White Noise : Tuning (Hiei)

Hiei felt Aria's pulse and it was pounding erratically but slowly getting better. He gave a internal sigh of relief that adding an extra bell had worked. He hadn't really been sure that it would. He also wasn't really sure why he hadn't given it back before. He'd known it was her's....he guessed it probably had something to do with the fact he was still holding a grudge over that fact that she had left without telling him and also because he had grown somewhat attached to the thing as the years rolled by.

“You can stop now.” He said to Yukina who was starting to look out of breath.

“Are you sure?” Yukina asked, not wanting to stop trying to heal Aria if she wasn't ready.

Hiei just nodded.

Yukina still looked skeptical but she withdrew her hands, looking slightly tired. She had used a lot of her energy trying to heal Aria.

Hiei sighed as he heard Kuwabara crashing through the woods, sounding about as graceful as an elephant.

“Yukina!” Kuwabara yelled as he emerged to find Yukina.

Yukina smiled warmly. “Hello Kuwabara.”

Kuwabara rushed forward to grip Yukina's hands in his. “The power of love guided me here!”

“Or just dumb luck.” Hiei grumbled, picking up Aria in his arms, ignoring the fact that her hair was matted with her blood and well....he didn't really want to think about the other stuff from when she'd collapsed directly into her own well.....you don't want to know if you haven't already figured it out.

Kuwabara shot Hiei a look but then his attention was back on Yukina. “Those demons didn't hurt you did they Yukina?” He asked with concern evident.

Yukina laughed slightly, getting to her feet. “No. I'm fine.”

Yusuke came through the forest, followed by Kurama. “You found her!” Yusuke said, running forward then noticed Kawari unconscious on the ground and Aria in Hiei's arms. He shot Hiei a questioning look but Hiei just ignored him so Yusuke decided to ask later. If Hiei had a good enough reason not to kill the people that had kidnapped his sister that was a good enough reason for him.

Kuwabara on the other hand didn't exactly have the same mentality as Yusuke. “Why the Hell are you carrying that girl!?” Kuwabara yelled at Hiei.

“I don't feel the need to explain everything I do to you.” Hiei hissed at Kuwabara.

“Stupid midget.” Kuwabara grumbled.

Hiei then turned towards Yusuke. “Just take care of the mirror demon.” Hiei ordered before taking off towards Kurama's house. He trusted the Spirit Detective to take care of his sister, if nothing else.

“But what about his brother?” Yukina asked Yusuke, concern clear in her eyes.

“His brother?” Yusuke asked, confused.

Yukina explained the situation to him.

“I'll tell Koenma and he'll work something out to take care of it.” Yusuke said, smiling at Yukina. “But what I don't get is why Hiei actually seemed to be helping Aria when she did what she did."

“He probably has his reasons.” Kurama reasoned, walking over to Kawari and checking his pulse and then, once he'd deemed the mirror demon to still be alive, he tossed him over his shoulder so he could be taken to Koenma.

“Yes. Aria helped me. She didn't really do anything bad.” Yukina said, feeling the need to stick up for the sound demon.

Yusuke nodded knowingly. That certainly explained a lot.

*****

Meanwhile, Aria was busy living out one her childhood memories in her sleep. It was one that had occurred when she was eight that she had almost forgotten about until then.

She was sitting next to her father with Mr. Hoppity in her lap, eating an apple and listening to the conversations going on in the village then one caught her attention. One of the tribe members was proposing to one of the women members of the tribe.

She didn't understand what they were doing. What did 'get married' mean?

She looked up at her father who was sitting back in his most comfortable chair, just enjoying the rather quiet day and also listening to the same conversation that Aria was listening to, mentally applauding the young couple (if you haven't guessed yet, there's not much privacy in a sound demon tribe).

“Daddy?” Aria said.

“Mm?” Her father asked, opening one of his eyes to look down at his beloved daughter.

“What does 'get married' mean?” She asked.

Her father chuckled and scooped Aria up in his arms to sit her down on his knee. “Well, when someone likes someone else very much and wants to always be with that one they give that one a ring and they have a party to celebrate how much you like them.” Her father explained, not bothering to use the words 'love' or 'wedding', knowing it would just confuse his daughter.

Aria's eyes lit up. She liked the sound of that! A party to celebrate how much you liked someone!? That sounded like fun! And not only that, but she could hear someone that she liked very much coming towards the open field just outside her territory.

She slipped off her father's lap and onto the ground. “I have to go now daddy. I'm gonna' get married!” She exclaimed with a wide smile.

Her father threw his head back with a laugh. He wasn't going to correct Aria. “Alright sweety.” He said with a grin. “I have to get back to work anyway.”

“Bye daddy!” Aria said as she put down her apple and raced off to get some food and also find a flower that she could make into a ring.

Aria's father just chuckled and grinned as his daughter ran off before he got to his feet to depart himself. He was supposed to have been at the council meeting thirty minutes ago but well....he hated those things. They were boring. He figured he better get there before the council leaders had aneurysms.

Aria ran into the cooking hall and tugged on the skirt of one of the women of the tribe who was busy cooking. “I need fancy food!” Aria exclaimed.

Ensoukai, who was one of the less powerful sound demons of the tribe, looked down at Aria with a look of confusion. The chimes that hung from her ears jingled slightly as she looked down. She recognized Aria as being one of the younger members of the tribe that she watched over. “Fancy food?” She repeated. This wasn't the first time that Aria had come to her asking for food. It happened every now and again. But she didn't understand why Aria would be requesting 'fancy' food of all things.

“Yes. I'm getting married and I need fancy food for my party.” Aria explained.

“You're getting married?” Ensoukai exclaimed, hiding a laugh.

“Yes. To my friend!” Aria said grinning.

Ensoukai chuckled and went to the cupboard to retrieve some sweet food for Aria then wrapped them up in a small piece of cloth before handing it to the girl. “Have fun.” She said smiling.

Aria grinned back and then left before any of the other cooks who were less kind and understanding could come and take the food back saying it was a waste.

Aria raced through the woods to meet Hiei when he got to the field. Her arms were full of different kinds of food and Mr. Hoppity with a flower-ring sitting on top of the pile.

“Ishkabibbles!” She exclaimed with obvious happiness as she emerged from the woods to find Hiei waiting expectantly in the field.

“For the last time, my name is Hiei!” Hiei seethed, turning around to see Aria running towards him.

Aria just giggled and dropped the sack of food on the ground. “You can't eat this yet!” Aria said, pointing at the bag and picking up her ring.

“Why not!?” Hiei asked indignantly.

“You have to take this first!” She said, holding out the ring.

Hiei looked at the ring and then back at Aria with a skeptical look. “...Why?” He asked.

“Because my daddy said I need to give you a ring so we can be friends forever!” Aria explained as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

Hiei just rolled his eyes and determined that girls must just not be as smart as boys. “First of all, that's dumb. Second of all, we're not friends!” He said, glaring at the ring.

Aria's pouted and frowned at Hiei. “We are too friends because I said we are and I know I'm not lying.” Aria said.

“No we're not. I don't need any friends!” Hiei growled.

Aria's eyes started to water and her lower lip started to quiver. “N-nu-uh!” She said sniffling.

Hiei noticed the on coming water works and his eyes widened. He had no idea what to do about a crying girl. “Would you cut that out!” He snapped.

“B-but y-you wo-won't take my r-ring!” Aria sniffled, “S-so we c-cant get m-married so we won't b-be fri-friends for-forever!” Aria said as the tears started to roll down her cheeks.

Hiei brooded for a few seconds before snatching the home-made ring out of her hands. “Fine! If it'll shut you up, I'll take the dumb ring!” Hiei growled, angrily slipping the ring onto his finger and sulking. “Now what?”

“Now we're married!” Aria exclaimed, her tears evaporating almost instantly and she threw her hands in the air happily.

“Yaayy.” Hiei said sarcastically.

“And celebrate!” Aria said, untying the bag of food Ensoukai had given her.

Hiei's eyes widened slightly at the sight. There were foods he'd never eaten before. Cookies, slightly smushed cupcakes, honey buns...and some other things that Hiei couldn't even identify but still looked good. Hiei's inner sweet tooth squealed in joy, not that you could tell by his facial expression.

Aria passed Hiei a cupcake with a wide grin on her face and then placed one in front of Mr. Hoppity before picking a cookie for herself.

The two ate in comfortable silence except for the jingling of Aria's bells every time she moved.

'Hm...' Hiei thought to himself while eating his third cupcake, 'If I get cupcakes, maybe this marriage business isn't so bad....maybe I should even get married more often.'

Hiei then noticed that there was only one cupcake left....the cupcake in Mr. Hoppity's grasp. Slowly, Hiei started to reach for the cupcake only to have his hand slapped away by Aria who glared at him.

“That's Mr. Hoppity's!” Aria exclaimed, gaurding the cupcake from Hiei's grasp so Mr. Hoppity could 'eat' in peace.

Hiei just rolled his eyes with a grumble. “What ever.”

“Now we're friends forever!” Aria exclaimed, launching forward to grab Hiei in a tight hug.

Hiei just huffed but didn't pull away.

In the waking world, Aria grinned in her sleep at the pleasant dream. Hiei looked down at her and rolled his eyes. She was still really sick and yet she was grinning? What a strange girl.

Alright, the people have spoken and they wanted the marriage proposal memory. Yay! This is one of my favorites because I actually did that with one of my friends....except my friend was girl. We still laugh about that now that we're older. But OMG! 17 people rated!? SEVENTEEN! You have no idea how happy that made me. But the next chapter is so sweet. Rate and message guys so you can get your next surprise. I'm re-newing the poll so the people can decide what they want.

Here's a picture of Aria's daddy (I'll give images of the rest of the family as the show up in the story):

Go here to vote on what the next reward should be:

http://www.quizilla.com/polls/7486301/what-do-you-want-next-as-a-reward-for-rating-white-noise