered it. Hayato continued to stare at him, watching everything. Those dark eyes devoured all of his reactions looking for deeper meaning or deception it seemed. But his throat moved as he swallowed, his hands gripped each other with his fingers woven together, knuckles straining against skin, nails biting into the backs of his hands. Kurama felt a pang of remorse and pity well up for what he was about to say.
"Yes." He tried to deliver the news gently.
It didn't help. Hayato still closed his eyes as though he'd been screamed at, wincing. This was an obvious truth he didn't want to hear.
"She was drowning, Hayato. Her pain had grown too immense for her. After she died at Hiro's hands, she was born into another life decorated by loss and guilt. An abusive household, where she did her best to protect her mother but overall lacked the ability to save her. She believes Mirna died because of her, of her interference. She was the one who planted the idea of strength in the woman and when that flowered it was quickly cut down at the roots by her father. She was the sword that cut the man down and took their unhappy home down with him. It was on her doorstep that her beloved Sachiko died, attacked because someone was searching for Shinpi. There was nothing worth living for. All she wanted was to be done with her life and be reunited with her family." Kurama worked his voice into a tone of solace. He hadn't wanted to cut through the other man with this news. "A lesser being wouldn't have lived half as long as she did carrying that burden with her, you should know that. She wanted to die but she was going to do it on her terms or not at all."
"I should have found her sooner." Hayato kept himself quiet, distraught. "I should have looked harder. I should have thought of Kuya's children and the possibility. She shouldn't have had to face him on her own twice and she shouldn't have been buried alone."
The guilt in the words dripped into the air, bled into the room like a flood crashing against the shore.
"She could have died and I would have never known she had taken another breath." He bent forward hiding his face, his plaited hair falling over his shoulders, his pain radiating out from him as he curled inward, his hands coming up to his head to dig the nails into his scalp. Kurama stared at him struck and appalled. "All because of me. Because I wasn't strong enough to stop him the first time."
He was suddenly in Spirit World again, standing on the wrong side of a double-sided mirror looking into the cell of a broken woman who had compressed herself down to her smallest possible size. Nails dug into her scalp until blood crusted underneath, sobs cracking like thunder as Shinpi shook under the weight of her guilt and grief. A wailing creature unable to understand that they were not at fault for a tragedy. The sight had spurred him into action, forced him into Koenma's office to start lobbying for her protection and release. Even Hiei's sense of humanity had been jarred loose by the display.
Hiei had brought her to them in the first place, lying to cover her tracks so he could get a taste of the demon under her skin but it was Kurama and Yusuke who made sure she made it out of that cell. If it weren't Yusuke and himself she would have died and she wouldn't have cared less about it. She wanted someone to kill her, he could taste it when he was in the room with her.
He didn't tell Hayato this. He wasn't mindlessly cruel.
"No." Kurama's voice cut through the grief clogging the air.
"What?" Hayato lifted his face and Kurama was surprised to see wet tracks on his cheeks from where he'd been crying.
"No, it wasn't your fault. Shinpi made her choices and we both know you can't stop her once her mind is set." Kurama kept himself firm but not harsh. "She would be furious to see you right now, blaming yourself. You cannot be blamed for what you did not know, Hayato."
The raven regarded him and then started to wipe at his face with his palms. He sat back up but didn't look quite the same as before.
"And if you had died she would have had one less thing to live for. You coming back into her life is a blessing in her eyes. Don't taint that or you'll be the one at risk of ruining her happiness."
Hayato swallowed but he didn't argue. He also didn't agree. Kurama suspected this was a ongoing battle inside the raven that would take more than his words to end.
"Now, I've told you plenty I think." Kurama gestured loosely. "I think it's time for you to reciprocate, Hayato. Allow me the privilege of hearing your story."
"If you insist, but I doubt you'll get anything you want from it." Hayato acquiesced.
Kurama fought back a smile. He wasn't so sure the raven was right. That swell of victory rose in him again, the taste on the back of his tongue sweet. He leaned to the side with interest sparkling in his gaze as he cupped his chin in one of his palms fingers fanned over his mouth to cover the barest upwards twist of his lips. Knees crossed he waited eagerly, hungrily for the information coming his way.
Hayato's dark brown eyes weren't nearly as excited, his posture regaining some of it's strength as he pulled back in his chair, knees coming apart as he allowed his feet to rest flatly on the floor. He gestured loosely in the air, mouth neutral.
"I suppose we can start with the fact I was born on a mountain."