Kiren hadn’t even bothered going home. She just kept wandering around town, no direction in particular in mind. She ended up by a railing that overlooked the whole town. It was starting to rain, making everything look beautiful to her.
She put her arms on the railing and sighed, “And just what the hell am I supposed to do now?”
“Well, you could start with getting out of the rain,” came a voice from behind her.
She jumped and turned around into a defensive position. She lowered her stance a little when she saw who it was.
“Ya know, it’s impolite to sneak up behind someone and scare them, Yuske.”
He laughed, “You and being polite.”
She smiled, “What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing, just something I noticed about you.”
Kiren turned back around to look out over the town. “That’s all everyone does. Notice things about me. How I’m nothing like a ‘normal’ person. I thought maybe I could fit in here. But I guess I was wrong. Maybe I should go back.”
“Go back where?”
Kiren snapped her head up as she realized what she had said. “It’s nothing, forget about it.”
Yuske looked at her oddly, “Ok?”
Kiren sighed, “If you were smart, Urameshi, you’d know to stay the hell away from me.” She started walking away.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Yuske ran after her and grabbed her by the elbow; big mistake.
Kiren’s instincts took over. She turned around, kicking Yuske into the near by tree while screaming; “Don’t touch me!”
She opened her eyes and looked around herself until she found Yuske. Her eyes starting tearing up, “I’m sorry Yuske. But maybe now you’ll believe me when I say you shouldn’t be near me.”
She ran off as Yuske steadily got up from the ground. “She’s got some power to her.”
Kurama appeared from behind, “That wasn’t her Yuske.”
He looked at Kurama confused, “What do you mean?”
“You mean you really couldn’t tell?”
“Not really, clue me in.”
“You’ve seen her defensive position before, right?”
“Yeah.”
“This one was completely different. Extremely old school.”
“Like how old schooled?”
“Like mine and Hiei’s old school. Plus, her voice changed when she screamed at you. There was a slight musical ringing to it. And when she looked up after kicking you, she had to search around for you. If that would’ve been herself that kicked you, she wouldn’t have to look for where you went. And when she found you, she started crying. There is a lot more to her than she lets on.”
“Observant as always fox,” Hiei replied from in the tree.
Yuske looked up, “What brings you here, three eyes?”
Hiei jumped down from the tree. “I heard a scream that penetrated my ears. I wanted to find the source of it and silence it.”
Kurama looked over at Hiei, “Really now Hiei?”
Hiei glared at Kurama, “What are you getting at?”
Kurama smirked, “And you scold me for stalking.”
Yuske looked between the two of them, “Ummmm, anyone wanna clue me in?”
“Hiei followed Kiren just like I did. Someone’s just as curious as me.”
“Hn.”
Yuske got a big grin on his face, “Wow, shorty’s actually curious about something. I’m going to have to mark this one on the calendar.”
Hiei glared at Yuske, “Shut up.” He walked away towards who knows where.
Kurama smiled, “This makes things very interesting.”
“What does?”
Kurama chuckled and replied as he was walking away, “You’ll understand in due time.”
Yuske looked after the fox in confusion. “What will I understand? I really hate it when those two are cryptic with one another. Well, might as well go home.”
*Kiren*
Kiren walked through the door to her house, the rain covering her tears. Her mother started in on her right away, “Where have you been young lady?! I thought I told you not to be gone for long!”
Kiren started walking up the stairs, “I wasn’t gone for long. It’s not even midnight yet.”
“You’re supposed to be home by dark! You have school in the morning.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she replied as she closed the door to her room; her mom scowling at the foot of the stairs. Kiren fell into her bed; face first, curling up into a little ball. ‘I guess I’m going to have to leave after all.’
*Next Day*
Yuske showed up at school early, wanting to talk to Kiren before it got too busy with people. He waited until the last second before the bell rang, but Kiren never showed. He looked for her all day, but he couldn’t find her anywhere. After school he ran over to Kurama’s school to catch Kurama before he went home.
“Hey, Kurama, have you seen Kiren around?”
“No, I figured you would since you two go to the same school and all.”
“She didn’t show up for class today, I thought maybe you might’ve seen her roaming around or something.”
“No, I haven’t. But I’ll look around for her and let you know if I find her.”
“Thanks.” And he ran off in search of Hiei. Yuske looked around and looked around town, but there was no sign of the little fire demon anywhere.
Yuske had made it to the railing from yesterday when someone spoke to him from behind.
“Looking for me Urameshi?”
Yuske jumped and spun around, “Now I know how Kiren feels. Don’t do that Hiei.”
“What do you want Yuske?”
“I was wondering if you’ve seen Kiren around. She didn’t show up at school today and I wanted to talk to her about yesterday.”
“And why would I know where she is?”
“I don’t know! I just thought maybe you might’ve seen her wandering around or something.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“You’re a lot of help.”
“Always am.”
Yuske sighed and started walking to the other side of town. A thought hit him, “Hey, she just might be there.”
He ran into the forest and made his way to the clearing. He looked around the rock and everything but he still couldn’t find her.
“Damnit! She’s not here either!”
Kiren jumped down from a tree onto the rock behind him, “And just who are you stalking today Yuske?”
Yuske spun around and toppled Kiren over into the water. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you all day!”
Kiren glared at him as they got out of the water, “Why were you looking for me?”
“I wanted to talk to you about yesterday.”
She looked away from him at the water, “What about it?”
“Kurama said something to me that has me curious.”
“What did he say?”
“That it wasn’t you that kicked me. That was a pretty good kick though. I can still feel it. So I was just curious if you could tell me what Kurama meant by what he said.”
She sighed, “Not really, though I do give the fox credit for noticing.”
“Why can’t you tell me about it?”
“It’s one of those ‘if I told you I’d have to kill you’ type of things. The less you know the better off you are. So, you can tell your little toddler that my answer is no. I can’t risk anything at this point.”
“Why say no? Maybe we can help you out.”
She smiled, “I thank you for the thought Yuske, but I’m beyond help now. I’ll see ya later.”
“You gonna be at school tomorrow?”
“Maybe.”
“I’ll see you at school tomorrow then.”
She waved her hand behind her, “Yeah, yeah.”
*Next morning*
Kiren walked out her front door to find Yuske sitting at her door step. “What are you doing here? And how did you know where I live?”
Yuske got up and had a big smile on his face. “I had to make sure that you were going to school today. And I kinda followed you home last night.”
“You are such a stalker. Your girlfriend’s gonna kill you.”
“You wouldn’t tell Keiko anything………Would you? She would take everything way out of proportion.”
She smirked, “I don’t know. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.”
Yuske begged and pleaded her the whole way to school not to say anything.
When they got to the doors Kiren turned around to face Yuske, “Alright ya blubbering idiot, I’m not gonna say anything. Now get off my back will ya?”
He sighed and put a big smile on, “Thank you!”
She chuckled, “You so owe me.”
Yuske smiled, “Yeah, yeah.”
*During lunch on the roof*
“So, anyway, what’s with making sure I came to school?”
“Well, I kinda figured if I bugged you enough, you’d join our team.”
“You really think so huh?”
“It was worth a shot wasn’t it?”
“Maybe. But I don’t think Keiko approves.”
“What do you mean?”
Kiren pointed down to a very angry Keiko. Keiko glared at Yuske and then walked back into the school with Yuske trailing behind her, trying to cover his ass.
Kiren giggled as she hopped down and walked over to the edge of the roof and stared out at the town.
“You really have a thing for scenery, don’t you?”
Kiren quickly whipped around to see Hiei watching her from where she and Yuske were sitting.
“What is it with you people sneaking up and scaring the shit outta me?”
Hiei hopped down and stood next to Kiren. “I thought you of all people would know when someone’s behind you.”
“That all depends.”
“On what?”
She chuckled, “That’s a ‘for me to know and you to find out’ one.”
“Why are you so secretive?”
Kiren shrugged, “Because I have to be.”
“But why?”
Kiren’s eyes glazed over a little, “It’s just better that no one knows anything.”
“How are you supposed to get close to anyone then?”
She smiled, “Now there’s something I’d never imagine ever hearing from you, Mr. Loner that doesn’t get close to anyone but the Spirit Detective and the fox.”
Hiei glared at her a little. “How do you know so much about me?”
She giggled, “I have my own ways of getting information. But, to answer your question of how am I supposed to get close to anyone, I can’t. Not unless I want them to die anyway.”
Hiei was puzzled, “Why would they die?”
Kiren sighed, “That’s confidential stuff that I can’t repeat. Sorry.”
He shook his head, “I don’t get you. Don’t you want to get close to someone?”
She gave a sad smile, “I would love to. I miss having friends, I miss being able to have a crush on someone and not have to worry about anything. But I can’t now. It’s just something that I have to live with.”
Hiei looked down a bit, “What if someone was willing to carry the burden with you?”
Kiren looked at Hiei as if she heard wrong. But then she went back to staring over the railing. “I wouldn’t let them. It’s my burden to carry. I wouldn’t wish this upon anyone else.”
“You are one strange individual. However, Koenma is being very adamant about having you with us. So why don’t we come to an agreement?”
She perked up her head, “What kind of agreement are we talking about here?”
“You join us, we don’t ask you anything. Just tag along on missions.”
She sighed, “That sounds nice and everything, but I don’t know if I should be around people.”
“You’re around people in school.”
She smirked, “You have me there. Let me clarify, I don’t know if I should be around demons and whatnot.”
“Won’t know until you try right?”
“Why are you so adamant about this? You and Yuske both. I don’t get it. Neither of you know me that well, but you’re both trying your hardest to get me to go along with you guys and join your little team. Why?”
“Urameshi I’m not sure. He probably just sees you as a new rival. And he’s always been a friendly type of guy. As for me, Mazuki is one reason. The other reason is I wanna figure you out, eventually. I said I wouldn’t ask questions, but there are other ways of figuring stuff out.”
“If it will get you guys to back off, fine. I’ll join your little team. But I’m going to have to find a way to tell my parents that I’m not really going to be home much.”
“Well, you’ve said you’ve trained at a dojo correct?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Do they know that?”
“Yeah, they’re the ones that set everything up for me.”
“Well, we have a similar type of thing to a dojo here in town. Just say you’re going to be living and training there.”
“And who’s the wonderful master?”
“Genkai.”
She raised an eyebrow at him, “You can’t be serious?”
Hiei raised his own eyebrow, “Yes, I am. Why?”
She started laughing hysterically, “That old freakin’ hag is still living?!”
“You know her then?”
“Yeah, who do you think my first teacher was?”
“Well, that’ll make this easy then.”
She chuckled, “Interesting is more like it.”
Hiei looked at her oddly, “Why do you say that?”
Kiren looked over at Hiei, “Let’s just say that she and I never really did see ‘eye to eye’ on anything.”
“How long did you train with her last time?”
She giggled, “Ya know, I honestly can’t remember. I lost track of how many years I was with that old hag.”
“And you’re parents were ok with that?”
Kiren gave a sad chuckle as she looked over the town, avoiding Hiei’s gaze, “They’d do anything to get rid of me. They always call me trouble, a nuisance; a freak because of my eye and hair color that is nothing like theirs. Swearing up and down that I was some sort of demon that stole their real child and took her place. You name it, they’ve said it.”
Hiei looked out over the town as well, “So, why bother staying? Or letting them know you’re not going to be home for that matter?”
She gave a soft chuckle, “Stupidly hoping I guess?”
“Hoping for what?”
“To be accepted into the family. To be loved by someone. To finally fit in somewhere. But I suppose that’s just a dream that’ll never happen.”
An awkward silence hung over the two of them. Hiei didn’t know what to say or do. Kiren turned around and started walking back towards the door to go back to class; not sure exactly what else to say anymore. As Kiren walked back inside, she looked to see Hiei gone.