Chapter 11
Standing with Hiei under the great open sky, touching hand to hand, skin to skin, she realized suddenly that she had never seen anyone touch him like that before. No hugs, no handshakes, no back or shoulder rubs, no comforting gestures freely given between friends. Not Kurama. Definitely not Yusuke or Kuwabara. Not even Yukina. With Hiei, it was always brief contact before he shied away like a nervous horse, or the fierce, brutal connection of battle. The fire demon seemed not a person made for any kind of comfort. He was a wild thing. And yet he did not pull away from her.
She marveled at the smoothness of his skin. Yes, she knew his palms and fingertips would be rough and calloused, but here he was soft and silky but for a few scars. His skin burned beneath her hand, but she couldn't - wouldn't - pull away. Not until he did. Rin wanted to rub her thumb over the back of his hand, but she was afraid that any further contact would spook the touch-starved demon away.
She thought of experiments with baby monkeys given a choice between a wireframe mother with food or terry cloth mother without. The babies would always choose to spend more time with the soft, comforting mother, even if she had nothing material to give them. Hiei had never had that choice. Had been left for dead, had never had the comfort of touch. Had grown up mistrusting closeness and anyone who wanted to get near him.
His breathing was calming, his white-knuckled grip on the railing under her hand relaxing. She expected him to blink away as soon as he started to feel better and realized that they were still holding hands, but he only watched the horizon, saying nothing, thinking whatever Hiei thought about after an unexpected emotional episode.
Rin tracked his gaze and watched as the trees around the hotel whispered darkly in the night breeze. She felt him shift and saw that he had turned to face her. His nose was inches from her own, his eyes dark and unreadable. Her heart stuttered and a blush bloomed on her cheeks.
"What?" she asked, ducking away, not daring to meet his eyes.
The fire demon was silent as his gaze roamed her face.
"Hiei! Rin! There you are. We've got a problem!" Botan's voice echoed over the empty patio a moment after the doors were thrown open with a crash.
The blue-haired ferry girl dashed across the patio, followed by Kurama, Yusuke, Keiko, and Shizuru in hot pursuit. Before Rin could even open her mouth to say something, Hiei had flashed away and was standing nonchalantly with his back against the railing. Rin hoped desperately that no one had seen how close they had just been.
"What is it? Is it my sister?" Hiei asked, as soon as the group was close enough to hear him. Though his posture was relaxed, his eyes were sharp.
"No, she's…" Botan paused to catch her breath as she skidded to a stop. "She's perfectly fine," She panted, hands on knees.
"It seems we have an intruder," Kurama said in a level tone, not even out of breath or a hair out of place. He gave Rin a dark look, then focused on Hiei.
"I'll handle it. Where is he?" Hiei said, stepping forward immediately, his hand going to the nonexistent sword that was usually strapped to his hip.
"Slow down, Hiei," the fox cautioned, holding up his hands. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Let us explain."
The fire demon subsided, looking miffed, and crossed his arms.
"Shizuru had one of her bad feelings," Botan began, looking at her friend for confirmation.
"Right," Shizuru said, nodding. She lit a cigarette, the tip flaring orange in the dark, and continued, "I had one of my bad feelings. It felt like something terrible was coming to the hotel. I told Botan, and she went down to the lobby to check."
"You should've gotten me," Yusuke cut in. "Hello? Former Spirit Detective over here."
Keiko shushed him with a vicious elbow to his side.
"Hey now," he said to her as he raised his hands slightly in a half-hearted defense.
"As I was saying," Botan said, with a cutting look at Yusuke, "I went down to the lobby to see if anything was wrong, and I found a demon outside. A group of demons."
Rin gasped. Hiei's entire body went rigid, his eyes blazing.
"Their leader is a radical anarchist from Demon World, Sanzu Nokawa. It's a splinter group that wants to go back to the old ways: ending the elections and allowing demons into Human World to wreak havoc. Spirit World has been aware of them for some time, but we never thought they were a serious threat," Botan explained. "They demanded that I bring them Yusuke Urameshi, or they will kill everyone in this hotel."
Her words rang out over the empty patio, and the group fell silent, stunned. It wasn't the first, second, or even fifth time that any of them had faced a life-or-death situation, but it was the first time it had happened at someone's wedding.
"How did they even find out about it?" Botan continued after a moment. "The invitations were sealed to each person's specific energy signature. I helped make them myself."
"I am curious about that as well, Botan," said Kurama. He turned to Rin, fixing her in place with his emerald green gaze like a butterfly on a pin. "I know of only one person who is both attending this wedding and who was not explicitly invited. Rin, would you care to explain yourself?"
Rin spluttered, fear stabbing into her heart. Not this again. At the same time, Botan, Keiko, and Shizuru all began to loudly defend her.
"Quiet." Yusuke's voice cut across their protests. They subsided quickly at his uncharacteristically firm and serious tone. "Fox boy's got a point. Who knows what she's been doing for the last fifteen years."
He eyed Rin as well, and she felt the dynamic of the group shift from 'problem-solving as a group' to 'interrogation.' She didn't even blame them, really. It was definitely suspicious that she had shown up as Hiei's date after going MIA for fifteen years, especially when they knew firsthand that he hated everyone. She would have to choose her words carefully.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she said, "I understand why you're suspicious, but I swear I have nothing to do with this. You all know me. I'm a librarian, for god sakes."
This did absolutely nothing to convince anyone, as she had suspected. It felt like being under a spotlight in a police interrogation room as the whole group stared at her, gazes ranging from concern to suspicion to outright mistrust. Rin opened her mouth to speak again, knowing it probably wouldn't do any good. She couldn't prove that she wasn't a spy or a traitor.
The air temperature around her jumped ten degrees as Hiei thrust an arm in front of her nose protectively, forcing her back a step, his eyes blazing at the suspicious fox.
"Enough, Kurama," he said, voice low and dangerous. "I tire of your lazy accusations. I've already vouched for her once."
Surprise shook the group. Botan actually gasped. Shizuru eyed the two of them with a speculative look, but Kurama wasn't convinced.
"How can you be so sure?" the fox asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I suppose it's possible you've finally gone senile, Kurama," Hiei spat, "or have you forgotten? My Jagan Eye has the power to read minds. If she were a traitor, I assure you that I would be the first to know."
Rin wasn't sure how she felt about the fire demon reading her mind, but she filed that violation away for later. She and Hiei were going to have a serious talk about it eventually. But for now, he was saving her ass from a flowery death, so she kept quiet.
Kurama considered for a moment, then said, "I fear she may have influenced you more than you know, old friend."
"Enough." Hiei said, his cutting tone piercing through the fox's silky, persuasive voice, rage barely contained. "If you think a mere human is strong enough to influence me, you are sadly mistaken. And if you insist on pressing the point, Kurama, you will have to deal with me." Under the bandage on his forehead there was an ominous purple glow.
The two demons squared off like two gunslingers at high noon, their gazes locked. Demon Energy suffused the air in a thick and oppressive wave. Rin held her breath, nervous sweat pricking on her back. After a few moments, Kurama's expression smoothed out and his shoulders relaxed.
"Apologies, Hiei. Rin. I've let my suspicions get the better of me," the flame-haired demon said, bowing from the waist. As he came up, he shot Rin a look, and she knew she wasn't out of the woods just yet.
Hiei tossed his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets, glowering at everyone. There was a pause as they breathed a sigh of relief and collected themselves.
"So… what's the plan?" Botan asked, breaking the silence.
Everyone, except Hiei, looked at Yusuke. After all, he was the former Spirit Detective and the erstwhile leader of their group.
"How many are there?" he asked. "We can take them out no problem."
"At least twenty A-class and a few S-class demons," Botan replied, her magenta eyes dark and foreboding.
Yusuke scoffed. "Piece of cake. We got this."
"It's not so simple, Yusuke," said Kurama. "We can't fight them head on without causing a panic. There are normal humans in attendance tonight."
Silent until now, Keiko chimed in, "And it's Kuwabara's wedding! We can't let him know that there are demons outside. Weddings are stressful enough as it is."
Shizuru added, "My little bro's been a wreck for the past year worrying about this wedding. He and Yukina have to stay out of it." She took a long drag of her cigarette and blew the smoke out of the side of her mouth. "Take care of it. Quietly."
Yusuke scowled and crossed his arms. "Fine. Then what do we do?"
Author's note: A much shorter chapter, and one that ends on a cliffhanger! Apologies, but I couldn't help myself. I've been having so much fun writing this fic, and I hope that you are having just as much fun reading it. About the study with the baby monkeys - I did not make that up. That is a real experiment that Harry Harlow did in the 1950s and 60s and formed a lot of what we know about behavioral science and the importance of touch in child development. If you google, you can find a lot of information about it - I find it fascinating, and I feel that it really informs Hiei's character.
Thank you so much to all my readers, and especially to Miki Naomi for the lovely review, to Miki Naomi, elisayn, and CrystalWaterStar27 for the follows, and to BethxAngel, CrystalWaterStar27, Miki Naomi, and livesinasong13 for the favorites.
One person who deserves all the thanks in the world is my beautiful wife, who is both my beta reader and my resident expert consultant on Hiei's dialogue and personality (she even has a Dragon of the Darkness Flame tattoo on her arm!). It's thanks to her that he sounds anything like the little ball of rage he is. I love you, sweetheart!
