Naomi sighed and sat down on the couch.

"Andromeda always knows exactly how to ruin my day," she murmured.

Hiei looked at her for a moment. "Don't let her," he said quietly. "She's not worth your consideration."

Yukina nodded her agreement.

"Well, now you both know why I hate dealing with my family," Naomi said. She didn't add that Andromeda's behavior was typical of most people towards half-breeds.

Yukina sat next to her. "That's not right. Even if they're only half-siblings, they shouldn't treat you like that. You're worth much more than that."

"Not here, I'm not," Naomi said quietly. She sighed, and then looked at her friend. "I did tell you. Nobody would look twice at either of you. Hell, Andromeda wouldn't have, if I wasn't here. But a lot of people don't like half-breeds."

Hiei shrugged. He could understand why, and he didn't much like Osanna himself, but Naomi was a different story. He couldn't change the facts, but he could try to change her mind.

Yukina sighed at that. "You could always stay with me whenever you want," she offered quietly. "The others wouldn't mind." Not if Naomi didn't get in anyone's way, anyway.

"Thanks," Naomi said softly. "I might take you up on that." Not that she completely believed her; she'd seen the looks that the other koorime had sent her when she visited Yukina the first time. They hadn't been all that pleased, even though they'd left her alone for the most part.

Yukina just nodded. She was one of the youngest koormie there, but she could always get some support. After all, she was half-and-half too, technically.

"Hopefully, neither of my other siblings will want to bother showing up here," Naomi said. "I never thought I would be glad when I saw the weather's getting too warm."

"Hn." Hiei snorted at that. He could drive off whoever he needed to, after all. Not that he was going to tell her that outright.

"And now that my sister has completely and utterly done her best to ruin my day, I say we go into town and do some shopping or something," Naomi said, getting up. "There's an ice cream place I like, and the people who work there conveniently forget what I am just long enough for me to buy something when I go."

"That sounds fun." Yukina smiled at Naomi. "We're ready whenever you are." Although she didn't know if Hiei was even going to go with them or not.

Naomi glanced at Hiei even as she pulled out her keys. She wasn't sure if he was going to go with them or not, either.

Hiei nodded after a moment. That was preferable to staying there with Kurama and Osanna. Even he could tell the fox was flirting with the quarter-youkai.

Naomi nodded in return and gestured to the door.

"Out to my car, then," she said. "It's not close enough to make walking feasible, and there are no sidewalks out this far, anyways."

Hiei just nodded and moved out to the car. He'd been forced to go in one before, although he hadn't enjoyed it much. He doubted this trip would be any more pleasant.

Yukina looked at the car before deciding she would sit in the front. Hiei had already moved to the back seat anyway, clearly debating if he was even going to get in the car or just follow.

Naomi slid into the driver's seat and buckled in. Checking the dials, she decided the car had enough gas for a trip into town and started the engine.

Hiei settled into the back seat uncomfortably, holding on to the door as she drove. Her driving wasn't bad compared to all the driving he'd seen in Japan, but still.

It was barely a ten-minute drive into town, and the first place Naomi stopped was the ice cream place. Pulling into one of the parking spots, she killed the engine again and got out of the car.

"They make good stuff here," she said. "Go ahead and pick what you want, it's on me."

Yukina entered first, looking at all the flavors and trying to decide what she wanted. Hiei already knew, although his changed only slightly when he looked at the actual selection.

While the two were deciding, Naomi struck up a conversation with one of the people working behind the counter. One was human and the other wasn't, and only the human would really chat with her. The youkai just ignored the fact she was there.

Hiei's eyes narrowed when he noticed that, but he didn't say anything. He just caught the youkai's eyes for a few moments before he moved closer to Naomi. Just in case.

The youkai, more a wind element than anything else, raised an eyebrow and glanced at Naomi briefly before going back to working. No skin off his nose if the fire-youkai wanted the ice half-breed. He didn't care.

Yukina moved over to them after a few moments and looked at the human for a few moments before she smiled. That was good, at least. She pointed out what she wanted, butter pecan. That looked tasty.

The human girl nodded and scooped out two flavors: butter pecan, which got handed to Yukina, and mint chocolate that got handed to Naomi. Then she glanced at the third member of the group to see what he wanted.