GRAVITY | Chapter 10: "Talk"
After flying over the length and breadth of Genkai's land and working off every last drop of Miranda's energy, Jin returned to the temple. Night had fallen, and Jin had spent a long while just staring at the brilliant stars dotting the sky. Demon World had no such stars, and the sight of them filled him, once again, with joy. But he knew the others would be missing him, so he returned to the temple to find his friends gathered on the porch. Genkai sat on the edge of the porch with a cup of tea; Yukina, Kurama, and Hiei were all missing. Koenma in his adult form had made an appearance and was bickering with Yusuke and Kuwabara over the rules of Old Maid. Botan was in on the game, as well, but she simply smiled and laughed at the antics of the other players. The four sat gathered close around a low table like old friends.
"Hello, Jin," Koenma said, tossing down his cards and coming to greet the wind apparition. "I heard from Genkai. Good job with Miranda."
Jin, still smarting over the king's negligence of Miranda's case, didn't grin or smile. He simply shrugged and walked past the king to flop down between Yusuke and Botan.
"What are you covered in?" Botan asked, nose wrinkling.
Jin looked down at himself and grimaced at the tree sap that soaked his clothes, skin, and hair. It had dried on him, and now that he became aware of it he realized that it itched abominably.
"Oi, I'm a right sight. I need a bath!" he said, laughing at Botan's stricken expression.
"Well, you know where the bath is, Botan," Genkai said, looking over her shoulder at the shinigami. "Show him, and get him some decent clothes."
Jin looked down (again) but this time he looked at his outfit. What was wrong with his day-to-day uniform? The white pants were comfortable and the two strips of cloth that formed an 'x' over his chest helped to hold them up. Still, he did not complain when Botan led him inside and found him a button-up-the-front white shirt and a pair of pants with a lot of pockets sewn on them.
"Thanks," he said. "This sap's gonna be hard t' get out, that it will."
"I'll get it clean, don't you worry," she told him cheerfully, blue ponytail bouncing as she handed him the clothes. "They should fit you pretty well. Have a good bath!"
She left him outside the door to the bath, and Jin went inside while whistling a happy tune. The bathroom had been built in the style of a traditional Japanese bath house, with a large bath and many small showering areas lined up along the wall. It was tiled in austere white. Jin worked with rough soap and hot water to get all the grime off of his skin, then slipped into the bathing pool to relax.
He did not have a lot of time to do that, however. He had been sitting in the water for a scant five minutes when he realized he was not alone. When he heard the telltale signs of a visitor mucking about with the showers, he crouched low into the water and peered out over the top of the bath like a curious child not wanting to be found.
Not that he could see much through the copious amounts of steam wafting off the bath. All he could make out was a small figure dousing itself with water before pulling on a large garment—it looked like a dress, but he couldn't be sure through all the fog. They then washed their face in a sink before leaving through the bathroom's only door. Jin couldn't help but notice that they left at a run, and he didn't like the implications of that or of the figure's nervous movements. Maybe he should've blown the steam out the door with his powers, seen who it was. Oh well. Too late now.
Slipping out of the bath, he toweled himself dry and slipped into the army-green pants Botan had given him. They were a little big and baggy, but they fit him well enough for the time being. Humming as he ran the towel over his mane of hair, he reached for his shirt and stopped short when he realized that it was not there.
"Where the heck's m' shirt?" Jin said aloud. He threw the towel into a basket filled with used linens and jammed his hands in his pockets. "Guess Botan'll just have t' get me a new one, that she will." He walked out of the steam-filled bathroom, wondering who had stolen his clothing, and ran smack into Yukina.
"Oh, Mr. Jin!" she said, covering her face with her hands. "Why are you undressed?"
"Um…" Self-consciously, he crossed his arms over his chest. "Somebody stole m' shirt. Do y'have another one, maybe?"
"No, I don't." She peeped at him from between her fingers and shook her head. "But this isn't the time for that! I left Miranda alone for only a moment to get a cloth to wash her with because she needed a bath, but when I came back she was gone!"
Jin looked down at her for a moment, cupping his chin in one hand in the classic 'Hold on, I'm thinking' posture. Then he snapped his fingers and happily declared: "Hold the phone, I saw her! She came into the bath and stole m' shirt!"
Yukina stared at him, hands dropping to her sides as all of her shyness left her.
"And you did nothing to stop her?" she asked, red eyes radiating perplexity.
Jin's grin changed from triumphant to embarrassed in a second. He gingerly rubbed the back of his neck before replying: "Well, when you put it like tha'…"
Botan had the fortune of happening upon them at that point, and her reaction ran a gamut similar to Yukina's.
"Sorry! I didn't know you weren't dressed!" she shrieked, covering her face with her hands.
"Miranda is missing!" Yukina said, running toward Botan and taking the shinigami's hand into her own. "I only left her for a second, but when I returned she had disappeared!"
"What!?" Botan yelled, ponytail almost standing on end. She very promptly grabbed Yukina and hauled the small woman down the hall at warp speed. "We have to tell the others! Koenma is going to kill meeeee—!"
Jin followed them, using a bit of energy to float down the hall. The trio burst onto the porch to the sound of Botan screaming: "Koenma sir! Miranda's flown the coop!"
The prince dropped the cards he had been dealt; they fell in a graceful arc to the tabletop, and Yusuke gleefully peered at them with the intent of cheating. After taking a moment to bop Yusuke on the head, he turned a furious eye on Jin.
"I thought you said she would be out for days!" he said in a desert-dry voice, trying his best not to scream in frustration. A vein bulged in his forehead.
Jin crossed his arms over his bare chest and sighed dramatically.
"Noooo—I said that she might wake up in a few days, but then I told ya that everybody's different, now didn't I?" Jin said. He cupped his chin in his hand again. "Although for her t' be up this early probably isn't good. She needs 'er rest, that she does."
Genkai, who had neither moved nor spoken after Botan's revelation, stiffened over her mug of tea and stared, wide-eyed, into the distance.
"Hiei just contacted me," she said, looking annoyed. "Damn telepathy."
"Well, what did he say?" Koenma yelled, bolting to his feet and flexing his fingers as if he wanted to strangle Genkai right then and there.
"That he's following the girl at a safe distance. Apparently he tried to talk to her and she threatened to kill him. He wants someone else to approach her."
The party went silent…and then, as one, every person turned to look at Jin.
"Hey, hey, wait a second!" he said, holding his hands up. "Why ya pickin' on me all of o' sudden?"
"Well, you're the obvious choice!" Botan said, pointing a finger at Jin's nose. The wind apparition froze, eyes going wide and crossing as he stared at the in-your-face Botan. "She's already met all of us and probably would get scared silly if we started chasing after her again, and besides, you know how to counteract her powers if she somehow figures out how to use them against us! Not to mention the fact you didn't tell us we needed to guard her, which makes you responsible for this whole mess in the first place!"
"You tell 'im, Botan," Yusuke said. Jin stuck his tongue out at the Spirit Detective. Yusuke returned the gesture with the additional of a cheerful middle finger. Jin sighed.
"Alright, alright, I get it," Jin said. "I'll go get 'er, sheesh…"
He made to walk off the porch, then, grumbling incoherently, but stopped halfway across the yard and shot his friends a sheepish look over his shoulder.
"Um… so, Hiei didn't mention where I could find 'er, did he now?"
Genkai sighed (while everyone else practically died) and said: "Hold on a minute and I'll ask him. Meanwhile, why don't you try putting some clothes on?"
"That's right!" Botan exclaimed, snapping her fingers. "Where did your shirt go?"
"Miranda stole it."
He was met with raised eyebrows and incredulous expressions.
"She came into th' bathroom while I was in there n' took it like a little thief, she did," Jin explained. "I didn't know it was her, though, else I woulda done somethin.'"
"… you're an idiot," Koenma said, looking intently at his recovered hand of cards. Jin blushed from the roots of his hair to his toe tips as Botan bounded past him into the house. Yukina followed her at a more leisurely pace, kimono sleeves breezing in her wake.
"You don't have ta put it like that…" Jin said, and a few moments of awkwardness followed until Botan showed up with an armful of clothing.
"That's a sweatshirt," she told Jin as he pulled the black garment over his head. It was large, but not too large; it felt warm against the cool night air. "And here are some sandals—you don't want to go barefoot."
"Eh, I don't mind me bare feet," Jin said. "Thanks!"
He started to walk away, but Botan cut him off.
"Fine, but there's one more thing," she said. "I brought you this, too."
She held in her hands a black stocking cap that, when he put it on, covered Jin's ears and the small horn on his head entirely. He did not feel like himself with it on—it felt like he was hiding something dirty and foul, even though he wasn't. Not having the cool breeze play through his hair felt stranger than everything else combined.
"I know it seems odd," Botan said, seeing Jin's confused expression, "but… well…"
"I'll explain," Koenma said. He rose from the table and stood next to his shinigami employee. "Miranda didn't like the thought of demons too much. Her powers unleashed when we told her about their existence. Suffice to say, she's more than unsettled by the whole situation. If you were to show up with those ears and that horn, I doubt she'd be willing to get within ten feet of you, let alone come back to the temple with you."
Jin's frown deepened. "Sounds like a stupid prejudice t' me," he said, tugging at the cap.
"Me too," Yusuke pitched in. "I mean, I took the news that there were such things as demons pretty well. It's nothing to go ballistic over."
"That's 'cause you were too stupid to even care," Kuwabara muttered, and a scuffle broke out between the pair.
"Jin."
The dry voice was serious and clipped. Jin turned to Genkai. She pinned him with an incredible glare.
"You are not to fly in front of her, is that understood?" she asked, but the way she said it made it sound more like a command than an inquiry. "You are not to do anything a normal human would not do. You are not to remove that hat. Damaging her already fragile conceptions of this world would only hurt her."
Jin regarded the aging human for a few moments, the sound of Yusuke and Kuwabara's fighting fading into the background. Soon he recovered his wits and pulled his eyes away from Genkai, unnerved by her stare.
"I won't be doin' any such thing!" He laughed, covering his uncomfortable feelings with cheerfulness. "I'll show her I'm a nice guy all on me own, demon or no demon, and she'll come 'round on her own time, that she will. It'll work in a jiffy."
She looked away, smirking, and said: "Good. Hiei's going to up his energy level. You should be able to track him down. Good luck."
"Bring her back, Jin," said Koenma.
"Sure, sure," Jin said, waving his hand dismissively. "Be back in a hurry, that I will." He hopped into the air, then plummeted like a stone when Genkai barked: "What did I say, you idiot?"
"Sorry, sorry, won't happen again, mark my words!" he yelled back, and then he sprinted off the porch and toward Hiei's pulsing energy signature.
I apologize if you found this slow, but I had to include it for the story to make sense. Miranda interacts with a demon next chapter—though not necessarily Jin. Oh, who could it be?
Thanks, once again, for the wonderful reviews.
I tweaked the summary a bit, so tell me what you think. Thanks!