-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX: The Real Life Of Freedom
I blinked as I stared up at the being standing above me, my nerves beginning to set in on me. So much for Koenma's 'Get back before the Spirit Detectives notice my absense', it looked like Hiei had been more than aware of my absense, correction, he was more than aware of my absense. I've gotta remember to complain to Koenma about this.
"Uh, hi." I said sheepishly, internally cringing as I saw him shift slightly. He looked mad, he definitely looked mad, at least, I thought he did. But as I thought about it, he always looked in a bad mood, in a certain manner of speaking. It was a few moments before I saw him take a step back from the edge of the roof, and then, for some reason, he suddenly vanished. I blinked, still seeing no sign of the being that Koenma referred to as a fire demon, and I actually rubbed my eyes and looked back at the roof. It took a few moments for that little oddity to sink in on me. He actually vanished? Into thin air?! I frowned after a few moments. No fricking way was anyone faster than eyes could follow, I must have blinked at the wrong moment, and he disappeared then. And it was that moment, as I felt my eyes start to hurt, that I actually noticed the sun was beginning to rise, it was shining in my eyes.
"Oh, right!" I said, the huge grin crossing my face again. I looked back down at the two envelopes again, the grin across my face turning nearly insane. I carefully opened the envelope that had my name on it, and slipped the piece of loose paper into it and sealed it back again, and I then put the envelope in the inner pocket of my half jacket I was wearing. "I've gotta hand this in before I crush it." I spoke outloud, and I immediately began to run into the house. Who cares if it's just on Six in the morning?! Kurama was always awake around about this time, and Hiei was definitely up, so all there was left was to wake Kuwabara up! I was going to enjoy very much doing that, He needed another wake-up attack. Yusuke had Keiko over, and I wasn't game enough to go and wake him up. My footsteps thummed lightly, and I paused only to open the door.
"Meia-- is that--" Came Kurama's voice as soon as the door had almost slammed shut.
"Hi!" I said as I just ran past, not waiting for Kurama to finish his statement, or say anything else. I took the stairs two at a time, the rise in altitude not slowing me down in the least. I knew Kuwabara was asleep, I could hear his snoring as I ran, and Yusuke's too come to think of it. I reached the top of the stairs, sprinting down the hallway and grabbing hold of the doorhandle to Kuwabara's room. I opened the door without care, and I located the snoring human on his bed, lying flat on his bed, in essentially the same position as he was the day before. I didn't hesitate in the least, laughing as I took a run up and threw myself at the human.
"Good morning!" I shouted as I landed on Kuwabara, and he suddenly awoke with a suddenly loud blood-curdling scream. I couldn't stop myself from laughing as Kuwabara suddenly sprung backwards several feet and cracked his head on the wall.
"What the?! When the?!" Kuwabara exclaimed, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing as I managed to release him and lean backwards. "MEIA! What the hell are you doing?!" Kuwabara suddenly yelled, and I froze for a moment, before leaning back a little more. Only, I leant in the wrong direction, and I fell off of the bed and landed on the floor flat on my back. I heard Kuwabara fall silent for a few moments, before he burst out in laughter, which only paused my laughter as I comprehended what had just suddenly happened, before I sprung to my feet in any case.
"Kuwabara, look! Look!" I said quickly, trying to hand him the envelope quickly, which was now crumpled from my running and my sudden attack on Kuwabara. He however, hadn't recovered from his laughter, and I could not contain mine as that look across his face came close to close to crying from laughter.
"What the hell is going on?!" Came a mad voice, and the both of us froze, our laughter being cut off short at that tone. "Some of us are actually trying to sleep here!" I turned my head around to look at where the mad voice came from, to see a half-asleep Yusuke standing in the doorway, his hair sticking up in all directions, and he was wearing a pair of blue boxor shorts and a singlet that had my face blank for a few moments. The design that was not normally on any singlet, was a little pink fairy sitting on a cloud, and, I could read the words on the bottom in bright red, Shizuru was here. I saw Yusuke's mad look vanish slightly as covered my mouth with my hands suddenly, but Kuwabara bursting out in sudden laughter made me loose control, and I ended up falling off the bed somewhere in amongst my laughter. "What?! What's so god damn funny now?!" Yusuke shouted, and all I could manage to do, was point towards where I knew he was. There was silence from Yusuke for several moments, and then I distinctly heard him yell 'What the hell?!' before I heard Kuwabara fall off of the bed with a deafening thud. "You deliberately planted this in my room!" Yusuke exclaimed, and I was laughing so hard that no sound was coming anymore. "You're gonna pay!"
"It was worth it!" Kuwabara managed to gasp out, and I began to try and focus on breathing now. My head was beginning to sear in pain, I think I was laughing too much. I could still hear Kuwabara laughing, and, I was actually beginning to worry that I was going to suffocate if I continued laughing like this.
"Well this is a sight I haven't seen in a while." Came Kurama's voice, but I remained crumbled on the ground. My cheeks were actually aching, so were my sides, and I could feel my breathing remain erratic as I fought against laughing. I could feel that the meat cleaver had dealt me a little damage, but I couldn't feel any real pain, just the effort of not laughing. I knew it was just a scratch anyway.
"I think Meia's dead." I heard Kuwabara comment with a huge grin in his voice, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing again.
"She's lost her bloody mind!" Yusuke complained, and I successfully stopped myself from laughing at that, but only by waving my hand the envelope was clutched in in the air slightly to try and get them to actually grab it, if it hadn't been crushed into dust particles because I was holding it too tightly. I felt the envelope leave my hand after a few moments,
"How'd you get this?" I heard Kurama's voice ask, and I had recovered enough to be able to push myself upright off of the floor, but not without complete light-headedness overcoming me.
"Koenma gave it to me." I answered, touching a hand to my temple lightly as I heard Kuwabara drag himself off of the floor. Though the light-headedness was only for a few moments, and I then dragged myself to my feet as soon as I was able "Anyway! I'm going to go visit Motoko!" I said, laughing as I immediately ran around the confused-looking, now singlet-less Yusuke, and Kurama, who was reading the piece of paper from Koenma with a slight smile across his face.
"What?! How--" Came Yusuke's exclaiming voice as I stepped out of the room, and I turned to see Kurama smiling at me.
"Could you collect a kilogram of Sugar on your way back for me, Meia? If you're not too busy." Kurama asked, and I couldn't stop the grin from crossing my face completely as I nodded, and began to sprint down the stairs. I didn't even look at the black-clad being seated on the windowsill in the hallway as I took the next set of stairs down to my room, jumping the last four stairs and yanking open the door as soon as I could reach. I wasn't going to come back until dinner, I was free during the daytime, so I was going to spend every last moment of the daylight doing what I wanted, when I wanted, that was that. I immedaitely shut the door behind me and proceeded to throw on a pair of dark demin mini-shorts, a white tank-top, and my knee-high lace up boots. I pulled my hair up in a high pony-tail as I used my feet to pull open the bottom drawer of my chest-of-drawers, and I hooked my foot through the strap of my little brown backpack. I straightened my fringe as I pulled the bag out of the drawer and set it on the floor carefully, then I pushed the drawer shut with my foot. I glanced at the meat cleaver that I had discarded onto the bed, and thought for a few moments, so I stowed the weapon into my bag carefully. I wasn't stupid enough, after that shopping district incident, to go wandering around unarmed, that was just asking for it. I'd return the meat cleaver into the kitchen once I had bought a replacement weapon, which I would do before I went to Genkai's, though I didn't think on it.
For someone that couldn't care less about being fast, I wanted out, and I didn't care about what I left behind, I'd look at that when I got back. I shrugged on a sleeveless half-jacket as I shouldered the bag, throwing in my MP3 player, my envelope and address, and my hand-held gaming console. I hadn't seen my phone for a while, I knew that the device had been seized just in case I decided to try and contact anyone while in my incarceration, so I wasn't that worried about it, but I hadn't seen my purse either. I didn't really need them though, so I wasn't that bothered. I observed myself in the mirror for a few moments, before I turned and began to leave the room quickly. I stepped up the stairs two at a time, my huge grin remaining plastered over my face as I went. First stop, Motoko's! I was gonna drag her out of that apartment, even if it killed me! I began to sprint down the corridor – every second taking my time meant less time out alone!
"I'm going to Motoko's! Bye!" I called out loudly as I heard the sounds of Kurama chopping up vegetables, slowing down just enough to open the door before I walked through it.
"Meia! Wait a second!" Came Kurama's voice, and I stopped, and turned around.
"What's up?" I asked, stepping over enough so I could look at him through the door of the kitchen.
"You might want to take the rest of your belongings with you." Kurama stated, and I blinked as I stared blankly at him. The rest of my belongings? I wasn't gonna carry my whole manga collection with me to Motoko's. I saw him merely point to something sitting on the countertop in front of him with the knife he was using at that moment, and I felt a grin cross my face as I saw my mobile phone, and my purse sitting on the countertop neatly.
"Yes! I definitely want them! I'm allowed to have them back?" I asked eagerly as I stepped into the kitchen quickly, and I saw Kurama smile slighty whilst he looked back at his cooking.
"I can't see why not." Kurama commented, and I couldn't help but grin hugely as I grabbed my mobile phone and began to flick through the contacts list. Nothing had changed, nothing at all, asside from one contact that wasn't in the phone previously. I would look at that later, however.
"Thank you! Bye!" I said quickly, grabbing up my purse and beginning to leave the house at a run. I could feel a pair of piercing eyes upon my back, but quite honestly, I didn't care! I looked down at my phone as I continued to jog down the path, the huge grin still plastered across my face as I scrolled down the contacts list and selected my college campus. I pressed dial on my phone, and I held it to my ear, not feeling any strain on my body from the running at all. I glanced at the forest to my right as I heard the dialing tone, and I heard the line suddenly pick up.
"Hello, Tokyo University, this is Utako speaking." Came over the speaker, and I felt that huge grin cross my face in full bloom again – I didn't know this person!
"Hi, my name's Meia Arisawa, I'm just calling about my course--"
"Meia Arisawa of the music department?!" Came over the speaker, and I lost the grin immediately – okay so this woman did know me, but I didn't know her.
"Yes, that's correct." I said, and I couldn't seem to hide the confusion in my voice.
"Oh! You must be calling about your absences." The woman spoke, and I cringed. Yep, a months worth of absences, would definitely be noticed.
"Yeah, that's--"
"Don't you worry! Everything's been taken care of for you!" Utako spoke, and I blinked in shock.
"Excuse me?" I said immediately, coming to a halt as I listened intently.
"Your uncle called us this morning and informed us that you were in an accident last month." I blinked again.
"My uncle?" I repeated, blinking again as I began to become really confused.
"Yes, yes, he said you were taken to a special hospital in the United States because of your bone ailments, so that's why we couldn't get hold of you, poor dear, you should take it easy, take a few days extra off." I blinked again, thinking on who could have pulled this off, I wasn't out of the bloody states.
"Was his name Koenma, by any chance?" I asked.
"Yes, Koenma Arisawa. A very nice man if I do say so myself." I closed my eyes with an effort not to swear. By the sounds of it, Koenma had gotten hold of this woman.
"So I don't need to come in today to get any of my papers?" I asked.
"No, no! Just kick your feet up and relax. There's been an extension on all of your work, so you don't need to stress yourself." Utako spoke, and I fell silent. "We shall see you next monday, and don't hesitate to call us if you feel you can't come in!" Utako spoke, and then the line went dead. Kick my feet up and relax? Not likely! That just gave me more time to wander around all day! I felt my grin cross my face again as I forced the phone call out of my mind, and I went back to jogging into town.
"I can't wait to go back to college!" I said outloud, grinning hugely as I remembered an assignment I would love to redo, to make an old grouch happy. "Oh I'm gonna love writing another essay on the psychology behind Silent Hill for Kaji again." I couldn't stop myself from giggling as I dialed Motoko's number on the phone.
"Hello?" Came Motoko's voice after the third dial, and that huge grin across my face grew even wider as I began to pick up speed – nothing was gonna make me feel crap today.
"Hey!" I said loudly, the grin growing so large that my cheeks began to hurt.
"Meia?" Came Motoko's voice, and I laughed lightly.
"Yeah, it's me!" I said, picking up speed in my jog after a few moments. "Are you out?"
"No, I'm at home, why?" Motoko asked, and I grinned broadly as I spotted the edge of town a few moments later.
"Come outside!" I said, and I could hear the skepticalism in her voice.
"Aren't you still not allowed to be outside or something?"
"Just get outside! I'll probably already be out there by the time you come out, unless that elevator's working for once!"
"What?"
"I'm free, stupid!" I said, but I couldn't contain my laughter. "I'm coming to visit you, first of all! You should feel priviledged!"
"I'm coming!" Motoko said suddenly, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing as I shoved my phone into my bag and begin to run as fast as I could into town.