Because of Small Things
Chapter 37
Author Comments: Sorry if there's a lot of mistakes in this one. My day has sucked so badly with me being sick and then my best friend pissing me off and then my stepdad making me even madder so... I'm not in a very good mood so I probably overlooked a lot of grammar mistakes and I'm terribly sorry. I hope you enjoy it anyways; sorry it took me a while to get it out!
The moment I woke up, I knew the mission was officially beginning in just a few minutes' time. I crawled from my bed and toward the bathroom, taking a quick shower and brushing my teeth. I pulled my hair into its usual braid and walked out, drying off and changing into a pair of black jogging pants and a white tank top. I pulled on some flats and grabbed one of my duffel bags. I knew I should stop by my apartment but I didn't feel like it. I figured it'd still be there when I came back.
I packed the duffel bag full of clothes just as Kelso crawled out from under my bed. I smiled down at my kitten and bend down, picking him up and resting him on my side as I finished packing, pulling the duffel bag over my shoulder and walking from my bedroom. I walked down the hallway as Kelso began meowing and smiled down at my kitten as I walked downstairs to see two of the four boys up, and alive. Kurama was making the table as eggs and cheese and butter lay on the counter, as well as a packet of uncooked bacon and sausage. There were a lot of other condiments but they turned into herbs and vegetables mainly.
I set Kelso down and tossed my duffel bag down, leaning against the counter as Kurama started to cook. I could help but I think I'd give the boys and I all a killer stomach ache if I began cooking. So I began to watch Kurama, to try and gain some pointers. If I were to ever make it on my own, I'd have to be able to cook. And the biggest pointer of all is if I were to ever get married, I'd have to be able to cook because it's not right if the wife can't cook. I found myself staring over at Hiei, biting the inside of my lip.
I could see myself settling down with a man like Hiei. He was a very handsome man and very respectful, in his own quirky way. I blinked and sighed, staring over at Kurama as he began making omelets. It didn't take long for the aroma of breakfast to wave its way upstairs and into Yusuke's and Kuwabara's bedroom because only a couple minutes later, Yusuke was walking down the stairs, stretching his arms up as he yawned. Kuwabara came down moments later, his eyes barely open as he stumbled down the stairs. He almost fell at the bottom, which I smiled at and the two fell into their chairs, yawning simultaneously.
"You guys tired?" I asked, mocking them. They didn't answer me and I smiled, shaking my head. I served Yusuke's omelet, which had basically everything on it, and watched him "sleep eating". It was a funny sight because half the time, his hand just hovered before his mouth as his jaw made a movement of eating, although there was nothing inside of his mouth (it'd still be on the spoon). Kuwabara was the same thing when I handed him his omelet, except he'd put the spoon in his mouth and leave it there as he chewed. It was a weird sight but I knew once they were fully awake, they'd be devouring the food in front of them. It probably wasn't long.
I served Hiei his plain and simple omelet (compared to Yusuke's and Kuwabara's). Kurama made mine real quick and I sat down, waiting for the cook to eat as well. Once the table was all served up and sat down (Yusuke and Kuwabara more awake now), we all ate in silence. We knew we all had to save our energy for this mission so no sense in talking.
"Good morning, spirit detectives," Botan's chipper voice echoed as we all ate our breakfast. She came stepping out of the portal and smiled at us. I smiled back and she walked up, standing beside the table. "Now, I've come to drop off your communicators and gadgets!" She smiled and I blinked. Gadgets sounded cool. She pulled out a bag and gave each of us small disc type things that she called communicators. I studied mine before pocketing it and staring up at her. "Now, Koenma figures you won't be able to directly look at this guy because he's made up of complete mass and only the strongest of eye seeing demons, like psychics, can stare at beings like that so he had some cool looking shades made up for you guys so you can actually fight his guy!"
She pulled out five geeky looking sunglasses and I blinked, grabbing mine and making a face. "They're not stylish," I muttered, blinking. Botan laughed.
"Well, not quite but they'll work! That's all for now. You all will be leaving in a couple minutes and we're putting you in the north western region of the Makai, where this guy was last located. Koenma seems to think he's heading for the Rockies so make your way that way until we send word. I'll have my communicator as usual," Botan stated.
"Hey, Botan," Yusuke spoke up, "why do we each get a communicator, unlike the last times when only I got one?"
"Well, Koenma wants you all to be able to be reached, no matter what happens," Botan stated. "We don't know much about this guy but he seems strong by the weight of his energy mass." Yusuke nodded. "Good luck, detectives." She was gone. I blinked and looked over at the boys. This was my first official mission and it was with some demon or thing that Koenma couldn't figure out. Life seriously wasn't easy, huh?
"We're going to go pack," Yusuke stated after finishing off the rest of his omelet. I watched him and Kuwabara walk upstairs and I stared down at my half eaten omelet. It was rather large; I'm surprised I ate half of it. I began cleaning up, despite Kurama's insistence. I literally shoved him back as I washed the dishes.
"The one who cooked never cleans," I mumbled, a line my mom used to say. Kurama smiled and thanked me. "No problem, Kurama. It's the least I can do since I can't cook worth crap." Kurama laughed and shook his head. "It's true. I gave myself food poisoning for a couple days once. It was pathetic really."
"Would you like me to teach you to cook one day?" he asked. I smiled up at him.
"That'd be great," I muttered and he smiled.
"Then one day I'll teach you to cook, Etsuko," he stated before helping me clean the table off, but not actual washing the dishes and such. I finished right before Yusuke and Kuwabara walked down, carrying their bags. They weren't very big, but big enough to carry a couple outfits and such. A portal appeared and Botan came out, smiling.
"Ready to go, detectives?" she asked and we all nodded. "Alright. Koenma has made arrangements for you in a Makai Hotel just outside the boundaries he's not allowed to touch unless for emergencies, ok? That way the first couple nights, you can rest and think of a plan."
"Finally he gets us rooms," Yusuke mocked. "That binky breath always makes us sleep under some tree with rocks and roots." Botan chuckled and I eyed Yusuke. Was he being serious or just joking around? I couldn't tell but I figured I didn't need to know as we all walked through the portal.
The familiar stench of the Makai washed over me and I wrinkled my nose in disgust as we all stared around. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. It was a plain of some sort and if you squinted, using demon abilities, you could see a small, tiny town in the mirage forming. We all began heading toward that small town, Yusuke leading. I was in the middle, somewhat, which reminded me of some princess or something. I couldn't contain a small shudder of my silent laughter to go through me and I heard a quizzical look from Hiei, who I just shook my head at. He narrowed his eyes at me and stared away from me. I kept staring at him as I walked though. I liked his facial features.
I didn't notice that the group had stopped so I rammed straight into Yusuke's back. We both stumbled forward a bit and I sucked in my bottom lip, looking apologetic. "Watch yourself, Etsuko," was all he said before staring around. We were close to the small town and it looked run down, ghetto, and dead…to me.
We continued to walk forward and no one greeted us. In fact, we were more like the "unwelcomed strangers" as odd looking demons stared at us; they were all gangly and much distorted. I figured they were the misfits of the Makai. I kept my eyes to myself (more to Yusuke's back) and we made it to a small, rundown hotel that had termites for sure, if there were termites anyways. We walked in and I almost screeched in disgust at the receptionist. He was disgusting to look at. Too disgusting to describe so I hide my head to the side as Yusuke checked us in.
I grimaced at the goo left on our hotel key by the guy and we walked toward our single room, which was odd. I was a girl and although very comfortable with the guys, especially Hiei, I didn't want to share a bedroom with them all. I'm sure they all farted or muttered in their sleep, and that wasn't settling well with me. Yusuke unlocked the door and I almost gagged. It wasn't a very nice room, but nice enough. It had five beds in the living room with a couch that looked like a bear had fun with it and the walls were peeling, literally.
"Thanks diaper breath," Yusuke yelled out, glaring. I smiled and shook my head.
"We might as well have some fun with it," I stated. "At least we don't have to be careful. We can all kill each other and it won't look any different." That put some humor to the disgusting room and I became proud of myself. I was getting good at telling jokes. I walked to a bed and went to jump on it but the moment I slammed down, the frame broke and I screamed from the sudden surprise. Instantly, Yusuke and Kuwabara began howling with laughter. Kurama's shoulders shook as he bit his knuckles to keep himself from laughing and Hiei smirked slightly. I groaned and gave them a goofy grin. "Well, this bed's not suited for any rigorous activities." This made Yusuke laugh harder as he followed my suit and jumped on one, breaking that frame as well. His fell with a loud thump though and I grinned, my shoulders shaking with laughter.
"My turn!" Kuwabara yelled, rushing forward and jumping high in the air and onto a bed. The bed slammed so hard, it created a small crater in the ground. Something came over me and I began laughing, real laughing. It hurt so badly to laugh, but I couldn't get it to stop as my chest heaved with my laughter. Yusuke laughed harder at my retarded laugh and Kuwabara stood dizzily.
"Alright, I think we should all settle down before we get ourselves kicked out," Kurama stated, laughing himself. Hiei was staring at me in a very peculiar way and I blushed slightly, trying to get my laughter to die down as my throat throbbed with pain. I was surprised my throat still had pain but I guessed different sounds made my vocal cords react differently.
"I call this bed," I stated, claiming my broken bed. It wasn't hard, but really soft, which was perfect for me. I tossed my duffel bag off and sighed, lying down. The mission wasn't that bad, so far…but I knew it was going to get hard.
I could sense it.