Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Vacation Time ❯ Chapter Seventeen ( Chapter 17 )

Chapter Seventeen

 

Cassie's POV

 

Jin gently set me down in the living room, giving me a quick smile before he disappeared into the kitchen. He was probably very hungry, most likely because it was almost lunch time. I was hungry as well, but I had something else to do before I ate. I wanted to talk to Kaline. After all, as tradition dictated, I had to jokingly scold her for cheating. She did the same for me whenever I cheated.

 

I went down the hallway towards Kaline's room, knowing that was the most likely place for her to be. Strangely enough, I didn't find her there. The room was empty and silent, proof that Kaline hadn't gone to her room.

 

"Maybe the sun room," I whispered to myself, going back out of the room and heading towards the room at the end of the hall. I opened that door to find Kaline sitting down in one of the chairs, her back to me. Smirking, I took a few steps into the room so that I was closer to her.

 

"Kaline," I said sing-song like, my voice eerily pleasant. "I need to talk to you."

 

She turned in the chair so that she was sitting sideways in it. "Oh, you do, huh?" She smiled deviously. "About what?"

 

"About our little race," I replied sweetly. "Now, what was with the teleporting?"

 

She stretched her arms over her head and shrugged, a playful twinkle in her eyes. "I just felt like doing that. Why do ya ask?" she wondered innocently.

 

"Because that... was... CHEATING," I informed her loudly, although I wasn't at all angry.

 

"Oh. Okay," she responded nonchalantly, shrugging again. "Well, now that I've been berated, let's move on to a different subject, just like we always do."

 

I nodded my head in agreement. "Did you find the volcano interesting?" I asked her, curious. "I would like to see a volcano up close."

 

Kaline thought for a moment. "It was okay, I guess... and I suppose that we can convince the others that it might be cool to get a close look at a volcano." She paused for a moment. "I think that there are... two volcanoes that we can go see. There's probably tours for them, so we'd probably have to go tomorrow. Tours here most likely fill up fast."

 

That statement made perfect sense to me. "We'll have to talk to everyone tonight then," I commented, biting my bottom lip as I tried to think of a way to get the group to agree to the tours.

 

"Not everyone," Kaline corrected me, twirling a strand of golden brown hair around her index finger. "If we can get Yukina to go, both Kuwabara and Hiei will go. Since Jin is obviously gonna want ta go, Touya will probably join as well. Then, we just need to convince Botan and Keiko. If we do that, then Yusuke and Koenma will agree to go as well."

 

"Sounds like a plan," I stated, moving to sit in a chair next to Kaline.

 

"And, if we're going to visit volcanoes... I wanna go visit one of the black sand beaches. I think one of the beaches is near a volcano," Kaline said, a hopeful look in her eyes. She really did want to see a black sand beach.

 

"I'm pretty sure that we can convince them to go there as well," I told her. "Although I don't think that it'll be any different from a normal beach... aside from the color of the sand."

 

"I just wanna be able to say tha-" Kaline began to say, but she was interrupted.

 

"There ya are, lass," Jin said as he entered the room, effectively cutting off Kaline. "I've got something ta show ya."

 

I barely had time to respond before Jin gently grabbed my hands and proceeded to guide me out of the room, Kaline waving good-bye to me as he did so. "Um..." I gave him a confused look, but I didn't argue.

 

"Doan't worry, lass," he assured me, smiling brightly. "You should like the surprise."

 

"Okay," I replied, fully giving into him. If he was going to be so persistent, then I wasn't going to protest. It wasn't like Jin was going to do anything bad to me. After all, he was a friend of Kaline, and I trusted her judgment when it came to choosing friends.

 

Jin led me out onto the front porch where someone had set up a little picnic. There was a blanket on the ground with food and plates placed on it. Two cushions were lying next to the blanket, obviously there for someone to sit on.

 

"What do ya think, lass?" Jin asked, gesturing towards the picnic setup. He was very proud of himself, if the smug look on his face was any indication of his true feelings. Most likely, he had been planning the picnic for a little while, considering how nicely he had set up everything.

 

"It was very nice of you to do this," I responded, sitting down on one of the cushions. "Thank you."

 

Jin sat down on the cushion next to me. "You're welcome," he said, beginning to put the food on his plate. "Help yourself, lass. I made plenty."

 

I did what he told me to without saying a word. I was hungry, after all, and my stomach was beginning to demand that I feed it. "So why did you do all of this?" I asked him as I finished off my sandwich.

 

"I thought that you might enjoy this," Jin replied, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

 

I noticed the look he had and instantly became slightly suspicious. "You're up to something. I don't know what it is, but you are up to something," I told him, setting down my plate so I could give him my undivided attention.

 

He threw up his hands. "I give up, lass. Ya caught me," he admitted, chuckling. "I did all this 'cause I wanted to talk to ya away from everyone else."

 

I blinked. "That's it?" It seemed so simple that I almost couldn't believe it. Of course, Jin had given me an obvious answer. It had been so obvious that I hadn't even considered it to be an option.

 

Jin nodded his head. "It's hard to talk to you with Urameshi and the biggie around."

 

I immediately understood what he was saying. Yusuke and Kuwabara were loud, and it was hard to have a conversation around them once they started arguing.

 

After that, Jin and I sunk into a relaxed conversation about nothing in particular. He was talkative, so it was easy to keep the discussion going. We covered whatever subject crossed our minds. Jin and I even talked about Makai.

 

"I don't know much about Makai," I admitted. "Only that demons live there."

 

"Most demons do live there, lass," Jin replied. "Demon hunters live there as well, along with other things."

 

"What kinds of 'other things'?" I inquired, curious.

 

"Spirits, sometimes humans." Jin shrugged. "Mostly demons though."

 

"So how do demons get into this world?" I asked, shifting so that I was in a more comfortable position.

 

"Demons go through a portal to get to this world. Most demons can't use the portals because they're expensive and hard to open." He paused. "People like Botan can usually travel where they please though. I don't believe that she needs a portal."

 

"How did you get here? Did you use a portal?" I wondered.

 

Jin shook his head. "No. I've lived in this world since the dark tournament."

 

"Kaline told me a little about the dark tournament, but only a very little," I commented, giving him a look that clearly said I wanted more information.

 

He cocked his head to the side slightly, obviously thinking seriously about how to explain everything to me. "Every so often, there's a dark tournament. There are many different teams that participate, and the winner gets to make one wish. Urameshi and his friends were tricked into competing."

 

I frowned. "That doesn't sound good," I stated, biting my bottom lip. "Was Kaline in any danger while she was there?"

 

"Not too much," Jin replied. "When Genki died and they had to fight against team Toguro, Kaline wanted to help them fight. They needed five members on their team, and since they only had four..." Jin shrugged. "Kurama wouldn't let her."

 

"I can believe that," I told him. "I don't think that Kurama would ever put Kaline in any danger. He'd probably find any way possible to keep her out of trouble."

 

"Demon's are protective over their mates," he explained simply. "They're also protective over potential mates."

 

"Oh... I see," I responded, my mind beginning to connect some interesting dots. "And all demons are this way?"

 

Jin nodded his head. "It's a demon trait that's ingrained into the DNA."

 

I smirked. "So... how long does it take a demon to consider someone to be a potential mate?"

 

"Not very long," he answered, giving me a funny look. "Why do ya ask?"

 

Shrugging, I gave him a innocent smile. "I'm only curious," I replied. "If you don't like this subject, we can talk about something else." He nodded his head, so I obliged his silent request. "Did you enjoy kayaking? Wasn't our guide cute?"

 

Jin growled so softly that I could barely hear it. "Kayaking was fun, but I think that we didn't really need the guide."

 

"Ah... so you would have preferred for us not to have had a guide," I responded as my mind connected a few more dots. "I'll have to remember that the next time we do something."

 

"Good," he stated, sounding pleased.

 

"Besides, I don't want you and Hiei to do anything to any other guides. I'm sure their jobs are hard enough without demons messing around with them," I commented, giggling.

 

Jin gave me a very confused look. "You're laughing?"

 

"When our poor guide got out of the water after being tipped, he had the funniest expression on his face. It was almost priceless." I chuckled softly, giving Jin a friendly smile. "It was even funnier because you two were the last guys I ever expected to do something like that." I paused. "Why did you do that anyway?"

 

He shifted nervously, his eyes not quite meeting mine. "Um... Hiei suggested it."

 

"Oh..." I nodded my head in understanding. Jin had gotten jealous so he had probably conned Hiei into helping him tip the guide. Since I was confronting him, he was blaming it all on the fire demon. "Well, my flirting with the guide meant absolutely nothing."

 

"Nothing?" Jin repeated hopefully

 

"Nothing," I assured him, a sweet smile on my face.

 

An interesting look entered his eyes as he leaned a little closer to me. He stayed in that position for a moment, almost as if he was debating with himself about something. Suddenly he closed the distance between us and pressed his lips to mine.

 

I quickly pushed him away, not exactly thrilled by his actions. Jin hadn't had any right to do that. He was a nice guy, and I could easily see myself being friends with him, but I had no desire to kiss him. He just wasn't my type.

 

Before I had a chance to scold Jin, Hiei appeared, his face one of fury. He grabbed Jin's neck with one hand and pinned him to the ground. "You dare..." he growled, snarling at the wind demon. Something Jin had done had really gotten under Hiei's skin.

 

"Hiei!" I shouted, astonished by his attitude. "What's the deal? Why are you attacking Jin?"

 

The fire demon didn't respond and neither did Jin. Instead, Jin forced Hiei to release him. Once the wind demon stood back up, he assumed a fighting stance. Hiei did the same thing.

 

'They're going to brawl!' I thought unhappily. "Don't you two dare do this!" I ordered them, moving so that I was standing between them.

 

"He kissed you," Hiei said darkly, his eyes moving from Jin, then to me, and then back to the wind demon.

 

"That doesn't give you the right to fight him!" I retorted, scowling. "You can't solve all your problems with violence, and this is one of them." Leaving Hiei to digest that, I turned to face Jin. "And you..." I gave Jin 'the look'. "Listen closely to me. I consider you a friend... nothing more. I do not want you to EVER kiss me again unless I give you permission."

 

Jin opened his mouth to argue, but he quickly changed his mind when he noticed the look I was giving him. He didn't seem happy about what I had said, but after a moment, he relaxed a little. Thankfully, he had accepted my decision.

 

"Now, you two are NOT going to fight. If you do, then I'll go get Kaline." I hoped that the threat would work on them. "Now, I'm gonna go inside. Be good and stay here like the untrained puppies you're both acting like."

 

With that said, I spun about on my heel and gracefully entered the house, leaving the two demons behind me. I went to the room I shared with Yukina, not even sparing a glance behind me.

 

I wanted to get out of my swimsuit. I hadn't changed out of it because Jin had dragged me outside. Originally I had planned on changing before lunch, but my plans had changed. Now that I had a chance, I was going to take it.

 

Getting out a change of clothes and placing them on my bed, I pulled of my shirt and bikini top. Before I could put on my bra and shirt, my door came crashing to the floor as Hiei entered the room. He had kicked down my door and walked in on me.

 

"How dare you call me a pup-" Hiei stopped talking the instant he laid eyes one me, almost like his voice box refused to work anymore. He just stared at me, his jaw going slack. His red eyes were wider than usual, and he seemed to be frozen right where he stood.

 

I came out of my state of shock, grabbing a blanket off of my bed and screaming as loud as I could. "GET OUT!! GET OUT!! GET OUT!!" I grabbed one of my shoes and threw it at him as hard as I could.

 

Hiei easily dodged the shoe, quickly running out of my room, somehow putting the door back up into its correct position as he did so.

 

I stood there a moment, a little surprised by his actions and the look that had been on his face. 'How strange. I could have sworn that his eyes had glowed for a moment right before he left,' I thought, staring at the door he had recently kicked down.

 

Shaking my head, I finished getting changed. As I was pulling on my shoes, someone knocked on my door, sending it back to the floor.

 

I looked up to see Kaline standing there, her arm still raised in mid- knock. She blinked, her eyes focused on the object on the ground. "What the?"

 

"The door's broken," I informed her, my tone sharp.

 

"Who kicked it down?" Kaline asked me, coming into the room and kneeling down by the door. She ran one of her hands over a dent in the wood.

 

"Don't worry about it," I replied simply, giving her a look that should have told her not to ask any more questions.

 

She frowned at me, standing up. "Why don't you tell me what happened? You're obviously angry about something," she responded. "I'm your best friend. You know that you can tell me anything."

 

I walked up to her, giving the girl my death glare. "I said don't worry about it."

 

"Alright. Alright," Kaline said, giving in. "I'm just gonna fix the door and leave you alone for a while, okay?" She didn't wait for me to answer. Instead, she picked up the door, placing it back up as she exited the room. A brief flash of light shone through the crack under the door, then there was nothing. I couldn't even hear anything.

 

Sighing, I sat down on my bed. "Now, I get to figure out the two troublesome, complicated demons. Oh, joys."Sixteen: Kayaking

 

Cassie's POV

 

I stood on the wooden dock, looking out over the water, dressed in my swimsuit with a t-shirt and jean shorts thrown over it. The fresh, morning breeze blew my hair around and threw it into my face. I brushed the hair out of my eyes and re-focused my attention on the handsome young man who was explaining how to kayak.

 

"Now, you need ta pair up and get inta the kayaks," the Hawaiian man said, gesturing towards the kayaks in the water. There were six doubles and one single for the man who was going to act as a guide.

 

Kaline grabbed my arm and towed me towards a blue kayak, smiling brightly. "This otta be fun," she commented happily. "I've been canoeing, but never kayaking. I know that you haven't done this either." She got into the kayak with no problems, gesturing for me to get in as well once she was comfortably situated.

 

"I don't know why you didn't chose to do this with Kurama," I said to her as I slowly lowered myself into the craft. "I would have thought that you two would have enjoyed doing this together." After seeing how much those two loved each other, I was surprised that they didn't spend every waking moment together.

 

"I'm not going to spend all my time with him. You're my best friend, so I want to do stuff with you as well," she responded, looking over to see how the others had paired up. "Besides, I didn't want you to get stuck with Hiei. If I had paired up with Kurama, all the boys -with the exception of Jin and Touya- would have picked their girl." She chuckled. "This way, they have to mix it up just a little."

 

Wondering who had paired up with Hiei, I turned my head. My eyes went wide when I saw Jin and Hiei sharing a kayak, neither of them looking very happy. Kurama was in the same craft as Touya, talking softly to the blue- haired boy.

 

"Kaline?" I pointed at the boys. "Why aren't Kurama and Hiei sharing a kayak? I thought that they were best friends."

 

She laughed for a moment. "Kurama talked to Hiei recently, and the little fire demon got angry, so Kurama's been avoiding him," she explained, shrugging to show it was no big deal. "I'm sure that Hiei will calm down soon. It's not like he can stay angry forever."

 

I nodded my head in understanding, giving Hiei one last look before the guide instructed everyone to push away from the dock. Kaline and I used our paddles to shove away from the structure, our movements perfectly timed.

 

Botan and Koenma did just as well as Kaline and myself, but Yusuke and Keiko almost tipped over. Jin and Hiei hadn't even pushed away yet because they were quietly arguing, looks of fury on their faces. Kuwabara and Yukina were just fine, as were Kurama and Touya. It was only Jin and Hiei who had yet to even try, and they didn't even seem to be paying enough attention to notice that everyone else had separated from the dock.

 

I was just about to tell the two boys to stop arguing, but Touya beat me to it. Somehow, he got both Jin and Hiei to stop fighting just long enough to push away from the dock.

 

With everyone ready to go, the guide began leading the way. His gentle strokes with his paddle were much more effective than anyone else's, and he easily kept in front of the group.

 

As we traveled along the shore, the guide pointed out different objects and places on the shoreline. "That's one of our active volcanoes," he pointed out, gesturing towards a distant peak.

 

"Have you ever visited it?" I asked the guide, smiling at him. He was handsome, so I saw nothing wrong with talking or flirting with him for a little bit.

 

"Yes, I have," he replied. "It has been a few years though."

 

"Has it erupted lately?" I wondered as Kaline and I paddled our kayak until it was next to his.

 

He nodded his head, smiling at me. "It did last year. Many people came and watched it erupt from a safe distance."

 

"That must have been some fireworks display," I commented, something else catching my eyes as I spoke.

 

"The large building up there is a day spa," the guide said, noticing what I was looking at. "It's been around for twenty years or so."

 

I smiled. "A day spa, huh? I just might have to visit that while I'm here." I gave the guide a flirtatious look. "Maybe I should invite you to come along. You have a physically stressful job, so a day to relax would probably be good for you."

 

The guide chuckled. "Surely your boyfriend wouldn't like that," he responded, shaking his head comically.

 

"I'm single," I informed him simply, telling him the truth. "Been that way for a month." Of course, I wasn't about to go out with him. I didn't know what I was going to do since I was out of high school, but staying in another dimension to date some guy wasn't it. I was thinking more along the lines of a job and college.

 

"I'm half tempted ta take you up on that offer," he said lightly, obviously joking around. He probably understood that since I was a tourist, it wasn't a good idea to date me.

 

"I'm half tempted to make you accept my offer," I joked back, my eyes twinkling. I always enjoyed flirting, especially with a guy who flirted back.

 

Kaline laughed. "Cassie, it looks like you've met someone who's as big of a flirt as you are."

 

The guide winked at me, then went back to pointing different things out. I asked him questions about each place, naturally very curious.

 

As he was talking about a large cave that we were passing near, Jin and Hiei brought their kayak up between my kayak and the guide's kayak. With perfect precision, the two boys stuck out their oars, ramming the guide's kayak and tipping it. The guide fell into the water, quickly coming back up sputtering.

 

"Jin! Hiei!" Kaline exclaimed, astonishment in her voice. "I can't believe that you two just did that. What has gotten into you two? First you argue, then you attack our guide!"

 

The two boys smiled smugly and refused to answer my friend. Jin did shrug after a moment, glancing at me briefly as he did so. Hiei just stared at Kaline, a strange look entering his eyes when his gaze drifted to me.

 

"Maybe they were just trying to have a little bit of fun?" I suggested helpfully as the guide expertly got back into his kayak.

 

The guide took a deep breath. "Well, we might as well head back ta the docks now. There's nothing worth seeing for the next few miles of shoreline," he said, turning his kayak around and leading the way once more.

 

Everyone followed him, talking and joking. Yusuke and Kuwabara got into an argument, but Keiko ended it by smacking Yusuke with her oar. All who witnessed the incident laughed at Yusuke's misfortune. Even the guide, who heard the crashing noise, chuckled.

 

When we got back to the docks, Yusuke and Kuwabara started a water fight by splashing each other with the oars. Botan joined in next, and then Kurama and Jin did. After that, everyone except for the guide was laughing as splashing each other from their spots in their kayaks. The guide just put up his kayak and left, obviously unwilling to stick around for very long.

 

While Kurama and Touya splashed Jin, Kaline and I snuck up behind Hiei and the wind demon. Being as quiet as possible into the last possible second, we pushed their kayak with our oars, flipping the craft over and sending the boys into the water.

 

Kaline and I laughed until we noticed that Jin and Hiei hadn't come out for air. Getting worried expressions on our faces, we looked over the sides of our kayak for them. As we were both leaning over the right side, I felt the kayak pitch. With a cry of surprise, I found myself heading straight into the water.

 

Right after I went underwater, I went back up to find Jin and Hiei laughing at me. Both looked quite happy, and Hiei's gravity-defying hair was laying down... somewhat.

 

'He's laughing... Hiei's actually laughing,' I thought wondrously. 'I can barely believe it. He didn't strike me as the laughing type, but look at him. I like the sound of his laughter. It's kind of nice. He should laugh more often.'

 

Coming out of my thoughts, I looked around to find that Kaline hadn't come up yet, but I wasn't worried. She was an excellent swimmer, and she could hold her breath for a very long time.

 

When the two boys went back underwater, I knew where Kaline was. She had snuck up to the boys and pulled them down, probably by their feet.

 

Kaline surfaced, a large smile on her face, and headed towards the dock. Before the two boys resurfaced, she was sitting on the dock, well out of their reach. I was started to swim for the dock, seeing the wisdom in Kaline's actions. There was a good chance that either Jin or Hiei would seek revenge, and since Kaline wasn't available and I was...

 

I somehow made it to the docks without getting dunked or anything. In fact, all the others were pulling their kayaks up to the dock and getting out. Even Hiei and Jin were doing that. Kurama and Touya had grabbed Kaline's and my kayak for us, taking it to the dock for us like true gentlemen.

 

"Now that our little kayak trip is over, Kaline, how about we race back to the house?" I asked, hoping that she would accept my challenge.

 

"Sure," she replied, coming up and standing beside me.

 

"Ready. Set. Go!" I shouted, taking off as fast as I could. When I didn't hear anyone behind me, I turned around.

 

Kaline still stood on the dock. She gave a small wave, a large smile on her face, and then she just disappeared.

 

"Kaline, you cheater!" I yelled, frowning slightly. "You aren't supposed to teleport!" Pretending to fume, I began to walk towards the house. I really wasn't angry. It took much more than that to make me lose my temper. Besides, I knew that Kaline was just toying around with me. Our races didn't mean anything, and the fact that I had cheated the last time hadn't helped. The previous time when I had declared a race, I had used my bike while she had gone on foot. In fact, our races were almost never fair. One of us nearly always found a way to get the best of the other.

 

"Would you like to get there by flying, lass?" Jin asked, coming up to walk beside me.

 

I looked at him for a moment, trying to see if he wasn't joking. Since he didn't seem to be pulling my leg, I nodded my head slightly. "Flying sounds like fun."

 

"Alright then, lass. Hold on," the demon said brightly, sweeping me up in his arms and taking off into the air.