Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ I Don't Need a Hero! ❯ Musically Incline ( Chapter 13 )

 

“Kaya?! Is that you?!”

 

The girl in question looked up from her shoes at the stage as her friend and guitarist, Makoto, jumped down to embrace her in a bear hug. He was a tall boy, standing around 6'2 with an almost unhealthy slim build. With his dark hair and bright blue eyes, a lot of girls found him attractive, and although Kaya herself thought of him as only a friend, she had to admit he was a rather good looking boy.

 

As soon as she walked into the building to watch her old band -her friends- play she was attacked with questions and hugs. She had dully noted that they had actually stopped right in the middle of their set to confront her, the fact made much more apparent by the crowd of about 35 people protesting.

 

“Yeah, it's really me. You guys playing my songs still?” She asked, referring to the music she had heard from the street. She laughed, hugging the man back with a smile on her face. It seemed like forever since she had even thought about her old life, and now to be thrust back into it and confronted with all of her old friends, it was almost painful but at the same time it was cause for joy. The thought had crossed her mind that it was a little weird to just be walking down the street and hear her own music being played, but since the music scene around here was fairly small, she chalked it up to timing.

 

“It's nice to see you too,” Makoto said sarcastically. “Yeah, we're still playing your songs! No one in this band could come up with better songs, so we figured, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'” He praised, being pushed out of the way a second later by another band member wishing to greet Kaya.

 

“Kaya,... What the fuck?! Where have you been!?” Asked the drummer, Kura, as she too wrapped her arms around Kaya in a bear hug from hell.

 

“It's a long, boring story,” Kaya laughed, finally regaining enough air in her lungs to actually do so. Kura was a pretty short girl, standing shorter than even Kaya, who was at 5'2 herself. She was also a very skinny girl; long black hair, big brown eyes, she was a very attractive young woman. Kaya had to smile at the fond memories that came flashing back to her just then, all the time she and Kura had spent jamming, teaching each other new beats to play on the drums. Both females were very musically incline, so it was only natural that they became fast friends.

 

“Well, jeez, you disappear for four whole months without a word, we're all here thinking you're dead, and then you just pop up here in the middle of a show?” Kura asked, her arms still around Kaya's shoulders keeping her at arms length as if she were scared her friend might disappear into thin air again.

 

“Yep,” Kaya smiled. She noticed another boy standing up on stage by himself now, bass in hand, looking over at them with confusion in his eyes. Something in Kaya's gut instantly tightened as she looked him over a few times. She knew she had never seen him before in her life, but something about him just stuck out like a sore thumb and sent warning flags shooting up in her mind.

 

“Who's that?” She asked Makoto quietly, gesturing to the boy on stage who was pretending to tune his bass as to avoid the crowds rage at the sudden halt in tunes.

 

“Oh, thats Hikoku! He's been our replacement bassist while you were gone. He's a cool dude.” Makoto said, gesturing for the other boy to come over. He obeyed, though he seemed reluctant, and walked up to the three of them.

 

“Hello, my name is Hikoku. It's nice to meet you Kaya.” He said politely, holding out his hand for her to shake, which she took, although hesitant. He was about as tall as Makoto, maybe even a little taller, but he didn't have the insanely slim build. He had light brown hair and deep brown eyes; they looked almost black in the darkness surrounding them. His slightly upturned nose and big round eyes gave him the appearance of a small child, innocent and unwilling to hurt a fly.

 

Something about this kid just wasn't right, the feeling bothered her greatly since she couldn't identify the details. She couldn't put her finger on it, and it drove her crazy. She got that same weird feeling with him, though is wasn't as strong. Red flags just went up in her mind as she looked him over, his hand lingering on hers for a moment too long before it fell back to his side uselessly.

 

“How did you know my name?” She asked through narrowed eyes. Without her realizing it, her body had gone into full defensive mode, her mind doing the same. After what happened earlier, she wasn't taking any chances. She was going to listen to her gut when it told her something wasn't right, subconsciously or not. All of her training had taught her well.

 

“Oh, I'm sorry! Kura and Makoto talk about you so much, I must have forgotten that we were never formally introduced.” The boy said with a shy smile, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment, much like Yusuke did when he felt awkward.

 

Deciding to change the subject, Kaya ignored Hikoku's last statement. “Hey, where's Kin?” She asked, referring to the singer of the group, who seemed to be absent. She never really got along with Kin. There was always a bit of tension between the two as Kaya was the one writing the songs that he sung, and he always did his best to make sure she knew that he didn't like them.

 

“He just quit like 15 minutes ago!” Kura exclaimed, seeming to have her memory jogged by the question.

 

“HEY! WHAT'S THE HOLD UP?! WE WANT MUSIC!!” Someone in the crowd shouted. When Kaya had walked in, they were trying to play their set without a singer, only managing one song before they were distracted by Kaya's sudden appearance. Now that they had all walked off stage, the crowd was starting to get antsy.

 

“Kaya, you have to sub for him! Just for tonight! Please!” Makoto pleaded, his face forming into a pout as he clasped his hands together under his chin. He always did that when he wanted something, leading Kaya to think he was an only child and never had to share anything in his life.

 

She had met Makoto through school, both of them having the common interest in American punk music. He had introduced her to Kura and Kin, and they all decided to form a band and play shows to support their local music scene. The number of bands actually doing this was surprisingly small for such a big city; probably due to the fact that everyone was out to “make it big” while Kaya and her friends enjoyed the “do it yourself” factor in their small-town style shows.

 

Taken aback by the offer, Kaya's eyes went wide. “W-wha..?” she sputtered, suddenly feeling very shy and self conscious. Sure, back when she lived with her mother she fronted a few bands, writing and singing lyrics. But that was something she hadn't done in a few years, not since she learned out to play the bass guitar.

 

“Kaaayyyaaa! You have a gorgeous voice! And you wrote the damn songs! Just get up there and sing it like you heard in your head when you wrote it!” Kura encouraged, picking up her drum sticks and heading back onto the stage to adjust her drum set, getting ready to play.

 

“C'mon Kay. You know you can do this, you've done it before.” Makoto urged, reminding her yet again that she used to sing for other bands before picking up the bass.

 

“I'm sure you'll be great, Kaya.” Even Hikoku encouraged her. She was a little bit weary about being around him, but she sensed no danger. She decided to keep on eye on him anyways, remembering something Hiei had once said to her. “Once you start relaxing around your enemies, you're dead.”

 

Shaking her head, Kaya took in a deep breath. “Fuck it,” she sighed, feeling the rush of adrenaline and excitement take over her body and cloud her otherwise good judgment. Walking up to the stage, she picked up the mic as Makoto and Hikoku plugged in their instruments to their respective amps. She kept her eye on Hikoku the entire time.

 

She turned her head over her shoulder, smiling at her old friends. “You guys remember how to play 'only sleep'?” She asked, feeling that song would be appropriate to describe the last few months of her life. She couldn't help the feeling of giddiness that fluttered around in her stomach as Makoto and Hikoku started to tune their guitars. She had to laugh as the lyrics she had written played out perfectly into her new life.

 

'Not my life.... Just someone in it...'

 

When her band mates nodded at her, she took in another deep breath and spoke into the microphone. “Hey everyone, my name's Kaya and I'm subbing for Kin tonight. Apparently he's being a whiny bitch about playing this show, so the next time you see him be sure to make fun of him ruthlessly.” She told the crowd, who all cheered in response. Most of the people who came to these shows all knew each other already, and as she looked around, Kaya could pick out a few faces she knew.

 

Kaya smiled. She missed this. Being up on stage with her band, making fun of her friends, having fun. She truly, truly loved this.

 

“Alright, this song is a little weird, it has no chorus or anything like that, but we like it and hopefully you guys will too,” she said to the crowd, turning around to address her band mates. “One, two, three, four!” She shouted, smiling as they all started to play. It was a pretty slow song compared to the other stuff they played, but she enjoyed it. As she opened her month to sing the first line, she caught a glimpse of a darkly clad figure stepping into the building. As he made his way through the crowd, she recognized it as Hiei and smiled at him. She felt her heart skip a beat, but ignored it, assuming it was just nervousness.

 

When darkness drowns your bleeding heart
and tyrants tear your world apart
and none of this is making sense
it's all mistakes or accidents

 

We're all just players in a game
the strings are never pulled the same
and I have to make this change right now
but it's changing too much anyhow
Too many ways to change today
Seems fucking pointless anyway
And sympathy, it runs so deep
that I can't even fall asleep

 

Kaya watched as Hiei pushed his way to the very front, making sure to be as close to her as possible. He stood there, looking straight at her as she sung her song, his face emotionless. She wasn't sure if she wanted him here right now. She couldn't stop the thoughts of him as she prepared to sing the next few lines.

 

I'd be abysmal to presume
solutions to stave off our doom
yes, I mean that someday soon we'll end
through all these fading times we spend
and when I think about the things I've missed
I'd ask to be writ off your list
No social skills, No special price
I can only try to empathize

Good memories held in my hand
through finger cracks they fall like sand
if only there were some to keep
I'd have to trade them all for sleep

 

She smiled a little bit when she noticed Hiei wincing due to the loudness caused by the amps and his sensitive ears. She remembered his sensitive ears, what a fuss he had made over her screaming at him that night....

 

And losing sleep adds so much time
the days can drag my bleeding mind
into a state of jagged shock
that twists and winds but never stops

 

And dreams are memories as well
and some of them read just like hell
if your could be my only friend
I cherish all the time we'd spend
and though we're so indifferent now
our hearts dance somewhere anyhow
so many make our lives seem cheap
and in the end we all must sleep

 

Hiei seemed to have found a way to ignore the loudness of the music, for now he was just staring at her. He was looking straight at her, she almost felt like he was starring into her soul. It was unnerving, to see him watch her so intently, like he was staring down an enemy. He looked almost... mad, though she didn't know why. She always kind of thought Hiei looked pissed off, but this look was different. It wasn't directed towards her or the music, or even all of the people around them. It was just... there.

That endless flaming turning fire
The setting sun that rises higher
The beautiful bright blinding light
that never quite turns into night

Our hearts can fly up freely there
our minds can breathe such precious air
To all my fine fair weather friends
good tidings are all I can send

I forgive you though you never knew
just what it was you put me through
And to all my enemies the same
your obsessions kept me in this game

 

And according to the life I've led
I should have lost more than my head
I'm on the edge that tilts so steep
I dream awake only of sleep

 

As the song came to an end, the crowd around Hiei irrupted in a roar, cheering and chanting the bands name. Kaya smiled, taking a glance behind her at her friends, who were beaming. “It's good to have you back Kaya.” Kura stated, giving her friend the warmest smile any of them had ever seen on her face.

 

Kaya nodded at her, asking which song they were going to play next. She tried to keep thoughts of Hiei out of her mind as they told her the name of the song. She had memorized all of the lyrics to everything she'd ever written, so she didn't need to be reminded of how the song actually went.

 

“This songs called “Zombie's are timeless” and we want you all to start moshing! It's very ska, so skank! I fucking hate it when people just stand in the back at shows. One, two, three, go!” She shouted as the band started to play and her voice took on a much more rough, jagged tone as she shouted the lyrics out so fast you almost couldn't understand what she was singing.

 

Hiei stood there in fascination at her voice. It went from husky and deep, to breaking and high, back to soft and gentle all in the same song. She jumped around on stage looking so intense, so into the music, so happy, so...so...sexy. He glanced up at her, getting a decent view of her legs and almost up her skirt as he stood in front of the 4 foot stage she was bouncing around on. Taking in the sight before him, Hiei had to remind himself not to touch.

 

Her feet were clad in a pair of spray-painted boots, her legs covered from the cold outside by two pairs of tights, a bright blue pair which he could see from all of the holes in the black pair she wore over them, white fishnet stockings covering them both. As his gaze traveled up north more, he noticed the almost-too-short-skirt she wore. It was black but it had patches of zebra print fabric pined to it in random places; it hung tight to her hips and flared out around her thighs, shoving off her curves. The shirt she wore was by fair the best though. It was a simple black t-shirt, cut into vertical stripes and than sewed back together, more tightly than before. It was bursting open at the seams around her breasts, reveling the white tank-top she wore under it. Her jacket had been discarded by the drum set along with some of her other things.

 

Cursing loudly to himself, Hiei shook his head to snap himself out of it and tried to focus on something else. Like why he even came to this loud building filled with equally loud human idiots. He decided he was going to put an end to this and take her back to the temple, possibly even scowl her for being so careless, but before he could the song changed tempo from dancable ska, to moshably heavy. The humans around him started to run around in a circle, franticly knocking into each other in the process. Kaya and her band seemed to thrive off of this, he noticed, as they began to play with more intensity.

Growling at the people around him, Hiei tried to refrain from gripping his sword and slashing everyone who touched him to pieces. He did not like this. Not one bit.

 

'What stupid creatures...'

 

There was a sudden change in the music as she stopped singing and the guitarist started to play faster. Kaya took this time to jump off of the stage and run straight into the pit of humans trying to kill each other. She pushed a few people, kicking her legs out in front of her as she ran around. Hiei assumed it was some kind of dance form the humans did since everyone else around her was doing it too. He watched as she stopped to help a fallen man back up to his feet before continuing to run around in the circle, knocking into everyone. She was so intense, he found himself wondering how intense she got about other things.

 

His thoughts were derailed when a large, grotesque man pushed Kaya to the ground, jumping right over her instead of stopping to help her up like she had done for the other man. Hiei growled low in his throat, feeling the intense urge to rip that humans limps off and shove them up his ass. It took a great deal of his self control not to act on the urge; that same urge only made stronger when the man came back and stepped on her hand as he jumped over her again.

 

Still growling, he was by Kaya's side in a flash, kneeling down to pick her up off of the ground and keep her from getting trampled by the frantic people running around them. The music was getting faster and faster, and with it the dancing became more intense. When that same man came back around, Hiei saw he was going to attempt to jump over both of them this time. He waited for the right moment, thrusting the hilt of his sword straight up in the air as the man jumped, affectively nailing him in the groin and sending him flying to the floor.

 

“Hiei!” Kaya exclaimed, flabbergasted.

 

“What?” He growled, glaring down at her.

 

“I wanted to do that!” She said, laughing as she patted him on the shoulder in a “thanks bud” gesture. She was about to get up and run back onto the stage to finish her song, but her plans fell short as she felt his hands lifting her away from the ground.

 

He grunted in response to her comment, smirking as he picked her up off of the ground and ran, full speed, out of the building before she had time to protest. Kaya felt the rush of wind, the cool night air hitting her face and blowing her hair all around them. Somewhere in the back of her mind it registered that he had picked her up and taken her out of there, but it happened so fast she didn't have time to form an insult or protest before he was up on the roof tops, jumping from one to the other at dizzying speeds.

 

“Hey! W-what do you think you're doing, elf?!” She managed to ground out, feeling the bitter cold wind pierce through her thin shirt. The wind was so cold against her skin, it almost hurt. With their height and speed, the wind was just brutal. She chose not to think about it though and focused on more pressing matters. She had left all of her things, her camera bag and jacket back a the show.

 

“We're going back to the temple. You've had your fun.” He stated, tightening his grip on her legs. He could feel the softness of her legs as he held them, the body heat radiating off of her as she gripped his shirt for dear life. When he picked her up, he had done it so he was now holding her bridal style as he ran through the city, forcing her to press herself up against him to avoid the wind, to hold onto his chest for dear life as he sped off. He smirked to himself.

 

“W-we have t-to go back and g-get my s-stuff H-Hiei...” She murmured, pushing her face deeper into his warmth as she tried to keep her skirt from blowing up in the strong wind.

 

“Hn.” He showed no signs of stopping or turning around, he wasn't even slowing down.

 

“H-Hiei, that w-was a 400 dollar c-camera..! I c-can't just l-leave it there! D-do you have a-any idea how long it t-took me to save up for t-that?!” She protested weakly, her energy being zapped by the cold she felt. Still, the fire demon would not stop, much to her annoyance.

 

“H-Hiei...” She stuttered; her tone low and warning.

 

No response.

 

“Hiei.”

 

Not even a grunt.

 

“Hiei!” As she raised her voice, she found Hiei and herself being lifted up and suspended in the air just as he went to jump from one roof top to the next. When he was brought to a sudden halt mid-air, he realized she was using her telekinetic powers to hold him there.

 

Growling warningly, he glared at the small woman in his arms.

 

“We n-need to go back and g-get my stuff.” She said firmly, looking up at him through thick black lashes. Despite the coldness, she could feel the heat radiating off of his hands, which held her under her knees and shoulders. She was surprised at the sheer amount of heat his body gave off from just standing there. 'I suppose he is part fire demon though...' She thought, subconsciously snuggling up against his warm chest. His growl, which had been almost constant since they were at the show, suddenly halted.

 

She looked up from his chest to see his face distorted into some kind of snarl, it almost looked like he was fighting with himself, trying to hold himself back from something. She cocked an eyebrow up at him, still holding them in mid-air. He had been acting really strange in the last few days, abruptly leaving her to train by herself some days, other days he'd just disappear off into the woods somewhere to be by himself, which wasn't totally unlike him or cause for concern but he'd do it increasingly often.

 

“Hiei..?” she asked, reaching up a hand to rest on his cheek. “You okay?” she slowly moved them back onto the roof top he had just jumped off of so they were no longer hovering in the air 50 feet above the streets below. Without a word, Hiei turned around and took off, heading back to the show. It took him only one minute before he was standing in front of the door. The music had stopped, all that was heard now was the sound of idle chit-chat and the movement of heavy amps and P.A' s as the bands packed up their things and prepared to leave.

 

“I'll be right back.” Kaya murmured. She smiled at Hiei once he placed her back onto her feet. He was being so gentle with her that she found herself unable to suppress her smile. She turned on her heel, facing the door and was about to open it when Hikoku appeared from the other side, nearly hitting her in the face as he opened the door.