Oh cool, I managed to write and revise this chapter in time for today! Well, I managed to meet half my goal- I was originally wanting to get this and a chapter of WIOOP? done, but with me I guess half is better than nothing, huh?

Well, we'll get caught up on some more characters in this chapter- and more still to come next chapter. I figure it'd be best to touch bases on everybody before going to the actual plot of this story, you know what I'm saying? Oh yeah, and in this chapter we see a character from the show who I've never put in any of my stories but thought it might be interesting to, even if just for a minor role.

Jagamino
Chapter 2
December 25, 2005

"What do they have Takashi doing?"

"Busy work," Rikou answered. "He's filing a few things in the office right now; I think he was actually enjoying himself. What sort of punishment is that supposed to be? I mean, really? Sometimes I think this school's run by morons."

"Perhaps, compared to some people. Genius types like you and your brother and your- Ouch!" He'd spilt his coffee.

"And you," she said, tapping her fingers on a volume of the English writer Shakespeare while watching him pull up his now-stained sleeve and wipe coffee off his arm. "Even when you're a klutz and burn yourself. Don't sell yourself short, Kaito."

"You should really call me Mr. Kaito while in school, Rikou," said the aforementioned Yuu Kaito.

"And you should really call me Ms. Jaganshi-Minamino," she shot back at the literature teacher, rolling her eyes. "And that's another thing. I don't see why they still address us like that; they know Takashi and I don't answer to it."

"Which is why I don't," Kaito said. "Besides, Jaganshi-Minamino becomes a mouthful after a while."

"Yeah," she said, knotting her brows. "That too."

Kaito sipped his coffee. He knew that neither Rikou nor Takashi really cared about the length of their last name- they just didn't care much for the fame attached to it, especially here at the school. He remembered the first day the two had entered Meiou Institute, the buzz that circulated around the school that day about the offspring of the prodigious Suichi Minamino. Members of the faculty had sat about the teachers' lounge, eating their lunches and sipping their drinks and marveling at the brilliant minds churned out by that family's gene pool.

And then, naturally, there had been the lamentation about the fate of poor Suichi- the bright spark snuffed out too soon, everyone said. Many of the faculty had been teachers- or, in the case of a few like Kaito, classmates- of Suichi, and even now they were unwilling to fully accept how the prodigy's life had been cut short. Suichi, they all knew, had died of a disease that quietly destroyed his body on the inside over a time frame of mere months; he was only twenty years old. Rikou and Takashi were raised by Suichi's mother and step-father after their mother- whose background was an ambiguity at best- died in childbirth. A tragic end for someone so young, so great, so promising, they all said; a crying shame, they all said.

Kaito knew better, though, and never believed the half-facts revolving around Suichi's death. He knew that Suichi Minamino was in fact the fox demon Kurama reborn in human flesh. Fox demons, he came to learn, possessed a strikingly different reproductive anatomy from humans and most demons, and after Suichi's flesh was altered by the nonhuman energy that dwelt within, he was impregnated by his demonic companion Hiei. Hiei was cut down by a homicidal rogue from the Makai, and Suichi fell into a depression while his body housed and nourished the demons' children. Upon giving birth his family and friends learned that carrying the twins to full term had wrought upon his body a fatal toll, and that Suichi had known it the entire time.

Kaito's former class mate died in his mother Shiori's arms, a couple of days after the delivery, too weak to even sit up. Kaito lost contact with his friend, as he had been traveling abroad at the time, and did not learn of Suichi and Hiei's fates until he returned a few years later.

Of course, the true details of Suichi's death and his children's parentage were only known to a small number of people- how did one explain to the average person that the star of the Meiou Institute had been a millennia-old demon who died in childbirth?

Kaito's office door opened, and Rikou's brother Takashi entered. For being twins, even fraternal ones, the two bore very little semblance to one another, Kaito thought. Rikou's hair was black like Hiei's was, with streaks of an aqua color Kaito learned was displayed among Hiei's female relatives; Suichi had given her the same kind of emerald green eyes that he'd once used to watch people so inquisitively- a habit that had sometimes annoyed Kaito. Takashi had the same red hair that Suichi had possessed, such a vibrant hue that Kaito wagered most ordinary human beings would have to dye their hair to achieve the same color; like Hiei, Takashi was crimson-eyed- another odd color found not among ordinary human beings. Then again, Takashi and Rikou were anything but ordinary- or even human- another trait inherited from their parents. Kaito had once seen Rikou bring back one of his indoor plants from the brink of death simply by touching it, and before then it hadn't occurred to him that the two, like Suichi, weren't truly human at all.

"Done paying your debt to the athletic female population for today?" Rikou inquired.

Takashi snorted. "Yeah, make it sound so much worse than it is. This is nothing- and I'm kind of surprised, actually, given what I'm being punished for."

"Of course, that wasn't your fault," said Kaito dryly.

"Quite right," Takashi promptly replied. "A misunderstanding of insane proportions."

"Guess it helps to have connections within the system," his sister mused.

"Oh yeah. Thanks by the way," he said to Kaito.

The man shrugged. "You don't really strike me as the type who'd peek at girls changing."

"Thank you!" the redhead cried. "Somebody believes me- Hey . . . why wouldn't I strike you as that type, huh? You trying to insinuate something?" He donned a playful suspicious look.

"You were probably fine just by telling the truth," continued Kaito, ignoring Takashi's antics. "And I'd bet my library that your pedigree was taken into consideration."

"Terrific," Takashi muttered.

"Just like a celebrity," remarked Rikou, an impish expression taking over her face. "Brother, maybe you ought to take up swearing every other word or something."

"Ooh, yeah . . ." An expression similar to his sister's came over him. "Maybe I ought to start going around in my underwear all the time."

"Perhaps you ought to instigate a self-righteous religious following," offered an amused Kaito. "You could get away with making terrorist threats and gross acts of bigotry, and live highly while preaching humility, and be a hypocrite and a fraud and all the while be exempt from tax."

"Oh yeah," Takashi said. He closed his eyes and cleared his throat dramatically. "I come to you to preach God's words, and these are such: gays are by choice perversions of nature and abominations against our Father in Heaven; they are incapable of procreating more of their sinful kind, and so it is only logical that they recruit others into their sick, perverted lifestyle by adopting and corrupting young impressionable children; gays are responsible for the moral degradation of our society, they are a sickness that must be cured, their unnatural and sinful behaviors and desires and lifestyles must be repressed and corrected." He rolled his eyes and drew a breath before going on with his satirical act.

"Feminism encourages the destruction of capitalism, the murder of children by their mothers, and the practice of lesbianism; women who would dare to suggest that they can think for themselves and are not merely man's property and breeding stock are witches who seek to tempt men into damnation with their sly and seductive ways, and their only true consort is their master Satan. The mud-races are a product of bestiality; the wily Jew is using the dim-witted thuggish black as muscle against the true children of God . . . Come, true believers of our loving and inclusive God, and let us burn a cross, and abhor the sinners and abominations and perverts and temptresses and filth, for they shall never inherit the Kingdom-"

"Hey Mr. Satire," Kaito interrupted, as Takashi was such a convincing actor it was a little frightening. "Your boyfriend's waiting for you."

"Huh?" Takashi immediately abandoned his portrayal of a Christ-warper and gave Rikou a puzzled look.

"He's talking to you," she hissed.

"I am not his boyfriend," muttered Kenji from the door, glaring at Kaito. "We're going to be late," he said to Takashi.

The redhead nodded. "And he's not my boyfriend!" he exclaimed to the other two occupants of the room. "He's just a boy who happens to be my friend!"

"Lay off the coffee," muttered Kaito, Rikou, and Kenji as Takashi followed the purple-haired boy down the hall and out of sight.

"So where am I supposed to sleep?" Takashi demanded. "The floor?"

"Or the couch," Shiori replied mildly. "I would think it'd be more comfortable."

"Why can't he take the couch?"

"Because he's the guest," Rikou said. "And we have to be hospitable."

"Well if you're so into hospitality, you sleep on the couch and he can have your room."

"I think Suichi would be more at home in a boy's room," their grandmother said to him.

". . . Her room used to be a boy's room, or at least half," the redhead sniffed.

"Pretending to cry only works for girls, Takashi," Shiori said.

"Oh that's great!" He narrowed his eyes. "This family's so sexist!"

"It doesn't work for me either," Rikou countered.

"Only because you cry rocks," he snorted. "So we can tell when you're faking. Okay, how about this? Suichi takes my room, I take Rikou's, and she gets the couch? He gets a room that's not girly, I get a bed, and she gets to be hospitable. It's a win-win-win situation!"

Now it was Rikou's turn to snort. "You really think you could last all night sleeping in my room?"

"Uh . . ." Takashi took a moment to consider his sister's odd taste in furnishing and room decor, and what that might look like in the dark . . . "Never mind," he said after a moment. "I'll sleep on the couch, if that's my only option."

"Thank you for your cooperation," Shiori said, patting him on the head. "Now put clean sheets on your bed."

"They are clean," he protested, following her into the hall.

"I don't mean teenage boy clean," she called, going down the stairs.

Takashi shrugged, and then turned around and smiled at Rikou. "Hey, at least I tried, huh? That could have been the time."

"But wasn't."

"Unfortunately," he grumbled, marching down the hall to the linen closet. He glanced at the door behind which was a room claimed by nobody in the house yet inhabitance of was silently forbidden. Takashi called it the Taboo Room, and suspected that if his uncle Suichi hadn't moved out, he and Rikou would still be sleeping in the same room, as Shiori never let anybody stay in that room.

He donned a pitiful look. "You know what gets me though? She didn't even give me a night's notice so I could say good-bye to my bed properly."

Rikou shot him a Look. "I don't even want to know what that means," she muttered, walking away from him.

"Oh it's all about that with you!" he called after her. "Well you have a sick, sick mind, and that is not what I meant- Why do these always unfold!" he demanded as a fitted sheet came undone in his hands. Grumbling, he dragged the bedding back to his room and hastily made his bed, and then went downstairs. "What's for dinner?" he asked Shiori.

"A casserole," she answered.

"I see; and when will that be ready?"

"We won't be eating until your grandfather comes home with your uncle."

"Well, when are they getting home?"

"In about half an hour. And Kazuma and Yukina are coming over too."

Takashi groaned. "She'll eat all the food. At least let me dish up my share before that happens."

"You over exaggerate," she admonished. He raised an eyebrow at this, and Shiori faltered slightly. "Well . . . she has an excuse."

"Uh-huh." His stomach growled. He slumped over the kitchen table and stared at the clock. "If I told you I'm pregnant too, could I get my dinner now?"

"If you told me you were pregnant, I would go knock on Kenji Kazuno's door and demand to know what he's been doing with my grandson," she replied nonchalantly.

"Grandma, Kenji's not Takashi's boyfriend," Rikou said, joining them. "He's just a boy who happens to be Takashi's friend."

"Come on," Takashi whined, propping himself up on one elbow. "You are a cruel woman, you are, who would let your only grandson starve because his aunt ate his dinner!"

"Oh you poor thing," Shiori teased. "Now you're just being dramatic. And you'd better be careful not to say those types of things around Yukina, it might . . . well, set her off, and she's been weepy as it is lately."

"No, with me she's been smacky."

"All the more reason not to provoke her. Speaking of . . . could one of you answer that?" By "that," she meant the door, whose bell was currently ringing.

"Right-o," said Rikou, rushing off to the front of the house. She opened to door to reveal her aunt, uncle and little cousins. "Hello," she greeted, stepping to the side to let a swollen Yukina in out of the chill. "Is it raining?" she inquired, taking a whiff of the air and smelling moisture.

"Only slightly," Kuwabara answered, ushering the twins Yuki and Haku inside. "What's that saying, April showers bring May flowers?"

"But it's not April yet. Hey you two," she said to the pint-sized half-demon children struggling to get out of their jackets. "How old are you two now? Three?"

"Five!" the two shouted up at her. "You know that!" exclaimed Haku, rushing forward and trying to head butt Rikou. This had very little effect though, as both Yuki and Haku were still very little and only came to barely meet Rikou's thigh.

Rikou observed this impassively. "Aren't you concerned that this might hurt his head?" she inquired.

"Are you kidding?" Yukina asked with a smile. "That little guy's head is so rock-hard; I'd be more concerned for your leg. Haku, stop it already." Immediately the little honey-haired boy stopped.

"Wish I could get them to listen to me that well," grumbled Kuwabara.

"They've probably seen what she does to me when she's pissed!" Takashi exclaimed from the kitchen.

"Takashi! Watch your mouth."

"What?"

"Don't say that word," Shiori said.

"What word? Pissed? What's wrong with saying pissed?"

"Because I don't want you to say it," she told him, pulling a glass casserole dish out of the oven.

"You'd better listen to her, Takashi," Kuwabara said. "Or you'll have me to deal with," he added with a grin.

"When have you ever truly struck fear in the heart of anyone, Kuwabara?" the redhead asked, smiling wryly.

"Well . . . there was this uppity drag-queen wannabe once . . ." Rikou and Takashi laughed, knowing to whom he referred.

"I think Kazuya and Suichi just got here," Shiori said, glancing out the kitchen window. "Takashi, stay out of that! You can wait five more minutes."

"No, I can't!" he protested, stomach growling.

"Well do something to take your mind off it; help Suichi take his things to our room." Shiori stepped outside, followed by Takashi, and approached the two figures emerging from the car. "Hello, Suichi," she said, hugging her step-son. "How was your flight?"

"Which one?" he asked, smiling. "Fine; long. Hey, Takashi."

"Yes, hello. Give me your stuff." The redhead began grabbing luggage.

"Ignore him, he's just hungry."

"I hope you don't mind sleeping in Takashi's room," Kazuya said to Suichi.

"Where's Takashi sleeping?"

"Couch," Takashi answered.

"Well he doesn't have to do that," Suichi protested. "I could always sleep in-"

"Nonsense!" Shiori said. "Takashi doesn't mind."

"Takashi, do you mind?" Kazuya asked.

". . . Of course not," he replied, knowing that with Shiori around there was only one correct answer.

"Takashi, there's no way you can carry all of that." Suichi relieved his nephew of several articles.

"There'll be a plate waiting for you," Kazuya said to Takashi, who nodded and went inside.

"How was Haiti?" the redhead asked Suichi.

"Um . . ." Suichi made a face. "I got to see things that most of the tourists don't. I wouldn't want to live there. Ever. What about you?"

Takashi held up his hands. "I can honestly say that I know absolutely nothing about Haiti."

"That's not what I meant."

"I got beat up by a mob of angry half-naked girls a few days back."

Suichi blinked. "Uh . . . What?" he managed.

"It was Kenji's fault. Want to see my bruises?"

He heard the slight creak of the stairs as somebody crept downstairs. "You can sleep in my room if you want."

Takashi laughed. "Don't you patronize me. This is actually more comfortable then I thought it'd be."

"You sure?" Rikou asked.

"Yes I'm sure." He rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head. "Now leave me," he said lazily, making a gesture of dismissal with one hand. "I need my beauty sleep, and we all know too painfully well that you do."

"Hn." Rikou hit him over the head with a pillow and went back upstairs. She eyed a certain door on her way to her bed. "Waste of a room," she muttered. While her uncle Suichi slept in Takashi's room- Suichi's room when he was younger- and Takashi slept on the couch, there was a perfectly good room that went unclaimed by anybody living in the house. But nobody could ever stay in that room- Shiori silently forbid it. But Rikou could understand in a way; this room had a special meaning to Shiori.

It'd been their mother's room.

I don't know if anybody could guess that reference, but if anybody couldn't, Kuwabara was talking about the demon god Majari from the YYH movie. Sorry if anybody hasn't seen that and doesn't know who Majari is- it's okay, he didn't play too big a role so it's not as though you missed anything really major. But really, I was thinking about it, and Majari is the only opponent of Kuwabara's I can think of who by the end was terrified of what Kuwabara could do and not spitting insults and arrogance at him (even if Majari did do that at the beginning of their little fight).

Oh yeah, and for clarity- the whole celebrity underwear Christ-warper thing was making fun of people like Paris Hilton and Nichole Richie, Pat Robertson and the Ku Klux Klan- people like that. It's fun pointing out how stupid they all are.