1- Sightings
I have no comments on this one…just brace yourself for some insanity.
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"Honestly…three days to finish this stupid assignment…and I've even got massive projects in all of my other classes to deal with…" Kuwabara complained, sifting through textbooks and folders on the table at the café. Kurama blinked in surprise at the sight as he walked over from the door.
"Doing homework, I see." He said lightly, sitting down.
"Stressing over homework…" Kuwabara corrected, packing everything up and giving up. "I give up for now…"
"I'm surprised you're even trying." He joked. It really was a surprise to see Kuwabara doing homework.
"Shut up." He sighed, shoving the books and folders into his bag. Kurama heard the door open and saw Yusuke coming in, looking no worse for the wear.
"Hey…" Yusuke sat down, sighing. "I really hate college…I've got absolutely no free time the weekend between massive homework assignments and going out with Keiko."
"Wow…" Kuwabara muttered sarcastically. Hiei walked in and sat down silently beside Kurama.
"What are you all talking about this time?"
"Kuwabara's actually doing homework…and we're otherwise talking about school." Kurama answered lightly.
"It's a pain in the ass…" Kuwabara complained. "I'm so busy with school and shit lately I don't have time to spend with Yukina…"
"Not my fault. Hell, some days I wish I was that busy." Yusuke joked. "I'm kidding, but still…you haven't mentioned anything about school, Kurama." He shrugged.
"That's because I find it enjoyable." And tedious, but mostly enjoyable.
"…Lunatic." Kuwabara muttered. He sighed and rammed his leg into Kuwabara's shin. "Ow! What the hell was that for?"
"Here we go…" He shook his head a little. "No reason to answer."
"Seriously. There's no point in answering. He's just stupid enough to say it again." Yusuke said with a shrug. Kurama sat back, anticipating an argument.
"You calling me stupid, Urameshi?"
"No…I'm calling you a complete and total moron." Yusuke retorted. Hiei sighed.
"Wonderful…it starts again." Kurama shook his head slightly as the argument set in.
"I'll be going." He got his tea in a to-go cup and left the café without another word. He headed down the road, heading back to the college dorms. He heard a hissing sound and looked down, stopping dead in his tracks. Someone nearby screamed as the cobra at his feet lunged at his ankle and sank its fangs in. He promptly collapsed.
XX
"I'll leave you two to argue." Hiei sighed, following Kurama's example immediately after he left. He stepped out and heard someone scream. He looked over to see a crowd gathering about a meter or so down the road towards the college.
"Someone call an ambulance! That kid looks like he needs one." He frowned and walked over to find out what happened.
'Back off and give him some space, you idiots!' A loud voice went through his mind, though it was real enough as though he'd heard it with his own ears.
"What on earth…?" His frown deepened and he shoved his way through the crowd to see what exactly was going on. He saw Kurama on the ground, looking pale and sickly.
He looked like he'd passed out even as he was positioned as though asleep with his head on his school bag. A girl seemed to be treating a wound on his leg, an impossible amount of hair tumbling over her shoulders and fanning out on the ground behind her. Even though he was more focused on what happened to Kurama, he noticed almost every detail of the girl's features. Her skin was lightly tanned, like someone that spends a lot of time underwater during the summer, and her eyes were like the night sky on a New Moon.
He shoved into the space opposite her and crouched beside Kurama. "What happened?" He asked the girl.
"S-Snake…" Kurama started weakly. The girl shushed him, making a strange hissing sound as she shook her head at him.
'He was bitten by a King Cobra. An ambulance has already been called. Please, help me get his heart elevated.' The light voice from before sounded in his head and he started. He figured it had been the girl speaking, but she hadn't moved her mouth.
"W-Who are you?" She looked at him like he was an idiot.
'Diluviare Serena. Please stop getting distracted. Your friend's life is on the line here.' She responded, once again in his mind and not moving her mouth. He nodded dumbly and moved to lift Kurama's torso as she'd instructed. An ambulance arrived just then and a girl jumped out of the back before it fully stopped, barking out orders.
"Hey, Useless! Get parked and get yer arse out here to help!" Serena shook her head slightly and made an amused sort of clicking sound. "Imagine runnin' into you here, Diluviare." The EMT said lightly, tugging a gurney easily out of the ambulance. The other EMT joined her and helped her get Kurama onto the gurney; though Hiei guessed she probably would have been able to pick him up on her own. He gasped in pain when they touched his leg, but otherwise remained limp. Serena shook her head slightly and stood.
'I've cleaned his wound and done everything humanly possible without hospital assistance. I also killed the snake before it got away.' The EMT nodded slightly.
"Thanks for that, Diluviare." She said lightly. "Symptoms indicate it was a cobra…either of you wanna ride there? I've gotta get some info on him on the way." Yusuke and Kuwabara showed up.
"What happened?" Serena shook her head and turned to them.
'I know nothing about him. Are the two of you friends with him?' She asked.
"Yea." Kuwabara answered. Serena nodded slightly and looked at Hiei. He stiffened a little.
'I'll tell these two what happened. Surely you know enough about your friend to go along?' He nodded once and climbed into the ambulance behind the EMT and Kurama.
"Okay then…punch it!" She swung the doors closed as the vehicle went into motion.
XX
Yusuke sighed as he sat in the ER waiting room, it was getting annoying how long it was taking for Hiei to come out and tell them what the hell was going on. And Kuwabara wasn't helping in the least, sitting there tapping his foot impatiently.
"Damn…I hate waiting…" He groaned, leaning back in his seat. Hiei finally came out just then and motioned for them to follow. Yusuke got up and dragged Kuwabara after Hiei by the ear. They made it to a room and went inside.
Kurama was unconscious, but his color was back to normal. Looked like the doctors did their job just fine. It was still pretty bad that Kurama was in that state. Yusuke sat down heavily in a chair.
"Damn…" Kuwabara said, sitting down as well.
"Makes you wonder how long they're going to keep him…"
"Until he's able to walk without assistance." Hiei said, sitting down by the window. Yusuke leaned back in his seat.
"Figures…that girl Serena said that he was bitten by a King Cobra. Those things are pretty bad…not the worst, but still pretty bad."
"Wait a second…Cobras are native to North Africa…aren't they?" Kuwabara asked stupidly. Yusuke nodded a little.
"Yea…that's what's strange about this." He mused.
"Eight people went through the ER before we got here; all were bitten by venomous snakes not native to this area. After we got here, there were four more." Hiei said flatly, looking out the window.
"Damn…" They all looked at Kurama to see him waking up, his eyes fluttering open weakly.
"Mornin'." Kuwabara said lightly. Yusuke sighed and smacked him over the back of the head. Kurama sat up, laughing slightly.
"How long was I out?"
"About two hours." Hiei answered.
"Wow…I didn't get to say earlier, because Serena shushed me. There are more…" They all sighed.
"We know." They said at the same time. Kurama blinked in surprise.
"Oh…okay then."
"This is also a bad time to mention that you're ophidiophobic." Hiei said bluntly.
"Right…" He leaned back against the pillows. Someone knocked on the door, drawing their attention. Yusuke frowned a little, wondering who the hell would actually knock on the door. Everyone that would want to chat with Kurama—except his family—was already there, and nurses hardly ever knocked.
Kurama winced a little. "Come in." He said. "Great…now I've got a headache…" The EMT from before came into the room, holding a cell phone out.
"One of you guys named Yusuke?" Yusuke frowned and stood up.
"That would be me…" She nodded a little, looking aggravated.
"Is your cell phone on vibrate or dead? Trust me, I'm not asking for personal benefit." He frowned deeply and checked his phone.
"I must have forgotten to take it off vibrate…" He gasped at the fact that he had three missed calls from Keiko. "Shit…Keiko's gonna kill me…"
"Use my phone. She's already on the line." She held out her phone to him. He took the phone and stepped outside the room.
XX
"…How do you know Yusuke's girlfriend?" Kurama asked. He recognized the girl as the EMT who'd been in charge when he'd been picked up by the ambulance, but he couldn't figure out how Keiko would know a nurse well enough to have her number.
"Sociology and Trigonometry." She said bluntly. Like that explained it? "She's lucky she called me before I left for class. I was heading over here anyways. Good to see you awake, Fox Boy." He frowned, surprised. Did she actually know that he was a demon somehow? "Oh. The name's Hoshiko. Nice to meetcha, Kurama." He sent a glare at Hiei.
"What? I gave your human name." He defended himself and Hoshiko smirked.
"I could tell you were a fox demon. And you're the only fox demon that I know of with a Yoki intermingled with human Reiki." She shrugged. "Anywho…once the Grease Monkey gets back with my phone, I'm heading out. Just checking in." Yusuke came back in, sighing.
"Thanks…" He handed the phone to Hoshiko and she grinned.
"No problem. She called me thinking that you may have been the one carried off in the ambulance." She laughed slightly, sticking her phone in a pocket. She seemed to be pretty good friends with Keiko, despite only knowing her through two classes. "Took me forever to get it through her head that no one with your name have been brought in. Oh…you guys work for Koenma, right?" Yusuke's eyes went wide. How did this girl know so much? She seemed like a normal human girl.
"W-What makes you say that?" She sighed.
"Let's see…Botan described the group…in my own words, mind you, an idiot, a shrimp, a punk, and a fox. You four fit that description." Rude little minx, that one. Did she have no sense of self-preservation? She was in the same room as three demons and a human with decent skill with Reiki…was she purposefully testing her luck with rude comments?
"If you're delivering a message for them…" She gave Yusuke a glare that Kurama figured would not only curdle milk, but turn it into sour cream.
"I am, but if you interrupt me, Grease Bucket, you'll be in the ER with a worse looking face than that one." She jabbed her thumb in Kuwabara's direction. "Anywho. The runt wants you guys to look into the whole snake thing. There's something really off about the whole situation. And that's comin' from me, not the runt. He just had this look on his little face that said he was itching to watch you make a fool of yourself…" She shrugged.
She was officially insane. Only an absolutely crazy person would talk like that about a situation like this. Yusuke was dumbstruck, hell so was Kurama. "Everyone's entitled to an opinion. He gets that look when he asks me to do shit too. Not that I ever do any favors for him…" She sighed and turned. "Well. I've done my job. Gotta get to class. And…word of advice, don't worry Keiko-chan like that, Grease Bucket." Her voice had a hint of a threat in it as she left the room. It left a bad taste.
"…Wow." Kurama commented. He was shocked by her behavior. If she 'could just tell' that he was a demon, then she had to have known that Yusuke was a demon as well.
"Dang Urameshi…" Kuwabara laughed.
"Really? Keiko just bitched me out for not answering her calls and then that chick bitched me out for worrying Keiko? Damn I'm screwed…" It was extremely strange in Kurama's mind. She was obviously hiding something. He started, belatedly sensing something in the room. Was that…Yoki? And not Hiei or Yusuke's, it would be stronger than that.
Why was a demon posing as a human nurse in college?
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Yea, this one's gonna be crazy if you couldn't tell already.