Chapter Text
It had been almost a month now. Twenty-six days, seven hours, and thirty-eight minutes. She didn"t know the seconds; her phone didn"t have the seconds on it like that. But she knew the exact minute her heart stopped; February 1st, at 12:10 am. She doesn"t think she"ll ever forget that image. The image of the last thing she saw before her chest finally stopped rattling in an attempt to pull air into her lungs.
It was close to eight am, and the hole in her chest was gaping open with fear, and doubt. She had only been awake for twenty of those days, if she was honest, but these past twenty days have been pure hell for her head.
There"s so much that Yusuke, Kuwabara, and the red haired fox demon -Kurama, has told her, it was a little overwhelming. She didn"t understand how demons could have been kept quiet like they were, but it made sense why her father would disappear for days, or even months at a time.
Her father worked under a demon named Raizen. He gathered Intel for the centuries old demon. He"d skip between the realms, according to the weird, overly interested toddler named Koenma, collecting information on how the humans lived, plants, foods, arts. Her father helped a demon named Hokushin build Raizen"s enormous library. Apparently, her father meant something.
Akane had only spent two, to three months with him at a time. She used to get really excited when her mom would come into her room and say, "pack up! Your daddy"s on the way!" He always made sure to take her where ever she wanted, and give her everything she asked for. But she began questioning why he was gone all the time, and her mother began lying to her. The last time she saw her father was about 10 months before her mother burst into her room, tears streaking her face, heaving giant and gasping about how her father was gone. Akane had felt a burning in her bones, but she hadn"t really known him enough to feel much else. Her mother mourned enough for the both of them.
Akane was a kitsune. Her father was apparently a really strong ice kitsune. It suddenly hit her that she had found out more about her father in the last few days, from complete strangers, than she had her whole life from her mother. It made her chest twinge in discomfort. Why wouldn"t her mother tell her about Hiroshi? She had a right to know!
"If you dwell amongst the past, you"ll get stuck there."
Akane blanched in her bed, she hadn"t even heard the small figure open her door. She relaxed after recognizing Genkai"s pink curls.
"Master Genkai," Akane paused, looked at her hands, then sighed. "All I have is my past, now." She let a soft noise pass her lips as she sniffed. "All I have are memories with him."
"Now you have his bloodline, and his legacy." The short, surely woman said. "Make something worth remembering." She then turned to walk out the door, but paused. "Hiei is finally back in this realm. Prepare yourself well, he holds no punches when he trains."
Akane sniffed and looked up at Genkai, then nodded. She was expecting the worst already with the way Yusuke and Kuwabara spoke of him. Kurama didn"t quite quell her fears, either. She watched Genkai give her a small nod before walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.
She sat in her bed for another two hours before she heard the others up and moving around. Akane sucked in a breath, pushed down her anxiety for today"s training, and began getting ready to join the gang.
·•°•·
Akane was expecting a lot from this fire demon everyone spoke of, but she was not expecting what she met.
The demon stood two inches taller than she did, with piercing crimson red eyes, and black spikey hair. A black dragon wound up his right arm, the tail disappearing under the sleeve of his black t-shirt.
"Yo Hiei! Are you actually wearing human clothes?" Yusuke yelled out, walking past a frozen Akane.
"My clothes are being cleaned from the last demon I killed. Speak no more about this." The short demon sent a glare towards yusuke before sliding his eyes over the female fox on the steps of the temple. "Is this the she-fox I"m being forced to train?"
That snapped Akane out of her mild stupor. "Oh, well, if its such a bother, then don"t worry about it." The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could think to stop them. "I wouldn"t want to be a burden to you, so I"ll just continue training with Kurama and Yukina." She felt a little thrill at the shocked looks of both Yusuke and the fire demon.
"Hell yeah! I didn"t know you had some fire to ya!" Yusuke grinned, looking her over as if she were a completely different person that he"d never seen before.
"Hn. Watch your tongue, onna." That lit a fire under Akane"s ass.
"Who in the fuck are you calling "onna", you half pint matchstick?!" The ice fox blurted out, anger thick in her voice.
"Who are you calling a matchstick, you ice bitch?" The fire demon retorted. Akane could feel her claws and teeth lengthening as he crossed his arms, and sneered. "Look at you. You"re so weak you can"t even control your shift."
Akane was on him in a flash. She had her claws twisted in the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer to her. "Look here, you over egotistical porcupine, I don"t need to control my shift to get an upper hand. I already know your moves, thanks to Yusuke." With Hiei still frozen in shock at her speed, she took an opportunity and pulled her fist back. The choked off noise he made as her fist collided with his stomach gave her a petty happiness that she knew she would feel bad for later.
Suddenly, Yusuke was between them, pushing them apart as Hiei"s hand went to the hilt of his sword. A growl slipped from his lips as a dark purple aura began swirling around him.
"I was murdered once already, I"m not fucking scared of you." Akane growled back at him, allowing Yusuke to position his body between theirs.
"I"ll make sure you don"t come back." Hiei seethed.
"Kurama! I need a little help here!" Yusuke yelled over the two.
A few seconds later, Akane was being lifted and moved out of Hiei"s line of fire, and the red headed fox was in front of her. "Why don"t you come with me, Akane? I was beginning to prepare lunch, and I"ll need an extra pair of hands." Kurama said sweetly. Akane"s anger deflated like a balloon at his calming voice, and she huffed.
"Fine." She looked over his shoulder to glare at Hiei one last time, before turning around to walk into the temple, stomping and grumbling about short fire demons the whole way.
·•°•·
"You don"t have to like her! Koenma wants her trained because she could be a valuable asset to the team." Yusuke yelled at the fire demon. He couldn"t believe that within minutes of meeting her, Hiei switched from his -now- mellowed out personality and reverted back to being the big ol" demon dickhead that he used to be. "And you didn"t have to call her an onna!"
"She didn"t have to have an attitude." Hiei growled at the spirit detective.
"You didn"t have to act like she"s a fucking burden." Yusuke retorted. "Being forced to train? Really, Hiei? Fucking really?"
"Whatever. I"m not training her until she learns to control her shift!" Hiei yelled before storming off into the woods.
"Stupid ass stubborn shithead." Yusuke thought to himself as he turned towards the temple and stalked inside.
He could already tell this was going to be hell.