128Aaaand we're back!
Many thanks to my lovely reviewers, Kactuskat16, Emzybubble, deathangel1630, Jessenia22, Beryl Bloodstone, NanneroftheWe, Mr steve jr, and canibecandid! Your positivity and kind words warm my heart!
On my Tumblr, someone asked a very good question—whether or not this story took place before or after Gravity. Just to clear things up, Into the Miasma takes place a very, very long time before the events of Gravity.
Hope you enjoy!
"I do not care about happiness simply because I believe that joy is something worth fighting for."
― Criss Jami
A Greater Good
I woke to a warmth pressed against my forehead. A smile broke across my face before I had even opened my eyes, and I turned my face towards Kurama unseeingly. He flipped on the lamp at my bedside table, and I groaned.
"Why won't you love me?" I grumbled. He laughed and bent down, kissing me despite my horrific morning breath. I pushed him away and sat up, squinting at him sleepily. He was already in his polo and khakis, his shoes dangling from his fingertips.
"How are you already dressed?" I groused. Casual Friday dress, but still…
"Would it make you feel even more inept if I mentioned that breakfast is already made?" he asked lightly. My answer was another groan bordering on mournful keening, and he laughed. Jinx jumped up on the bed and headbutted me, and Kurama walked out of the room. I gave the cat a few good scratches behind the ears and rolled out of bed as well, rising to my feet. I blearily stumbled into our only bathroom to take care of the morning necessities.
Kurama had to go to work today (though only until noon,) and I didn't—so I was entrusted with packing enough clothes and food for us to last the weekend. His stepfather had brought over a couple sleeping bags earlier this week, so my job was a little easier. Which is why I saved some online homework to do today; I knew I would have the time for it.
After breakfast, I waved Kurama out the door as he carried his bike to the stairwell, and set to work, cleaning the kitchen and organizing what we would need to bring. I packed a few seed packets along with our clothes—Yusuke would no doubt turn his nose up at the veggies, but they were coming anyway.
I'd just managed to finish my homework when I heard Kurama's footsteps, and rushed to open the door for him, flattening my back against the wall so he could get through with his bike, which currently resided on hooks, front wheel up, in our hall closet. When Kurama placed it there, he looked me over and laughed. "Ready to go, I see!"
"Our train leaves at 1:30," I replied, flapping my hands at him, one of the sleeves on my rolled-up flannel shirt coming loose and settling around my forearm. "Get dressed!"
"Converses?" Kurama asked when, as we were leaving, he saw my choice of shoe. He snorted. "Not the best shoe for hiking…"
"These guys literally saw me to hell and back," I retorted, grinning. "They'll do."
I was of course referring to my (mind you, unwilling) trip to Makai two years back. When the former demon lord Yomi ordered my capture, Kurama thought that he was using me as a pawn to manipulate him into Yomi's service. But it was in fact much more than that… at the end of my journey home, after I'd escaped from Yomi's compound, we'd discovered that Reikai had used me as a psychic inhibitor, of sorts, to hold Yusuke's demonic heritage at bay. At my birth, they had connected our auras, and since my power was geared towards defending me from demonic attacks, physical and mental alike; it automatically suppressed Yusuke's demonic energy.
During that trip Kurama, after losing control of Youko, marked me—injecting his demonic aura directly into my system. This had me on the brink of death, because my energy, already spent from being in Makai for nearly a year, had exhausted its reserves in an attempt to eject his aura from my body. Reikai had given me two choices—have them negate the mark, and become their Next Spirit detective with my newly recovered powers, or bind my powers and keep the mark. Unwilling to play right back into Reikai's hands, I'd chosen the latter—something Koenma certainly didn't appreciate. I smiled a bit as I thought over that again.
Yusuke was the first to spot us at the Mushiyori train station, and waved. "Hey, slowpokes!" I grinned and flipped him off, and he roared in laughter, coming out of the shade of the station to greet us. He clapped Kurama on the shoulder and quite literally lifted me off of my feet in a hug—only setting me down when I implied, in a breathless squeak, that oxygen was in fact necessary for my continued survival.
Almost everyone was there—Keiko, Yukina, Kuwabara, and Yusuke—and Yana, with Maya trailing along behind him, walked up a couple minutes later. Botan would meet us at Genkai's. Tomorrow morning, we would leave the temple; and hike our way through her land, eventually making our way down to the beach where we were going to set up camp.
Shizuru all but rolled her eyes when we'd asked her to come; same with Kaito. We'd tried to get Kido to come along as well, but he went to a university in Tokyo and so the trip was a bit out of the way for him. I had told Kuronue about this trip months ago, and he hadn't even had the decency to respond.
Demon World is even more out of the way than Tokyo, my mind traitorously pointed out, and I frowned.
"Why the long face, short stuff?" Yana asked, bending down to grin in my face. I stuck my tongue out at him.
"You're one to talk," I snickered, and Maya laughed into her hand. Yana shot her a faux hurt look, and she shrugged.
"Well, you kind of do…" she said, and he threw up his hands and made a show of pouting and stalking off. Both Maya and I rolled our eyes in unison, and burst into a fit of giggles.
We all got our tickets and made our way onto the train (Kuwabara bringing up the rear naturally, having stopped at the food court as always.) Yusuke and Kuwabara slid into the self-facing bench seats in our compartment first, both having immediately laid claim to the window seats—then their girlfriends went in next. And Kurama and I slid in next to Yukina and Kuwabara; Maya and Yana taking the other side.
"Poor Botan," I said with a grin, glancing around the compartment. "Poor thing's going to be a 9th wheel…" Kuwabara almost spat out his mouthful of tuna sandwich, and Keiko pulled a wry smile.
"You're right, Sparky," Yusuke chortled. "Even tall, ginger, and ugly got a girlfriend… Botan's going to feel real special!"
"Urameshi, you dick—sorry 'kina," Kuwabara spluttered, glaring daggers at his friend across the compartment's fold-out table.
"Y'know, if Hiei shows up…" Yana mused. I exchanged a quick, amused glance with Kurama, and he sighed, shaking his head. An amused smile tilted up a single corner of his mouth.
"That's a crack pairing I want to see," Maya added.
The compartment was filled with thoughtful silence.
"I ship it," I decided.
We all laughed at the thought of that, and in the next couple hours it took for the train to travel to its destination, we settled into a light, easy banter that passed the time very quickly. In the year that had passed since Yusuke had returned from Makai, things had been much like this—we weren't able to hang out as often as we used to (especially since things like the apocalypse, etc., weren't forcing us together for survival anymore,) but when we did, it was effortless. There wasn't a looming threat over our heads anymore, something that was really the very reason we had all become friends. But our friendships had lasted beyond our trials, into the mundane existence that had become our lives.
On occasion, I would get that feeling again. That feeling of a lack of fulfillment—of inaction. Kurama knew and understood whenever I grew silent and thoughtful. On occasion, I would mourn the loss of my powers. That didn't really happen anymore, though—this was my life now. It was still filled with things that were sometimes too good to be real. This family was one of them.
Botan had already arrived at Genkai's when we (after an hour-and-a-half bus trip) reached the bottom of the endless staircase that led up to her house. She came floating down on her oar when we were about halfway up, and graciously slung our backpacks on the end of it as she flew next to us, chatting about anything and everything as only she could do.
"No Kuronue, huh?" she asked me at some point, and I snorted, looking up at her.
"You don't even sound surprised," I pointed out. "Says a lot, huh?"
"Don't worry dear," she said in her unruffled, chipper tones. She flapped her hand at me. "He'll come around. He's just overworked and trying to figure out where he belongs, that's all."
He'll come around. Why did everyone keep saying that? Come around from what, exactly? It wasn't that hard… yeah, he was a demon, and Makai was his home. But I was his friend—his best friend; he'd admitted it himself. If our roles had been reversed I'd come back to visit at every opportunity…
Something in my expression must've given away what I was thinking, because she bent down to muss my hair. "He'll come around," she repeated, and I wrestled a smile on my face.
Genkai greeted us at the top of the stairs with a smirk, and Yukina immediately rushed up the last few steps to hug her. She returned it halfway with a bemused expression, but didn't say anything negative or recoil—because really, how could anyone do that to Yukina?
"What a motley bunch," she grumbled, but there was an unmistakable twinkle in her eye.
"Hey, Grandma," Yusuke said as he reached the top of the stairs. He stretched and grinned, not even remotely out of breath. "Got any food? I'm here to mooch!"
"Starve," she shot over her shoulder as she turned to walk back to the temple. I could hear the smile in her tone, though. We followed her inside, all depositing our shoes and backpacks on the porch. I dug around in Kurama's and mine, pulling out a couple packets of seeds and handing them off to my botanically talented fiancé and mate. I could smell food in the kitchen already, but I figured it wouldn't hurt for us to contribute at least something. I mean… Yukina and Kuwabara had gotten some groceries for her and brought them in their backpacks, but still…
That night, a video game tournament commenced. I lasted until I was paired up with Kuwabara, and Kurama lasted until he had to fight Yusuke. Eventually, it all boiled down to Yusuke and Genkai, the latter of whom was the reigning champion.
"Arrrg, you old bitch, NO!" Yusuke bellowed as his player was pinned down by Genkai's and quickly lost half of its remaining HP.
"I've got arthritis in every joint, nook, and cranny and this is all you've got?" Genkai cackled, her fingers flying over the controller as if they belonged to hands that were half a century younger. Yusuke was standing, jumping on one foot, and his face was a mask of screwed-up concentration. There was, if I wasn't completely mistaken, sweat beading his brow.
After a couple more minutes of feverish playing, Yusuke burst out: "This is all you do up here, isn't it, Granny?" Genkai simply smirked and said nothing, refusing to be distracted. Behind me, I could hear Kuwabara and Yana exchanging bets. Both were fighting over who had to bet on Yusuke's win, and I snickered into my hand. Poor thing. He didn't stand a chance against the video game-savvy hermit that was Genkai. There was probably some truth in what he said—I mean, what else could Genkai do for entertainment up here by herself?
Naturally, Yusuke was soundly beaten (though not as soundly as he'd been beaten last time—he'd been practicing) and he promptly insisted on a three-way sparring match between him, Kuwabara, and Kurama to vent his frustration. Kurama said he would prefer to referee, and Kuwabara agreed readily—so with that, we all tramped out into the cool July night to watch it go down in the courtyard outside Genkai's temple. In the corner of my eye, I saw Yana puffing out his chest and making as if to join them, but Maya talked him down.
But, as they were just about to begin, Yusuke straightened up and peered into the darkness. Kurama followed suit, and Kuwabara made a disgusted noise.
"Hey, short stuff!" Yusuke called. "Quit lurking and come fight!" His voice echoed in the trees, and it was met with nothing but silence. I saw him grin, and he raised his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice once more: "You know I can drag you out of your tree if I want… better come down and save yourself the humiliation."
One distant and quiet "Hn" later, Hiei dropped out of the sky, landing in a slight crouch and straightening leisurely. His red eyes almost looked black in the night as they flicked over our small gathering. Yukina strode out to meet him with a wide smile.
"The food should still be warm inside, Hiei," I heard her say. "I can put on tea…"
Hiei muttered something to her that I couldn't hear; of course, it didn't sound rude, but it was probably him declining the offer anyway. I glanced over at Maya and saw her quite literally gaping at Hiei—I walked to her side and pressed a finger to her chin, closing her mouth. She blushed and stuttered an apology.
I could get why she was staring, though. Even though we did have three demons in our midst, Hiei was really the only one who looked the part. I had to admit that it was strange seeing him here—yes, I'd seen him once or twice in the past couple years, but the last time we'd exchanged any words had been in Makai, where he had absolutely been in his element. Here, he looked uncomfortable—he'd replaced the bandage around his Jagan eye (something that had been missing in Makai naturally) and seemed far more reserved than he had in that forest in Mukuro's territory years ago. And I don't think Maya had ever really met Hiei anyway, so…
I grinned and walked forward, down the porch steps into the courtyard, pulling out the disposable camera (one of three) that I'd bought for this trip. I raised it to my eye and pointed it at Hiei and Yukina.
"Smile!" I ordered, and Yukina turned, beaming. The best I got from Hiei (the best I would ever get, really) was him actually looking into the lens of the camera. The flash went off, and he blinked a few times, frowning. I dropped the camera from my face and said lightly:
"If Kuronue ever drags his useless ass topside again, I'll send you a copy, Hiei," I promised with a disarming smile. While he didn't look particularly displeased with the idea, he simply jerked a nod of acknowledgement in my direction and averted his gaze once more.
Yusuke walked over to him and clapped him on the back. "So, lemme guess—you want to fight the winner?"
"If you present a challenge," Hiei retorted.
"Hey! I might win!" Kuwabara protested. Hiei simply fixed him with a long stare, complete with an eyebrow raised a fraction.
"Might," Hiei echoed, his voice dripping with disdain, and I couldn't help but snort.
Naturally, it only took Yusuke a few minutes to lock Kuwabara in a back-breaking hold, from which he was released by Kurama's ten-count. He didn't lose badly like he used to, though—both he and Yusuke were laughing themselves breathless by the end of it.
Now, Hiei (sans his ever-present trench coat) and Yusuke stood across from each other, Yusuke grinning from ear to ear—his hair a little messed up from the scuffle with Kuwabara—and Hiei fixing him with a dispassionate stare. He'd also left his sword, along with his coat, with Yukina. She held it in her lap and traced her fingers over the metalwork on the hilt.
"One…" Kurama said.
"Get 'em, Yusuke!" Kuwabara bellowed.
"Two…"
"Don't snap a single tree on my property, understand?" Genkai grumbled.
Kurama looked at them both, a slow smirk easing its way onto his features, and dropped his hand partway. Yusuke stumbled forward, and then caught himself, laughing, and flipped Kurama off for tricking him into a false start. I saw Hiei bare his teeth slightly, though it wasn't an entirely unpleasant expression. His eyes glittered in the dark.
"FIGHT!" I shouted, and, before I could blink, both of them disappeared in a cloud of dust. I could hear an ominous creaking and groaning in the trees surrounding Genkai's temple, and saw the tops of them, silhouetted against the full moon, swaying back and fort. Kurama turned, grinned at me, and then disappeared as well.
"Sonuvabitch," Kuwabara grunted, before bolting, much more slowly, into the forest as well. "Wait up, you bastards!" He too disappeared into the darkness surrounding the temple.
I plopped down on the steps in a huff. "Damn it, that's one I really wanted to see…"
"I hope they don't get too badly hurt…" Yukina said softly, her fingers frozen on the hilt of Hiei's sword.
"Aren't there demons in those woods?" Maya asked worriedly.
"Yeah, and their names are Hiei, Kurama, and Yusuke," I replied, lacing my fingers behind my head and grinning up at her. "There's nothing out there that can even scratch them."
"But Kuwabara's human," Yana pointed out. Judging from his frown, I could tell he still felt a little slighted after not being included in the initial sparring match.
"A human psychic who can cut through dimensions," Keiko said with a little smile. "They'll be fine!"
"Well, I'm going to go watch," Botan decided, her oar materializing in her palm. "Who else?"
Keiko, Maya, Yukina, and myself all looked at each other as Botan eyed us expectantly, and I shrugged. "Sure, why not? It's been a while though, so don't do any barrel rolls or anything, okay?" I stood and brushed off the seat of my pants. After travelling mostly with Jin while I was making my bid for freedom in Makai, my fear of heights had been thoroughly squashed. There was, however, a difference between being completely incased in a very capable and secure demonic bear hug, and balancing myself on a several-inch-wide stick.
"No promises," Botan sang as she hopped up on the oar. She patted the wider part, and I shot her a stern look before clambering up behind her. She sat sidesaddle, but I took no chances, hugging the oar with my thighs and all but squeezing the air out of Botan's lungs with my arms.
"Better go, before I change my mind—!" On the last word, Botan kicked off, and we sailed fifty feet into the night air within a span of just a couple seconds. I was quite proud of myself for managing to not shout in fear, but felt the familiar dropping sensation in the pit of my stomach as we spiraled even higher, sailing over the tops of even the highest trees. We sailed southwest, where the trees were swaying, and soon the trees thinned into a small, rocky valley. Botan dove a little to get a better look, and I squeezed my eyes shut as she did so.
"Look!" she called out finally, and I opened my eyes. Below, several black blurs darted among the boulders strewn throughout the valley; I heard a great CRACK as one of them split in two with a cloud of dust. Then: a streak of red—Kurama closely refereeing the match. Just a few moments later, I saw (and heard) Kuwabara run into the fray with a whoop. We edged a little closer to the ground, and disembarked on a rocky outcropping. I strode to the edge and flopped down, my feet dangling, and peered into the valley below. The moonlight made it easy to see, so I was able to watch as Yusuke and Hiei blurred over the rocks, exchanging blows, the occasional curse, and laughter. (The last being from Yusuke mainly, but I could've sworn…)
As we watched, I was once more blown away by how fast demons were. It was especially uncanny to see Yusuke letting loose all of his energy—and even to see Kurama this way. Because both of them lived in the Human World now, there weren't many opportunities for them to "operate" at their full capacity—and I could understand the giddy, almost relieved laughter floating up from Yusuke's blurred form.
"I haven't seen them this… happy in a long time," Botan noted, echoing my thoughts.
"Yeah," I mused. Then I kind of sobered a little. I've got to wonder how happy you all are, I thought, projecting my words out to Kurama. Y'know. Being tied down to Ningenkai. You're all really enjoying yourselves down there.
'My home is with you,' Kurama reminded me simply, his thoughts drifting up through the night air. With them came reassurance, and the warmth of his love. I averted my gaze to my folded hands and smiled.
When they started heading our direction, I stood and backed up to give them space. First Yusuke, then Hiei, then Kurama simply leaped up onto the ridge, Yusuke still all but wheezing with laughter, Hiei looking far less disgruntled than normal, and Kurama looking quite windswept and slightly disheveled from keeping pace with the two of them. Kuwabara clambered up the side of the ridge and laughed:
"So, who won? I must be gettin' rusty because all I could see were blurs…"
"It was a tie," Kurama informed him with a slight smile. "Which is quite surprising, considering how much time Yusuke has spent in his ramen stand, eating the merchandise…" Yusuke swiped at him with fake rage, and Kurama dodged it easily with a laugh.
"C'mon, let's head back," Yusuke said, dropping an arm around Hiei's shoulder. "Which one for you tonight, Hiei—the fifty footer or the hundred? I hear a very mean family of squirrels lives in the second one…"
Yusuke and Kuwabara continued to tease Hiei about his habit of sleeping in trees for a few more minutes as we walked through the forest, and then suddenly Yusuke and Hiei stopped short. The former turned to Kurama and grinned.
"First one back gets what's left of the s'mores I can smell them cooking," he uttered, and then, along with Hiei, disappeared.
I knew what was coming, so stayed very still and squeezed my eyes shut.
Kurama slung me over his shoulder, and I hugged him for all I was worth as he hurtled through the trees.
"Poor Kuwabara!" I had to yell over the wind.
"Botan is bringing him back," Kurama answered, pointing up. Trusting him, I didn't look up to try to find them in the night sky—not wanting to risk motion sickness. At my right, I heard Yusuke let out a shout as we passed him. Hiei would obviously be very far ahead of us, but Yusuke being behind us was something that shocked me. I chanced a glance over my shoulder, and immediately regretted it.
I managed to keep myself together as we broke free of the tree line, and saw that Hiei was just a couple paces ahead of us, and Yusuke the same length behind us. I wriggled, and Kurama let me down so I could bolt back to the tree line and try to not void the contents of my stomach.
"I got stuck in a marsh," Yusuke grumbled, his footsteps backing up his story with a wet suctioning sound. "I demand a rematch, Red… hey, Sparky, what's up?"
I lifted a hand over my head with a "thumbs up" gesture, still sucking air into my lungs like a dying fish.
'Reina?' Kurama tried, but I flapped my hand at him wordlessly.
"Dude, don't mess around with her head while she's tryin' not to barf," Kuwabara, who had obviously made it back without my noticing, said worriedly.
Eventually, it passed, and I straightened up, coughing once. I turned and smiled.
"I guess the immunity I got against motion sickness was left behind in Makai," I said wryly, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry. I know that wasn't pretty…" I spotted Yusuke, and grinned. "Though far more pretty than Yusuke is right now… it looks like a swamp ate you and then spat you out."
Most of the mud was restricted to the waist down, but he did have a couple spots on his cheek, which he rubbed off with the heel of his palm.
"Genkai will murder you if you walk into her home like that," Botan said with a giggle.
Yusuke shrugged, and unbuttoned his jeans.
"I'm gonna be sick again," I said abruptly, turning and fleeing for the temple, Botan following me closely. I could hear Kuwabara and Kurama roaring with laughter as Yusuke took chase.
"Come give me a hug, Sparky!" he bellowed as he bounded up the steps. I screamed and bolted into the temple, ripping off my shoes in record time and skidding on the floor as I rounded the corner to the kitchen. I lost my balance and landed on my hip, as Yusuke went sailing over my head. He spun around, and I could see that he was now just wearing underwear and socks, and I scooted on the floor behind the kitchen island, snatching a pot from a cabinet before rising and pointing it at him.
All the while, Maya, her boyfriend, Keiko, Yukina, and Genkai—who were seated at the island—stared at us silently. Keiko's mouth was open and moving as if she were trying to find words but couldn't.
"Briefs, Yusuke?!" I pointed the pot at Keiko. "Really? Keiko, did you know about this? Briefs are always unacceptable." She shrank back and blushed.
Yusuke, who was closer to the wall than me, grinned evilly and slunk forward a step. I turned the pot on him, raising a hand to block my vision of his entirely too tightly encased nethers.
"They're boxer briefs," Yusuke corrected, and attempted to sneak around the island. I scuttled to the opposite side, still wielding the pot.
"There is not enough boxer in that boxer-to-briefs ratio," I retorted, my hand still aloft, blocking my view. "I've seen boxer briefs. Those are not boxer briefs!"
"O-oh, where have you seen boxer-briefs, Reina?" Yana asked snidely.
"Where do you think?" Kurama asked pleasantly as he walked into the kitchen—closely followed by Hiei, who stopped in the doorway and settled a particularly vicious glare on Yusuke's entirely too bare form.
"What?" Yusuke asked, and then his gaze flicked to Yukina, and back to Hiei. "Oh. Okay, okay, going…" He eased out of the room to find his backpack and a change of clothes.
"Is he gone yet?" Botan's muffled voice came from behind the pantry doors. I rolled my eyes, set down the pot, and let her out.
"What was that about?" Keiko asked, looking between the two of us.
"He fell into some mud, and decided that stripping and chasing us was a good idea," I replied, sitting on a stool next to Genkai. "Hiei, I don't suppose you want the s'mores you won?"
"Hn."
"I'll take that as a no," I said with a smile, and plucked one of the three remaining from the pan on the counter in front of me.
"So who won?" Maya asked.
"The race? Hiei, of course," I answered between bites. "The fight was a tie."
Yukina was looking closely at Hiei, a pucker between her brows. I glanced back, and saw that his lip was split.
"Hiei…" she said gently, edging out of her seat. She grabbed a dishtowel, wet the end of it, and offered it to him. He looked down at it in a confused sort of way, before she added: "Your lip."
He touched it, looked at the scant amount of blood on his finger, and took the towel with a muttered but sincere-sounding: "Thank you."
To take the focus off of him, I struck up a conversation about tomorrow's itinerary, letting Hiei and his sister have their moment. We would head out early tomorrow morning, and hike out to a canyon about 15 miles out. It would take us, with all the humans in tow, most of the day. Then we would make camp, spend the night, and hike out the next morning. When Hiei was asked (by Yukina, so he responded as pleasantly as he could) if he was going to come with us—he simply shook his head.
Yusuke was all for another video game tournament, but we decided to turn in early so we could actually, y'know, leave in the morning on time.
"Yusuke, get up!"
Keiko's exasperated voice floated into the kitchen, where the rest of us—already ready to go, just having breakfast—were standing around. Maya and I exchanged eyerolls over our coffee, and Kuwabara snorted. Then, we heard Yusuke shouting something indistinguishable, and Kuwabara perked up.
"She's got his ear," he said after a moment of listening.
A second later, Yusuke came stumbling in, saying "Ow, ow, ow," in an increasingly high-pitched voice as Keiko marched him into the kitchen—by his ear—and deposited him at the island on the stool directly across from me. I leaned over the granite countertop and grinned as he shot one last glare at Keiko and yawned.
"I'm just glad she gave you a chance to put pants on," I laughed, and held out the saucepan I'd used to scramble eggs in. He rolled his eyes and forked a helping on his plate.
"I'll start moving things out on the porch," I said, shrugging away from the island and patting down the hallway. I stopped at Yana and Maya's room first, grabbing her backpack and slinging it over one shoulder, and his on the other. I'd made a couple trips—the last being Yusuke's room—when I realized that Yukina was standing by the gate in front of the temple, talking to someone. I frowned and walked along the porch, and once I did so, Hiei came into view. Genkai was with them as well.
Yukina bowed once to Hiei, and turned to walk back into the courtyard. Genkai pulled a lever near the gate, and the door slid shut with a low groan. She came up onto the steps, and seemed to notice me only then, her eyes widening in shock. She didn't quite smile though—and because of that, I could tell that something was wrong.
"What's up?" I asked gently.
Her mouth opened, and then she thought better about what she was going to say, and started again:
"Hiei… he came here to tell me that he couldn't find my brother," she said in a subdued tone.
"Oh." The familiar sensation of guilt, coupled with a smattering of frustration aimed at her brother, made my mouth turn down a little.
"He tried to return the tear gem," she added quietly. "My mother's tear gem, that I gave to him. I thought… I thought that it would help."
Yukina had told me, shortly after she returned, that every time a koorime gave birth—once every hundred years—they would shed a tear for their child. Because Yukina was a twin, her mother had shed two—and the second was given to Hiei before he was cast off the floating island. Yukina, not knowing that Hiei was her brother (and probably, though I didn't know for sure, was still in possession of his hiruseki stone,) had entrusted him with her own stone, in hopes that he would someday find a demon who wore the other.
"Tried?" I asked.
"I told him to keep it." Her ruby eyes flicked up to mine, and they were dark. Then she breathed a sigh, and headed inside before I could say anything more. A few moments later, Kurama exited the building, looking over his shoulder at her. He glanced at me, and breathed a sigh as well.
"Why does he keep hurting her like this?" I asked. My voice was very quiet—with anger, and sadness. If Yukina knew that her brother had been here, with her, protecting her all this time… she could finally stop mourning him. She would be happy. Doesn't Hiei want her happiness?
'Yes. He thinks it's better this way; you know that.'
But is it? I looked up at him, and there was no answer in his gaze or his thoughts.
Can I just say again how much I love writing Yukina? She's going to be a pretty big deal in this installment, which I'm super excited about!
Thanks again for your reviews everyone. I love hearing from you! (Hint Hint :D )