Ashes II




Chapter 4 : A Little of Things To Come… 




" Oniisan!" 
The sound of his brother’s voice woke Kurama from his sleep. Cracking open his 
eyelids, he rolled over to avoid crushing Hiei and mumbled a greeting of sorts. 
His brain had not quite caught up with the rest of him so he did not realise the 
danger until he saw the door knob begin to turn… 
Getting caught with a naked fire demon in his bed would definitely be hard to 
explain - even to the most open-minded of parents. 
" Wait! Don’t come in…" Think of an excuse, think of an excuse. " I’m…changing." 
Well, it was better than nothing. Thankfully, his step-brother accepted it and 
Kurama heard his footsteps moving away from his bedroom door. 
Hiei was not helping matters much - he was still asleep. 
Pulling on his favourite jeans and shirt in record time, Kurama quickly hurried 
out of his room just in case another family member decided to come and 
investigate. 
Shuuichi was seated at the table, digging enthusiastically into a bowl of 
noodles. He looked up when Kurama appeared and grinned, teasingly. 
" So, do you have a hot date with Midori-chan today?" 
" Why aren’t you in school?" Counter-attack. 
Shuuichi rolled his eyes. " It’s Saturday, ‘niisan. I’m going for football 
practice later on with some of the guys." Swallowing another mouthful of 
noodles, he continued, " Our parents have gone to the park for a picnic and 
wouldn’t be back till the evening." 
The expression on his face said everything he thought about his parents having a 
*romantic* relationship. Kurama sighed - Shuuichi could sometimes be so…young. 
Nevertheless, this meant that no one would miss him for most of the day and he 
would not have to dream up feeble excuses to explain his whereabouts. 
" Where are you going to take Midori-chan?" 
He arched up one perfect red eyebrow. " Do *I* ask you about girls?" 
Shuuichi blushed and choked slightly on his breakfast. " No…that is…well…there’s 
this girl…" 
" Ah." Kurama managed to inject a wealth of meaning into that one syllable. This 
was interesting, his little brother had a crush on some girl. He wondered 
briefly if he should offer him some advice on women gleaned from his years as a 
youko. 
Better not, he decided, youkai females were slightly different from ningen 
females - small differences, but very distinct. He might do more harm than good. 

" I think I have to go." Shuuichi was still blushing as he made his escape. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

" I don’t think he knows." 
" Don’t be silly. Of course he knows, only a complete blockhead wouldn’t realise 
that…hmm…you have a point. He can be a bit on the stubborn side." 
" You like him, don’t you? I don’t believe it - you follow him around for a few 
months and suddenly he’s the love of your life. I really wonder where your 
hentai tendencies come from." 
" I do *not* like him. But you’ll have to admit, there’s something really 
attractive about those fangs…" She could not quite suppress the sigh that 
escaped her. " The human doesn’t look half bad either." 
Lian rolled her eyes at her sister. Luckily, Rian missed it because she was 
wearing the cloak of invisibility. 
" It’ll make our job a whole lot easier if he *really* is ignorant about the 
whole thing." 
" I don’t know…it seems kind of…evil to do that to someone." 
" I think of it in a different way. We have no choice in this matter…imagine it 
to be just like as any other job we’ve ever pulled. The only difference is that 
the prize is just a wee bit bigger than what we’re used to, that’s all." 
" Lian." Her sister looked shocked. " There’s a whole new realm of differences 
between stealing a magical wand and stealing *him*." 
" You always want to complicate things." Frowning, she gave Rian a none 
too-gentle shove. " Quickly, they look like they’re leaving. Don’t lose him this 
time." 
She muttered something rude under her breath. 
" I *heard* that." 




Chapter 5 : Playing With Fire




" Guys!" Yuusuke shouted as he waved at them from across the street, standing 
just outside the restaurant where they had agreed to meet. Stopping, Kurama 
half-turned with an easy smile on his lips. 
" You’re early, Kuwabara and the others haven’t arrived yet. I managed to get us 
a really good place." Ushering them towards the booth, Yuusuke suddenly spotted 
the rest of their little group and immediately dashed off to greet them. 
The fire demon, who hadn’t spoken much since they left his house, slid across 
one of the benches to claim the corner seat. When the others came up to the 
table, he ignored most of their greetings but did favour Yukina with a gentle 
nod of his head. 
" Hey, shrimp," the big, clumsy fool called out. " You look like something the 
cat dragged in." 
Hiei sneered slightly at that. " What would you know about a true warrior’s 
hardships?" 
Just before the human could lunge at him, Yukina prudently stepped between them 
with a shy smile. " Why don’t we sit down Kuwabara-san?" 
That effectively removed the wind from his sails - Kuwabara let go of his anger 
with an audible *whoosh* of air. His eyes took on a adoring glaze as he helped 
the diminutive ice demon into her seat and slid up next to her. 
Hiei couldn’t quite prevent scowling at the cute picture they made. Typically, 
he was in a foul mood - he hadn’t wanted to come, had told Kurama just as much 
when the half-youko had prodded him awake earlier that morning. Stifling a yawn, 
he leaned against the wall…just a few moments, he told himself…I’ll just lean 
here and rest my eyes for awhile… 
As Keiko and Yuusuke fought over the menu, Kurama let his gaze wander to the 
other customers in the busy restaurant. There was an almost festive air to the 
noise of chopsticks and the sound of the customers eating while talking about 
their daily lives. 
A pair of unusually…well, unusual human females were huddled together in a booth 
in a darker section of the restaurant. What caught his attention was that they 
were so alike, even though one of them was clearly older than the other. They 
probably could have used each other as past-future mirror images. 
Reddish-brown hair cut in an identical style framed their sharp, inquisitive 
faces. Both had the same brown eyes but the mischievous glint in the younger 
female’s was missing from the older one. Kurama realised they must have spotted 
him watching them because the younger one blushed from neck to hairline. 
" Wow, Kurama, you sure attract a lot of girls," Kuwabara said, noticing. 
" Hn," Hiei mumbled sleepily, which translated quite well into ‘damn-fox’. 
While Kurama endured the good-natured ribbing he got from his friends, he did 
noticed the older female giving Hiei an assessing look. * That* made alarm bells 
ring in his head - sure, Hiei was sexy in that silent, evil good-guy mould; but 
she had looked at him like he was an interesting puzzle she would like to take 
apart and put together again. 
" Shuuichi," Shizuru nudged him, amusement clear in her voice, " the waiter’s 
waiting for your order." 
" Oh." Kurama could feel his cheeks heat up as everyone stared at him. " I was 
just…" He gave up trying to explain and hurriedly muttered his order to the 
harried-looking man. 
" Looking at girls, what would H…" Keiko yelped in pain as someone trod quite 
painfully on her foot. Glaring at Kurama who was looking exceptionally innocent 
- which meant he probably did it, she wriggled her injured toes in her shoe. 
" Hiei?" Yukina asked, looking worriedly at her twin. 
The fire demon’s eyes were closed, his head held up by one hand and the wall. 
" He’s asleep," Yuusuke said, incredulously. 
" Late night?" Shizuru murmured, blowing out a faint ring of smoke. The girls 
all exchanged significant looks. 
The half-youko flushed slightly at that remark - Yuusuke decided he wasn’t even 
going to go there… 
" He’s been running errands for Mukuro for the past four months…" Kurama frowned 
- was the table getting warmer? 
To his right, Hiei moaned slightly in his sleep, muttering something under his 
breath. 
" Eeeoooowww!" Kuwabara jerked his fingers off the steel board and popped them 
into his ice drink. " What the hell…?" 
There was strong surge of foreign youki coming from somewhere around them… 
" Get out!" Yuusuke scrambled out of the booth, lifting his arms to avoid coming 
in contact with steely surface of the table which was rapidly turning a bright 
cheery red. 
" Fire!" someone in the booth next to theirs shouted. Kuwabara was herding the 
girls outside even as a stampede for the exit begun. Oblivious to everything, 
Hiei was still slumped against his corner of the booth. 
" Hiei, come on." Kurama grabbed the sleeping fire demon by the back of his 
shirt and pulled him clear just in time as the table burst into black flames. 
Hiei did not awaken even when he lay in the protective circle of the 
half-youko’s arms. 
" Makai fire," Yuusuke whispered, puzzled. 
Someone - their waiter - had grabbed a fire extinguisher and was attempting to 
put out the unnatural flames. No such luck - it would take a nice good dose of 
reiki or youki to smother it. 
" Wha…?" Hiei yawned grumpily, pulling away from Kurama. " I thought we were 
going to eat something…" 
The black flames surged up once more…and then died down with barely another 
flicker. The remaining patrons who had not fled at the first shout of fire, 
cheered half-heartedly at the waiter. The three of them, mindful of the fact it 
had been *their* table, sneaked out before any embarrassing questions could be 
asked. 
" Did I miss something?" Hiei demanded. 
Yuusuke turned to the fire demon, the expression on his face thoughtful as if he 
was putting together a few things in his head. 
" Did you just set fire to the table?" 
" Yuusuke, Hiei was asleep throughout the entire episode. How could he have set 
fire to the table? Besides, it wasn’t even his signature youki." So vehemently 
was he defending his lover that he completely missed the half-guilty flicker in 
the fire demon’s eyes. 
Yuusuke did not. " Which brings me to my next question - I’ve never seen Hiei 
sleep through *anything* unless he had just released the Kokuryuha. Why the hell 
didn’t you wake up when everyone started shouting fire?" 
" I don’t know - I was asleep," there was definite resentment in his voice for 
the thinly veiled accusation. This time, they all felt the surge of strange 
youki… 
The puddle of snow and water he was standing in began to bubble and steam. 
Seeing it, Hiei’s crimson eyes widened and hopped backwards. As soon as he was 
no longer in contact with the water, the boiling stopped. 
Kurama stared at him. " Hiei?" 
The fire demon had no answers. 




Chapter 6 : Fire! Fire! Burn! Burn!




Hiei looked very definitely pissed. 
He was standing in a large steel bucket of melted snow, forced to endure this 
humiliating position while Genkai looked him over, *hmmph*ing wisely. Of their 
original party, only Yuusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara and Yukina were there - the 
others had wisely left after being subjected to the fire demon’s third-degree 
scowl. 
" I don’t understand it," the old woman told them. " He’s perfectly fine, if a 
bit tired. Yukina’s explanation makes sense but something just doesn’t add up." 
" Genkai, why couldn’t we sense Hiei’s youki when he used his powers?" 
" I’m coming to that." Bending down, she picked up a rock decorating part of the 
temple’s gardens and tossed it to the fire demon. " Set fire to that." 
They felt the familiar cold, dark surge of youki and quite suddenly, the rock in 
Hiei’s hand burst into black flames. 
" Hmm…" Genkai walked around Hiei in a counter-clockwise circle. Before the fire 
demon could react, her hand blurred and she rapped him sharply on the head, 
making him drop the burning rock. 
Hiei snarled, baring his sharp little fangs as his hand clenched into an angry 
fist. The water around his feet exploded into a cloud of steam as he swung his 
fist directly at her wrinkled face. Without blinking, Genkai grabbed his wrist 
and tossed him over her shoulder into some bushes. 
" That was very interesting," she told him as he lay sprawled upside-down in the 
shrubbery. " I didn’t feel *your* youki at all. It seems that it only happens 
when your guard is down - like when you are asleep or get angry." 
" Isn’t that dangerous?" Kurama asked, helping Hiei to his feet. 
" Only if he loses his temper - Kuwabara might want to stay away for awhile." 
The tall human paled as he eyed the now-dry bucket that Hiei had been standing 
in. 
Genkai walked over to the demon who was still glaring daggers at her. " You lost 
the Kokuryuha when you fought Nuryko, right? Did you relearn the move?" 
" No." That had been one of the first things Hiei had tried in order to regain 
the Ensatsu Kokuryuha. All he had accomplished that month was to bruise his 
sword arm from finger tip to shoulder. 
" So it’s completely gone? Nothing left?" That seemed to concern Genkai a lot. 
" Yes," he hissed back, frustrated by this endless and apparently pointless line 
of questioning. 
" Then why is it your aura still has traces of the Kokuryuha’s youki woven into 
it?" 
Behind her, Yukina gasped in sudden realisation - when he lost the Kokuryuha, 
Hiei’s youki should have been weakened, but it had been as strong as before when 
she had *looked* at him. That was impossible unless… 
" Are you saying that I still possess Ensatsu Kokuryuha?" 
" Perhaps, on some level. You don’t appear to be able to summon the black dragon 
itself, but you can access some of its powers unknowingly." Genkai frowned, 
looking worried. " Your aura flares wildly whenever that happens and it appears 
to be getting worse." 
" How bad is ‘worse’?" 
" Your youki is fluctuating uncontrollably between your A-class and Yuusuke’s 
S-class. There is every indication that it will go much higher than that - your 
body might not be able to endure that sort of punishment. That might explain why 
you’re so exhausted, it must be hard work to redress the balance." 
" Can anything be done?" Kurama’s arm tightened convulsively around his 
shoulder. 
" We can try." 
But Genkai’s face was depressingly grim. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

" I told you he had no idea what was going on." 
" Isn’t this going to make things so much harder - they’ll be watching over him 
all the time now. How will we get close enough to steal him?" 
" Don’t worry," Lian told her reassuringly. " I’ve taken care of that, but we’ll 
have to act tonight. We can’t wait any longer, it’ll be only a matter of time 
before he is out of our reach." 
" I can’t believe they’re trying to stop it - don’t they know *anything* ? 
They’ll only make it worse." 
" Not everyone has a mirror that reflects the truth, Rian. I told you it was 
worth the effort of stealing it." She gave her sister a smug smile. 
" Do you always have to say I-told-you-so? It’s becoming real annoying." 
" At least I’m not hentai." 
Rian did not bother to answer back.