Chapter Two
"Hiei, is that you?"
Hiei was startled by the sound of Yukina’s voice. He paused, firming his feet back on the windowsill where he had earlier stood.
"Hiei." Yukina advanced towards him. "Do you want to come in for a while?"
"No, thanks," Hiei said quietly, avoiding Yukina’s gaze. "Your boyfriend might see me."
"Kazuma-san is not here," Yukina said, flushing slightly.
"Really?"
Yukina nodded once. "Come on in. It’s too cold outside."
Hiei wasn’t bothered by the cold; he was a fire youkai, after all. But he decided to follow Yukina. He went inside the apartment through the window.
"Who else is in here?" Hiei asked.
"Just Shizuru," Yukina replied. "She’s in the kitchen, cooking dinner."
"So what are you doing here?"
"I sleep here."
"Sleep?!" The answer was almost scary. "You sleep in Kuwabara’s apartment?"
Yukina’s face reddened again. "Well, it’s only for this week. I’m going back to Genkai’s temple on Sunday."
Hiei gulped. That baka Kuwabara! I’m going to kill him…!
"Hiei-san, what are you thinking about?"
She called me Hiei-san, Hiei noted, almost cooling his sudden rush of anger. But he remembered the ugly face of the ningen again.
"Hiei-san?"
This time, Hiei couldn’t stop himself from asking. "Um…that Kuwabara…has he…uh…touched you?"
"WHAT?!"
"Um…forget it," Hiei said, waving his hands before his face. For one of the very rarest of times, he grinned frivolously.
"Hiei!"
"G-gomen ne," he said. The words coming from his own lips sounded ridiculously queer. He hasn’t said sorry to anyone before.
"No, Kazuma-san hasn’t touched me! But what bothers me most is why you asked me that!"
"I-it just slipped out of my mouth, I guess," Hiei stammered, sweat drops forming on his nape. "I’m sorry, really."
Inwardly, Hiei breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Kuwabara hasn’t done anything to her. If he has…Hiei could just imagine his black dragon eating his ningen body up.
Hiei knew he shouldn’t have asked her that. Sibling’s nature, I guess, he thought.
Yukina was frowning, her face seemingly pudgier than usual. "I’m sorry, right?" Hiei asked her once more.
"Okay, okay," Yukina mumbled.
"Good."
"Hiei…what are you doing here?"
Hiei suddenly remembered his reason for being there. True, he was just looking after Yukina, but he also wanted to tell her something.
"I…just want to say goodbye," he murmured.
Yukina’s eyes widened as she inhaled sharply. She looked at Hiei questioningly, at his eyes that matched her own in color.
"I have to go back to Makai," Hiei continued. "I have a job there."
Yukina was silent for a moment. Then, quietly, she spoke up.
"Why do you have to tell me?"
Hiei bit his lip. He wanted to respond, "Because I don’t want you to worry." It was the truth.
But what was the use of telling her that? She doesn’t know he is her brother! She has no reason to worry! Besides, why did he have to say goodbye to her in the first place?
But, knowing Yukina, Hiei could easily perceive that she cares for everybody, even if it is only Hiei.
"Do you really have to go again?" Yukina asked when Hiei didn’t give a reply.
"I must."
"But isn’t it dangerous out there?"
"Very dangerous, actually." Hiei smiled a little, a smile that only the koorime girl can light. "But I’m used to it."
Yukina looked down, as if thinking about how this would affect her. After a moment, she smiled at Hiei. "By the way, I’m sorry for shouting at you the other day."
Hiei’s smile widened. "It was nothing. Really. I should be the one to apologize. Gomen nasai."
"Hiei-san, since you came back here in the Ningenkai the other day, you always say gomen to me."
No. Every gomen I utter would never pay for all the troubles I’ve caused you, Hiei told her mentally. I’ve always known that you’re my twin, but I refuse to tell you. But, Yukina-san, I’m doing this for you…for both of us.
Before Hiei could utter another word, he felt Yukina’s cool hands wrap his own. She pressed something firmly into his right palm and closed it.
Hiei looked at her curiously. When he opened his palm, he saw her necklace.
Hiei frowned incomprehensibly.
"It’s yours. I want you to keep it."
"What?" Hiei shook his head, disbelieving what she had just mentioned. "You can’t give this to me. It’s your most valuable possession!"
Yukina shook her head. "No. I want to give it to you."
Hiei felt an invisible force crush his heart to pieces. Guilt washed over him again. He swallowed as he looked at Yukina’s face.
Why does she trust me with this? Hiei asked himself furiously.
"Yukina…why?"
Yukina smiled wistfully. "So that you’ll come back. You know, if I don’t see that necklace draped on your neck again, I’ll be very sad."
Hiei’s eyes shone at the compassion Yukina felt for the man in front of her.
"Don’t be. The news about your brother was bad enough."
Yukina shook her head stubbornly. "I don’t want to be reminded of that again."
Hiei swallowed. "Okay."
Inside, his head was screaming. Damn that Kurama! Won’t even cooperate with me…I told him to give the necklace back to her but he refused….
"So you’ll come back, okay?"
Hiei looked at Yukina’s sweet face. She stared at him hopefully, her bright red eyes shining with affection. For whom? A mere youkai? It was strange.
But perhaps, somehow, Yukina felt at ease with Hiei, although he was almost as good as a complete stranger to her. Sibling’s nature, Hiei thought again, this time quite happily.
"I’ll come back." Hiei uttered the words firmly. "I promise."
Another smile formed on Yukina’s lips. The smile was almost—wistful again? "Hiei…you know what? I would love to have you as my oniisan."
Hiei looked at her, his face showing definite signs of surprise…and of gladness. Why, Yukina liked him! It sounded impossible, but she said it herself!
She even trusted him with the necklace!
Hiei’s lips curved upward slowly.
"Arigatou gozaimasu," he whispered. Slowly, he advanced towards her. He leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead.
He leaned back and took in every single detail of his sister—her green hair, her wide red eyes, her small body, her kimono…he wanted to remember her.
"Sayonara," Yukina whispered.
"Sayonara."
Hiei went out, using the apartment window again. He took one last look at Yukina. She waved, smiling, but tears seemed to form in her eyes.
Hiei smiled at her. Then, as another gust of winter breeze blew, the youkai in black was gone.
The ground is sacred and serene. My eyes travel from statues to statues of angels and deities looking down on me. One holds a marble harp; another comforts a marble young girl. They are perfect replicas, seemingly flawless and lively. Yet they send a chill down to my heart, and although they look kindly at me, I feel as if deep inside them, they condemn me for all the wrongs I’ve done.
Kurama had once told me that these angels only want the best for all beings—and if one is as ruthless as I am, they want me to change.
Change is constant, inevitable. But changing what I am is hard.
The walk I am wandering on leads me towards familiar ground, where a gray concrete tombstone stares back at me dully.
On the green grass just in front of the slab are a few daisies, slightly wilted because of the summer heat.
I sit down on the grass cross-legged, staring at the tombstone. I read the inscription written in Kanji lettering silently. Yukina.
I see her beautiful face now, her giggles echoing in the silent air. All of the times I’ve spent with her flashes through my mind like a high-speed filmstrip: when we saved her from the idiot Tarukane who kidnapped her, when she went to the Ankoku Bujutsukai, and when I saved her from rocks falling upon her as Kuwabara watched, frozen to the ground. When she gave me her necklace before I left for the Makai, when I returned for her, and when I went away again—when I kissed her forehead, when I made that promise.
I’ll come back, I promise.
My imaginations take me back to that day. Piercing screams rang out, rising above the gushing forth of dark water on a ruthless snake of a river.
I have faced death itself countless of times. Either it was I facing death or my enemy. I loved the sweet stench of blood, of body dying, of swords slashing through the skin, of my Korkuyuuha eating up my enemies with its hot fangs.
But when it was she facing death, all of the pain I’ve felt through all the years of fighting seemed to crush me down, to boil me into an invisible cloud of regret. It was an emotion I never dreamt myself feel.
It was worse when I watched her die…fall off that cliff….
I wasn’t able to save her.
I wasn’t able to save her….
The truth echoes in my ears, crushing me down again. I claw through my hair, trying to get rid of the taunting sound that repeats itself over and over.
"Yukina-chan, I’m sorry," I whisper through gritted teeth. I feel two tears roll down my cheeks. "I’m sorry, dear sister. I’m so…sorry…."
Damn! Kurama isn’t here!
Green light emitted from behind Hiei’s headband. He just came back from the Makai after a year since he last left…it had been truly a long time.
Those ningens! Couldn’t even keep away from the Makai! The job didn’t let me leave even for a while!
He stared at the two-story house where the Hatanakas lived. The stepfather of Minamino Shuichi, the human identity of Kurama, whistled a tune into the spring air. It blended with the chirping of a few yellow birds.
The chirping suddenly stopped. Hiei had shooed the canaries that landed on his hair. Stupid birds…they’re even worse here in Ningenkai….
Part of him wanted to ask Hatanaka-san about his son’s whereabouts, but he finally decided not to. He has his Jagan, hasn’t he?
Hiei closed his eyes momentarily.
Finally, he snapped them open. Yukimura Keiko’s ramen shop, he thought,
flitting away.
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