The Dream: Chapter 15
It had been another month since Lilly's uncontrollable energy took over and Koenma told her who she might be. Things were going on as normal, well as normal as they would in the demon infested temple; Kurama was bouncing from spirit world to the temple, trying to figure out the book, Touya had left for demon world for more information, Hiei was either avoiding Lilly at all costs or training with her until she would pass out. And as for Lilly, she was just enjoying the family vibe, before something bad happened; she could feel it deep down and knew it was only a matter of time before she would be forced to leave, and besides the memories of her parents these were probably the only other good memories she had.
It was late at night and everyone had gone to bed, after the most insane house wide sleep over – as promised Lilly got everyone including Genkai to attend a massive sleep over in the living room and just as the girls had predicted a month earlier, many crazy unthinkable things happened. Genkai allowing Botan to do her nails, Kurama with braided hair, after some forceful holding down Hiei was in a dress, Jin and Yusuke sharing a kiss while paying a round of truth or dare, Lilly running around the temple naked, Yukina spilling the beans on her feelings towards Kuwabara, Hiei setting one of the couches on fire, Kuwabara hiding for the rest of the evening, Rinku in make-up, Chu and Botan making out, everyone getting too intoxicated, all wrapping up with Koenma entering the room with a fist in his face.
But there she was walking down the long halls of the temple, bored and wide awake with nothing to do, so she took to exploring. Walking past locked door, chained doors, doors that felt like death was behind them, doors that lead to more hall ways, doors that led to empty rooms, and finally she was passing a door with light shining from behind it. She paused outside the shut door and her hear faint whispers, she wanted to knock but figured it was just a few of the other demons that refused to join the party earlier – after all some newer members couldn't yet handle being around humans for long periods of time without trying to eat them. As she turned to continue her long walk, she heard the door knob turn and a bright light blinded her only to be replaced by a pair of piercing green eyes.
"Hello Lilly, what are you still doing up?" his voice was like silk draped over the world's finest chocolate, if there was ever a voice you just wanted to invade your mind at all hours of the day it was his.
She smiled kindly at him and titled her head to the side, "Ohh nothing, just wondering around. Not tired and all. What are you doing up?" He let out a softy chuckle, "Demons don't sleep." By the look on her face, he knew he needed to explain a bit more, "Well we do sleep, but only when we want to or have to for health purposes. So yes, Jin and Touya only sleep with you because they want to. They feel safe letting their guard down here and around you." "Oh." She didn't really know what to say, though she was wide awake her brain was fuzzy and she just wanted something to keep her busy.
Sensing her mild discomfort Kurama offered a helping hand to her situation, "Would you like to join us?" Looking past him into his room she could see a black figure sitting at the window, narrowing her eyes she nodded in agreement. During the sleep over Hiei had been rather unusually cruel towards Lilly and it had been eating away at her, and what a perfect time to get answers out of that little fire ass.
Standing in the middle of his large room, she felt more than uncomfortable, she had never been in his room nor even knew he had one; at least not one that was so personalized to him. "Umm…so…what are you two talking about?" "You." Her baby blue eyes went wide as she stared into the calm half open green ones, "Why?" "We are trying to figure out what you are little flower," his voice as cruel as it had been all day. Growling at the smug demon, Lilly couldn't hold her rage in anymore; her eyes started to show hind of red in them and her energy started to rise. "What the hell is your problem Hiei? Why are you being such an ass today? Didn't get your jollies off enough by kicking my ass earlier, just had to go and be rude too?" She knew she was losing control, but watching Hiei slowly smirk at her and continue his silence drove her up the wall. They stared at each other, dark red meeting a mixture of blue and red toned eyes, after a few minutes Kurama stepped between the two ending the eye contact. Lilly's eyes shot up to his, but instead of finding green eyes she found herself staring into a pair of rather familiar silver ones and she felt like she couldn't move. She blinked and they were green again, "Lilly please, Hiei has been under some stress lately and I don't believe fighting at this hour will make either of you feel better."
Adverting her eyes to the ground, she shrugged, "Yeah, you're right Kurama. I am sorry I raised my voice like that." The red starting to fade from her eyes, she looked back up at the silence window stealing demon, "I am sorry Hiei, I just felt… well like you were mad at me for a reason I didn't know. It was hurting my feelings." "Hn." Clinching her fists, she had to look away from him before she exploded. Rounding in slow circles, Lilly took in every detail of Kurama's room as he returned to his desk chair; on the wall next to the door entering his room stood a huge book case, stacked full of book and more on the floor.
"Oh wow Kurama, I didn't know you have this many books here. Do you mind?" "No go right ahead. I'm sure there are a few in there you will enjoy." Looking through the book case, she realized just how many books he had on plants and she found herself becoming more confused about Kurama then she had ever thought she would. "Um, why do you have so many books on plants? Not that it's a bad thing, I just thought plant life was part of your powers? Why need to read about them?"
For the first time Hiei made a noise other than a grunt, a chuckle maybe, she didn't really know but all the same choice to ignore it. "Yes, you are correct my powers do involve plant life. But I read those books and have them for my experiments I do with the human world plants." She waited for more, hands clamped together in front of her body and quickly nodding in understanding. "Makai plants are vastly different in every way, so when I try to use fuse them with human plants I need to understand how exactly the human plant works for outcomes I want. Plus, I have found your plants act very different when powered by demon energy," letting out a genuine laugh, "not something I will try again without knowing my subject." She smiled kindly at his explanation and diverted her attention back to the books. Subjects, he is like a mad scientist. I wonder what other types of things he can do with his plants besides heal people.
"You do not want to know, little flower. It would haunt even the worst of your dreams."
Ignoring him still, her eyes fell upon a certain book and froze; reaching out carefully she pulled it from the shelf and inspected it. "Kurama?" "Mhm.." deep into his own book before him, he did not need to look at her to know which book she had in her hands or the questions she was going to ask. "How did you get this?" "A friend gave it to me." "A demon friend?" "No. The author is a dear family friend and as I have sent her letters of admiration on her last two books, she gave me that copy before it hit stores. To be truthful, I have not read any of the series. I left that up to Botan and Yukina, I take it you are a fan?"
Her voice rose with excitement, squealing like the fan girl she was, "Are you kidding me? I love her books; I can't believe I am holding this right now. Ohh Kurama I must read this, can I?" "Please! It would do me a great favor, only one request." "ANYTHING!" "You must tell me your honest opinion of it when you are finished, even the negative ones. To become a great author, criticism is always needed." Lilly jumped in the air and ran over to Kurama, book held tight against her body as she wrapped her free hand around his neck; capturing him in a hug from behind. "Okay, I promise." She bounced like a small child, eyes never leaving the cover. Once again Kurama found himself laughing, "Please, have a seat and start." As he extended his hand to the couch next to his desk, at which Lilly nearly ran to and opened the book.
"Fox, you are becoming soft. Allowing her to stay."
"Yes, I must admit it is rather unusual for me to allow anyone other than yourself into my room. But there is something different about her, do you disagree?"
"No. She is strange, I want to dig into her mind but I feel Yusuke would not agree with that move. And I am in no mood to deal with him or the lovesick twins." (Lovesick twins being Jin and Touya, of course our lovely Hiei would dislike their current behaviors of fawning over Lilly.)
"Wise choice indeed. Speaking of the twins, have you heard from Touya yet? I'm sure he would have found something by now."
"No. Should I go check on the ice master?"
"Maybe that would be for the best. Without his entail on the missing pages, I fear we will not be able to correctly state what is going to happen next."
"I will leave for Makai in the morning. So tell me Fox, what have you learned so far."
Hours had continued this way, Hiei and Kurama deep in conversation through their telepathic connection while Lilly was completely captivated by the mysterious and lustful life of Susan Cobb. (Yes a book serious that does not exist, but think of '50 shades of grey' meets 'Twilight' and the fan girl obsession that would follow.) That was until they two men heard a small whimper come from the couch, slowly turning their attention, they saw Lilly was asleep and apparently had started to dream. At a growing pace the whimpering continued, neither man knowing how to help the young girl they sat in slight fear of what her energy was going to do.
Just as it had started to rise, almost beyond the point of safety for the lesser demons in the house, there was a knock upon Kurama's door. He stood to answer it, but before he could get to the door, Lilly's energy exploded pushing him into the wall and Hiei out the window. Still, against such energy, his door opened and a half asleep Jin floated through the door way and over to the couch. He sat next to her, head on the base of the couch, while his fingers started to play in her wavy brown hair. "What is the hell was that?" Jumping back inside the room, his red eyes narrowed at the scene. "And what do you think you're doing?"
Ignoring the angered demon, Jin started to hum while playing with her hair; not knowing whether he was putting himself to sleep or her. Finally, her energy started to die down and her body released from the tight ball it was curled up in. Whispering in her ear, Jin stood back up and turned to the much stronger demons, "The dream, playing with her hair and singing works like wooplay. Tou likes to read to her too." Shrugging, he started his long walk back to his own room, but before exiting he turned to face her once more. "She is special, no? Keep her safe, she will not like the morning, not being in her bed." Then he left, feeling confident the two could handle her now and frankly too tired to fight about it.
"Keep her safe? What are we her watch dogs? Kurama take her back to her room and out of our hair."
"No Hiei, let her stay. She seems to be no harm to anyone now."
"Hn. Foolish Fox."