Le Petite Mort
Part 1
A/N: this is a little horror side fic thing I've had in my head all month. It's a "they are all human in high school" au type thing. But, you know, spooky (if i've done my job right). Enjoy! This is part 1 of what will hopefully only be 2 parts. For new readers, Amon-Shinpi and Kuya are my OCs from my main fic Survivor's Guilt.
Enjoy!
"Start from the beginning." The officer sat across from Kuwabara, notepad out. "You said it was a normal school day?"
"Yeah. It was the same as always." Kuwabara looked down at his folded hands. "I mean…until…"
"Did you hear one of the Takani twins is running for student president?" Kazuma Kuwabara asked before stuffing his mouth with rice.
"Which one?" Kurama questioned, toying with his food idly.
"Does it matter?" Hiei snorted, rolling his eyes.
"The nice one." Kuwabara stared up at the ceiling as he tried to come up with an answer.
"Which one is the nice one?" Kurama glanced at Hiei, the barest upturn of his lips.
"How should I know?" Hiei glared back at him, hating that look more than anything.
Kurama raised an eyebrow at him, then realized that was the end of that particular line of questioning. He stopped and turned back toward Kazuma. "How did your recent test go, Kuwabara?"
"I aced it! Got the third stop store in my class." He beamed, rice decorating is face.
They fell into a conversation about grades that involved a lot of nodding from Kurama, a lot of bold declarations from Kuwabara and a lot of eye rolling from Hiei. Eventually, lunch ended and following it in record time the day. Kurama scuttled off to do something with the greenhouse, which he always did at the end of the day. He didn't trust anyone else to truly care for the plants. Kuwabara had jogged toward student council. Hiei lingered on the grounds, occupying a picnic table, waiting for Kurama out of reluctance to go home more than anything else.
"Hey loser, what're you up to?" A hand palmed the top of Hiei's head, fingers mussing his already spiked hair.
Hiei craned his head back to glare at Yusuke Uremshi with little conviction. His feet propped up on the bench seat so he could hunch forward, elbows on his knees. "Why are you here?"
"Keiko."
Hiei didn't understand why he had even bothered asking. There was only one reason Yusuke ever wandered this close to school grounds. It was always Keiko. Who wouldn't be out here behind the building, smoking a half-finished cigarette. No. She would be inside, with Kazuma and Kuya Takani, working on whatever the hell student council worked on for hours on end. Hiei took another drag.
His eyes wandered back to the person he'd been watching while trying not to draw attention to the fact he was watching her. It was easier when Yusuke wasn't hovering around. He may have been a high school dropout but he wasn't a blind fool.
"That's one of the twins right?" Yusuke lit his own cigarette, forever blatantly disregarding that even without being a student his actions held weight against Keiko. "Kurama told me a little about them. They're fairly new, right?"
"Transfered in earlier this year. Their father is a politician or something equally useless." Hiei lifted his hand to his face, pulling the cigarette back to his lips and using that motion to hide his snide smile as he watched two boys approach the red head.
Kurama had asked him which one was the nice one, and Hiei had lied, saying he didn't know. But he did. Kuya was the nice one. The lovely golden eyed girl who was running for student council president and made friends with everyone. Her sister on the other hand? Amon-Shinpi? She was not the nice one.
Hiei liked to pretend he didn't enjoy that aspect of her personality.
As they watched the two boys catcalled her, running up and throwing arms around her shoulders. Then they watched as the two boys doubled over, one elbow to the sternum and a mean grip of the wrist twisting an arm backwards. Her voice carried over to them as she admonished them, casting threats about their behavior down at them while they moaned on the ground.
"She looks mean." Yusuke commented.
"I guess." Hiei put out the stub of his cigarette.
"You talked to your sister recently?"
"No."
"She know where your living?"
"I don't like to bother her over trivial things." Hiei rolled to his feet. "She's safe with the Kuwabaras. She doesn't need to worry about me."
A heartbeat passed.
"I guess I better go find my lady. We're supposed to go see a movie tonight." Yusuke rubbed Hiei's head again. "Talk to your sister."
"Fuck off."
Hiei took out a second cigarette and lit it, allowing a plume of smoke to rise from between his lips. Blue eyes caught his gaze and as the yard cleared, Amon-Shinpi sauntered over to him.
"Smoking on school grounds is strictly prohibited." Long red hair fell around her face and shoulders, a curtain of fire that highlighted eyes that simmered like the blue of the flame. She carefully, but pointedly, pulled the stick from his hand.
"I know the rules." He told her, leaning back on his palms. "Knowing them means I can be that much more effective at breaking them."
She put the butt of the cigarette between her lips, inhaling deeply. "You were watching but you didn't warn them. That's not a very kind way to behave."
"I'm not kind." Hiei's smile slowly grew more into a smirk.
"Why are you still on campus?" She pried shameless, passing the cigarette back to him.
"Waiting for Kurama." He responded lazily. "Don't you have a castle to return to?"
"Not until the actual princess gets done with hanging posters." She smiled back. "I guess that means we both have time to kill."
"Guess so."
"How long did you know Amon-Shinpi before the incident?" The officer across from Hiei asked, peeking down at something written in his notebook.
"What sort of stupid question is that?" Hiei asked in return.
"Answer the question."
"We have a few classes together. The Takani twins have aren't easy to miss. Other than that we didn't interact much."
The closet was always too hot for clothes. The first time and every time after. Hiei slipped out of his shirt immediately, and Shinpi hands danced over his exposed skin, their mouths only separating when they had to breathe. Neither of them could really remember fully how this arrangement had started, but neither of them complained about it continuing either.
"And why were you on campus?"
Yusuke glared at the officer on the other side of the table, one foot raised to press against the edge of the table and push back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest.
The officer stared at him waiting. He had to stare for a long time before repeating the question. Yusuke still didn't answer.
"Oh for god's sake, Yusuke! Just tell him!" Keiko burst into the room looking livid.
"I'm trying to protect my reputation, Keiko! Get out of here!" Yusuke yelled at her, a blush dousing his cheeks. "Aren't you supposed to be in your own room for questioning?"
"Yes. She is." Another officer appeared to guide Keiko away. "Miss I told you, you can't just intrude on other people's interrogations."
"He's such a pain. I swear. If it weren't for me he'd be in here every other day."
The door closed and still blushing, Yusuke glared away from his interrogator. "Whatever. I was there to pick up Keiko. We had a date."
"Are you done yet?" Yusuke griped, following Keiko through the school halls with his hands. "It's been over an hour since school got out."
"It's important to help, Yusuke. You could join me instead of following me around complaining." She chided in return.
"You're not even running for anything." He pointed out, looking at the face on the poster. "You're already the vice president."
"I know. But she's a good candidate, Yusuke. And she's kind. I think Kuya would make a good president and I want to support her." Keiko sighed. "I'm almost done. After this I just need to check on Kazuma and make sure he's all set with the paperwork."
"I can't believe you guys allowed that massive dork to become secretary." Yusuke dug his pinky into his ear.
Keiko sighed again, but only to cover her blooming smile. Kazuma and Yusuke were still boys at heart, even in second year of high school. As much as they picked on each other, they were still the best of friends.
"Oh, we should invite Yukina and Kazuma to join us!" Keiko beamed at her boyfriend. "It'll be a double date."
Yusuke huffed, but she saw him smile.
They wandered down the hall until they got back to the meeting room. Yukina was sitting beside Kuwabara, smiling sweetly as he poured over some papers. Her garnet eyes turned toward them once they entered.
"Oh! Keiko, are you all done?" Yukina dazzled them with a smile. "Kazuma was telling me about all the hard work you've been putting in to make sure Kuya feels at home here. I think it's absolutely lovely of you."
"Speaking of Kuya, where is she?" Kuwabara frowned.
"Still hanging flyers I think." Keiko answered. "We should wait for her before setting out."
Papers rustled.
Kurama raised an eyebrow as he stared at the shuffling movements of the officer before him. "Aren't you going to ask me where I was when all the commotion started?"
The officer shifted under that studious veridian gaze. "Why were you still on school grounds?"
Waiting to answer until after he sipped his water, Kurama crossed his legs. "I was tending the greenhouse. It's my gift to the school as a third year, you see, and it requires constant attention. Plants are a passion of mine."
"And so, you were in the greenhouse."
"That's what I said." Kurama stared at him.
Kurama locked the greenhouse behind him before heading for the picnic table where Hiei always waited for him. He hesitated, watching Yusuke leave and Hiei wait. He continued to stay away as he watched Amon-Shinpi Takani approach Hiei, plucking his cigarette away and offering him a sly smile. It was like magic, watching Hiei's entire body shift. He softened up, opened his stance and subconsciously confirmed every single suspicion Kurama had been harboring for the last several weeks.
Then, Kurama watched as Hiei and Amon-Shinpi walked away, close enough to touch but not quite, shoulder to shoulder.
"What was your relationship like?" The officer questioned, sitting back in his chair and eying the young redheaded woman across from him.
"My relationship with whom?" She responded coolly.
"With," he opened his notebook and tapped a name, "Hiei."
"I can't say that we have a relationship at all, formally speaking." Amon-Shinpi sat back in her chair as well, chin lifted slightly.
Shinpi pulled back from Hiei's mouth, catching her breath. "What's this?"
"Don't worry about it." Hiei moved to recapture her in a kiss but she backed up further, her fingers skimming the gauze taped to his ribs. He panted, leaning back against the crates he was using as a seat.
"You're hurt." She stared at the red patch marring the center of gauze.
"I said don't worry about it." His fingers wrapped around her wrist and he used his hold to tug her closer again. "Who cares about a little cut anyway? Touch me."
"I care." She pulled her wrist free, frowning. "Who hurt you?"
"Don't." He let her step back.
"Don't what? Worry about you?" Shinpi demanded. "You're fucking bleeding, Hiei!"
"We don't come in here to pretend we care about each other." Hiei cooled completely and immediately. He shut down.
So, so did she.
"Right." Shinpi nodded, her eyes grew distant. "Of course."
When she unbuttoned her blouse it was formulaic. Automatic. When she closed the distance between them, arms around his neck, her skin felt cold.
Hiei suddenly felt like this innards had turned to rocks. Heavy.
That one kiss was like being stabbed all over again.
"I don't come to pretend at all. It's not my style." She stepped back, still looking distant. "I don't think I'll be coming back. Clean your wound before it gets infected."
She wasn't even done buttoning her shirt when she left.
Hiei took a moment, registering what she'd said then snarled, snatching his shirt from the ground. The door banged open as he kicked it, looking both ways down the hall until he caught sight of the back of her head. Running, he didn't bother to get dressed before grabbing her arm in an attempt to stop her. A mistake, it seemed, because the heel of her palm immediately bit into his sternum.
"Fuck." He hissed, doubled over, holding her arm for support now instead of out of control.
She shirked out of his touch and rolled her eyes, turning her back on him. "Touch me again and I'll break your ribs."
"Can you calm down for a second?" He winced, straightening.
Shinpi started walking. "I'm being perfectly calm. Now leave me alone. I need to find my sister and get home before father starts to wonder where I've been and why I reek of cigarettes and what I can only assume is self-loathing."
"Funny." Hiei snapped at her, cutting in front of her to stop her again.
He lost a lot of his intimidation points by the fact he had to tip his chin upwards to look her in the eye. Normally the height difference between them sort of excited him. Tall girls rarely settled for him. But now it was a huge disadvantage. She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Move." She warned him.
"Your sister is fine. She's with Keiko and Kuwabara. I heard him talking about their plans earlier." Hiei tossed out. "You have time to talk to me."
"I have time to pretend to talk to you." Shinpi tilted her head, her tone pointed. "Why are you embarrassing yourself, Hiei? You literally just told me you don't care about me. Why then, are you putting on these airs of chasing me through the halls?"
He grit his teeth together.
"Let me let you in on a little secret, something to keep just between us." She lowered herself slightly so she could talk on his level. "I'm not interested in playing whatever games you're up to. And I'm not interested in being used. If you need something to fuck that badly, go to the store, buy yourself a toy like everyone else and leave me alone."
"This isn't like that." Hiei told her, seething. "I'm not playing games."
"Then what are you doing?" She demanded. "You drag me into a closet-"
"You drug me into the closet." Hiei pointed out.
"And you're totally fine with making out with me. With touching me. With me touching you. But then all of the sudden, as soon as I say something about being worried, I'm pretending. And so are you. Then, when I leave because I'm not into that dynamic, you chase me down, grab me, and then tell me you're not playing games. That isn't like that. So what is it like, Hiei? What's the truth."
He floundered. Unable to answer her at first. His eyes flitted over her face, trying to decipher her emotions fast enough to answer her in the least compromising way for himself. Hiei wanted to give just enough to resolve this sickening sensation but not too much. He had to find where that line was, and quickly.
"Have a good life, and stay away from me." Shinpi moved around him while he stood speechless.
"It's like-" he started only to be immediately cut off by a blood curdling scream. Shinpi's eyes widened at the sound of it, and then she was off like a bat out of hell, racing through the halls with Hiei hot on her heels.
Upstairs and at the other end of the hall, Keiko, Yukina, Yusuke and Kuwabara all jerked up at the alarming wail. Then Yusuke and Kuwbara shared a look, both headed for the door. Yusuke telling the girls to wait in the room, Keiko announcing it was Kuya screaming, and Kuwabara saying he had a bad feeling.
"And that's when you found it. The body." The officer looked over into a pair of golden eyes, watching as the redhead twisted her hands nervously. She shook as she explained.
"Yes. I had one more room to hang a flyer in and when I pushed open the door there he was. On the ground." Kuya swallowed, closing her eyes.
"And then what happened?" The officer pressed.
"And then the lights went out." Kurama frowned. "I was in the library waiting for Hiei to reappear when I heard the scream. Right after the lights all went out. Well, the main lights. The backup lights came on very quickly."
"We went looking for Kuya." Yusuke leaned forward conspiratorially. "Nobody screams like that unless something real bad has happened. That's why I told Keiko and Yukina to stay behind."
"Did you suspect there had been a murder?" The officer asked, pen tapping his pad.
"I don't know what I expected." Kuwabara rubbed the back of his neck, still looking shell-shocked. "I just know that when I get that bad feeling in my stomach, it's always right. And that feeling was so bad right then. I thought I was going to be sick or faint or something."
"And when you found Ms. Takani, what did you see?"
"I got there first. So they saw me leaning over the body and they saw my sister crying." Shinpi explained, still firm in her body language. "Hiei and I had crossed paths on the way so I told him to stand by the door and keep his eyes open for anyone approaching."
"So, you handled the body?"
"Of course I did. Someone had to. The man was lying on the ground." Shinpi waved her hand. "So I checked for a pulse."
Shinpi pressed her fingers into the sweet spot on the side of the man's neck, counting in her head. Then she tried his wrist. His inner elbow. His apical. Crouching over him, she listened for breathing and watched his chest. Nothing.
"Is he okay?" Kuya whimpered, hand raised to her mouth.
Hiei snorted derisively, earning himself a venomous glare from Shinpi. He pressed his lips together and then waved one arm out the doorway to flag down Yusuke and Kuwabara who were barreling toward them.
Shinpi had known as soon as she'd seen the man on the ground that he was, in fact, not okay. She hadn't needed to check his pulse to know he was a corpse. But because Kuya was there, she went through all the motions. Once the other two boys arrived she met their eyes and shook her head. Kuya wasn't like her, she was made of soft things. She was a down feather pillow, fluffed to perfection. Shinpi…Shinpi was more of a brillo pad shoved into a pillowcase. The fact they were sisters, twins no less, had always struck Shinpi as incredibly absurd. But she was thankful.
And there were few things she wouldn't do to protect her sister's innocence in the face of an increasingly cruel world.
So, she went through the motions.
But pools of blood that large don't come from living people and even if they did, they didn't come from people who could answer questions like "Are you alright?" or "May I check your pulse?".
"What happened?" Yusuke was the first to ask.
"I don't know." Shinpi answered, puzzled. She rocked back from the balls of her feet to sitting on her backside. "But from the blood and the fact hes still fairly warm to the touch I'm going to go with he was murdered."
"Why didn't you immediately call the authorities?" The officer asked, frowning.
Hiei frowned in return.
"We did."
"We have to call the police!" Kuya fumbled for her phone, her hands shaking so badly she nearly dropped it. Then she stilled, looking over to her sister with a look of confusion. "Hichi? Is your phone working?"
"It was earlier." Shinpi responded. "I don't want to touch anything else until I can wash my hands. Someone get it out of my pocket for me."
Hiei trudged two steps over to her before she glared at him.
"Someone else." She dared him to argue.
They all jumped when Kurama spoke from the doorway. "Might I be of assistance?"
"Kurama." Shinpi visibly relaxed upon seeing him. "Can you grab my phone from my pocket?"
"Of course."
Hiei glared between them hotly, teeth set to grinding. Kurama plucked the cellphone from Shinpi's front pocket as if he'd done it a million times. After a short test, he frowned.
"You have no signal either. I checked my phone in the library, and I found that my signal had disappeared as well." He informed her. "Perhaps we should try the landline."
"You do that. I'm going to go wash my hands." Shinpi held up the offending appendages before skirting around Yusuke and Kuwabara while Kurama headed for the phone.
"Did you find Ms. Takani's composure unusual, given the circumstance?" The officer studied Kuwabara, noting the green tinge to his face as he recounted the details.
"I mean, she's always pretty cool headed. She's never gotten squeamish during biology or anything that I've seen. So it seemed perfectly normal. She's good at taking charge too." Kuwabara explained. "Her sister wasn't as calm though. Kuya was a mess."
"Most people would be, seeing a dead body." The officer pointed out. "I would have found it odd that Amon-Shinpi was as bothered as everyone else."
"I don't know." Kuwabara frowned. "Just because she didn't show it, didn't mean she wasn't bothered."
Shinpi threw up for the second time in the dark bathroom. She had propped the door open with the trashcan mostly so she could make sure her vomit actually made it into the toilet. Shaking, she sank down to sitting, resting her head against the wall of the stall. Her father's words swam back to her through her trembling thoughts.
It's different than you think, Hichi. Seeing someone die, it takes it's toll.
She understood what he meant now. Part of her had thought, at the time, he was just trying to scare her away from being any sort of first responder. But now, she understood. She'd never be the same after this. Not really. Her hands still felt cold from where they'd touched the body.
Maybe she should consider politics like her father had tried so hard to get her to do. It had always been his dream for her. But she wanted to do something more.
Maybe more just wasn't something she was made for.
Footsteps in the hall outside the bathroom caught her attention. Carefully, she pulled her feet closer to to her, trying her best to shrink herself behind the toilet. The footsteps entered the bathroom, pacing down it's length before stopping in front of her stall. Holding her breath, she waited.
"Shinpi?"
She exhaled and got to her feet, flushing the proof of her spilled stomach. Unlatching the lock, she stepped out to greet Hiei with much less bitterness than before. Their fight seemed so stupid and high school and small now.
"It's dark." Hiei told her, as if she didn't know. "I just. I didn't want you alone when it's dark and someone killed a teacher."
She nodded, not speaking as she made her way to the sinks to wash her hands again. She used cold water, to shock her system. Hiei interrupted the stream of water to wet a paper towel, squeezing the excess from it before lifting it to her face. It took that action for her to fully understand that he was cleaning vomit off her cheeks and chin for her. She let him.
"It was the same my first time." He told her carefully, guarded. "When you didn't lose your cool back in the classroom I figured you'd do it in here."
"Thank you." She told him, and she meant it.
"You're going to want to rinse your mouth out. It'll help with the taste." He advised. "Few things are as vile as the taste of fear."
She followed his direction, allowing him to watch over her while she did.
"I'm sorry, about how I acted before." She told him as they started back down the hall. "It seems so stupid now. You're allowed to have limits and I shouldn't have been such a-"
"I got stabbed because I was sleeping in someone else's spot on the street." Hiei cut her off quietly. "My sister thinks I'm in a foster home. I don't like talking about it."
She glanced at him, then down at her feet as they walked. "Thank you for telling me."
He just nodded.
"You want to be a paramedic right?" Hiei asked her, and it caught her off guard. She stopped walking to gape at him. "It's not hard to tell. You knew he was dead the second you saw him, so did I. But to put your sister at ease you went through the motions. You checked his breathing and his pulse. You did it without even thinking about it. You'll be good at it, once you get more practice."
She blushed.
Her entire family had tried to talk her out of pursuing this. She hid it most of the time.
"So, how do you and Kurama know each other?" Hiei asked her and that added and edge to his voice that hadn't been there previously.
"I don't think we covered your relationship to the Takani twins."
Kurama studied the officer and then nodded. "I'm not as familiar with Kuya, honestly. But Amon-Shinpi, she has helped me with the greenhouse. We also have a few advanced classes together. We have similar interests, I've found."
"Is your relationship with Amon-Shinpi romantic? Some of the others have mentioned you two seem quite close."
Kurama flattened his expression. "No, we are not romantic. Far from it."
"What about her and your friend, Hiei?"
"I wouldn't know about that. You'd have to ask him."
"Kurama?" Shinpi blinked. "We hang out sometimes in the greenhouse."
"He's never mentioned you." Hiei told her.
"I'm not sure why he would." She pointed out. "Why do you ask? Are you trying to set me up with him?"
"What? No!" Hiei snapped.
They were just outside the classroom, and found just Yusuke and Kurama waiting for them inside.
"At least they killed everyone's least favorite teacher." Yusuke joked dryly, staring at the body on the floor. "See you in hell, asshole."
"I think it's pronounced Akashi." Shinpi corrected tensely. "Where is my sister?"
"She was quite shaken. I thought it would be best to send her back with the others for now. Kuwabara escorted her to the student council room." Kurama explained. "How are you?"
"I've been better." She rolled her eyes. "When are the police coming?"
"So, about that." Yusuke squinted at her. "The landlines are all dead too."
"What?" Hiei demanded. "What do you mean?"
"We tried like four rooms while you guys were in the bathroom. None of them have a tone." Yusuke shrugged. "And all our cells are the same. No signal."
"A jammer?" Shinpi wondered aloud, looking upward in thought. "It would have to be multiple to cover so much ground. That would mean there might be a weak spot. But why jam the cell signals?"
The sound of a door slamming spun them all around. Some banging followed and they all exchanged looks.
"Who was that?" Shinpi was the first to ask.
"Kuwabara and the girls leaving? Maybe they decided going straight to the police station would be better than waiting here. I told Kuwabara to stay with them." Yusuke suggested.
"No. Kuya wouldn't leave without checking in first." Shinpi shook her head. "How many people do we know for sure were in the building?"
"There were four of us in the student council room." Yusuke told her. "You, Hiei, Kuya and Kurama. So, eight?"
"Wrong." Hiei tensed. "There were ten people."
"The eight of us, Mr. Akashi and whoever killed him." Kurama swallowed after his announcement.
"We should go and check the door." Shinpi didn't move, despite her words. Her heart hammered in her chest. "Just in case Number Nine is waiting for us."