Chapter Text
“Oh Kurama, I hate to keep disappointing you like this. I'm not sure how much longer the doctors in Spirit World are going to keep humoring me.”
“Koenma himself said a true human, demon hybrid hasn't been born in over one hundred years. They must at least find her interesting on a professional level.”
“Hn, stop talking about your own daughter like she's some kind of science experiment.”
“You know that is not what I meant....”
“I'm sorry, I wish I could do more, but there's only so many times they can examine her before even the best experts in Spirit World have to admit they can find nothing unusual.”
“There is something more to her than we've been able to understand. The only other explanation is that she's lying, and that is an answer I refuse to believe.”
“Maybe she picked up one of your bad habits...”
“Thief and Liar aren't necessarily synonymous.”
“I've never found any difference.”
Not far away, though undetected, the conversation within the cabin was silently taken in by the girl sitting with her back to the wall, staring blankly into the forest beyond. Above her head, the large windowsill flower box kept her concealed from any eyes that may find themselves darting carelessly out the open window. Within her, a carefully nurtured power suppressed her strange mixture of reiki and youki and hid her from the trio inside, at least while they were distracted.
They were talking about her again, and the fruitless dialog being shared with the blue haired representative from the world of the dead was becoming a frequent occurrence. Hadn't she been there just last week? Maybe it had even been more recent. The intervals between visits were becoming unimportant. All that mattered to her was the shame she had begun to feel every time she saw a being clad in a pink kimono floating down from the sky towards her home.
The sting was made worse by the fact that no normal human would have seen a woman flying through the air, or even believed her if she had tried to explain. This truth reminded her, painfully, that there were many things she could see that others didn't... not even her own parents.
If anyone should have been able to observe the unusual visions that plagued her daily, it should have been her fathers. They were among the most skilled wielders of youki in three worlds, after all. But day after day, she would try to convey what she was seeing, and was met with worried faces.
Lately, she had given up any attempt at openness. She went to school, came home, and ate her dinner without speaking, unless spoken to. Of course, that strategy hadn't worked either.
Once she had sworn off communicating, the situation had only gotten worse. She was dragged to the land of spirits, the realm of the child prince, Koenma. There, the doctors of beyond had poked and prodded her, scanned her with all manner of instruments, and looked her over every which way before shrugging their shoulders and scratching their horns and telling her fathers that there was nothing wrong with her. Even Koenma, as he peered up at her from behind an enchanted pacifier, had said he had never seen a case like it. She wondered, then, if maybe she was just insane.
As raised voices echoed from the kitchen window, she considered this possibility, and continued staring into the forest. Even now, a visitor was there, the white woman, this time. The intruder stood stiffly between the trees, her face always shrouded by a chilling disruption in her vision. She knew this one would never speak to her, the only sound that came was an endless string of sobs, caught every now and then within her range of hearing, just above the lowest of whispers. The white woman was one of the first to come to her. In the beginning, she had been more naive than now. She had made the mistake of asking her father why the woman in the woods was always crying, but of course, he hadn't seen her.
He still wouldn't, even if she were inches from his face, and so the argument inside raged on.
She crawled away from beneath the flower box, and waited until she was far enough away from the house to be out of sight before standing up. She took a moment to comb long dark hair that was as black as obsidian over her shoulder, letting her fingers linger in her mane and give her scalp a defeated scratch before sighing and walking off into the woods. A few stomps took her past the white woman and into the forest. Looking behind her was unnecessary. They always followed....
~
Hours later, the crunch of leaves in the darkened wood told her that her father was near. From her hiding place among the overgrowth, she saw his piercing red eyes gleaming in the blackness, giving him away. Most children would have been frightened by the sight of a ruby eyed creature stalking through the silhouetted trees, creeping closer like some unreal animal. A sight like this was not unusual to her, though. Unlike her, most children were not the spawn of demons.
The sound of his slim feet grew louder, and soon he was looming above the bed of ferns where she had taken up a temporary residence.
“Hina, get up. Your father wants you to come eat.”
“I can just eat something in the woods,” she said. “I'll live outside and I won't cause trouble for you anymore.”
“Hn. That wouldn't bother me. But the person who makes us dinner would be offended.”
He crouched down beside her and sat among the foliage, just as comfortable as his child in the ebony night.
“I want to go live in your world so I don't have to keep pretending to be normal, but Kurama won't let me,” she said.
“Stop calling him that. You know it hurts him.”
“I don't like him anymore...” she mumbled, pulling her knees to her chest and hiding her face until only her eyes peeked out. “He thinks there's something wrong with me.”
“He's worried.” The softness of his voice told her he was worried too.
“I'm sick of seeing those dumb ogre doctors and your dumb baby boss! Why won't anybody believe me?” she yelled, sitting up and slapping at the ferns that surrounded them.
“Koenma is a fool. But as much as it repulses me to admit it, he has knowledge I don't. If he can be of use, you should accept his help.”
“Why are you on their side?” she said, sulking. She turned away, feeling unwelcome tears burning her eyes. Her father would never allow himself to cry so openly, but she could not contain the flow. She felt pathetic and weak beside him.
“I'm on whatever side can aid you, even if it means turning to the imbeciles in Spirit World.”
“Daddy...” she said, turned back towards him by a surge of helplessness. “Do you believe me?”
She reached up to roll the gem that hung around his neck between her thumb and forefinger. A stiff frown had overtaken her face, but it softened slightly when she felt his rough, warm hand upon her.
“I trust you. But I'm used to seeing all. It's hard to believe in a vision that's beyond even the Jagan.”
She looked up at the ward covering his forehead and the third eye implanted there. When she was younger, her father, Kurama, had passed off her encounters as youthful imagination. It hadn't taken long, though, for her descriptions to become more vivid, and troublingly, more disturbing.
'Ghosts don't linger on like this,' he had said. That was when her other father, Hiei, had opened his otherworldly oculus in search of a better explanation, but found nothing.
She shifted in the ferns, bringing her small, sharp teeth down against her lip. The white woman was still there, obscured behind a tree a few meters away. Though Hiei had given no indication of sensing anything, she yearned for an attempt, even if the nagging voice in the back of her brain told her it was pointless.
“Maybe, if you try really hard, you'll see something this time,” she said.
He stayed motionless for a few seconds before bringing his hands up to unwrap the ward around his head. She watched breathlessly as the haunting purple eye that never ceased to amaze her opened wide. Though she was young, the intensity of the demonic power was not lost on her. Waves of dark energy wormed through her body and stretched out into the forest, searching. Across the cool earth, the feelers of the Jagan crawled, analyzing the energy of all things living or otherwise in the maze of trees. But, through the figure softly sobbing they passed, making no hesitation before moving on.
He had seen nothing.
“The only energy besides ours that's worth noting is Kurama's,” he said, once the Jagan had closed.
She slumped down again and let out a loud sigh.
“I thought you said not to call him that,” she mumbled.
“You can't. I can call him whatever I want.”
Her face twisted up with frustration and she shot up, kicking at the nest of leaves.
“Well don't even say anything, Daddy!” she shouted, clamping down her jaw when the same sneaky wetness began welling up behind her eyelids.
With another swift kick, she stormed away from him.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I'm going home, and it's not because you said so, it's because I'm hungry!”
“Whatever you say,” he responded, and without saying anything more, they walked back to the house.
~
“Hina, please eat your dinner.”
“I don't like it...”
“Since when do you not like croquettes?” Kurama said with exasperation.
“Demons only eat raw food,” she growled, glowering at him from across the table.
Kurama's hand tensed and he turned on Hiei, “What did you say to her while you were outside?”
Hiei's red eyes widened above a mouth full of food. “What are you accusing me of!?” he spat, sending particles of his dinner onto the table's surface.
Kurama sighed and swiped a napkin across the mess his mate had created.
“Hina,” he faced his daughter once again. “Demons eat all kinds of food. Now, please finish your meal.”
Nine years had passed since Hina's mysterious conception. Afflicted with a curse that had become a blessing, Kurama awoke one night to find his body transformed into that of a woman. A basic act of biology that he and Hiei shared left Kurama pregnant. In this way, Hina came to be, and Kurama had inexplicably returned to his original human form. For a long time after her birth, Kurama pressured higher powers to help him find the origin of the curse. The only evidence left behind was a note that appeared to him shortly after Hina was born. It had been imbued with an unidentifiable energy, and written upon it were the simple words, “You're Welcome”. Though the search lingered on for years, no culprit was ever found.
Kurama and Hiei had settled into a domestic life in the Human World, raising their daughter, though Hiei often indicated he would have preferred something different. Kurama, though, had resigned himself to live as a man, and Hiei knew that even if the ancient fox one day changed his mind, he would never return to the world of demons while his human mother, Shiori, was still alive.
At the age of four, their unique daughter was enrolled in Kindergarten like any other child. By day, she attended school, did homework, played with her toys, and watched television in an amazingly average fashion. But, even Kurama could not deny the fact that his daughter was different. He and Hiei were surprised to sense in her, as an infant, the distinct presence of human spirit energy. Their assumption had been that their daughter, like Hiei, and the true soul Kurama carried within his false form, would be a demon. It was not until the first traces of human reiki were detected that they came to understand that since Kurama's human body had carried the girl, human blood had been passed on to her as well. She was a true half breed, the first of her kind born to either world in centuries.
And so, by night, Hiei would take her into the convenient shroud provided by the forest, and train her in the ways of their world. He had taught her both to harness and suppress her energy, and it did not take long before even he had difficulty finding her when she did not want to be found.
A side effect of this tutelage was that Hina had become infatuated with the demon world. Lately, as the visions she experienced increased in intensity and Kurama became more and more overprotective, she began rejecting her humanity. She longed to live in a place filled with other monsters, where she could be free to express her darker side. Her child's mind was still too immature and idealistic to understand that even there, she would be an outcast....
“I'm saving my appetite,” she grumbled, the food placed before her growing cold.
“For what?” Kurama said, his voice still tainted with disapproval.
“I need to be hungry so when I go back to school tomorrow, I can eat the kids I don't like.”
“Enough, Hina!” Kurama scolded, and shot up from the table. He scooped up her plate and pulled a plastic container from the cabinet nearby. “If you're not going to eat your food, then go to your room and think about the way you've been acting.” He dumped the cooled leftovers from her plate into the container and shoved it into the refrigerator. “I understand that you're unhappy with the way things have been recently, but behaving this way and running off into the forest are not the answers.”
“Daddy runs into the forest and you never tell him what to do!” she shouted, pushing her chair back roughly and rising from her seat.
“That's not the same,” Hiei muttered, offering his best attempt at parenting.
“Yes it is! Daddy and I are monsters and we should get to go into the forest whenever we want! We're not stupid human loving bad people like you!” With a quick thrust of her arms, she shoved her chair forward and it clattered into the table. “I hate you, Kurama!” she screamed, and ran out of the room.
Kurama listened as her tiny feet pounded up the stairs and waited for the sound of her bedroom door slamming closed. When he was sure she could no longer hear, he returned to the bench beneath the kitchen window and sat beside Hiei.
“You're sure you didn't say something to encourage this?”
“I told her not to call you Kurama....” he said with a shrug.
Kurama slumped forward and held his head in his hands. Rubbing his tired face, he sighed deeply.
“You need to be more firm with her. The more she idolizes you, the more she comes to despise me. I didn't think it would be so difficult to hear her say it.”
“Hn, have I ever meant it when I've said I hated you?” Hiei said, leaning back against the bench.
“Of course not,” Kurama said from behind his weary hands.
“Why don't you just let her stay out at night? There's nothing out there that can hurt her.”
“Our daughter is seeing things that aren't there. She believes if she runs off to the demon world, everything will be explained and I don't want to encourage that kind of thinking. Reinforcing the idea that she is a monster who can tromp around in the woods and devour other children will only make things worse.”
“You really don't believe her...”
Kurama sat up and looked directly at Hiei. His green eyes were dim, his expression haggard.
“There are no ghosts here, Hiei, no spirits. Our most powerful friends, skilled seers like Kuwabara, Shizuru, have all come here and seen nothing. Even Botan, the deliverer of the dead, has made time in her schedule to follow Hina and try to catch a glimpse of these apparitions she claims haunt her. As much as I hate to say it, if we cannot see them... they're not there.”
“Then you think she's making it all up.”
“I don't. That's why I've brought her to see the physicians in Spirit World. There must be some reason our daughter is seeing these specters, I just can't figure out what it is.” He turned toward the table, his mind exhausted.
“So until you do, you're going to punish her,” Hiei said.
“I'm only trying to protect her.”
Kurama shuddered suddenly, and realized Hiei had risen to a crouching position on the bench and opened the window behind them.
“Sometimes, the only way to learn is to get hurt. You of all people should know that,” Hiei stated, before springing out the window and vanishing into the night.
~
From the comfort of her bed, Hina sprang up into a sitting position. It was late at night, maybe closer to morning than evening, and a stinging pain in her stomach had pulled her from her dreams. She hunched over and clutched at her middle, trying to massage away the uncomfortable sensation. This rising feeling told her one of them was near, and she peered into her dim bedroom, waiting for a sign.
Darker than the darkness around it, a slim, black form appeared from the wall and crept across the room, casting itself across the objects behind it. A quiver ran up Hina's back as she followed its progress. Her head snapped to the left when she heard a creak from the door.
This was the one she called Shadow, and it was the only apparition with the ability to move objects around it. In the years since she had first observed it, she'd wondered why this one was more powerful than the others.
Two feet met the wooden floor. Hina left her bed behind and walked carefully onto the quiet landing outside her door. Standing between her and her parents bedroom was the shadow, looming motionlessly. With a soft thump, Kurama's nearby rocking chair began to move.
“What do you want, you're not supposed to be here,” she said.
Without warning, the front door flew open on the floor below. The pain that had woken her swelled up in her stomach again, and for some reason, she was compelled to begin descending the staircase. Her small hand clutched the railing as she overtook one step at a time, eyes searching through the space left by the opened door.
Her half-demon sense of sight should have been able to see the railing of the front porch beyond, but there was only blackness. She finally reached the cold surface of the ground floor, but still could not see outside. Her steps had become closer together, more apprehensive. She could not see out the window either, something was there. With increasing caution, she approached the front door, past the fireplace, the end table... Soon she was close enough to touch the doorknob if she had wanted to.
Instead, she reached out and felt the wall between the open door and the living room window. Centimeters from her, pressed up against the other side of the wall, was a thing. It was right around the corner, hidden only by the thin expanse of wood and nails, and it was pushing, trying to leach its way inside.
Hina took another step. She realized she had begun to feel warm. She stood directly in front of the doorway, but she could not bear to turn her head and look outside. The stabbing in her stomach surged again.
Very slowly, she raised her right arm, reaching towards the curtain of darkness that was preventing her from seeing anything beyond the house. Her hand extended, and just as her fingertips were about to graze the cloud of black, she winced sharply.
A loud crack was heard, and against the bare skin of her arm she felt a painful snap. Looking down, she spotted a red welt that had formed on her forearm. Instinctively, she clutched at the damaged flesh with her other hand and stumbled backwards, away from the door. She meant to look up and see what had struck her, but before she could react, she was startled by the earsplitting smash of the door slamming shut.
Within seconds, the sound of movement in Kurama and Hiei's bedroom above her could be heard.
“Hina, what are you doing down there!?” she heard Kurama call. Hiei had already materialized by her side.
“Daddy, open the door,” she whispered, and he did without hesitation upon observing the uncharacteristic emotion of fear in his daughter's voice. Hiei grabbed the doorknob and tugged roughly.
Hina cringed, preparing herself for the horror that must be waiting there. Instead, she saw the front steps, bathed in moonlight, and the path lined with Kurama's rosebushes beyond that.
“What?” Her mouth gaped, and she ran out onto the porch to find it empty.
Hiei followed, fists tensed and ready to defend them, but the yard was quiet.
“There was something here... on the front porch,” she said, looking up at him. “It was trying to get inside.”
Kurama was in the living room behind them now. “Hina, get back inside,” he said, grabbing at her and pulling her just inside the door way. “My God, what happened to your arm?” he said, lifting it up to inspect the red mark on her smooth flesh.
“Something out there burned me, it felt like a fire cracker popping on my skin,” she said.
“Hina, stop it!” he said. “There is nothing outside!”
“Kurama.” Hiei was still on the porch, turned around now and facing them. “The wall.”
The fox stiffened at his mate's words. Hiei's expression was blank, his red eyes focused on something Kurama could not see from inside the house. With a swift step, he exited, and rotated himself, fixating upon the sight which had captured Hiei's attention.
There on the log wall of their cabin was an anomaly that caused Kurama's lips to hang open... a crisp black shape, burned into the wood... still smoldering...
...And very real.