Falcon: *still cowering in fear*
Dream: *walks in* ok, Falcon. You can go home if you want to.
Falcon: YAY!!!!! *flies away*
Chuchu: no moa feathers?
Freckles: u.u;;; her name was Falcon.
Dream: I've brought a replacement! ^_^ *holds out another finch* Everybody meet Muppet!
Muppet: *looks around* Whoa! This is like, totally tubular!
Freckles: o.O;;;
Chuchu: HI MUPPET!!!!!
Dream & Freckles: OMG!!!!!!!! SHE SAID HIS NAME RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Muppet: Radical.
Chuchu: ^_^ monkeys
Dream: NUH-UH!!!!!! Aardvarks!
Muppet: Gnarly.
Freckles: STOP TALKING LIKE A SURFER DUDE!!!!!!!!!!
Muppet: *sniffles* But I like talking this way…
Dream: ^_^ Purple Aardvarks are nesting in Felicia's hair!
Freckles, Chuchu, and Muppet: o.O
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The rest of the week went by quickly. There were no more clues. The gang agreed to meet back at Autumn's house on Sunday afternoon.
Kurama got there early. Dariken answered the door. "Oh, hi Kurama, you're early. My baby sister's still asleep."
"At noon?" Kurama asked surprised.
"Yeah, she woke up in the middle of the night panicking. She let me in and told me to wake her up if she looked like she was having a bad dream. She's been asleep ever since."
"Did she tell you about the dream?"
"She told me about her previous dreams. Are you going to come in or not?"
"Oh, yes." Kurama walked inside.
Half an hour later Autumn still hadn't woken up. Kurama and Dariken had been discussing different ways to keep the secret.
"I think your friend Hiei might be suspicious."
"Yes, Hiei is quick to figure things out."
"Go wake her up. 15 hours of sleep is more than enough." Dariken said.
Kurama got up and walked down the hall into Autumn's room. There was clutter in the corners of the room. Two cages were near the bed. One had two little birds in it. Kurama paused to look at the birds. One had a crest of feathers on his head, the other bared a striking resemblance to a falcon. The crested bird looked up at him curiously.
Freckles, in the other cage, was sitting by the door to his cage glaring at Autumn. Kurama smiled at Freckles and walked over to the bed. The bed had a pile of stuffed animals up against the wall. One of the toys stirred and Kurama realized that it was Chuchu. Autumn was sleeping soundly with her head rested on a large pillow in the shape of a great white shark.
Kurama smiled as he watched her sleep. She looks so peaceful… I hope she doesn't get mad at me for waking her up. He reached out and gently shook her shoulders.
"…mmm…muffins…" Autumn mumbled in her sleep.
Kurama chuckled and shook her shoulders more roughly, "Autumn? It's time to wake up…"
"Go 'way. I'm eating muffins…" Autumn was chewing on her blanket.
"No, you're eating a blanket. Wake up."
"Go bother Dari. He's not busy." Autumn was still half asleep.
Kurama sighed and sat down on the bed. "Will you please just wake up?"
"Muffins…"
"I'll take that as a no." Kurama reached out and brushed some hair out of Autumn's face. He started running his hand through her hair.
"…Kurama, what are you doing?" Autumn had one eye open and was looking at him curiously.
He pulled his hand back and blushed slightly, "Umm…nothing…"
"What are you doing here so early?"
"It's 12:30 PM."
"Oh…" Autumn reached over and opened the door to Freckles' cage. The rabbit jumped out and started humping a plush toy rabbit that was on the floor. She then sat up next to Kurama. She was wearing blue kitty pajama pants with a blue top.
"Do you usually sleep this late?"
"Only when Freckles decides to be patient."
"Ah."
Autumn stood up and stretched, "Well we should get to the kitchen before Dariken starts thinking we're doing more than talking."
"Yes, I suppose we should."
"What, in the name of pudding, were you two doing in there for so long?" Dariken asked when they walked into the kitchen.
"I was dreaming about eating muffins. Kurama was playing with my hair." Autumn walked to the fridge to get herself some orange juice.
Dariken arched an eyebrow at Kurama. Kurama blushed and laughed nervously. Dariken shook his head, "Kids."
Autumn sat down at the table, "I'm too lazy to change outta my pajamas today."
"You're too lazy to do anything!" Dariken yelled.
"I know." Autumn smiled.
"Well, at least you admit it. Now you'll be able to work on it and eventually correct the problem." Kurama said.
Autumn blinked, "Naw, I'm too lazy to do that."
The three chuckled. The doorbell rang. Autumn opened it to reveal Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Arielle. Arielle pointed at Autumn, "Why are you wearing pajamas?"
"Because I'm lazy."
After everyone was seated Botan appeared, "HI EVRYONE!!!!" Botan shouted happily.
"HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Chuchu hopped in.
"I have good news!"
"Can it wait until after breakfast? I'm hungry." Autumn said.
"Breakfast? It's 12:40 PM!" Yusuke pointed at the microwave clock.
"Kurama just woke me up like 4 minutes ago."
"How'd Kurama get in the house?" Yusuke asked.
Kuwabara jumped to a stupid conclusion, "KURAMA!!!!!! IT'S NOT RIGHT TO BREAK INTO PEOPLE'S HOUSES WHILE THEY'RE ASLEEP!!! ESPECIALLY IF IT'S A GIRL'S HOUSE!!!! YOU SICK PERVERT!!!!" Kurama's eye twitched as Kuwabara continued, "POOR AUTUMN!!! SHE'S SO YOUNG!!! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT TO YOUR GIRLFRIEND KURAMA!!!!! NOT WHILE SHE'S ASLEEP!!!!"
"KUWABARA, YOU IDIOT! WHY ON EARTH WOULD I WANT TO RAPE MY GIRLFRIEND???"
"YOU TELL ME!"
"Ok, First of all, if Kurama had raped me, which he didn't, he wouldn't be sitting in my house right now. Second of all, he wouldn't have been able to because Freckles would've woken me up. Third of all, YOU HAVE A SICK AND TWISTED MIND, KUWABARA!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D EVEN THINK SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!!!! I FEEL BAD FOR POOR YUKINA!!!!! SOMEONE SHOULD TEACH HER HOW TO DEFEND HERSELF IF YOU EVER DECIDE TO TRY ANYTHING WITH HER!!!!!!!!!" Autumn panted after she finished yelling.
Kuwabara blinked, Hiei was glaring at Kuwabara. Yusuke also blinked, "So how'd Kurama get in the house?"
"I let him in." Dariken said.
Yusuke's eyes grew large. So did Kuwabara's. "WHAT??? AUTUMN, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE CHEATING ON KURAMA!!!!!!!!!!" They both said at the same time before getting knocked unconscious by Autumn's history textbook.
"Bakas…" Autumn grumbled as she sat back down.
Kurama was still muttering things involving killer plants and Kuwabara's head. Dariken was zoned out again. Everyone else was staring blankly at them.
Autumn smiled, "So… Botan, you said you said you had good news?"
"Oh…yes! Koenma's received another clue!" Botan produced another piece of paper. She handed it to Kurama.
He read it reluctantly, "This one says: 'The beginning is the end. New life springs from the ashes of the past. Return to the place where it all began and you shall find the answer. Look in the eye of storms.'"
"What the hell is with that whole 'eye of storms' thing???" Yusuke said, having regained consciousness when Kurama started reading.
"…I'm confused…" Kuwabara blinked.
"You're always confused, baka!" Hiei and Arielle said at the same time.
Yusuke blinked, "Wow, Hiei and Arielle would make a good couple…"
Hiei scowled but didn't say anything. Arielle smiled. Botan blinked, "Shouldn't you be trying to figure out the riddle's meaning?"
"It's too hard, my brain hurts!" Kuwabara whined.
"You have a brain?" Autumn faked surprise.
"Hiei, do you know what the riddle means?" Yusuke asked. Hiei didn't answer. Yusuke turned to Dariken, "Do you know what it means?...hello?"
"I DIDN'T EAT THE PUDDING PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!" Dariken yelled after Autumn elbowed him hard in the ribs.
Everyone sweat dropped. "Pudding people?" Autumn asked.
"Well at least I don't babble about aardvarks…"
"HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOCUS ON THE RIDDLE!!!!!!!!!!!" Yusuke yelled.
"What riddle?" Dariken blinked absently.
"The riddle you would've heard if you hadn't been daydreaming about pudding people." Autumn said.
"Oh."
"Maybe Thorn will be able to help you… I'll go get her!" Botan disappeared then reappeared seconds later with Thorn at her side.
Thorn looked around, "Hi everyone! …Kuwabaka, hwy do you have a rather large bump on your head?"
"You don't want to know." Dariken said simply.
"Okie dokie!" Thorn sat down happily next to Dariken.
"Thorn, can you figure out this riddle?" Yusuke gave the paper to her. "It's supposed to help us find Phantom Harmony."
Thorn thought for a moment, "Maybe it means that you should look on the Mist Mountains for clues… That's sorta where it all began…" Dariken groaned slightly.
"FIELD TRIP!!!!!!!!!" Arielle and Autumn said at the same time. Kurama arched an eyebrow at Autumn.
"That's a good idea! Since this is your last week of school before Christmas vacation, you'll go on Friday afternoon." Koenma said.
"AAHHHHH! WHEN THE CHEESEMONKEYS DID YOU GET HERE??????" Autumn nearly jumped out of her chair as she saw Koenma hovering near her shoulder.
Koenma blinked at her, "You know, you're even cuter in pajamas."
Autumn blinked. Kurama let out a low growl and put his arm around Autumn protectively. Koenma laughed nervously, "Just kidding! She's all yours, Kurama!"
~The next day: 4th period
"I didn't think it was possible, but I hate this school more than my own." Yusuke mumbled as he sat in art watching Autumn focusing on her midterm.
"Stop complaining and get to work. Mr. Art teacher guy gave you an easy assignment."
Yusuke looked at his assignment. He was supposed to draw things that interest him inside of a circle on the paper. He couldn't think of anything to draw.
"Draw…Keiko! She interests you, right?" Autumn got an eraser thrown at her head.
"You're not helping!"
"So?"
"Draw your friends."
"No." Yusuke sighed and eventually did just that.
At lunch, R and Autumn tortured Kuwabara. Yusuke received many cold glares from the preps, but he was used to that already. Autumn was actually sane when Kurama walked into the research class.
"Hi Shuichi!" Autumn smiled cheerily.
He sat down and grew serious, "What are we going to do about Friday? I think that Hiei's already more or less figured things out but…what about the others?"
"Well, if they do find any clues we can say some completely random meaning to throw them off track."
"I guess so…" Kurama and Autumn started discussing the trip on Friday.
Hiei was on the roof above classroom. He had been listening to the conversation. So I was right…
After school Kurama went over Autumn's house. Thorn and Dariken were waiting outside with Hiei. Thorn was wearing a lavender colored shirt with extremely long sleeves and a long black skirt with an image of a burning yin yang on the front.
Autumn pointed at her, "How do you expect to be able to accomplish anything with sleeves that long?"
"…you know what, I have no idea…" Thorn looked at her sleeves.
Dariken laughed. He then grew serious, "Hiei here has some questions you might want to answer."
"Let me guess, you want to know if I'm Phantom Harmony?"
"Yes." Hiei crossed his arms.
"Well, what makes you think that I'm her?"
"When I came up with the meaning of the first riddle you got worried. Kurama was worried too. You and Dariken act like siblings. Kurama looks at you every time someone mentions Phantom's name. There's a necklace in your kitchen that was stolen a long time ago by Youko Kurama." Hiei was counting on his fingers.
Everyone was looking at him with wide eyes. Autumn laughed nervously, "Wow, you're very observant…"
Kurama sighed, "I had a feeling you'd be the next to figure it out."
Dariken's eye twitched, "Wait a minute…that necklace was given to you by Youko Kurama??? YOU MET THAT SILVER HAIRED BASTARD AND HE GAVE YOU A NECKLACE????????? WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT?????????"
"Because I knew you'd act like this!"
"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THIEF WAS FLIRTING WITH MY SISTER!!!!!!! HE'S GOT SOME NERVE!!!!!!! THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM I'M GONNA TEAR OUT HIS LIVER!!!!!!!"
"I'm right here you know…" Kurama pointed out.
Dariken blinked, "Oh yeah…"
Autumn threw a snowball at Dariken, "baka."
Dariken shook the snow off his head, "I still hate him…"
"So throw snow at him. Just don't tear out his liver." Autumn threw another snowball.
Soon there was a snowball war going on between the five of them. Even Hiei was throwing snowballs at people. He didn't get hit once because he was running too fast.
Later they all settled down inside and started talking about random things.
"So, why'd you disappear?" Dariken asked.
"I haven't told you before, why should I tell you now?" Autumn asked.
"Because."
"Because isn't a reason."
"Why did you disappear?" Kurama asked.
Autumn smiled, "To get away from Koenma. He was getting on every single one of my nerves!"
"That's it?" Dariken blinked. "Why didn't you tell me???"
"I never tell you stuff. Besides that wasn't the whole reason. Koenma was forcing me to accept a mission where I'd have to track down Youko and kill him."
"You should've told me that. I would've done it for you." Dariken mumbled.
"May I ask why you hate me so much?"
"No, you may not."
"Answer him, Dari."
"Fine. I hate you because you give kitsune a bad name. Someone tried to pass my cousin off for you. Young demons are afraid of us."
"Not all young demons. My mother told me stories about Phantom and Youko. I learned that Phantom was good and Youko was bad." Thorn nodded.
"Aren't you an ex-thief, too?" Autumn arched an eyebrow.
Thorn laughed nervously, "Yeah, well, you know. Makai isn't exactly a place where you can live without breaking some rules…"
"What's your cousin like?" Kurama asked.
"Viern (Vee-urn)? He's alright, I guess… when he's sober…which is rarely…" Autumn narrowed his eyes at Dariken, "Thanks to him."
"How was I supposed to know that Viern wouldn't handle alcohol very well?" Dariken defended himself.
"You just should've!" Autumn flicked Dariken's ear.
Hiei was watching them with arched eyebrows. Kurama smiled, "See, Hiei, this is how siblings are supposed to act. They're supposed to argue about everything. This is how you and Yukina should act."
"Kurama…" Hiei said menacingly.
"Hiei has a sister?" Thorn blinked.
"Shh…you don't know that…" Autumn put her finger up to her lips.
Just then the phone rang. Autumn answered it, "Hello?"
"Oh, hi Margaret. Look, I'm kind of busy right now sooo…" Hiei stiffened.
"I have friends over."
"Kurama and some other people you wouldn't know."
"No, I did not hook you up with Hiei."
"No, I don't think Kurama wants to play matchmaker." Autumn was making the little talk sign with her hands.
"…I don't think that would be a good idea…"
"Why not? Because first of all, chaining a fire demon up in your basement is dangerous and second of all, Feeding him cat food is even more dangerous." Hiei blinked and looked at Kurama questioningly. Kurama shrugged.
"No…I don't think you can force Hiei to do your chores…Umm…yeah…heh…I have to go now…" Autumn hung up the phone.
"Sounds like that was an interesting conversation." Thorn said.
"That human scares me." Hiei said
"She scares a lot of people…" Autumn said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dream: I didn't do the disclaimer in the beginning but I own Viern, Thorn, Autumn, Dariken, and Freckles. Everybody else I do not own.
Freckles: Nobody's reviewing Arielle's fic cept you.
Dream: DAMN YOU PEOPLE!!!! REVIEW THE STORY!!!!!! IT'S GOOD!!!!!! Twitch
Muppet: You're not supposed to say twitch you're supposed to actually twitch.
Dream: So? Read Winter -iel -o burzum's stories!!!! NOW!!!!!!!! OR ELSE!!!!!!!!
Chuchu: ^_^ pudding.