Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ I Don't Need a Hero! ❯ May I kiss you? ( Chapter 14 )

 

“Oh! Kaya, I'm so sorry. Are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?” Hikoku asked worriedly, deep concern lacing his not-so-deep teenage voice.

 

She let out a small uneasy laugh, brushing her hair back out of her face. “Uh, no, I'm alright. I just came for my stuff.” She mumbled. She could actually feel Hiei glaring at the kid in front of her.

 

'Hurry up, woman. We don't have time for small talk.' He barked, starting to growl audibly.

 

'Shut up, I'm trying to get rid of him.'

 

“Hey, you were great tonight... Maybe we could play another show together sometime?” He asked, smiling shyly down at her.

 

Choking back a groan, Kaya put on her best smile and nodded politely at the other bassist. “Yeah, sure, that'd be great.” She lied. She figured she'd never see him again anyways, so it was quicker to lie and avoid all the questioning. She didn't like the guy much anyways. Sure, he seemed nice, but the weird feelings he had given her earlier in the night were enough to make her want nothing to do with him. He was simply a human boy, no strong energy, no odd behavior, nothing. But her gut told her something was off.

 

Hiei's growl still hadn't ceased, and in fact, started to take on a much louder, threatening tone. Sighing, she turned around curtly to glare at him, as if to say “Cool it! I got this!”

 

Hikoku was either totally oblivious or just chose to ignore him, because he didn't so much as glance in Hiei's direction. Kaya was starting to think that this kid was either really dumb, or really smart. With how clueless his actions were, Kaya would put money on Hikoku saying something he shouldn't to Hiei if he were to noticed his presence. And really, it wasn't like Hiei was trying to hide or something. He was standing just right behind her. She was amazed that he hadn't seemed to realize Hiei was there, what with the increasingly loud, annoying growl.

 

“So, how come you disappeared for so long?” Hikoku asked rather bluntly, breaking her train of thought.

 

“Uh, it's kind of a long story. You don't wanna hear it. I just came to get my stuff and-” She started, only to be cut off a second later.

 

“Would you want to go see a movie with me sometime?” He blurted out. The act alone would have played into his shyness, but there was no stutter or hesitation when he spoke. The sentence was fluent, smooth, clam. Not a hint of shyness or reluctance. This made Kaya suspicious.

 

But regardless, he creeped her out and reason stood; she would let him down gently then get the hell out of there.

 

“She's with me.” Hiei stated, snarling rudely as he stepped in front of her to glare at the other male. Kaya, flabbergasted, only manged a “Gah?” in response to his claim. 'Does he mean like, we're dating?' She thought to herself, incredibly confused.

 

'What the hell are you doing, Hiei? I told you, I have it under control!'

 

'This human just asked you out. You call that “under control”?'

 

'You didn't give me a chance to do anything about it before you stepped in!'

 

The boy's face took on a look of utter displeasure, then, in the blink of an eye, it changed into a contorted unreadable expression that Kaya mistook as hurt. She always hated it when people forced her to hurt their feelings like this. Despite her distaste for humanity, the girl still possessed a large amount of empathy and compassion for other living things. While she did in fact find it to be quite bothersome at times, she realized a long time ago that if she didn't possess such traits, she'd be just like all of the cruel hearted people she hated so much.

 

She was surprised at how bad she felt when she saw his face. He looked so crushed, like someone had taken his pride and tossed it into a meat grinder. “Look, Hikoku, I'm sorr-” Kaya started to apologize, stepping out from behind Hiei, but she was cut off yet again.

 

“Yeah, you know what? You should be sorry!” Hikoku shouted, his shy demeanor and soft eyes disappearing. The look on his face which Kaya had mistaken as hurt was now clearing up to look like anger. This surprised her even more since anger was the last thing she expected from a boy who acted so polite and shy. Sure, it was possible for the shy at heart to become angry, but his whole passive demeanor was what threw her off.

 

“Excuse me?” Kaya asked, wanting to check to see if she'd heard him right.

 

“You heard me! You should be sorry! You've been leading me on all night, and now I find out you have a boyfriend? Jesus Christ!” He accused, throwing his arms into the air in a “I can't friggin believe this shit” gesture.

 

“Leading you on? What the hell are you talking about?” She laughed, totally flabbergasted for the second time in 3 minutes.

 

“You know what I'm talking about! You've been shooting me looks all night long!”

 

Again, Hiei's growl was heard. Kaya, however, ignored it and focused on the task at hand. Setting this guy straight and going about her business.

 

“Don't flatter yourself kid. I only kept my eye on you because I thought you were some kind of de-” she stopped herself mid-scream, reminding herself that he didn't know about demons, “rapist!”

 

'This jerk is so scrawny, I could have beat him up when I was 10 years old.' She thought, laughing a little bit to herself.

 

“Rapist? You thought I was going to rape you?” He laughed loudly. It wasn't a laugh that held humor, it was a laugh meant to say, “I'm better than you and I know it”.

 

“Now whose flattering themselves?” He asked smugly, looking down at her and laughing again. What he did next, however, sealed his fate. With the smug smirk still planted firmly on his face, he reached out to Kaya and took a piece of her hair between his two fingers. Bending down to her face he whispered in her ear, “you aren't that hot, sweetie.”

 

Just as Kaya had cocked her fist back, ready to knock the obnoxious teen flat on his ass, she witnessed a black blur flash before her eyes, and a second later, both Hiei and Hikoku were no where in sight. Once she realized that Hiei had beaten her to the punch, quite literally, she grinned.

 

'Hey, don't rough him up too bad alright?' She asked him mentally, shaking her head and chuckling. She didn't expect a response, so she wasted no time in walking into the building and grabbing her things. She was almost relieved she didn't see any of her friends around. She couldn't bring herself to face them again and say goodbye. As cliché as it was, she was never any good at saying goodbye and thus, hated doing it.

 

She was surprised at how little she thought about her friends while she was away. Not once had they even crossed her mind. And for that, she felt selfish, guilty, and unappreciative. A part of her knew that, with everything else swimming around in her head over the last few months, there really wasn't any room for teenage thoughts. But the other parts still felt lousy for her willingness to abandon her only friends.

 

She blew out a puff of air and turned on her heel towards the door. 'This is how it's has to stay. There's just no room in my life for them anymore...' Taking one last look over her shoulder, Kaya smiled at all of the fond memories flashing before her eyes. 'I have to forget about my old life. I have to move on. I have new friends, new problems, and I can't live both lives. I will cherish these good memories, and I will look forward to making new ones.'

 

“Goodbye,” She whispered.

 

Sighing, she walked out of the building to find Hiei there waiting for her, nonchalantly leaning against the wall. She smiled at him as she shook her head and put her jacket on.

 

“What are you smiling about? I only had to do that because you couldn't handle yourself,” He said, rolling his eyes.

 

Kaya made a noise half way between a snort and a laugh as she placed her camera bag over her shoulder and started to walk down the street. “Puh-lees! I've never had any problem sticking up for myself before I met you. Now isn't any different.”

 

Hiei grunted, following her silently down the street. They had walked for a few minutes in silence, Hiei following her up and down the streets without question or complaint. She wondered what had changed his mind about returning to the temple as soon as possible, but she wasn't about to ask. She was actually enjoying this. She always loved walking around the city at night, and with Hiei by her side she felt a great deal safer, though she'd probably never tell him that. She still had her pride, god dammit.

 

As they passed a 24 hour dry-cleaners, something in the window caught Kaya's eye that caused her to stop. There was a flyer for a traditional Japanese sword fighting show hung crookedly in the window with medical tape and a semi-used band-aid. She grinned.

 

Turning back to look at Hiei, her grin widened. “Hey, Hieiii... Remember how I told you I could find something in the city that you'd enjoy? Well, I think I just found it.”

 

Raising an uninterested eyebrow at her still grinning face, Hiei simply started at her for a while. Her face was glowing with her smile as she clasped her hands together in front of her chest. When he looked like he was about to say no, she added, “Pleasseeee!”

 

Shaking his head, Hiei chuckled a little under his breath. “You actually think I'd find amusement in a pathetic human battle?”

 

“C'mon, it'll be fun, I promise. The flyer said they'd have fireworks and everything. We can watch the show, sit in the grass and watch fireworks, and I'll even buy you an ice cream!” She said as she shook her clasped hands in front of her face, much like a child would do as they begged their mother for a new toy.

 

'So much for my damned pride,' She thought pathetically.

 

Hiei looked at her again and was surprised to find his resolve breaking.

 

With Kurama and the others:

 

“Yo, what's up Kurama?” Yusuke greeted, walking up the the red head ready to get to work.

 

“Yusuke, Kuwabara,” Kurama greeted them both with a nod before gesturing to the file he held in his hands. “I've found something regarding Kaya's case.” He stated, his eyes firm.

 

“What is it?” Kuwabara asked anxiously.

 

“While searching through overlooked files in the spirit world, I came across a folder with the name Eiko Yoshi. Eiko is a high priestess in the demon world, whom I know is still quite alive today. As I looked through her file, I discovered something I found interesting.” Kurama explained, gesturing to the file in his hands every now and then as he spoke.

 

“As I read the file, I noticed mentions of a deceased sister. It turns out, Eiko had a twin sister named Hikira who died mysteriously when she was still young. It's a long shot, but I am quite positive that Eiko's sister is the woman who gave Kaya her soul.” He finished as he handed Yusuke the folder. The spirit detective looked over it briefly as Kuwabara read over his shoulder.

 

“It says she's a witch, not a high priestess?” Yusuke question, looked up from the paper to raise an eyebrow at his red headed fox friend.

 

“She was once a priestess, years ago. She's something of a legend, really. Many years after the death of her sister, Eiko just snapped one day. She became blood thirsty and bitter towards anything with a pulse. After she hunted down and slaughtered entire packs of demons, she secluded herself away from the world. No one knows the actual cause of her sudden insanity, so she is used as a fairy tail to scare small children in demon world.” Kurama explained.

 

“Wouldn't that make her older than dirt? If Hikira was a human, then Eiko must've been too.” Kuwabara observed.

 

“She traded her human soul for her power. She no longer ages as a human.”

 

Kuwabara's face twisted into a snarl as his eyes reflected anger and confusion as to why anyone would do such a thing to themselves. In all of his years as a spirit detective, he had seen some things that pissed him off, made him sick to his stomach, and made him feel humbled. But he could never quite bring himself to understand this kind of thing; someone hating being human so much that they'd trade their very soul for power.

 

“Well... what are we waiting for?? Lets go get us a witch!” Yusuke exclaimed, handing the file back to Kurama and smirking.

 

“It's not that simple, I'm afraid. Eiko resides in the mountains of the demon world, which, as you know, are quite expansive. Since her exact location is still unknown, it could take weeks to scout out the entire mountain front,” Kurama said softly, shaking his head.

 

“So, what do we do?” Yusuke asked, rolling his eyes. That was not the kind of news he wanted to hear.

 

“Unfortunately, that remains our one and only option. We simply have to split up to save time.”

 

“I'm cool with that. Lets go, already! All this talkin' is killing me!” Kuwabara exclaimed, to which Yusuke agreed wholeheartedly.

 

Opening his communicator, Kurama politely asked Koenma to open them a portal to the demon world so they may begin their hunt for the witch.

 

Back with Hiei and Kaya:

 

Kaya sat in the grass, leaning her weight back onto her hands as she looked up at the fireworks in the sky. Something about the noise, the smell, the sight of fireworks made her feel totally at peace. She stopped her astonished stare briefly to wonder why that was, but shook her head a second later and looked back up towards the sky. She already knew why. They reminded her of home. After all, what do American's do to celebrate the birth of their nation? Though what these people were celebrating was unknown to her, she did think it was kind of cool to see fireworks this late in the year.

 

Risking a glance over at Hiei, she smiled when she saw he wasn't brooding or sleeping. In fact, he seemed to be rather interested in the bursts of bright colors and lights in the sky. They had made it just in time to see the end of the sword show, which Hiei had snarled at saying, “Fancy tricks like that would get him killed in battle with me.”

 

She hoped that he was having a decent time here, though she doubted it strongly. There were a lot of people around, a lot of screaming kids and whining adults, that it even dropped her mood a little bit. She stole another glance at Hiei through the corner of her eye and found herself unable to look away. He sat there, face upturned towards the sky, mouth slightly open and eyes larger than normal. He looked just as astonished as she had the first time she had seen fireworks. Then a thought crossed her mind.

 

“Hiei, is the the first time you've seen fireworks?”

 

Her question was confirmed when he didn't answer her, didn't even look at her in fact. He just kept staring up at the sky as he muttered a light “hn” in her direction. She found herself comparing him to an innocent child just then, and quickly reminded herself that this was Hiei. Still, the fact remained that she couldn't stop looking at his face.

 

His pale completion seemed to glow with each burst of light brought about by the explosions in the sky, his eyes held a rare innocent amusement she felt lucky to ever witness, and his lips, parted ever so slightly, made her want to lean over and...

 

'WHOA! Where did THAT come from?!'She berated herself mentally, thanking every god she knew of that Hiei seemed to be too preoccupied to read her earlier thoughts. She would admit, although never aloud, that she did find the little fire demon to be extremely attractive. She first realized this fact during one of their training sessions. Hiei had taken his shirt off due to the heat and when he saw the look on her face, he flashed her sexy smirks for the rest of the day. She wasn't embarrassed that she thought that way, she wouldn't even try to hide it if he called her out on it, but it bothered her that he knew and never acknowledged it.

 

She was glad that, while he may not return her feelings, at least he wasn't disgusted by them. She shook her head, rather violently, at the thought. 'Feelings? What feelings? I have no feeling for Hiei. I just think he's fine, is all!' She berated herself again.

 

Standing up, she looked down at Hiei, who had finally turned his head to look at her. “Want ice cream?” She asked with a smile, pointing over her shoulder at an ice cream vendor a short distance away. She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at his face. He really was like a child in so many ways, it almost melted her heart. Who would have thought that the great demon Hiei, the forbidden child, would have such a soft spot for dairy treats?

 

...The forbidden child...

 

The title alone was enough to send of pang of pain straight through her heart. What kind of monsters would give such a damming, hate filled title to a little boy? She didn't need to imagine what that did to Hiei, she witnessed it, felt it. And, for lack of a better term, it fucking sucked. All of the anger, the unbearable loneliness, all the self-hatred that he felt growing up and, over the course of his long demon life, had squashed deep down inside of himself, she felt. She felt it all. It was all so strong that she still feels it. It was enough to make her want to devote the time she spent with him to bringing those rare beautiful smiles to his face.

She knows he's too stubborn to let himself feel, so she feels for him. She's become a vessel, a secret vent for the emotions he won't acknowledge. She suffers, and he doesn't even know. Not that she wanted him to know. She knew that he'd just laugh at her stupidity and deny he held such strong “human” emotions. He'd say something like, “Demons don't feel emotions as strongly as humans do. Therefore, I am not affected.” Or worse, he'd mistake her care and her honest desire to help him for pity and never speak to her again. She could just imagine his voice in her head.

 

“I don't need your pity.”

 

She shuddered at the thought. No, she wouldn't let him know. She didn't want him to find out.

 

Paying the ice cream vendor for their treats, Kaya smiled again when she saw the way Hiei was going at his ice cream. Like a dying man in the desert, Hiei was lapping up the frozen treat like he'd never tasted anything so good before. When she realized that he very well might not have, she smiled bigger.

 

“Will you stop doing that. It's annoying.”

 

Brought out of her admiration for the little demon, Kaya looked up, confused. “What?”

 

“Looking at me and smiling. I'm not some cute little dog, you know.” He muttered, licking his ice cream cone.

 

Kaya laughed, shaking her head when she realized she had been caught. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”

 

Hiei, for his part, had been feeling rather strange ever since he took out Hikoku. He felt his demonic power surge after the boy had been taken care of, then, as soon as Kaya came back into the picture he felt his energy start to slowly dissipate. He had felt this way many times in the past when she was around, and though his years of experience told him to distance himself from the girl, his raging hormones told him to get closer. Conflict wasn't something he was used to dealing with, but sitting here with Kaya, eating sweet snow and watching those colorful explosions, he thought he had found a nice compromise.

 

He found it rather annoying that he was actually enjoying himself in this human city, with this human-raised woman, participating in a human festival. This was not like him, not at all. But he found himself unable to care about the thrashing his reputation would receive if anyone were to get wind of this. He didn't care, because when she smiled at him, he felt at peace. He felt freer, happy, even. And with as much of a strain admitting that put on his ego, he felt humbled as well.

 

He knew he couldn't pass off these feelings as being the change in season, he knew what these feelings meant. And although the idea no longer made him want to regurgitate his food, it still shook him to his core. The fact that he was feeling things, meant that he had feelings for this girl. Maybe not love, per say, but it went beyond a physical attraction now. And he knew the longer he was around her, the deeper she'd burrow under his skin. But would he deny himself the happiness he felt when he was near her, just to avoid feeling? Would he knowingly push her away, just so he wouldn't have to risk anything?

 

As much as he hated admitting it, he feared his own emotions. He feared feeling. Every emotion he's ever felt in the past had been painful, unbearable, even. So, he simply shut himself off. He may have blocked out the good, but as long as the bad went with it, he didn't care.

 

Glancing over towards the woman on his mind, he instantly raised an eyebrow. They had been sitting silently on a park bench after buying their ice cream. Hiei had finished his five minutes ago and was staring off into the sky. Kaya, on the other hand, seemed to have completely zoned out, forgetting about her not-so-frozen-anymore treat. He watched her as she sat, eyes staring at a hunk of dirt, unblinking and unmoving, chocolate ice cream dripping down her hand and onto the ground under them.

 

He didn't know if it was the fact that she bewitches him with her mere presence, the slight of her covered in his favorite kind of sweet snow, or simply his raging demon hormones, but what he did know was that he couldn't stop himself. He slowly leaned over and, ever so lightly, licked the melted ice cream off of her fingers. He was delighted when he heard her soft gasp, when he felt her hold her breath and heard her heart quicken it's pace inside that wonderful chest of hers.

 

He chuckled mentally when he realized that he had never tasted ice cream so sweet before. The softness of her skin was rivaled only by the little noises she made every time he dipped his tongue into the spaces between each of her fingers. He smirked against her skin when he heard her sharp intake of breath. He realized that by doing this, he was only damming himself. It was getting harder and harder to stop. He noted with a grunt that stopping wasn't the only thing that was hard.

 

Finally, he pulled away from her shaking hands and sat back, smirking smugly at her face. She sat staring at him with half lidded eyes and slightly parted lips. He needed no further conformation that she had enjoyed their simple, brief contact. Truth be told, he had no idea what had possessed him to do such a thing in the first place, but Kaya didn't seem to mind much.

 

“H-Hiei...” Hearing her whisper his name on a shaky breath like that was almost his undoing. He shifted a little in his seat to accommodate his newly found “appendage.”

 

“I hate to see sweet snow go to waste like that,” He said, smirking at her blushing face. She didn't say anything for a few moments after that.

 

“This may sound a little weird, but, um, m-may I kiss you?” She asked, looking up at him through thick black lashes.

 

He froze. He had not been expecting that. He was simply testing how flustered he could make her, and here she was, turning it back around on him.

 

When he didn't immediately answer, Kaya decided to confront him with her feelings. “Look, Hiei, I'm not going to lie. I find you very attractive, and I know you must at least find me competent since you willingly stay by my side,” she paused, taking a deep, shaky breath. “I find myself feeling peaceful when you're around, I feel calm and happy and safe. I enjoy talking to you and I value your opinion, which isn't something I find in many people. I like you Hiei, an-” Kaya was cut off in her declaration by a pair of warm, soft lips crashing down upon her own.

 

The feeling of her lips on his was something he found himself unwilling to ever forget. He just couldn't take it anymore, he had to kiss her. The way she spoke burned his blood and melted his skin. Every inch of his body was on fire, every where their bodies touched tingled. Placing his hands on her hips, he moved her body closer to his own, feeling their legs touch. His body was over sensitive due to the mating season, so when her hands came up to run through his hair and massage his scalp, he found himself fighting back a groan.

 

She moved her hands down to his ears and gently rubbed the pointed appendages she had made fun of so many times in the past, before she moved them down to caress his cheek bones with the pads of her thumbs. His own hands remained at her hips, fearful to move elsewhere since his body was already on sensory overload. When she tried to deepen the kiss by sliding her tongue out to dance across his lips, he didn't hold back his groan and willingly opened his mouth to invite her in.

 

As soon as their tongues touched, they were fighting for dominance with electrifying passion. After a hard fought battle, Kaya gave in and Hiei slipped his tongue into her craven to taste her. Her tongue rubbed against his as she traced one of his fangs.

 

The feeling he had been getting all night, the feeling of his demonic energy being slowly drained out of him increased ten-fold when their tongues touched. He was feeling weaker by the second. When he felt his senses dull dramatically, he knew something was wrong. Alarmed, Hiei unwillingly pulled back from Kaya. Before he even had a chance to inspect himself, he heard Kaya's gasp.

 

“H-Hiei! You're... You're...” She stuttered, completely taken aback by the sight in front of her. Confusion wracked her mind as she worked franticly to piece together what her eyes were feeding her brain. How? Why?

 

“What?” He snapped, clearly just as confused.

 

“You're human....”