Word count: 4,394!
This story derived out of a simple rambling of my mind last year that went, hey, let's make a long KidouTay chapter fiction! Instead, it ended up turning into a long one-shot that I've edited some, added some, and finished with relief and somewhat disappointment. All in all, I am very, very proud of this. KidouTay is one of my very favorite pairings, and I am proud to give this one-shot to the public because I've worked so damn hard on it. Unfortunately, the ending is not up to snuff but it's better than the alternative I had in mind.
The pairing(s) in here can be viewed as either friendship or romance. Take your pick. And as usual, I don't want any flames of the pairings, alright? It's stupid to feud about stuff like that, and I don't want to hear it.
Now enjoy and review! And see if you can guess who Zaku is haunting.
Bonus fact: Chao Mien is in fact a Mandarin dish. I've had it myself numerous times, and it is delicious if made right.
He was there again. Always watching from a few feet away. It made her nervous, since he didn't look like a stalker or a rapist, which irritated Tayuya, since she was almost never nervous. But this guy was seriously fucking with her head. What the hell was he playing at?
She rounded the corner and stopped dead. He was right there. But...but he was behind her before! How the hell did he—
Tayuya's brain cells went temporarily dead when he grinned at her. His teeth looked sharp. Way, way too sharp.
She turned and ran.
--------
"So, let me get this straight," Sakon drawled. "You're being stalked by some random guy that you don't even know, he's got teeth like a rabid dog—"
"—And you want us to do...what about it, exactly?" Ukon finished, typically.
"I told you fuckers, I want someone on this guy, seriously. He's fucking creeping me out." Groaning, she flopped down onto the couch, springs squeaking slightly. "Come on, you know I'm no fucking good at physical stuff. Best I could do is shove my flute through his chin and get it fucking over with."
The twins exchanged looks, and grinned simultaneously. "Well, well, well. Tayuya is actually being modest. If only Jiroubou could see this now. Too bad he's out shopping instead."
"Get to the point, faggots."
Their smirks widened. "Point is, we're not gonna help you. Get a bodyguard or something against this guy, since we aren't gonna do anything about it."
She bristled. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean, assholes?"
"You've never done anything to help us," Sakon smirked.
"So we're not going to do anything to help you either," Ukon said, starting in on his math homework. "Go shove your flute up his ass or what ever you said you could do. We'll take pictures if you want."
Growling, Tayuya stormed out of the room.
---------
She can hear the padding of footsteps behind her. Don't look back, she thought, tightening her grip on the handle of her book bag. Just keep walking, and maybe the asshole will lose interest.
The footsteps were getting all too close now, only a few feet away.
She snapped.
Spinning around, Tayuya screamed, "What the hell do you want from me?!"
He stopped, and Tayuya finally got a good look at him. Dark skin. Black hair tied up in a ponytail. Loose clothing. Lazy look all around. Plain, normal looking actually, except for three key facts: One, that his shirt was covered in blood, two, he was transparent, and three, there was a giant gaping hole in the middle of his stomach.
Oh God. Oh my God.
Tayuya was looking at a ghost.
---------
Kidoumaru was never too big on the idea of haunting, even when he was alive. It just seemed cliché to him (even though it sounded kind of fun), and he told it to anyone who brought said subject up.
Now, he had been lowered to that cliché, and the haunted subject now officially knew that she was being haunted. Even being assumed as a stalker was better than this (how, he had no idea, it just WAS).
Great. He even failed haunting people. He could feel his self-esteem drop by a few points.
He grinned and waved slightly, feeling more awkward then he had ever felt before. Damn, this was embarrassing. "Hi?"
She was still staring, mouth slightly open in surprise. For a moment, Kidoumaru wondered if she was having a seizure. Or had just suddenly had a heart attack. Though it was probably shock. Yeah. He again attempted conversation.
"If you keep your mouth open for that long, bugs will fly in. Did you know that?"
"Oh, shut up," she snarled, breaking out of her shock. "You're one to talk, asshole." She turned, and began stomping back up the path.
"Hey, wait!" He jogged up behind her. "Jeez, did I say something? We've only been talking for what, five seconds, and then you just..." He waved his hand around, wincing as it accidentally went through her head. "Shout unreasonable stuff and run away."
She gave him the evil eye, and though Kidoumaru was already good and dead, he felt as if he had died all over again. Fuck, this girl was scary. Why did he choose her for haunting again?
Oh yeah. He had a thing for red heads, like for that Karin girl when he was alive. Boy, she'd had great cleavage.
"I was hoping if I ran fast enough, I could ditch you and your sorry ass. What do you think, freak?" Her voice was heavily laced with sarcasm, and he again winced. Was she on her period or something? No wait, that was two weeks ago.
Smirking, he decided to have a bit of fun, now that he was officially busted. "I don't know, 'cause you can't stand my sexy ass?"
Her glare deepened. So did his smirk. "No."
"You're a jerk?"
"No."
He snapped his fingers, the sound tinny, as if it was coming from an old radio. "Oh, I got it. You have a thing for blood soaked, dead, dark haired, dark skinned sexy guys, and you just want to deny your raging hormones. Am I right?"
"No, you damn dead freak of a jerk."
He threw his hands up. "I'm out of options."
"I didn't want you to give me any in the fucking first place." She stomped to Musi Avenue and charged for the first apartment building on the left.
He grinned maniacally and continued to follow along side her. This was so much fun. "Hey, I haven't seen you freak out yet that I'm dead. Aren't you going to call an exorcist or something cheesy like that?"
"I don't believe in that shit." She opened the see through glass door and stepped inside. He floated through the door himself.
"Really now?"
"Really. There's no way to get rid of you fucking souls except the good old fashioned way." Padding up the stairs, she fished a key out of her back pocket and jiggled it in the lock. The door swung open, and she charged in. He followed, watching bemusedly as she began to fix herself some...concoction.
"What're you making?"
"Chao Mian." At his continually confused look, she explained. "It's fucking Mandarin for fried noodles mixed with veggies and other shit."
"Where the hell did you learn Mandarin?"
"I don't know, somewhere in school." Finishing boiling the noodles, she poured the water out and dumped the noodles unceremoniously into a large bowl. Then, she dumped them into a frying pan, stirring it around as the oil sizzled.
For a long time, there was silence. Kidoumaru drifted around the kitchen while Tayuya cooked dinner, the only sound coming from the oil.
Kidoumaru could only imagine what the future would be like. Internally (or whatever he had inside besides ectoplasm), he sighed.
---------
Never had Tayuya been more aggravated than now, since Kidoumaru had supposedly 'moved in' with her. Well, maybe the time Sakon had spilled paint all over her jacket was about the same amount of annoyance as this, but that was beside the point. The point was that Kidoumaru was a complete and utter asshole.
The minute the twins got back in the apartment on the day that Tayuya truly got to know Kidoumaru, they started chatting it up with him about some lame sitcom they saw on TV last night, and spent the rest of the night showing him Family Guy and Invader Zim. Tayuya spent the rest of her night in her room, listening to her radio and ripping little threads off of the edge of her blanket.
To make it worse, every night she kept waking up because Kidoumaru continued staring at her from her ceiling while he hung on the fan. And when she went to school, nobody else besides the fags, Kimimaro and Jiroubou could see him. Shit.
So it was no wonder that Tayuya ran as fast as she could when she went to school every day, hoping to ditch him. And, one day (today in fact), it worked. Apparently, he was running down on his 'ghostly energy' and couldn't fly as fast as before.
Clutching her chest and panting, she slowed to a jog as she entered the building. Opening her locker, she shoved her bag inside, grumbling to herself and still wiping off her sweat from her forehead.
"Well, well, well. Looks like Little Miss Slut here actually got on time today."
Oh no. Don't look behind you, Tayuya. Just stay calm. Don't give in to her.
"Ex-cuse me? Tayuya? I'm talking to you."
Gritting her teeth, Tayuya slowly turned around. "Oh, I'm sorry Arisa. I thought you were talking to yourself." She smirked at the auburn haired, very tanned girl in front of her.
Arisa's lip curled. "As if. I'm not the one who lives in an apartment filled with boys. And I heard that you were adopted by a gay pedo in the first place. That's practically screaming slut." She flipped her hair, and Tayuya's nose wrinkled as the scent of strawberries and cream wafted towards her. "Besides, how did Kimimaro even like you anyways? You're such a nobody, not even that guy Jiroubou would fuck you."
Tayuya plastered a fake smile on while she laughed and snarled on the inside. "For your information Arisa, Kimimaro and I don't even like each other. We barely fucking talk to each other at home. You can have him, since you're so desperate for that asshole. Second, Orochimaru's taken by someone legal and female. So shut your over-glossed lips and go on with your fucking life."
The next thing she knew, she was slammed into the lockers by Arisa herself, snarling. Her breath stunk of tobacco. "Don't talk to me that way, you flat chested freak."
Suddenly, Arisa screamed, and was being tugged off of her. Tayuya blinked, vision clearing for a second before she gawked. Arisa was dangling in the air by a slightly peeved looking Kidoumaru, who was seemingly paler than usual.
"Y'know, you could've waited for me. Then I wouldn't have to do this." Licking his transparent lips, he leaned forward and bit Arisa straight on the neck.
Tayuya's heart felt like it just stopped. Then, it began to start again, starting to beat a bit faster as blood began to drip from the bite mark. Her stomach twisted. Tayuya blinked at that. Usually she didn't get that feeling towards blood. Or it was...
She shook her head fervently. No, she was not jealous. How could she be jealous? He was dead, for crying out loud. No romantic interest whatsoever. And how could she be jealous of him biting another girl? It just wasn't possible.
Kidoumaru licked the blood up, smirking slightly. "Yum. Life force."
Tayuya's eye twitched. I hate you, you freak.
---------
"Look, Tay--"
"Don't call me that!"
Kidoumaru sighed. "Fine, Tayuya. Still, I don't see what I did wrong. That girl was a bitch, you said it yourself." And seeing her hurting you like that made me mad, he thought inwardly before shaking off the funny feeling in his chest.
She growled, and Kidoumaru shuddered. Her teeth looked very, very sharp. They were possibly as sharp as his. "She may have been a bitch, but you sent Arisa to the fucking emergency room for blood loss. And because she was screaming about me being a vampire."
He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, uh, sorry?"
Tayuya stopped. She turned. She stomped up to him. She glared at him until he felt like his ectoplasm-filled eyes were being burned out.
"Sorry?" She hissed. "Sorry isn't good enough for the trouble you've caused. You've ruined my sleeping pattern. You've ruined my grades. I can't even fucking get privacy in my own apartment anymore because a certain resident keeps floating into the room I'm in and stares at me till five in the morning. And, you got me suspended you fucking shithead."
"Hey, hey, chill." Putting his hands up in front of him, he began to glance around. Man, why weren't there any more ghosts around in the area?
"I'm not going to chill until you fucking get out of here." She prodded a finger into his chest. Literally. "I don't want to see your fucking face again."
He somehow managed to still grin at her. "Why not? You love my sexy face."
She growled again. "No I don't. And I'll love it even less if you keep chatting it up. Now leave. Don't come back till I'm long dead." Then, spinning around, she stormed away.
Kidoumaru blinked. And blinked again before lowering his hands. He sighed.
Fuck. Why do I keep on getting rejected by girls?
---------
"Hey, Ms. Vampire. 'Sup?"
Tayuya growled, and dumped her bag onto Ukon's head. "Shut up hermit. How do you know about that anyways? You were ditching class the whole fucking day."
He smirked, even as pencil shavings clung to his hair. "What can I say? News travels fast around here. Also heard you sent that Arisa bitch to the hospital."
Tayuya bopped him on the head with her backpack again. "Not me. That stupid Kidoumaru did."
"I see. That explains why she was screaming 'vampire, vampire, someone save me, vampire, oh my god' in the ambulance." Looking at her questioning look, he smirked. "TV. The news crew was there. Check it out."
Tayuya scowled and turned to glance at the screen.
"Hoshi Arisa-san, a student at the local academy, was sent to the hospital only thirty minutes ago. She is suffering from a severe bite mark on the base of her neck that seems to be spreading a virus throughout her body. The virus is unknown, as are the effects, although she seems to be going through intense pain, both physically and mentally.
The current suspect for this injury is Hokumon Tayuya-san, who was there at the scene when Hoshi-san was injured. She has currently been suspended from the academy for several we—"
Click.
"Hey!" Ukon swiveled around to look at Tayuya. "Geez, don't look so fucking mad, alright? She'll be fine. Kidoumaru said that that thing was harmless. It doesn't do anything except give him a little more energy than usual. Though he didn't say what the after effects were..." He frowned, having just realized something. "Hey, where is Kidoumaru anyways? I just rented that video game I told him about, was gonna play it with him."
For a few minutes, there was silence. Finally, she spoke. "I got rid of him. Told him to get his fucking face out of my life."
Ukon scowled. "Aw, man. I wasted three bucks on that game and this is what I get?"
"It doesn't fucking matter about the money, stupid! He's been messing around with my life too long."
"Dude, he's only been around for two weeks. There's not much he could—"
"Oh yeah? Well suck this into your fucking head. I just got five D's on my papers ever since he moved in. The teachers are furious at me since my grades fell. Even my music sucks ass. He's a menace." She flopped onto the couch beside him.
Ukon was silent while Tayuya fidgeted with agitation. Finally, he sighed. "Maybe you're suffering from attraction denial."
"What." She turned her eyes on him. Unfortunately, Ukon was already immune to her glares.
"Oh come on. It's pretty obvious he likes you, in a non-romantic way, for now. You like him back. Even Kimimaro and Sakon noticed, and they're idiots in the emotions department." He yawned, and got up, stretching.
Tayuya snorted, and looked up at him. "So what the fuck do I do?"
Ukon looked surprised. "Well, uh, first you could go find him and make up?"
She rolled her eyes. "What ever." And, getting up, she left the apartment.
Ukon sighed, and flipped the TV back on. The sounds of Arisa's screams radiated through the air, and he smirked. The bitch got what she deserved. Although…he did kind of regret telling Tayuya that Kidoumaru liked her in the non-romantic sense. He hated lying. A lot.
"Oh well," he said out loud, glaring at the screen. "They'll find out soon enough."
---------
"Hey, Kidoumaru!"
Kidoumaru blinked, and turned. He sighed. "Hey Zaku."
His fellow spirit grinned as he jogged up to him, the gaping hole in the center of his chest shimmering slightly. "What's up man? I haven't heard from you in weeks. Did you find someone to haunt yet?"
"I did. Then she dumped me."
Zaku snorted. "Dude, she can't dump you. You're just supposed to…you know, be creepy and snarl and shit like that." He made an extremely creepy face which even Kidoumaru found frightening. "Like this."
"Don't do that again. Ever."
"Sorry." Zaku laughed; then his face turned serious. "Come on man, you have to go find her. Apologize. Promise to haunt her as civilized as possible."
"You sound like we're alive again," Kidoumaru snickered.
"Well, we kind of are—technically, if your spirit's still up and moving, you're alive." Zaku's face was still serious. "Still. You have to go and apologize for whatever you did. Otherwise…you know what'll happen."
"Yeah." Kidoumaru winced at the thought. He'd seen it happen before when one of his fellow spirits had been slacking off in the haunting business. He'd screamed, writhed for a bit, and then with a loud crack and bright light, he vanished. He'd only left behind a single drop of spirit blood on the concrete, shining silver-blue on the gray surface.
"By the way, have you heard the news? One of the ghosts bit a human." Kidoumaru attempted to hide his guilty face. "That human's going to go nuts."
Kidoumaru's head jerked up. He stared in confusion at Zaku. "What? I thought biting human's just gave you life force."
"Well it does. But it also takes a toll on the human, ya see? Her body and mind are rejecting the venom our ectoplasm has and it's gonna make her go nuts. She'll go out and find the person she hates the most and slaughter that person, killing everything in her way. Then she'll drop dead after a few hours." Zaku smirked and glanced at Kidoumaru. "What, you didn't know that?"
The person that she hates most… Kidoumaru recalled the hatred twisting that bitch's face whenever she looked at—
Tayuya!
Kidoumaru's face twisted in horror. Oh god, what have I done?
"Kidoumaru?" Zaku looked puzzled. "Hey man, you alright?"
"No. I'm just making this horrified face because it gives me pleasure in ghost-hood." Kidoumaru then turned and began zooming down the street as fast as he could.
Zaku cupped his hands to his mouth and hollered, "Well you don't have to be so damn sarcastic about it!"
---------
Her skin was burning, a million fire ants clawing across the surface. Arisa shuddered and turned over, her tan face pale and greenish in the darkened room.
It hurts.
It hurts too much.
They're eating me.
I want to die.
No.
That last voice jolted the bite on her neck so that it felt like ice.
You don't want to die.
I don't?
No. You want her to die, don't you? She has to die because of the pain you're feeling now. Don't you agree, Arisa?
Yes. Her eyes flew open, dully glowing in the dark. Yes I do.
Then go, the voice whispered, a hint of sadistic delight in its tenor. Go out and destroy the person you hate the most.
The person I hate the most… Arisa stood up shakily from the bed, head lolling on her shoulder like a broken puppet. Slowly, zombie-like, she shuffled to the doorway, eyes dull and unseeing. In her mind's eye, she caught a glimpse of flaming red hair and sharp, calculating eyes. The rage in the pit of her stomach rose up, swallowing her whole. The image blurred red.
Tayuya.
---------
Tayuya growled and stalked down the street. "Come on," she muttered. "Come on you stupid dead freak, come out." The street remained empty, the wind rustling the trees and bushes. "I'm sorry already," she mumbled, stopping temporarily to catch her breath. "I didn't mean to fucking say that, and I think that you should come back because the freaks would miss you. Including Kimimaro. Yeah, that sounds good." She then raised her head and was about to continue running when—
The faint sound of footsteps reached her ears from behind her.
She whirled around. "Kidoumaru?" She called out. "Kidoumaru, is that you? I have to talk to you." There was silence. "Kidoumaru?" An edge of unease clawed at the pit of her stomach. This was not Kidoumaru. "Who is it? Show your fucking face."
A dark figure shuffled forward and Tayuya's eyes bugged out of her face.
It was Arisa. But this was definitely not the Arisa she remembered.
This Arisa was dressed in a thin, white, short hospital gown barely coming down to the middle of her thighs. The gown was splattered in blood, covering every inch of her being. Her thick, auburn hair was dripping with the red fluid, and her face was absolutely blank, lolling on her left shoulder. Her glassy brown eyes stared forward.
And in her hand was a pair of gore-covered scissors.
---------
There was a scream in the distance, and Kidoumaru quickened his flight, practically sailing on the wind.
Come on, he urged himself, go faster! You can't let her die! Hurry!
After a few seconds, a sight that startled even him reached his eyes.
Arisa was standing above Tayuya with a pair of dripping scissors in her hand, a sadistic grin twisting her features. Her hand lunged forward and Tayuya managed to roll to the side just in time before it smashed her eye in.
Quicker than Tayuya's human eyes could see, Arisa swiveled her body to her position and lunged again.
There was a splatter, a watery cough.
And then Tayuya screamed.
---------
"So you can actually materialize your spirit so that solid objects can hit you?"
"Yup."
"And you used that ability to help me out back there."
"Pretty much."
Tayuya smirked slightly. "You know, you're actually not half bad for a freak of nature."
Kidoumaru laughed, still picking at the bandages that Tayuya had wrapped onto his solid form. He shifted his position on her (now silver-blue) couch and winced slightly before replying, "Thanks."
Tayuya gazed at him, quietly thinking back to what happened only two hours ago. Kidoumaru had appeared out of nowhere, blocking Arisa's scissor mania with his torso. Luckily he was already dead and most definitely could not die twice. He had pulled out the scissors and evaded Arisa's blows until she finally keeled over, finally dead. Then, after checking to see if Tayuya was alright, raced back to the hospital and placed Arisa's body back in the bloody halls with the scissors in her hand, making it seem as if she had incurred a massacre before keeling over and dying.
Actually, that was what pretty much what happened in the first place, which made the charade even more convincing.
"Hey, Tay? Why are you spacing out on me all of a sudden?" Kidoumaru looked curious. He waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello? Anybody there?"
She swatted his hand away. "Oh, be quiet."
Kidoumaru grinned, and Tayuya found herself grinning back.