Table Flips
Naraku looked up from the printed article he was reading, watching Jade scribble a few notes onto a paper before flipping back through her book for an answer. He lightly tapped his desk with his fingers, racking his brain for anything to say or do to her. He had wasted two weeks of pranks and insults on her and all she did was shrug and smile at him, or give the occasional witty response. Naraku's jaw clenched. As if sensing the chill of malice in the air, she looked up from her notes and locked gazes with him.
"You're quiet today." Jade commented. Naraku held up the article, highlights and notes scribbled all over the pages.
"I'm trying to understand this mess." He replied honestly. Jade's lips pouted a bit as she nodded, seemingly sympathizing with him for a moment.
"Well, looking at me isn't going to help you understand it," Jade insisted. Naraku chuckled and Jade immediately regretted her statement. Naraku leaned forward on his desk, resting his chin on his hand, his stare drilling through her.
"Maybe it will. How can you be sure?" Naraku asked mockingly.
"You're a persistent troll." Jade said with a sigh. She looked back at her notes, but Naraku knew she wasn't going to read them; not while he was staring her down. He could tell from how rigid her body looked, how tightly she gripped her pencil, and from that tight smile pulled onto her lips. A real smile was gentle and relaxed. This smile of hers told about his death playing in her head; slow and agonizing. Naraku smiled and slowly stood up, but he stopped his approach when the lab door opened. His eyes met Bruce's.
"Ah, caught ya, didn't I? Sit." Bruce ordered, pointing at an empty chair across from Jade. The professor had a box tucked under his arm, which he placed on the table, standing at the end. Naraku sat down and crossed his arms, his eyes locked on Jade again. She looked at Bruce, then at Naraku. When she realized he was still staring, she crossed her arms also, staring down at her notes. Naraku was positive she was grinding her teeth now.
'Is this it? Is she actually going to yell at me?' Naraku wondered, leaning forward, as if that would increase the power of his staring abilities.
"Am I going to have to pluck out your eyes?" Bruce asked Naraku dangerously.
"Don't. He'll probably get a boner." Jade complained. Naraku started laughing, finally breaking his eye contact with Jade as he leaned back. He had almost forgotten about that day.
"Why? Did you try it or something?" Bruce inquired, his face showing a mix of horror and confusion.
"No, I hit him with a stick and all he did was turn around and ask me to hit him on the ass as hard as possible." Jade answered sternly, tapping a single finger on the table, watching as Naraku was sent even deeper into his laughing fit.
"Oh. Well, whack him in the balls next time! He won't be laughing then." Bruce insisted strongly while glaring at his grad student. Jade shrugged. She honestly couldn't believe that Naraku would not laugh about being hit in the balls. She used to play softball and baseball. She swung that stick like she was guaranteed a homerun and caught him across the upper arm. It barely made him flinch, but it definitely made him smile.
"I think about you hitting me every night, Jade." Naraku teased, wiping away a tear he shed from laughing so hard.
"Shut up. I have shit for you to do. And I have an announcement," Bruce snapped, pushing the box towards Naraku. One of Naraku's eyebrows rose, pulling the box to himself as he read the label on top. His eyes rolled immediately.
"These people again," Naraku said bitterly.
"Shut up. Of all people, you don't have the right to judge other people for being people. You deal with those samples just like you did the others. You have plenty of time."
"What of the samples that I ordered for my thesis research? Will I be seeing a box with those anytime soon?" Naraku asked, tapping his finger on the table impatiently.
"Keep testing me and they might take another lap around the country, Naraku." Bruce said with a smirk. Naraku grinned as he shook his head, but Jade could tell he was very unhappy with the statement. She tried to hold back her giggles, but she couldn't. She covered her mouth as she felt the giggles erupt. Naraku looked at her and for the first time, he didn't smirk, grin, or chuckle. No, he was glaring at her!
'Oh, what a fucking loser!' Jade thought, now covering her mouth with both hands as her giggles turned into laughter. Naraku realized why she was laughing and his expression softened. He crossed his arms again and sighed.
"You had an announcement to make?" Naraku asked, closing his eyes.
"Ah, yes. Thanks for reminding me. Jade, dear, are you going to be alright?" Bruce asked, seeing as Jade's laughter seemed to have turned into an onslaught of her lungs.
"Yeah," she forced out, waving her hand at him. Bruce glanced at Naraku, noticing the foul mood that had developed. The professor frowned, knowing that Naraku was thinking about his revenge now. He hoped Naraku was ready to murder, because this announcement was specifically for him.
"Alright, then. Well, I don't have the time slots available this next semester to teach the lab. Naraku, seeing as you're my grad student, you get to pick that up for me." Bruce stated. Naraku's eyes locked with his and if looks could kill, he would have dropped dead.
"Aren't you bringing in a new grad student? Make them do it."
"Naraku, you're my lead student of the lab, therefore, you're the lab instructor and I'll hear nothing more of this."
"Fine." Naraku bit out.
"I'd like to see you try your pranks on people your size. Jade, are you done with your work for the day?" Bruce asked, realizing that Naraku was now in an irreversibly bad mood. He didn't want Jade to be around him.
"Um, I'm just reading and solving problems for now. It'll take a few more days for my other stuff to finish reacting." Jade answered, pointing at her notebook. Bruce nodded as he placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Why don't you just take the rest of the day off?" Bruce suggested. Jade looked up at him, scowling. Naraku leaned forward a bit, making sure he saw what he thought he saw.
"I have bills to pay." Jade said. Bruce squeezed her shoulder slightly.
"I'll pay you for the day. Finish these at home. Have a beer."
"I can't. I'm driving tonight. But, I'll go." Jade agreed, realizing what he was doing. She didn't appreciate the fact that he thought she needed protection, but she grabbed her notes and walked towards the door. She heard Bruce tell her to have a good day, so she waved to him and continued on her way.
"I think you angered her, professor." Naraku pointed out after she left.
"I angered her? Me? And you didn't?" Bruce asked incredulously.
"I haven't been able to anger her to the point of giving me a look like that." Naraku chuckled. Bruce shook his head as he walked out of the lab. Naraku watched him and sighed heavily.
'Is my new friend finally losing her patience?' he wondered, tracing his bottom lip with his thumb. If so, now was the time. Her bad mood was ripe and needed to be plucked. Naraku stood up and grabbed the box of samples, walking over to the counter and placing the box down softly.
"These can wait. I'm busy now." He told himself while smiling.
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'If I get stiffed one more time, I'm going to flip my shit.' Jade thought bitterly as she handed the money to the cashier.
"Hey, Jade! Another round!" a voice called loudly. Jade snapped from her thoughts. She walked over to the box, which was packed into the delivery bag.
"Alright, looks like you're taking this to a Mr. Cider. Dixon Cider." Her boss chirped. Jade's face twisted and she snorted loudly, covering her mouth as she erupted into laughter.
"Wha-What did you just say?" Jade stuttered, her voice muffled from her hand. Her boss blinked as his blue eyes scanned over the receipt. His lips moved as he repeated the name.
"Dixon Ci-oh….oh! Hah! I can't believe I missed that! Ginta! Did you take this order?"
"The Dixon Cider one? Yeah!" Ginta replied with a laugh.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me it said that?"
"You can't read?"
"Koga, give me the thing," Jade insisted, wanting to quickly deliver the pizza to the comedian and get one step closer to finishing her night. Koga glanced at the receipt and then he turned to her, his face growing deadly serious.
"This guy specifically requested you, though." Koga said, pointing to the part of the receipt that printed out any further requests the customers happened to drop on the establishment. Jade leaned forward and read the words, "I want Jade to deliver this to me."
"Maybe it was my roommates," Jade suggested.
"Are your roommates dudes? It was a dude." Ginta stated loudly as he wiped the counter off with a rag. Jade frowned. Maybe it was one of their boyfriends? Or, it could have been Bruce. He did make a few comments about having not had pizza from this place, yet, and this type of humor was not beneath him.
"I don't know if I like this," Koga blurted, looking at Ginta, who was the back-up driver for the evening. Jade rolled her eyes and snatched the receipt from Koga.
"No time to complain. I think I know who it is," Jade replied, her thoughts shifting to Naraku.
"Put the cops on speed dial!" Koga called after her when she grabbed the delivery bag and backed out the door.
"Okaaaaay," she sang back. She placed the pizza in the backseat and sat in the driver's seat, placing her sunglasses on. She typed the address into her phone just to be sure she knew how to find it. It was also the biggest clue to who requested her. Something told her it was Naraku. The address was from a nice apartment complex. Bruce lived in a house. Jade was pretty sure her roommates' boyfriends lived on campus. It had to be Naraku.
When she pulled into the parking lot, she saw Naraku sitting on the patio of the bottom front apartment. Jade sat in her car for a moment, staring at him through her windshield as she inhaled and exhaled deeply. Naraku held his hand up, wiggling his fingers at her while sipping from a bottle of beer. He was also shirtless.
"Asshole." Jade grumbled, leaving her sunglasses on to help with the poker face. She opened her door and stood up, opening her back door and grabbing the pizza with one hand, closing the door with the other. Naraku stood up and took another sip of beer, placing the bottle down on the table and vaulting over the rail.
"Punctual as usual," Naraku commented as he walked up to her.
"That'll be 8.50." Jade said quickly. Naraku pouted at her, reaching into his back pocket.
"Strictly business? Where's the fun in that?" he asked, opening his wallet.
"I'm working. I have to be professional." Jade told him. Naraku counted out the money in front of her and handed it to her.
"That is true." Naraku agreed. Jade gritted her teeth, but she smirked anyway. He didn't tip her so he could further her bad mood.
'I'm not surprised. I'm not angry. I'm not angry. This has happened many times before.' She chanted to herself mentally. Almost as if he read her mind, he held his finger up to stall her. He pulled his wallet out again, slipping his fingers inside. He pulled out a single coin and handed it to her.
"You have bills to pay." He commented with that disgusting grin of his. Naraku waited for her to say something, maybe even strike him, but Jade just stared him down for moment before looking down at the delivery bag she held, unzipping it and pulling the box out. Naraku hated the fact that she was wearing sunglasses. They helped hide her expressions and gave him nothing.
"Thank you, sir." Jade finally said, handing Naraku the box. He took it from her and quietly watched as she walked back to her car. He felt his foundation tremble when she waved to him as she drove away.
"She's not angry?" he whispered, turning around to walk back to his patio. He leapt back over the railing and placed the pizza box down on his patio table, crossing his arms.
'Why is she not angry?' Naraku wondered as he sat down. His leg shook and he gritted his teeth. He should have said something different at first, or maybe have given her two cents and made a joke about his two cents worth, or maybe he should have been less playful and then he realized what was happening. He was angry.
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Sunlight crept through the blinds and struck Naraku's eyelids. It took him a few minutes to stir, but once he was awake, he turned and kept his back aimed at the window. He knew he forgot to do something the previous night and it was to pull the curtains closed to keep the morning light out of his eyes. He yawned quietly and shifted until he lay on his back, eyes staring at the ceiling. He remained this way for a few minutes, planning his day in the lab out quickly. He was going to start the extraction process on the samples Bruce gave to him and then he was going to finish reading and tearing apart the article he started the previous day. He let the bit he read settle in his head and he felt ready to tackle the next part.
Naraku walked into his kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing an apple. Next, he pulled a knife from his drawer and began slicing the apple. When he finished, he tossed the core into the trash and began eating the slices. He opened the fridge again, grabbing a bottle of water.
"I suppose I should go to the store, too." He said under his breath while closing the fridge. He originally meant to visit the grocery store the previous evening, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to annoy Jade.
After showering, he stood in front of the bathroom mirror, towel wrapped around his waist as he carefully ran a brush through a portion of his long, black hair, a hairdryer in the other hand. The remainder of his hair hung behind his shoulders, dripping water down his back. He ran the brush through the hair, mirroring the movement with his dryer. When that cord of hair was dry, he separated another cord and pulled it forward, repeating the brushing and drying. It took some time, but it was the most efficient way for him to dry his hair. It was so thick that it retained every drop of moisture it came in contact with, like some desperate, dehydrated squid-monster.
Naraku walked into his bedroom, hearing his cell phone buzz, alerting him of a message. He walked over to his bed where his phone lay and picked it up, unlocking it and tapping the screen to read the message.
'It's from Bruce. My samples, I assume.' He thought with irritation. Bruce had found a new game to play with Naraku. A game that Naraku had no part in except to suffer. Bruce was shipping the samples to his friends all around the country and every time Bruce received an email alert of where his package was, he would forward it to Naraku.
'Looks like your samples somehow got sent to China. You're from there, right?' the email subject read. Naraku marked the email as read and then banished it to his spam folder. He dropped his phone on his bed and took off his towel.
'He can have his laugh with this one.' Naraku told himself. He knew the professor had taken a strong liking to Jade, especially after pulling her away from him the previous day. If he couldn't get a reaction out of Jade, then he would get one from Bruce. Naraku pulled his boxers on, followed by a pair of black slacks. Next, he pulled on a nice blue dress shirt, standing in front of his mirror as he buttoned up and fixed the collar and sleeves. He turned to the side, making sure he liked how it looked before pulling on socks and slipping into his black dress shoes.
Naraku parked his car behind the science building. He rarely received the chance to park so close to the building, but since it was summer break, most professors were gone, which allowed him a parking space. Even though he spent more time in that building than most professors, he was not allowed to park there when classes were in session. Naraku strode by Bruce's black sudan and stopped suddenly when an idea occurred to him. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a stick of gum, quickly chewing it and pulling the sticky substance out of his mouth and pressed it against the driver's door keyhole. Naraku smiled as he stuck another stick of gum in his mouth, this time blowing a bubble before pulling it out of his mouth and sticking it on the backdoor keyhole. Naraku did the same for the passenger door and other back door. When he finished, he saluted the car and walked into the building, turning down the main hall and spotting Bruce leaving the lab and walking towards him.
"What are you smirking about? Did you finally get laid?" Bruce asked dryly. Naraku's grin widened.
"I receive enough satisfaction in life without sex." Naraku admitted.
"Was he cute?" Bruce continued, patting Naraku's arm as he walked past him.
"Suuuuuper cute." Naraku answered, making his own way to the lab. He unlocked the door and walked in, spotting Jade at the table and freezing in place. She was already here? She didn't come in before noon. She never did until now.
"Good morning!" Jade chirped, giving him a small wave. Her hair was pulled back, her protective goggles on, gloves on, and brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, all complete with a lab coat. Again, something new for her to practice. She never wore protective gear until now.
"You're here early. Why?" Naraku asked, closing the door behind him. He dropped his keys on his desk and carefully placed his binder of notes on the desk beside them.
"Mm, felt like it. I like to keep things exciting." Jade told him.
"Liar." Naraku said back. Jade stared at him for moment before shrugging. Naraku refrained from making a face, but her shrugs were agitating.
"It doesn't matter what time I'm here. I woke up early, so I decided to come in early." Jade explained. She was tightening a buret to a metal clamp, holding it above the opening of an Erlenmeyer flask.
"The titration experiment? One of my favorite experiments," Naraku admitted as he walked towards her.
"That would make sense. I remember everyone else hating it." Jade commented. Naraku chuckled, leaning on the table as he watched her set the equipment up.
"And you?"
"Eh, I didn't care about it either way. I just did it." Jade replied. Naraku's eyebrows raised with slight surprise, his gaze falling to the floor.
"Do you know why we teach this experiment?" he asked.
"To piss us off? I don't know. I just know you use it to measure the amount of base it takes to neutralize an acid."
"That's why we teach it. That and for finding the equivalence point of a titration curve." Naraku pointed out, drawing an S-shaped curve in the air with his finger.
"Please, don't remind me of Chem 2 right now. I just ate." Jade whined. Naraku chuckled and decided to leave her be. For now. He had work that needed to be done first. Plus, she seemed to be in a giddy mood, so it was going to take a lot of effort to drag her down and he wasn't sure if he had enough energy for her and the beginnings of an extraction process. Naraku walked over to the counter and grabbed the box of samples Bruce gave to him and walked over to the table.
"If any of my stuff is in the way, just push it back." Jade told him.
"Is the floor acceptable?"
"If I tell you yes, would you still do it?"
"Yes."
"Okay, then. Do whatever. I don't care."
"Hm," Naraku ripped open the box and glanced inside. He saw a paper, which listed the samples, and snatched it between two fingers. His eyes scanned down the page and he reached inside, dragging the samples out. They were sent in little vials, each with a label taped to them, telling which sample number it held. Naraku began placing the vials on the table in numerical order. When he ran out of samples, he immediately frowned, looking back at the paper. The paper listed seventy-three samples. He only had fifty-two. Naraku sat down in the chair closest to him and carefully read the paper over once more.
"Bruce, here are the samples from our latest field excursion. We took seventy-three samples and brought them back to our lab to dry them. We have sent you a small portion of each of these samples for you to….these fools only sent fifty-two." Naraku said aloud, not speaking to anyone in particular. Jade looked up from her notes and pursed her lips.
"Sounds like they have a counting problem," Jade spoke steadily as she carefully poured her acidic solution into the flask.
"Indeed. I need all of the samples. They all have to go through the exact same process at the exact same time to show any relevance. I cannot extract a portion of the samples now and then perform another extraction on the missing portion later. Not to mention this process is tedious and I would rather not do two of them. I highly doubt there will be much of a difference, but that is a margin of error they would not want in their article they plan to publish."
"Tell me how you really feel," Jade giggled. Naraku looked at her and exhaled quietly, relaxing his body.
"You're pretty bold today."
"I'm excited for the weekend, so I'm trying to make the days go by faster."
"I see. And I don't care. Well, this makes my day far less annoying and in return, yours just became far more annoying."
"I wouldn't expect any less." Jade responded calmly, twisting the valve of the buret open slightly.
"I'm done talking to you now." Naraku stated, standing up as he started placing the now-useless samples back into the box.
"Cool beans." Jade murmured, sitting in a chair and resting her cheek against her hand. She watched as the base liquid slowly dripped into the acid in the flask. When the two mixed, a brilliant pink color formed, but because the acid was too strong, the color quickly vanished, reappearing only when another drop of basic solution dropped inside. She had to watch this happen over and over until the acid permanently turned a light pink color. Only then was the acid neutralized and she could take her remaining measurements. She glanced at Naraku, who was now sitting at his desk, his chin propped up on his left hand while the right hand held a highlighter. Jade was surprised he actually returned to reading quietly and not tormenting her. She looked back at her experiment and scratched her head lightly.
"You should stir the acid between the drops. It helps the base spread and react through it equally. Your results will be more accurate." Naraku said without looking up from his paper. He was now scribbling notes beside the highlighted text; questions and comments for Bruce when they had their next meeting about his thesis.
"Oh," Jade gently shook the flask, swirling the solution around. She waited for the next drop and did the same. She noticed the pink color from the drops was starting to last a little longer.
"What do you plan on doing when you've finished the experiments?" Naraku asked. Usually when a student joined a research lab, they wanted to conduct research.
"I don't know. Haven't thought that far ahead." Jade replied, twisting the valve a little tighter to make the base drip even slower.
"You should."
"I don't."
When Naraku finished writing his comments, he glanced at his watch before yawning. It was noon already. He read two articles twice and still felt unsure of what he read. He decided to grab lunch and let the information sit for a while. He stood up and grabbed his keys, but Jade jumped up as well.
"Why do I have less mass than what I started with?" she asked him quickly.
"Mass? I thought you were doing titrations."
"I finished those. I'm working on the problems from last week's experiments." Jade explained. Naraku felt his stomach churn eagerly for food. He pocketed his keys and exhaled.
"Walk with me. Bring your data." He ordered. Jade nodded, taking her lab gear off and grabbing her notebook and the loose papers beside it. They left the lab together, Naraku taking her notes from her and glancing over them. Her handwriting was clean and dark. He also noticed that she made sure to write down exactly what she did with the experiment. She cleaned the equipment, wiped them dry, measured to two or three significant figures; the detail was beyond that of some slacker who "didn't think ahead." He turned the page and began reading over the data. He glanced up when they approached the doors, but Jade walked in front of him and held the door open for him. She did it again when they approached the commons area where the restaurants, salad bars, and snack bars resided.
"Give me a minute," Naraku told her, handing her notebook to her as he walked into the salad bar area. Jade waited for him patiently, hands behind her back. She was debating grabbing a bite to eat herself.
'Nah, I'll eat for free when I get home.' Jade decided. Naraku finished fixing his salad, paying the cashier and walking to a table, motioning for Jade to join him. She walked between a few tables and sat down across from Naraku, who took a few bites from his salad before taking her notebook again.
"You ended up with less mass than you started with?" Naraku asked her.
"Yep."
"Any ideas why?"
"Nooooo. That's why I asked you." Jade confessed. Naraku glanced over the stoichiometry equations she used. He didn't see any glaring mistakes. She solved them correctly.
"Give it some thought. There are two plausible answers I'm thinking of and one is more plausible and acceptable than the other." Naraku told her, taking another bite and staring her down.
"The only thing I could think of is something fell out of the glass." Jade said with shrug.
"That is plausible, but there is a better answer."
"I fucked it up?" Jade retorted uncertainly. Naraku blinked. That was a new face. She couldn't look at him, she was blushing, and she looked so…concerned.
"Do you think you did?"
"I had to. I can't think of any reason that says otherwise." She said sternly while crossing her arms. Naraku almost choked on his tomato. Now she was irritated?
"I can think of one." Naraku said with a smirk. Jade finally looked him in the eyes and frowned.
"Did you do something to it when I wasn't there?" she asked accusingly, her lips pursed at the end of her question.
'She's pouting! I haven't done anything yet!' Naraku covered his mouth with his hand to prevent himself from spitting his food on her and the table. He snorted before laughing quietly, trying to fight his food down his throat. Jade held her arms even tighter as she looked away, staring at nothing.
"I did nothing. The answer is the fault of no one." Naraku finally said after swallowing his food. Jade huffed and looked back at him.
"I don't know!" She insisted eagerly.
"Impurities in your original sample." Naraku answered coolly. Jade threw her hands up while rolling her eyes.
"So, it disappeared during the reaction?"
"Exactly. But, it was such a negligible amount. When you round up, you're back to your original weight, which you would need to round down. Three grams with your original weight and three grams with your final weight."
"Oh." Jade looked down at her lap. Naraku pushed her notebook across the table until it sat in front of her. He couldn't help but to chuckle more at her reaction. She was upset over less than a quarter of a gram of sample?
'She wants something more than a job here. She wouldn't be so upset.' Naraku concluded.
"Shut up." Jade said with a smile as she leaned across the table. She plucked a tomato from his salad and ate it quickly. Naraku took another bite, shrugging at her while smirking.
When Naraku finished his salad, he stood from the table and threw the plate away, Jade following him quietly. He couldn't figure out why she stayed with him after he told her the answer. He thought she would have gone back to the lab after receiving her explanation, but she didn't. Instead, she sat quietly, finishing the questions and stealing more of his tomatoes from his salad. He didn't know why he let her do that. It didn't bother him, but he wanted it to bother him. He reached into his pocket for his keys, but Jade had already reached the door with her key, opening it and allowing him inside first.
"Thank you, sir." Naraku said sarcastically.
"You're welcome, bitch." Jade replied, mirroring his tone.
"Ah, it's good to see you two getting along. Where were you?" Bruce asked curiously as he wiped the table off with a rag.
"Lunch." Naraku answered.
"I was going to clean that up." Jade said to Bruce.
"I'm taking a break from answering stupid emails." Bruce told her. Jade shrugged and walked to the sink where the flask and burette she used waited to be cleaned.
"Bruce, you are aware our clients are morons, right?" Naraku asked, tapping the box where the miscounted samples sat.
"Uh oh. What did they do this time?"
"They stated in their letter that they took seventy-three total samples from their field site. They took a portion from each of those samples and sent them to us, except they're missing the last twenty-one samples." Naraku explained. Bruce groaned while he rolled his eyes.
"Of course. I'll go call them and see what happened." Bruce exhaled, dropping the rag on the table and walking out of the lab. Naraku looked over at Jade, who was rinsing the soap off the flask. Naraku grabbed a nearby pen from the table and threw it at her, striking her in the head. Jade flinched and turned her head to look at him. She looked down at the pen, snickered, and went back to cleaning while shaking her head.
'Her good mood is insufferable.' He admitted silently. He remembered her mentioning the weekend exciting her. He wondered if there was anything he could do about that. Naraku turned around to the drawer behind him and grabbed the roll of duct tape. He began pulling a strip off and Jade quickly turned to make sure he was still across the room. Naraku winked at her, pretending to tape the sample box shut. Jade turned back to the sink and Naraku quickly sprinted to her.
"What the-Naraku!" Jade spat when he brought the tape around the front of her torso. He let her spin to face him and further restrain herself, her arms pinned down at the elbow. Jade stared at him vacantly, waiting for an explanation, but all he did was wrap her a few more times, rip the roll from her body, pull another, smaller strip, rip it off, and place it over her mouth. She didn't even bother fighting him.
"You make this so unsatisfactory." He said with a sigh. Jade blinked slowly, exhaling through her nose. Naraku shrugged at her. He now knew why she did that so much. It was an excellent response to someone, no matter what they said or thought. He figured he would finish the job and began to bind her legs together. When he finished, he stood beside her and tapped her back.
"Walk," he ordered. Jade mumbled something and it vaguely sounded like, "I can't," followed by a possible insult. He couldn't quite tell. Naraku smirked at her.
"Hop." Naraku countered. Jade exhaled loudly, but she hopped forward to the table. Naraku grabbed her by the tape bounding her arms and lifted her, grunting slightly. He placed her on the table and turned her on her back. Next, he taped her head down to the table, then her torso, and finally her legs. Jade waited patiently for him to reach the pinnacle of this little debacle. When she saw him again, he was standing behind her head, leaned over and staring directly down at her.
"The other day, Bruce bought a pack of colored Sharpies." Naraku told her, ripping open the pack of markers. Jade let out a muffled giggle. Now she knew he wasn't doing this to irritate her. He was waiting for Bruce to walk back in and see this happening. Naraku chose the red one and pulled the cap off. He looked down at Jade when she made more noises.
"You want me to draw a dick?" he asked her curiously.
"Mhm." Jade nodded as well as she could. Naraku grinned and began drawing on her cheek, the red ink staining her tan skin. When he finished the phallic shape, he placed the red pen down and picked up the blue color. Jade felt the tip touch beside her eye as he drew something small and colored it in.
"I was going to brand you with the peroxide, but that washes off so easily." Naraku commented, choosing the black pen and leaning down again. Jade hadn't seen him this close before. She thought he had brown eyes, but they almost looked dark red. Naraku drew a stick-figure of himself on the side of her neck.
"Draw something cool," Jade said, finally having moved the tape from her lips. It still stuck over them, but at least she could speak now.
"Cool? Why?"
"Just one cool thing."
"I gave you a tear. It means you killed someone. That is some serious street cred."
"Or I'm a sad clown."
"Indeed. I'll think about it." Naraku replied as he grabbed the yellow Sharpie and drew a yellow sun over his stick person. He then gave it a black smiley-face. Next, on her other cheek, he drew one more picture. Bruce walked into the lab and froze in place.
"What the hell are you doing?" Bruce asked loudly. Naraku didn't look up, but his eyes met Jade's.
"We're art-ing right now." Jade said back.
"Because he needed to bind you for that?"
"I put up a hell of a fight, let me tell ya," Jade responded sarcastically, hoping Bruce would pick up on the situation before he got too wound up. Naraku placed his hand over her mouth, sticking the tape back down on her lips.
"Did you receive an intelligent explanation from your clients?" Naraku quizzed, acting as if nothing was wrong.
"Our clients." Bruce snapped, walking over to Jade and beginning to pull the duct tape away from her. He started rummaging through the drawers around the lab until he found a pair of scissors. He snipped the tape away from her legs and Naraku finished the drawing on her cheek, capping the marker and standing up. He ripped the tape from her mouth quickly.
"Ah! Fuck!" Jade cried out, closing her eyes to help prevent tears from forming.
"Naraku," Bruce began.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I was being dramatic." Jade interrupted as she sat up. Bruce snipped the tape from her arms and pulled it off. She vaulted off the table, rubbing her mouth softly.
"Well, Naraku, they paid us for our services. They can either mail the rest of the samples or you can drive there and pick them up yourself so you're done on time. I don't care which." Bruce said bitterly.
"Why am I being given the ultimatum? I didn't miscount." Naraku stated as he placed the Sharpies inside the cup where the other pens, pencils, various other writing utensils sat. Jade had strolled over to the box of samples, staring at the address. Jade hadn't planned for a road trip, but if she could end their bickering, she would drive and pick up the samples. She looked up, Bruce and Naraku flinging insults and sarcastic statements back and forth.
"I'll do it." Jade stated. The two men silenced themselves and looked at her. Naraku pointed at her and smiled.
"It's decided then." He chirped.
"No! Look at your face, Jade! You're the grad student! You go!" Bruce insisted, pointing at Naraku.
"I represent the lab, too. I can do it. I don't mind. I know how to remove Sharpie from my face." Jade argued, her hand pressed to her chest. Bruce exhaled loudly, massaging his head with both hands.
"Fine, fine. I'll let them know you'll be there in a couple of hours." Bruce agreed, his voice exhausted.
"I'll go with you. He's right. I am the grad student. And my face is prettier." Naraku added on quickly.
"You son of a bitch! I'm so sick of….I'm leaving! I'm leaving!" Bruce shouted, marching out the lab so angrily, Jade was surprised he didn't spontaneously combust. The door slammed shut and Jade looked over at Naraku, who was sneering contently.
"So, what did he do to you?" Jade asked him inquisitively. Naraku slowly looked at her, an eyebrow raised.
"He sent my thesis samples to China." Naraku answered candidly.
"Oh." Jade looked down, covering her mouth with her hand. Naraku glanced at her quietly, his eyes widening slightly.
'She's smiling?' He thought with amazement.
"Well, I have to go home and wash this nonsense off my face first. I'll be back here in thirty minutes." Jade told him, gathering up her notes and leaving the lab promptly. Naraku said nothing as he walked over to his desk to sit down and wait for her to return.
