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The Dream: Chapter 25
Lilly flew as far as her wind could take her, far outside of Genkai's property and deep into the mountains. She had found a small clearing where she stood and looked up at the starry sky, her mind was racing with everything that had happened over the past 7 months; mostly the idea of some old spirit being able to take control over her body. I need to talk to Kurama about that, he has some personal experience with this stuff. Ugh why did he follow me? Her eyes shifted to stare off into the trees, eyeing someone she could not see but could feel. "Why did you follow me? I don't need your or anyone's protection. Leave me alone." There was no answer as she glared into the dense forest before her, after a few minutes she simply looked back up to the sky and retreated back into her thoughts.
What is she thinking about now? If only I could… no. Hiei finally coming to grips with the strange declaration that he would not invade her mind until she wanted him too, flitted from his place high on a tree branch and landed in front of the woman who so frequently invaded his mind. "I don't want to talk about it, okay? I have made up my mind and that is that. If the others are mad so be it. Shit for all I care, I'll just stay out here and Youko can come to me for training." He 'hmped' at her for acting so childish in that moment, but connected with her determination to have her life be decided by her and only her. "Why are you here?" Her eyes never left the sky, but she could feel him drilling two holes into her forehead. "Well…" she allowed her eyes to connect with his darkened stare, "You want to see inside my mind don't you?" "Yes." "Okay, go ahead. What do I care what you see. Nothing I couldn't already tell you." "It's not that simple." "And why not?" He paused, trying to think of the easiest way to explain his Jagan eye to someone who knew little to nothing about it, like explaining color to a blind man he thought.
"Once I enter your mind, I can do it whenever I please. Your thoughts would no longer be only yours, I would be able to listen in." "Yeah I get that." "Do you?" "Yes. I understand that you can see memories I no longer can see, hear my thoughts, talk to me within my mind, probably can connect whoever else you want to as well. Private conversations and the invasion of all my private thoughts. Yeah, I get that and I don't care anymore." His eyes widened at her uncaring nature, he had never thought she would allow him to look inside her mind, let alone not care of the connect they would forever have.
Annoyed at his lack of movement, Lilly reached up at lightning speed and ripped off his white bandana; she challenged him with her look, egging him on, almost begging him to read her mind. I need someone to understand, anyone. I can't find the words, but my mind sure as hell knows how to play it out with pictures. Go on Hiei, please help me understand what my mind is trying to tell me.
Without a moments' thought, his Jagan eye opened and within a matter of seconds he was inside her mind, roaming the deepest parts of her subconscious. His natural eyes went wide with what he saw, ranging from lust to fear to heartache, he saw everything; understanding her on a level he never had experienced before. She willingly handed over her mind to him, without fear or reservation. The scene that caught his attention the most was an intimate one shared between her and his long time complicated lover.
He pulled from her mind and slowly closed his Jagan eye, "You kissed Kurama?" She looked back up towards the sky, of course he would ask that before anything else. Will no one understand?
"I understand you, little flower. But I must know why you kissed him?" "I don't know, just felt like it I guess. Well fuck Hiei you saw it. Why do you care?" Silence fell over them as he tried to organize everything he saw and tried to find an answer to her question, but found that he did not know why he had asked. "Do you want a kiss too? Is that what this is about?" "Hn." "Okay." When she looked back at him, he could tell she was tired. Her eyes gave her away, they were hazed over, half lit, and slowly losing focus of the outside world; but she still took the small step to close the gap between them and raised on her toes to place a small kiss upon his lips. The moment had come and gone before Hiei could stop it, but after the young woman stepped away he felt an overwhelming surge invade his whole body.
He stepped forward, grabbed her by her waist and the back of her neck and kissed her again with passion and need. Lilly in her sleepy state deepened the kiss by allowing his tongue access to her mouth as she leaned in rubbing her hips against his. He was lost in the moment, lust took control and the fire demon slammed her against the nearest tree; lifting her legs around his waist, he was rewarded with a small moan against his lips.
"Hiei, I… we… ohh don't stop." Hearing her moan full begging inside his mind, his hands squeezed at her ass as he pulled away from her lips and started to lick and kiss at her neck, causing more moans and her hips to sway further; but before he lost control completely, he backed away and dropping her to the ground.
"The fuck Hiei, if you wanted to stop all you had to do was say so. Damn." He looked down at the young woman who sat on the dirty ground. "We should get back." "Fine, but help me up." She extended her hand towards him, hoping he would at least help her up after dropping her like he did. Instead he knelt down beside her and lifted her bride style in his arms, a wicked smile danced across his face and Lilly knew what he was going to do. She wrapped her arms around his neck so tight, that if he had to breathe to stay alive he surely would have passed out by now, her face buried into his neck as she started to bite down gently at the tender skin.
She had never flitted before – demon speed running on Yusuke's back, flying through the air, using ice as a slide, even drunken wobbling, all have been done before. His smirk only grew as she continued to nib at him before he took off back to the temple, seconds later Lilly felt her head spin and looked up from Hiei's neck to find they were in Kurama's room again. She looked up at him, "You used the window didn't you?" He simply looked at her in confusion to her strange question. She let out a small giggle, "Classic Hiei, never knew how to act like a normal person." The dig for some reason, unknown to him, angered the fire demon and his hands loosened around her body, threatening to drop her; but before he could, she leaned up and kissed his cheek then daintily leaped from his arms. "Dropping me twice in one night? I don't think so little man." His anger boiled over and he pushed her with the force needed to cause her to go flying through the room and landed on the plush bed.
Kurama sitting at his desk, working on his research he needed to complete for the hospital while on his leave of absence didn't seem to pay the couple any attention.
"What is your fucking problem Hiei?" She jumped from the bed and stormed right up into his face, looking up at him with so much confidence that she might as well have been looking down at him. "Well? You always act like this, you know that right. Heaven forbid someone actually get close to you, and if they do. You instantly go right back to being a brat to push them away. Ugh you make me so fucking mad." Something in her voice was betraying her false sense of anger and he was going to find out what it was; in his own fit of anger he yelled back at her. "Shut up little flower, you have no room to talk. Kissing the Fox then kissing me. What kind of game are you playing at?"
At this piece of information displayed in front of him, Kurama's eyes glanced over at the angered couple for a moment. "They are going to spill all their secrets and all we have to do is wait and watch." "Shut up Youko, their problems are no concern to us." "Little one, this is free information. Concern or not, you never turn this down." Sighing inwardly, Kurama went back to his paperwork, but kept one ear on the couple.
"Why do you care anyways? Huh? You never did tell me that? Why care if I kissed him, or if I wanted to kiss you, or hell why did you want to read my mind anyways? Shouldn't you know all the answers you want by now?" "Interesting, the little fire demon read her mind." "Hn." "Yeah go ahead, just stick to not talking about it. You just want your answers but never want to fess up to anything. You're so… ugh… so." "Charming." He couldn't help but finish her sentence for her, he could tell she was on the verge of divulging whatever it was that truly upset her; she knew he was only being playful when he pushed her to the bed but something about that act triggered her rage.
"The fuck you are. If anyone is charming it's him," pointing to the silence fox demon sitting at his desk as if no one else was in his room, especially not two screaming, powering up individuals. "You think he is attractive?" "God are you are as dumb as Yusuke, yes of course I do. But in case you want to try and act like a little baby, you are attractive too. Why do you think I wanted to kiss you both. Stupid LITTLE demon." He growled at her comment, something Kurama hadn't seen him do in years, this peaked his interest more than the meaningless words. "Then tell me little flower why are you really mad? It is not because I pushed you down is it? Or does the delicate flower bruise too easily to try and play with the big boys." He could feel her power rising as he spoke calmly to her, figuring yelling in her face would only cause her to insult him further. "What? Why do you care?" "Tell me." "No, it's none of your business why I am mad. Fuck. Just… ugh… just leave me alone." "You stormed up to me like a small child who didn't get her way, so now tell me. I want to hear you say it, not read it out of your head."
A silence fell over the room; it was eerie and made even Youko shift uncomfortably. Her power was still growing and if she did not calm down soon, she would blow the roof off the whole temple, but the look in her eye was even worse. Staring straight into his ruby red eyes, Hiei could see flashes of every emotion, none staying long enough for him to figure them all out but pain was defiantly the underlining feeling seen through all. "You had no right." Her voice had dropped when she finally spoke again, it was as soft as a whisper. "You think you can just push everyone around, because you are strong and scary. But you have no right treating me like that. I know I can't push back, but soon I will and you will learn to never put your hands on me again." Her threat shocked all in the room, they knew Hiei had been playing with her, with no intensions of hurting the young woman and that he truly would never hurt her. After all she was still human and one that he seemed to have an interest in, but her words were out of place, as though they were meant for another.
"Lilly." Kurama spoke as he lifted from his chair, "Hiei did not mean to hurt you. You know that, why would you threaten him like that. We all know your feelings here." He walked closer to the girl and could see in the corner of her eye a tear was forming, his eyes snapped to Hiei's whom were engulfed in that single tear.
"You had no right." Her voice was stronger now as she reached up and pushed at his chest, to which he didn't move. Her small hands balled as she started to pound at his chest, repeating the strange words over and over until the tear finally dropped and she was still again.
The sight tore something open in Hiei, he had never been one to feel sympathy for another, but in that moment he felt as though he couldn't breathe. He needed to apologize for whatever he had done to break the girl's mind. "Little flower I… what did I do?"
She took a step back from him as though realizing he was not who she thought he was, her face was full of fear and pain; another pain in his chest. "Hiei? I… umm." "Lilly who were you thinking about just then?" Kurama had made his way to finish their small triangle in the middle of his large room, he had felt the pain in Hiei's chest as if it were his own; that look of fear and pain was one Hiei had feared from those around him he cared for and though he rarely showed Lilly he cared for her – he did, very much so. "Little flower. I am…" "Oh my God, he is going… he is going… is that little bastard fire demon going to apologize?" "Youko would you shut up!"
"I am sorry. I do not know what came over me, I did not mean to push you like that." "Yes you did." "Hn." "It's just… Hiei you act so tough all the time, like you couldn't care less about anyone or anything, but that's not true. We all know it so why keep trying to be someone you aren't. You are kind and protective, almost to a fault. You don't trust easily, but when you do it's almost like it consumes you. Why do you act so distant with us?" His eyes darkened as Lilly continued to comment on his weaker attributes as Kurama made his way behind the shorter girl to look at Hiei and nod to all of her comments. Having had enough of this game with her, he cut her off with one final question that he knew would get her to stop, "Who was he?"
"What?" Her eyes went wide, the last few minutes replayed in her mind from the moment he threw her to the bed. Of course he would notice. But I don't want to talk about it.
"Fine then say it in here." Kurama's voice rang through her consciousness like fine silk, calming her nerves. "But how?" "Don't play dumb little flower, tell me who it was." "It was just some guy." But before she could finish playing the question off, images invaded her mind and the two men's as well. Images of a tall, dark and handsome man with piercing blue eyes throwing her more fragile body around, handling her like a rag doll instead of a young girl. The images boiled Hiei's blood once again, "I am nothing like that."
Her eyes were full of tears once again and her voice was small, "Sometimes you are. I know you don't mean to be, but you are. With that on top of pushing everyone away all the time, it feels like… like you would rather be the villain than the good person you are." "I am not a person, I am a demon." "Yes. But so is Yukina and she is as sweet as candy. You can be kinder too." "No. I am sorry for being rough with you, but I will not chance who I am."
The conversation was over, both mentally and out loud; Lilly stared at the floor while the two men glared at each other over the top of her head. Lilly took a few steps forward once again and wrapped her arms around his torso, her face against his chest.
"I kissed Kurama because something came over me, like it always does when I look into his eyes. A feeling of falling almost and I needed something to catch me. But I kissed you because I knew you wanted me too. I've wanted to kiss you for a long time Hiei, you just keep yourself from me. I like you both and I will not apologize for that." Her confession softened both their hearts, they had known longer than she had that this moment would come; and the fact that she had figured it out on her own was more satisfying to both.
Hiei wrapped his arms around the smaller woman pressed against his chest and rested his chin upon her head, allowing in that rare moment for his eyes to close. He felt safe with her, safe to be himself and a part of him hated it; only four others have ever made him feel this way, with one being his sister. He wanted to open his mind to her, give her what she so desperately wanted from him. A moment later he felt another pair of arms wrap around underneath his, he opened his eyes to question the new comer to find Kurama at Lilly's back, his arms rest on top of hers with his hands out reaching her own and places dangerously close to his ass. Kurama's head was laying on her shoulder, his eyes closed as well as his fingers started to knead at the top of Hiei's pant line; in return he moved one hand from Lilly's back and started to run it through the other man's hair, knowing the young fox – as well as the older one – liked the sensation.
The three of them stayed in their warm embrace until they heard the light sighs coming from the girl in the middle, the two men looked down at her to realize she had fallen asleep. Unknowing as to when it had happened, but she had used her wind to keep herself lifted as she curled her knees up towards her chest. The two pulled from her as Kurama hooked an arm under her knees and another around her back; feeling this Lilly slowly allowed her body weight to be lifted by his arms instead of her wind. He carried her to the bed and laid her down, but before he could pull away her eyes half opened and looked up at him, "Stay?"
Nodded to her request, he lowered himself back into the position taken before while standing. Her eyes traveled across the room and landed on the dark man, left standing alone. "Both of you?" His head snapped towards the bed as he slowly walked over and lay on the opposite side of her as his old lover. Instantly she curled up next to him, resuming her comfortable position before the two strong men. "Forever?" Her voice was almost inaudible as sleep started to overtake her again, but both men nodded their head to her request.
Sleep started to wave over the three as Hiei laid on his back, his left arm outstretched as a pillow for Kurama's head, Lilly's on his chest with his right around holding her left wrist as it draped over his stomach. Lilly had the back of her body pressed against Kurama's front tight, while her front was gently toughing Hiei's side. Kurama was laying on his right, his right arm hooked around Lilly's neck and his arm pinned between her body and Hiei's, while his left around over reached her and his fingers again kneaded at Hiei's side. The three fell into a deep sleep, comforted by the presence of the other two, in harmony; and for the first night, without any drugs or weird plants, Lilly's dreams were pleasant.