~Chapter 4~
"Hey!" Kurama called Yusuke's compact. "We found the portal. It's at Avenue A and 14th." He told Yusuke.
"Ok. Not a problem." Yusuke grinned.
"Hiei and I are going in now. Just stay on standby. We may need you to throw some supplies in the portal."
"Roger! Over and out!"
"This is stupid." Hiei grumbled, not for the first time.
"Let's just get it over with." They leapt through.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Cori was woken rather roughly when two guys dropped onto her stomach. "What the fuck?!" She shouted leaping up.
"I think this may be the one." Kurama said dryly.
"Hn." Hiei grunted.
Cori dropped the book she was brandishing as she took in Kurama and Hiei's bold colors. "Oh thank all the divinities ever created!!! You guys are in color!!!" She enveloped them in a hug. She pulled back and studied them. "You're wearing the wrong KIND of color" She said carefully to Kurama. "But at least it's vivid." She grinned.
"What do you mean? Wrong kind of color?" Kurama asked defensively.
"Well, let's just say redheads should steer clear of pink and purple or a combination of the two. It clashes with the hair." She replied.
Kurama blinked and Hiei smirked.
"So who are you and all that rot?" She asked, sitting between them.
"We were sent to help you cope until Koenma could find a way to reverse the portal and get you back to where you belong."
* insert blank anime double blink here *
"We have friends on the other side if you need anything for the time being." He continued. "We can contact them through this." He pulled out the compact.
One of Cori's eyebrows quirked. ~A guy with a make up mirror.Ok.not gonna say anything..~ "What are your names?" She asked to stop herself from saying something about the mirror.
"That's Hiei and I'm Kurama." The redhead replied.
"I'm Cori." She replied. "Now show me how to work this thingy."
Kurama demonstrated and the other end started ringing. "What's his name?" she hissed.
"Yusuke."
"Yo! Yusuke!" Cori called when he answered.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Apparently the chick you're supposed to be helping. Can you do me a huge wonderful fabulous favor?" She wheedled.
He looked a bit nervous. "Depends on what it is."
Cori smiled brightly at him. "Well would it be possible for you to go to my place and get a few items and toss them through?"
"That's it?"
"Yeah. I'll give you the address and you can call back when you get there."
He sighed. "Fine."
Cori gave him the address. Ten minutes of awkward silence later.
"Yo!" Cori answered.
"Where's the key?"
"Go up the fire escape to the third floor. It's under the window ledge."
"Roger!"
"You don't talk much do you?" Cori said to Hiei.
"I see no purpose to talk about nothing." He replied coldly.
"Oh I commiserate completely, but there's gotta be some.." The compact rang again.
"We're in." Yusuke said.
"Fabulous." She grinned. "Ok go into the sleeping area and you'll see two laundry bags hanging on the closet door. Take one and go into the kitchen and empty my fridge and cabinets of food. The food here is horrendous and bland. Oh and don't forget the bag of..uh..oregano in the drawer next to the sink."
Kuwabara took kitchen duty.
"What else?"
"Ok, go to the dresser next to the bed." Cori said. "You can basically shove all the clothes in the dresser into the laundry bag hanging on the door."
Yusuke grabbed the bag and Cori remembered a bit too late about her "special" drawer. "Oh don't open the.." She sighed. "Drawer you just opened." She felt a blush creep up her face.
"Whoa!" Yusuke gloated. "Kurama. Hiei. You guys are lucky. Check out this stuff I just found." Kurama and Hiei's curiosity got the better of them and the peeked over Cori's shoulder.
Yusuke was displaying quite a collection of lingerie, flavored and scented oils, and even some paint on chocolate. Cori's face was beet red. "Please stop before I'm forced to kill you when I get back."
Kurama and Hiei both blushed at the collection and turned away from the screen. Yusuke was howling with laughter. "The looks on your faces. There's nothing wrong with sexual liberation." He grinned ludely at Cori. "Do you want me to send these too?"
"No! Just close the damn drawer!" she groaned. "All the others can be emptied into the bag though. Yusuke finished the task. "Oh! And I have some boxes of hair dye in the bathroom throw those in too and that should be it."
"Ok." Yusuke said as he went into the bathroom. "I'll go chuck this in the portal and leave you three alone to get acquainted. You lucky dogs you!" he grinned wickedly.
Cori groaned and laid back on the bed. "I'm in hell. Everyday just gets consecutively worse." She grumbled. "I just can't wait to wake up and realize this was all a bad dream." Kurama pinched her arm. "Ow!" She scowled at him.
He chuckled. "You're awake."
She grumbled something obscene under her breath and then laughed when her bags of stuff came crashing down on the dignified redhead.
Cori grinned and picked up the bags and put them on the floor. She hurried to put the food away and had to glare at Hiei when he tried to take her ice cream. She put her clothes in drawers and sat contemplating her array of hair dyes.
"hmm." She chewed on her lip. "What do I want to do with my hair?" She sighed. "I wish I knew how to do something that made my hair look like your's Hiei."
He blinked. "Why?"
"Cuz your hair looks wicked cool with that starburst and that great blue." She picked up a box of black hair dye and a jar of purple. "Yes black and purple will do." She nodded to herself.
Hiei and Kurama watched as she streaked her hair black and purple in thick chunky strips. Hiei sniffed at the dye dubiously.
"This stuff is supposed to change your hair color?" he asked.
"Yessir it is." She finished coating the last chunk of hair and exited the bathroom. "You guys don't have to follow me around y'know. Do whatever you feel like. I warn you I only have one channel on the TV and it's TV evangelism catered to the needs of this specific culture." She grimaced.
"In all honestly, we were sent here pretty blind. We don't know too much." Kurama admitted.
"Gah!" Hiei shouted from the bathroom. "It won't come off my nose!"
"Apparently you don't." Cori smirked in amusement. Cori started laughing at his attempts to scrub off the purple smudge. She took a bottle of alcohol from the medicine cabinet. "Hiei stop. I'll get it off for you. You're just making it worse." She chuckled and started scrubbing at his nose with a tissue.
"Bleck!" Hiei backed away. "That stuff smells awful!" he wiped at his nose with his sleeve.
"Well it did the trick." Cori shrugged. Hiei examined his nose closely in the mirror.
"Hn. Stupid human stuff." He muttered.
"AH-HA!" Cori shouted triumphantly. "I knew there was something not quite right about you two."
Kurama chuckled. "You're astute. Most people assume Hiei just wears contact lenses and is a little punk."
"Nah. He's definitely not a punk." Cori shook her head. "He's too bad ass. So what are you?" She asked Hiei.
"Fire demon." He replied evenly.
* blink blink * "Dare I ask what YOU are Kurama?"
"I'm a fox demon that nearly died and possessed an unborn human child and stayed alive that way." He replied with a trace of a smile.
* blink blink * * blink blink * "Riiiiiight..NOW I feel REALLY safe." Cori chuckled.
"Our assignment was to protect you. We will do no harm." Kurama replied seriously.
"Great. A smart ass fox demon slash human and a surly fire demon. Well I suppose I should be flattered that this Koenma guy is even bothering to help." Cori shrugged. "I mean. Why bother with some mislaid punk with no one to miss her?"
"There has to be someone." Kurama insisted.
"I have friends that may be sad for a few days before they got wrapped up in their lives. I have no family left to care." She shrugged and moved to the tub and started rinsing her hair.
Both Hiei and Kurama watched her thoughtfully.
She towel dried her hair and even Hiei had to admit it looked pretty cool. "Now I'm ready for that bag of oregano." She sighed.
"We're a bit beyond euphemisms." Kurama smirked.
"Fine. I'm going to get stoned. Are you going to join me?"
"Hey!" Kurama called Yusuke's compact. "We found the portal. It's at Avenue A and 14th." He told Yusuke.
"Ok. Not a problem." Yusuke grinned.
"Hiei and I are going in now. Just stay on standby. We may need you to throw some supplies in the portal."
"Roger! Over and out!"
"This is stupid." Hiei grumbled, not for the first time.
"Let's just get it over with." They leapt through.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Cori was woken rather roughly when two guys dropped onto her stomach. "What the fuck?!" She shouted leaping up.
"I think this may be the one." Kurama said dryly.
"Hn." Hiei grunted.
Cori dropped the book she was brandishing as she took in Kurama and Hiei's bold colors. "Oh thank all the divinities ever created!!! You guys are in color!!!" She enveloped them in a hug. She pulled back and studied them. "You're wearing the wrong KIND of color" She said carefully to Kurama. "But at least it's vivid." She grinned.
"What do you mean? Wrong kind of color?" Kurama asked defensively.
"Well, let's just say redheads should steer clear of pink and purple or a combination of the two. It clashes with the hair." She replied.
Kurama blinked and Hiei smirked.
"So who are you and all that rot?" She asked, sitting between them.
"We were sent to help you cope until Koenma could find a way to reverse the portal and get you back to where you belong."
* insert blank anime double blink here *
"We have friends on the other side if you need anything for the time being." He continued. "We can contact them through this." He pulled out the compact.
One of Cori's eyebrows quirked. ~A guy with a make up mirror.Ok.not gonna say anything..~ "What are your names?" She asked to stop herself from saying something about the mirror.
"That's Hiei and I'm Kurama." The redhead replied.
"I'm Cori." She replied. "Now show me how to work this thingy."
Kurama demonstrated and the other end started ringing. "What's his name?" she hissed.
"Yusuke."
"Yo! Yusuke!" Cori called when he answered.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Apparently the chick you're supposed to be helping. Can you do me a huge wonderful fabulous favor?" She wheedled.
He looked a bit nervous. "Depends on what it is."
Cori smiled brightly at him. "Well would it be possible for you to go to my place and get a few items and toss them through?"
"That's it?"
"Yeah. I'll give you the address and you can call back when you get there."
He sighed. "Fine."
Cori gave him the address. Ten minutes of awkward silence later.
"Yo!" Cori answered.
"Where's the key?"
"Go up the fire escape to the third floor. It's under the window ledge."
"Roger!"
"You don't talk much do you?" Cori said to Hiei.
"I see no purpose to talk about nothing." He replied coldly.
"Oh I commiserate completely, but there's gotta be some.." The compact rang again.
"We're in." Yusuke said.
"Fabulous." She grinned. "Ok go into the sleeping area and you'll see two laundry bags hanging on the closet door. Take one and go into the kitchen and empty my fridge and cabinets of food. The food here is horrendous and bland. Oh and don't forget the bag of..uh..oregano in the drawer next to the sink."
Kuwabara took kitchen duty.
"What else?"
"Ok, go to the dresser next to the bed." Cori said. "You can basically shove all the clothes in the dresser into the laundry bag hanging on the door."
Yusuke grabbed the bag and Cori remembered a bit too late about her "special" drawer. "Oh don't open the.." She sighed. "Drawer you just opened." She felt a blush creep up her face.
"Whoa!" Yusuke gloated. "Kurama. Hiei. You guys are lucky. Check out this stuff I just found." Kurama and Hiei's curiosity got the better of them and the peeked over Cori's shoulder.
Yusuke was displaying quite a collection of lingerie, flavored and scented oils, and even some paint on chocolate. Cori's face was beet red. "Please stop before I'm forced to kill you when I get back."
Kurama and Hiei both blushed at the collection and turned away from the screen. Yusuke was howling with laughter. "The looks on your faces. There's nothing wrong with sexual liberation." He grinned ludely at Cori. "Do you want me to send these too?"
"No! Just close the damn drawer!" she groaned. "All the others can be emptied into the bag though. Yusuke finished the task. "Oh! And I have some boxes of hair dye in the bathroom throw those in too and that should be it."
"Ok." Yusuke said as he went into the bathroom. "I'll go chuck this in the portal and leave you three alone to get acquainted. You lucky dogs you!" he grinned wickedly.
Cori groaned and laid back on the bed. "I'm in hell. Everyday just gets consecutively worse." She grumbled. "I just can't wait to wake up and realize this was all a bad dream." Kurama pinched her arm. "Ow!" She scowled at him.
He chuckled. "You're awake."
She grumbled something obscene under her breath and then laughed when her bags of stuff came crashing down on the dignified redhead.
Cori grinned and picked up the bags and put them on the floor. She hurried to put the food away and had to glare at Hiei when he tried to take her ice cream. She put her clothes in drawers and sat contemplating her array of hair dyes.
"hmm." She chewed on her lip. "What do I want to do with my hair?" She sighed. "I wish I knew how to do something that made my hair look like your's Hiei."
He blinked. "Why?"
"Cuz your hair looks wicked cool with that starburst and that great blue." She picked up a box of black hair dye and a jar of purple. "Yes black and purple will do." She nodded to herself.
Hiei and Kurama watched as she streaked her hair black and purple in thick chunky strips. Hiei sniffed at the dye dubiously.
"This stuff is supposed to change your hair color?" he asked.
"Yessir it is." She finished coating the last chunk of hair and exited the bathroom. "You guys don't have to follow me around y'know. Do whatever you feel like. I warn you I only have one channel on the TV and it's TV evangelism catered to the needs of this specific culture." She grimaced.
"In all honestly, we were sent here pretty blind. We don't know too much." Kurama admitted.
"Gah!" Hiei shouted from the bathroom. "It won't come off my nose!"
"Apparently you don't." Cori smirked in amusement. Cori started laughing at his attempts to scrub off the purple smudge. She took a bottle of alcohol from the medicine cabinet. "Hiei stop. I'll get it off for you. You're just making it worse." She chuckled and started scrubbing at his nose with a tissue.
"Bleck!" Hiei backed away. "That stuff smells awful!" he wiped at his nose with his sleeve.
"Well it did the trick." Cori shrugged. Hiei examined his nose closely in the mirror.
"Hn. Stupid human stuff." He muttered.
"AH-HA!" Cori shouted triumphantly. "I knew there was something not quite right about you two."
Kurama chuckled. "You're astute. Most people assume Hiei just wears contact lenses and is a little punk."
"Nah. He's definitely not a punk." Cori shook her head. "He's too bad ass. So what are you?" She asked Hiei.
"Fire demon." He replied evenly.
* blink blink * "Dare I ask what YOU are Kurama?"
"I'm a fox demon that nearly died and possessed an unborn human child and stayed alive that way." He replied with a trace of a smile.
* blink blink * * blink blink * "Riiiiiight..NOW I feel REALLY safe." Cori chuckled.
"Our assignment was to protect you. We will do no harm." Kurama replied seriously.
"Great. A smart ass fox demon slash human and a surly fire demon. Well I suppose I should be flattered that this Koenma guy is even bothering to help." Cori shrugged. "I mean. Why bother with some mislaid punk with no one to miss her?"
"There has to be someone." Kurama insisted.
"I have friends that may be sad for a few days before they got wrapped up in their lives. I have no family left to care." She shrugged and moved to the tub and started rinsing her hair.
Both Hiei and Kurama watched her thoughtfully.
She towel dried her hair and even Hiei had to admit it looked pretty cool. "Now I'm ready for that bag of oregano." She sighed.
"We're a bit beyond euphemisms." Kurama smirked.
"Fine. I'm going to get stoned. Are you going to join me?"
