Chapter Twelve: Icy Palms
The next day Kainna was distracted. All during the morning meditation she was fidgeting, her eyes opened every so often to gaze into the forest in front of her. She wondered if Hiei would show up today. A blush covered her face as she forced her eyes shut again. Stop thinking about him, you sound like a fan girl. Kainna was embarrassed to find her thoughts of him so hard to control, but his answer last night hadn't exactly put her mind at ease.
Kainna and Hiei had continued their fight without any more interruptions. It was a great spar, Hiei was mostly dodging her attacks but managed to hit her a couple of times with his punches. Kainna was trying her hardest to land any attack on Hiei, he was quick and seemed to be having too much fun simply taunting her with his speed. Finally, she was able to land a hit. She faked a punch and landed a surprise kick right in the center of his chest that sent him flying backwards from the power. He crashed into a tree behind him, bending the bark from his impact.
Kainna grinned, she had finally got him. She jumped on the balls of her feet to keep her energy as she waited for Hiei to get up. He was staring at her with a surprise expression, he really underestimated her strength. With a groan, he peeled himself from the bark.
"I underestimated your strength." He admitted as he stood to full height, his chest aching painfully.
"So did Yusuke, you could probably find his imprint somewhere next to yours." Kainna stated with a smirk.
"You've trained with him a lot it seems. Even picking up on his habits." Hiei motioned to her jumping. Kainna laughed.
"Actually, we both picked this up from Genkai. But you're right, we have trained a lot together in the last 6 months. It's been boring since he's gone back home." Kainna watched him with a curious expression. "It must be boring for you too, being stuck in the human realm." Hiei didn't respond but his face turn to one of annoyance at the mention of his imprisonment.
"Would you like to spar together... sometimes?" Kainna asked, her voice getting meeker by the word. She felt embarrassed asking him this, she looked away from his eyes. "You know, Yusuke was too slow for me anyhow." She laughed nervously and shifted her eyes back to him. Hiei noticed her shyness, he found it funny...or maybe it was cute. Either way, he grinned at her insult thrown at Yusuke. She was clearly a higher class than Yusuke was currently, although it was obvious to everyone else that he had the potential to become a higher class if he tried. She was more on his own level, the both of them having a weakness against the other that made the spar entertaining as well.
"And I'm not too fast?" He asked with a cocky tone, crossing the large space between them within half a second. Kainna blinked, her breath stilled at his sudden appearance. He was in her personal space, his face leaning towards her as he teased her. The smell of woods and fire drifted pass her and filled her lungs with her next breath. She blinked once more before she grinned at him and quickly raised her leg to kick his side. He blocked it with his arm but couldn't stop himself from moving, his heel drew a line in the dirt as he forced himself to stop. He could block her, but she could move him.
"Not at all." She stated sarcastically with a smile. He returned to his normal posture, his eyes finding the moon in the clear sky. It was descending, indicating it was far passed midnight and curiously, Kainna's aura was slowly diminishing as well.
"It's late." He told her. Kainna looked up at the sky as well, although she had already started feeling her power leaving her.
"We should stop, I have to be up by dawn to mediate with Genkai." Kainna sighed. She looked back at Hiei, he never gave her an answer. "But I'll be available to train in the afternoon, if you do get bored."
They had ended the night there, Hiei simply hummed as a response, indicating he heard her but made no promises. They had said their goodbyes, or rather Kainna had wished him goodnight and Hiei had stared at her for a moment before flickering away. And now, here she was wondering if he was going to show up when she should be focusing on her energy. She sighed and opened her eyes again, only to scream and jump backwards. Genkai was in front of her, staring at her with angry eyes.
"Doesn't sound like meditation to me. I can't even focus with all that sighing." Genkai yelled. She moved away from Kainna and back to her original seat. "Now either clear your mind or go start breakfast, whatever you're doing now is useless." Kainna pouted but got up. She was wasting her time here anyways, 2 hours and she barely started to control her thoughts. She might as well start breakfast; it was her chore to Genkai anyhow.
During her stay, Genkai had discovered Kainna's true calling in her dojo, and that was cooking. Kainna made the most delicious food and Genkai, who lived off of leaves and twigs (as Yusuke referred to it), was spoiled with it. Genkai's cooking skills were non-existent so when Kainna offered to cook their brunch one day, Genkai allowed it and Kainna never stopped cooking after that. She usually just made a huge brunch, once a day. Training involved a lot of control and that was included with diet. So, they all fasted except for the one meal Kainna made. Since Yusuke had left, Kainna had still been making a big portion of food and ended up having to compost or feed the leftovers to the animals outside. And today was no different, Kainna had made a breakfast with eggs, fish, rice and bacon, along with grilled chicken, seasoned boiled potatoes, roasted pork and sauteed mushrooms and onions.
Personally, Kainna thought cooking was a much better form of meditation for her. It focused her mind while also calming her with the familiarity of it. Maybe that's why Genkai allowed her to leave meditation early by 2 hours. Either way, it helped Kainna. She had started cooking around 10 and was finished with everything by 12. Genkai had still not come inside yet, which was normal for Kainna. Most of the food often went cold with Genkai but Kainna suspected she liked it better that way, she always appeared in the kitchen an hour later and ate whatever was left for her. It left Kainna time to eat, clean and prepare the meat for marinade for the following day.
Genkai was outside, she had snuck inside for a cup of tea while Kainna was distracted and came back to continue her meditation. She had placed her tea in front of her and her eyes had been closed when Hiei appeared. He would like to say he wasn't planning on stopping by but him being there was evidence that that was false. He was debating with himself all morning, the idea of spending yet another day alone or traveling to a city filled with humans was depressing. He had no new intel of his sister and wouldn't hear back from his sources for another day at least. Kainna had said after noon, and it was passed 12 judging by the position of the sun. He wasn't sure of the exact time. Genkai sensed a shift in the air around her before sensing Hiei's energy.
"I see you came. Kainna is not done with her chores yet, you can find her through the doors behind me." Genkai spoke without opening her eyes. She had a feeling this demon was the reason Kainna was so distracted this morning. She wondered if Kainna had even known he was going to stop by today. Well, she'll know soon. Hiei didn't respond and instead followed her instructions. He opened the sliding door and stepped into the house. It led to a wide hallway that had an opening to a sitting area on the left and a large archway to the right that led to the kitchen. Hiei could spot Kainna facing away from him in the kitchen. He stepped through the archway.
"Genkai your knife fucking sucks. If you don't let me sharpen it, I'm going to steal that wide one from the butcher." Kainna spoke when she felt energy enter the room, she didn't bother to actually sense whose energy it was. Hiei was surprised to find the same girl who was kicking him across the field yesterday now standing there with a white apron covered in seasoning stains and blood, chopping through bones in a chicken leg. Hiei moved so he was in view of Kainna.
"You could just kill the butcher and take everything." Hiei spoke, startling Kainna. She snapped her head up quickly and saw Hiei in her kitchen, looking over the spread of food on the table. She froze for a moment, processing that he was here, before she responded.
"It would be a hassle to buy meat from someone else." Kainna watched him as she sliced through the chicken and put it into a bowl. "You can have some, there's always extra since Yusuke's been gone." Hiei's stomach growled in that moment causing Kainna to laugh. "Grab a bowl, there should be some chopsticks over there." Kainna directed as she tossed the chicken in a marinade. Hiei found what he needed and grabbed a bit of everything. Koenma didn't exactly set him up with a house when he was imprisoned in the human realm, anything Hiei ate was usually caught and cooked over his fire or bought from the small number of demons he knew around here. He hadn't had rice in a while.
Hiei didn't have any expectations but he felt like if he had, her food would have far exceeded it. He quickly finished his bowl and had to remind himself not to grab another, he didn't want to stuff himself when they were supposed to be training. They hadn't talked while he ate, Kainna finished setting up for the following day and poured herself and Hiei some hot tea. She sat across from him after setting his tea on the table. He took it.
"Thanks." Kainna hummed as a response and sipped her tea. Her mind was finally calm, she was glad Hiei had decided to come. They sat in silence again as they both sipped their tea. Kainna looked over at Hiei.
"You know, Genkai had some suggestions for our training, if you want to try it out." Kainna spoke.
"Sure, why not."
Kainna and Hiei were facing each other again in the same field as the night before. Genkai instructed them to prepare for training without weapons. Kainna had left her sai daggers next to Genkai while Hiei chose to keep his sword on him, but had taken off his jacket, folded it and placed it next to her daggers. As he walked back Kainna had to look away, trying to control the temperature of her face. A small blush surfaced but she was happy to notice it was less heated than the day before. She turned her eyes back to him, confident that the small blush was hardly noticeable. Until she caught his eyes, that all-knowing look with the mischievous glint in his bright eyes, a cocky smirk on his lips. Her face rose in temperature from embarrassment, he definitely knew that she found him attractive. She scrunched up her nose in embarrassment and narrowed her eyes at him. She stuck out her tongue childishly. He made a noise, something between a scoff and a laugh as his grin widened at her playfulness.
"Hiei, compared to your own speed, how would you rank Kainna's speed?" Genkai broke them out of their staring contest with this question. Hiei paused and thought for the perfect word.
"Mediocre." Kainna scoffed and crossed her arms at his insult. Hiei smirked. "Disagree?"
"Yea. I'm at least below average." Hiei rolled his eyes at her, a small chuckle coming through.
"That doesn't sound much better."
"Then mediocre? Yes, it does." She argued back. Genkai narrowed her gaze at the two.
"Shut up you two! Kainna it doesn't matter what you think. Hiei will determine how fast he would need to go to be challenging for you. If he thinks you're mediocre then that is what you'll get." Kainna pouted but uncrossed her arms. Hiei was surprised she listened to Genkai so easily.
"Fine."
"Good, so as I was saying. You can only use your spirit energy to help you catch Hiei. If you can hit him, punch him, hell even touch him you win." Kainna made a face of annoyance. How was she going to use her energy to speed her up?
"And Hiei, although I haven't seen you fight, Kainna had recapped all the fights from the mission yesterday. From what she told me, you seem to relay on your speed mostly during a fight. Which leads me to think you need to build your energy attacks. So, you can only fight Kainna with energy attacks, you will win if you can make her bleed or have her forfeit." Hiei made an annoyed look when she said that he relied on his speed; she wasn't wrong. It took him a while to regain his energy after his surgery so most of his fights were won with his sped and his sword. He perfected his quick attacks while his energy slowly regenerated. He had already planned on what direction to take with his techniques, he was just waiting for enough energy to regenerate to start his training. With Kainna's energy boost last night, that time might be coming sooner than he expected.
"Fine." Hiei responded the same as Kainna. Genkai rolled her eyes, these two demons clearly didn't like criticism. Genkai raised her arm.
"Start!" Hiei disappeared from Kainna's sight almost immediately. She sighed, listening to the wind around her. She didn't think it would be Hiei's style to run away, he must be planning an attack. She felt a shift in the air before she sensed his energy, she backflipped out of the way almost reflexively as she watched Hiei's fist punch the air where she was moments before. As her feet hit the ground, she bounced off it quickly, lacing the soles of her feet with enough energy that it propelled her forwards towards him. He flickered out of her sight just as her body was about to reach his. She had no plans of attacking him, all she had to do was touch him and she won... tackling him to the ground seemed to be her best bet.
Kainna skidded to a stop at the edge of the forest, her eyes flickered around quickly in hopes of spotting him. She saw a shadow moved to her left and quickly raised her arm up to defend herself against his punch. He had thrown a fist of mortal flames at her this time, figuring he would get a much better chance at breaking through her layers of energy with flames. Kainna felt the flames lick her skin before she retreated into the woods. She ran from him, using trees as her defense, dancing in between them as she dodged his attacks. He caught on quickly to her strategy and appeared in front of her instead, forcing her to face him. He summoned the flames to his fists again and punched at her. Kainna grasped the edges of her kimono sleeves and raised them with her arms to defend herself, his fists hit against her sleeves. Hiei expected to see them scorched at the very least but when his attack stopped, there was no evidence of it on her. Kainna smirked at his confused expression.
"My kimono is highly fire resistant; it was made from the silk of a fire Jorogumo in the demon realm. Your mortal flame can't even singe it." Kainna explained. Hiei eyed her kimono, he could tell it was made by a professional, but a Jorogumo? Where did she find one of those?
"A story for another time." Hiei replied. He was very curious on how she acquired silk from a spider demon but now was not the time. They were now about half a mile into the forest, the trees were denser here; there was less space for their spar now. They eyed each other for a moment before Hiei smirked, he was the one being chased, wasn't he? He jumped onto a nearby tree branch and dashed away. Maybe if he tired her out, he would have a better chance at surprising her.
Kainna groaned when she saw him run, she really hated this exercise. Either way, she chased after him. She followed his footsteps like a shadow, mirroring his every move. She studied his style of running, his footsteps were hardly noticeable until one every few yards, as if he pushed more energy in his feet to keep his speed up. Hiei noticed she seemed distracted and used that to his advantage. He used a tree to change his direction; instead of fleeing from her, he was running towards her. Kainna's eyes widened, her body reacting to the threat in that second. She dropped off the tree branch, dodging him by milliseconds. Hiei smirked, he figured she would dodge, he already changed his trajectory to follow her. But what he wasn't expecting was Kainna using his strategy against him. Instead of continuing running, Kainna copied him and used the ground below her to change her trajectory back to him. She bounced off the ground, the power from the energy in her feet propelling her upwards, faster than Hiei had predicted. Kainna made contact with him, her body hitting his as she tackled him. They tumbled in the air for a moment before falling to the forest floor. Kainna quickly sat up, an excited grin on her face.
"I got you, Hiei!" She danced excitedly in her place on top of him, her hips moving side to side, unknowingly rubbing her ass into him as she thrusted her hands in the air in victory. Hiei's mouth went dry. Although she sat on his abdomen, she was not far from his pelvic area. In fact, the bottom of her ass was brushing against him with every movement of her hips during her excited dance, the softness of it created a subtle but distracting friction. His breath stilled and he suppressed a groan, she had no idea what she was doing to him. Or at least he thought. Kainna stopped her dancing, she was surprised Hiei hadn't come up with a sarcastic reply to her winning. She looked down at him, her hands that were outstretched in the air before in triumph now laid delicately on his chest as she leaned in closer to him. He had a red face, his eyes wide as she stared at him. Was he ok?
"Hiei?" She asked. Hiei felt her icy hands place softly against his chest, the coldness creating a burn against his fiery skin. His stomach turned and his hands twitched at his side, he wanted to touch her. To place his own hand on the curve of her hip, the other in her hair. He wondered what other parts of her had this softness. His eyes widened at his thoughts. He jumped up quickly, knocking Kainna back onto her ass, the same one that rubbed against him so tantalizingly. She looked up at him, seeing him briefly before he fled, the first time she saw him out of breath.
"Hiei?" She whispered. What happened, was he that mad that she won?
Hiei ran as fast as he could, his skin becoming so hot steam was coming off him. He didn't know how far he ran or what his destination was, all he knew was he needed to get away from her. From her voluptuous hips that danced on him, from her delicate hands that created an icy imprint on his skin that he could still feel. He shook his head to dispel those thoughts, what was happening to him? He fought against women before, has even been trapped in a more precarious position and even flirted with during fights and yet, he never felt this way. Never had the temptation for anything besides winning the fight. And now, here he was running away because his hand twitched against his will, because he wanted to touch her in a different way.
The thickness of the forest suddenly disappeared and Hiei stepped into an open field with a huge lake. Just what he needed. He dove into the water, a hissing sound accompanied the splash as he felt his body finally cool down, except for two small icy handprints on his skin.
Kainna returned to the field behind Genkai's dojo, her eyes down casted as she slowly walked back. She was playing with her hands, her fingers twisting around each other nervous as she thought about Hiei. He must be really mad at her; he ran away so quickly Kainna didn't think she could even follow him. It wasn't like they were the greatest of friends but... to just leave like that?
"Can't find him? I didn't think Hiei was the one to hide during a fight." Genkai spoke from across the field, alerting Kainna to her presence. Kainna approached her with a frown.
"No, I caught him." Kainna clarified. Genkai looked around her to the forest.
"So, where is he?"
"He ran after I tackled him to the ground, I guess he doesn't like losing." Kainna murmured as her eyes found Hiei's jacket, still folded next to her daggers. She furrowed her eyebrows; he wouldn't have left his jacket.
"He ran?" Genkai asked. She didn't know Hiei, but he didn't seem like a demon to run from a fight.
"I didn't think so either, but just he pushed me and ran away!"
"Pushed you?" Genkai questioned further.
"Yea, I tackled him to the ground and he pushed me off him before he ran. I would have gotten up on my own, he didn't have to be rude... why?" Kainna asked innocently. Genkai grinned, chuckling softly to herself.
"He'll be back." She said instead. Kainna felt a flicker of hope settle in her chest, maybe Genkai was right. "While we wait, how about a game?"
The rest of the day was relaxing, Genkai and Kainna had spent most of the afternoon indoors playing an array of games. It was now sunset and Kainna had left Genkai to go outside and watch the moon rise. Hiei's jacket was still there. Kainna was sure she was going to find it missing, that he would have come to collect it while she was inside. She sat down next to it, pulling her legs to her chest as she watched the last of the sunset. Her mind for once was empty as the shadows got longer before disappearing altogether within the darkness.
Kainna blinked back into consciousness as the moonlight started to filter through the trees. Her skin began to glow, not as brightly as the night before but still enough to notice against the darkness around her. She sighed and laid down, using her arms as a pillow for her head as she gazed up at the emerging stars. She had thought for sure he would come back for his jacket; was he so mad at her that he was going to abandon it? She thought back to the spar earlier that day, her mind replaying everything she did. He couldn't be that sore of a loser, and if he was, she would have thought he would want a rematch. The wind picked up as she replayed the fight in her head, a distracting scent wafted over to her. She looked over at his jacket again, the smell of forest and fire invaded her senses. Without thinking too much about it, she grabbed the jacket and stuffed it behind her head to use as a pillow, using the excuse of being petty and mad at him for the reason to use it...not because of his scent.
It was far more comfortable than her arms...and she did win the match. The smell was stronger now as it surrounded her, clouding her senses. Kainna replayed the spar again, remembering how she tackled him to the ground, her victory dance as she sat on him. Her eyes widen in realization, her mind going further and remembering the red in his face as she leaned closer to him... just like when she leaned too closely to him in the castle. She invaded his personal space again when she didn't need to, she could have gotten off him after tackling him but no, she just had to gloat. She groaned and turned on her side, her face now buried in his jacket, the scent soothed her anxiety. When will she learn, Hiei obviously didn't like her getting unnecessarily close to him. She didn't know why she did it, she just wanted to get close to him and suddenly... she was. It was like she couldn't control it, whenever she interacted with him, she would forget everything else, like her manners apparently.
"Ugh he must think so badly of me, no wonder he ran." She grumbled to herself and turned onto her back with a thump. She stared up at the sky, a twinkling star looking like it was laughing at her.
Hiei had started a slow jog back to Genkai's when he noticed the sun setting. After he had that swim in the lake, he had felt very foolish coming back onto land dripping wet. He has never lost control of himself like that before, not over some woman. His chest constricted at the thought of her and memories of her sitting on him flash through his eyes, his skin started heating up again. He took a breath and controlled himself, lowering his body temperature back to normal, well... normal for him.
He stopped on the edge of the forest before the open field, cloaking his energy as to not be detected. His eyes quickly found her, laying on her side in the field. His eyes narrowed in on her "pillow"; his jacket folded neatly behind her head. He wouldn't escape her scent for a while now, his jacket must be covered with it. But he found he didn't mind; he was looking forward to it. Suddenly Kainna flung herself onto her back, staring up at the sky.
"Ugh he must think so badly of me, no wonder he ran." A pang of guilt consumed him for a moment. That wasn't the finest moment for him, running away like that. But staying there and having to face her with his conflicting emotions was an even worse thought to him. He jumped down from the tree he was standing in and appeared before her. It took her only a second to realize he was standing in front of her, she sat up quickly.
"Hiei." His name left her lips in a gasp. They stared at each other for a moment, the silence stretched between them. Kainna looked away first, a frown on her lips.
"I guess you came back for your jacket." She murmured and reached behind her for it.
"I shouldn't have ran away from you." Hiei blurted out. Kainna looked up at him, her arm frozen behind her, her hand placed on his jacket. Was that Hiei's version of an apology? She looked back at him, her eyes finding his face first. He was looking away from her, a small pout on his face and a tinge of red on his cheeks. Was he embarrassed? Kainna's eyes travelled over his naked chest and shoulders again before she forced them away. She grabbed his jacket and stood up.
"It's ok, I shouldn't have invaded your personal space like that." Kainna admitted with a blush of her own. Hiei's mind flashed to earlier in the day, his blood ran hot at the thought. He didn't respond, only staring at her with piercing eyes. He noticed she was glowing again, though not as bright as yesterday it still held that ethereal glow, distracting him again. His eyes, against his better judgment, trailed over her slowly; her hair was messy from laying down before, a few strands sticking up from the various braids she had, her teal eyes glowed against her pale skin, his eyes continued downwards passing her slim neck, over her choker, passed the swell of her chest to the curve of her waist as it joined her hips, a hum of appreciation escaped his lips, he didn't know if it was because of what happened earlier but she looked enchanting tonight. Hiei flickered his eyes back to her face as Kainna held out her arms, offering his jacket back.
"I took your jacket as my prize, since I won and all." Kainna teased easily, hoping to dispel this awkward air around them. Hiei smirked and crossed his arms instead of taking the jacket.
"Speaking of that, I want a rematch." Kainna grinned at his words and instead re-folded his jacket and placed it by her sai daggers, knowing he won't be needing it for the spar.
"That's more like the Hiei I know." Kainna got into a fighting stance, expecting Hiei to back away into his own place across from her, but instead he took a step closer, forcing her to lower her hands.
"And you know me so well?" Hiei asked. Kainna blushed feeling uncomfortable and confused. Why was he coming into her space when he had ran before for the same reason? Before she could retort he disappeared and reappeared further away, a smirk on his face before getting into his fighting position. Kainna blinked in confusion but readied herself anyways. Hiei made the first move and an easy spar started.
Genkai watched the two demons fight from the window in her room, the darkness kept her hidden in the shadows. Her eyes flickered between Kainna and Hiei as they moved around each other almost like a dance, the chemistry between them obvious to the on-looker but not between the fighters themselves. Genkai was reminded of herself, back when she would spar with Toguro so many years ago. Her eyes turned sad as she continued to watch, she hoped Kainna would never feel the heart ache she had felt. But that wasn't up to her to decide. She watched as Kainna flipped away from Hiei, an exited smile on her lips as she managed to hit him before retreating, Hiei's eyes were burning as he watched her with a smirk of his own. Genkai's shoulders relaxed, perhaps their story would be different from hers.