White Noise : Tuning (Hiei)

Yusuke looked around the room wildly, under the bed, in the closet but saw no sign of her. He knew that if he lost her again he would definitely get in some sort of trouble with Koenma.

“Do you think that one of those bounty hunters from what that girl was talking about got her?” Yusuke asked, looking over at Hiei who was just standing stationary in the middle of the room, knowing all too well that looking for her wouldn't help since he had a sinking suspicion he knew where she was or was going.

“No, I don't.” Hiei said, emotionlessly, feeling a bit numb. Even though he had told her that she should go home, he had at least wanted to see her one last time before she left, after all it was final. And that also meant that all that work he'd done to find that succubus that had her bell was for absolutely nothing. She could have stayed. This had come without any warning at all and he wasn't sure he was truly prepared for it. He had wanted to say goodbye.

“Then where could she be?!” Yusuke said, looking under one of the pillows on the bed (he was running out of ideas of where to look).

“Probably gone home.” Hiei said with a shrug of his shoulders, emotionally separating himself from the whole situation.

“Gone home? Like home home?” Yusuke asked, pausing in his search to look over at Hiei.

“If you mean back to the Makai by that idiotic statement, then yes.” Hiei said, rolling his eyes.

“Well...I guess that means my job of watching over her is done since Koenma was just going to send her back to the Makai anyway.” Yusuke said, not really sure what to think about the whole situation. To be totally honest, he had actually kinda' gotten used to having the girl around. His mother had even taken to the girl though admittedly their grocery bills would be much lower now that she was gone.

Hiei just shrugged, not really having any thing to say to that. He wanted to go get her, bring her back, but Yusuke was right, they were just going to end up sending her back to the Makai. Hiei knew it was silly of him to assume that she would be staying with him all during his stay in the Ningenkai. It would seem off if he tried to convince Yusuke that they should go bring her back.

The two lapsed into a momentary silence, both lost in their own thoughts until one voice cut through the quiet.

“Ah! You're back!” An excited voice shouted from the doorway right before Hiei felt something very solid and very wet collide with his back, sending him stumbling forward as arms wrapped around him from behind.

“A-Aria!” Hiei gasped as he regained his balance, his eyes wide. He was over come by a confusion and another emotion he couldn't really place his finger on. But one thing was sure he felt relieved because now his giving up the Sword of Oblivion wasn't for nothing.

“Well it looks like we found her! She didn't leave after all.” Yusuke laughed, glad that she wasn't gone.

Hiei struggled to get a handle on his emotions and when that didn't work he just settled on using the one he was most familiar with. Anger (with apathy coming in a close second). He whipped his head around to glare at her. “What the hell do you think you're doing!?....And why are you not wearing clothes!?” Hiei seethed once he noticed that she was only in a towel, only causing Yusuke to laugh harder.

“I was bathing.” Aria stated innocently, looking up at him with a wide grin.

“You were bathing?” Hiei repeated, already berating himself for jumping to conclusions like he'd done and of course for not checking other rooms in the house.

“Uh-huh!” Aria said, grinning. “I'm nice and clean now.” She said, causing Yusuke to laugh harder than he already was.

“Where are your clothes!?” Hiei asked, untangling himself from Aria and trying not to look and cover the fact that his face was bright red (unlike Yusuke who just laughed, not bothering to look away).

“Yeah, I brought them in the bathroom with me so I would have clothes to change into once I was clean, but then I heard you guys in this room so I came to check.” Aria said, still laughing. “This is the second time that you've assumed I was gone when I wasn't Hiei!”

“Second time?” Yusuke asked, not understanding.

“Yeah. He did the same thing five years ago when he assumed I was dead. It was really funny.” Aria said smiling.

“Huh?” Yusuke said, now thoroughly confused. “You two knew each other before?”

“Uh-huh!” Aria chirped. “I've known him since I was like um...”

“Five.” Hiei grumbled and rolled his eyes, knowing that this wouldn't be the last he was going to hear of this from Yusuke.

“Yeah five!” Aria said, grinning. “Until he stopped visiting me.”

Well that certainly explained a lot of things to Yusuke. He may not have been the brightest bulb in the bunch (or even in the running for brightest) but he had noticed that Hiei did treat Aria a bit differently than some of the others. That also explained why she was still alive even though she had kidnapped Yukina. Yusuke smirked over at Hiei. “Is that so? And you never said a word Hiei. You dog you.” Yusuke said, snickering.

“Shut up.” Hiei growled, sitting down on Aria's bed with his arms crossed, brooding (in what could only be described as a “badass bitch fit pose”).

“But seriously, why didn't you two tell me?” Yusuke asked.

“It was none of your business.” Hiei growled, not even bothering to look over at him.

“You never asked.” Aria laughed.

“Whatever.” Yusuke laughed. “Fair enough.”

“I'm hungry, is there food?” Aria asked, looking over at Yusuke.

“Yeah, downstairs.” Yusuke said, still trying to stop from laughing.

“Yay!” Aria cheered, skipping towards the door only to have Hiei grab her by the arm and pull her back.

“Would you get some clothes on first?!” Hiei exclaimed.

“Awwww.” Both Yusuke and Aria said simultaneously.

“Do I have to?” Aria whined. “I'm hungry.”

“Yeah, Hiei. Does she have to?” Yusuke said with a wide smirk.

“Yes! She has to!” Hiei snapped.

“Fine.” Aria grumbled, shuffling off towards the bathroom to get her clothes while Yusuke and Hiei were left behind.

“So you really knew her when you were younger?” Yusuke asked.

“If you must know, yes.” Hiei grumbled.

“Well it is a small three worlds after all.” Yusuke laughed, “Were you two friends or something?” Yusuke asked, truly curious. Yusuke had never actually given thought to Hiei's past outside of Yukina really. He had just assumed that Hiei had been...well as bad as it sounded, alone for his whole life other than the bandits. He just didn't seem like a people person.

Hiei turned his head to glare at Yusuke, signifying that if he wanted to keep his tongue he would leave him alone and that it was none of his business.

Yusuke just laughed. “Well I better go hide some of the things that I don't want her eating.” He said with a chuckle, heading downstairs to hide all the snack foods.

Hiei huffed and looked up at the ceiling. He was just so conflicted at that moment. He had promised himself to keep her emotionally away, but at the same time he couldn't help not being somewhat relieved that she was still there. 'I will not let her get too close, I will not let her get too close, I will not let her get too close.' Hiei repeated in his head like a mantra, hardening his resolve.

“I'm so happy you're back!” Aria exclaimed, shocking Hiei out of his thoughts as she re-entered the room wearing some clothes that Keiko had bought her. “I thought you never wanted to see me again because you said you wanted me to go home!” She said, obviously distressed.

It was at that moment that Hiei's resolve broke and he totally forgot his mantra. 'She thought that?!' With an internal growl at himself, knowing he was going to regret what he was about to do later (which seemed to happen with strange frequency since Aria had come back into his life). He got to his feet and in three long strides reached Aria to wrap his arms around her tightly. For a few seconds he let himself forget that rational, cynical part of his mind that was screaming against what he was doing. 'That's not even close to the truth.' He thought to himself.

“Huh?” Aria asked, still a little taken back by the sudden hug. Why was he thanking her? Isn't that what that 'hug thing' meant? Oh well, she wasn't really complaining since from such a close distance she could distinctly hear his heart beat.

“No. I said you should leave. What I want to happen and what should happen are two different things.” Hiei grumbled, then finally came to his senses and let Aria go to turn away so he was looking off at nothing, refusing to meet Aria's gaze as he blushed a color that almost matched his eyes. 'Stupid, idiot, dumbass, moron! What the hell was that!? You promised to keep her away! That wasn't even close to away! Have you lost your mind!?' His mind screamed at him, but he ignored it and moved on the next thing. Hiei cleared his throat. “But that's all beside the point” Hiei growled, making an obvious topic change. “I think I found your other bell.”

Aria gasped with a wide smile. “That's great!” She cried, “Thank you so much. Now I won't have to go home.” She said, grinning from ear to ear, grabbing Hiei in a hug.

Hiei cried out in shock as he tried to get himself out of Aria's grasp. 'So much for staying away.' The cynical side of Hiei's mind grumbled at him. “Cut it out!” Hiei told her but she just laughed and clutched him tighter before letting go, still smiling.

“Thank you!” She said, sincerity dripping from her voice.

“Whatever.” Hiei said with a uncaring shrug. “But after you're done we leave to get your bell.”

Aria just grinned, then sniffed the air and if possible her eyes got wider. “Yusuke's cooking something!” She said happily, turning towards. “Are you coming?” She asked Hiei, smiling at him as she waited.

“I'll pass.” Hiei grumbled and once she left he walked back to her bed and gracelessly sat back down, mentally beating himself up for not sticking with the plan he'd created just earlier that night.

'I guess I'll just start pushing her away....tomorrow.' Hiei thought with an internal sigh more at himself than anything else, knowing that he had blatantly failed at it that day. How did she keep breaking him down and getting her way? That was the hundred dollar question on his mind. It was also a question that he wasn't sure he was even ready to know the answer to.

“Maybe it would have been easier if she had gone home.” Hiei muttered to himself, burying his face in one of his hands.