Hiei pointed wordlessly to the double chocolate fudge chunk. Yukina hid her smile when she noticed that. She hadn't realized the fire koormie liked chocolate.

Naomi blinked, then grinned.

"I never would have pinned you for a Forbidden Chocolate kind of person," she teased as she paid for the ice creams. "Never would have thought."

Hiei grumbled, taking his ice cream and starting to eat it slowly. He liked his chocolate ice cream, dammit. It was tasty.

Naomi managed to grab a table and drag over some chairs for them, and then sat down to enjoy her ice cream.

"And now I feel better," she said cheerfully as she worked on her mint chocolate.

Yukina laughed quietly. "I do enjoy ice cream," she admitted quietly. She didn't get it often at Genkai's, but it was always a treat when she did get some.

Hiei's ears metaphorically perked up at that. Well, now he had another thing he could bug Kurama to get for him once in a while.

Naomi grinned.

"I always make sure to get green tea ice cream when I go out for sushi," she said. "It's the only place I've found that carries it, and it's wonderful stuff."

Yukina blinked at that. "I've never heard of that before," she said with another blink. "Does it actually taste like green tea?"

"It really kind of does," Naomi replied, nodding. "It's not exact, but that might also be because it's ice cream. But you can definitely taste the green tea in it." She grinned. "It's one of my favorites, after chocolate and mint and mocha."

Yukina smiled. "That sounds nice," she said quietly. But she was perfectly happy with her ice cream for now. Maybe she could figure out how to make some...

Naomi had to admit, she enjoyed the next couple of days. The weather was still pleasantly cool, and she was even able to ignore the one day of rain. What she couldn't ignore, however, was the phone call she got that day, and she swore colorfully when she saw the number on the caller-ID.

"What?" she asked shortly when she picked up the phone.

"Watch your tone, Nomia," her father's voice replied. "I would like to say this is a social call, but it isn't. Niobe has given birth, and the naming ceremony for the child is within the next couple of days."

"What does that have to do with me?" Naomi asked flatly.

"Tradition dictates that the child's family must be present," Corvus replied. "And whether you all like it or not, Nomia, you are part of the family. So you must be here."

"You can't honestly expect me to just drop everything and show up," Naomi protested. She really did try to make it into a legitimate excuse not to go, but they both knew it was thinly-veiled at best.

"You will be here, Nomia, even if I have to get you myself."

Naomi swore under her breath for a moment or two.

"Fine. But I'm leaving the second the ceremony is over," she said.

"If you insist." There was a pause on the other end of the line. "And Nomia... I do realize that you are not on the best of terms with Niobe or your siblings. But you could try to be a little less hostile." Even as Naomi sputtered in protest (it wasn't entirely her fault that they didn't get along, thank you!), her father said his goodbyes and hung up. Naomi had to take extra care to set the phone down gently before she really got angry enough to throw it across the room like she wanted to.

Hiei had heard the whole conversation, but he didn't try to start talking to Naomi just yet. He just stayed where he was, perched on a windowsill, waiting to see if she was going to start talking or not.

Or if he was just going to have to follow behind her to find out what he could.

Naomi stewed in her rage for a moment.

"I was really, really hoping I wouldn't have to deal with them for at least another year," she finally said.

"Must you?" Hiei asked quietly. If she had to go he'd go with her, to make sure they didn't try anything stupid if for no other reason.

"Unfortunately," Naomi replied. She sighed a bit in frustration. "Convenient how they remind me I'm related to them when things like this pop up. They'll go back to ignoring me after."

Hiei nodded but didn't say anything else. He didn't need to say anything else. Not yet.

After a moment, Naomi got up and went over to Yukina.

"My family decided to call me back north for a while," she said. "If you want, I can take you back home before I have to leave."

Yukina shrugged. "Either way is fine with me," she said quietly. "I don't mind waiting here. But if you think it's better I'll go." She left the decision up to Naomi.

"I was going to say it was up to you," Naomi replied. Really, people should know better than to leave decisions like that up to her... She glanced at Hiei. "What are your plans, then?"

Hiei looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. "I'm going with you," he said very matter-of-factly. As if there were ever a choice.

Yukina hid her smile but wisey didn't comment.

Naomi blinked.

"Why?" she asked. It didn't make sense, really. At least, not to her. And she couldn't imagine her family taking well to her showing up with a fire element in tow.

Hiei shrugged. "I think I'd like to meet your family." Because he was sure he'd met scarier people than her family before, but he wanted to see.

"I don't think I've ever heard that particular phrase before," Naomi commented. She weighed her options for a moment before shrugging. She wouldn't be able to stop him from tagging along, and it would be nice to have a friendly face with her if she had to stay with her father's family for a while.

That, and she was kind of looking forward to their reactions to a fire element. That would be fun.

"Alright, then," she said. "I have to leave within the next day to get there when my father wants me there." She looked at Yukina. "Would you like me to take you home real quick?"

Yukina nodded after a moment. "Perhaps that would be best. But be sure to visit again soon."

Naomi nodded.

"I will," she promised. Quickly, she went to get the book and used it to take Yukina back to her proper world. Then she came back, this time managing (barely) to stay on her feet when she landed again.

Hiei watched her for a moment before he went back to his silent contemplation of the nearby tree. He wasn't even being fully honest with himself about why he wanted to go with her, but that was okay. He'd get around to confessing to himself eventually.

And then doing his damndest to make sure she didn't find out the whole truth.