"Watanuki! We're leaving!"
Kagome winced at the loud crash that responded to Yuuko's impatient call. "Watanuki-senpai is not adjusting well to Doumeki's eyesight," she muttered, "Which he really should be, given how long he was walking around half-blind."
Yuuko cackled as the twins mocked Watanuki with declarations of "Owwie!" and "That sounded nice!"
With a sigh, Kagome concluded that she would have to be the nice person in the equation, and moved over to her friend, offering him a hand up. "Still not used to Doumeki's eye, huh?"
"Really, it's quite sad," Yuuko piped up behind her, "I mean, really, his eyesight in that eye was rated 20/20!"
"Yeah, well, half that is 10/20, which is lousy!" Watanuki retorted.
"Your eye must have been rated lower than that before." Yuuko countered with a sly smile.
"You're seeing too much now!" Mokona completed cheerily.
"It's bothering you that you're seeing too much!" the twins began chanting, "It's bothering you that you're seeing too much!"
Normally, Kagome was all for a little mockery to pull Watanuki off of his high horse, but when Mokona broke out a portable karaoke machine just to take it to the next level, it was just ridiculous. "Alright, that's enough! Although..." she trailed off, tapping her finger against her lower lip, "Doumeki's doing a much better job of dealing with this- he hasn't crashed into anything once, and is even managing to get his depth perception back up to par!" Of course, Doumeki had also managed to convince his mostly absentee parents that he needed to go to see an eye doctor within two days of losing half his eyesight in one eye and promptly received contact lenses for that eye, but if Watanuki hadn't managed to figure out that little solution on his own, Kagome certainly wasn't going to tell him.
"I've seen him bump into a few things!" Watanuki screeched in his defense, "He's probably ALWAYS stumbling when I'm not looking!" Yuuko and Kagome giggled at him, leading to a death glare from the boy, "I won't go shopping with you anymore." He declared flatly.
"Awww, but who will carry our bags for us?" Yuuko asked with a pout, then cheered, "Besides! You're my part-timer! It's part of you job to go shopping with me as my personal pack mule!"
"She's got a point, Watanuki-senpai," Kagome agreed, covering a grin with her hand at the look of stunned horror on her coworker's face.
"But-but!" he babbled.
"Besides," Yuuko added, "We're going shopping for a fridge! You were the one who complained that ours was broken! So, it's only right that you come along to carry the new one!"
"I am NOT carrying a fridge all the way back here!" Watanuki declared emphatically.
#
"She's really going to make me carry back a fridge, isn't she?" Watanuki asked Kagome, doom and gloom creating palpable lines around his face and body.
"A discounted one at that," Kagome agreed with a smile, "Although, if you behave yourself and beg, she might just have mercy upon your soul. And your back."
"This one is absolutely marvelous! Good find, Mokona!" Yuuko cheered, looking into what Kagome could only term an absolutely monstrous refrigerator. She didn't think her fridge at home was that big, and it held food for a bottomless pit known as a human teenage boy who played competitive soccer, as well his three less voracious family members, not to mention the quarantined area for whatever 'holy relics' her grandfather deemed to need to sit in a 'cool, preservative environment'. It was, without question, utterly disgusting, but such was life with a slightly senile grandfather.
"AT LEAST PICK THIS SMALLER ONE!" Watanuki shrieked, perhaps seeing the integrity of his back being smashed to smithereens under the weight of the positively massive kitchen appliance, "How would I carry that back? THERE'S NO WAY!"
Yuuko took one look at the mini-fridge Watanuki was patting fondly, and shook her head. "That one wouldn't do." she said, her voice dark and flat.
"I know it's a bit small" Watanuki said with a shrug, "But..."
"That's not what I mean." Yuuko told him. Kagome frowned, her eyes narrowing as she studied it herself, wondering just what Yuuko was talking about.
Then she saw it. Black sooty smudges of dark energy were smeared all over the fridge's surface, and a disembodied hand seemingly made of the same delicately held onto the door. Kagome shivered. No way would she want that anywhere near her home. "Yeah, I really don't think that's a good one, Watanuki-senpai."
"It won't cool anything." Yuuko agreed.
"Huh?"
"In Layman's terms," Yuuko explained, "That particular fridge is what would be called a 'miss'. For whatever reason, it immediately has problems. It happens, right? A mass-produced item that just seems to be broken right from the get go, despite the fact that there's nothing apparently wrong with it."
"Well, that does happen often," Watanuki mused, "Especially when I go shopping for discount items and such. But you can't tell that just by looking."
"Oh, can't you?" Kagome muttered, edging further away from the fridge.
"Take a closer look," Yuuko advised, "Is there anything about it that seems different from the others?" Watanuki frowned, then peered closely at the fridge. After a long moment, he jerked back with a yelp. Yuuko nodded, "See? That one's a miss, right?" She tilted her head, studying Watanuki with half-lidded eyes, "Do you still want to buy it."
"Ahh, no," Watanuki said, sweating slightly, "I'd rather pass on that one."
"Wise decision," Kagome said with a smile, pulling him away, "And it shows progress. Good for you!"
"Progress?" he demanded.
She beamed at him, "Just think- when we met, you totally would have bought that fridge. You're learning! Granted, it's apparently taking blunt force trauma for you to do so, but I'll take progress where I can get it."
"It's not that," Yuuko said with a slow smirk, "Or well, not just that. Splitting that right eye in half didn't just improve his vision."
"It gave him some of Shizuka-senpai's common sense, too?" Kagome asked dryly, although she had a feeling that that wasn't quite what Yuuko had meant.
"Hmmm, it does seem that way, doesn't it?" Yuuko agreed, then beamed, "Anyway, let's go with this one!" she said, positively glomping the monstrosity from earlier, she scurried off to find a salesperson, "And of course we'll be carrying it out ourselves!"
"THAT'S UNREASONABLE! THAT'S TOTALLY UNREASONABLE! DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME SAY IT WAS UNREASONABLE?!" Watanuki screamed, entering into Psychotic Rant Mode. He ran after her, leaving Kagome to sigh and follow, hoping that Yuuko remembered which fridge it was that had caught her eye. He stopped so abruptly that she nearly crashed into him.
She frowned, "Watanuki-senpai? Why did you stop?"
"Did you see that?" he demanded.
Kagome frowned, "No, but I was paying more attention to trying to catch up with you and Yuuko-san than anything else. What am I looking for?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of light and a crackle of lightning dart across the ceiling. "That flash of light, perhaps?"
"Yeah, that was it." He agreed as they watched the same light dash around the store like some sort of deranged parody of a pinball game. Finally, it appeared to come to a stop behind some washing machines. The teenagers looked at each other, shrugged, and then moved to investigate. Watanuki leaned over the washing machines, aided by his height, while Kagome clambered on top of one of the machines to investigate. Wedged between the washing machines and the wall was a rather adorable little bean of a creature. It was crackling with lightning, and Kagome had absolutely no intention of touching it unless she absolutely had to. She had no real desire to be electrocuted.
"What's that? Some sort of store promotional item, or something?" Watanuki asked.
Kagome's forehead hit the palm of her hand as she shook her head, "No, Watanuk-senpai. Most store mascots don't try to electrocute people or cause power outages. It's probably some sort of youkai." She paused to consider, "Or maybe a youma."
"That's ridiculous," the little creature said, his voice sounding remarkably like her jii-chan's while still echoing with lightning, "That one such as I would be a store mascot!"
"How did he talk like an old man?!" he asked Kagome, sounding more than a little jarred by the dissonance between a tiny little bean creature and the creaky voice.
"Well," Kagome answered with a shrug, "I imagine that he isn't exactly young. Spirits don't tend to look their age, you know."
"Arrgh," Watanuki groaned, "Another strange thing pops up!" That appeared to be too much for the little creature, resulting in Watanuki receiving a rather large bout of electricity to the chest.
"You know," Kagome pointed out to the animal, "That could actually kill him. Humans are very fragile that way; a shock like that to the chest could kill him."
"That accursed being, to call me a strange thing!" it sniffed.
"What's the fuss?" Yuuko asked, popping up quite suddenly and having apparently failed in her quest to find a salesperson.
"A small, clearly very powerful spirit is caught behind the washing machine," Kagome explained, "And Watanuki-senpai appears to have missed the lesson on how to interact with strange youkai."
"Nonsense. I gave him that lecture twice!" Yuuko discounted the possible explanation with a wave of her hand as she approached to get a good look at the beast herself. One glance over the machine had her smiling, "Oh! It's you! I haven't seen you in a long time!" She gushed, settling down on Watanuki's back like it was a settee for conversation with the youkai.
"Is that accursed kid one of yours? And the pretty girl?"
"They're my part-time employees." Yuuko informed him.
"So, these are the subjects of all the rumors." He murmured.
Meanwhile, Watanuki was squirming uncomfortably under his employer's weight. "Don't make small talk while you're sitting on me!" He wheezed out.
Kagome supposed that made sense. After all, it did look rather like Yuuko was settled on his upper back directly over his lungs. "You have got to learn not to impulsively irritate people." She told him before turning back to the youkai and bowing politely. "Hello youkai-sama. I'm sorry, I can't quite place who you are. Is there anything I can do to help you?"
The youkai sniffed. "This one is polite," it told Yuuko, "You did a good job with this one. You need to teach the other one manners. He called me a 'strange thing'. It was very rude of him!"
"Well, it is!" Watanuki retorted weakly.
Kagome nudged him hard in the ribs. "Shut up, Watanuki-senpai, you're making it worse!" The youkai seemed to agree with her, as he blasted Watanuki with electricity again. Kagome sighed, "Please youkai-sama, I know he can be very trying at times, but still. 'Trying' does not merit death, and electrocution can have errr... very grievous side effects for humans."
"Perhaps you have a point," The youkai conceded, "I control lightning," he informed her, "They call me the Thunder Beast."
She gasped and bowed again, more deeply "Raiju-sama! It is good to meet you."
He smiled indulgently, "You're a good girl."
Watanuki, however, had not quite picked up on the undertones of the conversation. "I've read about the Thunder Beast, but I was expecting something a little more noble and dignified like a wolf, not like some sort of department store mascot." Wordlessly, Yuuko and Kagome moved away from Watanuki, the latter not even bothering to try to convince the Thunder Beast not to electrocute him this time.
After a long moment, Kagome spoke up hesitantly, "Raiju-sama? Don't you think he's suffered enough now?"
"No." He said cheerfully, "But I'm willing to stop if you do me a favor."
"That would depend on what the favor is," Kagome countered.
"What?!" Watanuki screeched.
"Hush. You got yourself into this mess. I'm going to try to get you out of it, but I'm not going to commit murder or start cursing people for your stupidity." She scolded him.
"My Kagome-chan is so clever, isn't she?" Yuuko said, wiping away a tear.
"She's a fox clan's matriarch, is what she is," the Thunder Beast snorted. "What I want is for you to get me out of this place. I accidentally got wedged back here, and I can't get out without help. It's so undignified!"
Kagome considered for a moment, then nodded and took off her uniform jacket, "I'm sorry, Raiju-sama, my jacket's going to cover your face, but it's the only way that I can get you out without touching you."
"Understood. Thank you for the warning."
And so Kagome began the delicate process off pulling the Thunder Beast out from behind the washing machines. It took several tries, and occasionally required Kagome to twist him to unstick him a bit, but she managed it in the end. She sighed in relief, and adjusted her jacket so she was still holding him, but not touching him. "There you are Raiju-sama!"
"My thanks! You really are a good girl. Not like that one." He said with a nasty glare at Watanuki.
"He's not so bad," she offered, "He just doesn't know what to do with such an august youkai such as yourself."
The Thunder Beast preened, "Hmmm, I suppose that's fair. Now, I believe you were looking for a new appliance of some kind?"
"A refrigerator," Yuuko agreed, "Ours broke yesterday. Not quite sure why, but, there you are. Actually..." her eyes narrowed, considering, "Do you think that you could fix it for us, Raiju-sama?"
"Hm. Probably. Consider it payment for getting me out." He agreed, and hopped into Yuuko's arms.
"Why didn't you want to touch him?" Watanuki asked as the group headed out of the store. Kagome stared at him in disbelief. "You've read about the Thunder Beast, and missed the memo that he's quite literally made of lightning? No one can touch the Thunder Beast, or they'd essentially become a grounding rod for all that electricity! I didn't want to end up like you were, or worse!"
"Oh." Watanuki said, startled.
Kagome sighed, "Look, Watanuki-senpai. I haven't brought it up, but you really need to start working on learning the various myths and legends about youkai and youma- Yuuko and I aren't going to be around forever to save you, you know. You need to learn this for yourself, so you don't get killed, or pull another stunt like with the spider's curse."
Her coworker frowned, "What do you mean, another stunt like with the spider's curse?"
She blinked at him, "You didn't know? Watanuki-senpai, before you took the curse from Doumeki, as a miko, I could have purified it in about five seconds. If I hadn't been sick, I would have taken care of it when Doumeki and I met before classes. As it was, he was at my house to get rid of it when you made your bargain with Yuuko-san."
"Well, why didn't you fix it for me then?!" He yelped.
"Because," Kagome replied, "When it was on Doumeki, it was a true curse, cast upon an involuntary recipient, and therefore impure. I'm a miko. Purifying things is kind of what I do. However, when you took the curse upon yourself, that was a voluntary action, and therefore, the curse wasn't impure. I can't do anything about idiots who cast spells to damage their eyesight upon themselves."
"Oh." Watanuki said, voice small, "You really could have fixed it?"
"Spider curses are a specialty of mine." She assured him. "It wouldn't have been any sort of a problem. You have to check these things before you go around doing something drastic. And you really, really have to learn to shut up in the face of stupidly powerful youkai, or you're going to end up getting yourself killed. Case in point, I would bet you're not doing so well right now. Repeated electrocution on that scale can't be good for you."
#
The Thunder Beast's timely (and relatively quick) repair of the fridge was very fortunate, as it meant that the various foodstuffs that had been lurking in there in the hopes that if they didn't open the door too much they wouldn't go bad never had the chance to do so. Watanuki had been conned into making tea (not matcha, or Kagome would have been drafted instead) and there was already a pitcher of sake for Yuuko. The small group sat out on the porch, enjoying the afternoon breeze.
Finally, Yuuko brought up a question that Kagome had been dying to ask ever since the Thunder Beast's arrival. "What were you doing in that electronics store?"
"Raijin-dono sent me to run an errand," The Thunder Beast answered quietly, "I was drawn into that place when I was coming down from the sky."
"So, the electromagnetic waves pulled you in," Kagome murmured.
"Yes." The Thunder Beast confirmed, "And because of them, I could not leave the building without assistance." He turned to look at her, a speculative gleam in his eyes, "You humans make many terrible things. Why do you make things that only bring you pain?"
"I couldn't say, Raiju-sama," she replied, shaking her head, "Except that perhaps we don't realize that they hurt us."
"Humans don't know what's comfortable anymore," Yuuko agreed, sipping from a cup of sake, "So Kagome-chan might just be right."
"Hmph. You humans really do like to make trouble for yourselves." The Thunder Beast told Kagome.
She laughed, "You won't hear me arguing with that- I remember what it was like when humans were comfortable." She paused, her shoulders slumping slightly, "We wanted to be more comfortable, and so we destroyed that which we feared. Now we are uncomfortable due to our own hubris. How very fitting."
"Perhaps, perhaps," The Thunder Beast said, before turning back to Yuuko. "What about," his nose wrinkled in distaste, "That kid?"
Kagome giggled as Yuuko offered an enigmatic smile, "What do you think?"
"He's not like the rumors." It sighed.
" Quite true," Yuuko conceded, "He's changed a great deal, you know, due to meeting certain people. The old Watanuki-kun never would have been able to see you. Only the fortunate can see the Thunder Beast, after all, and before he changed..."
"Watanuki-senpai was anything but." Kagome agreed.
"You care for him?" It asked, looking up at Yuuko.
"Isn't he interesting?" Yuuko's fondness was a bit of an undertone, yes, but Kagome could hear it clearly in her response.
"He is definitely that." The Thunder Beast snorted. "But he's stupid."
"Not stupid, exactly," Kagome demurred, "Just... ignorant and rather too impulsive for his own good."
"Because he's stupid." It assured her.
"I've brought tea!" Watanuki called, bringing a tray along with him. Kagome found herself hoping that he hadn't caught the tail end of their discussion. After all, no one needed to hear the youkai that had repeatedly electrocuted them disparage their intellect. It would just be demoralizing.
"Thank you for taking care of me." The Thunder Beast said begrudgingly, picking up one of the tall teacups and commencing to guzzle down its contents.
"It can hold things by itself?!" Watanuki exclaimed. Kagome shrugged. Not that she wasn't a bit baffled as to the how herself, but powerful youkai weren't to be questioned. It so very rarely turned out well for the questioner. Besides, the Thunder Beast was old enough that he almost had to have work arounds to that sort of thing.
It plunked the cup down on the tray next to him. "It's time I left." It told them. Almost instantly, it started pouring down rain.
Kagome blinked in shock, while Watanuki gasped "Wha- how- it's raining!"
"Thank you for the excellent tea," the Thunder Beast said serenely, "In exchange, I'll let you see."
"See wha-"
The Thunder Beast leapt into the air in a ball of electricity, which then exploded into a dazzling display of what Kagome could only call lightning fireworks.
"It's beautiful," she murmured, smiling at the display along with Watanuki, Mokona, and Yuuko.
"Just like fireworks," Watanuki agreed.
"Hmmm," Yuuko conceded.
"Bye-bye! See ya!" Mokona called, waving.
"It's a bit late for that, I think." Kagome murmured, "He's long gone by now."
"Hopefully, this time his trip is uninterrupted." Yuuko said, watching the sky before seeming to pull herself back. "So! Since we didn't have to buy a new fridge, we should celebrate! BRING OUT MORE SAKE, WATANUKI-KUN!"
"Bring it out!" Mokona cheered.
"YOU JUST WANT AN EXCUSE TO DRINK!" Watanuki shrieked.
Kagome giggled, "I have to go, Yuuko-san. Mama's expecting me home in time for dinner, and I'm running late as it is."
Yuuko nodded cheerily, "Of course, of course! We'll see you tomorrow! Sake, Watanuki-kun! Sake!"
"Good luuuuck!" Kagome called to her coworker as she skipped out the gate. Not having to deal with a drunk Yuuko? Definitely an excellent thing. And that was in addition to meeting the Thunder Beast! It really was a good day!
#
Doumeki was waiting for her when she left the subway station the next morning. "Hey. Want to walk to school together?"
Kagome started slightly, more than a little surprised to see him there. "Oh! Um, hi! I wasn't expecting to see you, Shizuka-senpai. Sure." The pair headed off, Doumeki promptly confiscating her bag. This? This Kagome was not used to. No one had ever tried to carry her things for her, not in the present and not in the Sengoku Jidai. What did this mean? An insidious part of her brain pointed out that in all the shoujo manga she had ever read, this was something that boys did for their girlfriends or crushes. That... could be why, she supposed. She and Doumeki certainly got along well enough, but... No. No, she wasn't going to do this to herself. She'd misinterpreted before, and look at where that had gotten her. An abusive relationship where she had gotten gas lighted. No, she wasn't going to make any romantic assumptions. If Doumeki wanted to date her or anything like that, he would have to come out and tell her himself. It was for the best, really.
#
Doumeki eyed his companion from the corner of his eye. Kagome was nervous, he could tell, and more than a little confused. He wasn't entirely sure why. He was being pretty straightforward about his interest. He was carrying her bag, for god's sake. What did he have to do, actually tell her? The corner of his mouth twitched upwards. That was a distinct possibility, he supposed. After all, Kagome did tend to be cautious in regards to personal relationships, at least initially. Maybe this was an extension of that? He would have to feel out Yuuko on this one. In the meantime, he had some things he needed to talk with her about.
"So. Pretty impressive fireworks yesterday afternoon." He said flatly.
Kagome's head whipped around to face him. "You saw that? But you weren't at the shop!"
With a grimace, he gestured at his right eye. "Just through this eye. But yeah, I saw."
She bit her lip, "I hope that Raiju-sama wouldn't mind. It did imply that it was private..."
"I think it'd probably understand. I mean, it's not like we did it on purpose." Doumeki reassured her.
"True," she agreed, "But it really didn't like Watanuki-senpai." She grinned, "I can't really blame it, though. Watanuki-senpai called it 'a Strange Thing'."
Doumeki groaned, "That idiot." He muttered, shaking his head, "Hasn't he learned anything?"
She sighed. "Sometimes I wonder," she shook her head, "Anyways, what you saw was the Thunder Beast's departure. Did you see anything else?"
He shook his head, "No. Just the fireworks."
She bit her lip, presumably mulling over the information, the answered slowly. "I think, think, mind you, that you're seeing the significant spiritual events that Watanuki-senpai sees. It's probably some sort of magical resonance from your shared eye. I'd have to ask Yuuko-san to see if there's a reason why, or a way to stop it."
"Oh, I don't want to stop it," he assured her, "It's a good way to keep tabs on him. I mean, I'll see it for sure if he gets in over his head. Again."
Kagome grinned, "Early warning system?"
"Early warning system." He agreed, "I figure it can't hurt."
"Knowing Watanuki-senpai? Definitely not." She agreed, rolling her eyes.
They turned to other, less supernatural topics for the rest of the walk to school.
#
Soooo... How has everyone been? Yes, I know that this post was extremely late. This is what happens when your life becomes an endless frenzy of academic reading so that you can prepare for a four hour long essay test to demonstrate that yes, you DO know enough about linguistics to be awarded a PhD. I took said test a week ago. It was... quite possibly the worst experience of my life. Comps are very cruel indeed.
That being said, I have decided, as a sort of penance (and also because of grim determination) that I shall be making up for it by making The Price of Hitsuzen my NaNoWriMo project for this year! For those of you unfamiliar with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), it's an program that gets people to attempt to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. It's really fun to make the attempt, even if I don't always (or even usually) win by reaching the 50,000 word goal. So, basically, I'm going to be attempting to actually finish The Price of Hitsuzen this month. It... should be doable. I've done some calculations, and I think, think, mind you, we're down to 3-6 chapters, depending on how I want to handle a few things. I'm leaning towards 3, with a possibility for 4. We'll see how it goes!
Cultural notes for this chapter: There's only really one big reference, and that is the Thunder Beast himself! The Thunder Beast, as the name Raiju is translated from Japanese, is a being made up entirely of lightning. It can take many forms, one of the most common being a wolf shape. He is the companion of Raijin, the Shinto god of lightning. Normally a fairly calm being, the Thunder Beast tends to get agitated during storms, and leaps about trees, buildings, etc, resulting in, you guessed it, lightning damage. Trees that have been struck by lightning are said to have been attacked by Raiju's claws. It also has a rather strange tendency to sleep in people's navels, prompting Raijin to throw lightning at those hapless souls wake it up so it can go home. This has lead to a superstitions about 1) sleeping on your stomach during a rainstorm, and 2) not sleeping outside during a rainstorm, as some variations of the story indicate that the Thunder Beast only sleeps in the stomachs of people who are fool enough to sleep outside in a thunder storm.