Dee: Hello everyone, and welcome to the fic. I personally want to thank all those who have read and reviewed my other stories so far, as it really helped.
OD: Actually writing herself has inspired her to review other people's fics too.
Dee: This story takes place in the same world as "Death and Denial" and "Horrible Timing, it takes place sometime after "Horrible Timing", but before "Death and Denial" and, consequently, before the reader knows about demons, etc. OD: Keep in mind, the other stories do not have to be read to understand and/or read this one.
Dee: Just to avoid confusion . . . I do not own YYH.
OD: I highly doubt that help avoid confusion . . . ;
Dee: What ARE you talking about OD-Sama, if I didn't tell them that I didn't own YYH they would, naturally, assume I did.
OD: . . . --; You do realize your stupidity disgraces Kuwabara, right?
Dee: Anyway, this will be a One-Shot-ish fic, but as of now, it's not completely done, and rather than wait until then, I thought I would just get it partially "out" now.
OD: She's very impatient. If she doesn't finish this soon, I suggest you nag her, as it usually produces wonderful results . . . maniacal grin)
You smiled gently at Yukina, at this point, the ice-maiden looked incredibly confused. She softly tapped a button on the small machine in front of her, jumping when it made a small beeping sound. Gently smoothing her kimono (which had gotten a tad ruffled in her unexpected movement) she regarded the device warily.
You smiled again, landing a soft hand on her shoulder in reassurance. Yukina, once again, reached out, pressing the large button on the side of the Easy-Bake-Oven. This time, when it made a small beeping sound, she only paused momentarily. Had it been someone else, you would have mocked their wariness, but as it was, you found the situation incredibly funny. At this thought, your mind sobered, (as it had been quite drunk on pastries) from what Botan and Keiko had said, Yukina came from a place where there was no modern technology to speak of. It was only natural that she feared something unknown, even if that something was as harmless Easy-Bake-Oven.
Before you could continue this thought, or continue showing Yukina the wonders of mechanics, a loud crash sounded, practically shaking the temple off of its foundation. You soon afterward, heard a rather undignified, and very male, yelp, followed by a very agitated female voice that exclaimed a certain spirit detective▓s voice very loudly.
⌠Yusuke Urameshi!■ The voice continued lowering into an, almost, grumble. ⌠One of these days . . .■ Here Keiko▓s voice trailed off, most likely thinking fondly of what was going to happen, ⌠one of these days . . . ■
By this time, both yourself and Yukina had made your way to the front of the temple, presumedly to greet those making the noise. From what you could gather, Yusuke and Kuwabara had gotten into another one of their, seemingly constant, arguments, one that, of course, had escalated into physical violence. Unfortunately for them, they had, apparently, miss-stepped and fallen quite a way down the, absurdly long, staircase.
Due to the fact that Yusuke now had a rather vicious red hand print on his cheek, you assumed he had been lucky enough, or unlucky enough, to land at Keiko▓s feet, where he, naturally, had the perfect view up her skirt, one that he, obviously, took in. At this, you sighed, it was almost scary how much you knew these people.
A still furiously blushing Keiko, made her way up the rest of the stairs, to storm past both you and Yukina. The young koorime looked concerned and moved to follow her, but was stopped by your own arm raising in front of her. You shook your head, Keiko needed time to cool off before it was safe for anyone to approach her, even the innocent Yukina was not completely safe from her Yusuke-inspired anger.
You looked toward the two delinquents, now crumpled on the steps. Kuwabara, as soon as he had regained the ability to (partially due to the fact that Keiko had scared the living daylights out of him) began laughing incredibly loud, while pointing an obnoxious finger at the bruised spirit detective. This turned out to be quite the moronic idea, as the spirit detective in question, soon lunged at the still chuckling youth. You yourself gave a nervous laugh as you steered Yukina inside, and hopefully, away from the bloodshed. The plan had been to take Yukina inside, and hopefully, teach her more about modern conveniences, while the two bakas argued violently outside, and Keiko cooled off her, currently overheated, temper. Unfortunately, your plan never saw action as Yukina▓s movement had alerted Kuwabara to her presence. Almost as quickly as the fight started, it stopped, as Kuwabara, with hearts in his eyes and bright sparkles surrounding him, literally FLOATED to the ice-maiden▓s side.
Now, you had nothing against Kuwabara. While he was both moronic and cowardly at times, in the end, he always came through for those he cared about. He had a strict honor code, and while you didn▓t believe in the chauvinistic idea that girls couldn▓t fight, it was a very sweet, and honorable, thought. There had been times when you had believed that the loving teenaged boy would be good for Yukina, provided she actually realized his intentions. Despite the fact that you thought he was a decent guy, the fact that he could FLOAT (usually upon seeing Yukina) was a little disconcerting, and it never failed to creep you out.
Yukina, however, seemed not to notice this oddity, as she answered his many questions smiling happily. At this, Kuwabara blushed, and you felt a twinge of sympathy. The young man clearly loved Yukina, but she didn▓t seem to realize such an obvious fact. Briefly, you wondered where exactly she had come from. So far as you could tell, it had been a place isolated from the natural world, and judging by her social skills, there was no such thing as ⌠love■ ,or at least love between a man and a woman, there.
Before you could ponder further, Botan seemed to, almost magically, appear out of thin air. This, practically, gave you a heart attack, causing you to loose your footing. You felt yourself falling, your equilibrium becoming nonexistent as your balance waned. You instinctively shut your eyes as you braced yourself for what would, obviously, be a hard landing on several stairs.
After a few, incredibly long, moments of nothing happening, you hesitantly cracked open an eye, and met with a sea of black. Before you could study this new development any further, the black ⌠thing■ bracing you let go. You weren▓t falling as far as you had been, but it was still painful when your rump made contact with the cold, hard, cement steps. (Dee: They are cement, right? OD: What else would they be? Dee: Magical rocks, that keep the spooks out. OD: --; )
As soon as you had recovered from your, not so graceful, fall, and Botan had apologized several times, vowing to announce herself more often, (with Yusuke snickering in the background) you noticed Hiei had also ⌠magically appeared■. Had he been the one to catch you? It made sense, he was the only one wearing black, and the only one inconsiderate enough to, literally, dump you onto the unforgiving ground.
Your first natural reaction was anger, while he had stopped the worst of your fall, he had deposited you, roughly, afterwards. As quickly as it came, your anger, once again, dissipated. It was useless being angry with Hiei, just the fact that he had done anything at all to stop you from being scrambled said a lot. Not to mention, he had a temper himself, and if that worn kantana at his side, or inhuman speed was any judge, he▓d have no problems actually killing you, or at least maiming you sufficiently, something you▓d rather not go through.
The gang, however, didn▓t seem to share your fear of Hiei as they sent him various looks of questioning. (Kuwabara and Yusuke laughing out loud, taunting him for saving his ⌠girlfriend■ which of course earned them rather large bumps on their heads from Hiei▓s kantana) Hiei, after he was through beating the moronic human males, glared before answering the unasked question:
⌠Hn. The baka onna▓s blood would have stained the steps. The stench would▓ve been, both, unbearable and impossible to get rid of.■
At this you barely withheld a wince, you, of course, knew Hiei didn▓t really care about your well being, and had probably only stopped himself from killing you for Yukina▓s sake, but hearing him say it in such a cold and definite way, hurt. You had grown close with the odd group of friends since Shuichi▓s birthday, beginning to think of them like a second family, but Hiei still maintained a stubborn distance. You had, at first, been afraid that you had done something to offend him, or otherwise irritate him. You had talked with Shuichi, who▓d explained that had you irritated Hiei, in any fashion, you would▓ve known by now, also outlining the fact that, Hiei wasn▓t a very emotional person by nature, that it was doubtful that anyone could ever get him to ⌠open up■.
Since then, you had accepted, to the best of your ability, Hiei▓s rude and anti-social tendencies, as a part of his personality. That did not, however, mean you liked them. You were brought back to yourself by the, obviously fake, cough employed by Botan to halt the conversation from going any farther.
⌠Koenma-sama needs you to, uh . . . ■ Here she trailed off, casting a wary glance at you. ⌠... Run some errands for him. It▓s very . . . important, that his, uhhh, packages get mailed right away.■ She ended with a chipper smile, obviously proud of her cover story.
You, yourself, ignored the fact that she was lying, long ago you had given up finding anything about their mysterious ⌠boss■. (Though there had been a time when you were certain he was the leader of a crime and/or drug-trafficking ring.) The ⌠gang■ had all expressed suspicious manners, abilities, histories, and of course employment since you had met them. (All of which you ignored purposely.) You didn▓t want to be involved, and though there were times you thought it would be a whole lot easier if you never saw any of them again, you stayed, and worried, constantly.
Yukina, Keiko, (who had since come out to see what the ruckus was) and yourself, said your goodbyes, and wished them luck both with ⌠mailing■ the ⌠packages■, and with finding Kurama, so that he might help ⌠mail■ said ⌠packages■. At this you sweat-dropped, once again they were lying, but with a sigh you regained your composure. These were good people, if they were hiding something from you, it was probably better off hidden.
Keiko looked toward you, her eyes sorrowful and face tight with carefully restrained emotion. She seemed to be giving you these looks more and more frequently, and you could understand why. From what you had meticulously gathered about the tantei's jobs, they were dangerous, and something Keiko didn't entirely approve of.
(Dee: Wow, I wonder if you'll forever remain in self-inflicted denial? OD: Self-inflicted? If I remember correctly, you are the author of this story, and as such it was you who inflicted the self-inflicted denial on the readers.
Dee: Anyway, I know I said this would be a one-shotish fic, but currently, making it chaptered seems to make a lot more sense.
OD: She hopes to satisfy more impatient readers this way.
Dee: I also said this fic would be updated soon, and it will, but not as soon as I would have liked due to a certain "band teacher" of mine.
OD: She averages four hours of "summer band" practice a day, which all occurs during "peak hours", times when she is most available and/or inspired to write.
Dee: Anyway, I have parts of the next chapter finished, but I wanted to know if anyone had a preference? Would you prefer I update quickly in somewhat incomplete installments, or would you be more partial to waiting until said installments were finished before I posted them? OD: As always feedback is nice, but please make it detailed:
(The Perfect Review)
How did you feel about the reader's (your) attitude? Is there anything that could be improved or made more realistic (feeling-wise)?
Did you notice any OOC-ness? If so, where and how? Do you have any tips on fixing this problem?
What do you want to happen?
Would you like this fic to have more romance/drama/angst/humor in it? Why? How so?
The Big Ringers (that applies to all of these connected "one-shots"):
In the end (should I ever get to it) who do you want to end up with? Hiei? Kurama? No one? Why?
Would you prefer if I stuck to one guy? (Ex: all fics, while some do feature Kurama, are YouxHiei-centric, or the other way around: all fics, while some do feature Hiei, are YouxKurama-centric) Or would you like it if I had romance with both Hiei and Kurama until the very end?