Chapter 34: A Heart to Heart
Date: September 24th, 2002
Mimiko's P.O.V.
Now, if I was to tell you that things had gotten any better the next day, I'd be lying to you. Shea had pointedly avoided waking up late, so she could avoid sitting in the same room as Yusuke, or so I guessed. Unfortunately, this meant I was to go with her. The air was brisk and cool against my skin as we walked down the woodland path to whatever destination was meant for us. Kurama had instructed us not to come out alone today, but Shea had ignored those orders, which was an easy way to start a fight, that was for sure.
"Shea, maybe we should head back, remember what happened yesterday." I reminded her briefly. These words were met with a snort of defiance from Shea, who continued ahead of me without turning back.
"All I remember is Yusuke trying to kill Yuki." She insisted. I sighed, shaking my head.
"Shea, he was only trying to-" Shea made it clear she wouldn't listen to me by breaking out into a run, and I had to chase after her, out of breath by the time we reached the shore side.
"Shea!" I said finally. The plum-haired girl settled down, resting in the sand. Her expression was unreadable as she looked back at me, her dull eye, unable to hold any glitter of emotion, was also making it even harder to tell what she was thinking.
"Yusuke didn't know that he was Yuki." I swore, touching her shoulder. She tugged away from my touch, closing her eyes.
"Right because the white fur, the red markings, and the giant fox markings aren't good enough indication, right?" She snapped, making me flinch. She looked regretful as her eyes opened again, and she stood up.
"Look, I'm mad at him, not you, so I'm not going to fight with you because you're defending him." She didn't wait for my response as she hopped up again, walking away as quickly as she could. Sighing, I fell back into the sand, feeling soothed by the cool touch if only for a second.
"Come on Kurama, there has to be something you can do!" I insisted later on as we sat in the living room. It was Hiei who answered me instead, since he was the only other one in the room besides us and Loki.
"Hn. Do you think that he can stop her from acting like bitch if you can't?" I gave a sideways glance to him, then rolled my eyes.
"Hiei, she doesn't know what happened, and she won't let me tell her." Loki shook her head.
"There you are. The stupid vixen is wrong and she doesn't want to admit it. That's why she won't listen to you." She concluded. Kurama didn't react until he was able to sit down next to me, as he was busy sorting papers before.
"That's enough of the two 'optomists' Kurama, can't you do anything about her?" After a moment, Kurama's emerald eyes flecked, and he shook his head.
"No." I sighed, placing my face into my palm.
"And why not Casanova?" I questioned, making it quite obvious I was hinting at something. Kurama ignored that and looked thoughtful.
"I can't tell Shea what to do or who to like Mimiko. She thinks Yusuke tried to kill Yuki, without realizing that Yuki was in his hell form. It's up to Yusuke to make her understand that." I sighed, crossing my arms.
"But they're both extremely hard headed! Asking either one of them to apologize is like asking hell to freeze over, especially if it's to each other!" Kurama didn't say anything else as he got up, but as he got to the door, he looked back at me, slightly playful if anything else.
"Don't worry, things will be sorted out." And with that, he closed the door behind him. I ignored Hiei, and instead turned to look at Loki.
"He has to be one of the most cryptic guys I've ever met."
"He only let's you see what he wants you to see." Was her only response. Bidding goodbye to Loki and Hiei, I went to find Keiko, maybe find out how Yusuke was dealing. I found her in the hotel lobby, and she looked a bit worried.
"Keiko?" I called. She turned her gaze to me and brightened a bit.
"Mimiko! Have…you seen Yusuke around?" I could only give her a shrug in response, because at this point, I didn't even know where Shea was. She looked as down as she had when I ran into her after I said this, making me feel bad.
"B-but we can look for him, come on!" She let me take her arm and drag her out of the hotel. We wandered the paths carefully, especially wary of everything as we moved. My energy was returning, but slowly at best, so we still had to be the way, I managed to smack right into someone. He was much taller than me, with brown hair and bright green eyes.
"Oh, you're Shi- Shea's friend, right?" This was Shea's human brother, Bruno. He was friendly enough from what I knew of him. Keiko looked up at him, not wasting time in asking her question.
"Have you seen Yusuke Bruno? I haven't seen him all morning, and no one I've talked to have spotted him." Bruno thought for a moment, finally giving her a shrug.
"I think I saw him down by the lak-" There was a sudden scream coming from down the path, which led to the lake beyond it. I blinked before glancing at Keiko. That sounded like Kouhei!
"Stay here Keiko. Bruno, take care of her!" I got an okay from the boy as I darted off, trying to reach the lake as fast as I could. Skidding to a halt as I made it, I found Kouhei, eyes wide with fear as a couple of demons advanced on her. In front of her, were both Yusuke and Shea, fending them off as quickly as they could. As soon as Kouhei saw me, she ran out from behind them to cling to me. As Yusuke took care of one of the two final demons, the other had Shea cornered at the edge of the lake. It managed a punch, sending her skidding into the middle of the lake. Yusuke, who had just taken care of the last demon, killed off the one that had punched her, and now, he stood at the edge of the lake and Shea struggled in the water.
"She can swim, can't she?..." Kouhei wondered worriedly. I watched Shea as she struggled, recognizing fear on her face. Flashes of her struggle with Edel came to her mind. Had it made her scared of swimming?
"Yusuke! You have to help her! I won't be able to get to the middle fast enough!" Yusuke, eyes wide with realization, turned to go.
"Hold on Shea!" He called out, jumping into the water. Yusuke reached her just as she began to give up, and Kouhei and I watched in an eerie silence as the middle of the lake bubbled. Yusuke popped up a few moments later, propping Shea up beside him. We met him at the water's edge, pulling Shea out of the water as he climbed out himself.
"Shea…come on, get up, you're okay now." I coaxed. Shea coughed and took rapid breaths to get her air back, also looking like she was trying to come out of shock. Once she had calm down, she glanced over to Yusuke. They stared each other down for the longest time, before suddenly bursting into laughter. Kouhei and I were needless to say, confused as the laughter died down. Had they shared some kind of silent connection?
"I know now." Shea stated, standing up and wringing out her soaked shirt. "Yuki was trying to protect me, and so were you. So I'm sorry." Her voice was genuine, and it made me sigh in relief. Neither of them seemed mad anymore as Yusuke nodded.
"Hey, we all make assumptions right?" He asked as he began to dry his own clothes out. "It's fine." Though he didn't apologize, I sensed that it was what he meant, and Shea seemed to sense it too, as a light hearted smile played on her features.
"So, one of you mind telling me what happened?" I asked as we headed up the path from the lake. Kouhei took the chance to explain.
"I was at the lake when these two showed up. They seemed upset with each other, and I offered to leave, but as I went too those demons attacked me. So Shea and Yusuke rescued me." Shea and Yusuke nodded slightly to confirm her story. We met up with Keiko and Bruno where I had left them, and Bruno seemed relieved to see his sister while Keiko seemed glad they were alright again. Maybe that was what Kurama had meant by things would sort themselves out? Well, I can't tell you I think that guy is as easy to read as a book, but he sure knows what he's talking about.
"Hey Mimiko, come on, It won't be any good if me and Shea get sick before the next fight." Yusuke snapped me out of my thoughts, the others a bit ahead of him.
"Right, coming!" he waited until caught up to him to start walking, and Keiko and Kouhei dropped back to join us. Suddenly, the next fight didn't seem so scary, now that my team members weren't considering each other the enemy.