"I hate my job, I hate my job, I hate my job…"
"Shut up. At least you're gettin' paid."
"Yeah, man. How do you rope us into this every single time?"
Summer for the Spirit Detectives, and so far no one was having fun. The Dark Tournament had ended some months ago and, bored, Yusuke had ventured into the work force. If you could label shelving books at the library as such. Determined not to go down alone, he brought Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei to work with him every chance he got. And, less frequently, got them to do his job for him. Today all four were spread out among the shelves of the empty library. Thus they could afford to shout complaints to each other across the room.
"Ah, can it!" Yusuke told Kurama and Kuwabara, "Like you got somethin' better to do."
"Yeah, we'd all be at my place playin' Halo 2," Kuwabara told him, "Not that it's much fun without your ass to kick…" he added quieter.
The book missed his head by an inch.
"Knock it off or you're all fired!" the librarian shouted from the front desk.
"You two are always whining," Yusuke said, "I don't hear Hiei complaining."
"I don't hear Hiei at all…" Kurama said worriedly.
"What are you doin', Little Man?" Yusuke called above the shelves.
Hiei, at the very back, was brought out of his own mind and into the real world once more at the sound of his name. He glanced at the stack of books on the ground beside him he hadn't put back yet, and then looked up in the direction of Yusuke's voice.
"What?" he called back.
Kuwabara leaned from his aisle to see the little demon better. "Have you heard anything we've said?"
"Is he back there reading again?" Yusuke called angrily, "I'll kick his ass!"
"I think I've read this same call number twenty times now…" Hiei muttered.
"What's wrong?" Kuwabara asked.
"I got a headache." Hiei said, making room on a shelf for one of the books from his pile.
"Really?" Yusuke asked incredulously.
"Yes," Hiei said, "Why is that so surprising?"
"I…don't think I've ever heard you say that before," Yusuke said, "I guess I always just figured you never got 'em. Not that that's very realistic though…"
"I used to get them all the time," Hiei said quietly, "Early on, right after the implant. But I just ignored them and eventually they stopped."
Yusuke glanced toward the door to make sure his boss hadn't overheard. Not that it mattered; she already knew there was something odd about her four 'employees'. She just couldn't figure out what.
"Is that what it is?" he asked.
"No, this is more like a I'm-really-tired-and-don't-want-to-be-here-right-now headache," Hiei growled.
"Quit readin' call numbers, then," Yusuke told him, "It won't help. Go hang out with Cheryl. We're almost done."
Reluctantly Hiei added his remaining books to Kuwabara's stack, and went up and sat behind the desk with the librarian. She smiled at him and ruffled his hair. He tried not to snap at her.
But Yusuke was wrong. Not having the numbers dance in front of his eyes didn't help. Not even after they all went home.
The headache didn't go away.
