Eat A Little Dirt
Chapter 6
"Kami, you look like Hell," Meg stated, giving Kameko the once over as Kameko moved into the yard at school after the final bell chimed for the day. Kameko glanced over at her friend, wishing nothing more than to point out how her friend pointed out the obvious. Not only did Kameko look like Hell appearance wise, but also she felt like Hell took her through the grand tour. Her muscles ached from top to bottom, from deltoids to the gastrocnemius. She woke up two times last night from her calf muscles tightening from exertion— one Charlie Horse per calf. It was not pleasant.
And now she had to hear Meg's crap about not looking appealing.
"I didn't sleep very well last night," Kameko answered as the two of them walked to the sidewalk outside of their school. Kameko half hoped Meg would ditch out and go skipping out to her freshly cleaned car, whisking away with some excuse about homework. Kameko would be homeless if she bet on how many times Meg did her homework.
"So there's a rumor floating around about you, Kameko-Chan," Meg stated, smirking in that fashion that read she knew a dirty little secret. Kameko looked up at her in curiosity as she leaned against the fence surrounding the schoolyard. Her muscles gave a creak that made her have to hold in a cringe. "Want to guess what it is?" Meg teased.
"No, just spill it," Kameko stated, not bothering with theatrics. She desperately wanted to go home and sleep another few hours.
"Is it true you went to the Kuwabara place over the weekend?" Meg asked. Kameko raised an eyebrow.
"What's the 'Kuwabara place'?"
"It's really far out of the city and its one trait is this long staircase. People say it's haunted by this old witch who scares people off," Meg stated, grinning with excitement. "But they say that it's owned by her grandson, a guy named Kuwabara Kazuma, and rumor has it is he's weird, full of voodoo and witchcraft and demons. The guy's a nutcase!" Meg started laughing and Kameko had to utter out a chuckle as she nervously glanced to her left.
"I don't know what everyone's talking about. I wasn't at that place during the weekend," Kameko answered, shrugging. Meg looked sharply at her.
"Then where were you?" she asked. "Because I know your parents think you were at my house, which you weren't, but I heard from a trusted birdie that you were at the Kuwabara place. Don't make me have to stop being friends with you, Kameko-Chan." Kameko stared over at Meg before standing up, hoisting her backpack higher up on her shoulder.
"I have to get going, Megumi-Chan. I have a lot of homework to do," Kameko stated as dully as possible. Meg gave her a precarious look. "I'll call you…sometime." Kameko forced her legs to move as she began to walk down the sidewalk, heading back to her foster parents home. She pocketed her hands and sighed deeply.
She didn't know anything about this whole Kuwabara folklore. She certainly didn't meet anyone named Kuwabara Kazuma while she stayed up at that place with the others; and they didn't mention anyone by that name. But then again, would she have cared if someone told her this folklore before she went? Probably not, she thought as she tilted her head up to stare up at the sky of bright blue and dotted clouds here and there. There was a gentle breeze that lifted her blonde hair to tickle the back of her neck.
Kameko wasn't sure what she believed in. The only demon she'd seen is the one that attacked her at the hospital; none after that. Urameshi and Kurama warned her that her name was being spread upon the Makai (or demon world) that she was the new recruit for the Reikai Tantei gig— although she was still a bit iffy on that whole subject.
But before she could think anymore on the rather touchy subject, she heard a piercing scream shoot through the skies. She stopped and looked over, frowning as her hands involuntarily removed themselves from her pockets. She took a step toward the sound and hesitated.
What if it was just some kids playing and one got a little loud on the scream there? Or what if it was a human issue that she hadn't been training for the past couple days to stop? She was to be a Reikai Tantei (possibly), not a police officer.
Then the scream pierced the sky again and she found herself running, despite the exhaustion that started to scream at her. She just kept running until she came to the source, which was a few blocks down and in a strangely dark alleyway, where a seemingly dead body was lying on the ground with a gangly, scaly creature hovering over it and making weird noises.
"Hey!" Kameko yelled, for no particular reason than to draw it off of the victim. She hadn't thought of the plan after that, however. And when the nasty scaly creature that reminded her strangely of a cave goblin turned around and his sharp pointed teeth glared at her instead of its original victim, she realized she lacked a plan of action for this scenario.
"Oh, and who do you think you are?" the creature stated. Kameko gulped down the sudden cowardice feeling that crept up her spine.
"I-I'm Kameko," she sputtered out like some dog with its tail between its legs. Even the creature recognized the stutter and started to laugh, slapping his knee in enjoyment. Kameko pursed her lips in irritation.
"So you're what the Makai has been talking about?" he laughed out, pointing his clawed finger at her. "You're Urameshi's replacement?! Ha Ha! Even I have more spirit energy than you do, pathetic human!" He continued to laugh and Kameko wished nothing more than to rewind time, maybe crawl into a dark hole and cry about her disease of being pathetic.
She could see why she was being labeled as pathetic. Who the hell signals their opponent with a 'hey' to gain its attention? That was completely stupid and now she was being ridiculed for it.
She rolled her eyes and instead of commenting, she charged forward. The creature kept laughing until she aimed an uppercut to his jaw— and connected! — And he flew back, landing hard against his back. She stared down at her hand in amazement, truly amazed she was able to land that hit, for once. She started to smile but felt an equally strong punch to her jaw, almost causing her head to spin around in a circle. She stumbled back, landing hard against the nearby dumpster. It clanged against her head and her ears began to ring as she struggled to stand, tripping over her own feet as the creature grabbed her hair, lifting her up and aiming another punch to her gut.
She gasped for breath, twisting and shoving her elbow into his gut. He grunted and released her hair, so she turned on the balls of her feet and aimed for his head, but instead she stumbled to the left, almost falling against the concrete wall. 'Kami be damned for giving me the curse of the klutz,' she chided in her head as the creature began aiming punch after punch at her.
Kameko blocked as best as she could, but a few landed hard against her and caused her to lose her step— which earned her more punches in places she couldn't block fast enough. She tried to fend off the creature, but after a while her blocks were always a second off. She couldn't move fast enough and she felt the stings of frustration burning in the back of her eyes. She tried to maneuver out and away, but the creature reached out too quick and grabbed her around the throat.
"Although killing you won't gain me any status, it will give me more satisfaction than killing that pathetic human on the ground," the creature snarled, pulling her face close to his. She tried to squirm, but he had too strong of a grip. She was starting to feel the beginnings of air loss and she gasped for breath; the creature's grasp tightened against her throat as he shoved her hard against the wall behind her. Her vision blurred out and she tried kicking out, but they were love taps against the solid mass of the creature.
'Wow, some Reikai Tantei I'll be…can't even defend myself against a goblin on my first demon fight. Sorry, Urameshi…guess your boss picked the wrong person,' she thought as her eyes started to roll back.
"Hey, get your ugly hands off my pupil, asshole!"
Kameko felt air immediately fill her lungs and she gasped inward, looking up with a blurred vision to the scene that was unfolding. Urameshi was standing at the alleyway with a smug look on his face that really did suit him. He slid his knuckle across his jaw line, smirking as the creature began to back away.
"U-Urameshi, you're…you're retired!" the creature shouted, pointing a finger in Yusuke's direction.
"That may be true, but I like to kick demon ass on occasion," Yusuke stated, chuckling. Kameko was starting to regain her vision, but she felt a pain when she breathed inward. She pushed herself up and steadied herself as Yusuke went to take a step forward.
"No!" she shouted. Yusuke— and the demon —looked over at her in confusion. "I've got this handled." Kameko shoved off the wall and used her momentum to slam her fist toward the demon, which was easily dodged. Kami, she was so worn out!
She felt a hard blow to her chest and she flew back, landing just at Yusuke's feet; he peered down at her with a raised eyebrow. Kameko gritted her teeth and pushed herself up, reaching up to gain leverage. She stood to her feet shakily and stared over at the demon. "I can do this," she mumbled. She took a step forward and aimed hit after hit.
The demon seemed to easily dodge her hits and push aside her miniscule punches. She wanted to defeat this opponent, her very first opponent. She would not succumb to its meager strength. She was not a weakling, damn it! She wasn't a damsel in distress!
Bam!
Her eyes saw stars and she felt nothing more before another hard slam to the ground against her upper back. She grunted and moved to her side, coughing up a wad of blood. She looked over and struggled to lift up the upper half of her body before her elbows felt like giving out.
"Are you done being a punching bag, yet?" Yusuke stated. Kameko looked up at him with hateful eyes as he sighed, turning to the demon. "Either run back to the Makai and stay there, or I'll just have to kick your ass," Yusuke stated to the demon, dismissing Kameko's glare on his back. He cared little about what she was thinking at the moment. To him, she was being stupid and now he had to clean up after her.
"If I go back to the Makai, I'll be a laughing stock," the demon stated. "Killing you will gain me the status of an S Class!" The demon roared out and Yusuke didn't budge for a while. Kameko's eyes widened as she watched a blue smoke-like substance wrapped around Yusuke's fist. It glowed magnificently and Kameko was captivated.
When the demon was a few feet away, Yusuke pivoted back and arched his arm back, raising his fist back. He raised it forward and his fist collided with the face of the demon like a sledgehammer. The demon screamed out as the blue light made a slight ringing noise before exploding against the demon's face. The demon's scream made Kameko's stomach churn as it fell to its knees, without a head, and its body slumped to the ground.
Yusuke turned to her with a glare plainly written on his face. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Yusuke stated, not bothering with helping Kameko up as she struggled to stand. "You couldn't even do the basics this past weekend and now, you think you're ready to take on a demon! Kami, I know it was a mere D Class, but they still have more strength than humans."
"Well, I thought I was handling it just fine," Kameko snapped, glaring over at him. Yusuke scoffed.
"Better put that ego away, Rivers," Yusuke stated. "You need to learn your limits and not rush into something. Eventually, I won't be there to save your ass." Kameko scoffed.
"Then next time, just let me be killed off," Kameko snapped, glaring over at him as she began to hobble away the best she could.
"I just might next time!" he shouted at her.
Kameko kept the scowl of hatred on her face the entire walk home. And she hated to admit to herself that her hatred wasn't pointed toward Yusuke; it was pointed toward her own self. She would never openly admit that Yusuke had been right; she had bitten off more than she could chew. She was so ashamed of herself at the fact that she had to be saved and she lashed out against the person who took the time to save her pathetic life.
'I'm so stupid… Why couldn't I just thank him and leave in good tidings? No, I had to allow my ego get in the way in the midst of my defeat,' Kameko thought as she pocketed her hands, still with the scowl on her face.
It was nearing sundown by the time the gate outside of her foster parents' house squeaked when she opened it. She shut it behind her and walked to the front door, reaching into the side pocket of her backpack to fish out the keys. She walked inside and shut the door behind her, kicking off her shoes to replace them with the slippers to her right. She always knew which ones were hers by just the size alone.
She walked into the kitchen and frowned when her foster mother wasn't there, so she moved to the sitting room to find a note. She picked it up as she traveled back to the kitchen.
Kameko-Chan, we went out grocery shopping.
Be back shortly.
Haru & Matsumoto
Kameko scrunched it up and tossed it in the trash as she opened the refrigerator, leaning in to grab the items to make a sandwich. She moved it to the counter and stopped, staring at the ingredients. She bowed her head and sighed, feeling like a fool all over again.
Yusuke was her mentor now and she had treated him like crap a while ago. Kami, she wouldn't blame him for refusing to train her. She acted like an immature brat and now, she was making a sandwich with frustrated tears burning at her eyes at her behavior.
'Kami, please allow him to forgive me… He's been the most real person to me since…birth?' Kameko thought as she bit into her sandwich, leaning against the counter and staring down at her shoes, dirtied with grime and dirt. She frowned and moved to her bedroom after tossing the butter knife in the sink. She shut the door behind her and sat on the edge of her bed, slouching down to not hit the cabinet that was perched above her bed.
She finished her sandwich shortly after and slid her backpack toward the wall, against her small desk with a few papers on top of it. She sighed and moved to lie against her bed, aching at the soreness that slammed her like a truck. She tilted her head to the side and sighed, feeling her eyes start to close with thoughts of self-loathing.
AuthorNotes: OK, don't shoot me. I'm sorry I haven't updated in like...a month? But I recently went through some crummy relationship poop, dealt with that, and had a hard time updating again. But I broke free of that life sucking void and am back. :3 I have a new roomie and she's great at keeping my spirits up, so be warned of more updates more frequently for those of you enjoying this story. I swear it's going to get better, quicker than you think. ;) anyways, feel free to criticize/feedback/comment to my PM or Review. I love hearing my readers' thoughts! TTYL!
