Eyes That Change

Deals and Revelations

Yuna stood silently in front of a large tombstone. Her now eyes bright red from crying. A few days had passed since the horrendous incident at her home. Whatever Shuichi had told the police, it kept her from being questioned. The two officers that had escorted her from the hospital stood near the entrance of the traditional cemetery, giving the teen some much-needed privacy.

She stared at the family gravestone. There was nothing left of her father to cremate. There was no reason to pay respects to a condemned soul that would never be put to rest. Yet, she still couldn't stop crying. She didn't know whether it was from relief and that he was no longer here to harm her, or some form of twisted grief of losing her father. A smaller part of her wondered if her tears were from paranoia that someone would find out that she had done this.

She couldn't stop her loud sniffling as she stared vacantly. She had always heard people describe the pain of death. Always assumed that pain was the same as either the physical pain she received when her father "disciplined" her or the pain she felt when he verbally beat her down.

This felt nothing like either of those. She didn't feel empty, nor could she describe it as hollow. It was more like a void had opened up inside her, leaving a strange ache that ebbed and flowed. It hurt, yet it didn't at the same time. She tried as hard as she could to stop herself from crying since there was nothing she could do to change it.

"Why waste your energy weeping over someone who tried to kill you and the fox?"

Yuna'seyes widened and she whipped around only to face the slightly taller, black-haired boy from earlier in the week. Panic rose in her, Shuichi wasn't here to protect her. She could barely breathe, something invisible was constricting her chest. He surveyed her fear with mock curiosity.

"He was still my father... He raised me.." She barely managed to push the words out, her voice hardly above a whisper.

The boy's red eyes gave her a harsh, piercing glare at her words. Yunaflinched and whimpered as his hand gripped her arm with a bruising force.

"The weak will always be destroyed by those who are stronger. You humans are disgusting in your self-induced guilt towards survival."

His lips turned up from their snarl and into a contempt-filled smile at the look of agony.

"How human are you really? With a low-level demon as a father."

A small ember of anger flared up within her at his words. She didn't know if it was her grief that caused it, but she found herself lashing out. The boy's eyes widened as he felt himself get plucked up and roughly slammed into a thick tree behind the graves. A sharp pain soon following, his gaze going down to his left side, seeing a broken tree branch sticking through it.

"I killed a man! And not just any man, I killed my father! Yes, he was terrible, he beat me black and blue, and he shredded every ounce of confidence I had apart! He was a monster in every sense of the word. But I am human!"

She screamed at him, large tears pouring down her face. Her chest was heaving as she sucked in air from the emotions filling her. Killing her father-- that thing was only one part of her current issues. She was human, right?

Her psychic abilities dropped their hold on the demonic boy in front of her. He swiftly landed, showing no signs of pain from the impalement. His red eyes glared at the shaking teen as she tried to wrangle in her emotions. In one quick movement, he had her neck in his hand and pushed her against the tree.

"You will listen and do as I say. You don't get a choice in this if you truly care about the fox."

Yuna's golden eyes snapped up to meet his. He could see her eyes were shaking and distraught, yet they still paid his words with undivided attention. Her attachment to the fox thief was more than useful for him.

"There are a few items I want from the Spirit World, and you and the fox are going to help me take them. If you refuse, I'll kill him."

He watched as she processed his words. While Hiei had no plans to kill the fox thief, he knew putting the idea in her head would make her far more agreeable to anything he demanded.

"What do you need me to do, I've never stolen anything before..." She choked out. Yuna clutched onto his wrist, trying to pull herself up to breathe.

With a victorious smirk, he dropped her and flashed out of sight.

You just need to keep something open.

His voice filled her head as she laid in heap and gasped for breath. She looked up when she heard heavy footfalls, fear rising in the pit of her stomach. As quick as it came it disappeared when she realized that they belonged to the two officers. The both of them gave Yuna a mixture of kind and sympathetic expressions at her disheveled appearance.

Poor girl has been through so much...

She's too young to go through such pain.

Their voices echoed in her head, speaking about how powerless she was. And once again making her think that she was far from human.

_____________

It had been a week since her encounter with Hiei. She had been discharged from the hospital a few days ago and had found herself back in the guest bedroom of the Minamino household. Shiori had begged her to stay there while the sickly woman remained confined to her hospital bed. The kind woman hated the thought of something happening to either of the teens and thought it best that the two of them stay together.

With the death of her father, Yuna was allowed to take a few days off from school and cram. She had never had so much free time before and didn't know what to do with it. She sat at the small letter desk in her new room, Shuichi had helped her bring it from her home. It was one of the few things she had by choice. He had left for school a few hours earlier, leaving her to her own devices.

Yuna let out a large sigh and spun in the small rolling chair, her head leaning back as she stared at the spinning ceiling. Before all this, she longed for nothing to do, and now that she had that, she honestly wished for something to occupy her time. Leaning her head back up, she gazed around the small room. The room had become a bit messy from her and Shuichi moving stuff into it.

If she used her powers to clean would it be considered laziness or practicing?

The teenager took a deep breath as she stared hard at one of the boxes. Slowly it began to rise in the air. Slowly, she began to split her focus and tried making the trash scattered around the room go into the floating box. Her head was splitting in pain as she lifted heavier and heavier objects up and around. She continued to push through the pain, cleaning the rest of the room.

She had no idea how long she was using her powers, all she knew was that she wanted to finish up the room before Shuichi came home.

"Yuna!"

His startled voice snapped her out of focus, making Yuna whip her head around to face his worried and horrified expression. Her head pounded and pulsed and as she went to welcome him home a warm liquid fell over her lip. Yuna touched her finger to her lip just as her friend rushed to her side. Curiously looking at what the warm liquid could be, she was stunned to see the dark red blood on her fingers.

Shuichi was quick to help wipe the blood off her lip, while she looked around the room. Everything was set just how she wanted it. She had a surge of pride and a sense of accomplishment even with the pain.

Yuna didn't know when Hiei would come back for her and Shuichi, but it must be soon. According to him, she was needed to keep something held open. But given her weak body, she had a feeling it was with her abilities. She couldn't afford to lose her only friend, so she needed to practice and train.

Thankfully, the teen did have time off from school now.