Title is pronounced Ahn-em Kawrah. It is Irish Gaelic! I'm excited to have a light hearted story going on to help me through the tougher bits of other fics. Thank you for reading!
Hood up, clad in black, Hiei shuffled through the crowds on soundless feet. His height helped him skirt under the radar of the general public in the city center, a needful advantage given that there seemed to be a bounty on his head. How pathetic, grown adults terrified to the point of pissing themselves at the sight of a child.
His face split into a venomous grin at the thought.
This place though, Sayol, was different from the pieces of Makai he'd seen so far. It was warm here, almost uncomfortably so, in his cloak. The air laid heavy on the thick fibers, though the smothering weight did not seem to impact the citizens around him. He earned looks, side-eyed glances despite his precision with navigating through the throng. It grated him, the glances of pity and concern cast his way. Perhaps his reputation had not spread quite so far, he guessed, otherwise these demons would look at him as all others did when they discovered who he was.
With fear.
In light of the ignorance of the crowd, he lowered his hood to allow a breeze to dry the dampness on the back of his neck.
"Hey kid, where are your folks?" A vendor stooped down to speak to him, nose to nose.
Hiei glared at him, one hand moving to the small of his back where a knife hid under his top. When he did not respond, the demon frowned, heaving a burdened sigh. After a few silent seconds he rose again, and Hiei tensed to attack.
Then a clawed hand reached out to him, a few uncut fruits in the large palm. "It's okay, kid. You're another refugee, right? There have been loads recently, I heard the kings were fighting. I know it's rough out there but you'll be safe here. You'll need to eat, right? Go ahead. Take the fruits. You can pay later."
"I don't do I.O.U.'s." Hiei stepped around the stranger, snorting at his supposed generosity. How could anyone fall for such an obvious bit?
Ridiculous.
As if he couldn't get his own food. Worse, as if he'd pay for it. What a stupid place. The world was eat or be eaten, and this whole sham of a territory was not fooling him for a single second.
Murmurs caught his attention, a hum of general shared conversation from stilled bodies. He noticed a section of open ground that seemed to move, as though something large were trudging through. He sneaked his way toward the front of the crowd, curious what could cause so many demons to pause their lives. He was greeted with the sight of three figures. A tall man with long dark hair tied in a high ponytail, the hair spilling down revealing sporadic thing plaits, beside him another man, nearly as tall with a bald head and a sword on his hip, these two were enganged in conversation. They wore similar colors of tunics, trousers underneath. Behind them trailed a shorter being, a little taller them himself.
The child bore a crown of crimson hair and cutting blue eyes that matched the tallest of them. They looked around as though searching the crowd for something. This one dressed similarly to the adults, a tunic over trousers. Unlike the demon they resembled, they did not smile, instead looking almost bored with the state of things.
There was a second, maybe it stretched to three, where their eyes met and then, to his horror they smiled at him.
Amon-Shinpi walked behind her father, her cobalt eyes scanning the lines of faces on either side of them as they made their way from the market to their castle. Her red hair tied back by a leather string at the base of her skull so the short ponytail could hang between her shoulders which remained down and her back straight. She carried herself more rigidly than either her father or their guard, Anlaun, perhaps to make up for her young age of ten years. The two men were lost in conversation ahead of her, some discourse about the other kings, and they had left her decidedly out of the loop. That was fine. She could still listen, as she often did when they weren't paying attention.
She could also watch.
A new face jumped out at her, a break from the usual citizens she saw day to day on these outtings, a boy maybe a few years younger than herself who glared at them as they passed. Sun-beaten skin, dark hair jutting up in the most ridiculous way, and shrouded in a dark cloak. His cheekbones were more pronounced than she thought they should be for his age, a sign of malnutrition. Her eyes made a point to meet his, assessing the cold crimson depths for his purpose, and the act caused her to fall a half-step behind.
He stared back at her without flinching or shrinking away, causing her to squeeze her eyes just slightly as she flicked them over him again. How interesting. How entertaining. The interaction hardly lasted more than a few seconds. She smiled and continued on her way, the sudden diversion from her boredom making a ready impact on her. Already her mind was at work, wondering.
"Amon-Shinpi, what is it?" Her father glanced back at her, noting she'd faltered in her path. It was unlike her to be so distracted when he knew she would be trying to eavesdrop.
"When we get back to the castle, do you mind showing me those flyers again?" She asked with a smile, a devious light entering her eyes as they walked through the castle's large entry.
"You mean the wanted posters?" Their guard raised his eyebrows, immediately suspicious. At her earnest nod he let go some of his hesitation. "It would be my pleasure, princess."
Her face fell immediately at the use of the title, making her father chuckle.
Hiei flitted through the halls making no more noise than a curtain in a breeze. This castle was surprisingly lightly guarded, he noted with a smirk. It's like they were begging for him to steal from them. Yet door after door led him to nothing. Eventually, he grew frustrated. Maybe they didn't need guards because they didn't have anything worth taking. He'd never been such a luxurious place so devoid of valuables. These sorts of homes were normally plush with ornate artifacts, gold, or at least something.
Maybe they were just smart enough to hide it where he couldn't immediately find it, not putting their incredible wealth on display as some sort of misguided sign of humility. He'd heard of such things before. Floor safes. Holes behind paintings. Secret rooms.
"I suppose you're disappointed."
The voice had him spinning on his toes, whirling to face his apparent captor, hand at his back ready to pull the knife there from its sheath to silence his attacker forever. Then his fierce expression dulled, his hand falling away from the weapon.
It was just the child he'd seen earlier in the day. From the sound of their voice he determined they were a girl. Not that that he'd been able to tell by looking. He suspected, based on the city gossip that this was one of the red haired princesses.
He remained silent as she watched him from a few feet away. She stood a tad taller than he was, likely older as well perhaps around ten to his eight, but she also seemed small for her age. A delicate princess made from porcelain and garnished with gemstones. Ruby hair, sapphire eyes. But she still wore a tunic over trousers and a shirt instead of a dress. After a quick study he noted she had scrapes on her pink knuckles. Perhaps a wayward teacher had corrected her too harshly.
Hiei wondered at the punishment for such crimes in this place that touted pacifism as a badge honor.
"It's our policy not to harbor thieves, you know." She walked closer to him and stopped when he looked tensed to spring away. His eyes scanned over her repeatedly, his body angling slightly away. Despite her diminutive stature, he felt the need to reach behind him once more, ready to grab his weapon at the slightest hint of trouble. Her gaze darted down the hall where he'd surely run. "You won't find what you're looking for."
Hiei narrowed his eyes and waited for her to make a move toward him, sneering as she reached into her pocket. He readied himself to fight, wondering what hell her wails of pain might break loose in the building around them. To his surprise, she merely tossed something to his feet that landed with a metallic thud. He jumped back covering his nose and mouth, ready to be attacked, but quickly realized the coin purse for what it was when it landed with a heavy jangle as the coins inside hit the stone floor.
"I don't know if you're doing this for pleasure or for need, either way, that should be enough to sate you." She gestured to the bag loosely. Her smile had faded to a look of serious consideration, eyes judging him in a new way, some wariness and a hint of precaution.
Hiei eyed her in return, waiting for the trick, then carefully knelt to pick up the bag while staring at her. He opened it and glanced at the coins, surprised by the amount. Confusion pulled his brows together.
"I don't want anyone in our kingdom going hungry or without their needs being met. We have more than enough to provide for everyone." She explained, reading his expression. "Your name is Hiei, isn't it? You look shorter than your wanted poster suggests."
He narrowed his eyes again, clearly a warning.
"Well, Hiei, considering that I can't rightfully pay a criminal, I hope you understand that money is a gift." Her smile came back, a playful edge to her words. "I'm surprised the bounty on you is so high, you know. I didn't find it all that difficult to face you. I wonder if my father exaggerates the dangers of the world behind our borders."
"You got lucky." Hiei's first words bit at her as he slipped the coin purse into his pocket, a careful arrangement crossing his features.
"You checked twenty-seven doors while running through the halls like a shadow, only to be given free money and let go. Yet I'm the one who got lucky?" She giggled. "I like your humor."
He paled slightly, the implication of her words more than clear to him. She'd been on his heels the whole night without him realizing it. Assessing her again, he noted that she wore soft soled shoes like he did. And he hadn't heard her sneak up behind him, had he? He hadn't really sensed her out either. Was she that weak and stupid, or was she so adept at hiding her power at their tender age? He couldn't get an accurate read.
What he did know was that she'd somehow put him on his back foot and he did not enjoy that one bit.
"What's a princess doing acting as a palace guard? Is it boring sitting on a throne looking down at people all day?" He asked her with quiet anger.
Her expression shifted into something more befitting a predator than a princess, in his expert opinion.
"I'm barely taller than you. We don't get to look down on anyone." She crossed her arms and lifted her
chin. "And say I did this out of boredom, the reward wasn't all that grand for me. You're hardly the mystical creature you've been described as. A shadow. A specter. The visage of death himself, I had heard. And yet this bored princess was able to corner you with no problems."
Hiei bristled under her flippant accusations, stepping forward a half-step with a scowl. "I let you follow me. I'm not afraid of some soft-bellied royal brat. I could have lost you anytime. The only ones who catch me are the ones I let do so."
Her head tipped nearly to her shoulder, strands of red slipping from her ponytail, meeting the indigo of her tunic since the hair barely reached the length of her chin while she was standing straight. Her bangs fell to the side as well, shielding one eye but leaving the other glistening at him.
"I accept that challenge." She straightened again, daring to walk a few steps closer.
Hiei blinked, stepping back at her advance.
Stupid it was then, he thought. He nearly marveled at her boldness. She'd obviously read his description, seen his crimes, yet she felt so comfortable facing him alone, thinking the inked words a lie. Being a fool was the only rational explanation he could come up with.
"It'll be good sport for both of us. You'll enter the castle and I'll try to find you before you steal something. If you escape me, you'll keep whatever it is you take and I won't report it missing. If I find you, the game starts over and you have to try again." She kept her arms crossed over her chest, leaning forward slightly. "Unless you don't think you can manage outwitting this soft-bellied brat."
"I get to keep whatever I steal?" He narrowed his eyes. "Sounds like a trap. I'm not interested."
Her mouth opened to issue another challenge but it clamped closed, her eyes widening with a look of alarm. Swallowing, she glanced at him, then down the hall at his back. Flickering her gaze back she lunged forward, shoving him into the room behind him and closing the door. Hiei stumbled back on his heels, entirely caught off guard with her sudden attack. But she didn't follow him into the room. He stood alone in the dark.
Heavy footsteps, a grown man's. He heard them approach the door and come to a stop.
"What are you doing wandering around, princess?" A calm, if mildly annoyed, deep voice questioned. "Did you need something?"
"I can get it myself." The girl huffed back, indignant. "And I've asked you to stop calling me princess, Anlaun."
"What were you looking for?" He pressed.
Hiei stood still, eyes glued to the door as he listened to them talk. Anlaun…Anlaun…yes. He was the one in charge of the royals' safety. Their primary guard and the right hand man of the king, Kichirou. Hiei had heard about him through the bandit circles that had led him to this territory. He was supposedly an expert light elemental. Formidable. Loyal. Intelligent. Supposedly an A-class demon.
Not someone Hiei wanted to encounter while carrying a coin purse full of Sayolian coins, all the same.
"I was just getting some fresh air, Anlaun. You know the windows in my room don't open like the rest do. And the breeze I get in this wing is the best, since it comes from the forest." She never lost her argumentative tone, but her words seemed to have grown nearly commanding.
Hiei looked behind him, noting the window shuttered closed. Picking his path silently, he made his way over to the sill, unlatching the wood cover. Quietly pushing it open he smirked, tossing a look behind back to the door. Maybe she wasn't as stupid as she seemed. Then he hoisted himself up and jumped out, landing on the dark lawn below with only a little pain and made his way for the cover of the forest.
Nearly a week passed before they encountered each other again. Amon-Shinpi's days moving at a gruelingly slow pace, full of etiquette lessons and tutors that seemed to know less than she did. She'd read through her family's library her entire life. Her grandfather had entertained her with stories of his old conquests. Her father and mother spoke to their pasts. What could these demons teach her about the world when they had never experienced it?
Her sister elbowed her in the ribs, reminding her to be quiet when she complained under her breath.
Kuya was her mirror, every bit her twin and yet every bit her opposite. The same rounded cheeks and slightly upturned nose. The same fiery hair, though Kuya kept hers long and in plaits. Kuya's eyes, however, were the same golden hue as their mother's. And she sat in her lovely dress with a pleasant, engaged smile, as she listened respectfully to their lesson for the day about the Territory of Tourin.
Amon-Shinpi had little patience for days like these. She enjoyed hearing stories, reading books, but to her the heart of her education had always been in experience. If father really wanted them to know about the world, he should have taken them out into it. Kuya disagreed, but that was her choice.
When the lessons ended Amon-Shinpi did what she always did. Grumbling under her breath, she kicked a stick out of her path as she walked through the forest with her eyes glued to the underbrush. Whenever she needed to be soothed, she went outside. It was her way. The hot springs, the forest, the market, the cold river, anything was better than the thick, unyielding walls of the castle when her mood turned sour. She had gotten so absorbed in her thoughts she nearly missed him, leaning against a tree when she passed.
Nearly. But not quite.
She lifted her head and came to a stop, pleasant surprise lighting up her face.
"And here I thought you'd fled with your prize." She offered lightly, but her delight showed in her smile. Immediately,4 she clasped her hands behind her back to keep them still.
"I'm planning to, but I wanted to ask you a question." He explained, sounding thoroughly displeased with the whole affair. "Why did you allow me to leave?"
Her eyes moved away from him, the light dulling and she lost her gleam of happiness. With a burdened sigh, she shook her head slightly, going back to her strolling.
"I told you I would." She explained, already several feet away, back to glaring at the roots and brush.
Hiei watched her go, then pushed off the tree. He started to walk the opposite direction, but his feet stopped, and he turned to look at her again. Screwing up his mouth he hesitated to go forward. He wasn't even sure what his delay was about. She rounded a curve in the path and he decided to stick to his own. He had gotten what he wanted, she was right. He had no reason to remain in this oasis.
It was better to leave while he was ahead.
And that was the same thing he kept repeating to himself as he wandered the lower levels of the castle. That he had gotten what he wanted, so he could leave. Yet, he found himself here in the stone halls again. A flicker of shadow between torches. He pulled open a door and smirked.
Silver.
Now that an improvement over some coins.
He walked over to an arrangement of service pieces and chastised himself for not bringing some sort of bag. He hadn't truly expected to find anything this large when his last search had been so futile.
"They are lovely, aren't they?"
His back and shoulders tightened, one crimson eye peering over his shoulder to find the girl standing uncomfortably close to him. Still an arm's reach away, but too close by all accounts, especially when she'd yet again managed to sneak up on him. He purposefully created space between them, rounding the table to glare at her.
"Were you waiting for me?" He asked, realizing he never heard the door open after he'd closed it. A glance told him the door was indeed still closed.
"You're the expert here. You tell me." She teased him with a grin. "Would someone really rearrange all the valuables in an entire castle just to lure a thief into one specific spot and then sit there and wait for them to find it? Sounds like a gamble to me. There are so many variables that would have to be accounted for to make a plan like that work."
"So you were waiting for me."
"I'm very good at math." She nodded, a full grin gracing her features.
"I said I was leaving." Hiei pointed out dully. Had this daft little girl really put so much effort into a plan that might never accomplish its goal?
"You're a liar, and not very good one." She looked away from him to the silver. "These pieces are my mother's. She's from a different side of the world than we are and she has a lot of interesting trinkets."
"Trinkets." Hiei repeated with clear annoyance. "Do you have any idea how valuable these things are? That silver could fetch me-"
He stopped talking, caught off guard by those large blue eyes turning to him earnestly. She stared at him in rapt attention, a hunger in her eyes he had never seen on someone's face before.
"Go on." She told him quietly. "You were in the middle of a sentence."
"Just one of those pieces is easily worth over a hundred. That's more than the gift you gave me." Hiei finished, losing his anger in the process, her behavior off-putting to him. He physically retracted.
"Really?" She asked, then turned back to them. "I've never thought about their worth, honestly. To mother they are sentimental and that's all I've known them as. Pieces of someone else's history."
Hiei squinted at the serving set. He had never considered anything but the fiscal value of items like this. For them to hold any sort of other meaning was a new concept he didn't want to dwell on. If he started to give personal associations to things, his days as a thief would be over. He had no use for sentimentality.
He also didn't have many other skills to rely on for a living.
"How would you got about selling something like this? Do you melt it down into coins? Or do you merely find someone interested in the item and arrange a price? Is there a market for it?" She started hounding him with questions, pulling a silver spoon from the arrangement and gesturing with it. "Do you have a plan when you steal things or do you take what looks valuable and find a way to sell it? Do you deal in trades?"
Hiei raised his eyebrows at the onslaught of interrogation. "I go through a fence."
"A fence?" She knit her brows together, head tilting. "Is there someone on the other side of the fence or do you just leave the items there and work on an honor system?"
Hiei cracked a smirk at her cluelessness. "It's not a fence like a garden fence. It's a demon whose job is to sell stolen goods."
"A fence." She repeated, testing the word. "So, you steal the goods, go to a middleman, and they take care of the rest?"
"Yes." He nodded.
"So, the fence pays you first." She pressed and he nodded again. "Does that mean you accept less than the actual value of the item?"
"Sometimes." Hiei allowed.
"Why don't you just sell them yourself?" She pressed. "Wouldn't you turn a better profit that way?"
He sighed, growing annoyed with her battery of questions.
"My apologies." She retracted into herself a bit, shoulders hunching forward slightly as a light blush crept over her face. "It's just all really interesting. I don't know anything about criminal operations."
"Obviously." Hiei pointed out bitterly, and she blushed deeper. Chastening her so easily piqued his interest, birthing a sardonic smile. "They don't have a special tutor to teach you how to be a lowlife? That's not part of your belabored eduction princess?"
Her face turned scarlet. "You've been watching me."
Hiei walked over and plucked the spoon from her unresisting fingers, pocketing it. She didn't argue with him about the act. She didn't back down from his sudden proximity either. He considered that. She either really wasn't afraid of him or didn't have the sense to be. He still couldn't quite tell.
His idle time watching her had not given him the impression she was anything particularly special. His distaste showed on his face as he studied her.
"Thank you for answering my questions." She told him as he stepped around her, heading for the door. "Anlaun is on the third floor, so if I were you, I'd turn left out the door and leave through the stables."
"You shouldn't give me a map of exits. It'll make catching me harder." Hiei chastised, glaring back at her. "I've been trying to figure out if you're stupid or just ignorant and you're not making my opinion of you higher when you say such idiotic things."
But her eyes lit up again and her blush faded as she smiled at him.
"Does that mean you plan to come back?" She sounded a bit too hopeful to him.
He left without answering, following the path she suggested.
Stupid or not, the idiot girl was at least true to her word.
She found him the next time in the middle of the day, sitting inside the stall of a stable with his back to one of the sides while he ate a piece of fruit, featured arranged in annoyance and disgust.
"What's the point of keeping stables?" He asked her point blank, not particularly interested in her answer or her presence.
"We breed wolves." She responded easily and entered the stall to slide down across from him. "I didn't expect to find you here. I came to be alone."
"It's raining." He grumbled, annoyed as he used a small knife to cut off a rotten piece of the fruit. He'd fished it from the refuse of a shop in the market. So far more of it had been rancid than worth eating. "I also wanted to be alone."
Hiei did not like being caught in the rain. It took too long for his clothes to dry and the sensation of wet cloth on his skin irked him.
She eyed the fruit in his hand, seemingly unconcerned with the presence of the weapon in his hand, and then told him to wait while she ran off. Hiei raised an eyebrow, shaking his head, and went back to eating what he could. He doubted she was suddenly grabbing a guard. When she returned it was with a small basket and two bottles tucked under her arm. She sat down across from him and set up the bottles, pulling two cups from the basket, the action revealing an array of fresh food to him from it's depths.
"Lunch." She pushed the basket closer to him while pouring herself water from one of the bottles.
Hiei accepted without being told twice. He grabbed for rolls and meats with fervor, no decorum to be seen. Amon-Shinpi watched him with heavy interest, taking note of his mannerisms. No silverware, just his hands. And that knife he seemed reluctant to release. Frowning, she sipped her water, relaxing against the stable wall. He ate like he was starved and from the look of the scrawny boy, she felt that might be the case. He also had dirty hands.
They didn't seem to bother him as he shoved food into his mouth.
After a few minutes of quiet, Hiei seemed to remember she was still there. Crimson eyes lifted to scan her, imperceptibly narrowed, as he tried to figure out her goal. Water still speckled her pants and shirt, her hair suitably damp from running through the storm that pounded against the roof above them. She seemed satisfied with her water and allowed him to eat his fill without interruption.
"When was the last time you ate?" She asked when he didn't immediately reach back into the basket for another helping.
"I was eating when you came in." Came the terse response. His red eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Rotten fruit isn't food."
He scowled at her. She made no move to react back. Glancing to her left, where the castle lie beyond the stable's confines, she seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. Then she shook her head, glanced at him with a crooked brow, and rolled her eyes.
"What?" Hiei demanded, annoyed she'd obviously just decided something about him.
"Nothing." She got to her feet and kept her glass in her hand. "Enjoy your lunch little thief."
Then she pushed through the stall door and left without another word. Hiei stewed on her exit, and her lie, but resigned himself to forget it. Let her have her petty ideas and perceptions. He grabbed another roll and bit into it with a tear. What would she know about being hungry anyway? Her kitchen was always stocked, her meals warm. Who was she to look down on him for how he got his meals? He didn't need or care about her opinion anyway.
He was leaving once the rain broke.
Hiei could not tell why he kept tempting fate by coming back. Yet, there he was again, in the castle prowling through the halls in search of goods to pilfer. Maybe it was how easy a mark the princess was. She kept her word and offered too much trust, letting him get away with her mother's prized possession and her own 'gift' of coin. It was hard to turn away from such a willing victim.
She screamed a lot less than his usual prey too. These remained some of the most peaceful, unadulterated robberies he'd committed. And the least bloody. It had been a few days since he'd seen the girl though, and this trip through the castle held newer perils. An increased guard.
He flitted through the halls, trying to determine where the idiot might be waiting and where she might've put the sellables this time. If he found her, he'd find bounty. Every floor seemed devoid of use to him though. So he wandered to a wing that held no lit torches. Forgotten relics could still be useful, and he might find something of that kind here. Footsteps behind him caused his hand to come to rest on the hilt of his sword, turning over his shoulder with heavy suspicion.
"Is that a sword?" Amon-Shinpi peered at the weapon, nearly pressed to his back.
Hiei leapt back, snarling at her sudden intrusion. Then he looked down at his hand where he grasped the hilt and then slowly drug his eyes back up to her face. "Yes."
"You sound uncertain." She told him, hands behind her back as she walked around him. "Is that because you think you're going to be in trouble for having it or because you can't use it?"
"I can use it just fine." He sneered at her. "This sword as seen more blood than you have in your pathetic body."
"Would you like to prove it?" She grinned at him, an eagerness lighting up her eyes.
"Hn. Eager for some pain, princess?" Hiei pulled his hand away from the hilt with a snarl. "There are less gruesome ways to die."
"Humor me." She pressed. When he didn't make a move, she walked over and flicked his ear.
Hiei swung around to get away from her but she kept behind him, one hand on his back as though to remind him she was there, just out of reach. With a growl, annoyed with the dance they were starting, he finally swung an arm around to punch her. His eyes flashed wide when she reacted easily, one hand coming up to knock his arm out of the way and the other stopping just short of his nose.
"You seem to be under the impression I'm something I'm not." Amon-Shinpi backed away from him, a more contemplative look on her face. "My sister is the princess, Hiei. I'm training to be a warrior. One day I'm going to be the one who protects my family from danger."
"Hn. What would a spoiled brat like you know about fighting?" Hiei growled at her, twisting away in a swirl of his cloak, appearing several feet behind her with a glower.
"Apparently enough to get the drop on you." She huffed, crossing her arms. "I train with my father and Anlaun every day. Surprised you didn't learn that spying on me."
"Training." Hiei repeated, acid dripping from his voice. "I didn't get trained. I learned to fight because the alternative was being prey. I'm no one's prey."
"My grandfather used to say that life is the best teacher there is." She nodded, once again loosening herself so that she could clasp her hands behind her back. The picture of lackadaisical youth. Sensing his vitriol, this time she did not press her luck, instead choosing to regard him from this safe distance he had established. "You wandered away from the usual wings."
He almost let slip that he hadn't found her and therefore had chosen to stick to less dangerous paths.
"You're not a very good protector." He instead insulted. "You let a known bandit into your home, where you family sleeps, just for your own amusement. You let me steal your mother's possessions. You paid me to come back to continue your little fantasy."
His words landed harshly, he could tell because she stiffened and the constant glimmer in her eyes faded. Her smile slipped and then disappeared entirely under his accusation.
"What's the matter, did you think this was a mutual game?" He insisted with a cruel smile. "Just because you can sneak around and get close to me doesn't make those posters less true, princess. I've killed more demons than you've probably met. I'm so feared in some parts of the world that no one will even look at me directly. And you just let me waltz in here like I own the place."
"I'm not scared of you." She declared quietly, refusing to back down. "Besides you keep coming back and I haven't given you anything recently."
"You give me food, water, coin, silver. You're so pathetic. You've even given me plenty of knowledge about this castle. I could get in and out without even you knowing now." He continued to stare at her. "And you might not be scared of me, but I wonder how your sister might feel if I suddenly appeared behind her with this."
He put his hand on the hilt of the sword again, his bitterness coating every syllable out of his mouth.
"And you would be helpless to-"
Her attack took his breath away, catching him off guard. Her leg bit into his ribs so hard he bounced off the stone wall with a hiss and landed on the floor on his hands and knees. Fist in his cloak, she hoisted him to his toes in front of her face. This time the light in her eyes was nothing short of fury.
It changed them from bright blue to a sinister indigo, the same shade as her favorite tunic.
"If you ever threaten my sister again the guards will be the least of your concerns." Amon-Shinpi growled at him and when he went to draw his sword to force her back, her hand was already around the hilt. She took it from its sheath and pressed the point under the corner of his jaw. She released his cloak but not the weapon and watched him skitter back a few steps with wide crimson eyes and a chest heaving with rage. She threw the sword to his feet then, coldness creeping into her expression. "Your presence is permitted here, Hiei. Do not abuse my hospitality again."
"What will you do, kill me? Turn me in?" He scoffed a laugh. "You don't even have the stomach to hit me. I doubt you could consign me to death."
She looked him over again and then she laughed. A loud, tinkling sound that echoed in the dark stonework surrounding them. He looked at her as though she had lost her mind entirely, taken aback. When she brushed her fingers through her shaggy red bangs, she cut a look his direction that stilled all his movements. It was not the expression of a pampered little girl that met his attention.
"This is Sayol, Hiei, we don't execute people here." She informed him but there was a tension to the words. A warning interlaced with the syllables. "Father disapproves of most types of violence."
Father, he noted, not her. Not we. Father disapproves.
He was beginning to understand why she never called the guards at his presence.
"You just got a little more interesting to me." Hiei told her, picking his sword up to sheath it. The vibration of the air around him changed, grew a little more pointed, perhaps chilled. He looked her over once more and offered her a smirk. "If you're going to be the protector of your little family you should learn to control your temper when they are mentioned. I know your weak spot now. If I wanted to, I could exploit that."
One eyebrow rose on her forehead, but otherwise she remained still. "And what are your weak spots, Hiei the Thief?"
"I don't have any." He grinned at her, all teeth and his eyes glowed like a monster in the darkness with his words. "I don't have anything I love and I don't have anything I care about losing. It's what sets us apart, princess. I don't have a soul and you do."
She pulled a face, lips screwing up to the side as she assessed him head to foot then back up. After a beat she finally told him, "That's a little pathetic, don't you think, Hiei?"