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Cover drawn by jackieskullz on Tumblr

Onions

X -x-x-x-x- X

"I hope I can make it in time..." She sighed as she chopped the carrots. She had volunteered to make the salad for the barbecue. All by herself. In fact, she insisted to make it all by herself. What was she thinking? She definitely needed help, but the others were out shopping. "Oh, dear..."

A dark figure strolled up to the steps. He couldn't sense anyone else's energy but hers.

"Hn. Good." This was the best time to visit her. He opened the Shoji doors and walked in. It was so quiet, much different from the noise it always had when the others were here. It was perfect; Just him and his sister. He caught her mint scent in the kitchen and walked in to see her chopping vegetables.

"Hum? Oh, Mr. Hiei! Hello!"

"Hello." His tone was quiet.

She dropped her knife and smiled. She seemed so happy to have company. "What brings you here?" He stiffened. Damn this! "Yusuke and the others are out right now." She sighed and wiped sweat off her forehead.

"Are you alright?" He asked coming towards the counter.

"Yes. I just..." She flinched. "I need some help..." She blushed and looked away.

"With what?"

"Chopping the vegetables. Could you...help me?" She looked back and smiled a little.

"Which ones?" His tone was aloof and bored. Little did she know how much he wanted to help.

"Um, well...How about the onions? Could you chop the onions for me?" She pointed to some round things and he raised an eyebrow.

"Fine. That doesn't seem too hard." The words came out before he realized he had just insulted her.

She paid it no mind and smiled as he looked away. "Thank you very much. I need to take a break." She walked past him and he watched out of the corner of his eye.

"Onions." He walked up to them and inspected them closely. He picked one up and sniffed it.

Immediately he regretted doing so. "Ugh! Humans eat this? Disgusting." He picked up the knife and held down the onion. He raised it up to chop and...

"Don't forget to peel them!"

He sighed. "Peel them?" He picked it up and rubbed it around in his hand. Something flaked off of it and fell on the floor. He picked at the skin and slowly peeled it off.

When he was done he sat it back down and held the knife once more. He had chopped vegetables before so he figured this would be the same. He settled the knife on its flesh and brought the blade down through it. Simple enough.

He had it in half now and took one of the halves and began to cut it. After about five more chops he began to realize something was wrong.

His eyes and nose were...burning. Or at least it felt like burning. "What the hell?" It was the smell, he thought, that was doing this. Only because it was stronger. Much stronger.

The inside of his nose felt wet and he sniffed back. That just made his eyes burn more as the stench was brought up into his sinus cavity.

"Dammit." He figured he should just stop. It wasn't worth it. They could go without the retched onions.

"Are you done, Mr. Hiei? Do you need my help? I'm okay now. I can come back in."

Agh! If Yukina came in here she would choke for sure. "N-no. I'm...fine. Don't come in." He grimaced at the crack in his voice.

"Okay..." She seemed hurt but he didn't let that sway him. He wasn't going to have his sister endure this...whatever this was.

He took in a deep breath. Just do it quickly and get it over with. He grasped the onion and began chopping as fast as he could. Soon the thing was in tiny cubes. He took the other half and did the same. He kept chopping and chopping until it was done. Finally he was done. Then he looked over.

There were three more of the pukes! "Oh..." He peeled the next one and did the same. Cutting it in half, his eyes burned more. Why does the first chop hurt more?

He sniffed again, not liking this feeling of a "runny nose" as the humans called it.

He kept going and it hurt more than the first one as the fumes surrounded him. His vision became blurry. Why was that happening? Were these things hurting his eyes? That wouldn't be good for his Jagan. He stopped to try to figure it out when he swore he felt liquid spill down his cheeks.

His whole face paled. He was crying? A vegetable made the great Hiei Jaganshi cry?

He cursed a myriad of things in his head as he wiped the liquid away. What he didn't realize is the juice from these things hurts more in your eyes than the smell.

He wanted to shout, but did not as not to worry Yukina, and ran to the sink. He washed out his eyes with water for a few minutes and panted.

"Now I have yet another reason to hate humans." He scowled. He looked down at the floor and saw black gems littered all over. He had never cried before and knew it was a possibility that he would shed Hiruseki stones but this was the only time he had proof. "Great." He picked them all up and put them in his pocket. If she saw those he would be in big trouble.

He shook his head. The onions were as chopped as they were gonna be. He. Was. Done.

Yukina walked in and gasped. Hiei was at the sink with red eyes and a wet face. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I should have told you! Onions are wicked things to chop!"

He sniffed. "Yes, they are."

She smiled. "Go get some fresh air. I can do it now."

He said nothing as he disappeared out the kitchen door.

She giggled and went to his chopped onions. He had done a good job but hadn't finished. "Oh, well. Guess I'll do it." She stepped forward and heard a crunch. She looked down and saw the skin of an onion.

She bent down to pick it up and saw something glitter. She bent down further and saw what looked like a black marble against the baseboard. She blinked and picked it up.

Upon closer inspection she saw that it was exactly like a Hiruseki stone. She rolled it around in her fingers and realized it was one. It had all the properties, it was just black instead of light blue.

She froze with it. It definitely wasn't one of her own. Who could this have come from? She gasped. It couldn't be.

He was the only one in here. He had red eyes which meant the onions made them water. Crying. Nobody else could be...

"Oh, my God..." She felt a surge of joy and happiness. After all this time she had found him.

And then it dawned on her. He had lied to her. All this time he had hidden it from her. Well, that would just not do.

"Oh, Hiei?" She sang out to him.

He reappeared at the doorway with clearer eyes. "Hn?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, but could you chop the rest of the onions?" Her tone was sweet and had no hint of malice.

He flinched and looked at the horrible vegetables. "You want me to chop the rest?"

"Please? I have to get the carrots." She smiled so innocently and his heart momentarily melted. He couldn't refuse her.

"Alright." He walked up to the counter and looked at the offending root.

Yukina was on the other side with her back turned to him. He sighed. He could do this without cry-no, watering. He took in a breath and began chopping once more. It was the same as before but he held his control.

"Oh, and be sure to chop the others too."

"Others?" He looked over and not three, but five more sat there. "Why do you need this much?"

"Genkai likes them." She was telling the truth although Genkai didn't like that much.

Figures, he thought. He kept chopping while Yukina chopped carrots.

A few more minutes and his nose ran. He inwardly cursed and kept going as fast as possible.

Faster and faster, just keep going, hold the control, keep it in, hold it back, faster...

He felt something hot run down his cheek. He tried to catch it but was too late. It fell with a slight clink and his heart froze. He looked back and Yukina appeared to not have noticed. He put the knife down and turned around to pick it up.

"Done already?" She asked with her back still to him.

"Yes."

"Alright. I guess you'll be leaving now."

"That would be best."

"Okay, just be sure not to step on that gem or you might slip."

His whole face went pale as a sheet. She turned around with a blank look on her face. She looked down and two inches from his feet was another gem. She walked up to him and picked it up off the floor. She reached in her pocket and pulled out the other one.

Hiei was stiff as a board as his eyes widened and he berated himself. 'IDIOT!'

She just stood there, holding the two gems in her hand. Her eyes quivered and her lips trembled. Damn it all. He knew it; She hates him. She hates the fact that he's her brother.

She dropped the gems and jumped at him. Her arms encircled his neck and she held him tight.

"Oh, brother...I'm so happy I found you..."

She was happy? Happy that he was her brother? His arms slowly wrapped around her waist and that burning feeling came back to his eyes.

Must be those damn onions again.

Yeah, the onions.

~End