Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Fox's Trap ❯ Rehabilitation ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

This is chapter two of The Fox's Trap, and I call it Rehabilitation. I'm Momoko, the authoress! If I recieve reviews or complaints I'll make comments to them up here, also any notes for the chapter will be found up here as well as at the bottom of the chapter, just in case. I really hope you like my story, because I've been working hard on it for the past month that I came up with the idea for it. In this chapter there's more hints at a Kurama/Lorna romance, the truth is is that even I don't know what's going on between those two. There's also a really weird moment that might hint at a one sided Hiei/Lorna, you decide on who's side the one sided love is on. Then again there's that "Kuwabara, honey" line...

morbid mistress: Thank you! I'm already working of the rest of it!

Britt: Oh! It's my favorite cousin! Yay! *spins*

* In Japan saying "That was delicious." or "This is delicious." signals you're done eating

** Lorna is polytheistic, in fact, most of Japan is polytheistic. Don't like it? Get over it. It's a fact, it's my story, and I won't apologize because it makes you uncomfortable.

Disclaimer: If Yu Yu Hakusho were mine... Go read my story, I'm indulging in my little fantasy. What? It's not mine?! Fine, I don't own any of the characters, except Lorna, she's mine unless I give someone else permission to use her.

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

Lorna took a few minutes to rest happily on the futon, despite the disturbing idea of a strange seeing her in all her naked glory. She laughed bitterly, as if her unclothed state could be called glory. The scars left behind by claws on her sides, hips, back, thights, and chest were clearly visable in her mind. She gritted her teeth to kill the memory before it rose. Surely a fox demon such as Kurama would know the truth about Lorna by seeing those scars, would know what had happened.

Little did Lorna know that the scars had been obscured by bruises. The brusies had formed by the blood from her wounds becoming trapped under the skin, and the ones that were still visable only appeared to be places where the skin had tried to tear but its own elasicity had stopped it.

She was just pondering how to explain her scars when a pain erupted in her mind. Hiei was back again, and he was digging below the surface to read deeper into her mind. Her very brain ached and it felt as though her head would split as he brushed over the memories of her mother, the pausing and pulling the last memory of her mother to the surface, seeing for himself what she had seen that day.

Lorna stood over a woman on a bed, looking down at her. She was connected to several iv's, and a resperator, a heart montior made beeping sounds in the corner. The doctor walked in behind her, she knew he was there but chose to say nothing. "Have you decided?" He asked, his voice holding a slight tone of sympathy. Lorna squeezed her mother's swollen hand. "Yes, I want you to take her off the machine. She's going to die anyway, and she doesn't deserve to live like this." She replied, her voice devoid of any emotions. "Ungreatful daughter. Unfeeling demon." A womans voice whispered behind her, Lorna regignized her as her aunt. I am an unfeeling demon, Lorna thought. Her body was deep in mourning, but her soul couldn't find a way to express it's fear of death and sadness at having to witness it. To tell the truth she had no clue what she was going to do. The doctor disconnected her mother from the machine that was keeping her alive.

Lorna felt the tears rush to her eyes. The memory was too fresh, too painful. Only a year ago she'd lost her mother, been the cause of her death, had told the doctor to unplug her. It reminded her all too well of just how different she was. "NO!" She screamed, unaware the scream wasn't just in her mind, that she had yelled outloud as well.

There was the loud crash of glass shattering as it hits the ground right outside the door. It was shoved aside and in rushed Kuwabara. "Lorna?!" He yelled in concern, soup dripping down the front of him. Lorna was laying on the futon, teeth digging into her bottom lip from the pain and to stop herself from screaming. "Hi...ei..." She mumbled in a low growl, sweat starting to breaK out along her forehead and tears forming in her eyes from the memory.

Kuwabara nodded, turning and running from the room, his lanky form surprisingly fast. "Urameshi!" He bellowed, "Stop the shrimp!" He hurried down the hall way, bursting in through the living room door. "Hiei, what are you doing?" Yusuke was yelling at the boy who's back was turned, staring out the window. "I don't trust her." Hiei said in a low voice. Kuwabara was glaring at him, "Yusuke! Make him stop! He's hurting her!" He yelled. Yusuke glared. "Hiei, leave her alone!" Yusuke said, shaking his fist at Hiei in a threat. Hiei only said, "Hn.", and closed his eyes, ignoring them. Kuwabara couldn't stand to be near him anymore. "Come on, Yusuke." He said, running back out of the room, Yusuke close behind him.

A few moments after Kuwabara left, Lorna let a sigh escape her lips that were stained bright cheery red from her own blood. The relief and relaxation filled the hole that pain and sadness had dug. She felt a little numb in her chest from the natural rush of painkillers that had went there. Lorna pulled herself up, wrapping the yukata back up around her shoulders. There was a growl attempting to form in her throat. She forced it back down until it choked her, she hadn't spent years away from home to have her instincts overpower her. If that Hiei kept this up then she would lose her mind before she was done.

Not even bothering to pretend to limp she was so angry, her temper was blown. Lorna stormed into the hall, the idea of Hiei's blood splattering the walls was sweet. Of course she knew that there was no way she could defeat him on her own, even with the years of training. His energy was higher than hers, and she'd seen that katana, barehanded and alone it would be a slaughter, but that wouldn't stop her from trying. Then an odd sort of crunching met her ears along with sharp needle like pains in the bottom of her right foot.

Lorna's ears twitched to the sounds of awkward Kuwabara and heavy footed Yusuke running towards her, a small sweatdrop ran down the back of her head at the stupidity of this moment in her short life. Standing in a temple, pretending to be a weak and helpless child in a short kimono who was just stupid enough to go steping on glass. With a sigh she bounced back onto the other foot, only to crunch it into glass as well.

Her temper, which had calmed down when she was distracted by the glass, had started to rise again at her own clumsiness, maybe she had suffered some sort of head trauma and pretending to be helpless was starting to effect her. Lorna tried to remember that pain was her friend and not her enemy, it was only telling her that she was injured and it was asking her to take care of the problem, still, it was hard not to yipe from the sharp little pains. She jumped back, pulling both feet up so that she landed with a thumb against the wall and then slid down until she plopped on the floor. Poor soup, she thought, staring at the glass fragments, it would've been delicious if only it hadn't ended up on the floor, such a shame.

Yusuke came flying around the corner before Kuwabara did. He skidded to a hault in the middle of the hall, causing Kuwabara to run into him. "Idiot!" Yusuke growled, punching Kuwabara in the head. The two boys quickly fell into a pile of cursing, screaming, and flying feet and fists.

Lorna let a sigh out through her teeth, she was in no mood to deal with these idiots again, her fuse was shrinking quickly and she was not going to take it any more. "YOU FUCKING IDIOTS! THERE'S GLASS ALL OVER THE FLOOR!" She bellowed, eyes shut tightly, chucking both tabi socks at the two boys, the end of sentence streaking upwards into a high pitched fox scream.

Needless to say not only did Yusuke and Kuwabara stop fighting, but the sound reached all the way to the living room. "What was that?" Genkai asked, slurping her tea, but her tone was bored. "I don't know, but it sounded like a fox... Lorna." Kurama quickly arrived at the conclusion before the sentence was complete. To his surprise, Hiei was up and already dashing down the hall, Kurama followed quickly behind. Genkai just sat there, "Idiots." She muttered, drinking her tea.

Hiei appeared first to find the broken dishes, Yusuke was on Kuwabara, gripping his throat with Kuwabara's knee in his stomach and both hands pushing his head back. He looked past them to Lorna sitting in the corner, glaring viciously at him. He shot a glare back at her, made a small grunt, and crossed his arms. Yusuke and Kuwabara fighting was buisness as usual and he could care less that the little girl hated him, so he made a point to look back at her, send her a death glare that would knock a lion dead, then close his eyes.

When Kurama finally turned the corner he noticed the broken glass first, then the little blood spots. He looked quickly at Yusuke and Kuwabara, but they were struggling to get each other off balance and neither appeared injured so he just skimmed over them, they did that all the time, so the site was quite common. There was Lorna, picking pieces of glass from the bottom of her feet. He could feel the sweatdrop appearing, feel the exasperated sigh before it started. This girl had barely been awake an hour and already she'd managed to get herself hurt two more times. She was more trouble than she was worth.

Lorna heard Kurama's sigh, it sounded very annoyed. A small smile danced across her face, the michevious light only concealed by her hair. It was way too amusing to annoy him, even if it did mess up the goal she had in mind. Instinct can only be turned off course for so long. His shadow descened over her, blocking out her light source, it was hard not to look up just to see that annoyed look on his face. "Are you always getting injured like this or is it a new thing you've just started?" He asked, the annoyance she so longed to see tainting his voice.

The smirk was still hidden by her hair, the michevious glint in her eyes was even concealed by the shadow. "Only for you." She said in a sly voice, as though implying something. This obviously caught Kurama slightly off gaurd, as it took him a moment to reply and he sounded slightly unsure of himself when he did. "Excuse me?" He asked, Lorna coughed,"I mean,", she looked up at him, widening her eyes and arching her eyebrows into a pitiful look. She pouted cutely and titled her head so the light caught just right and created the innocent and helpless eyes. "Kyu?" Her voice was high and sweet, completely devoid of anything but innocence and weakness. Kurama sighed, but he couldn't help but smile even though he'd already formed a sweatdrop from the slight stupitidy of his fellow fox by using the innocent act on another fox. "You're most definatly a fox, that just proved it." He said, sighing again, but he was still smiling.

Yusuke, pausing in escaping from Kuwabara's choke hold, blinked twice in confusion before speaking his mind. "Fox? But... you don't feel like a fox, all I can feel is human." His voice betrayed his confusion. Kuwabara was nodding frantically in agreement from his place on the floor. Lorna furrowed her eyebrows, looking up at Kurama, the light revealing the blue, with an odd sort of betrayed look in her eyes. Kurama furrowed his eyebrows as well when he saw the look, understanding immediatly that he shouldn't have said that, that she didn't want them to know. Lorna looked back down at her foot, the betrayed look disappearing. "I am human, but it's my soul that's not." Lorna said slowly, then shot Kurama a glare because he'd yet to move to allow her to finish picking out the glass.

Hiei made that grunting sound again, it almost sounded like he said something akin to, "Hn." The sound knocked Lorna right back into the state of mind that had believed she could kill him. Why did this Hiei make her so angry every time he acted like he was upset with her? Hiei turned, locking the cold firey eyes on her own in a glare that would've made anyone cry, but her anger blinded her from fear.

Hiei made his, "Hn.", sound again before he turned back around. "You're not worthy of my time." He announced loudly before walking calmly off as though nothing at all had happened. Lorna growled lowly and started to get up, but Kurama put his hand on her shoulder and forced her back down. "He's the one who's not worth it, Lorna." Kuwabara said, looking back to glare at Hiei's retreating back. Lorna glared darkly at Hiei's back as well, too anrgy for words. It was as though she had tunnel vision and the only person left in the room besides herself was Hiei. The moment she thought this she realized it was a strange thought to have and if it hadn't been this certain situation it would've sounded almost romantic.

A shadow darkned her other side as Yusuke bent down in front of her, there was a slight pressure under her knees and behind her neck as he scooped her right up. Lorna yiped gently, clinging to his neck. Yusuke laughed, grinning down at the girl. "You know, I could really enjoy this." He said in a playfully flirtatious tone. Lorna smiled slightly and then stuck her tongue out at him. "I don't date shorter men." She said, then grinned brightly as Yusuke laughed. Kuwabara shifted, as though he was feeling useless. It seemed Yusuke had noticed as well because he said, "Kuwabara, go get her some more food. I'll take care of tha glass." Kuwabara nodded and hurried off, as though his mission were the most important he'd ever been on.

Yusuke walked into the bedroom, kneeling down to set her lightly on the futon. "You really need to be more careful." Yusuke said, and even though it should've sounded concerned or even worried it was, instead it was playful. Kurama poked his head into the room, then strode over to stand next to the futon. Lorna grinned. "No worries, Yusuke. A little bit of glass won't keep me down!" She said happily, her eyes glowing. Yusuke grinned back, standing and taking a towel from a pile near the doorway, walking outside to sweep up the glass.

Kuwabara's voice spoke suddenly. "Hi, Yusuke." Yusuke's voice answered, "Why are you back? You're supposed to be going to do something." Kuwabara's head poked around the corner of the door, a sad look on his unattractive face, it didn't make him look any better. To tell the truth it made Kuwabara look a little pathetic in a way that could either tug at you heart strings or make you want to slam a book in his face, depending on if you're the kind of person who looks past appearances or not. Lorna smiled in an empathetic way, feeling a little sorry for Kuwabara and understanding why he was giving her that sad look before he even spoke. "I'm sorry I dropped your soup." He said, his tone even apolegetic. Lorna smiled more. "That's OK, Kuwabara. You were only trying to help." Lorna said brightly, but inside she was upset. She actually liked this guy, and that was not part of the mission. Kuwabara grinned, "I only wanted to say that." He said, hurrying back out of the room, his footsteps echoing down he hall.

Yusuke began laughing, hard, before he had even entered the room. Lorna blinked in confusion, already confused enough by the odd feelings that had been swirling in her chest for a while. Then she glared at him just as hard as he was laughing, the sun in her eyes blazing, but the fog had turned to stone and the sea had frozen over. Yusuke smirked at her. "You're nice, but tough. I like that." He said in an extremly casual way, as though the sudden announcemnet wasn't in the least bit shocking and he made statements like that all the time. Then he simply strode out of the room like he was a super model, laughing to himself all the way down the hall.

Lorna began to laugh lightly in a way that wasn't quite a giggle but wasn't exactly laughing, "I'm begining to like it here." She said to herself, her voice betraying the feelings that were forming and the confusion that followed. Then she smiled brightly at the warm feeling. It wasn't her innocent smile, or her playful grin, it wasn't even her michevious smirk, it was a real smile that managed to make her almost beautiful, even if it was only for a few seconds.

Kurama smiled, he'd been standing right there next to her the entire time. "I'm glad you do." He said, a sincere tone in his voice. Lorna glanced over, looking up at him, she gave a weak smile, "Well, you seem to be trying your best to make me feel welcome." She said in a very soft voice, suddenly furrowing her eyebrows, pulling her foot to herself and restarting on her glass picking. "Would you like a little help?" Kurama asked, sitting down next to the futon. Lorna grinned, sticking her other foot out at him, wiggling the toes despite the pain it caused. "Sure, thank you!" She said, causing him to chuckle.

Kurama set a wooden bowl between them and began to pick out the pieces of glass with a pair of twezers while Lorna used her fingers to carefully remove them. "You should be careful." Kurama said after a moment. Lorna merely smiled and put the glass into the bowl. It grew quiet fast, the only sound being the clicking as the glass clanked together in the bowl. Lorna normally hated silence, but for once it didn't bother her, in fact she felt almost comfortable in the companionable silence. It amazed her how quickly she had grown attached to these people. There was just something about them that attracted her, even to Hiei. Maybe it had something to do with the way they had so easily and readily accepted her, except of course Kurama. Lorna looked over at him, furrowing her eyebrows, remembering for a moment how Mai had told her it would give her early wrinkles. Kurama had accepted her before he had informed her, his anger was a test. He was a fox as well. Lorna smiled, they were so comfortable together now despite that anger they'd experience earlier.

The clinking in the bowl stopped as the room fell into real silence. Kurama had paused in pulling out the glass, the feeling of being watched making him look up. He gave Lorna a slightly confused look, but her smile only grew slightly larger. He smiled back and went to return to picking out the glass but stopped when his eyes locked onto hers. It was strange, her eyes weren't the innocent ones that had attracted him before, but he felt himself being drawn in. The gold bursts in her eyes almost glowed, like little lights that were beckoning him forward. Lorna felt her cheeks begin to burn. She couldn't look back down, something was preventing her, and now it seemed as though Kurama had started leaning forward, or maybe it only seemed that way because she was leaning forward. Lorna wanted to scream at her body to stop, but it seemed as if time were slowing down, or maybe it was only her thoughts that were slowing down. As she felt her body go forward of it's own accord, it seemed almost as though there was a transparent green screen placed in front of eyes of solid gold that called to her inner kleptomaniac.

The sound of heavy footsteps broke the silence, ruining the hypnosis that had seemed to have fallen over them. Lorna and Kurama both jerked slightly, blinking in confusion and feeling completely lost. The gold burst in Lorna's eyes shrunk slightly, the color fading til it was only the color of unpolished gold. Kuwabara came in, a tray in his hands with a cup of tea, a bowl of rice, and a bowl of beef soup. "I hope your hungry." He said cheerfully, unaware of the odd looks Kurama and Lorna were giving each other, each wondering if the other had noticed something strange. Lorna grinned as the smell entered her nose, causing her stomach to clench painfully with hunger. She let go of her foot, stretching it out next to her other one in Kurama's lap. "Oh yes, thank you very much!" She cheered happily, taking the tray from Kuwabara. He smiled back, "You're welcome." He said happily, feeling very nice that someone was being so nice to him. Then he left the room leaving Kurama and Lorna alone once more.

Kurama smiled at Lorna in a way that looked like a combination of appriciation and greatfulness. "Not many people are nice to Kuwabara." He said, then quickly looked back down at the bowl full of glass, hoping to avoid another strange moment. The glass was shiny and glinted pink with blood. Lorna furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I'll admit he's not much to look at... or listen to for that matter, but he seems like a really nice guy." She stated, picking up her chopsticks and twirling them between her fingers in a fancy little move.

Kurama nodded, a proud feeling in his chest for knowing a fox could be so right about something and for knowing he was one as well. "Time to eat!" Lorna announced, interupting his thoughts. She picked up the bowl of rice and was about to dig in when her eyebrows furrowed together again. Kurama had even begun to notice just how often she furrowed them and noticed she only did it when a thought she had bothered her. She looked over at him, and he could see that she felt very uncomfortable. "Have you eaten already, Kurama?" She asked with a suspicious look on her face but a softly nervous tone to her voice. Kurama stood up and got the salve he'd been using on her leg wounds earlier. "Yes, I did." He assured her, then turned back around to find her eating the rice with a content smile.

Hot food, warm bed, ah the simple joys that one appriciates all the more after almost dying, The rice was cooked perfectly and although plain tasted delicious. Who ever made the soup was going to find theirselves the target of a very affectionate fox's hug. Even the tea tasted perfect, Lorna couldn't remember the last time she'd had food that didn't need a ton of salt to make it taste even half way decent. "That was delicious." She sighed in contentment, putting her tea cup back down and closing her eyes to enjoy the feeling of a warm and full belly.

Kurama had waited for her to finish eating before applying the ointment to the cuts. He'd waited in case she was ticklish. The last thing he wanted was hot soup flying around. Gently he dabbed the ointment onto a cotton ball and softly dragged it across the wounds. A loud yipe echoed through the halls of the temple as Lorna jumped backwards and blushed in embaressment. Kurama chuckled, amusment swaying gracefully through his voice like reeds in the wind. He grabbed her foot again. "Don't move." He warned, giving her a very serious look. "That tickled!" Lorna yelled, glaring at him acussingly. Kurama just laughed, tickling the arch of her foot where there were no cuts. Another yipe resonated through the temple, Lorna fell onto her side, giggling loudly and struggling to escape.

While escaping wasn't an option due to the tight grip Kurama had on her ankle, and kicking would result in anger from him, Lorna could yell at him; and she chose to yell loudly. "Cheater! Cheating cheater! You cheat! Stop cheating you cheating cheat cheater!" She yelled, unable to stop giggling all the way through. Kurama gave a sigh, laughing and trying hard to stop, a smile on his face at the amusing way she'd yelled at him. "Damnit, you cheating cheater! Stop cheating!" She yelled, giving a little glare. He gave a michevious grin to her, letting go of her foot, which to his amusment sent her toppling head over heels backwards into the wall.

Lorna sat up immediatly, looking almost as though she had just popped right up out from the ground. "I am OK." She stated slowly, then shot a michvious glare at Kurama, a slightly evil chuckle leaving her lips as she launced her body over the futon, not even touching the sheets as she hit him full on in the chest. Kurama found it was now his turn to yipe, though it was more of a soft grunt from the male fox. Who wouldn't have made a sound if they'd found themselves in his place? He'd just gotten hit in the chest by the amazing flying Lorna.

She straddled his waist, making sure he wasn't going to escape. "You will not escape from me, Mr. Smarty Foxy." She said, emphasizing not and wiggling her fingers. Lorna began poking Kurama in the sides and stomach in an attempt to find a ticklish spot. Of course it didn't take her very long to realize that he was only chuckling at how stupid she was being and not because he was ticklish. Lorna didn't give up, instead poking up a little higher on his sides, but she soon found he had no ticklish spots. "Damnit! No fair! Why arn't guys ever ticklish?" She asked in an angry and childish voice, whining and crossing her arms sharply over hver chest. She sent him a glare and shifted side ways to fall from his lap, now kneeling next to him.

A few more chuckles left Kurama's throat before he pushed himself up on his elbows, then leaning back using his hands to support the weight of his upper body. "You should be more careful, you are still injured, if you haven't forgotten." He said, all traces of laughter and amusment in his voice replaced with worry and concern. "I was careful. I didn't pull at my stitches or strain my muscles." Lorna replied, rubbing the top of her ear. Kurama stood up, picking up the tray and looking down at her. "Rest, Lorna. Yukina will be here tommorow and we don't want you dying of blood loss." He sat, he kneeled slightly and patted her head, smiling slightly, then striding from the room.

Lorna smiled contently, climbing under the covers and snuggling deep into them, feeling warm and happy wrapped in the softness of the blankets. The warm softness and comfortable fullness in her belly combined with her tired body was more than effective in lulling her to sleep quickly.

Kurama washed the dishes, listening to Kuwabara and Yusuke argue over the remote. "Shut up!" Genkai yelled after a few minutes of the bickering, sending both boys into grumbling piles of flesh on the floor. Kurama smiled, shaking his head at his friends' stupidity. "That's it, I'm going home where I can watch t.v. without your big butt on my head!" Yusuke yelled, loudly. Kurama peeked around the corner, eyebrow raising high as he surpressed a chuckle. "Fine! Go! I'm staying!" Kuwabara yelled back. Genkai coughed, "I live her, I own this temple, I say you both go." She said, glaring at them. Hiei smirked, "Hn." He said, an almost detectable sign of amusment in it. Both boys glared at Genkai and then Hiei. "FINE!" They yelled, marching to the door, both trying to get out at the same time. They wrestled a bit before Yusuke fell out the door. Kurama smiled. "I must be going too, thank you, Genkai, and take care." He said politely, she merely nodded to him. The three boys left the temple, heading home to the women that were waiting for them; their mothers, and in Kuwabara's case, sister.

The light fell in little golden spider webs through the leaves leaving green shadows on the backs of the other fox kits. There was a small squirrel running by, and the other kits ran after it, trying to catch it. She sat there, feeling content to watch the game, already knowing that the squirrel was going to escape. Her mother leaned down, licking her ears and head in a comforting way. There was a warm feeling in her chest, nothing like love, but an emotion similar, almost indisinguishable from the human emotion but without the limits and boundaries. She sensed something, an an odd scent on the air. She sniffed the air, her stomach growling.

Hours after she went to sleep, Lorna woke to the darkness. She yawned, stretching her body out and twisting it from side to side to work out the kinks in her joints and muscles. She readjusted the yukata to cover the juban beneath. The yukata was much too small for her, but it wasn't surprising considering that most clothes were too small for her. She glanced at the window, seeing that it was indeed dark outide. There was an odd scent in the air. She sniffed, smelling boiling fish and frying rice, her stomach growled. She climbed out of the futon, licking her lips and feeling like a predator about the hunt down prey.

Softly she padded down the dark hallway. Her stiffened muscles from sleep causing her to go slower, hunching over slightly, adding to the predator look that Lorna had taken on. Her fox blonde hair was messy, falling down her back in an almost mane like manner. It took a harder push than earlier that day, but she managed to get the door open and slip into the living room like a shadow. The cooking food smell filled her nose.

Gently she pushed open the door to the kitchen to find Genkai cooking. "Hello, Genkai." Lorna greeted lowly in a slightly shy voice. She shuffled softly across the floor towards the kitchen table, feeling a little awkward. "Oh, you're awake," Genkai's gravely voice said as she eyed Lorna. "You seem to be feeling better, admitidly you look stiff, but better." Genkai said, and though she looked sten and sounded mean, Lorna could sense a kindness beneath that surprised her. She smiled, not feeling as awkward in front of the old woman as she had before.

Lorna nodded, relaxing even more as her fox instincts melted away. "I took some good advice from a smart fox." She said, feelng better than she had in a long time. Genkai, however, looked surprised. "Kurama told you?" She asked, not pausing in cooking to speek, already putting the fish and rice and bowls. "Yea, was he not supposed to?" Lorna asked, kneeling at the table and watching Genkai put the food on the table with the curious eyes of a child.

Genkai sank onto the pillow, sighing deeping as though very tired, and then picking up her tea cup and slurping on it. "Koenma won't like it," She said slowly. Lorna furrowed her eyebrows, thinking to see if the name was familer, then, even though it was, she decided to ask. After all, it would be bad if she knew Koenma and was pretending to be normal. Lorna opened her mouth to askk, but Genkai must have already known the question. "He's prince of Spirit World." She answered for her. Lorna nodded slowly, deep in thought. "He rules Spirit World and I got you in trouble? I'm sorry." She said softly, strangely enough feeling the prick in her heart that told her the feeling was real.

Lorna furrowed her eyebrows, pondering the strangeness that was overcoming her. Then again, she was nice when others were nice, and as long as they stayed nice to her she was most likely going to continue to feel this fondness towards them so long as they stayed on that good side of her. Genkai coughed, cutting off her thoughts. "Thank you, but it's time to eat now, girl." She said, putting down her cup and picking up her chopsticks, digging into her dinner. Lorna followed suit, picking up her chopsticks and taking a big bite. "It's delicious!" She exclaimed, making Genkai chuckle. "Done already?*" She asked, raising an eyebrow, spreading amusment across her old and stern face.

Lorna laughed, greatly amused by Genkai's joke. "No, I was complimenting you! Did you cook lunch, too?" She asked, picking a piece of fish off the bone and eating it, closing her eyes in contentment, then looking back at Genkai. The old woman nodded, "When you live alone, I suppose you get good at these things." She replied as though it was not a particularly sad comment or an interesting subject. "I cook a little, but I can only make a few dishes like okinamiyaki, tempura, fish stew, and vegetable soup," Lorna replied, trying to distract Genkai from her thoughts. Genkai's mouth turned upwards slightly. "Prehaps you'll learn during your visit here." She said, still feeling a little bit sad.

Lorna nodded, feeling sad inside for the woman sitting across from her. She's so kind, Lorna thought, and so strong too. Genkai was thinking as well, but her thoughts were on the young woman in front of her with the strong spiritual energy who knew when to keep her mouth shut and not prod her nose into a sensitive subject. The wounds were still fresh from her encounter with Toguro at the Dark Tournament.

Genkai looked at Lorna, sitting there with muscles that had obviously come from years of hard training, now armed with the knowledge of demons and an immense amout of untapped spiritual energy that had most likely come from long meditation hours and her training. Genkai thought about how nice it would be to have a female disciple who would follow in her footsteps, someone who wasn't the dimwit. The old woman frowned. Of course Lorna would need to be seriously trained, while she was good enough now she wasn't nearly as strong as Yusuke, though much stronger than he had been before he'd undergone her training. If she could convince this young woman to take on her six month training then prehaps she would become even stronger than Yusuke was. Then Genkai noticed something about Lorna that would need to be fixed immediatly.

Lorna twitched her ears under Genkai's stern and intense gaze. It was as though the old woman could see into her very soul and see the fox that she truly was. That thought scared her a little bit, she felt vunerable. "My kimono doesn't fit you. You're much taller than I was at your age." Genkai said suddenly, making Lorna's head snap up. "Oh. Well, my clothes are shredded." Lorna said, suddenly feeling upset and more vunerable than before.

Genkai shrugged, then shifted slightly, her legs feeling a little cramped under her. "You're about Kurama's hieght, prehaps a tiny bit taller," Genkai said suddenly. Lorna furrowed her eyebrows. Was she taller than Kurama? If she was it must have only been a millimeter more, though now that she thought back, it must have been a little more than an inch. "I'll show you to the room he uses when he trains here on weekends. You can borrow one of his outfits." Genkai said calmly in that gravely voice that was so different from the sweet voice she'd had in her youth. Lorna could only wonder what had happened in this woman's life that had caused her to become so angry and gruff to the world.

Dinner went on in silence, nothing more needing to be said. Lorna thought about what needed to be done, hoping that when the time came they'd upset her enough to get on her bad side. Genkai was thinking in a different direction, instead of imagining Lorna as she was, she was imaging Lorna as she could be; strong and confident, powerful, fighting along side the Spirit Detectives, saving the world. Growing older, getting married, having children, training her children to become Spirit Detectives. Genkai saw her living in the temple, growing into an old woman, still with the power to destroy any obstacle that stood in her way.

When they had both finished dinner, they rose in unison, taking their bowls to the sink. Lorna smiled down at Genkai. "I'll take care of the dishes, some movement would do me some good." She said. Genaki nodded walked into the living room to wait. Lorna washed them quickly, only having to deal with two pots, two spoons, four bowls, two cups and two pairs of chopsticks. She put them up and walked into the living room, Genkai immediatly rose and walked off. Lorna followed quickly, wanting to see where the old woman would lead her. Genkai lead Lorna through through the halways that occupied the back of the temple. Some of them were rooms while others held shrines. Genkai paused suddenly and slid open one of the doors, reaching inside and flicking on the light.

The room was exactly what Lorna had expected from Kurama in a room. Everything was neat and tidy, perfectly in it's place. "Wow... Kurama's quite the perfectionist..." She said, staring at the spotless cleanliness that was his room. Genkai laughed slightly, surprising Lorna. "That's one word for it." She said, turning back to the door. "Genkai?" Lorna asked, watching the old woman with curiosity. Genkai looked back over her shoulder and up at her. "I am sure you can find your way back to the living room, in the mean time I have something to think over." Genkai said, then walked out, closing the door behind her and leaving Lorna alone in the strange room.

Lorna blinked at the empty spot where Genkai had previously been. "Okay, sure, yeah. Whatever." She muttered to herself, turning around in the room, sniffinf at the air. There was a slightly flowery scent to it, a gentle fragrance that was oddly calming. She closed her eyes and smiled. The scent reminded her of her mother and of Mai. If it wasn't for the smell Lorna would've sworn no one had ever slept here. Kurama was really clean, almost to the point of being labled clinicly insane and commited. He was obviously obsessive compulsive. She slid open the closet door and watched as the silk and cotton Chinese style clothes swayed gently. Lorna smiled and closed her eyes, sniffing the air that came from the closet. The soft scent of roses and fox fur was on every single article of clothing in the closet.

Lorna made an attempt at purring, but it only came out as a low garggled growl. She frowned, she was a fox and couldn't even express her happyiness the way her instinct prompted her to. Being careful not to tear anything off it's hanger. She flipped through the closet, frowning when she found all the outfits she liked were either torn or stained with blood. It was with some surprise she found that most of the bloodstairs and tears were on the stomach area. One outfit she found was almost completely soaked, with burn marks on it. She could feel her eyebrows lower in concern. This nice boy she'd just met had been hurt very badly, yet he acted as though he'd never felt any pain before.

It was with some force that Lorna finally managed to force her thoughts of concern for her fellow fox to come to a stop. She had to get out over her fast, before she became more attatched than she already was to these people. She grabbed a soft cotton white shirt and some soft white cottom pants, leaving the tunic that went to the outfit behind. She closed the closet, looking at the clothes in her arms.

Lorna blushed slightly as she untied the obi-jime, then the date-jime beneath. She fingered the hoshi-hime before pulling it off. She let the yukata drop, then pulled the juban off as well. Her blush grew brighter, after all she was standing nearly naked in a boys room, though it lacked the boy. The clothes fit as far as hieght went, but to her surprise the pants were loose on her waist and the shirt fit her shoulders perfectly, she could even stretch her arms out straight in front of herself without feeling any resistance in the back of the shirt.

Lorna smiled, picking up Genkai's yukata and tucking it under her arm. She turned and smiled at the room turning the light off and sliding the door closed behind her. The temple was silent and still, the air cool. She headed back towards the living room, remembering the direction completely. She'd decided on a question to ask Genkai. Something that would help her with her assesment of the Spirit Detectives. Her sore muscles had already loosened so it made it easier to walk, no trace of injuries could be found in her gait.

Careful, fox girl, she thought as she pushed open the doors to find Genkai meditating on the entryway floor, they'll notice if you keep this up. Lorna coughed lightly, kneeling to place the yukata beside Genkai. She didn't exactly want to disturb her, but she needed to talk to her. "Thank you very much, Genkai, and good night." Lorna said, standing and bowing. She decided that Genkai was much too busy, prehaps she'd talk to her in the morning. She turned and started to leave.

The air moved as Genkai raised her hand, even the innocent acting Lorna haulted before she could fully think things through. "Wait just a moment there, girl." Genkai said in a tone that demanded absolute obedience. Mentally the part of Lorna that clung to the human ways she had adopted tried to rebel against the idea, but the fox in her couldn't deny the superiorty in that voice. Besides, she still had that question.

Lorna turned back, a bright smile on her face as she tilted her head and chirped cutely, "Yes, Genkai?" She could see Genkai was still seated, her back facing her, but that hand stayed raised in a silent comand that she was not to leave. "Don't play innocent with me, girl," Genkai said slowly. Lorna flinched, feeling the need to take the offensive. Every muscle tensed. "You've been trained in the art of fighting. I can tell by the way you handle pain, your gait, your aura, and your strenght." Lorna's eyes narrowed, she felt she was being backed into a corner. "Maybe I was." She whispered under her breath, but it was so low that Genkai must not have heard her. After all, it sounded more like a rustle of leaves in the wind. "I'm impressed. Your skills are most likely in need of refining, and I'm sure your spirit energy needs some work. I'd be glad to train you further in the arts, prehaps even take you on as an aprentence." Genkai finished. Lorna sighed, feeling the need to fight or run disapating, she smiled.

Then Lorna laughed, realizing how silly she had been to think that Genkai had not only found her out but was going to attack her. "No thank you, Genkai. I don't want to take on more than I can handle, and I can already tell you'd be a much harder master than I could handle." Lorna said, purposely making an attempt at stroking the old woman's ego. Genkai sighed, shaking her head. "No. You could handle my training. You'd thrive under my hand, becoming as strong as Yusuke, prehaps stronger." Genkai said, a slight smirk clearly visable in her voice. Lorna's curiosty was striked, her need to be stronger wanting her to say yes. "No, I can't possiably. Besides, what would I need that kind of training for?" She asked, insecurity in her voice. "That may be true, and you're right, most likely you'd never need to use my training." Genkai sighed. She waved her hand in a sign of dismissal.

Lorna turned and headed back for the bedroom she'd been given. There was a strangely happy feeling in her chest. Oddly enough she even felt beautiful. No, feelign beautiful wouldn't put that kind of sway to her waist and swish to her hips. Prehaps all the attention had gone to her head. The male attention, Genkai thinking that she was strong enough to be like Yusuke, yes, it had to be the attention. A smirk broke out across her face as she came to realize the exact way to describe the new feeling. She felt like a vixen; a sexy, dangerous creature with power and strenght. Well, two out of three was okay with her. Lorna looked into the mirror, narrowing her eyes and tucking her hair behind her ear. For once she didn't feel like she was trapped in an awkward and ugly human body. In fact, she looked kind of pretty, still not beautiful, but pretty. She laughed, throwing her hands up and spinning, falling backwards onto the futon with a plop on the cushy blankets and soft pillow.

A thick and heavy rain of blood poured from the sky. Around her lay the bodys of obliterated demons, eyes wide with horror and fear. The stench was over powering and sickening. She ran, leaping over the bodies. Blood matted her fur, a sick feeling as in her stomach. It was all she could do to keep running and not heave. There was a flash of black, silver glinting, stained pink by blood. The claws desended down on her, her back ripping. Inhuman red eyes glared down at her, the pupils slitted. Fangs dug into her ribs, crushing them.

Lorna awoke, screaming in pain and terror. "Woman, quit your infernal screaming." The deep. grumpy, and slightly sleepy voice demanded. Lorna opened her own glowing blue eyes to find red onese staring down at her. Hiei was seated next to the futon. She screamed again, both in shock and reminder of her nightmare. She pulled back her fist and punched Hiei in the face before she or even he knew quite what was going on.

Another scream erupted through the halls as Lorna realized just what she'd done. "Oh, Hiei! I'm so sorry!" She yelled, reaching forward to touch his cheek where she'd hit him. Hiei only glared, unsheating his katana and slashing out at her. Lorna jumped back, getting quickly to her feet. "I said I was sorry!" She yelled, running from the room and out into the halls. Right were she'd just been Hiei slashed, the pillow bursting into a flurry of feathers. "Hn." He grunted, rushing forward. Lorna spun to the left, narrowly avoiding him. "It was creepy! You leaning over me like that and yelling!" She turned and ran backwards, the silver flashing through where she had been. "Honestly, Hiei! I thought you were trying to kill me!" She yelled, jumping backwards to avoid another slash. Hiei only made another grunt in reply, but Lorna knew that if he were more talkitive he would have just told her that he was indeed trying to kill her.

Hiei wasn't really trying to kill her, he would have already killed her by now if he had wanted to. No, he was just going to frighten her. The sound of echoing footsteps caused Hiei to pause in his assault, it was only for a moment, but it was long enough for Lorna to get a headstart in the direction the footsteps were coming from. "Hiei!" Yusuke screamed, holding up his hand like he was predenting to shoot a gun, but the feeling of pure spirit energy let Lorna know he wasn't pretending, she slammed her body to the ground as a bullet made of spirit energy rushed past over head. "Spirit Gun!" Yusuke yelled, confirming Lorna's suspicions. The infamous spirit gun, Yusuke's weapon.

Quickly she scrambled up off of the floor and ran towards Yusuke before Hiei could decide to change his mind and actually try to kill her. Yusuke grabbed on to her, pushing her behind him, giving Hiei an angry glare. Hiei merely glared back, sheating his katana. Yusuke, satisfied that Hiei wouldn't make any more death attempts, turned to see how Lorna was doing. She grinned, her breathing heavy and her heart pounding, the adrenaline rush was just what she'd needed, it was a kick in the immune system. She glanced over at Hiei, chuckling inwardly. After the tenth time she'd managed to avoid him, she'd realized he wasn't really trying. It was strange to feel so happy and exhilerated over something so scary. "Thank you!" She said, smiling down happily at her savior. Yusuke grinned, milking his hero momeny for every last ounce that Lorna was more than happy to give. "Why was he trying to kill ya?" Yusuke asked after a few moments of feeling worshipped.

Lorna blushed. Oh boy, this was awkward. What had Hiei been doing sitting next to her futon? How could she word this so he didn't get yelled at? How could she word this so she wouldn't get yelled at? There was a right way and a wrong way and she had to be careful. "I was having a nightmare, I think I was screaming. I must have woken Hiei up. He yelled at me for screaming, I screamed more because he scared me so much, and then I punched him in the face!" Lorna said, shutting her eyes tight and pulling back her fist, punching into what should have been empty air in demonstration.

Of course when her arm shot forward it didn't meet empty space. It was just Lorna's luck. The fact that Yusuke had begun howling in laughter let her know that she had hit someone rather than something. Her eyes flew open and she was staring at a dazed Kuwabara sitting on the ground with a bruised and slowly swelling eye. It was just his luck as well. "Oh my gods**. Kuwabara, honey, I'm so sorry!" She yelled with concern tainting her voice, then she flinched. "Don't kill me!" She added, remembering that Hiei had tried to when she'd punched him. Yusuke just laughed harder, and Kuwabara became even more dazed from the confusion. Hiei smirked, this was all to amusing to him.

Lorna shot a glare at Hiei, grabbing Kuwabara under the shoulder and pulling him up. "Come on, Kuwabara, let's go put some ice on that..." She trailed off, looking back at Hiei. "I can get some for you, too." She added, the same concern she'd used on Kuwabara was still in her voice. Hiei didn't say a word, merely turning his back on her, his face expresionless. Lorna furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at Yusuke. Yusuke just shrugged, "He's always like that." He said. Lorna nodded, dragging Kuwabara down the hall. When she got to the kitchen, Yusuke in tow, she forced Kuwabara to sit down at the kitchen table. "Sit still, I'm gonna get you some ice." Lorna said, then went to the frezzer. Yusuke was still laughing. "Damn, Kuwabara! She must've hit you pretty damn hard, cause you ain't said a thing since!" He yelled. Kuwabara blinked, shaking his head from side to side. "She hit me... She hit like you, Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelled, causing everyone to stop exactly what they were doing.

Lorna looked back, the ice tray in her hands. Hiei raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. Yusuke glared. "Are you saying I punch like a girl?!" He screamed angrily, that immediatly set Lorna off, she death glared. "Hey!" She yelled, slamming the ice tray down onto the table. "No, I'm saying she punches like you do!" Kuwabara yelled at Yusuke, standing to glare down at him, his swollen and blackened eye making him look silly rather than vicious. "She punches like a man." Hiei added, just to make sure everyone understood what Kuwabara meant.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were having a glaring contest while Lorna was trying to fix her rapidly deteriorating quickly. Her left eye was twitching, the fuse nearly gone. "Excuse me?" She asked, voice cold and hard, deadly almost in tone. "There is no way a girl can punch like me!" Yusuke bellowed back at Kuwabara completely ignoring the dangerous girl beside of him.

It took only six punched to put Yusuke and Kuwabara on their asses in the middle of the kitcken floor, dazed, confused, and in pain. Lorna was smiling in an almost happy yet evil way, Hiei was smirking again. If she kept this up, Hiei wouldn't mind so much keeping her around, espically not if she continued to kick Yusuke's ass. Yusuke himself, however, was at a loss for words. "Told you." Kuwabara mumbled though a swelling lip. Yusuke blinked, staring blankly ahead. "So this is what it's like to get beaten up by me..." Yusuke said at last, causing Kuwabara and Lorna to laugh, her good humor renewed.

The slight laugh at the doorway made everyone turn their heads and look, though Hiei only glanced over, having known who it was to begin with. "What happened?" Kurama asked, eyebrow raised, unable to hide his amusment. Lorna smiled happily, eyes closed to emphasize her amusement and good mood. "The boys just annoyed the hell out of me and then pissed me off." She said in an overly cheeful voice. Kurama could only laugh again.

Kurama smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but Lorna cut him short. "I just remembered!" She said, now she wouldn't have to as Genkai, the real things were hear to answer he seemingly innocent question. "Where do you guys go when you're not here?" She asked. Yusuke stood up, pulling Kuwabara with him. He blinked in confusion, looking at her. "Home with my mom." He said, slightly confused. "Home to my sis." Kuwabara said. Hiei just glared and opened the refrigerator, staring at the insides with no intention of getting anything. "He stays here mosy of the time, and I live with my mother." Kurama said, walking over to Hiei and holding out his hand. Hiei handed him the eggs and shut the refrigerator, walking off. Kurama sighed, opening it back up, pulling out some beef and vehetable broth.

Yusuke decided to redeem himelf by saying something in an intellegent and not confused tone. "We have rooms here for long training trips." He said, sounding just as intellegent as he'd wanted to. Lorna smiled at Yusuke in a way that strangely enough reminded Hiei of Yukina. Kurama blinked, having at last noticed something strange about Lorna. He turned and pointed at her. "Those are my clothes." He stated bluntly, eyebrows furrowed in deep thought and confusion. Lorna almost giggled, clapping she turned to face him, smiling brightly with her eyes closed, she cocked her head to the side. "Genkai said I could borrow some, unfortantly I was taller than she was at my age." Lorna said. Kurama's eyebrows stayed furrowed, but he turned and started on breakfast. "I would have liked it if someone had asked me first." He said in a quiet voice. Lorna sighed, turning her back on him like he had on her. "I'm sorry, okay?" She asked, her tone becoming quiet and nervous.

There was just something about having a girl wearing his clothes that unnerved Kurama. Lorna, too, was unnerved. This wasn't going so great. She was becoming friends with them despite knowing what was going to happen. She closed her eyes. If only Kurama could feel as comfortable around her as she'd grown with him. If only Yusuke could stop being so insensitive to the way her temper worked. If only they would be nice to Kuwabara like he was to her and she to him. If only Hiei would open up a little bit. No, it was good they didn't do those thing, because then she would find herself in way over her head.

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

That was chapter 2, Rehabilitation! Chapter 3 coming soon to a fanfiction website near you. Did anyone get the Kurama/Lorna romantic things? How bout the weird little Hiei moments? And please tell me what you think of that "Kuwabara, honey"! Even I don't know who Lorna likes and I'm writting this! Please review!

* In Japan saying "That was delicious." or "This is delicious." signals you're done eating

** Lorna is polytheistic, in fact, most of Japan is polytheistic. Don't like it? Get over it. It's a fact, it's my story, and I won't apologize because it makes you uncomfortable.

And thanks again to morbid mistress for being the first reviewer!