Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Kawaridane ❯ Transformation Begins ( Chapter 9 )

AN: Here we go with Chapter nine! Hope you like it. I do not own IY or YYH.

 

Hiei cast one last look at the tiny sleeping form before turning and quietly sliding the door shut. He heard the voices of his comrades in the main room, discussing this new turn of events. Everyone was shocked at the news but had admitted to feeling something strange while around the two miko.

Hiei shook his head. No one could've predicted this. Not in a million years. They thought they were human. Both he and Kurama knew they were just as human as Genkai or Keiko.

`I guess we were wrong.'

Hiei emerged in the main room and looked around him. Everyone was there; including Shizuru whom he'd heard had a close call with the enemy. Keiko said something about a demon that could prey on superior awareness. Hiei noticed that Kurama was very tense. He could almost feel the quiet rage emanating from his red-haired friend. For once Hiei actually understood that feeling.

“So today was pretty much a swift kick to the family jewels eh?” Yusuke announced.

He managed to get some smirks and grunts of agreement.

“Alright everyone, listen up. Tomorrow is December 5. It's about 10am right now.” Genkai looked down at her watch and continued. “Both Ayako and Kagome are going to undergo their transformations sometime tomorrow. The amount of energy released by the seal breaking is going to be too much for the humans around here, so as a precautionary measure, Botan and I have scoped out a cavern about 20 km North of here.”

Hiei tensed. He knew Genkai knew of his disposition towards Ayako but would she reveal t everyone by putting him in charge? What was he talking about? If she didn't put him in charge of her he'd volunteer. Screw his pride she could die from this in her condition.

“Inuyasha, I assume you have no problem being with Kagome through the transformation.” Genkai looked at the silver-haired hanyou.

Inuyasha simply nodded and tightened his grip around his mate. Kagome tried to smile and failed. She was just as worried about Ayako as everyone else.

“I have asked Kurama to watch over Ayako and he has agreed. Now Kurama you know that she is-”

“Kurama will not be going.” Hiei blurted out before he could stop himself.

Genkai looked over at him not surprised in the least. `That HAG! She knew I was going to make an ass of myself. She wants me to confront the group about this. Sneaky old bitch.'

“Why the hell not Hiei? It's not like you want to go babysit some human girl.” Yusuke glared at Hiei.

“Hn..” Hiei replied.

“No no, don't give me that shit Hiei, you've been acting like a pissed off stray cat around everyone the past few weeks, and it all started when you had to train Ayako. Now to me that says you have some sort of problem with her. What the hell is it?” Yusuke continued angrily.

“He doesn't have a problem with her.” That thin raspy voice came from Shizuru.

Yusuke glared at her ready to turn his built up frustration on her until he saw the look Kurama was shooting him. Yusuke looked away and took a deep breath.

“What do you mean sis?” Kuwabara spoke up.

Shizuru looked at Hiei curiously. Hiei glared back. “What I mean is… Hiei doesn't dislike Ayako.”

Hiei watched as faces around the room gained that enlightened look. Kurama, Shizuru and Genkai already had that smug knowing look.

Apparently Yusuke was just slower than the rest.

“What the hell does that mean he doesn't dislike her?” Yusuke practically shouted in frustration.

“Stop yelling Dimwit you'll wake her up.” Genkai glared at her student. “Our grumpy fire apparition friend doesn't dislike Ayako. In fact he is very concerned for her well-being. More than just concern for a comrade.”

Yusuke took a minute to swallow that information. The entire room noticed the instant the light bulb went on over his head.

“You mean he LOVES her?!?” Yusuke practically screamed.

Everyone in the room shushed him and Hiei glanced back down the hall to where he could still sense Ayako sleeping. He then turned toward the taller man and glared daggers at him.

“Say something you dwarf! Do you love her?” Yusuke said in a dangerously low voice.

“Hn... I do not need to answer to you spirit detective.” Hiei replied simply.

Yusuke began pacing the floor, mumbling to himself. Hiei knew that Yusuke was very protective of Ayako. Over the years together they had become as close as siblings.

“Listen shorty. Tell me what your intentions are to my little sister.” Yusuke said evenly. “Now.”

Hiei considered it. What was the difference anyway? They all knew! They just wanted to hear him say it.

“I don't see how this concerns you. You are not her brother.” Hiei said quietly. Boy was he gonna regret that statement.

“Oh yeah? Then how would you react if some grumpy, irritable no good appartition decided to fool around with … oh I don't know… your sister, Hiei.” Yusuke looked so angry he was about to pop a blood vessel on his forehead.

Hiei's eyes went wide. Yukina was right here in the room! How dare he say that! It's not his right to reveal his secret. It seemed Yusuke was willing to go that far. Hiei regained his composure until he heard a voice across the room.

“Hiei has a sister?” Yukina leaned toward Botan and asked quietly. Botan didn't answer. She was watching the exchange between Yusuke and Hiei intently, along with everyone else in the room.

“I want to hear what your intentions are with my little sister or I will tell her.” Yusuke said evenly. “I'm not bluffing.”

He's bluffing. He HAS to be! Hiei glanced at Yukina, she was watching him closely and he quickly looked away.

The seconds ticked past and Hiei was considering just blurting it out. NO! He wouldn't expose his private affairs with the spirit detective just because he was threatening him.

Then Hiei watched as his life changed drastically.

“Yukina. You know that long lost brother of yours? Well he isn't lost. Hasn't been for sometime.” Yusuke looked at Hiei and knew he was about to get into a fight.

It took about half a second for Yukina to make the connection. She gasped and looked around the room. No one was looking at her. Everyone knew but her. She looked at Hiei and tears began to fill her eyes.

Hiei watched, stunned, as Yukina gained the look of understanding. Next thing he knew she was staring at him; this angry pleading in her eyes. He watched as the tears built and began to fall. She ran quickly from the room showering jewels as she ran.

Hiei looked at Yusuke and saw what looked like regret on his face. He watched as Keiko got up off the couch and walked up to Yusuke. She slapped him in the face, hard. Then she quickly followed the trail of jewels out into the cold December night.

Hiei didn't even feel like ripping Yusuke limb from limb anymore. That slap said it all and he watched as Yusuke walked slowly to the briefing table and sat down hard.

“I'm sorry Hiei. I thought…” Yusuke didn't really know what he thought, but at that moment all he knew was he made the innocent, beautiful, sweet Yukina, cry.

Hiei knew this day would eventually come. He had decided he would tell her himself, soon. He kept putting it off.

Watching Yukina start to cry because of him and because of his selfish desire to keep it from her made him understand Yusuke's position.

“I do love your sister spirit detective…” Hiei said quietly and vanished.

Yusuke hung his head and everyone sat in silence.

**********

Hiei watched from his tree branch as Keiko comforted Yukina. Yukina kept asking Keiko why they'd all kept it a secret. All Keiko could say was it was what Hiei wanted.

Hearing her say it over and over again sent a feeling like an ice pick shooting through his stomach. He'd had enough of this. He'd have to answer to her himself.

Keiko looked up to see Hiei standing at the entrance to the gazebo. She looked down at Yukina and patted her arm before she ran back into the house, leaving Hiei and Yukina alone.

It seemed that she'd finally stopped crying; although there was quite the pile of jewels at her feet. Hiei looked off to the left towards the house.

“You can't even look me in the eye now?” He heard her small voice say.

His eyes widened and he looked at her. Her face was impassive. Not angry, not sad, not anything. He'd never seen her like that.

“I only have one question for you Hiei, and our relationship from now on will be based on how you answer it.” She said evenly.

Hiei nodded.

“Why didn't you answer Yusuke about your feelings toward Ayako?”

The question floored him! He thought she would ask him `why?' and `how could he?' and he had answers and excuses out the butt for those questions. But this one?

She watched him patiently. He decided he'd go with the most truthful answer.

“I didn't feel that I needed to justify my feelings towards her to him. He was trying to make me spill my guts on private affairs and I want to keep the knowledge of my feelings towards her to a minimum! For Kami's sake I told him as I left to come find you that I loved her. And I do! But hell SHE doesn't even know that yet.” Hiei looked at the floor again, angry at himself for his own weakness in this situation.

He waited as she sat there in silence. When she looked him in the face again he could see the hint of a smile in her eyes.

“I could tell you loved her.” She said quietly.

Hiei continued to wait. Not sure what that statement meant in regards to their current predicament of him lying to her for the past 6 years.

“Come sit with me Hiei. I want to hear all about you and how you knew we were siblings and I do want you to tell me why you kept this from me…” Yukina watched as he slowly sat next to her warily. She laughed. “I won't bite! Honestly I'm more excited than anything else to have finally found my brother. And knowing you, you probably kept it from me to protect me…”

Hiei's eyes widened in shock. Was he that transparent?

She laughed again. “Ok Hiei. Start at the beginning.”

Hiei began talking. He didn't stop until Keiko called them in for lunch. They ate on the gazebo and talked about everything. By the time darkness fell Hiei's jaw hurt from talking so much.

“I have another question although this one is going to be different.” Yukina smiled at him.

“Alright, what is it?” He asked, amused at the look on her face.

“Now that I know you are my only living relative that I care to associate with, will you please give Kuwabara permission to court me? I know he is going to ask and I bet he is shaking just thinking about it. You may be small Hiei but you are intimidating, even to me!” She watched his expression change from amused to thoughtful with a bit of a scowl.

Let that oaf date his sister? Now he really knew why Yusuke shot off the handle so much at him. Kuwabara was a big goofy lump. He was annoying and foolish most of the time. He scowled.

But he was also a very loyal and dedicated friend and comrade. He was also smarter than he looked and had always treated Yukina like gold.

Hiei sighed. “Yes, ok I'll give him permission. But he still has to ask for it! And don't you go telling him I'll say yes. I want to see him squirm.”

Yukina giggled and nodded. “Ok, ok but that should be some form of cruel and unusual punishment.”

“Hey you two! We need to get things prepared for tonight! Hiei you love bird! That means you need to come get debriefed too! Especially if you're gonna be watching over my little sister and making sure she doesn't die!” Yusuke sounded amused yet deadly serious.

Hiei and Yukina both nodded and made their way back into the house.

**********

“Alright you two, listen up.” Genkai looked pointedly at Inuyasha and Hiei. “The cavern is here, we've used it in the past as a camp out spot so the mats and stores of food should still be there. You may need to gather more firewood, but I'm sure you'll be fine.”

“Now according to the information Botan got about this sort of thing you need to expect some… violent… changes. Meaning you may have to defend yourselves and restrain them once their demon energy floods theirs systems.” Genkai took a drink of water.

“Hiei, Ayako is a delicate situation. Her body is mostly healed but she is still very weak. Her holy energy is very low. When the demon energy floods her system the results may be more violent than Kagome.” Hiei and Inuyasha both seemed a bit confused at this so Genkai continued.

“In the normal case, Kagome has her full compliment of Holy energy to help dampen the effects of the transformation on her body. She will most likely become violent as well but not to the extent that Ayako will because she doesn't have all her holy energy to counteract the change.” The two demons nodded.

“Other than that I have no more information about this. According to the scroll left by Rui, the transformation could last hours, even days. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that Ayako will most likely not live through this if it last longer than two days.” Hiei's stomach clenched.

“Well boys I suggest you move out. Its 9:00pm now, expect the transformation to begin sometime after midnight. If you hurry out there you can settle in before this snowstorm that's supposed to set in tonight.”

With that they were off to gather their things and head out. Ayako was still sleeping but Hiei could sense her stirring. `Good. She probably recovered quite a bit today. Hopefully it's enough.'

**********

Ayako felt the cold wind bite through her parka as she snuggled closer into Hiei's back. She had been sleeping all day and she felt pretty good. She was still fairly weak, but all her bones had healed and her bruises were on their way out as well. They had given her a brief run-down of what to expect and she was nervous.

She shook her head. It did absolutely no good to dwell on it. She would be fine. She was strong.

The thing that really shocked her today was that apparently there was a fight, she had no idea what about, but Yukina now knew Hiei was her brother. Ayako had tried to ask Hiei what the fight had been about but he kept dodging her questions.

Sneaky, grumpy, sexy fire apparitions…

Ayako smiled to herself as she thought back to that kiss in the woods. She shivered.

“You alright?” Hiei asked her quietly, he felt her shivering and was concerned she would freeze before they even made it to the cavern.

“I'm fine Hiei. You're warm.” She snuggled closer.

Hiei swallowed hard. `How did she constantly do this to his body? It was absolutely not fair.'

“I see the entrance to the cavern ahead!” Inuyasha shouted back over his shoulder at Hiei, who nodded his understanding.

**********

Ayako sat next to Kagome at the fire the boys had just made. They continued to buzz around gathering the blankets for the mats and firewood for a few days from outside. A storm was coming in tonight and even if the transformation only lasted 12 hours they may be stuck there for a few days afterword.

Ayako began feeling dizzy. “What time is it?”

Kagome looked at the watch they had brought along. “It's 11:30pm. We shouldn't start until midnight.”

“Is it possible for time to shift over hundreds of years?” Ayako was sweating and her limbs had begun to shake.

Kagome's eye's widened fearfully. They hadn't considered that! “I-I don't know Ayako… are you alright?”

Ayako shook her head; she began rocking slowly along with the shaking, when she looked Kagome in the face her reaction spoke louder than words.

Kagome watched as Ayako's green eyes began to flash intensely, and watched as her pupil's began changing shape; to those of cat eyes.

“Hiei! Ayako is starting NOW!!” Kagome practically shrilled, as she began to sweat and shake herself.

“What? It's not time yet…” Hiei trailed off at the sight that met his eyes. Ayako was curled up on the floor of the cave, sweating profusely and shaking uncontrollably. Off to the side he could see Kagome in the exact same position.

Hiei cautiously knelt beside Ayako and placed his hand on her shoulder; she looked up at him and spoke so quietly he had to strain to hear her.

“Don't.. let me… hurt you … or anyone else” She gasped and he saw small fangs begin forming in her mouth. “I'm not sure… how… long I can… hold on.” She grit her teeth and screamed in pain, writhing on the floor in front of him.

He watched as she looked at him again, except this time he knew, Ayako was no where in those vibrant green eyes that sized him up.

It was like looking at a wild animal, who really wanted to kill you.