Hiei and Genkai: A Conversation
by Queen Yokozuna
This fanfic can also be found at http://www.fortunecity.com/underworld/darkforces/1149/hieiandgenkai.html
[DISCLAIMER: Hiei and Genkai are characters from Yu Yu Hakusho. They are owned by Yoshihiro Togashi.]
Genkai looks at Hiei with her mouth still half-parted, and Hiei looks back at her with a still-inquisitive face. And then, a few minutes elapse before the two realize that they're staring right at one another...
Somewhere in the parallel universe...
For about a minute or so, Genkai stands still there behind the bushes, keeping her gaze straight at Hiei. A couple of meters across her, the black-cloaked figure sits relaxedly under this big, leafy tree. His own gaze is nailed to the black sky in the horizon.
It's only the side of his face that's turned to her, but Genkai can effortlessly see Hiei's eyes widen a bit and his mouth slightly open everytime a new round of fireworks strut their stuff up in the sky.
'Must be fascinated by them,' Genkai observes him.
She herself now turns to the colorful blasts, a tiny smile crossing her dry lips. Ah, the fireworks seem to light up more gloriously with every New Year's Day that comes.
"They're pretty, eh?"
Genkai's eyes jump back to Hiei. He's looking directly at her, displaying an imperceptible smile (or at least in Genkai's eyes it is). She gives him a light nod, a bit chagrined that he'd caught her hiding there.
Hiei shifts his sitting position on that small glade, leaving some space between him and the big tree.
Though not quite sure if he's motioning her to sit there next to him, Genkai crosses her arms behind her and slowly makes her way towards the tree. She awkwardly places herself between him and the tree, all the while unsure of what's making her heart suddenly beat fast.
He briefly turns to her, then back to the dancing lights up ahead.
"So, feeling better?" she asks.
"Uh-huh."
The fire demon had gotten a deep, nasty cut from a fight he'd just had with a purple-haired half-saiyan, and he had imediately come here this afternoon for Genkai's help. It hurt Genkai to see Hiei in great pain with that slash on his side torso, so with all the healing power she could muster she helped him ease his suffering in no time and made him rest here until he's well enough to fight again. That Hiei had come to her for help before anybody else fervently pleased Genkai, but it would certainly make her a lot more pleased if there was some way she could know why he did so.
She crosses her legs now, making her heels touch her inner thighs, while Hiei continues to sit there leaning his right arm onto his bent knee.
Both just silently view the majestic scene before them.
Until Hiei decides to speak up. "What exactly are these people celebrating?"
Genkai pulls her left knee up to her and puts her hand on top of the other over it. "They're celebrating the coming of the new year. Another new year. The last one's now done away with, and people are again hoping that this new year will be better than the last."
"This day marks a new year?"
"Exactly."
"Huh, it's silly."
"Huh?"
"What's the difference between today and yesterday? And the day before yesterday, and tomorrow? I don't see what's to celebrate about that."
Genkai ponders that point for a moment, before replying, "Come to think of it, I don't either."
Hiei looks sideways at her, looking as if it wasn't the reaction he was expecting from her.
"It was only man who invented the concept of new year, anyway. The concept of year, month, day, and just this whole concept of time. But we don't know exactly what is time. Is it a measure of space between two points? How do we know how long a second is, if we do know what a second is? You're right, it is silly."
"Uh...I don't think I understood a thing you said."
A soft laugh escapes Genkai's mouth. "It's alright, I was merely blabbering."
She looks at Hiei with her mouth still half-parted, and Hiei looks back at her with a still-inquisitive face. And then, some few seconds elapse before the two realize that they're staring right at one another.
Shyly now, Hiei breaks away from their eye-lock and looks down at the grass, unable to move.
Genkai's eyes travel back to the fireworks, but they seem to be looking right past the explosions.
A big, pink firework explodes in the sky just then, quickly drawing the two to look back at the display.
"So pretty," Hiei whispers.
"Yes," agrees Genkai.
"But it's so brief. Why can't it stay up there just a little longer?"
"Hmm..."
"Hey, you're shivering."
"No, I'm fine."
Before Genkai can further protest, Hiei takes off his cloak and puts it gently around her frail body.
"Thank you," she tells him. She wraps herself more tightly with Hiei's cloak, now feeling warmer. "I'm really getting old now, even this slight cold air makes me shiver."
"Who's old, you're still strong."
"Not anymore as strong as before, or as I would've still wanted to be. Anyway, I have to accept it. Old age is a reality now, I can't forever be the strong and beautiful 20-year-old I once was, even if I wanted to."
"You know...maybe some people even want you more this way, than before."
"I don't know any soul who does."
Hiei absent-mindedly picks at his bandaged right arm, eyes focused at his feet. "Maybe I do."
Genkai momentarily stiffens upon hearing that.
"I like...the way you are now."
"What?" Without thinking, Genkai faces him. "Look at me, I'm a hag. I even have more lines on my face than a parched land does."
Hearing that, Hiei slowly straightens up and faces Genkai. His red eyes are searching her glum, heavily-wrinkled face. Another big firework blasts in the horizon, but he suddenly doesn't give a damn about it.
"These lines?" he asks Genkai, who's now shyly looking down.
She uneasily lifts her eyes up from the ground and sees Hiei staring at her with a serious but openly amiable face.
"I see the many tough and difficult times you've gone through, I see them all on these lines, but you've overcome them. These lines make me see how much you've experienced and conquered and thus made yourself strong all these years. These lines tell me the story of an admirable woman's great and fulfilled life."
A tiny bead of tear is starting to form at the corner of Genkai's eye.
"And I..." continues Hiei, "I hope, when more lines appear on this face, I hope...that...I may see myself on them too."
It takes Genkai a couple of seconds or so to fully comprehend what Hiei has just said to her. She can't seem to believe it's really Hiei who's right there sitting before her, saying those words she'd long wanted to hear from him. "Hiei, I don't think I understood a thing you said. Were you, just...blabbering too?"
"Honestly?"
Genkai holds her breath.
Hiei moves his face closer towards Genkai's and says, "I'm afraid not," before letting his soft lips touch the old woman's.
And then all fall quiet in the horizon before them.
END OF STORY