Chapter Fourteen: Siblings
With Botan's help, Kainna was standing outside Yusuke's school 2 hours before he was scheduled to be dismissed. With that extra time, she was able to circle the school twice before picking a tree near the exit she thought Yusuke would normally take. She jumped up onto a branch and situated herself as comfortable as she could, keeping the bento box out of the sun as she bathed in the afternoon light. It was a breezy day with a light coverage of clouds that gave relief to the warmness that covered her like a cocoon. It coaxed her into a relaxed daze as she daydreamed about everything and nothing, her mind drifted as she closed her eyes, the sun appearing through the clouds once again, providing heat to her chilled skin. Her mind flickered to memories of warmth, particularly in the past few days. Hiei came to mind rather quickly as Kainna had gotten quite used to his warmth. In a daze her mind continued through memories and focused on the last time she felt warmth like this... when she had tackled him. The warmth from his body had spread through her fingertips and quickly shot up her body like a forest fire, but he had pushed her off too soon for her to enjoy. As a moon demon, she was always cold. Feeling how warm his body was sparked a curiosity within her, a curiosity that turned her daydream into something more.
Her mind continued; she remembered his smooth skin underneath her palms, the heat of his body engulfing her hand. She wondered how a hug would feel; enveloped in his warm embrace. Her mind pictured it; her hands still placed on his naked chest as his arms wrapped around her, a hand placed firmly against her back while the other laid along her waist, circling to the small of her back before pulling her close to him. She angled her head to look at him, although he was not much taller. Her eyes found his before drifting down to his lips, she wondered if they were warm as well. She licked her own lips before moving her head closer to his.
A shrill bell broke Kainna out of her daydream and caused her to jump in her position on the tree branch as she released some of her spirit energy out in a wave. Once she calmed down enough to notice the students leaving the school in crowds, she let herself breath. She pressed her cold palms against her flushed face. Why did she have to dream of Hiei? She groaned into her hands, her embarrassment now fully taking over. It was already obvious that she had found him attractive, an embarrassment she had to get over once she realized Hiei knew, but now she was daydreaming of him? How pathetic. She placed her hands down onto the branch and huffed. It was just a dream, one that she would make sure to forgot if she were to ever face Hiei again.
With another deep breath, and a hasty grab for the bento box, she jumped down from the tree branch stealthy enough not to gain attention from the students. She took a moment to search for Yusuke's energy before taking off in the direction she sensed it. She was correct in her choice of school exits; she could sense him walking towards her now. She stood a few yards away, her eyes searching for the energy she felt. She neglected to notice the weird looks she was getting from the other students, the way they looked her up and down in wonder. It was not every day they saw a demoness in a fighting kimono, although they had no idea that was what they were looking at. Finally, a break in the crowds showed Yusuke heading her way.
"Yusuke!" Kainna yelled with an excited grin causing many of the students around her to watch with interest, some of them muttering that it would be a friend of Urameshi's, who would look and act so weirdly.
Yusuke looked up at the sound of his name, his eyes immediately finding Kainna in the crowd of students. She was jumping up and down in excitement, her arm waving him to her as if he could miss her in the crowd. Once Kainna made eye contact with him she quickly ran over to him, keeping in mind to run at a human's pace. As she approached, she noticed he was not alone, next to him stood a brown-haired girl she recognized as Keiko, the girl that was on the screen during their last fight. Kainna smiled even wider, it was about time she met the infamous Keiko.
"Kainna! What brings you around these parts?" Yusuke asked as Kainna reached them. He tussled her hair into a static mess once she got close enough, preforming his usually annoying brother routine on her. Kainna pouted as per usual but couldn't even pretend to be annoyed with him.
"Well, I figured I should check up on my patient after the last mission-" Kainna was about to continue her sentence but Yusuke suddenly talked over her.
"Yea at the detective agency, Spirit Realm, that we work at. Botan was kind enough to explain to Keiko here all about the normal human detective work we do." Yusuke stressed his words, hoping Kainna would catch on. Kainna blinked at him stupidly until Yusuke rolled his eyes over to Keiko as if to point to her before mothing the words she doesn't know. Kainna nodded in understanding before turning to face Keiko who was looking at the two of them with suspicion.
"Right, that last... case we were on left you really drained. I just wanted to make sure you were back to normal." Kainna struggled to find the words that wouldn't be a direct lie to Keiko but still followed along with what Yusuke was telling her. Kainna didn't like to lie to people, especially to someone so close to her teammate.
"You two work together?" Keiko asked, her voice layered with curiosity as she glanced down at the strange kimono the girl in front of her was wearing. Keiko would be lying if she didn't feel upset about meeting another one of Yusuke's work friends only to find another attractive female. In fact, Keiko was feeling very self-conscious of that fact. The girl that stood in front of her was anything but ugly; her face was kind and innocent looking with bright teal eyes and smile that lit up her face and was hard to look away from. Her body was something Keiko felt jealously over, while Keiko was happy to be skinny and fit, she couldn't help but feel jealous seeing the womanly curves on the girl across from her, from her slim waist to her wider hips and thicker thighs, Keiko felt unmatched. If this was Yusuke's teammate, she had much more of an advantage to win over Yusuke's heart than she had.
"Yea, I'm the healer and back up fighter for the team." Kainna answered honestly while Yusuke slapped his forehead with annoyance. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Kainna-" Kainna was about to continue with her full introduction, Kainna Demoness of the Moon, but remembered that Keiko didn't know about the spirit world and had to abruptly end her sentence. Instead, she continued on as if it didn't happen. "You must be Keiko; Yusuke has mentioned you many times." Kainna teased Yusuke, his face bloomed red as he crossed his arms in annoyance.
"I'm sorry I can't say the same, Yusuke has never mentioned he had another girl on his team besides Botan" Keiko said, trying to be polite but finding it hard to control her anger at being deceived. She couldn't blame the girl in front of her, although she wished she could, she was madder at Yusuke. Kainna easily picked up on Keiko's tone and quickly understood the misunderstanding. If she were Keiko, she would feel the same.
"Well Keiko I-" Yusuke started to get out but was quickly interrupted by Kainna.
"Yusuke, would you mind leaving us a moment to chat. I would like to talk to Keiko alone, if that is alright?" Kainna's words were kind but didn't leave room for Yusuke to argue while allowing Keiko to refuse the conversation if she wanted to. Keiko's expression changed from anger to surprise.
"I don't mind, and I'm sure Yusuke wouldn't mind waiting for us by the gates." Keiko glared over at Yusuke as he started to try to argue back but was stopped when he noticed that both women were glaring at him. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"I'll be over there then." He said with a nervous laugh before moving over to the gate's entrance, just out of hearing range. With Yusuke gone the air around the two girls got awkward, Kainna shifted on her feet with nervousness. How was she going to explain this?
"I'm sorry Yusuke is such a dumbass." Kainna started with a low bow to the girl in front of her. Keiko was shocked at the sudden words and respectful bow Kainna had presented. "If I had known he did not tell you of my presence on the team I would have come to you and introduced myself much sooner." Keiko held up a hand as if to wave off the apology.
"It's alright, it is really Yusuke's fault... not yours. It just came as a shock, I'm sorry if I came off a little rude." Keiko apologized back. It was now Kainna's turn to wave off Keiko's apology, one hand still holding onto the bento while the other waved wildly.
"No, you weren't rude I just-" Kainna paused trying to find the words. She locked eyes with Keiko as she suddenly became serious. "Yusuke is one of my favorite people to be around, in fact I don't think I have enjoyed my line of work until Yusuke showed up." Kainna smiled softly at the thought, Keiko's heart tugged with worry, was Kainna admitting something here? "In fact, I think he is my favorite because he reminds me so much of my sister."
"What?!" Keiko couldn't stop the laughter that followed her question. The last thing she expected Kainna to say was that. Kainna grinned.
"Yea, don't tell Yusuke but... he is just like my sister. In his defense she was a tomboy." Kainna's grin slowly faded as she remembered her sister. "But she was always there, much like Yusuke. She would argue with me just like him, over stupid things that don't really matter. She never backed down from a fight, even when she was outnumbered. She cared more about everyone else than herself. I see her a lot in Yusuke." She finished with a soft voice. Keiko had stopped laughing but kept a kind smile on her face, she was starting to understand.
"I'm guessing she's not around anymore?" Keiko asked gently. The question brought back the last memory of her sister, her fingers wrapped tightly around the cage Kainna had been trapped in, screaming to hold on as she left to go find help. She never came back.
"No, she's not." Kainna admitted with a sigh. "But what I am saying is, Yusuke is like a sister to me." Both Kainna and Keiko grinned at those words. "And even though I would miss him, I can stop hanging around him if it makes you uncomfortable. I am very much a loyal friend, but I am more a loyal to fellow women." Keiko smiled softly at the girl in front of her, much more comfortable now after hearing her explanation.
"No, I get it now. I admit I was a little jealous before seeing how you two acted around each other and that you brought him a bento." Keiko motioned to the bento in Kainna's hand.
"Oh! No this isn't for Yusuke." Kainna quickly clarified.
"No? I thought you brought it for him?"
"No, I was saving it for our other teammate, Hiei." Kainna face turned a light pink as she explained. "He um... He was supposed to walk me here since I didn't know where Yusuke went to school but he got called on a last-minute mission so Botan had to drop me off instead. I'm supposed to meet him later with Yusuke so..." Kainna trailed off as her blush deepened and she hid the bento behind her back again. Keiko's smile widened as she realized how wrong she was about Kainna, she definitely was not interested in Yusuke as she had assumed before. But this Hiei guy? There was something between them.
"That's really nice of you." Keiko instead said. She just met the girl; she wasn't going to tease her just yet. But all of this was music to Keiko's ears. "And I don't mind you being Yusuke's teammate. In fact, I would hope we could become friends as well." Kainna looked back at Keiko with a grin.
"Really? I would like that." Kainna spoke honestly with a kind smile on her face. The two let a brief moment of silent understanding between them pass before Keiko spared a glance at her watch.
"I'm sorry I have an after-school activity I have to get to. It was greet meeting you Kainna." Keiko said with a smile and waved her goodbye. She started walking away from Kainna but suddenly turned around, now walking backwards as she faced Kainna. "Make sure to tell Yusuke that if he leaves anything else out, he'll regret it." Kainna grinned and gave a thumbs up at Keiko's threat.
"I'll let him know." And with that, both girls turned and walk away from each other, feeling much better about the other. However, as Kainna approached Yusuke her smile turned into a line as her eyes hardened.
"Yusuke! What the fuck was that about?!" Kainna asked angrily. Some of the other students looked over, unused to such language while Yusuke didn't even flinch. He looked away from her, pretending to be innocence although looking quite guilty.
"Look, I just didn't think she needed to know. She was already upset when I introduced Botan, I just didn't want to overwhelm her." Yusuke explained stupidly. He really liked Keiko and when she was suspicious of Botan, he had a hard time regaining her trust again. He didn't want more distance from her.
"Well, you should have told her even if it hurts her, woman like to know things." Kainna explained gently. At least Yusuke had a good motive for lying, but she wasn't going let him off so easily. She smacked him on the back, creating a hard impact with her spirit energy that sent him suddenly onto his knees.
"But you are an idiot, I still don't understand why you didn't tell her the full truth of all of this." Kainna grumbled referring the big hole in his lie; everything about the spirit world. Yusuke finally managed to get back on his feet, he rubbed his neck wincing from the pain left there.
"Yea I'm working on it." Yusuke grumbled as he started to lead them away from the school and towards his home. "I was actually going to tell her about my whole team this week but you had to come and ruin that for me." Yusuke complained with a pout, looking at Kainna with an annoyed expression. Kainna crossed her arms with a pout of her own.
"Fine, next time I won't visit. You can do your own check-up." Kainna grumbled. Yusuke's face morphed from a pout to a grin rather quickly as his teasing had worked on her.
"Aw! You missed me. I knew it! Genkai must be boring you to death for you to travel through the city to me." Yusuke teased further, his arms going behind his head as he walked. Kainna's pout disappeared as she thought of Yusuke's words.
"Actually, I haven't been bored at all. I've been improving on my training especially now that I'm training with Hiei so-"
"Hiei!?" Yusuke interrupted Kainna abruptly, surprised at hearing the other demon's name. If anything, he thought she would be training with Kurama. He never thought Hiei would entertain the idea of training anyone let alone Kainna. What was he up to?
Kainna had stopped walking with Yusuke's outburst, she looked over at him curiously.
"Yea, Hiei and I have been training together lately."
"Like since the mission?"
"Yea."
"But not every day?" Yusuke pressed. Maybe Hiei would train Kainna but it was likely they had just sparred once. Kainna looked up in thought as she pondered Yusuke's question.
"I guess today would be the first day I haven't seen him since the mission." Kainna mused and continued the walk while Yusuke stood still. When was the mission? His eyes widened when he finished counting and he jogged ahead to get back into step with Kainna.
"You've seen him for 3 days straight?" Yusuke asked although it seemed he had already gotten his answer.
"Yea, actually he was supposed to escort me today to see you but got called away on a mission so Botan dropped me off instead." Kainna explained easily while Yusuke looked ever more confused.
"How did you rope him into escorting you here?"
"I didn't, I think he took pity on me." Kainna admitted with a wince, it was the only reason she could think of. Yusuke chuckled at her answer.
"I didn't think Hiei felt that emotion." Kainna smiled at Yusuke's comment. While they were talking Yusuke had noticed the bento box in Kainna's hand.
"What's with the bento box?" Kainna looked at the box with a timid expression. She had hoped Yusuke wouldn't notice.
"It's for Hiei, a thank you for helping me." Yusuke's eyes sparkled at her words.
"So, it's up for grabs then?" Yusuke asked with hunger in his eyes. He had missed Kainna's meals, the only thing he missed from Genkai's hellish training. Kainna moved the box away just as Yusuke's hand came for it.
"No, Yusuke. It's not for you." Kainna scolded him as he made another grab for it, he managed to get his grip around the curve of it and pried it from Kainna's grasp. Kainna could have grabbed it back but was worried in her haste she would drop it. Instead, she tried to jump for it as Yusuke held it out of her reach. Damn humans were everywhere or this fight wouldn't even had started.
"Yusuke! That's not for you, it's for Hiei." Kainna stretched on her tippy toes, trying to reach the bento box just over Yusuke's head.
"Well, he should be here to claim it then. So where is he? Do you see Hiei anywhere?" Yusuke taunted back. A tree branched shook nearby distracting the two as a flash of black appeared before them. Hiei stood on the sidewalk in front of them, his hands in the pockets of his jacket, his red eyes staring down the two in front of him.
"Hiei." Kainna said his name before she realized it. His eyes shifted quickly from Yusuke to Kainna at the sound of her voice, his gaze sliding over her body calculatingly, as if scanning for something before they snapped back to her face. Kainna finally broke out of her stupor, she gave a swift kick to Yusuke's abdomen, knocking him into the concrete wall that lined the sidewalk besides him. She quickly grabbed the bento box in the air and jumped over to Hiei.
"Are you done with your mission already?" Kainna asked with a happy smile. Hiei's eyes traced over her face, he noticed her darkened eyeliner, it popped out her eyes and distracted him momentarily before he refocused on the happy yet shy smile on her face. A feeling stirred in his stomach, was this for him? Before he could answer her, a groan interrupted him. Behind Kainna, Yusuke had managed to peel himself from the wall, his hands on his back as he tried to crack his spine back into place.
"Hiei, my favorite three-eyed demon. Speak of the devil, huh?" Yusuke greeted Hiei with a smile despite the pain he was in. "Are you stalking me now or something?" Hiei's demeanour changed now that Yusuke was in the conversation. His eyes hardened back into an indifferent look as he presented Yusuke with a video tape. Kainna blinked as Hiei's arm pass over her shoulder as he handed Yusuke the tape. Kainna was in between the two, closer to Hiei than Yusuke. With Hiei leaning slightly to give Yusuke the tape Kainna was trapped suddenly in his personal space. She felt a slight rise in temperature from his body, her breath caught in her throat as Hiei glance down at her. Kainna was reminded of her daydream not long ago, a blush decorated her cheeks, one that made Hiei smirk in response. He released the tape to Yusuke and stepped out of her space. It all happened in a moment, one that Yusuke didn't even notice but left Kainna feeling nervous.
"What's this?" Yusuke asked as he turned over the tape looking for a description. Hiei didn't look away from Kainna as he answered, his face returned to that of indifference.
"It's from Koenma." Kainna snapped out of her daze as she remembered.
"Oh yea, Botan said it was a retrieval mission this morning." Kainna remembered. Hiei's gaze shifted away as he thought of this morning and his missed opportunities.
"I'm guessing that Botan gave you a ride since you're here right now and not lost somewhere in the city." Hiei commented with a tease, his face remaining serious. Kainna smiled childishly at him.
"Yes Hiei, she got me here. Even though I do think I could have made it here just fine by myself." Kainna defended herself with a grin. The mention of Botan reminded her of the bento box in her hand. "This is for you by the way." Kainna presented the box with an easy-going smile. All embarrassment seemed to have vanished from her as the excitement of giving a gift took its place.
"What is it?" Hiei asked, much like Yusuke had asked about the tape.
"A bento box filled with food I made this morning. I was going to give it to you as thanks for getting me to Yusuke today." Kainna answered, her smile still on her face. Hiei's expression didn't change as he stared at the box silently before his eyes flickered back to her. He didn't take it.
"I didn't get you here." Hiei answered bluntly. Yusuke, who was watching silently from behind found himself slapping his face yet again today. Why was Hiei being so rude? Couldn't he just accept the food? But to Yusuke's surprise Kainna didn't flinch, in fact she chuckled lightly at his reply.
"So, it's still yours." She answered simply. Hiei wanted to accept the bento, especially after tasting her food once already, but he didn't feel as if he deserved it. Like winning a match the opponent forfeited. "You'll still owe me, though." Kainna continued. She could feel Hiei's hesitation but she persisted. She knew Hiei was more of a nomad than her and probably didn't have many home-cooked meals. And although she was sure he was probably a great hunter, she didn't like to think that he might go hungry.
"If you don't want it, I'll take it." Yusuke spoke up. Hiei's eyes flashed up to Yusuke, his mouth twisted in a scowl.
"I never said I didn't want it." Hiei growled out as he quickly snatched the bento out of Kainna's hands and tucked it underneath his arm. His face became indifferent again as he turned back to face Kainna who was smiling happily.
"Good, now you owe me a favor." She said, her grin suddenly turning mischievous. "It's always good to have favors owed." Especially if it's owed from Hiei. Kainna's grin grew.
"Fine." Hiei agreed simply. He didn't mind owing a favor to Kainna. It meant he had another reason to see her again. His eyes moved back to Yusuke and the tape he held in his hand. He had a weird feeling about this. But Botan made it clear that it would just be Yusuke and Kainna on this mission so he didn't have a right to ask. Besides, his contact had news of his sister and he was supposed to meet him deep in the forest in a few hours. Hiei couldn't go with them even if he was allowed.
"Something wrong, Hiei?" Yusuke asked after a few moments of silence. Hiei didn't answer Yusuke, instead he turned away from him. Normally Hiei would have just left without a word but he found himself wanting to say something to the demoness in front of him. His eyes met hers but he couldn't manage to think of something to say. A moment passed between the two before Hiei tore his eyes away and left in a flash of black.
"He's a strange guy." Yusuke commented afterwards. Kainna didn't hear him, her eyes manged to track him to a roof top further down the block before he disappeared from her eyesight completely.
"Well, we're going to have to involve Kuwabara on this one." Yusuke complained as he continued their walk. Kainna quickly followed after him.
"Why?" She questioned.
"Cause he's the only one I know that has a VCR."