For some reason I really like this chapter...
Chapter 10
His Polystation 3
The consequences of keeping a nest of ants in the house arrived too soon for Kiriyuu.
Hibari took one hour and fifty minute-long baths. Usually by then, all the hot water would be used up and she would have to boil water in a shallow pan downstairs in the kitchen and use that instead.
That took normally two hours. So now it was roughly midnight.
However, this time, after her bath, Kiriyuu knew she had forgotten something when she stepped back out of the bathroom. She looked down at herself – yes, she had remembered to get properly dressed before leaving the bathroom to avoid more embarrassing encounters with Hibari – okay, so it wasn't that. She sniffed herself. Yes, she had remembered to soak herself in bubblesoap for today, too. Kiriyuu then breathed out into her palms and sniffed the enclosed air; yes, she remembered to brush her teeth also. She looked at the pan in her hand; yes, she had also remembered to bring that back out, too.
So what had she forgotten?
Kiriyuu couldn't seem to recall, so she shrugged the feeling off, and opened the door to her bedroom before screaming at the top of her lungs.
"AAAARRGHHHHHHHH!"
Hibari was disrupted in the peaceful kitchen by the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs, and then, out popped Kiriyuu's dishevelled look on her face through the doorway, even though she had just taken a bath it looked as if she hadn't. She actually looked amusing in that panicked state of desperation; her skin as white as a ghost, eyes bulging to the size of plates, hands waving around in the air as if she was playing an unrecorded game of Eyetoy Groove or something.
"Hibari!" She squawked, flailing her arms around and jumping up and down on her spot. "Come quick! It's an outbreak – a complete epidemic!" She actually yelled that out without thinking what the words truly meant. She turned back; then realised that he hadn't budged yet. Kiriyuu frowned, then promptly grabbed his arm and tried to drag him up the stairs. She led him to the outside of her room; her door was closed.
"Have a look." She cried, covering her eyes with her hands. "It's awful…. I can't watch!"
Hibari pulled open the door away – and then he saw it.
Ants.
There were thousands of them, crawling around, breeding like crazy, ten of 'em even carrying a dead spider for food. Eew! There were so many ants. Lots and lots of ants. Here, there. Everywhere! ANTS! The box that was previously containing them was lying open on her bed – Kiriyuu had probably forgotten to close it once it was her time to take a bath - and now they were crawling all over bed, her clothes, her suitcase…
He had an infestation of ants! Hibari whipped back round to her after slamming her door shut; she swallowed, refusing to look up at him, then went 'eep!' and tried to run away – but he grabbed her back by the collar and dragged her back downstairs.
Meanwhile, the local bug-exterminator was sleeping peacefully beside his wife – then the phone rang.
……………..
The bug exterminator was called at half midnight; he was death-threatened over the phone, and had to come despite the fact that his working hours had finished ages ago. His wife wished him luck. But Hibari was Hibari. No-one ever defied him. Hibari was in a really foul, horrible mood as well when the exterminator arrived; Hibari was standing at the porch in his nightclothes with his arms crossed over his chest, his cousin beside him; she was looking silly and dazed, swaying on the spot with two black eyes. Her hair was matted and all over the place, her arms looked red and swollen, and one of her legs was twisted in a strange fashion. She smiled at the guy as he approached them, showing him some missing five or six teeth.
Hibari put away his bloodied tonfas and ordered the exterminator to go upstairs. "You'll see the room." He told him.
"E-Eh?" The exterminator said; still staring at the girl who looked badly-beaten up nervously. "Of course, Hibari-kun."
With his bug-killing gear and orange jumpsuit, the exterminator stormed upstairs, and then began to hear the screams of the poor girl downstairs, followed by a few crashing noises, another scream, then a loud 'thud'.
"Oww! I said I was sorry, Hibari! ARGH! My liver!"
The exterminator brushed away the spine tingling feeling and arrived at the upstairs landing; there was a message indicating the room with the infestation scribbled on the wall – in fresh blood. The exterminator went 'eeeeek' like a pipsqueak mouse in horror. No doubt the blood belonged to the girl.
…………
For the next few days; Kiriyuu wouldn't be able to go back into her room, he said – nor would she be able to gain access to her suitcase or any other belongings for a very long time. The exterminator had filled an ant-killing gas through a gap in the door, completely filling the room with noxious toxins deadly to ants. To make sure nothing got out; he rammed some old cloths at the bottom of the door, and double-sealed the window with sticky masking tape. Sure, the next morning, they'd probably find ten million dead and tiny ant carcasses in the room – yuck – that room would certainly be unavailable for use in the future years.
And it was all Kiriyuu's fault. She had no scapegoat to put the blame on this time. It was HER who brought the ants inside. It was HER who didn't listen to Hibari earlier on. It was HER who suddenly decided to open the box of ants and try to name them all. It was also HER who left the box open. How could anyone be so stupid, idiotic and just plain… thick, dense, dim-witted? She certainly felt sorry – not when Hibari beat her up, though. She just felt sorry in general, and hated and cursed at her carelessness. Because of her, a room in Hibari's house was ruined forever! And because of her, ten million ants would die! What a murderer! She was a monster! A stupid, careless monster called Ottuso Kiriyuu!
Hibari wasn't talking to her after that either, and she didn't like it – even though he never really did talk to her properly. He certainly ignored her afterwards; despite the loud howling and the crying sounds she emitted as she sat on the stairs – not just because of the pain he inflicted on her and the fact that he used her blood to write on his wall – which she would be washing off afterwards herself with a cloth and bucket of warm water – but because she thought she failed Hibari.
Failed?
What did that mean anyway?
Kiriyuu was still crying as Hibari stormed past her up the stairs once the exterminator left – he'd be coming back the next morning to check up on them. He ignored her – obviously. He had been ignoring her for the past half hour. She actually thought it was better when he beat her up, at least she knew he acknowledged her. But this… negligence… it felt... awful.
"I'm a failure… -sob sob-…. I can't do things properly… I can never do things properly… I just make things worse for people… -sob sob sob- I'm a walking disaster… I'm sorry, Hibari… -sob cry mope sob- I'm so sorry… aahawwhawwhaww…. Woe is me! Don't look at me, Hibari. I'm a monster!"
He had never looked at her properly for more than ten seconds, anyway.
She also had no clue where she would be sleeping for the remainder of the night. Her belongings were inside the room, and she was terrified that the exterminator would go through them, and expose her for who she truly was to Hibari – but she couldn't go in. There were no spare blankets or pillows from her knowledge of Hibari's house. Also, Hibari's sofa in the living room was pretty uncomfortable because of the hard springs under the seat, and it was cold in the big, huge and empty living room. Kiriyuu was stuck with no choice. Hibari's bedroom light went off, and she was engulfed in night-time darkness.
She whimpered, then trotted meekly back downstairs to the living room and flung herself over the sofa; she really did hurt. Physically and mentally. Her gums hurt like hell, and so did her ribcage. Her leg had to be twisted back into the right way – which also hurt a lot. Kiriyuu tried to get comfortable on the sofa; she fluffed up a few cushions and then pasted her face against them, trying to sleep. It was too cold and the clock on the wall seemed to tick louder in the room because it was so silent. Actually, she could also hear the loud clicking of cicadas outside, plus, a frog going 'ribbit, ribbit' and an owl hooting from a branch. After what seemed to be half an hour of tossing and turning in her 'sleep'; the light went on, and she promptly yanked off the sofa, and onto the floor.
"Eeek! Wha - ?"
"Get up." It was Hibari.
"Huh? Why?" She said, with a slight lisp.
"Just get up, or do I have to drag you unconscious into my room?"
"EH?" Her face went bright red for a strange reason as she gawked at him. "… O-Okie…" Kiriyuu got up wobbly, and he grabbed her arm, and then towed her along, retreating back towards the direction of his room.
Yes, he had just 'asked' her to go into his room. But... why?
Wow, Kiriyuu was actually getting to go inside Hibari's bedroom for the very first time, and surprisingly enough, she did not think that along with any contemptible, possible, sexual connotations regarding issues when a girl gets 'invited' to a boy's room. Yet again, she was only 14 years old, and didn't know what 'menopause' meant, or PMS. Besides, Kiriyuu was a pretty feeble-minded simpleton.
A moron, basically.
She wondered what Hibari's room was like as they neared his open door; there were a number of possibilities flipping through her mind like jukebox tracks at the moment - Number 1, Hibari's room looking identical to a medieval torture chamber used back in the mid-centuries with numerous torture devices hanging from the ceiling and a bed of nails, plus the ominous iron maiden box in the corner. Number 2, Hibari's room resembling a typical jock's bedroom with pictures of football stars, boy junk and posters of nude ladies with huge chests who would never go out with them in a million years. Or number 3, Hibari's room baring similarities to an eccentric, cult-infested bat cave with chalk-drawn symbols on the walls and floor.
None of her ridiculous guesses were right.
The lights of the rest of the house were closed, except from Hibari's room, so she shielded her eyes from the intense light they were nearing – it was like something from Close Encounters of the Third Kind – only there was no alien with long, spangly, spindle-like limbs or tiny, children-sized aliens with big, bobbly heads – just a concentrated, bright light. When they finally arrived; he let go of her arm and shut the door behind them. She leapt up at the sound, but paid no attention to it. Why should she be getting suspicious as to why he locked the room, eh? (more sarcasm)
Kiriyuu was then left to marvel at Hibari's room – as if it was some kind of… museum or something.
His room was very normal; with no posters of nude chicks on the white walls, or any symbols drawn on the light pinewood flooring – and certainly no sharp, pointy objects hanging from the ceiling. There was a desk and lamp, a typical chair, and a lone closet standing in the corner which she was very suspicious of, however. Hibari's tonfas were hanging from a rack behind his door, sparkling a little in the light. But the object which caught her eyes was the TV opposite his double bed, and a –
"Polystation 3?!" She gushed immediately, before turning back to Hibari with a funny expression on her face. "You have a Polystation 3!"
The Polystation was not only the most advanced piece of gaming technology computing software so far in the gaming corner for geeks like her (and Hibari, too??), but was also the potential Green-Ray player, only available in High Definition, aka HDTV, ala DVD substitute! Le Gasp!
As Kiriyuu practically pranced forward further into his room as if it was a field of flowers towards his Polystation 3, Hibari rolled his eyes at her and crossed his arms. See? This was what he was going to have to suffer and endure for the rest of the night.
"Let's see what games Hibari has… Ooh! Sole Calibur 4?! Noe wayz! And oh mi gosh! Violent Hill 5?"
Well, that game wasn't so surprising even though he was actually kind of underage for it since Hibari liked violence. But this one?? Kiriyuu held up a certain game at him, a grin forming.
"Kingdom Tarts? I never knew you were that sort of person, Hibari. Oieeheehee."
He snatched it out of her hand and barked at her, "Have you finished violating my privacy yet?"
"Oieeheehee," she gave out the creepy old-man laugh again, along with a creepy old-man grin, and since she was missing some teeth, it worked even better. "Hey, Hibari. Since it's the weekend, can I play?"
"No."
"PLEASE?"
"No."
She still opened the box anyway; ignoring Hibari's hands grasping towards the ends of his tonfas from the stand – even though roughing her up with the tonfas was still not enough to pry her off his gaming system. Kiriyuu was probably the most defiant and disobedient girl (and possibly the only girl) Hibari knew – she was really asking for a death sentence, wasn't she? She opened his Polystation 3 and slipped in the disc for Sole Calibur 4, then picked up the wireless controller and sat up against the end of the bed, then waved the extra controller at him.
"I don't know why you have another controller since you live alone, but… you should come and play too."
A few seconds later…
She was still bleeding from the head as Hibari took up the extra controller anyway before stowing away his bloody tonfas; and they played Sole Calibur 4 – a fighting simulation game where all the playable characters were types of fish, like Plaice, Cod, Turbot and even Tuna, all wielding swords, ninja shurikens, sabres, spears, and other ancient weaponry. Kiriyuu's persistence in playing his Polystation 3 was a bit too much. She didn't even get a plaster for her wounds.
"I have dibs on the Lemon Sole!"
Hibari picked the ever-fearsome White Tip shark, and Kiriyuu picked her cute little Lemon Sole – and then got her virtual fish butt kicked. While they were playing; she began to wonder who had actually taught Hibari to fight – or maybe he taught himself?
Despite her something twenty-something losses to Hibari that her record was too bad to be true, she was still keen to continue, until remembering that Hibari had Violent Hill 5, a survival horror type of RPG game, but with not so much battling tactics. Kiriyuu was too chicken to play such a violent game. The character Hibari was playing as was thrown into a world of madness and monsters and just had to kill, kill, kill in order to survive. Kiriyuu thought again; playing these games really did a toll on someone's sanity.
It was gruesome, freaky; and Kiriyuu had never seen anything like it before, as she watched Hibari play without breaking a sweat or going 'OH MY EFFING GOD' like she did on some random, scary moments of the game, she resorted to hide behind Hibari's back, trembling and shaking at the same time. She was scarred and disturbed for life! Not good!
Finally, Hibari put down the controller to her relief, and yawned. "It's half 4." Surprisingly enough, he didn't sound angry – after all, she did drag him into this and they'd been playing for more than 3 hours. Then he declared, "We're going to sleep."
Kiriyuu's eyes widened; this was perhaps the best moment of her life – but discovering the world of manga and bishounens could be the best moment of her life, too.
She whooped, did a 360 degree backflip on the floor, then pounced on top of Hibari's bed – and realised how hard it actually was – she felt as if she had crushed every bone in her body because of that impact of landing.
"Ow." She croaked out, before turning to him. "Hibari, why is your bed like a rock?"
"It's good for your posture." He merely replied, as he walked over to his closet after switching off the Polystation 3.
"Ooh." She said as her mouth formed a tiny 'o', and then tried to bounce on it – it didn't work. She just ended up hurting her rear.
Hibari returned with a futon and a pillow; and she blinked at him, as he set it down on the floor. Kiriyuu didn't have to think twice, and then she frowned. "… I'm sleeping there?"
"Correct. Now get off my bed."
"…. But it's cold down there, and… and – " The look on Hibari's face made her lift her butt off his bed and onto the floor without saying anything else; good, now she was being obedient.
He switched the light off, when Kiriyuu tried to get herself comfortable on the futon at the side of his bed, and stepped on her as he went to his own bed, hearing a sick 'crack', then a squeak of pain from Kiriyuu.
"Night, Hibari." She croaked out at him.
"Goodnight."
Her eyes suddenly cracked open. "What did you just say?"
He leaned over the edge of his bed. " – Goodnight; now go to sleep."
Kiriyuu blinked at him strangely, then giggled, and then further snuggled under the covers again. "Night, Hibari!" Then she giggled again. "Hey. Hibari?"
"What?"
"Good night! Eeheeheee!" Ugh. If only she knew how infuriating she could be. She decided to try it again. "Hey, Hib – "
" - Shut up."
………..
Kiriyuu was still wide awake, and kept tossing and turning in her covers. She was uncomfortable. The futon was old, cold, and Kiriyuu had had enough. She didn't know if Hibari was asleep yet, because she never heard him snoring. Geez, that guy is perfect. Didn't snore, didn't sleeptalk, didn't sleepwalk!? Unlike Kiriyuu – who drooled, talked and maybe walked, in her sleep.
From under her pillow, she pulled out Kyoko's camera. She actually hid it within her shirt beforehand so Hibari still didn't seem to know why she had a rectangular bumpy outline on her stomach. Or so she thought anyway. Kiriyuu didn't even know why she had agreed to do this. Sure, she said it was an intrusion upon someone's privacy, but with such a good opportunity to catch Hibari, completely vulnerable at his current state, was a once in a lifetime chance. And probably a one-way trip to The Land of the Dead – if he woke up. If he did, though, if he did.
So she caterpillar-wiggled out from her futon and emerged back up at the side of his bed. So far, so good.
She switched on the digital camera, turned it to silent, with no flash, and then positioned it carefully above him. He was sleeping peacefully, and Kiriyuu stopped for a moment.
He looks so cu – ARGH. What the hell am I doing? Take a frickin' picture right now!
It was still dark in the room, but she was sure she could suss something out to bring out the light. She snapped – completely forgetting the all-time 'click' of the button which no matter how silent you put the camera on, it still clicked. Well, for her case anyway.
Hibari moved.
Kiriyuu squeaked, stepped back in alarm and quickly switched off the camera, and dive-bombed back under the futon, hiding the camera back into her pillow.
Hibari got up, and she could him loud and clear. "What was that?" It didn't even sound like a question, and Kiriyuu began to tremble. "I know you're awake."
Oops, busted. Kiriyuu swerved over, looking up at him. "It's too hot, eto… and I've got cramp – right here, in my knee. Eto… you got any Deep Heat to help and - "
"Hand it over."
"E-Eh? What?"
"Hand the camera over."
Eek! He knows!! "I-I don't know what you're talking about." She then cursed herself mentally. I should've just handed him the camera… that would've kept me from a one way ticket to pain…. No, I must be stubborn!
His eyebrow twitched, and Hibari slid off his bed, and walked menacingly towards her. She held up her covers, trembling and going 'eeek' again silently.
"W-What are you going to do?"
A few moments later of futile struggling and manhandling; Kiriyuu screamed bloody murder.
"Hibari…" She sobbed; okay, for now, she had to put on an act to get him off her trail. "… I didn't know you were a pervert…"
He stopped searching her, and let go of her immediately, frowning deeply – a part of his pride was torn. This was not amusing at all; he hadn't found the camera he was sure she had taken with her. Why she had a camera, he didn't know. Violating more of his privacy, probably.
"Hibari! You can't do that to girls, eto… They'll get the wrong idea! Plus, I'm especially ticklish – one of my weak points is right here - " She pointed to the sole of her big feet, wiggling her bare toes at him.
He smacked her foot away his face. "Shut up." He growled, after Kiriyuu grinned triumphantly to herself. Hibari was embarrassed – WHAT?! Hibari – embarrassed?! Noe wayz! (Well, at least she knew that he was still human)
"Hey."
She perked up at him, still grinning at her 'victory'. "What?"
SMACK!
"OWW!"
Okay, now they were even.
……………….
He hadn't been able to sleep after that, but had been able to see the sun rising behind his drawn curtain for the first time and wasn't pleased at all. Kiriyuu had been talking, that was why. She was talking in her sleep. She was dreaming, no, having a nightmare, and was now busy tossing and turning in her futon, grumbling loudly and anxiously.
"Noo… Pyramid Head… Must use trusty steel pipe… ack! It broke… eep… demon nurse… holding spoon… going to… stab me… bleed internally… Help!"
Deciding that he had enough from this troublesome sleeper, he whipped the covers off his body, and got off his bed. He noted that Kiriyuu looked uncomfortable, and was sweating terribly. She kicked around for a brief moment or two, then calmed down again, before flailing once more, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Gneh… graghh… argh… iiieeeyaa…." She croaked out, now practically imitating the butterfly stroke in the futon.
Hibari lifted her up from the futon, avoiding her flying fists of fury, and settled her down on his bed. Kiriyuu went deadly still and silent, looking at peace. Strange. He manoeuvred her back down on the futon again – and Kiriyuu began to struggle around. Again, he set her back on the bed; Kiriyuu calmed down once more, snoring silently.
Seeing a bizarre pattern of sleeping behaviour Kiriyuu displayed here; Hibari pulled the covers over her and then slipped into the futon on the floor himself. It really was quite uncomfortable there, and cold, too. But this was better than sleeping downstairs – and Hibari's own sleeping habits allowed him to get to sleep almost anywhere.
You know, sleeping on the school rooftop does expose him to the elements, like the rain, wind (okay, if it was too windy or rainy, he'd sleep indoors). Not just that, but sometimes, there'd be crickets and grasshoppers leaping into his hair and -
Kiriyuu then woke up after feeling a slight disturbance; not because the clock had ticked to 9am, but after her nostrils were bombarded and overwhelmed with the scent of Hibari – and she realised the hard surface she was on top of was none other than Hibari's bed. She didn't know how she got there; and looked up and around, before rolling to the edge of the bed, and peeked over. Yup, she guessed right – Hibari had taken her spot on the futon, his eyes closed, arms behind his head, supporting him comfortably.
She didn't know what this meant – he had woken up earlier on and thought he had been too harsh on her so he traded places with her? Or maybe he just liked the futon better? She didn't know.
Kiriyuu rammed her clenched knuckles into her mouth. Seeing Hibari look so vulnerable and at peace made her swoon. She pursed her lips for a moment, then got back up, rummaged around the surface of the bed for some reason, before grabbing Hibari's pillow, and his blanket, then silently slid out of Hibari's bed, and laid the pillow down beside Hibari's sleeping form.
She crawled in the futon beside Hibari and laid her head against the pillow, pulling the blanket over them both, and then carefully tucking her arm inside. She giggled silently to herself as she snuggled closer to him, finally finding peace. And, oh yeah, this was CHEESE!
Meanwhile, back outside, the front gate was being repeatedly knocked on, as the exterminator impatiently stood outside, waiting to be let in so he could check up on the infestation.
"Hello? Hibari-san?"
Suddenly, the window of Hibari's room was opened, and out popped a zombie-looking Kiriyuu. "Do you mind? Some people are trying to sleep! Take this, you evil oyaji-san!"
She disappeared away from the window, then came back, with an egg in her hand, and threw it at him.
...
Polystation 3 is a parody of Playstation 3 (I own one; it makes a lot of fan noise and contracts dust even if I take it out of its cover for 3 seconds). Sole Calibur 4 is a parody of the upcoming summer game, Soul Calibur 4, Violent Hill 5 – Silent Hill 5, and kingdom tarts is... eh... Kingdom Hearts xD