Confrontations

Naraku strode into the lab quietly. The door was wide open to signal the return of classes and students. He placed his black shoulder bag in his chair and walked over to Jade, who was sitting at the main table with a sketchpad open in front of her. He stood behind her, arms crossed, and waited a moment to see if she would acknowledge him, but she did not. So, he cleared his throat. Jade's pencil stopped moving and she slowly looked up at him.

"Hi." Jade said. Naraku smirked.

"I see you're drawing some of our equipment," Naraku stated, placing his hand next to her book and leaning into his hand.

"Yeah. My art prof said to draw something you look at every day, so I figured these would do." Jade explained, poking one of the glass beakers with the eraser of her pencil. Naraku leaned down and snorted.

"He probably meant that you draw it well."

"Everybody's a skeptic."

"Your shading is horrendous."

"I'm not done." Jade sighed. "Can you go bother someone else for ten minutes?"

"There is no one else." Naraku replied, showcasing the otherwise-empty lab with his hand.

"I can't draw with you standing over me."

"Ah, a self-conscious Jade. I haven't seen that for a minute." Naraku cooed, stroking her cheek with a single finger before walking back to his desk.

"I'm humble." Jade said, returning to her sketch. Naraku arched an eyebrow before turning back to her.

"Learn to be arrogant. You and your work are a reflection of me." he said back. For a moment, he saw her jaw clench and her hand tighten around her pencil, but she immediately relaxed afterwards.

'She has been rather touchy about certain things,' Naraku sat on the edge of his desk, crossing one arm and resting his other on it to stroke his chin. She hid it well, but something had been bothering Jade for the past couple of weeks and Naraku knew that for once, he wasn't the source of it. He only reminded her of the source. She had been oddly curious as of late; asking questions about chemicals that had reputations for being, "prank chemicals." That tipped Naraku off about a possible revenge streak in Jade that he thought was mostly nonexistent. Her strikes against him were passive and quiet, but rock solid; very much Jade. He didn't think she had it in her to cause any kind of physical revenge, no matter how harmless it was.

'I wonder if she put the violet back,' Naraku walked over to a cabinet beside the fume hood and opened it, kneeling down to see if the previously-missing dye had been returned yet. Naraku grinned when he found it placed in the exact spot it sat before it went missing.

"Bruce will be happy to know our gentian violet has returned." Naraku announced, pulling the bottle from the cabinet and turning to Jade, wiggling it to draw her attention to him. She looked up from her assignment and stared back at him, then stared at the bottle, and then looked him dead in the eyes.

"I had no idea we had it." Jade replied calmly. Naraku's smile widened as he snickered.

'She is such a treat sometimes.' he admitted.

"Really? Bruce didn't ask you about it?"

"Nope." Jade said.

"Ah." Naraku placed the bottle back in the cabinet, rising to his feet and closing the door gently. "You see, one of the biology professors ran out and asked Bruce if we had any. Bruce said yes, looked, and realized it was gone."

"Oooookay?" Jade held her hand up as if to say instead, "I care because?" Naraku walked to the end of the table, leaning forward onto it.

"We rarely use it, so it was strange for it to be gone, and we just ordered chemical refills a week ago. It was there when I checked and gone after Bruce sent the order."

"I feel like you're reaching your point soon," Jade was listening to him attentively, but she gave no hints to what was going on in her mind. She dropped her pencil and placed her hands in her lap, giving her undivided attention.

"Bruce accused me of using it on someone, naturally."

"I don't know what it is, Naraku." Jade insisted. He walked around to her and leaned down towards her face.

"Oh, I think you do. You're not dumb."

"You guys put way too much faith into my intelligence." Jade said with a small laugh, shaking her head and looking back down at her sketch. Naraku stared a moment longer.

'No. She's looking at her left hand.' he realized. Jade's hand sat in her lap with both legs bobbing anxiously. Naraku side-stepped behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, chuckling softly. He kept his right hand on her shoulder and reached down into her lap for her left hand with his. He felt her body turn hard as steel when he grasped it. Naraku pulled it up and twisted it stiffly. On the side, right at the base of her pinky, was a rich purple stain.

"Do we?" he whispered into her ear before releasing her hand and shoulder. He gave her two light pats on her back before walking back to his desk. The room fell silent, except for the light chatter flowing from down the hallway.

"I didn't use much." Jade said, her voice breaking the silence. "I didn't know Bruce accused you, though."

"I don't mind. I think it's funny." Naraku replied, now rummaging through his bag behind his desk. "I am curious, though. What would you need the violet for?"

"Revenge." she stated candidly. Naraku looked up and nodded. His intuition hadn't failed him after all.

"I am strangely proud of you right now."

"Well, stop that. I don't like that I did it." Jade frowned and stared down at the floor.

"Why? It's a harmless substance."

"I don't like that I went that low." Jade corrected.

"But you did." Naraku said, smiling and pointing at her. Jade nodded, and then she suddenly flinched and blinked.

"Why am I talking to you about this? Whatever." Jade whined, turning back in her seat to continue working on her sketching assignment.

"I won't tell Bruce, by the way." Naraku told her.

"I will today before he goes home." Jade grumbled. It was Naraku's turn to flinch.

"You are difficult to figure out sometimes."

"You're one to talk."

"Indeed." Naraku placed his hands on his hips after finding the paper he was looking for. "Should I be merciful to our students today or no?"

"A lot of them probably haven't received their aid to buy their lab manuals yet."

"That sounds like a yes."

"It is, but only because it will be way more annoying trying to teach an experiment when a chunk of the students don't have a manual."

"Fair enough." Naraku agreed. That gave him another week to plan out a better torture for the first experiment, anyway. He grabbed his paper and walked out of the room, reminding Jade to meet him in an hour for the class.

'I have a one in seventeen chance of Bruce being in his office.' Naraku thought irritably. He could have emailed the schedule to him, but his professor probably would have claimed it got lost in his spam folder just to spite him.

"Hey, Naraku. What do you need?" the department secretary, Susan, asked when he walked through the doorway.

"Is Bruce in his office?" Naraku asked, looking towards the narrow hallway where the Chemistry professors' offices were located.

"Probably not." Susan sighed, flipping a strand of her blonde hair back. "Do you need me to give something to him?"

"No." Naraku replied, his eyes darting to the supplies room. He strode to the door, pulling his keys out and finding the one that unlocked the room.

"I heard you are teaching a class this semester," Susan called out with a giggle. Naraku rolled his eyes as he flipped the light switch on.

"Not because I want to," he replied, checking the shelves. The room was so unorganized it was already driving him insane. What was so difficult about dedicating one shelf to measuring instruments, another to crayons and colored pencils, another to paper, and so on?

"Because Bruce wanted you to."

"Bruce wants many things." Naraku retorted, closing the door behind him before walking down the narrow hallway towards Bruce's office. He opened the rubber cement jar and painted a dick with the sticky substance on Bruce's door before slapping the paper onto the door. Naraku decided to exit the hallway towards the back to avoid talking to the secretary again.

000000

With her lab coat on, Jade sat on a stool at the head of the classroom, which was wide and held four fume hoods instead of a single one like most of the research labs. It also had six different islands with multiple drawers, computers, and stools for students to sit on. When she took the class with Sango, her lab was held in the room across the hall, but it looked identical to this one, which helped with her memory of where to find certain items. Jade had found the only metal stool in the room and it allowed her to spin the seat, so she spun herself, waiting patiently.

'Naraku will be here in about two minutes on the dot.' Jade thought humorously after briefly stopping her spin cycle due to being dizzy.

And there he was, two minutes later, walking in from the door on the left side of the classroom. He was carrying a half-eaten salad and wearing his shoulder bag over his lab coat. He glanced at Jade before raising an eyebrow. Jade prepared herself for a rude comment.

"Do you own any professional attire?" he asked, taking a large bite of salad and catching a falling slice of tomato with his fork.

"I was told I didn't have to." Jade huffed, slowly spinning herself again.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Show me on your body where I hurt you, Naraku." Jade giggled, abruptly stopping her spinning once more. Naraku stared back at her silently for a moment, studying her.

"When we go to conferences," he began slowly.

"Was it your butt? Did I hurt your butt?" Jade interrupted quickly. Naraku closed his eyes, keeping his lips closed as he held back a laugh.

"Dressing professionally works wonders, is my point."

"It was your butt. I'm sorry about your butt."

"The more you speak, the more I'm going to remember this when you're trapped with me for days at a time."

"Oh, pleeeeeeease. I'm already a target because I'm your assistant. This changes nothing!" Jade said, raising her hands above her head and waving them dramatically.

"That isn't necessarily true. I was debating going easier on you because you are my assistant." Naraku replied, dropping his fork into the empty salad container and snapping the lid shut.

"Who do you think you're foolin', bruh?" Jade turned her seat when Naraku nodded in the direction behind her. Jade tilted her head to the side when a young student walked in. She was relatively short, shorter than Jade, with dyed pink and blue hair pulled into pigtails and wearing bright, mismatched clothing ranging from purple pants, to pink shoes, to a blue shirt, and a white jacket with black paw prints all over it. The rainbow girl chose the spot closest to the door she walked through and placed her notebook down to claim it.

"Hello," Jade called out, waving when the girl looked up. When Jade saw the girl's eyes grow wide, she began hoping, almost praying, that this girl didn't know WeedWolf. The rainbow girl gasped before she bolted out of the room and Jade's mouth fell open as she frowned, slowly turning the stool seat to look at Naraku, who was wearing his own confused expression on his face.

"I'm...what." Naraku said quietly. Jade pointed in the direction the girl ran to.

"Have you threatened her before?" she asked.

"No, sadly." Naraku replied.

"I better never hear another word from you about my fashion choices."

"Consider my previous comments eaten."

Jade continued spinning in the stool, stopping occasionally when more students would walk in. Each island could hold six students and according to the roster, it was a full class. Jade tried not to pay attention to the island in the back left corner of the room. It was a group of, "dudes," as they introduced themselves, and Jade already caught them giving her double and triple takes. They were whispering amongst themselves, one hissing, "Yes it is!" and another hissing back, "There's no way!"

'Fuuuuuuuuck. They know me.' Jade realized. At any other time in any other place, Jade wouldn't have cared. But in this room with Naraku? She hoped the dudes would stick to howling instead of shouting out her nickname. Her eyes caught movement at the door and Jade saw Kagome rushing in, choosing the seat next to the rainbow chick, who had yet to make eye contact with anyone. Jade wanted to call out to her, to tell her, "No, don't sit there," but any movement other than spinning in the stool would draw Naraku's attention. Kagome waved and Jade waved back, working it in with a spin to hide it from Naraku, who was currently clicking around on the computer at the front desk.

"Let's get started." Naraku announced, standing up slowly. He walked around from the desk, waiting for the idle chatter to disappear completely. One final student ran into the room, spotting his fellow dudes and jogging back to the last empty chair of the dude group. The guys immediately leaned towards him, pointing at Jade, who quickly kicked off one last, wild spin in the stool, hoping it would confuse them long enough for Naraku to start talking. Naraku, however, reached out and grabbed Jade's arms, forcefully keeping her and the stool stable as he exhaled sharply.

"You're driving me insane." Naraku said sternly.

"Why didn't you say something fifteen minutes ago?" Jade asked, shrugging his hands from her body as she stood up.

"I assumed you would have been dizzy enough to knock yourself out by now."

"Boy," Jade stopped, pulling her index finger back into her fist and lowering it to her side. She had just realized the entire class was graveyard-silent. She cleared her throat took a single step backwards, putting Naraku at the front of the class.

"I assume each of you are here because of an unfathomable love for science. Anything less is an insult to me. My name is Naraku. I am currently working on my Master's, so you may call me, "Master.""

"He really likes it when you call him, "Lab Daddy," though." Jade announced with a wide smile. The class erupted into giggles and snorts. Naraku slowly looked back at Jade, and although his expression was calm, she saw her imagined death previewing in his eyes.

"If I hear anyone calling me that, the nicest thing I will do is instantly fail you." Naraku said sharply, now resting his fists inside his lab coat pockets. He paused and frowned when he heard someone cry, "Oh my God," softly. The class turned their heads to the dudes' table. Jade mouthed, "Fuck me," when she realized the last student who walked into the room was now covering his mouth with one hand, pointing at her with the other, and sobbing.

"Oh my God," he cried out again. "It's really her! It's WeedWolf!"

'FUUUUUUUUCK!' Jade tried to keep herself together, but she could feel the panic she was holding in leaking out of her eyes. Or maybe it was tears of frustration?

"What is," Naraku trailed off, looking back at Jade, who was frozen in place, staring at the sobbing student. He looked back at the student and tilted his head.

"You're my hero, WeedWolf! Your videos helped me through some dark times," the dude said, sniffing and wiping tears from his face.

'Your crying just put me through some dark times.' Jade inhaled deeply. She heard Naraku repeat, "WeedWolf," questioningly while staring at her. She ignored him as she walked towards her fan, holding her hand out to him.

"Thanks, dude. I'm glad you enjoy them." Jade said. He grabbed her hand shakily and was now smiling and laughing, thanking her for all the laughs she gave him and for acknowledging him. She nodded and high-fived the remaining dudes at the table, glancing over at Kagome and mouthing, "Fuck me," once more. Kagome's smile was already awkward and it stretched into a grimace before she mouthed, "Sorry," in response.

"Who are you?" someone from the other side of the room called out.

"Uh, I'm Jade. I'm the teaching assistant." Jade responded meekly, slowly trudging to the front of the room. She looked up and froze when she saw the projector was turned on. Shining on the wall was a Google search showing her YouTube channel.

"You couldn't come up with a better name?" Naraku asked, leaning out from behind the monitor.

"It's a thing from a long time ago." Jade threw her hand up and let it drop immediately. She cringed when the dudes began howling softly to one another. Jade heard a click and sighed heavily when she the giggling of her fellow Pack members begin echoing through the room's speakers. The camera showing her face slowly minimized to the corner, revealing the character customization screen of a game.

"That idea is so dumb! Shut up!" Koga spat in the background.

"You're dumb!" Hakkaku retorted.

"Both of you shut up. I'm concentrating." Jade said.

"Big tits, big ass, as little clothing as possible," Koga ordered. The video cut to a black screen as the very 80s song, "All She Wants to do is Dance," began playing. The title, "Bait and Bounce," faded onto the screen and then disappeared as the game screen faded in behind it.

"The idea is to make a super attractive character, probably a chick, wear little amounts of clothing, attract players' attentions, and then have your bros drop in and bounce 'em." Jade's voice explained as the video camera slowly circled the attractive blonde woman character she created. "Choose a place that seems harmless, but that you can utilize to your advantage. We will be using bridges." The camera now spanned slowly across a bridge hanging over a deep valley and the sun in the background was eclipsed. "As you can see, my character is equipped with no armor, little clothing, and she wields no serious weapons, so she is pretty harmless." The woman character waved and the camera quickly spun around, revealing three large, heavily armored men dressed in black, and all carrying huge weapons. "They aren't, however."

The class began laughing as each armored man took a different stance and their nicknames appeared overhead. The one wielding a giant hammer was named, "Hammertime" and he was hopping from one foot the other, seemingly having a great time. The one holding a huge spear and wearing a large feathered mane was named, "Furry Boi," and he clapped calmly. The last one with a large greatsword strapped to his back was named, "Frodo T-baggins," and he stood in a 'Y' formation as Koga, Ginta, and Hakkaku all grunted and growled in the background.

The video cut to the woman standing towards one end of the bridge. The 80s dance music faded back in as the woman began dancing, making the 'Y' formation, and waving as two other armored players approached her. The camera zoomed up on the chat room in the bottom left corner where Jade, going by the name, "Victorious Secret," had typed, "Heyyyyyyyyy boys!" One began clapping while the other took the 'Y' stance.

"Eh, I don't like these guys." Jade's voice cut in. Immediately, the music switched to a heavy metal song as her three bodyguards ran and rolled into the screen. The two invading players drew their weapons, but were stunned by lightning bolts and both kicked off the bridge, falling to their deaths.

Again, the class laughed and some students clapped. Even Jade was smiling. She remembered how fun the Bait and Bounce episodes were. The video jump-cut to another bridge, now playing the dance song again. The blonde was strutting around, waving, forming the 'Y' and clapping. A group of three showed up, stared, and then sat down, holding their hands up as if toasting her.

"Keep these guys. I like them." Video Jade announced. The content sped up, showing more players arriving, then sitting and toasting or dancing.

"We have a plan. Keep dancing." Ginta said. The camera showing Jade's face in the corner appeared as she began dancing in her seat, lipping along with the song playing.

"Go, go, go, go!" Koga shouted. The 80s dancing song immediately shifted into a fast-paced thrash metal song as the three bodyguards, dressed in matching bulky, silver armor came rolling onto the bridge from both ends. Some of the invading players noticed them and stood up, pulling out their weapons to fight, but it was too late. As the guitar riff of the song kicked in, the three bodyguards began spinning, swinging long, giant axes, creating three tornadoes of blood and screaming as players were either killed, pushed off the bridge, or had accidentally rolled off the sides trying to avoid the blades. The camera faded out as The Pack's laughter drowned out the music and the video showed music credits before ending completely.

"Do you make money doing that kind of stuff?" a girl asked after the video ended.

"Uh, kind of. It depends. It isn't enough to live off of, if that's what you mean." Jade answered, her fingers tapping a nervous beat on her thighs as she stood in front of everyone.

"Well, that was one way to kill five minutes," Naraku announced, turning the projector off and walking around the desk to stand next to Jade. "We'll talk about this later." he said to her in a low voice.

"Should we go over the rules?" Jade asked him, deciding to ignore his statement. Naraku rolled his eyes.

"You can pass out the syllabus," Naraku said, pointing to the stack of papers on the desk.

"You got it, Lab Daddy." Jade replied as the class giggled again. She could almost feel Naraku's imaginary daggers in her back.

"The class is scheduled to be nearly three hours long, but not every experiment will take that long and some experiments will take multiple class periods. The questions for each experiment will be due at the beginning of class the following week and if you're going to cheat, at least try to change the wording of your sentences." Naraku explained, crossing his arms and watching Jade as she counted out the papers.

"Complete sentences, please." Jade chirped. Naraku pointed at her.

"Yes. I don't want you to write a novel as a response, but I also want you to put forth effort."

"Can we draw pictures to help answer the questions?" one of the dudes asked.

"As long as it pertains to the experiment, why not? If I see a dick on your assignment, it's going to mysteriously disappear from the gradebook." Naraku said, holding his hand out to take the extra copies of the syllabus from Jade, who stood next to him. He frowned at her and held the papers in front of her face, silently urging her to take them again. Jade did and held her hand up.

"What's your deal?" she asked under her breath.

"I'm not holding those for you." Naraku answered. Jade rolled her eyes and tossed the stack onto the desk before crossing her own arms.

"Groups?"

"I'm getting there, WeedWolf. Quit distracting me." Naraku bit.

"Fine." Jade walked to the stool and sat down on it, immediately spinning herself. Naraku stared for a moment, in slight disbelief of how she was acting.

"You can and will work in groups of three. You will write your group members' names on your assignments so we can be sure that all of you have the same data."

"Can we choose our groups?" a tall kid asked. Naraku looked up for a moment, inhaling deeply.

"You chose them when you sat down next to those people." Naraku said.

"Does it really matter if they switch around, though?" Jade asked him skeptically.

"Go back to your spinning." Naraku ordered. "Quietly."

"What if we have to miss a class for an emergency or if another class requires us to be at a meeting?" Kagome asked suddenly, her hand in the air. Naraku turned his head to her and blinked.

"If you know it's coming ahead of time, tell me and you can go to one of the various other labs held within the week. As for the emergency? It depends on that emergency."

"Whaaaaat? Who would want to miss this class?" Jade asked sarcastically, pointing to herself.

"You're not necessary today. Go finish rinsing out my samples." Naraku ordered calmly. Jade stood up, waiting for Naraku to change his mind, but when he motioned for her to go ahead, Jade shrugged and walked to the door.

"Cool. Bye." Jade waved and to Naraku's displeasure, most of the class waved back.

'Clever, clever girl. She's using them as her back-up against me.' Naraku stifled a yawn with his fist.

"Any other questions?" Naraku quizzed, his eyes slowly scanning the classroom.

"What's yo number?" a young woman asked from the right, but everyone began laughing and true to student code, no one outed her out. Naraku smirked, but he felt like his insides were burning. He dismissed the class and shoved his hands into his pockets, his right hand fingers twisting and turning the gem impatiently.

000000

"Koga sent you a text." Sango announced, wiggling Jade's phone. Jade was behind the living room TV, tangled between some cords. Her head popped up over the TV.

"Three-five-six-five is my passcode. Text, "Piss off," to him, please." Jade said before leaning back down to finish rearranging the cables and cords.

"Don't you want to know what he said first?"

"Unless he's apologizing and admitting that he's a hypocrite, I don't care. Knowing him like I do, he didn't do either of those things."

"Well, you're right about that." Sango said, typing in Jade's code and Jade's reply. "Alright. Sent." Sango saw the reply, "Piss off," several times above the one she just sent and began giggling.

"What?" Jade asked, tying her set of cords together with a plastic tie so it wouldn't look like an explosion of electronics occurred around the TV.

"I just saw your replies to his recent texts,"

"Oh, yeah, I like to be consistent." Jade gently lifted the TV and placed it back in its original spot. She wiped her hands on her pants and walked over to the couch where her laptop waited for her. She woke it up and began reading the chat room comments. It was the usual discussion of which players were top tier or which were expected to be at this tournament or that.

"Alright. Kagome said she's going to be a little late." Sango announced, checking her phone when the flute note played.

"That's okay. I won't be playing first anyway." Jade responded, clicking the sign-in button.

"Alright." Sango said, watching Jade type a message to someone. It only took a few seconds for them to reply and Jade's head bobbed slightly as she read the response, as if she was hearing a beat.

"Cool. I like this guy. He's solid." Jade stated, clapping her hands together before typing a response.

"Why?"

"His name is Royal and he usually holds online tournaments with money prizes for different fighting games. He just told me that whoever knocks Koga out gets a bonus. He said he disagrees with how he's handling things recently, specifically the WeedWolf ordeal."

"Aren't...you WeedWolf?"

"I am, but this guy doesn't know I'm me. He thinks I'm some random player."

"Oh?" Sango grinned approvingly. "You're clever when it comes to this stuff."

"I knew better than to think Koga wouldn't go on some dumb shit with me eventually, so I made this account years ago and have been keeping up with it on the side."

"I just don't understand why he's doing this to you. It's no secret that I don't like him, but I was under the impression you two were great, long-time friends."

"We are...were, I guess." Jade shook her head and glanced down at her lap. "He's always been jealous."

"Of you?"

"Of everyone. I spend my time getting good. He thinks his talent alone is enough, but gets angry when someone outshines him because they worked harder."

"So he takes it out on you because he's ranked higher."

"Yep. He's my boss and my team leader." Jade exhaled abruptly, grabbing her phone and holding it up. "He probably texted me about this tournament, asking me to come represent The Pack, even though he's trying to convince the whole community that I don't care about The Pack."

"I'm not taking his side, but you did throw the competition. You said you wanted to go to the World Cup, not take The Pack to the World Cup." Sango said. She saw Jade stop and look away for a moment, giving thought to her point.

"I totally did. I've been speaking hypothetically when I do speak to them about it,"

"But you're dancing around it because you know it's against the rules."

"It's against some dumb-ass rule that I was against when it was established and I was outvoted by one. If it was such a big deal, Koga never would have asked me to throw the tournament to benefit his personal image. He wasn't thinking about The Pack, either. That doesn't make me right, but that doesn't give him the moral high-ground, either."

"That's true. So, are you going to be kicked from the team?"

"I doubt it."

"Do you want to be?"

"What? No! The Pack is my brain child! Koga and the others helped, yeah, but it was my idea to recruit people for different types of games! It was my idea to install branch leaders so they could operate separately! The finances, sending equipment to other members, the graphics used in our chatrooms and in most of our videos are mine! I edit a chunk of our videos and I taught people in other branches how to edit! Whenever there's a technical issue, I'm the one people call!"

"Jade, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Sango interrupted soothingly.

"You didn't. I've been pissed for a couple of weeks now." Jade sighed while rubbing her head.

"I know. I also know Koga cut your hours. Don't worry about rent, alright? Kagome and I are able to,"

"I'm fine with rent. I'm not playing this tournament for the money. I'm playing this tournament out of spite...and for the money."

"So, are you going to win?" Sango asked excitedly. Jade laughed and shrugged.

"I don't know, but I'm going to give it a shot."

"Wait! Won't they be able to tell? Recognize your style or whatever?" Sango asked quickly, tapping invisible buttons with her fingers. Jade smirked while grabbing the remote for the TV.

"I have another secret,"

Sango clapped excitedly when Jade chose the accessories menu after launching the game. Jade chose Spinal and she saw Sango frown.

"I didn't see anyone play him at the other tournament."

"Yeah. Spinal is stupid-good. He just requires effort." Jade retorted, slowly flicking her arcade stick to show Sango the different colors the skeleton could be.

"Is his shield made from a squid?"

"I'm ninety-nine percent sure it's Cthulhu."

"So, what's his story?"

"Uh, he can't die, and he really likes fighting. He steals people's stuff."

"I see he has the pirate theme going on." Sango said, glancing at the laptop. "I assume AlphaWolf is Koga?"

"Yeah. Ginta is SilverWolf." Jade had accepted the invite to the tournament party, but she kept her microphone and cameras off, despite multiple players, including Koga, urging the, "newcomer," to speak. The first set of the online tournament was broadcasting on the TV, so Jade was more focused on her other potential opponents than her fellow teammates that she already knew she could beat.

"I see Ginta. He isn't very talkative."

"He can go gobble some cocks."

"Alright, alright, he sucks." Sango laughed. Truthfully, she didn't think much of Ginta. "Uh oh, Koga is asking you a question,"

"What's the question?" Jade prompted, her eyes never leaving the TV.

"He's asking what tournaments you've played in before because your tag is familiar."

"Tell him it's my first and that I play online a lot."

"So passive." Sango sighed heavily.

"I'm trying to be discreet, Sango."

"He said Spinal still has no good wake-ups against Sabrewulf and asked what you'll do about that...I think he's taunting you."

"Tell him he'll have to knock me down for that to be a problem."

"Hah! Now people are telling him to eat shit."

Sango placed the laptop on the table, leaning back to enjoy the matches with Jade, who was studying the players' tactics closely. She would call out the types of moves, call out when she would break or if she would let the combo finish to be safe, and she would point out when players seemed to rely on a certain set-up or attack. Both Jade and Sango turned their heads when the apartment door opened, Kagome walking in and waving at them.

"Sorry! I tried to leave earlier, but this guy wouldn't stop talking. He was nice, but man." Kagome exhaled and fanned her face with her hand lightly.

"It's alright. Jade hasn't played yet, anyway." Sango answered.

"Awesome. I'm going to go change. It's so humid outside that my sweat is sweating." Kagome breathed, walking back to her room. She returned within a couple of minutes, wearing a white tank top and short jean shorts.

"Kagome, can you grab me a bottle of water, please?" Sango called out.

"Grab me a beer, please." Jade added.

"Don't drink before your match!" Sango scolded her.

"I drink when I play all the tiiiiiiiiime!" Jade whined.

"Let her have her magical liquid, Sango. One beer won't hurt." Kagome insisted, walking back with two water bottles and Jade's beer.

"The funny part is you thinking I'm going to have just one,"

"Well, unless you can summon more out of thin air, that one is the only one we have left." Kagome replied before taking a drink of water.

"Shit. I forgot to buy more." Jade groaned.

"Serves you right, smart-ass." Sango snipped.

After a few more matches, it was finally Jade's turn. She placed her feet on the floor and held her arcade stick in her lap. She was giddy after finding out her opponent was Ginta. She wanted to knock Koga out more than anyone, but Ginta could be the appetizer for now. When they entered the character selection screen, Jade chose the Spinal she liked best; dark purple. She thought the ghostly green energy from his moves accented it nicely and it was a nice shout out to her favorite colors.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What?" Kagome said loudly, expecting Jade to choose her usual werewolf.

"Oh yeah, Jade knows other characters." Sango giggled, now reading the chat room discussions. Koga was describing how Sabrewulf's moves overwhelmed Spinal, but other players were commenting on Spinal's recent updates.

"He's creepy." Kagome stated after Spinal rose from the ground through a ghostly green portal. All of his bones and weapons hooked together like they were magnetized and he let out a shrill roar. Ginta's albino Sabrewulf leapt into view, roaring dominantly in return. The match began and Spinal ran forward, laughing maniacally. Sabrewulf leapt forward to swipe him, but Spinal dove back into his teleport, appearing right behind the werewolf, slashing him with his sword. The skeleton continued to hit the werewolf with his sword, shield, and even summoned a giant skull arm to punch him.

"Wow." Sango choked out. The beatdown continued well into the second round of the first match and Jade gave the final hit, punching Ginta's werewolf into the sky with a giant, green skeleton fist as the announcer screamed, "Ultra," followed by growling, "Perfect!"

"Woo! Sorry, not sorry, Ginta!" Jade laughed.

"He didn't get to touch you once," Kagome pointed out, her mouth wide open.

The second match began and Ginta was able to hit Jade first, but she broke his combo immediately. Sango and Kagome laughed and gasped every time the skeleton cackled or teleported away just to run back and start slapping the werewolf around. Magical purple skulls were bouncing across the screen horizontally and vertically, high and low, forcing Ginta to do nothing but block. Jade would reabsorb skulls just to shoot them out again. When the werewolf whimpered from being struck, the skeleton slid into him, finishing him off and cackling about it afterwards.

"I deserve this beer." Jade stated proudly, chugging the rest of it victoriously.

"If you win this tournament, I'll buy you a case of that beer." Sango told her. She held her hand out to Jade. Jade stared at it and took it, nodding in agreement.

"Do online tournaments take as long as real life tournaments?" Kagome asked curiously.

"Oh, no. Online tournaments are faster. This one will take about three hours whereas the the in-person one a couple of weeks ago took all day. Bigger tournaments are usually two-day events." Jade explained, placing her arcade stick on the table and motioning for her laptop. Sango handed it over and yawned.

"Good. I'm already getting tired." she said.

"So, Jade, about that lab instructor guy," Kagome began slowly, watching her roommate's eyes widen.

"Yeaaaaaaah?" Jade sang hesitantly.

"Does he have a thing for you or was I reading that interaction between you two all wrong?" Kagome asked bluntly. Jade had pressed her head and back into the couch so hard with shock and disgust that she was sure the material melded with her flesh.

"You watched that and interpreted that he has a thing for me?" Jade asked back with her eyes shut tightly, her voice soft and worried.

"Well, I mean, some guys act rude to girls they like because they don't know how to handle it." Kagome insisted.

"No, I'm pretty sure he acts rude to me because he likes being rude." Jade said.

"How so? Is it that guy with the wavy black hair?" Sango asked. Jade nodded to her.

"Yeah! He grabbed her because she was spinning around on the stool!" Kagome told Sango, whose expression darkened as she stared back at Jade.

"He has no right to touch you!" Sango snapped.

"To be fair, I was being pretty annoying," Jade replied, holding both hands up.

"That's no excuse to grab you!"

"No, but he," Jade stopped for a moment to think, exhaling through her nose. "He doesn't know how to communicate with his words."

"I can't believe you're making excuses for him," Sango said exasperatingly.

"I think I kind of understand what she means, though, Sango." Kagome added quickly.

"I'm not condoning anything Naraku does; I'm explaining why he does it. I let a lot of the things he does go because I'm pretty sure he doesn't know how else to be." Jade explained, raising her voice above the other two voices when they began debating. Sango slowly rubbed her face with both hands, pushing and pulling it into dramatic expressions.

"You think his problem is more of a nurture issue than a nature one?" Kagome continued, leaning forward with an interested gaze. Jade closed her eyes, shaking her head and smiling.

"I'm sure it's both. It's hard to punish him or get revenge on him because he likes that stuff. He wants people to retaliate. So, I pick and choose what I react to. I've found that giving him nothing works best."

"Jade, why do you put up with these types of guys?" Sango whined. "I mean, you put up with Koga, who takes his jealousy out on you, and now this guy, Naraku, who is physically grabbing you and I can only imagine what else he does that you've failed to mention the entire summer you've been working with him."

"Um, Sango, really?" Kagome asked with a knowing tone, her eyebrows raised suspiciously. Sango's mouth dropped open when she realized what Kagome was insinuating.

"N-No, that's different! He's different!" Sango argued back, holding up her finger to stop any further comments.

"How? Miroku isn't violent about it, but he has done it."

"Done what?" Jade asked, blinking a few times. She recognized the name, "Miroku." She had seen it pop up on Sango's phone and heard her mention him. She figured she was dating the guy, but she had no idea who he was.

'Kagome knows, though. I guess she'll handle this.' Jade realized. She cared for Sango and her opinions, but she was exhausting to argue with because she held her ground fiercely.

"Miroku gropes women sometimes. Usually when he drinks or when we're all dancing together." Kagome revealed. Jade blinked and scratched her head, a thoughtful look appearing on her face.

"He hasn't done it in a long time! He stopped!" Sango argued.

"But he has done it and you let it go. Why can't Jade do that?" Kagome asserted, motioning towards Jade with her hand, who began giggling.

"Please, Naraku won't stop. I'm aware of what's going on." Jade insisted.

"See? It's different!" Sango blurted out. "What does he have over you? Why are you letting him, and Koga for that matter, walk all over you?"

"Koga hangs himself when he does this shit. Naraku, on the other hand, is smarter and I'm pretty sure he likes being choked out, so I'm still trying to figure out what to do with him. In the meantime, he has paid me for my suffering."

"What?" Sango and Kagome almost shrieked. They looked at each other with their mouths open and then turned to Jade, who shrugged with a bashful grin.

"Yep. Not only am I being paid for being the general lab assistant, but I'm also being paid for being the teaching assistant for Kagome's class, and I'm additionally being paid by Naraku to help him with his research and call him, "Lab Daddy," because it bothers him. I'm not powerless in this."

"I should have known he dangled some cash above your head." Sango groaned as she shook her head with disbelief.

"Sooooo what? You're just a plaything to him and he's a money source to you?" Kagome asked.

"That and he might be my new weed dealer now that Koga has pulled this recent stunt with me." Jade answered quickly before erupting into laughter upon seeing her roommate's pained and appalled expressions.

"What is this guy? He works out religiously, he's a chemistry student, he's a dealer," Sango listed off, holding up a finger for each descriptor.

"He also takes different chemicals and jewelry and extracts stuff so that he has pure gold, silver, platinum, what have you, to take to jewelry stores for cash. He showed me that one last week. I might actually try it out myself." Jade added. Sango stared back with her mouth slightly ajar. She then held up all of her fingers and made an explosion gesture around her head.

"That's actually really resourceful." Kagome admitted in a small voice.

"That's actually your first lab experiment; using a copper wire to extract silver from silver nitrate." Jade chirped, holding up a finger.

"Awesome."

"I'll hold off on kicking his ass, then." Sango grumbled.

"You'd be wasting your time anyway. He'd probably like it." Jade said.

"Ugh."

000000

"What is my opinion on anime fanservice video games? I don't know. What do you think my opinion is of AIDS?" Jade asked sarcastically. Naraku snorted as he bent down to pick up the dumbbells to continue his arm curls. He decided to give some of Jade's videos a listen, specifically the ones where she reviewed games and answered questions. Not because he cared about the content, but because he wanted to see the depths of her speaking abilities. Jade was going to have to tag along with him to conferences and she needed to be able to speak well, intelligently, and confidently. He knew she was intelligent, though she often tried to downplay it for reasons unknown to him. When she wasn't using her, "bro-isms," she was a fine speaker and was oddly charismatic despite being low-energy with her delivery. It was her lack of confidence that bothered him. She had the confidence to speak and play games live for thousands of people, and to attend and perform at tournaments in front of hundreds, yet she had already claimed in two of the five videos he listened to that she had a hard time speaking to crowds.

"Anyway, I went on another tirade. Basically, play Dark Souls over fanservice bullshit. Please." Jade begged. "Which brings me to my next point; Dark Souls is some home-grown bullshit. If you have anger management issues, fairness complexes, or heart conditions, don't play any of the Dark Souls games, or Bloodborne, and especially Demon's Souls. I still get triggered every time someone mentions that game."

'Hm. Sounds like my kind of game.' Naraku admitted, debating if he should watch her videos of the games she mentioned...especially the one that she claimed triggered her. Naraku almost smiled at the thought of finding something in these videos to use against her or at least bother her with. The only problem was that she had thousands of videos. Her channel had been active for five years, so the odds of finding said content in videos that she edited were slim.

After finishing his curls and bench press sets, Naraku pocketed his phone and earbuds and wiped the station down with a hand towel and vinegar water. He perked up when he heard two voices, one whiny and one belligerent, firing back and forth at each other. He could tell they were trying to settle their disagreement quietly, but whatever they were arguing about, it was too passionate of a subject to keep quiet. As their voices began to rise, Naraku decided to turn around just to see if one of them would finally snap and hit the other. He instantly recognized the black ponytail and short silver hair of the two men he usually saw working out around the same time he did.

"This is so dumb! Don't you see what's going on?" the silver-haired man whined, his hands placed on his hips and gripping them powerfully.

"See what? Enlighten me, oh wise branch leader," the black ponytailed man replied sarcastically, plopping down on the bench with his hands gripping the bench press bar.

"No one likes how you're handling this. No one. All you're going to do is convince her that the grass is greener and she'll leave."

"She won't leave. You're insane. Now, spot me," the man with the ponytail ordered, swinging around to position himself. Naraku saw the massive rich purple blotch on his left cheek and the realization hit him like a truck. He couldn't stop himself. The laughter filled his belly and chest, bursting from his mouth like a dam breaking loose. It wasn't quiet, either. Not only did the two bickering men look at him, but most of the people in that half of the gym stared, too. Naraku covered his mouth with his hand. His laughter continued and the man with the ponytail and purple blotch on his face glared back at him when their eyes met.

"Yeah? What's your problem, pretty boy?" the purple-faced man barked. The silver-haired one groaned a curse and slapped his hand against his face.

"Pretty boy?" Naraku repeated gleefully. "Is that jealousy I hear?"

"Jealousy of what? Being a virgin? What's so funny?" the man asked again, now standing. Naraku walked forward, chuckling lightly.

"I'm sure the ladies are just crawling all over you. Though, it looks like one was less than amused with your antics." Naraku replied, pointing at his face. The red blush shone onto the man's skin almost instantly, except through the purple stain, but the embarrassment did not quell his rage.

"Oh yeah? What do you know?" he spat back.

"Uh, Koga," the silver-haired one called out, his eyes wide. Naraku glanced at him, wondering what realization had grabbed ahold of him, but he looked back at the one named, "Koga," to see if he would throw a punch like Naraku hoped he would.

"Shut up, Ginta! I'm about to show Pretty Boy some manners," Koga said with a grin. Naraku answered the grin with his own.

"Oh, please do." Naraku urged. "I'm sure Jade will be happy to hear about it."

"Fucking...Koga! It's the guy!" Ginta shouted, reaching past Koga and pointing at Naraku.

"The guy?" Koga asked angrily, but then, the same realization that struck Ginta moments earlier seemed to hit Koga now. His eyes widened slightly, but then he started laughing. "Ha! This is the BDSM dude? What a joke! Jade always had weird taste."

"Oh my- you are the most instigating," Ginta let out a frustrated breath and turned away for a moment.

"So, you're Jade's other boss?" Koga quizzed, sarcastically spitting out the word, "boss," and quoting the air with his fingers.

"Indeed. You must be that fucking idiot she mentioned a couple of weeks back." Naraku responded evenly. His statement was a lie; Jade never mentioned being angry at anyone and she definitely didn't refer to them as a, "fucking idiot." But, the angry, purple-faced moron bought it anyway.

"Oh really? Well, she hasn't had nice things to say about you, either."

"Things? So she has spoken about me more than once? I can't imagine what she would possibly say about me other than I'm a sadistic, masochistic asshole who manipulates anything and everything around him. I highly doubt she has said anything along the lines of me being insatiably argumentative and confrontational, as well as being controlling, destructive, triggering, and downright, undeniably, bend-me-over-and-call-me-a-slut gorgeous." Naraku recited arrogantly, leaning forward slightly. "And you're just the fucking idiot."

"Fuuuuuuucking Hell," Ginta whimpered breathlessly, sounding like the air had just been crushed out of his body. Koga forced out a laugh, but Naraku could tell he was on the verge of throwing a punch. Koga nodded repeatedly, chanting, "Alright," while smiling.

"You know what? I like this gym, so I'm not gonna do something to get kicked out, but you can tell Jade that I don't take kindly to her sending her pretend-boyfriend after me. So I'll be dealing with her, not you." Koga replied as-a-matter-of-factly. Naraku sighed quietly. He was hoping for a fight, but he could tell he wounded the man deeper than any physical injury he could have inflicted.

"Yes, well, when she outsmarts you and has you arrested, make sure the mugshot gets your good side." Naraku shot, pointing at Koga's unblemished cheek before turning around to finish cleaning his mess.

"Yeah, fuck off!" Koga shouted, ignoring Ginta's pleas to let it go.

"I am terribly sorry about your tiny penis, sir, but there's absolutely nothing I can do about it." Naraku called back, smirking when he heard the calls of, "Ooooh shit!" echoing from the other gym members. Naraku turned towards the stairs to run on the treadmills instead of dealing with the heat outside or the people inside.

He lost track of exactly how long he ran. Naraku heard the treadmill timer go off once more, but he hit the reset button so he could buy more time to think about what to do with the woman behind him giving him the death stare. He wasn't afraid to confront her; just confused. Though he never turned back to look at her, he could see her reflection in the glass window that overlooked the gym's inside track. She seemed familiar, though he couldn't quite figure out why. At first, he thought she was just a very serious, very focused runner, but every time he glanced at her reflection, her eyes were fixed on him. He also noticed that whenever his timer went off, she would slow down, but then speed up when she realized he wasn't done.

'I remember her now. She's Jade's friend.' Naraku realized. He also noticed that Jade had quite a few friends who worked out at one gym, yet barely worked out herself. Naraku slowed down to a jog and snorted. He turned the treadmill off and cleaned the screen, buttons and handles with the vinegar water and towel. He tossed the towel in a basket and placed the bottle of water on a shelf, and when he turned around, the woman had just finished cleaning her treadmill and was walking towards him.

"You're quite the runner." she said to him with a smile. Naraku raised an eyebrow. "Sorry if you saw me watching you. I was trying to see if I could keep up."

"You're selling, but I'm not buying. What do you really want to discuss with me?" Naraku asked. He crossed his arms and looked down at her, but she seemed completely unfazed by their size difference and looked back at him calmly.

"Naraku, right?"

"Mhm." he hummed, his smirk reappearing on his face. That seemed to irritate her, as her calm expression morphed into a stern, intimidating one. Naraku had almost forgotten how easily it was to anger people by smirking at them during a confrontation. Jade and Bruce were unmoved by it, but everyone else on Earth seemed to despise it deeply.

"Look, I don't know what your end game is, but keep your hands off Jade." the woman said slowly. Naraku could almost physically taste the anger, but he was also still confused. He didn't take Jade as the snitching type, seeing as it took quite a bit of persuasion to convince her to tell Bruce about Sesshomaru shattering a beaker across her face. He also didn't peg her as the type to send her friends out to solve her problems.

"You must be mistaken. I haven't struck her."

"I don't care if you're caressing her like a beautiful, tender angel; unless she consents, you don't touch her. Ever."

"I missed your name."

"I never gave it."

"Have it your way, Feminazi." Naraku retorted. If she could have spit fire, that would have been the moment. "Jade consented to many things when she agreed to work for me. I paid her; she works. If I want to tease her, I will, and she will let me. If I wish to terrify her, I will, and she will let me."

"You can't,"

"I can." Naraku interrupted, stepping towards her. "You and I both know Jade is far too passive to protest anything I say or do to her. You and I both know that if she does manage to find it in herself to speak up, all I have to do is toss a wad of cash her way and her lips are sealed. So, unless you discover where I live and quietly break into my apartment to kill me in my sleep, from where I'm standing, there isn't a damn thing you can do about it."

"You keep telling yourself that. One day, someone will catch you napping."

"Perhaps, but that day isn't today and that someone isn't you. Have a good day." Naraku flashed a smile at her and her scowl deepened. He turned and walked towards the stairs so he could leave. He would be damned if he ran into another friend of Jade's at the gym.

000000

Jade hummed a low tune as she walked towards the lab. She hoped to find Bruce to ask him a question about the Organic Chemistry assignment he tossed at them the previous week, but she also wasn't opposed to asking Naraku. He was almost a different person entirely when answering science-related questions, so she made sure to ask him more often.

'Yeah, but then Sango just haaaaaad to say something to him.' Jade remembered the heated conversation with her roommate bitterly. It took the weekend that was supposed to be celebratory for the three of them starting a new semester together and for Jade winning the online tournament and cast a dark, Naraku-shaped shadow over it. Jade knew better than to think Naraku would let that confrontation slide, especially if Sango said what she claimed she said. When she walked through the open door of the lab, she saw Naraku in front of the the warming plate, arranging glass slides and tapping air bubbles out with tweezers. Jade thought about turning around and going anywhere else on the planet, but as soon as she did, Naraku turned and looked at her.

"Ah, there you are." he called out. He then waved her over. "Come."

"I can see that you are making slides just fine over here." Jade said back.

"Now." Naraku ordered. Jade placed her book and notebook on the table before slowly approaching him. She left a space between them, but Naraku reached over and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her to himself as if she were a long-time friend.

"Yep. You're doing a great job." Jade chimed.

"Have I shown you how to make slides yet?" he asked, examining the tweezers closely. Jade wondered if he was going to stick them into her eye next.

"Just the cooling and scraping process, not the warming and mounting process." Jade answered. Naraku nodded and held her even tighter when he felt her try to pull away.

"It's quite simple. You drain a bit of sample with the little glass pipettes, create a bubble on the slides with surface tension, place them on the warmer to evaporate the water, and then stick them to the slide mounts when they are dry, heat them up to squeeze the air bubbles out, and you know the rest."

"And you label them."

"So smart."

"Okay."

"If you start to smell a sharp, sour smell, you've left it on there too long,"

'The only thing I smell is a set-up.' Jade thought abysmally. She flinched when he snipped the tweezers at her face.

"What's wrong, dear? You seem bothered." Naraku continued snipping the tweezers at Jade's eyebrows to watch her dodge and writhe helplessly in his grasp.

"Nope, you're the one in a sour mood," Jade replied, hissing, "ow," when Naraku successfully plucked a hair from her right eyebrow. He held the tweezers for her to take and she did, rubbing her eyebrow grumpily.

"I made slides with about half of my samples, but something awful happened to them,"

"What happ-" Jade's sentence was cut off by glass shattering on the floor behind her. Jade spun around quickly, looking down at the glass. She recognized the pieces as the, now broken, slides. Naraku stood beside the mess with his hands on his hips, stepping on some pieces and grinding them into powder.

"I was clumsy and dropped them on the floor. Be a good girl and prepare all two hundred for me by the end of the day. Also, you can deal with the mess." Naraku said sweetly, but Jade tasted the salt and bitterness mixed in.

"Look, I'm just going to say this," Jade began, turning to watch Naraku shrug off his lab coat and grab his keys. He kept his back to her, though. "I didn't tell Sango to go after you. I insisted that she leave you alone."

"Heh, do you think I'm above punishing you for someone else's actions?"

"Absolutely not. I just wanted to clear the air with you, is all." Jade sighed, removing a few slides from the warming plate. She saw his hands resting on his hips again, but he still kept his back to her. It was an odd moment; usually Naraku liked looking her in the eyes when tormenting her.

"The man-child whose face you dyed, Koga, said that I was your, "pretend boyfriend," and that you had strange tastes. What did he mean by that?" Naraku asked after letting a few moments of silence pass between them.

"Wait, you talked to Koga, too?"

"He told me he would deal with you. I guess it was a bluff."

"It's hard to deal with me when I don't speak to you." Jade remarked, but immediately regretted it. She didn't want him to know anything more than he already did, but he also knew of her online life now. It was only a matter of time before Naraku found out several major things at this point.

"So, what did he mean?" Naraku pressed, finally turning around to face Jade. She looked back at him vacantly.

"You shouldn't take him seriously."

"You've never expressed any interest in me, then?"

"Why would I tell one friend how hot you are and tell my other friend how horrible you are so she could threaten you?"

"The feminazi did seem far more sincere." Naraku admitted. "I suppose I have my answer, though you explicitly avoided saying, "No."" He spun around back to the door and walked out just as Bruce was walking in.

"You have a cute butt, Naraku!" Jade called out playfully. She saw him cringe and speed up his pace and then she spotted Bruce standing beside the doorway, his eyes wide and his posture stiff.

"The fuck have I missed?" Bruce asked in a high-pitched voice. Jade darted to the closet to retrieve the broom to clean up Naraku's mess and to avoid eye contact.

"Nothing."

000000

Since he ordered Jade to make his slides for him, Naraku decided he would go home for a while. The worst part about classes starting, aside from people walking too slow in front of him, was the forced interactions with people he normally would ignore and forget existed.

"Fuck me." Naraku whispered after pulling his key from the ignition. He also could feel a headache coming on. He sat in his car, savoring the silence, and staring at his patio. When his phone began vibrating constantly, he slowly pulled it from his pocket and glanced at the screen. It was Bruce.

"I am already gone." Naraku answered.

"Are you and Jade fucking?"

"What? No!" Naraku snapped while gritting his teeth.

"Whoa, calm down. I was just asking. And she said you were, but I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not."

"Even if we were, it's none of your concern." Naraku replied, regaining control of his temper. "I know you didn't call me just to ask me that,"

"There's a few things, actually; you get to repaint my office door that you vandalized, you and I can discuss your goals for your research Tuesday, I found a few scholarships you might be interested in, so I will email the links to you, and your wish has finally been granted. You now have your own office." Bruce listed off, keeping the same monotonous tone throughout. Naraku perked up at the last part.

"Oh? When can I move in?"

"Whenever. You can get your key from Susan and she'll tell you where it is."

"Good."

"Don't forget about my door, asshole. And Tuesday at noon. Bring your bitch-salad with you so we don't waste more time than necessary with each other." Bruce ordered before ending the call. Naraku wanted to roll his eyes, but the headache had set in during the call. He stepped out of his car, placing his bag's strap over his shoulder. Naraku walked down the sidewalk to the mailboxes, flipping his keys until he found the one he needed.

'Bills, bills, and...I didn't order anything.' Naraku grabbed the key left inside his mailbox, indicating a package too big for his mailbox and too valuable to be left on his doorstep was waiting for him inside one of the larger mailboxes to the side. Naraku unlocked the bin and pulled out a large, thin yellow package. Naraku closed both mailboxes and slowly walked back to his apartment building, reading the shipping label on his mystery package. It was from the same address his thesis samples were shipped from.

"A response to my email would have been nice," Naraku said aloud.

Once Naraku was inside his apartment, he shed his professional attire and pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. He swallowed a few pills to combat his headache and decided to wait for it to disappear before tearing into the package.

'No, read it now.' he ordered himself, walking to his dining table and tearing the package open at the top. Naraku stared at the guinea pig when it began squeaking excitedly at the sound of paper being rattled.

"It isn't food. You know what your food bags sound like." Naraku scolded the pig. He walked over to the guinea pig's cage and reached inside, clicking his tongue. The gray pig waddled onto his hand and he lifted him from his prison. Naraku grabbed the cardboard box he had been using in attempt to potty train the pig and placed it on the floor, along with the guinea pig.

"Follow." Naraku said, walking towards his bedroom to retrieve his phone and the gem from his pants pockets. The guinea pig followed, his short legs rapidly moving to keep up with his owner's giant strides. Naraku opened his closet door and reached into his pockets. When he turned around, phone and gem in hand, he saw the guinea pig sitting just outside his bedroom doorway. The pig was still as a statue, not even breathing.

"Did something scare you?" Naraku asked, raising an eyebrow. He then rolled his eyes. "Why am I talking to you?" Naraku walked towards the doorway and the guinea pig darted back into the living room. He placed his phone and gem on the table beside the package and looked around the room. He couldn't see the pig, which usually meant he was chewing on something he shouldn't be. When he didn't come after Naraku clicked his tongue, he strode to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. This time, the critter squealed as he bolted towards the kitchen.

"Why are you screaming?" Naraku asked harshly, closing the fridge door. The guinea pig continued to chatter and even stood up on his hind legs. "Fine." Naraku opened the door again and pulled open the vegetable drawer. He snapped off a leaf of romaine lettuce that was longer and wider than the pig, rinsed it off in the sink, and bent down to give it to the pig. The pig snatched it and ran off to the living room, dragging the lettuce like a predator with its prey.

Before Naraku realized it, two hours of his life had been sucked into the brand new information about his study site. Within the package was another labeled, "Restricted." He had two new, very detailed topographic maps that revealed every high and low point in his site, every stream and every outcrop of rock worth mentioning. He also received copies of the notes numerous geologists, biologists, and chemists had taken when exploring and studying the area.

"You see, I was right," Naraku said, stroking the head of his guinea pig with a single finger. "The animals in the area live longer than average animals of the same species just a few miles away. The same goes for the plant life and, I assume, the microbial life. They don't live too much longer than their counterparts, but it isn't how much longer that matters; it's how consistently this happens." His only response was the happy pig chatter.

Naraku's phone began buzzing against the table's surface, which caused the guinea pig to run to Naraku's chest and hide as best as it could. Naraku didn't recognize the number, but he wasn't entirely against harassing a potential scammer, either.

"Yes?" he answered.

"I finished your slides." Jade said calmly. Naraku paused for a moment. Did Jade just give him her number? Willingly?

"That took you a while." he finally said, absentmindedly stroking the scared pig's fur with his free hand.

"I had class and homework."

"Are they labeled?"

"Labeled and placed inside a slide case which is also labeled. Where would you like me to put it?"

"On my desk."

"Are you alright?" Jade asked quickly. Naraku cringed.

"Why are you asking?"

"You sound serious. You're not even trying to agitate me."

"You have given me your phone number."

"There it is. Okay, slides are on your desk. Send me lots of dick pics. 'Kay, thanks, bye!" And before Naraku could even blink, she ended the call. He held his phone in front of him briefly before placing it back on the table. He looked down. The guinea pig had snuggled against his chest and flattened its body comfortably.

"She is strange." Naraku murmured, scratching the pig's ear. Naraku slipped his hand into his pocket, pulling the gem out.

'The geologists found you and came to the same conclusion I have; we have no idea what you are.'

"Ah!" Naraku hissed when he felt a sharp pain clamp down on his finger. The guinea pig had latched onto him and then ran across the table to escape him. Naraku held his injured hand away from the table to protect his documents from his blood.

'What...happened?' Naraku's mouth hung open as he watched the guinea pig push its body up on his feet, raising his fur and grinding his teeth loudly. He even raised his head to show his teeth, a gesture Naraku once read as being the most threatening thing a guinea pig could do.

"Is it this?" Naraku asked, holding the gem up. The pig began whining and squealing, still grinding his teeth heatedly. He slipped the gem into his pocket and then brought his hand up, revealing his empty hands to the pig. Immediately, it sat down and ceased grinding its teeth. Naraku quickly pulled the gem from his pocket and the pig rose to its feet, lifting its head and grinding its teeth again.

Naraku placed the angered pig back into its cage and walked to his bathroom to clean the bite wound it landed on him. He found the two entry wounds from its teeth and had to give credit to the little bastard; not only was the wound bleeding excessively, but it was also starting to bruise. Naraku placed the gem down, cursing when he realized he used his bloody hand.

"What does it matter?" he exhaled abruptly. The gem was indestructible. What bothered Naraku more was the guinea pig and his irritation towards the gem. The guinea pig had lived with Naraku for almost six months and had never acted like that before. He nipped him every now and then, but those weren't meant to maim like this bite. So, what was it about the gem that bothered the guinea pig? He had never introduced the pig to the gem before, so it was never a thought that occurred to him, either.

He rubbed some antibacterial cream on his wound before wrapping a bandage around it. Naraku stopped moving when he heard a slight hissing sound. It sounded like something was sizzling. He looked down at the gem and gasped.

"It's," he choked out. His blood that coated the gym was bubbling and steaming! He cupped his hand over his mouth, unable to summon any thoughts to cope with.