Chapter 11

The Child and the Lush

A/n:

Okay, so I'm trying to imitate Chu's accent in this. I hope it's not too bad, but please don't hate me if it is. Thanks a bunch! Happy reading.

Third Person POV:

"I'm booored," whined a child as he laid back on the forest floor. His black hair, covered by a bright pink and yellow floppy hat and his shirt matching it. To look at him, was to see a child of about ten, He was still a child by even by demon standards, but he was a strong young demon who had been a strong contender in the Dark Tournament. Otherwise known as Rinku.

The tall man sitting next to him, picked at his blue mohawk before swigging from the liquor bottle that was never far from his hands. "Wha ya wanta do about it?" For the most part, Chu was a great adoptive parent for Rinku. He played with him, he took care of him, he listened to the kid, and did everything else that no one else wanted to do with him. Ever since he had found the child, he had taken over the role of father. But there's a point in every parent's life when he or she gets so tired of their kids. Not tired of the kid per say, but tired in general. There are times when they really just want to rest. They really just need a break. Well, after answering questions for an hour and a half, Chu was at that point.

"Let's do something fun," the young boy suggested. He was practically bouncing up and down from barely contained energy. As a child, he was always ready for fun. And as himself, the only one who could keep up with him was his adoptive father. So, he just had to find something for them to do.

"Wha'd ya have in mind, mate?" He may have been tired, but Chu could never ignore the tyke.

The boy stopped and thought for a moment. What exactly could they do? "Why don't we play tag like Jin and Touya did earlier?"

The older man smirked to himself, and wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. "I don' think ya'd want to play that kind of tag. I sure wouldn't..." After all that kind of tag had ended in a type of game that this kid should never know how to play. Or at least not at his age.

"Aww. What about the other game that they played with words?" No, Rinku didn't really want to play a word game, but he needed to do something and he knew that doing that would get Chu started on something else. After all, the older man's attention span was probably even shorter than the kid's.

"Wha game's that?" the large man rumbled, taking yet another swig of his bottle of sake. The gentle burn, so light that it was hardly worth the effort anymore. To be honest, most liquor didn't really have an effect anymore. He should probably just quit. Though, anyone who said that to the 'gentle' giant would be wishing that they had done otherwise.

"C'mon, you big lug. I'll start." the kid rolled his eyes. Honestly, everyone knew that he was stone cold sober, but nooo. He just had to always pretend that he was ripped off of his ass. The kid didn't know why he even stayed around. Oh wait, it was to protect the guy. People all thought that Chu took care of him. Ha, it was more like the other way around. If he wasn't there then the big lug wouldn't know what to do with himself.

"If you insist," he burped loudly, causing a few leaves to wither automatically from the smell of his disgusting, liquor-saturated breath. The breath that bothered everyone except Rinku and the giant himself. After all, you get used to it afer a while.

"Hmmm," Rinku stopped to think. How exactly did he think of life? He was around ten. Did he even know yet? And then it came to him.

"Life is like a yo-yo. It's pretty and often misunderstood. But most importantly a yo-yo's what you make of it. To some people it's nothing more than a stupid child's toy. And it's those people who are stupid. With the right influence, it can be anything. Even a weapon.

Yo-yo's. They're all in the power of the person who is handling them. We're all in the power of our morals and limitations. Yet like the yo-yo, we're ruled by this. Yo-yo's. Loop your fingers through the string and let it fall. Walk the dog, around the world, rob the cradle, pull it up, wind it around, and do it all again. Now, go and control your life like you control this toy. Not as easy..." The boy finished, apparently proud of himself. After all, his idea had been well articualted and actually made sense.

"Ah. Coulda done better meself," Chu chuckled. And here began the game that the young boy had been expecting. It was time to offer the man a challenge.

"Oh please. You're so drunk you probably don't even remember your own name." Surprisingly, Chu had never even gotten to that point before. He did have a very high alcohol tolerance.

"A course I do. It's Chu, ain't it?"

Rinku laughed to himself, knowing that this was about to get so much more fun from one stupid word game. "C'mon big guy. Tell me your opinion of life."

Chu grinned sloppily before beginning to speak."Well ya see.. ya have the birds an the bees..."

"Stop!" The child yelled. He had a vague idea of where this conversation might be going and he had no desire to carry it on any further. Not now at least. "Not that conversation."

"Alright mate," he grinned. The man may have seemed completely wasted, but in reality he was fairly cognizant of all that was going on around him, and knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing. No, it was just the fun of teasing the boy that had him acting so inebriated. "Ere we go."

"Life is like a bottle of sake. When ya' open it up, ya never know what you're goin' to get, mate. Sometime it's got a good, strong burn, and others it's jus like drinkin' water. Sometimes you really get yer socks knocked off and sometimes yer left underwhelmed.

Every bottle has a different flavor. Some light and others musky Some fruity and others plain. The great thing is by the time ya get to the end of the bottle, ya don't even care anymore as long as the high was worthwhile. And after ya swallow the last drop, ya jus' sit there happy ta' have had any at all."

It was surprising to see how well it really was. The boy rolled his eyes. "Yes, that was soo much better Chu."

"Aye. It was," he whined angrily. "I'll have ya know that tha was art."

"Yeah. Like a stick man's art.." And that leads back to an argument that they had had a few months ago. One that had never been solved, and probably never would be.

"It is when I draw it," he pouted huffily.

"Yeah right."

"Grr," the man growled, launching himself at the small boy, but making sure not to accidentally crush him. Sure, the kid sometimes wore him out, but at the end of the day he loved the little tyke. His little tyke.

And this was the game that Rinku had been waiting for, a tussle with his dad... The two wrestled aggressively. All the while, Chu was being careful so that he would not actually hurt his young ward. Rinku, on the other hand, was punching and kicking as hard as he possibly could. Though, he knew that none of his blows were really hurting the mountain of a man. The only thing that he had ever seen hurt him was Yusuke Urameshi's fists, and that would hurt anyone no matter how large.

After ten or fifteen more minutes of intense wrestling, the boy got tired and was forced to stop. Chu could have kept going for a few more rounds, but chose to seem tired for the benefit of the kid's pride. No, it's never good to lie to your kids, but this was different. It was just something to make him a little more confident. And what parent doesn't want a proud, confident, happy child? "Well, ya beat me mate."

"I told you so..." he panted, grinning smugly to himself. "I told you I'd win."

A/n:

Whoo-hoo! My eleventh Chapter! I hope that it was good, and that you guys enjoyed it. I know it seemed kind of OOC, but maybe it was good?

Anyway, keep reading and I'll keep writing. Oh and remember to review. Flames are welcome. They're what keep me warm and toasty at night. ;) .

Remember: Reviews = happy camper. Happy camper = quicker updates. Quicker updates = you reading more. It's a cycle. Keep it going!

Yours truly, madly, and deeply,

Einstinette