Koibito

DISCLAIMER:  Do I look smart enough to have created "InuYasha" or "Yu Yu Hakusho?"  Rich enough to have the rights to them?  I didn't think so.  You'll have to look up Takahashi-san and Togashi-san to see what success looks like.


Koibito


     Hiei sighed inwardly as he leaned against a tree while keeping watch on the door to the grocery store.  He really hated being in the crowded market area.  People were bustling up and down the sidewalk, their arms laden with shopping bags and packages.  If he had his way, he’d be back at the shrine -- relaxing in a nice, quiet tree or doing a little training.  He definitely wouldn’t be wasting his time here, surrounded by ningen.  His upper lip curled in disgust.  When he saw a small group of girls nearby eyeing him and giggling, he turned the full force of his glare upon them.  Three of them took a step back, intimidated by his obvious hostility, but one of them continued to look at him appreciatively.  She seemed to be debating whether or not to approach him.  As she started his way, he heard a soft voice call his name.

     “Hiei!  Gomen -- I didn’t mean to make you wait out here so long.  The lines were incredible in there.  Every woman in town must be out buying Valentine chocolates.”

     His eyes lit on the sight of the girl rapidly walking towards him.  She was small and delicately-built, but extremely feminine.  Although she was trim and fit, her figure was curvy and very enticing.  Her waist-length ebony hair shone in the sunlight, as if it had been polished and glazed.  Unlike the majority of the women around, whose hair was naturally straight and usually worn in a modern bob, her hair was full and wavy, and it bounced with movement and life as she walked.  But what set her apart the most from the rest of the females he saw, were her sparkling blue eyes. Not only was the color unusual in this country, but they were full of warmth and compassion and just a bit too much knowledge for her to ever be completely carefree again.  There was wisdom displayed in those beautiful orbs, and a touch of sadness, and yet it was so clear that when you gazed into them that the girl, -- no, the woman they belonged to would always cling to her boundless hopes and dreams.  

     Hiei almost smiled at the thought of her naïve optimism.  It had infuriated him when he had first met her.  He had been so sure she was just another overly-innocent, empty-headed ningen onna who had stumbled headfirst into matters that were beyond her comprehension, and certainly beyond her capabilities to deal with.  He had found out differently.

     Koenma had summoned the Spirit detectives to his office 8 months ago to brief them on an assignment that would be ongoing.  When they arrived, they found a young woman already there sitting in front of Koenma’s desk talking softly with him.  For once, the heir to the Spirit Realm was in his older form, and appeared to be doing his best to impress her.  When she turned to meet them, Hiei had been struck with those dazzling blue eyes.  Kuwabara had tried to make the usual fool out of himself over her, but she had politely turned aside his declaration with a few kind words.  Hiei had seen the gleam in Yusuke’s eyes -- he might have Keiko, but that didn’t stop him from appreciating a beautiful woman.  And then Kurama had stepped forward, all suave and charming, and made her blush with his flattering greeting.  Hiei would have rolled his eyes at him, but for some reason, he was just a little irritated with the fox.

     After the introductions, Koenma had explained the situation to them.  Of course.  They had to protect the girl.  Apparently, she had been traveling back and forth in time to the Feudal Era after being pulled down an old well by a centipede demon.  She was the reincarnation of a powerful priestess, and had been born with the Shikon no Tama inside her.  Well, that part was interesting.  Hiei had definitely heard about that jewel.  He probably would have sought it out himself a few years ago if he’d known it still existed.

     Koenma explained how the centipede demon had ripped it out of her side and how she had subsequently shattered it.  It figured.  Leave it to a ningen onna to destroy a powerful artifact.  Now, a year and a half later, she was still traveling the countryside in the Feudal Era with her companions to complete the jewel and defeat the evil hanyou Naraku who was also trying to complete it for his own purposes.  Here’s where their assignment comes in.  Now possessing nearly one-third of the jewel, Kagome had become a target for attack from demons in the Makai when she returned to her own time.  So far she had managed to fight them off on her own, which made Hiei suspect they were talking about extremely low-level demons, but the attacks were growing more and more frequent.  

     They found out that Koenma had been monitoring the events of the shrine ever since Kagome first returned from the Feudal Era.  Her mission was very important and he hadn’t wanted to interfere.  But after the attack he had seen earlier that day, he had sent Botan to bring her in.  While he couldn’t interfere in events in the past, he was determined to keep her safe in the present.  Enter her new bodyguards.  From that time on, whenever she was in her own time, she would be watched/accompanied by one of the detectives.  

     Yusuke had grumbled about “babysitting,” which had made the girl look sad and uncomfortable.  When she apologized to him for the inconvenience, he had squirmed a bit and shrugged it off.  Hiei himself had snapped at Koenma about wasting his time with something the two ningen bakas could handle until he told him that the attack that morning had been by an “A” class demon.   The fire apparition had quickly given the girl a second look.  She had fought off an “A” class demon by herself?  How was that possible?  A closer inspection revealed that she had obviously been injured in the fight.  She was holding her left arm a bit stiffly, and he could see the faint outline of bandages around her torso.  When she stood to leave, he saw she was limping slightly.  Kurama had offered to escort her back to her home and to take the first watch.  Maybe she wasn’t as weak as he had assumed at first glance.  She might be injured, but she had survived.  And she had killed the demon.  Interesting.

     After a couple of months, guarding Kagome became known as “miko duty” among the four detectives.  And in truth, they had all grown fond of her.  How could they not?  She was friendly, kind, and often quite amusing with the way she raced around and panicked about her schoolwork whenever she was home.  Her school friends, however, were not amusing.  Their giggling and ridiculous antics grated on Hiei’s nerves when he was on watch.  He had seen the way they were constantly throwing the poor girl at that ningen boy.  Disgusting.  It was obvious she had no interest in him and it embarrassed her.  But she was too nice for her own good.  What was wrong with those onnas?  Anyone could see he wasn’t good enough for her.  Baka females.  And Kagome was just way too naïve for her own good.  She reminded him of Yukina that way.   

     He met Inuyasha during his second official turn of “miko duty,” though he had accompanied Kurama when he had taken his turns.  The hanyou had irritated him with the first words out of his mouth.  Kagome had just arrived back home, and he could tell she had been injured again.  It wasn’t serious, but for some reason the smell of her blood upset him.  He had jumped down from the Goshinboku, where he had been resting while waiting for her to return.  She had said she would probably be back yesterday or today.  Appearing in front of her, he had just picked her up to take her into the house to check her wounds.  Suddenly, he felt the magic of the well pulse again, and out came the dog. Upon seeing her in Hiei’s arms, he had yelled, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, bitch?!!?  No one said you could leave!  And get your hands off of her, you bastard!”

     Kagome had yelled, “Sit!” causing Inuyasha to plummet to the ground.  Then she had told him she had to come back for bandages and other medical supplies since everyone had been hurt in their last battle.  Hiei had just kept on walking with her in his arms until he set her down on her couch in her family’s living room area.  The dog had followed as soon as the subjugation spell had worn off, -- growling and glaring at Hiei to make him back away from her.  It had annoyed him to see how territorial the hanyou was acting towards her, while at the same time he seemed oblivious to her needs.  Anyone could see he wasn’t good enough for her, either.  

     That night, after Inuyasha had left, taking back the supplies Kagome sent to Kaede to treat the others, Hiei had sat in the tree outside her window while she studied for a test coming up the next day.  She had slammed her book shut with a heavy sigh and walked over to the window, inviting him in for a snack.  He wasn’t going to turn down a slice of pie with ice cream.  As he ate, she apologized for Inuyasha’s rudeness.  

     “Hn.  He should have taken better care of his future mate.”

     She had choked on her food.  “What?!!?”

     “He should have made sure you were taken care of instead of yelling about you leaving.  He knew you could get better care here.”

     “I’m not, … I mean, he doesn’t, … we’re not …” she sputtered and a deep blush stained her porcelain cheeks.

     Then she had explained the situation with her, Inuyasha, and Kikyou.  He was astonished to hear that she wasn’t in possession of her whole soul.  How in the world was she capable of the things she does?  How could she stand the feeling of not being whole?  It was then that he had recognized the wisdom and sadness he often saw swirling around in those mesmerizing eyes of hers for what they were. He also recognized the longing in her voice as she talked about how much the hanyou loved the dead priestess.  It made him … uncomfortable, and he left shortly afterwards.

     Over the next couple of months, he found himself spending more and more time with her.  Something about her drew him in.  When Yusuke mentioned that he was afraid Keiko was getting jealous of the time he spent with Kagome when it was his turn to watch her, Hiei had told him he would take his next “miko duty.”  And then the next one.
Soon, he had told the others he might as well just be the one to do it when she was in their time, since he could sense her return and get there faster than any of them could.  They had agreed, although Kurama had given him a knowing smile that ticked him off.  And after a while, the attacks on her in their time had dwindled.  Apparently, word was out that the jewel’s guardian had a guardian of her own, and youkai were less inclined to brave the barrier and one of Reikai’s guard dogs to make a try for it.

     When Kagome was home, she would often invite Hiei into her room in the evenings and offer him a snack while she talked to him about how the search for the shards was going, and what had been happening with her friends there.  It hadn’t taken her long to pick up on his fondness for sweets.  She always asked him what he had been doing and what the other Spirit Detectives were up to, and he made an effort to tell her, although he never said very much.  After a while, she had asked him if he would like to meditate with her in the mornings, and they would sit under the Goshinboku together in companionable silence.  He had taken her to meet Yukina and the two girls had formed a fast friendship.  Even Genkai seemed to like Kagome, and Kagome treated her with great respect and even got her to help her with controlling her powers more.  The whole group would sometimes hang out at Genkai’s or go to a park or out to eat together.  And somehow, with Kagome there, Hiei felt more comfortable with all of them.  He actually enjoyed spending time with her.  

     And so, here he was -- in a place he didn’t want to be, surrounded by ningen he couldn’t stand, and it was all he could do not to smile at the sight of her walking towards him laden down with an outrageous amount of packages and bags.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other girl who had been approaching him stop, and heard her sigh as she turned back to rejoin her friends when she saw him take most of the bags out of Kagome’s arms.  Hiei almost breathed a sigh of relief himself, glad for Kagome’s timely appearance.  There were very few ningen onnas he would even give the time of day to, even fewer that he would tolerate enough to be polite to, and only one that he wanted to see an appreciative look from.  And he was walking her home.

     “Just how many males do you know, onna?” he grunted as she stacked box after box of giri choco on her dining room table.  Kurama had explained the ningen holiday to him a few years ago when he had seen him struggling to carry home all the chocolates he had received from his fan club at school.

     Kagome laughed and rolled her eyes.  “Too many,” she answered.  

     He noticed she had made 3 separate stacks.  Two boxes for Souta and her Jii-chan, and a stack for her friends here and another one to take back with her to the Feudal Era tomorrow.  She put them in two separate bags and sat them against a wall in the living room.  Then she turned her attention to the bags of groceries she had bought.  He watched her pull out several bowls and a couple of pans, along with some spoons and a big bag of ice, which she sat in the sink.

     “Now what are you doing?” he asked curiously.

     She blushed a bit and said quietly,  “What does it look like?  I’m going to cook something.”
     
     He started snickering.  He had found out firsthand at a cookout they had at Genkai’s that Kagome could catch, clean, and cook almost anything outside -- fish, rabbits, even a wild boar.  She could even fashion a makeshift spit, and was really good at choosing wild herbs to season the food she prepared.  BUT, when it came to using a stove or oven, she was hopeless.  Everything she tried to fix turned out burnt, undercooked, or overspiced.  

     “Shut up!” She pushed him.  “I’m not completely hopeless.  Keiko gave me the recipe and complete instructions.  I’m sure I can manage just fine.”

     He gave her a doubtful look that got him pushed out of the kitchen.  “Shoo!  Go ’way!”  He chuckled some more as he heard her muttering under her breath about no one having any faith in her, and how her cooking had never killed anyone.  He took up residence in the Goshinboku.  He wished she wasn’t going back so soon.  As much as he hated to admit it, he missed her when she was gone, and he worried about her.  She had come to mean more to him than he would have ever believed.  But he knew she would never feel that way about him.  Not while that dog held her heart.  Secretly, he had been relieved to see that all the boxes of chocolates she had bought were the same -- meaning they were all giri choco.  She hadn’t bought a box of the more expensive honmei choco for Inuyasha.  If she had, it would have meant she was declaring her love to him.  Kurama always got a lot of honmei choco.  Hiei laughed to himself and decided he would make a point of looking the fox up after his school was out tomorrow.  He enjoyed seeing the embarrassed looks on his face as girl after girl professed their love and devotion to him.  An acrid, smoky smell wafted out into the courtyard of the shrine, making Hiei really laugh.  Apparently, she was hopeless.

     She was hopeless.  Kagome groaned to herself.  Her first try was a complete disaster.  She had scorched it.  She opened the window to wave the nasty odor outside.  When she did, she saw Hiei sitting in the Goshinboku, laughing.  She would show him.  Her mother had offered to help her, but she had turned her down.  She wanted to do this herself.  It was important that she do it herself, and she wanted it to be perfect.  Just thinking about it made her nervous, though.  She sighed as she cleaned up the mess and started over.  Fortunately, she had bought a large amount of the required ingredients.

     An hour later, Hiei heard a frustrated “arrrgghhh!” coming from the kitchen.  He laughed again.  Whatever she was trying to make, it wasn’t going well.  And so it went, for the next 3 hours.  After yet another wave of smoke came filtering out the window, Hiei jumped down and went inside.  He had been ready to tease her mercilessly, but when he walked into the kitchen, she was sitting at the table with her head in her hands.  He could detect the faint scent of salt in the air, and it wasn’t from whatever she was trying to fix.  He stepped up behind her and patted her shoulder a bit awkwardly.

     “Oh.  Hiei.”  She wiped at her eyes before turning around to face him.  She managed a slightly watery smile.  “Would you like some ice cream?  I bought some ... chocolate today …” her voice trailed off at the word ‘chocolate.’

     “Hn.  Sure,” he said.  As she got up and scooped some out in a couple of bowls, he told her, “Whatever you’re trying to fix, it can’t be that important.  It’s getting late and you’re going back in the morning.  You should get some sleep.”

     She fiddled with her spoon, letting the ice cream in her bowl melt away to mush.  “I will.”

     He frowned at seeing her look so sad.  What was she making that was so important to her?  Then it hit him.  She was trying to make honmei choco.  While they could purchase the more expensive chocolates to give the man they were interested in, it was considered even more special for girls to actually make it themselves.  Kagome was going to all this trouble to try to make something special for that damn dog who wouldn’t even appreciate it anyway.  Somehow, the ice cream didn’t taste so good anymore.  Hiei stood up.  He patted her on the shoulder again and left.

     “See you in the morning, Hiei,” she called after him.  Then she cleaned up all the dishes again, and started over.  Three hours and two more disasters later, Kagome was finally satisfied with her results.  Three of her attempts were actually edible, but not good enough for him.  No, she had wanted it to be perfect.  This was too important to her for it not to be.  She still didn’t know how she was going to get her courage up enough to give it to him.  

     She set the large, fancy-looking chocolate back into the refrigerator.  She would come back down right before she went to bed and wrap it in the pretty red foil she had bought.  She looked at the clock.  It was almost 2:00 a.m.  She would need to be up at 6:00 to go back.  She ran up the stairs and opened the top drawer of her desk.  She took out a long, slim box and opened it, fingering the contents.  She hoped he liked it -- she had thought of him immediately when she had seen it.  She took a quick bath and went back down to wrap the honmei choco.  She set it on the table next to the gift box and turned out the light.  

     Outside, Hiei saw the light go out.  It was about time.  That damn dog had better not hurt her feelings.  His own gut clenched.  He wished she wasn’t going to see him tomorrow.  He wished she wasn’t going at all …

      The next morning, Kagome came out of the house and walked across the courtyard.  Hiei jumped down from the branch he had been sitting on, and walked with her over to the building surrounding the old well.  She opened the door and stopped, turning to him and sitting one of the bags she was carrying down on the ground in front of him.  He looked into those shining blue eyes he had grown to love and saw the nervousness and excitement spinning around in them.  He had to look away.

     “Um, Hiei?  Would you please give those to the guys and Koenma for me, and tell them I said ‘Thank you?’  I wish I could do it myself, but, …”  

     He nodded.  

     “I know you’re not all that fond of Hojo, so Yuka’s going to deliver his for me.”

     “Hn.  You got him a box, too?”

     She smiled.  “Of course!  I couldn’t leave out anyone I care about on Valentine’s Day, could I?”  She leaned down and reached into the bag in front of him and handed him a box.  “This is for you,” she said, looking at him anxiously.

     He looked at the long, thin gift box and his brows furrowed in confusion.  This wasn’t one of the boxes of giri choco.  He looked at her questioningly and she said, “Open it.”  Inside was a long, white bandana with a fierce-looking black dragon emblazoned across the middle.  “I had to get Genkai to teach me how to ward it for the Jagan,” she said quickly.  “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t like it.”

     “I like it,” he said quickly, but he was still wondering why she had given him a gift instead of the giri choco when she suddenly handed him something else.  He stared at the large, heart-shaped red foil in his hand.  After a moment, he looked back up at her.  She was biting her bottom lip anxiously.  “I … I know you’ve been spending so much time with me because you were assigned to protect me, and I know you couldn’t … feel the same way I do, but, … I  really wanted you to know … Aishiteru, Hiei.”  And she leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips before turning to jump into the well.

     He reached out and grabbed her arm.  “When … when will you be back?”

     Hesitantly, she looked into his eyes, -- those warm, glowing, crimson-colored eyes she had grown to love so much.  And what she saw there reassured her.  “Ten or eleven days.”

     “I’ll be here.”  And he pulled her to him and kissed her, silently promising to be there forever.

     She smiled as she disappeared into the well in a flash of blue light.
     
     As he stepped back out of the well house, he started unwrapping the foil around the chocolate heart she had given him.  He looked up as he saw Kurama approaching him with a smirk on his face.

     “What is it, fox?  Shouldn’t you be on your way to school?”

     “I thought I’d swing by here and see if you wanted to walk with me.  And, I knew about the bandana Kagome bought for you -- I was at Genkai’s when she asked her how to ward it for the Jagan.,”  he looked at Hiei slyly.  “You know, when a ningen female gives a male a gift, as well as honmei choco, it means she has decided he’s more than just a ‘prospective winner.’  She’s really serious in her affections for you.”

     (So am I.) Hiei thought to himself.

     Kurama looked at the chocolate heart in Hiei’s hand.  “Oh, no!  She didn’t actually make you honmei choco, did she?!?” he asked in shock.  Then he started laughing.  “How is it?”

     Hiei frowned at him and took a bite.  Then he smiled smugly at Kurama.  “You won’t receive any that’s better.”  And he meant it.  It was rich and creamy and very, very sweet -- just the way he liked it.  But as delicious as it was, it really couldn’t compare to the sweetness of her kiss, or to the word she had obviously taken such care to carve into the front of the heart.  Who knew that one word could make you feel so special?

     “Koibito”

     (Beloved)



     “So, … what are you going to get her for White Day?”
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