Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Question of Intimacy ❯ Chapter 3, Options ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: I wanted to get a bit further in the paper version of this before I transcribed it. There are some quirky things coming up. Now, I have to admit that I have not seen all of the anime. In fact, I merely have read the manga and done a little online research. I would absolutely love it is some one could give me a link to some scanalations.

I want to point out that Kagome is working on pure observation and in doing so she actually makes several mistakes in her conclusions. I know Hiei did not have his eye involuntarily implanted, however I have not actually read that bit of the storyline. I have yet to decide whether or not to keep or toss that as a plot point. If I toss it, then some one will point out that Kuwabara's statement in the last chapter was incorrect. Also, in upcoming chapters you will find out a lot more about this Kagome. Remember that she is much older then in the manga. She is roughly 21 years old having spent most of the last six years in the feudal era.

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Once the young miko had relieved herself, Genkai stopped her from returning immediately. "You seem good at picking out clues from thin air, however there is room for error in doing so." Genkai commented seriously.

"I am well aware of that, but I wish to respect his privacy with my suspicions. Right or wrong it would upset him and strong emotional upsets could cause serious harm at this point. I don't have much in the way of other options." Kagome rejoined to her elder's admonishment. She knew that what she had been doing could not be anything other then annoying to the youkai male's companions, but they were not really all that relevant to her right now.

"Keiko told me you thought him to have had a particularly harsh life. What leads you to that conclusion?" Genkai asked calmly. It was a peculiar observation, but accurate. If she could understand what brought the miko to that idea, there was a good chance she could see how she was picking so many clues out of thin air.

"My mate was an inu hanyou. My pup was an orphaned kitsune cub. I am very familiar with the growth patterns of youkai since I have had to study them for my son's sake. Hiei would never have turned out that small in a loving household. His build and size are strong evidence of chronic malnutrician and at least one period of near starvation during what should have been a growth spurt. There is also evidence of very faint scars on his hands, arms, and neck. His throat has been slit at least once. It takes a lot to scar a youkai." Kagome answered with quiet seriousness. She wondered if the man's personality was just so distant that the rest had never bothered to properly observe him. She could not think of any reason why they would not have put all of these clues together on their own before this. Perhaps they had, Kagome considered, but they had not expected her to do so as a complete stranger.

"I had not considered that, nor had I noticed the scars." Genkai remarked with an air of consideration. It seemed that the miko simply had a fresh set of eyes and was tackling a puzzle that the others had never really given the time necessary to attempt to solve. Genkai and her boys and girls simply accepted Hiei as he was and no longer bothered to try and question him.

"Scars have a different significance to youkai. They are seen as more attractive rather then less so, as long as they are well healed. All told, despite his size, I am certain that he could find a mate if he wanted to. He is a survivor who can endure and that is every attractive to female youkai. He is single by choice." Kagome stated firmly. She hoped she could lead the elder woman to the conclusions that she was seriously considering without having to say anything aloud. She could not bring herself to speak of what she thought had likely happened to the man, but if the elderly woman could see what she was picking up on then there was a good chance she might just be right. She rather hoped she was wrong.

"You find that significant as well." Genkai rejoined with a raised eyebrow. She was somewhat skeptical about the young miko's assumption, not because her observations were wrong, but because she knew of Hiei's genetic heritage. It should not come as any surprise that a man from a culture that reproduced asexually would be disinterested in a mate, but the miko apparently didn't know about that.

"Don't you?" Kagome shot right back.

"You are plucking clues again." Genkai sniped. She was unsure of just where the young thing was going with her observations and did not enjoy the sense of befuddlement about a person she thought she knew relatively well.

"In this case, those clues add up to a warning to be cautious." Kagome replied in kind. He wondered if she would have to spell it out.

"How so?" Genkai sighed in defeat. She wanted an answer, not another riddle. The riddle himself was just beginning to destabilize in the other room again.

"I'm not about to say because I could be wrong. All I know is that he is a very attractive unmated youkai who probably also has a very good reason for remaining solitary. He has also be captured and tortured at some point in his life. If he could have been restrained enough to have a Jagan Eye implanted against his will, what else could have been done to him." Kagome turned and walked quickly back to the youkai's side leaving the elder woman to chew on that thought for a while.

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Once back in the guest room, Kagome settled herself beside Hiei and laced her fingers through his once more. "This is going to be a long couple months isn't it?" she asked rhetorically.

"Probably," Yuuske snorted, "Why should we trust you with Hiei? We know next to nothing about you."

"What do you want to know?" Kagome offered trying to be reasonable despite her annoyance at the elderly woman.

"Who are you, how do you know about youkai, that sort of thing." Kuwabara replied, not unkindly.

"I'm Higarashi Kagome. I split time between the Sunset Shrine and the Mekai. Technically, I'm a miko, but I'm not into the formality involved with that. Currently, I'm a student at the same college as Keiko, we have math together. Math is my weakest subject so we were on our way to go study together when I felt the power spike." Kagome started to answer. Hiei raised an eyebrow at this and Keiko interrupted with the question he wanted to ask.

"What do you mean split time?"

"My son doesn't much like the human realm. The scents just get to be too much for him after a bit. He is a good sport about coming here and loves to play with his Obaa-chan, but it really can be a bit too different at times. He really is a sweet kit." Kagome smiled fondly thinking of her little kitsune boy.

"Kit?" Kurmura asked, "As in kitsune?"

"Hai, he is a good cub. I adopted him, oh.. going on six years ago now. If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't be here at all so, I guess you could say I'm very attached to him." Kagome explained without truly giving an explanation. There were just some things that were still a little too raw to be discussed with strangers.

"So you have permission to cross the barrier?" Boton blinked in surprise. It still wasn't too common to find people with permission for free passage. She thought she had the list memorized years ago.

"Enma-tono himself signed my paperwork. Of course, I did have him by the proverbial balls at the time. My son, my brother in law, his wife and myself all have free passage rights to all of the realms." Kagome just waved that consideration away not thinking it important.

"What did you do to get Enma-sama to give you free passage? He has been off somewhere for most of the last few years and letting his son handle the Bureau," Kurmura commented intensely curious about who these people since they had never once had to deal with them.

"We made it part of his best interest and that was that. If you want to know more about that you will have to get the clearances and dig up my file in the Renkai offices. Most of it is classified, so you will need the proper signatures and whatnot to get into it. If I let you have free reign to rummage in my head, I'll have to bind you to secrecy Hiei-san. It is an option, but the bindings are serious business, so it is up to you." Kagome adeptly redirected the conversation away from the more dangerous territory of classified information.

"What do you mean by option?" Hiei asked aloud for once, not keen on being the center of attention once again.

"You have several choices for how you want to handle your current predicament. I could just kill you and put you out of your misery," the rest of the team glared at her and rolled their eyes at the presumption that she really could harm the little youkai enough to kill him. She said it like it was a certainty and that rankled at them. "but I doubt your friends would be so attached to you if you were that sort of coward. That option aside, you are in for a rough couple months. You can go back to the Mekai and find a mate for your season, but you will have to stay relatively close to a home base so that I can keep you stable. It would be tricky and extremely risky, but it would speed things up. You might get out of this in under a month that way." Kagome began to list the potential choices in the order of what she thought he was least likely to accept.

"Not feasible." Hiei cut in.

"Not at all easy, but not impossible. Its an option and your best chance for children if you want them." Kagome pointed out. The little youkai shifted and closed his eyes as his youki made a low spike in reaction.

"No." Hiei repeated quietly.

The miko just nodded and didn't press. Unfortunately, the others were less discrete. "No?" Yukina asked looking disappointed.

"Is there a point to siring a child you will never see?" Hiei responded after a beat. The miko just squeezed his hand lightly in apparent understanding.

"Never say never, there is always the next time and the time after that. Your other options are easier to put into practice. You can do as my mate did and attempt to wait it out. I can assist with that through ofuda and other holy techniques. I could even go so far as to put you to sleep or seal you to the location of your choice. The problem is doing this sort of thing takes the longest and is the most painful. I do not recommend a strict form of this. The strict form is enough to drive most youkai and hanyou insane." the miko sighed attempting to ensure they understood exactly what such a decision would entail meant disclosure of the risks. She didn't really want to discuss this, but she really didn't have much choice. "We had to let my mate out when he attempted this for several reasons, not the least of which was the pain. He was having trouble stopping his transformation even with his blood seal. The attack on the village was merely the last straw."

"I am not a weak hanyou." Hiei snorted in annoyance.

"My mate was not week." Kagome stated very coldly with deliberate control on her anger at the assumption that her mate was anything less then he truly was. "Hanyou and hybrids survive the same way. They are either exceptionally strong, fast, intelligent, cunning, powerful or some combination. My mate was sired by a taiyoukai." She stated very firmly with her voice under disturbingly calm control. "He was extremely powerful, very strong and remarkably intuitive. I will not have him maligned in death." The warning was clear.

"Yet, he is dead." Hiei pointed out mercilessly. He did not quite believe that this woman could kill him with a touch as she had earlier claimed, but was rather fascinated by the emotive reaction. It was the first such display of wilder emotion since he had woken up.

"Hai, and I still live because of his sacrifice. I doubt you would do any less for your pregnant mate and pup." the miko cruelly shot down that little notion, causing the others to look at her in startlement and Hiei in reprimand.

"Hn" was Hiei's only reply. He considered the statements. The miko was definitely not pregnant now and only spoke of one child. He thought it likely she had lost the pregnancy in whatever had happened to kill her mate. It was actually rather amazing that she had survived the breaking of a mate's bond.

"Still you are seeming to recommend a method that failed in the past. We would like some assurance of his safety in your hands even if he can be a ballsy little bastard." Kurmura remarked trying to gloss over the bit of verbal confrontation that had just occurred.

"Safety is but an illusion, beloved of fools and small children," the miko replied cynically. "I will not guarantee something I have no control over, but I will promises not to allow any preventable harm to the best of my ability. Hiei-san is correct that there are differences between hybrids and hanyous and that is actually to his advantage. Since he has no human blood he keeps his mind in his true, or primal, form. Hanyou go psychotic." Kagome replied, calming her temper and choosing to rise above the little youkai's earlier barbs in light of his friends honest concern. The shorter redhead did predict that the man would take the situation badly after all. She thought that this sort of behavior must have been what he meant which would mean it also is not typical. "Sleeping it off would have the fewest consequences."

"Is that what you recommend?" Yukina asked softly. Plans for looking after her brother were already forming in her mind.

"That, or a form of deep meditation that would allow him free reign in my head with the holy bindings for the things that are currently classified. Its roughly two months of bed rest either way with constant monitoring. I expect we will both be bored out of our minds." Kagome sighed. "Sleep on it, Hiei-san, I will take you decision in the morning. Strong emotions will unbalance you so, maintain your calm until I return." Kagome rose to leave, disengaging her hand from the fire apparition's.

"Would you like a portal, Kagome-sensei?" Boton asked as the miko was walking out of the room. She had hoped to have a few words with the miko. If her friend Hiei had gone into season, the odds were greatly in favor of her having to ferry him across to the other realm minus his body. Koenma had once confided that the youkai's very short life expectancy was part of his reasoning for such a light sentence once he was in their custody. Boton didn't really know what to do with the knowledge now. She just hoped that the miko really could prevent his anticipated death.

"Can you take me to and from the Sunset Shrine? I really don't want to leave him unmonitored for long." Kagome said after a moment.

"Hai, I can. Please forgive Hiei-san. He is a very faithful friend, but he isn't so good with people, especially at first." Boton commented and opened the portal.