I want to thank BlackMoonWhiteSky before I actually start posting chapters. The idea of the title "Flowers Can Grow In Even the Stoniest of Hearts" totally grabbed my attention. I will admit, I even love it, so I totally wanted to post it up here. The only reason I'm not using it is because the length is a little awkward, but I want to thank you anyways, BlackMoonWhiteSky, because I really did like the title!
And now, for your favorite part of bold print: I do not own YYH.
Enjoy this short chapter (a teaser, I know) posted to take place a few months after the end of the Hiei/Sagaku story =]
I Reckon
Once upon a time, there was a perfect girl…she was smarter than almost all of her peers, just as pretty as most of them, lived in a beautiful house with loving parents…and just like all other girls in the district, had a keen interest in Shuichi Minamino.
Dayne was not quite that girl. She was very smart – she had the second highest scores in her private, all-girl school, when she had been in high school. Now, she was going to a university. She was even reasonably pretty, although she would never be a model. Her house was lovely, with pretty vines climbing up the trellises…but her loving parents? Really, it was just her loving dad. Her mom had died four years ago. Loving parents had then turned into loving-but-slightly-distant father. And, to be fair, she didn't even know who Shuichi Minamino was. The only reason she pretended to have a keen interest in him while in high school was because the other girls got all weird if she admitted she'd never even seen the man. When she actually met him, she found she did not really enjoy his company at all.
Regardless of her perfect (almost) life, Dayne was a hopeless daydreamer. Not that she had princess-prince fantasies, or anything so cliché, she just…dreamed. About everything. In class, sitting and waiting for her professor to finish his lecture on some mathematics formula she would learn later on her own, she dreamed about how the reunion would go that night.
"Well, look-ee here, boys!" Uncle Riley, who wasn't really her uncle, said as he ruffled her hair before giving her a giant hug. "Looks as though little Ippin is all grown up!"
"It's nice to see you again, pip." Jonathan, Riley's oldest son, would say as he shook her hand. He called her pip instead of Ippin because he liked the way it sounded.
"It's nice to see you all again, too." Dayne bowed her head, covering her smile. She loved her dad's best friend and his sons. They were all perfect, western gentlemen, with the oddest quirks.
The airport was crowded beyond belief, and Dayne stayed against the wall, eying everyone coolly lest someone dared bump into her. No one did, and when the plane from Georgia – an odd name for a place – landed, she hurried forward to meet the people disembarking. She was cut off by someone else, loud and burly with a mop of bright orange curls.
"Saga! Shrimp!" He shouted loudly, stepping on her foot. She tugged back, her lips twisting distastefully.
"You'll have to ignore him, I'm afraid. I'll apologize in his stead." Someone said in her ear. Dayne turned to face the person speaking to her, having just enough time to glimpse someone slightly taller than herself before she was knocked over.
"Pip!" Jonathan rumbled in his deep voice, giving her a wet kiss on her cheek.
"No fair, I wanted first kiss!" Benjamin pushed his older brother aside, and gave Dayne's other cheek a wet kiss as well.
"Boys, don't harass her! If we're going to be here for any amount of time you have to treat her with respect!" Uncle Riley laughed. They were speaking English, as they frequently did, although they all spoke Japanese fluently as well. "Whew, well look-ee how ye've turned out, dahlin'!" He whistled, speaking in the harsh southern accent. Dayne had lost her accent a long time ago, but on very rare occasions certain words would pop out. It happened more frequently with these fellows about.
"Welcome back to Japan, Uncle." Dayne bowed, her shoulder-length black hair swinging forward. "Please, let's go get your bags and I'll bring you to go see Dad." When she straightened, all three of them were grinning at her goofily.
"Aw, now dahlin' ye know we don't hold on all tha' pomp an' cer-e-mony." Uncle Riley ruffled her hair. "Come on, Ippin, let's get on home."
Dayne smiled politely, and beckoned them to follow her to the baggage claim. She missed the speculative looks she was getting from the four people who had been reunited only a few inches from them.
"How come you don't talk like that, Saga?" Kuwabara turned to his friend stupidly. She grinned at him, her many piercings glinting with the jewelry she wore like a blanket.
"Ah, now, don't ye be frettin'! I der say I spen' some good tim's in da back-woods, too!" She tried to mimic the southern accents, but failed horribly.
"It's good to see you again, really. I'm glad you're both back safe." Kurama hugged them both, startled when he realized something – the jacket she was bundled up in was hiding something from view. "Are you…pregnant?" He asked, surprised beyond belief.
"Hn." Hiei wrapped an arm around the girl protectively, and Kuwabara let out a loud whoop.
"Just wait until I tell Yukina and Little Pinky the good news! Pinky's got a playmate!"
"When is it due?" Kurama asked curiously, leading the group away as more people began to glare in their direction. The two of them had been away from home for at least six months, off in America again as Sagaku tried to do some recon work on Ned and Sam's research. They had actually made a bit of headway.
"Theoretically in two months. Maybe a little longer, since I'm not as well proportioned as most Hanshoku." Sagaku shrugged, and then began firing questions about everything that had happened in their absence. They quickly forgot about the group that had spoken in such weird accents, except for Kurama. He was kind of curious about the girl's icy demeanor. She had looked at him with those electric blue eyes like she meant for him to freeze over, all because Kuwabara had bowled her over, albeit quite rudely.