Rinku's Night On The Town
Author's Note: I wrote "Officer, I'm Telling You I'm Not A Little Kid", the last sentence of which prompted me to write "The Kid's Not Mine", the last sentence of which has thus prompted me to write this. They are all one-shots, can all be read individually, but for the best result I recommend clicking onto my profile and checking out the three in order, but that is entirely up to you folks. If you have any prompts for me, I'm up to it. Thank you, and enjoy.
Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho and any of its recognizable characters are property of not me and should be recognized and respected as the rightful owner's. The only profit I claim is that of reviews.
Also, my respects to any family who has undergone the abduction of a child or family member. We've been devastated in Colorado, USA, to hear about the kidnapping, murder and dismemberment of a10 year old girl in the state.
For those who have not read the other stories, I present to you the line which started this one-shot:
"You big knucklehead. You're supposed to stay awake long enough for me to say that cute stuff. Maybe I should go with the cop guy, just to teach you a lesson."
And, just to clear a few things up:
Bludger – Used in New Zealand and Australia. Means: 1) a person who scrounges, 2) a person who avoids work, or 3) a person in authority who is regarded as ineffectual by those working under him (according to ). I always felt bad that I was using terms which I didn't know the meaning of.
Drongo – used as a slang term, not the bird, it means: a slow-witted person (an idiot). Again, courtesy of .
Chu awoke on a subway train. Or, rather, he woke up when the train suddenly jerked to a stop and threw him face-first onto the floor. That was going to go well with his hangover. Not.
"Say, what's the big idea tossing me 'bout like a bag of-?" he started, though the rest of the car was empty. Empty? Something about that made Chu stop and think. Damn his hangover! Empty...
"Rinku!" Chu exclaimed, running the length of the car several times before moving on down to the next car, and the next and on down the line. "Rinku! Bloody hell, where are ya bludger!?"
Several towns back from where Chu is
Rinku looked at each of the stores in turn as he shuffled down the sidewalk, his hands stuffed in his hoodie pocket. Autumn was moving in, and it had gotten quite cold and windy in the last half hour.
'Hmm... There's a clothing store, a coffee shop, an ice cream place and... Oh cool! It's an arcade!' Rinku thought. He pulled his hands from the singular pocket in favor of patting his pant pockets, looking for his money. Finding it, he pulled it out in all its crumpled glory. 'Twenty bucks... Yeah, that should be enough.' Looking around the strip mall again, he decided he would start with a warm cup of coffee.
The little bell at the top of the door tinkled cheerfully as he walked in, struggling slightly to shut the door against the rising wind. A sleepy-looking teen employee slouched halfway on the counter grinned and gave a soft wave upon seeing the boy.
"Hey, kid. How's it going?" the teenager asked. Rinku shrugged and offered an impish grin of his own.
"I'm okay. Thought I'd get some hot coffee – it's getting pretty cold out there."
"Yeah, looks like it. I mean, it gets cold in the fall, but man, adding that wind to it just makes it that much colder." the older male straightened, "So, what kinda coffee do you want?".
Rinku ordered and paid and then went over to the tables, choosing one near the window and leaning his head against it. He actually wasn't that cold – he'd spent how many months with Touya, training in Genkai's cave? He'd gotten used to colder temperatures. The teenager was right, though – the wind made things even colder. Again, he was reminded of his training with the two ex-shinobi, as well as Shishi and Suzuka, and of course Chu. 'Wonder how Chu is holding up?' he thought. He was startled slightly when the teenager walked up next to him and placed the coffee he had ordered on the table.
"Thank you." Rinku said, and the teen smiled softly and nodded before slowly making his way back over to the counter. Rinku glanced about the store a little more. It was a cozy store, and he was sure it was a great place to be when the weather wasn't so gloomy and grey, but right then he just really wanted out. He looked over at the teenager, and felt kinda bad for the guy. Rinku hadn't seen even one other person near the coffee shop. It made the would-be cozy atmosphere that much more bland in the gloom. No wonder the guy looked so tired – he was probably bored out of his mind.
"So, what's there to do around here?" Rinku inquired. The older kid looked a bit shocked that he had been spoken to, then leaned on one elbow in a way that Rinku knew he was trying to think.
"Let's see, for your age... Well, the arcade across the street has games for kids. Dunno if you're into reading a lot, but there's a bookstore a few buildings down. Besides that, there isn't much."
"Oh, okay. Thank you." Rinku said cheerfully.
"So what's up, anyway – you waiting for your parents or something?" the teen asked, clearly not wanting to be left in the quietness of the room and the thoughts that often accompany that silence. Rinku looked up at the guy, blinking a few times.
"Kinda. I was thinking about going to that arcade for a bit while I wait – do you know if they have a phone I could use?" The guy's face scrunched up in thought.
"I think they do. But if they don't, feel free to come back here and use ours, okay? There's some real weirdos out there and I don't wanna see your face on a missing persons add on the milk cartons. I'd feel terrible, little dude." Rinku smiled and promised to stop in before he left the area. Then he left the Rinku-deemed cool (if lonely) teen in favor of some fun. It had gotten dark, and it was colder than before, even if the wind had let up a little. The arcade was lit with a whirlwind of colors, almost like if Suzuka had hopped into one of Jin's tornadoes, and was wall-to-wall full of noise. Rinku grinned; this was gonna be fun.
The Highway Between The Last Town And Where Rinku Is At
"Bloody hell I'm gonna kill that little drongo..." Chu muttered, dragging his feet. He had gotten tired of getting off one subway, checking the town and getting on another bus a few hours ago. Just where the hell had the kid gotten off to? "Argh, I need a drink. I have any Ogre Killer? Hell it's cold out."
"Hey! You need a lift dude?" Chu turned to look at the guy driving the truck. 'Kinda scary guy for a human, what with the lazy eye and them giant muscles.' A look down the long road between towns decided for him.
"Sure mate, that'd be all right by me."
Rinku
"Yeah! Take that, you stupid zombies!" Rinku shouted, using a combination of strategic button-work and the flat-out favorite of any gamer, button-mashing, to defeat level 66 on a zombie apocalypse game.
"Wow, that kid's pretty good." said one onlooker.
"Yeah. Kinda wish he'd lose already though so we could play."
"Totally." The screen and a little light above the game started flashing and the speakers started chanting "Winner: Game Over" before going to a screen where Rinku could place his new top score. The arcade's owner walked over and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Way to go kid – you beat the game. Why don't you follow me over to the counter and you can pick out some prizes?"
"Yeah, all right." Rinku stated, following. "That game was starting to get pretty lame."
Rinku wound up with ten new yo-yos, a couple rubber balls and a small bag full of other cheap arcade prizes and candy. He looked out the window and, seeing as it was pitch black, began to worry. He thought for sure Chu would have found him by now. He glanced at the phone, which was out of order. 'Not like Chu has a cell phone anyway.' he thought bitterly, kicking a bit at the floor before heading to the door. He'd already been at the arcade for six hours, and had played practically every game at least once.
Once he was outside, Rinku saw the same teen from the coffee shop just locking the door and moving off to his car. He seemed pretty down about something, by the way his shoulders drooped and his head hung low.
'Poor guy, wonder what's wrong.' Rinku thought, crossing the street carefully. It was freezing cold now, but the wind had stopped.
"Hey." Rinku said quietly. The teen jolted a bit, startled. A few seconds later recognition sunk in and the guy sighed. He had taken off his work shirt, and had put on a black and grey striped jacket, though he store wore slightly torn blue jeans and black leather combat boots.
"Thought you had gone home by now kid. Where are your parents?" the guy seemed genuinely concerned that Rinku was still alone.
"Well, my actual parents are dead. I've been waiting for my fri-uh, guardian. His name's Chu." Rinku stated as he began digging in his prize bag.
"Well, do you at least know how long he is gonna be before he gets here?" Rinku shrugged.
"He'll find me eventually. He might've gotten sidetracked at the bar, or maybe he's chasing after women again." The older boy looked at Rinku like he had five heads, then coughed to clear his throat.
"Okay. Know anybody who lives around here?"
"Um... No, I don't think so. Oh! Here, this is for you." Rinku said, handing the guy a small stuffed black kitty that had candy in the belly compartment. The teen looked at the stuffed toy, perplexed, then started laughing softly, even a little bit brokenly. If Rinku noticed, he didn't think much of it.
"Thanks kid. It's cute."
"You're welcome. You kinda seemed down, so I thought you could use something cute. And you seem more like a cat person to me." The older boy smirked, also in a saddened fashion, then nodded his head.
"I used to have a black cat. His name was Kage. He, uh, just passed away not that long ago." the teen's face darkened in mourning, which was made worse due to shadows under his eyes and thick black eyeliner outlining those icy pools, and Rinku felt a pang of guilt.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to upset you."
"It's okay, kid. You didn't know. Seriously though, thanks for this." the older male indicated the cat plushie.
"No problem!"
"But what are we gonna do about you? I wasn't kidding earlier – there's some messed up guy out there abducting kids and- Well, I don't think I should go into detail about what he's doing." Rinku cocked his head to one side. Why was this guy so worried about him? Not that the teen knew he was a demon, but Rinku could definitely fend for himself. Still, he was in the human world now, and in the human world kids were very vulnerable.
"Well, I don't wanna bug you..." Rinku saw the teen's face fall even more as each word left his mouth.
"You're not bothering me, kid. You're just like how my little sister was." the teen's long, black hair had fallen in front of part of his face, having been released from the hair tie it had been in during the guy's shift, but it seemed like he was used to having it there. Rinku realized suddenly that maybe he was implying his younger sister had been a victim of the child abductor.
"Well, I don't think Chu will be too much longer..."
"All right. Any idea which side of town he'd be in?"
"Well, you see, I kinda left him on the subway..."
"You... left him?" the teen seemed perplexed by this.
"Yeah, well, he kinda deserved it, passing out when I was answering his question."
"... But, you like having him as a guardian?" the older male said the words carefully, as though he was trying not to judge when he didn't know the whole story.
"Oh yeah! Chu's lots of fun and treats me like his own son. But sometimes I think he needs to be reminded that I am a kid and that sometimes I just need to be a kid. He watches over me, but it's not always fun to sit at a bar with him and watch him 'chase skirts' and get whacked in the face by girls. Most of the time it's kinda fun, but I wanna do kid stuff sometimes, y'know?" Rinku explained. The teen nodded and gave Rinku a soft smile.
"You really do remind me of my little sister."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." The teen jerked his head in the direction of his car, "C'mon. Let's go look for Chu." Rinku hesitated for a moment – he knew it was a big red flag to get into a car with strangers. But the guy and his concerns seemed genuine, and at the very least Rinku had his yo yos to protect himself.
"All right."
On The Other Side Of Town
"Thanks for the lift, mate!" Chu called out, waving at the disappearing car of the guy who'd picked him up. He turned around and looked up the street.
'Le'see... Elfy and Icy live on this street in a... Crikey, what was the color of their house? Was it blue?' Chu thought, glancing about the neighborhood and trying to find something familiar. If the house was blue, like he thought, he only had three houses to check. Chu pulled out a flask and took a swig.
'Well, best be getting' on with it. Sooner I find the blokes, sooner we'll find Rinku.'
Meanwhile...
"Whoa! What do you think you're doing, kid? You can't bring a little kid in here! Hell, are you even old enough to be here yourself?" the bouncer exclaimed. The teen held up his hands in a harmless fashion.
"Sir, I swear, I'm just trying to help this kid find his legal guardian." The bouncer looked unconvinced. Rinku looked back and forth between the two, then ran over to the bouncer and tugged on his pant leg.
"He's telling the truth. Me and my guardian were, uh, separated on the subway. He's got a bad case of getting sidetracked where there's beer and women. I think it's A.D.D."
"Or he's just a horny bastard when he's drunk." the teen muttered under his breath, running a hand through his hair.
"Look kid, I can't let you in. There's stuff you can't see." The bouncer started. "But," the teen and Rinku looked up at the guy hopefully, "if you guys give me a description I can go take a look for him."
"Oh, he's easy to find! He's tall, has a blue Mohawk, has an Australian accent and can drink anybody under the table. And he's also likely to have been slapped by a few women, so you should look for red marks on his face." Rinku chirped happily. The bouncer exchanged a sidelong glance with the teen, who shrugged, then nodded his head.
"All righty. Be back in a minute."
When the bouncer came back and shook his head, the two made their way to the nearby liquor store, and asked the cashier if he'd seen somebody matching Chu's description.
"Actually, somebody like that was in here about an hour ago, asking about a little kid like you." The cashier pointed at Rinku, then eyed the teen suspiciously, "Though he didn't mention an emo teen."
"I work at a coffee shop on the other side of town. This little guy came in for a cup of coffee, then went to the arcade. When I got off work, I thought he'd gotten home until he popped up behind me. I'm Hinoko's older brother." The cashier's eyes widened at the statement.
"Katsume Hinoko ?" The teen nodded. "My apologies. No wonder you're shadowing the kid. My best wishes for you and your family."
"Thank you. It's been a tough couple weeks."
"Which way did Chu go?" Rinku asked after a minute. The cashier indicated which direction. "Thanks!"
Back With Chu...
"Bloody hell that old witch could hit!" Chu exclaimed, rubbing his jaw where the 'witch' had hit him. He'd knocked on the damn door, rung the doorbell, then pounded on it again. The door had opened, due to Chu having knocked so hard as to break the lock, and Chu had just assumed that it had been unlocked and that was a sign he should check who was home. He realized that was a bad idea when a baseball bat nearly cracked his skull open. The woman holding the bat was screaming at him to get out, thinking him a robber or rapist, and when Chu grabbed the bat to keep her from hitting him anymore, she had let go of the bat and sucker-punched him. He had quickly left the building.
The first blue house had been vacant, the second the crazy lady's... Chu stopped at the third blue house.
"Bloody hell, if there's another sheila in there hittin' half as hard as that one, I'm outta here and I'll find little Rinku myself!"
This time Chu just rang the doorbell. The door cracked open slightly, before the occupant threw the door open.
"Biggie!" Jin exclaimed, tackling Chu. Chu blinked.
"Thought that 'Biggie' was the name ya used fer that teammate o' yers." Jin shrugged.
"I call anyone taller than me 'Biggie'." Jin looked around, perplexed. "But where's yer lil' buddy Rinku?"
"Bout that, mate. Don't s'pose you an' Icy'd be willin' ta help me find the little drongo?" Jin turned around from his perch on top of Chu and yelled.
"Hey Toy! Biggie's done lost the lad and we needa find 'im 'fore tha' monster!"
"Monster? What monster, Elfy?" Chu asked, confused. Was there another demon about? One who was looking for trouble? Jin gave Chu a strange look, most likely because Chu had never called him 'Elfy' to his face, but was interrupted before he could say anything.
"There's a human on the loose who has been kidnapping, killing and sometimes mutilating the bodies of human children. How on Earth did you manage to loose Rinku?" Touya inquired, standing in the doorway with his arms crossed across his chest.
"Well mates, last night – well, I think it was last night - me and Rinku got bothered by this cop, ya see..." Chu started, right before the three started hearing sirens coming their way. "Bloody hell, is that comin' this way?"
"...Chu, did you happen to visit any other houses on your way to ours?"
"Yeah, s'matter of fact. That little blue one 'cross the street with the sheila who hits 'bout as hard as Rinku. And Rinku hits like the rest of us blokes."
"Oh no..." Jin complained, pulling on a snow cap to cover his horn and his sometimes pointy ears, "That one's trouble."
"Jin is right – she called the cops on us just after we moved in because she saw Jin's silhouette in the window once when his ears and horn were present."
"Eh, Toy? Think we can fill Biggie in later when the cops aren't trying to lock us in the clinky?"
"Very good point, Jin. Quickly – through the alley behind the house."
Rinku
"You know, some of this town is looking familiar..." Rinku stated, looking out the car window.
The Katsume brother glanced over at him.
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Do you know if a couple of guys live around here? There's Jin, who has an Irish accent and red hair, and then there's Touya, who is really quiet and has blue hair and aqua bangs."
"I think I know who you're talking about..."
"Do you know where they live?" Katsume shook his head.
"No, I don't." He pondered for a moment, grabbing his bottle of water from the center console of the car and taking a few swallows while the light was red. "Not that I really care, but I'm as curious as everybody else here – are they gay?" Rinku spun around and looked at the teen wide-eyed.
"...Actually, I'm not sure which way those two swing." Katsume nearly sprayed his windshield with water as he tried not to laugh at Rinku's response. He settled for handing Rinku the bottle and putting both of his hands back on the steering wheel.
"Okay... Do you want the heater on?"
"Yes please!" The two were startled as sirens started blaring and three cop cars sped past them. "Hey Katsume?"
"Hm?"
"Just a hunch, but why don't we follow those cops?"
"Please tell me you're joking."
"Nope. My friends are good guys, they just have rotten luck with people misunderstanding that."
"Dude, you hang with some weird folks." Rinku smiled.
"Yeah, but at least there's never a dull moment."
Ten minutes later Rinku was standing next to one of the cop cars, confirming with the lady cop that Chu was indeed his legal guardian and that they had accidentally gotten separated and that they had spent all day and night looking for each other. When the lady had gotten her answers she left Rinku to go over and stand with his buddies Jin and Touya while Chu was being questioned on the other side of the street.
"So ya left 'im on the train?" Jin asked, practically bouncing up and down in his excitement and blinking at the little demon in front of him. He had read between the lines as Rinku told the cop that he and Chu had lost one another on the subway.
"Mmm-hmm. He'll be fine. I just wanted to teach him a lesson."
"What did he do this time, Rinku?" Touya asked, leaning back against the wall of his and Jin's home with his arms folded loosely across his chest. They hadn't gotten far past the house because Chu had stumbled into Jin and both had wound up in a little ditch on one side of the alley. Rinku did a double-take when he thought he saw the creeping of a smile on the Ice Master's face, but he must have imagined it because Touya's face was watchful but otherwise blank. Rinku flushed in slight embarrassment.
"Well, I almost got taken away by a cop last night because he thought Chu was being a bad "parental figure" , or something else really lame. Chu knocked him out with a bottle of alcohol and then asked if I liked hanging around with him. And then the idiot fell asleep on me when I answered his question, and I had to lug him onto the train by myself! So now he gets a lesson." a heavy silence filled the cold autumn air as Jin and Touya exchanged glances, but was quickly replaced by the twos' laughter. Rinku tilted his head as he waited for the "adults" to stop chuckling.
"I told ya Chu had ta be havin' trouble with the cops, Toy!" Jin exclaimed as he tried to catch his breath. His words sent Touya into another fit, which Rinku wasn't sure if he thought was funny or scary. Finally, the Ice Master calmed enough to look at Rinku.
"We're sorry, Rinku. We had an issue of our own with a human cop a few weeks ago, and Jin had asked afterwords how much trouble I thought you and Chu got into with police."
"Oh. Usually not too much."
"So we see lad." Jin huffed with a grin. His smirk faded suddenly as he looked somewhere over Rinku, and Rinku turned to see what the Wind Master was looking at.
"Hey, Katsume! Thanks for all your help." Rinku said sweetly, rushing forward and hugging the guy's legs in that way only little kids can do. The teen smiled and nodded.
"No problem kid. Just, uh, try to stay out of trouble."
"Always!"
"Right. Well, if you ever come back this way..."
"We'll all stop in for coffee!" Rinku finished cheerfully.
"Rinku! Come 'ere ya little drongo!" Chu yelled. Rinku ducked his head and slowly scooted over to Chu. The towering Aussie glared at the little demon before crouching and pulling him into a tight hug. "Don'tcha ever do that ta me again! Thought I'd lost my lil' buddy!"
"'kay Chu." Rinku stated as best he could, being half smothered by Chu's vice-like hug.
"Chu, ya might wanna let the lad breathe..." Jin put in. Chu loosened his grip, but didn't let go. Then he saw Katsume, and stood.
"So, yer the one who helped lil' Rinku out, huh?"
"Yes. You must be Chu. Rinku has told me about you a bit." Katsume said, scratching the back of his head. Chu rushed forward and gave the teen a hug too.
"Right then, I'd say this calls for a celebration!" Chu exclaimed.
Midnight found the five guys down at the strip joint. With some very persuasive convincing on Touya's part, the bouncer had allowed Rinku in. The conditions being that Rinku would only drink soda and would sit with his back to the stage. Rinku had initially protested, but an hour later he was having fun looking to either side of him and watching his friends' faces. Jin's ears were going crazy under his hat, but Rinku himself could only tell because he was watching for the tell-tale twitches. Chu was doing his usual number of shouting, whistling and making lewd gestures while getting absolutely drunk. Touya and Katsume were both pretty quiet, but they both had a rosy tinge to their cheeks and did occasionally dog-whistle at the strippers, both male and female. Which brought back an earlier conversation.
"Hey Katsume?" Rinku whispered, since the teen was sitting closest to him on one side. The older male leaned down.
"Yeah, Rinku?"
"Were you asking if Jin and Touya were gay because you kinda like them?" Katsume blushed.
"Uh, well, kinda. I'm bisexual, and they aren't bad to look at. Just, don't tell them, okay?"
"Okay. Watch this though." Rinku said with a mischievous grin. Katsume frowned in worry.
"Hey Jin, Touya?" The two older demons turned in their seats to blink at the young demon.
"Yes, Rinku?" Touya asked, politely, but his eyes kept drifting back at the stage and whatever wonderful eye-candy Rinku wasn't allowed to see.
"So, we are all wondering – which way do you guys swing?" Jin and Touya's eyes widened to the size of saucers while Chu fell off his stool laughing. Touya was probably the more humorous, soundlessly gaping like a fish out of water. "What, it's not like we care! I just wanna know if you two are an item or are you looking? And if you are looking, it helps us hook you up if we know what you go for."
Three hours later Rinku felt that both of the ex-Shinobi were drunk enough that maybe this time he would get an answer.
"Jin and Touya – which way do you swing?"