Fire and Ice (YYH)

Chapter Nine

~Kimi's POV~

Koenma agreed to let me return to the human world and restore Nana's memories under the condition that I wore a special amulet, though it looked much more like a collar, that would suppress all of my demon aura. Only a human could place it on or take it off, Dee volunteered for the job. I didn't like the collar, though it was fashioned to look like a pretty choker necklace on a silver ribbon with a dangling teardrop gemstone that was a blended mix of orange and icy blue, it made me feel weak and sluggish and the first time Dee put it on me, it was painful and knocked me unconscious. Only after I'd lost consciousness did the spirit ruler think to tell everyone it was designed by vile humans who try to keep demons as pets and it would shock me if I tried to tamper with it or if I tried to utilize my demon aura.

Due to the collar, suppressing my aura, Koenma was certain Kai wouldn't be able to find me, and said the only reason he'd located me before was because the original seal on my demon aura was starting to break and my aura was leaking out. That apparently drew him in and made him target me.

The conditions to bring back Dee, were that we had to find a time when her spirit and body were on the same wave length which luckily for Dee wasn't nearly as long as Yusuke's, though her dad and sister were both out of the house when she synced up and I had to give my first kiss to my best friend to bring her back, but it was worth it, though now she liked to tease me mercilessly that my kisses were good enough to wake the dead and Yusuke happily joined in the teasing. Dee was training to be a Spirit Detective like Yusuke, Koenma mentioned it was because he wanted a 'nicer' Spirit Detective, until he realized Dee was also kind of a delinquent, in her own way.

Everyone questioned me frequently asking if I'd recovered any of my lost childhood memories. I wasn't entirely sure if I had, so I told everyone I hadn't, but in my dreams, there were flashes of images and sounds, sometimes they played out like a movie sometimes it was a black screen with sound, but each time they were terrifying and I woke up feeling scared and alone. I tried to avoid sleep as best I could and keep myself busy with sketching or baking and cooking.

"Kimi, dear, are you still awake?" Nana shuffled into the kitchen with a tired yawn, her warm gold flecked brown eyes were filled with concern. Her gaze swept over the kitchen surfaces in awe, they were all littered with cooling racks, cookie sheets a variety of different baked goods. There were cakes and pies cooling atop the refrigerator and deep freezer, trays upon trays of various types of cookies cooling atop the breakfast bar and plethora of brownies, blondies and lemon bars cooling on the stretch of countertop next to the stove. The sink was piled with dishes I'd yet to start on as I had no counter space to set up the drying rack for the dishes. "Oh my." She gaped at the horde of baked goods.

"Sorry Nana, did I wake you?" I panicked as I looked at the clock over the stove, it was five in the morning. "I promise I'll clean it all up, do you want breakfast? I'll have it ready in a moment." I was rambling.

"Kimi, dear." Nana said softly her forehead creased with worry lines, "What's wrong?"

I laughed nervously as I took a cheesecake out of the oven. "Wrong? Nothing's wrong. I just felt like baking instead of sleeping."

Nana frowned as she made her way to the coffeepot and shook her head in silent laughter as she had to move a plate of macaroons off the coffee machine to make herself a fresh pot of coffee. "Kimi, dear, the last time you baked this much, you were scared to tell me you'd found a stray dog you were taking care of up in your room."

My cheeks flushed at this, when I was ten I'd found an injured dog and snuck it into my room. Nana had never allowed pets in the house and I was so worried she'd be mad. I nursed the dog back to health and was luckily able to find it's family.