CHAPTER THREE
Discovered
(Ooooh, nooooo!)
Kurama's first day of teaching was a success, if you look at the big picture. Just don't inspect all the little ones that make up the big one. Cuz then you'll think, 'Wow, this author lady sure has a twisted idea of successful...' And I'll be forced to knock you out. So just pay attention to the big picture, which is: Kurama, Hiei, Shadow, and all the students made it through the day without killing or getting killed.
Oh, yay.
When Kurama walked into Shadow's house, the first thing he did was drop all his books, papers (which were paper clipped or rubber banded together and therefore did not go flying everywhere), and bag onto the floor in the living room and lay down on the couch. Shadow was really in quite a good mood. She had threatened a total of 42 students that day, and had actually managed to scare 37 of them. Pretty good for the first day. Hiei was just as stressed out as Kurama. He would have laid down on the couch, but it was already occupied, so he stole Shadow's sacred reclining chair.
"Well Kurama, what did you think of your first day of teaching?" Shadow asked. He groaned.
"Teaching sucks. I like being a student better," Kurama muttered.
"Pfft. Why?! You sit there and get bossed around and have to do work!"
"Because I don't have to deal with all those stupid kids who think smart people suck. Well, I have to deal with them in my class, when they sit there and make jokes about smart people, but I just ignore them then, or if I'm in a bad mood, I'll come back with some intelligent remark and then enjoy the confused looks they exchange because they don't understand what I said. Then I usually feel better and continue to insult them intelligently so they don't make the connection that I'm insulting them..."
"Well you can still do that, baka! It's not like becoming a teacher has raised you past being a teenager! Well, I mean, you aren't a teenager, but just because you're a teacher doesn't mean you can't make smart remarks and comebacks!" Shadow snapped, glaring at him. "You really need to get your thoughts straight."
"Right. But if I make smart remarks, what are you two there for?"
"We are there to keep you from killing anybody, turning into Youko, and we are also there to make sure nobody does anything to you. Some of those kids were thinking of things they were going to try. Substitute teacher pranks, I suppose..." Hiei said.
"How do you know?!" Shadow asked. "Hey! Get out of my chair!"
"I know because I can read minds, and I am going to stay in this chair until I feel like getting up. If you have a problem with it, I'll set up an appointment with the fish. I'm sure they'll listen." Hiei closed his eyes and curled up in the chair with his back to Shadow. She glared.
"Well FINE, mister high-and-mighty, stay there! See if I care! I mean, after all, I only think that chair is ~sacred~, and only ~I'm~ allowed to sit in it, but go ahead! Sit there! Nobody cares!"
"Oh shut up, Shadow! It's not like I'm going to break it!"
"You probably weigh more than I do!" Shadow snapped.
"I seriously doubt it, but if I do, it's muscle."
"Nya nya nya," Shadow mocked, walking up the stairs. She stopped halfway up. "Did either of you notice anything strange about that Eclipse girl?!"
"No," Hiei said without even thinking.
"Yes you did! Honestly, if I did, you had to!"
"Shadow, she's not normal, there's something strange, I agree, we'll check it out more tomorrow, good night, take a hike, leave us alone, go to bed, I'm trying to sleep," Kurama said dryly. He turned over on the couch. Shadow glared at his back.
"Well FINE!" She stomped up the stairs muttering curses under her breath.
None of them knew it, but they had been followed home. Eclipse Shinomori stood outside the window watching them.
'Freaks,' she thought. 'There is something not normal about them, and I'm going to find out what it is. They're probably a bunch of escaped criminals. Or maybe they escaped from the nearest cracker barrel. Who knows... Nobody knows now, but I will! Ha! Maybe then I can blackmail them. Muwahaha... Get straight 100's in Biology...'
NOTE: For those of you who thought that by cracker barrel she was referring to the restaurant, you're wrong (Why would somebody have to ESCAPE from a restaurant, unless it's some place that chains people up and drains their blood to put it in their hamburgers...). She was referring to a loony bin. Cracker barrel is just an interesting term for it that popped into my head just then.
She watched until it was almost dark before deciding that they weren't going to do anything but sleep, the lazy bums, so she ran home before her parents decided to kill her for being late.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day, Kurama had all the pop quizzes graded. He started to hand them back.
"You all have very bad grades. Congratulations. The highest grade in here was a 40%, so those of you who got about 10 right, don't feel bad," he said, pacing around the room, flicking papers onto peoples' desks. When he got to Hiroshi Nakada, he stopped.
"Congratulations, Hiroshi. You have a 0%!!!" Shadow called from the front of the room. "Lowest grade in the class!" Several people laughed, some applauded. Most of them just stayed quiet.
"Shut up, Bitch! Who asked you?!" Hiroshi snapped. He snatched the paper out of Kurama's hand and looked at it.
"Shadow, don't call out peoples' grades aloud. And Hiroshi, DON'T CALL MY FRIEND A BITCH!" Kurama yelled, so loudly that he sent Hiroshi over backwards in his chair.
"YEAH!" Shadow ran over and hugged Kurama. "You just saved me an explosion!"
"Huh?"
"And you also saved his life."
"Damn!" Kurama said, louder than he had intended. The class stared. Kurama made a horrible attempt to cover up for his little slip. "Oh, uh, I mean, 'Oh, good thing I saved his life, I would have felt... eh... horrible... cough yeah right cough cough if he died.'"
The entire class burst out laughing. Hiroshi glared at everybody while he set his chair upright and sat back down.
"WHY DON'T YOU SHUT UP? HE'S NOT THAT FUNNY, YOU KNOW!" he screamed. Kurama smiled. Suddenly, the door flew open and the principal walked in. The class got quite almost insantly, but some of them still smiled or let out an occasional little snort.
"MINAMINO!" the principal yelled. Kurama looked at him innocently.
"Yes, sir?"
"I COULD HEAR THIS CLASS AT THE STAIRS!"
Kurama didn't say anything.
"YOU ARE AWARE THAT THE STAIRS ARE AT LEAST FIFTY FEET AWAY, AREN'T YOU, MINAMINO?!"
"Yes, sir, I am."
"IF YOU CAN'T CONTROL THIS CLASS, I'M GOING TO HAVE TO REPLACE YOU! I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT, BUT IF THIS CLASS GETS ANY WORSE, OR STAYS THIS BAD, YOU'RE GOING TO BE A STUDENT AGAIN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! I HOPE THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN!"
"It won't, sir."
"GOOD!" He turned and stomped out of the room.
"God, that guy's just a bit cranky, don't you think?" Hiei said, peering down the hall at the principal's back.
"~Just~ a bit?" Shadow said in disbelief.
"Sarcasm, Shadow, is a very important thing to know about," Kurama said, continuing through the rows with his unorganized flipping of pop quiz papers into people's faces.
"Ah."
"Right..." Hiei closed the door and leaned against it. Kurama handed back he last paper and sat down at his desk.
"Today, you people are so lucky as to get to learn about..."
The rest of the class was fairly boring. Especially for Kurama, who had to stand up in front of the room, running his mouth about stuff he'd already said several times that day. At the end of class, two minutes before the bell rang, Shadow decided to be an idiot.
"NOBODY MOVE!" she yelled. The class froze.
"I lost a contact!" she said, looking horrified. Kurama and Hiei knew she was just being an idiot, but the class didn't quite have the IQ to figure that one out. "Nobody's leaving until we find it!"
In seconds, Shadow had the whole class on their hands and knees, crawling around on the floor looking for her "missing contact". Everybody except for Hiroshi and some of the other kids who thought she was an idiot. Most of them had already started to like her. Probably because she ~was~ an idiot. She and the class had a lot in common...
Kurama sat at the his desk, shaking with silent laughter. Hiei stood where he was, leaning against the wall with a small smile on his face.
Suddenly, Shadow grabbed Hiei's ankle and pulled his leg out from under him, looking under his boot. She got a horrified look on her face.
"YOU STEPPED ON IT!!!" she screeched. Hiei rolled his eyes from where he lay on the floor. Shadow twisted his ankle around, flipping his body over with it, so he was flat on his face.
"Shadow..." Hiei growled, trying to push himself up. The class was laughing their heads off. Hiei pulled his foot out of Shadow's hands, but she snatched it back in a second.
"I NEED MY CONTACT!" Shadow yelled, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. "BUT YOU STEPPED ON IT! IT'S RUINED NOW, YOU HEAR ME? RUINED!!!"
Hiei gave her a blank look. They were quiet for a minute.
"Oh well." Shadow picked her imaginary contact off the bottom of Hiei's shoe and popped it back into her eye. There was a collection of disgusted noises as the class stared at Shadow, who seemed completely unaffected by them.
"Dismissed," she said, waving her hand. The class was all too happy to leave.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they got home that night, Hiei and Kurama decided to go and spar. A friendly little anger-releasing fight where nobody but the surrounding plant life gets hurt. Since their anger-releasing friendly spars always turned into bloody, competitive battles, Shadow followed along to make sure they didn't get their limbs chopped off, or get an artery slit.
What?! That's always a possibility, although its probability is about one to one million with such experienced fighters. And since they're best friends, that doubles it. One to ten million.
They still weren't aware that Eclipse was watching them. Being half demon, the same as Shadow, Eclipse was able to mask what little energy she had. Having no idea why they were walking into the woods, she followed at a safe distance, hoping that they maybe had some hidden treasure, or maybe a big building where they hid dead bodies. Something to make them different... To prove she was right that they were some kind of strange freaks.
They stopped in a clearing. Eclipse hid behind a large tree while Shadow sat at the edge of the clearing and Hiei and Kurama stood about 20 feet apart, facing each other.
The little spy's first shock came when Kurama pulled a rose out of his hair and held it in front of him like a weapon.
Her second shock came when, from inside his cloak, Hiei drew out a katana. At this point, she was getting freaked out, thinking something along the lines of, 'Oh my God! Hiei is going to kill Minamino when he's offering him a rose! He's unarmed! ~Offering him a rose?~ Maybe Minamino's gay...'
Then she got her third shock, the one that proved that these three were a bunch of weirdo freakazoids, when suddenly the rose glowed slightly, Kurama held it up over his left shoulder, and when he brought it down, it was a whip. A green, thorned whip. The rose was gone.
Eclipse had no idea what was going on. The next thing she knew, both of the boys had vanished. Poof. Just like that. Poofies, and nobody was there, except Shadow, whose eyes were darting around wildly, following the blurs that were Hiei and Kurama.
Suddenly, the two reappeared again, sliding backwards away from each other. They stood in the trails they had made, barely breathing hard. They both had a couple little rips in their clothes, but nothing major. They stayed where they were for about fifteen seconds before they leaped at each other again. Guess what else happened again?
Poofies! They vanished.
It was all too strange for Eclipse, and she sat down with a slight thud and let out a confused mumble. Nobody seemed to notice, but obviously Kurama had, because he slammed into the ground on his back, barely four feet away from Eclipse. She gasped. Hiei landed and glared at his friend.
"What the heck was that, Kurama?!" he asked. "I could have killed you!"
"I heard something..."
"Like what? Voices? Honestly, Kurama... Get up. You're hearing things," Hiei said.
"I know I'm hearing things. Duh."
"You're being dilusional."
"Hallucinating? No, I don't think so."
"Whatever, go investigate your little noises, I'll just sit here and stare off into space or something," Hiei said, staring into the forest. He blinked and squinted at something in the forest. He pointed. "What's that?"
Eclipse's shoe was partly visible from where she sat. Hoping they hadn't noticed her, she held completely still. Then, double thinking it, she pulled her foot close to her and hid. She heard footsteps, and suddenly...
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, ECLIPSE?!"
Kurama and Hiei stood beside her, looking down. Shadow stood on the other side, glaring at Eclipse. The girl looked up at them innocently.
"I'm not here. You're hallucinating," she said calmly, covering her head with her hands. Shadow rolled her eyes.
"Why are you here? On my property? This is MY forest. You'd better explain yourself, or I'll feed you to the weasels!"
"Shadow! Holy God, don't scare her! What good will that do?!" Kurama asked. He paused, waiting for Eclipse to say something. She didn't say anything.
"Seriously, you'd better give us a reason, Eclipse, or I'll have Shadow feed you to her weasels," he said.
Eclipse gave him a look that cannot even be described, but clearly said, 'You are nuts. Yup. You've got something wrong up in your brain, Kurama, and it can never be fixed, sorry to say. Actually, I'm not really sorry, but you know what I mean. You're crazy. Lunatic. LU-NA-TIIIIIIIIIIC!!!'
Yes, all that CAN be communicated in one look. It's pretty cool.
"I'm not a lunatic!" Kurama yelled, reading the look perfectly.
"Yes, you are," Eclipse said, sounding slightly freaked out, but not so much as she had looked. Shadow smiled.
"She is right, thought, Kurama. You've got something wrong with your brain."
"Shut up! It gets that way after a thousand years or so! Oops."
"A THOUSAND YEARS? WHAT ARE YOU? GOD?!" Eclipse asked, jumping up. She had to look up at Kurama, being as she was shorter that Shadow, and Shadow had to look up to Kurama because she wasn't all that much taller than Hiei.
"Actually, exactly the opposite. I'm---"
"SATAN!?"
"No, I'm a fox."
"A fox."
"Yes."
"And why is that the opposite of God?"
"I'm a spirit fox."
"That explains nothing."
"Demon. Spirit fox. Demon. I'm a demon, he's a demon, and she's a half demon, and from what I can tell, you're a half demon too," Kurama said, getting annoyed.
"AND SO WHAT IF I AM?!"
"There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, so don't get mad!" Kurama said.
"Get GLAD!" Shadow added, mocking those annoying commercials on TV.
"Shut up!" Hiei and Kurama said in unison. Shadow sulked. Eclipse laughed.
"Well, you never answered us."
"Why do these two call you Kurama?"
"What? Shut up! Because it's my name. What?! Hey, I'm asking questions! You're confusing me! Just answer the question we asked first!" Kurama said. Hiei gasped.
"GASP! DON'T CONFUSE THE GENIUS!"
"Oh, shutup, Hiei!" Kurama snapped.
"Uh... I forget what you asked," said Eclipse, looking clueless.
The group sweatdropped. "Why. Are. YOU. Here?" Kurama said every word slowly with a pause in between to let it sink in.
"Oh! I was spying on you guys! Cuz I knew as soon as I met you that you weer a bunch of freaks, I just wanted to know what was so special about you that made you freaks. At first I thought you were mass murderers or something, but... What? What's that look for?"
Hiei and Kurama had gotten identical looks at the words 'mass murderers.' Now they looked kind of nervous. "No reason!"
"What?" Eclipse asked again. Shadow smiled and whispered something in her ear. She gasped.
"OH MY GOD!"
"SHUTUP, ECLIPSE, YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSE TO REACT LIKE THAT, BAKA GIRL!" Shadow snapped. Eclipse smiled.
"OOOOooooooppppsssssssss."
"Ugh. Baka."
"Well anyway, now I know that you're a bunch of demons, and that's why you're freaks! I'm happy now, so I'll just be leaving." She turned to walk away, but Hiei caught her by the back of her shirt, deciding that since Shadow had told her he used to be a murderous theif, and still was whenever the opportunity presented itself, he would scare her a bit. He transferred this message to Kurama and Shadow so they wouldn't take him seriously.
"Oh, no, you're not going anywhere, girl. Now that you know the truth, you must never tell anyone," said Hiei, smiling just so perfectly that his fangs were exposed quite nicely. Eclipse stepped back, or at least attempted to, but Hiei was still holding onto her arm.
"Help? You're not really going to kill me, are you?"
Hiei just smiled. Evilly. Eclipse was on the verge of screaming. Rethinking her situation, she kicked Hiei in the crotch and ran. Kurama took off after her while Shadow stayed to check if Hiei was okay.
It was obvious he wasn't quite okay, though he would recover... He was on his knees with his teeth clenched and his eyes closed tightly, managing to keep his dignity and pride by not rolling on the ground screaming in pain.
Kurama caught up with Eclipse in a second and grabbed her arm. She spun around and glared at him, ready to kick him in the crotch too, if need be.
"Eclipse Shinomori! Nobody's killing anybody!" he snapped. "If you kick me, I swear to God Shadow will have your head on a plate."
"Oooh, scary little girl," Eclipse snapped.
"LITTLE?! LITTLE?! I'LL THANK YOU TO TAKE THAT BACK, MISSY!" Shadow screamed. She was standing with one hand on Hiei's back. He was still on the ground, but he was recovering somewhat and had one eye open to glare evilness at Eclipse.
"Scary. Little. Girl," Eclipse retorted. "You're not scary, you're little, and you're a girl. Two out of three isn't bad."
"I'M NOT LITTLE! I'M TALLER THAN YOU, AND I'M TALLER THAN HIEI!"
"NOT MUCH!"
"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!" Hiei screamed suddenly. "HEIGHT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING! GOD! YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT BY NOW!"
"She brought it up," Shadow accused, pointing at Eclipse. Hiei just rolled his eyes and sat back against the tree Eclipse had been hiding behind.
"Let go of me right now," Eclipse said, looking up at Kurama.
"Why? So you can run? So you can go back there and kick Hiei again? I think not," he answered. Eclipse glared.
"Want me to kick you?"
"Is that a trick question?"
"No."
"Are you suicidal?" Shadow asked suddenly.
"What?! No!"
"Oh, good. Kurama, you're safe."
"What?!"
Shadow rolled her eyes. "I hate explaining this. Okay, Eclipse, if you kick Kurama, then I will kill you. So obviously if you kick Kurama, you're just asking to be murdered, and therefore must be suicidal. Ingenius, right?"
"Idiotical, more like," she answered. Shadow glared.
"Is idiotical even a word?"
"No, Shadow, I don't think it is, not at least in this language, but it is in my language, and that's good enough for me," answered Eclipse. She glared at Kurama again. "LET GO, ALREADY, MORON!"
"FINE!" He let go. Eclipse stepped back.
"Now, explain to me again what the deal is with the demons and whatnot?" she said.
"Hiei and I are full blooded demons. Shadow is a half breed fire demon. Lately I've been living with Shadow. Hiei always lives with Shadow, and always has, ever since she got the house. Now explain to me why in the name of anything and everything that you were spying on us," Kurama said.
"Because you're freaks. I knew that from the beginning, but I never expected to find out that you're demons. So I spied on you. How come you can vanish?"
"Vanish? Oh. You saw us sparring? Yeah, we don't vanish, we just go really fast. Normal, untrained eyes can't see us. Shadow can, but obviously you can't."
"WEAKLING!" Shadow taunted.
"SHUTUP!" Eclipse yelled. She turned back to Kurama. "So how many demons live in this city, other than you two and a half?"
"Not counting you... There's one other half demon I know of... Yusuke Urameshi. He's Shadow's age... Fifteen."
"I'm fifteen, too," Eclipse answered.
"Good for you. I'm sixteen."
"I thought you were a thousand?"
"That's the spirit fox."
"I thought that was you??"
"It is."
"Then... what the... I'm so confused!!!"
"Don't worry, it's not confusing. Er... Maybe it is, but I think it's not. But it's me that we're talking about, so of course I'd understand it. Maybe you'd understand better if I told you the whole story, but I prefer not to until I can trust you."
"You can trust me!"
"BULL CRAP! YOU WERE SPYING ON US HALF AN HOUR AGO, NOW WE CAN TRUST YOU?! YOU KICKED HIEI IN THE CROTCH! SURE, WE CAN TRUST YOU JUST FINE! I TRUST YOU ABOUT AS MUCH AS I CAN TRUST THAT STUPID FOX NOT TO STEAL SOMETHING, OR TRUST HIEI NOT TO CATCH SOMETHING ON FIRE!" Shadow screamed. Eclipse about fell over. "DON'T TRUST HER, KURAMA!!!"
"I wasn't going to, baka girl! I barely know her," Kurama said.
"Yes, well you're the trusting type. Remember that Ura Urishima dude at the Dark Tournament? Or how about---"
"Trusting Ura Urishima turned out for the best, though, you have to admit," Kurama answered.
"That depends on whose side you're on."
"Whose side are you on?"
"My side! Not the fox's. The fox is a perverted twit who can't keep proper control of his hormones."
Kurama smiled innocently and sweatdropped at the look on Eclipse's face. Hiei rolled his eyes.
"Well its true, you know. Anyway, could we just send this girl home to hide under her bed and fear the almighty and evil demons like me? And... er... Uh... Why are you staring at me like that?!" Hiei said. Shadow rolled her eyes.
"Fear the almighty and evil demons like you?!"
"Ya. That is what I said, yes it is."
"YOU'RE DILUSIONAL!!! But we can send her home anyway," Shadow said. She turned to Eclipse. "Eclipse, go home. Don't say anything about us being demons, because as far as you know, you don't know that we are, ya know?"
"No," Eclipse answered. Shadow sweatdropped.
"Just go away! OKAY? See you in school tomorrow. Bye. Leave. Now. Okay? Good. Bye! LEAVE! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWAY!!!"
"OKAY, GOOD GOD!!!" Eclipse spun on her heel and stomped out of the forest.
"Well that was interesting," Kurama muttered, staring after her. "Where were we before that little interruption?"
"Little?!"
"We were sparring, genius, and I was winning," Hiei said.
"Actually, from what I could tell, you were equal," Shadow said thoughtfully. Hiei glared.
"Shut your trap, girl! For God's sake, must you?!"
"Yes, I must, and I can't believe you had to ask!"
"Just shut up and leave me alone... I now have more anger than before and if I don't fight something that fights back, then I am going to maul something that doesn't. Like Shadow, for instance. Come on, Kurama," Hiei said. Shadow didn't quite catch on to what he had said before until he had already dragged Kurama back into the clearing and they were about to start fighting again.
Discovered
(Ooooh, nooooo!)
Kurama's first day of teaching was a success, if you look at the big picture. Just don't inspect all the little ones that make up the big one. Cuz then you'll think, 'Wow, this author lady sure has a twisted idea of successful...' And I'll be forced to knock you out. So just pay attention to the big picture, which is: Kurama, Hiei, Shadow, and all the students made it through the day without killing or getting killed.
Oh, yay.
When Kurama walked into Shadow's house, the first thing he did was drop all his books, papers (which were paper clipped or rubber banded together and therefore did not go flying everywhere), and bag onto the floor in the living room and lay down on the couch. Shadow was really in quite a good mood. She had threatened a total of 42 students that day, and had actually managed to scare 37 of them. Pretty good for the first day. Hiei was just as stressed out as Kurama. He would have laid down on the couch, but it was already occupied, so he stole Shadow's sacred reclining chair.
"Well Kurama, what did you think of your first day of teaching?" Shadow asked. He groaned.
"Teaching sucks. I like being a student better," Kurama muttered.
"Pfft. Why?! You sit there and get bossed around and have to do work!"
"Because I don't have to deal with all those stupid kids who think smart people suck. Well, I have to deal with them in my class, when they sit there and make jokes about smart people, but I just ignore them then, or if I'm in a bad mood, I'll come back with some intelligent remark and then enjoy the confused looks they exchange because they don't understand what I said. Then I usually feel better and continue to insult them intelligently so they don't make the connection that I'm insulting them..."
"Well you can still do that, baka! It's not like becoming a teacher has raised you past being a teenager! Well, I mean, you aren't a teenager, but just because you're a teacher doesn't mean you can't make smart remarks and comebacks!" Shadow snapped, glaring at him. "You really need to get your thoughts straight."
"Right. But if I make smart remarks, what are you two there for?"
"We are there to keep you from killing anybody, turning into Youko, and we are also there to make sure nobody does anything to you. Some of those kids were thinking of things they were going to try. Substitute teacher pranks, I suppose..." Hiei said.
"How do you know?!" Shadow asked. "Hey! Get out of my chair!"
"I know because I can read minds, and I am going to stay in this chair until I feel like getting up. If you have a problem with it, I'll set up an appointment with the fish. I'm sure they'll listen." Hiei closed his eyes and curled up in the chair with his back to Shadow. She glared.
"Well FINE, mister high-and-mighty, stay there! See if I care! I mean, after all, I only think that chair is ~sacred~, and only ~I'm~ allowed to sit in it, but go ahead! Sit there! Nobody cares!"
"Oh shut up, Shadow! It's not like I'm going to break it!"
"You probably weigh more than I do!" Shadow snapped.
"I seriously doubt it, but if I do, it's muscle."
"Nya nya nya," Shadow mocked, walking up the stairs. She stopped halfway up. "Did either of you notice anything strange about that Eclipse girl?!"
"No," Hiei said without even thinking.
"Yes you did! Honestly, if I did, you had to!"
"Shadow, she's not normal, there's something strange, I agree, we'll check it out more tomorrow, good night, take a hike, leave us alone, go to bed, I'm trying to sleep," Kurama said dryly. He turned over on the couch. Shadow glared at his back.
"Well FINE!" She stomped up the stairs muttering curses under her breath.
None of them knew it, but they had been followed home. Eclipse Shinomori stood outside the window watching them.
'Freaks,' she thought. 'There is something not normal about them, and I'm going to find out what it is. They're probably a bunch of escaped criminals. Or maybe they escaped from the nearest cracker barrel. Who knows... Nobody knows now, but I will! Ha! Maybe then I can blackmail them. Muwahaha... Get straight 100's in Biology...'
NOTE: For those of you who thought that by cracker barrel she was referring to the restaurant, you're wrong (Why would somebody have to ESCAPE from a restaurant, unless it's some place that chains people up and drains their blood to put it in their hamburgers...). She was referring to a loony bin. Cracker barrel is just an interesting term for it that popped into my head just then.
She watched until it was almost dark before deciding that they weren't going to do anything but sleep, the lazy bums, so she ran home before her parents decided to kill her for being late.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day, Kurama had all the pop quizzes graded. He started to hand them back.
"You all have very bad grades. Congratulations. The highest grade in here was a 40%, so those of you who got about 10 right, don't feel bad," he said, pacing around the room, flicking papers onto peoples' desks. When he got to Hiroshi Nakada, he stopped.
"Congratulations, Hiroshi. You have a 0%!!!" Shadow called from the front of the room. "Lowest grade in the class!" Several people laughed, some applauded. Most of them just stayed quiet.
"Shut up, Bitch! Who asked you?!" Hiroshi snapped. He snatched the paper out of Kurama's hand and looked at it.
"Shadow, don't call out peoples' grades aloud. And Hiroshi, DON'T CALL MY FRIEND A BITCH!" Kurama yelled, so loudly that he sent Hiroshi over backwards in his chair.
"YEAH!" Shadow ran over and hugged Kurama. "You just saved me an explosion!"
"Huh?"
"And you also saved his life."
"Damn!" Kurama said, louder than he had intended. The class stared. Kurama made a horrible attempt to cover up for his little slip. "Oh, uh, I mean, 'Oh, good thing I saved his life, I would have felt... eh... horrible... cough yeah right cough cough if he died.'"
The entire class burst out laughing. Hiroshi glared at everybody while he set his chair upright and sat back down.
"WHY DON'T YOU SHUT UP? HE'S NOT THAT FUNNY, YOU KNOW!" he screamed. Kurama smiled. Suddenly, the door flew open and the principal walked in. The class got quite almost insantly, but some of them still smiled or let out an occasional little snort.
"MINAMINO!" the principal yelled. Kurama looked at him innocently.
"Yes, sir?"
"I COULD HEAR THIS CLASS AT THE STAIRS!"
Kurama didn't say anything.
"YOU ARE AWARE THAT THE STAIRS ARE AT LEAST FIFTY FEET AWAY, AREN'T YOU, MINAMINO?!"
"Yes, sir, I am."
"IF YOU CAN'T CONTROL THIS CLASS, I'M GOING TO HAVE TO REPLACE YOU! I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT, BUT IF THIS CLASS GETS ANY WORSE, OR STAYS THIS BAD, YOU'RE GOING TO BE A STUDENT AGAIN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! I HOPE THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN!"
"It won't, sir."
"GOOD!" He turned and stomped out of the room.
"God, that guy's just a bit cranky, don't you think?" Hiei said, peering down the hall at the principal's back.
"~Just~ a bit?" Shadow said in disbelief.
"Sarcasm, Shadow, is a very important thing to know about," Kurama said, continuing through the rows with his unorganized flipping of pop quiz papers into people's faces.
"Ah."
"Right..." Hiei closed the door and leaned against it. Kurama handed back he last paper and sat down at his desk.
"Today, you people are so lucky as to get to learn about..."
The rest of the class was fairly boring. Especially for Kurama, who had to stand up in front of the room, running his mouth about stuff he'd already said several times that day. At the end of class, two minutes before the bell rang, Shadow decided to be an idiot.
"NOBODY MOVE!" she yelled. The class froze.
"I lost a contact!" she said, looking horrified. Kurama and Hiei knew she was just being an idiot, but the class didn't quite have the IQ to figure that one out. "Nobody's leaving until we find it!"
In seconds, Shadow had the whole class on their hands and knees, crawling around on the floor looking for her "missing contact". Everybody except for Hiroshi and some of the other kids who thought she was an idiot. Most of them had already started to like her. Probably because she ~was~ an idiot. She and the class had a lot in common...
Kurama sat at the his desk, shaking with silent laughter. Hiei stood where he was, leaning against the wall with a small smile on his face.
Suddenly, Shadow grabbed Hiei's ankle and pulled his leg out from under him, looking under his boot. She got a horrified look on her face.
"YOU STEPPED ON IT!!!" she screeched. Hiei rolled his eyes from where he lay on the floor. Shadow twisted his ankle around, flipping his body over with it, so he was flat on his face.
"Shadow..." Hiei growled, trying to push himself up. The class was laughing their heads off. Hiei pulled his foot out of Shadow's hands, but she snatched it back in a second.
"I NEED MY CONTACT!" Shadow yelled, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. "BUT YOU STEPPED ON IT! IT'S RUINED NOW, YOU HEAR ME? RUINED!!!"
Hiei gave her a blank look. They were quiet for a minute.
"Oh well." Shadow picked her imaginary contact off the bottom of Hiei's shoe and popped it back into her eye. There was a collection of disgusted noises as the class stared at Shadow, who seemed completely unaffected by them.
"Dismissed," she said, waving her hand. The class was all too happy to leave.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they got home that night, Hiei and Kurama decided to go and spar. A friendly little anger-releasing fight where nobody but the surrounding plant life gets hurt. Since their anger-releasing friendly spars always turned into bloody, competitive battles, Shadow followed along to make sure they didn't get their limbs chopped off, or get an artery slit.
What?! That's always a possibility, although its probability is about one to one million with such experienced fighters. And since they're best friends, that doubles it. One to ten million.
They still weren't aware that Eclipse was watching them. Being half demon, the same as Shadow, Eclipse was able to mask what little energy she had. Having no idea why they were walking into the woods, she followed at a safe distance, hoping that they maybe had some hidden treasure, or maybe a big building where they hid dead bodies. Something to make them different... To prove she was right that they were some kind of strange freaks.
They stopped in a clearing. Eclipse hid behind a large tree while Shadow sat at the edge of the clearing and Hiei and Kurama stood about 20 feet apart, facing each other.
The little spy's first shock came when Kurama pulled a rose out of his hair and held it in front of him like a weapon.
Her second shock came when, from inside his cloak, Hiei drew out a katana. At this point, she was getting freaked out, thinking something along the lines of, 'Oh my God! Hiei is going to kill Minamino when he's offering him a rose! He's unarmed! ~Offering him a rose?~ Maybe Minamino's gay...'
Then she got her third shock, the one that proved that these three were a bunch of weirdo freakazoids, when suddenly the rose glowed slightly, Kurama held it up over his left shoulder, and when he brought it down, it was a whip. A green, thorned whip. The rose was gone.
Eclipse had no idea what was going on. The next thing she knew, both of the boys had vanished. Poof. Just like that. Poofies, and nobody was there, except Shadow, whose eyes were darting around wildly, following the blurs that were Hiei and Kurama.
Suddenly, the two reappeared again, sliding backwards away from each other. They stood in the trails they had made, barely breathing hard. They both had a couple little rips in their clothes, but nothing major. They stayed where they were for about fifteen seconds before they leaped at each other again. Guess what else happened again?
Poofies! They vanished.
It was all too strange for Eclipse, and she sat down with a slight thud and let out a confused mumble. Nobody seemed to notice, but obviously Kurama had, because he slammed into the ground on his back, barely four feet away from Eclipse. She gasped. Hiei landed and glared at his friend.
"What the heck was that, Kurama?!" he asked. "I could have killed you!"
"I heard something..."
"Like what? Voices? Honestly, Kurama... Get up. You're hearing things," Hiei said.
"I know I'm hearing things. Duh."
"You're being dilusional."
"Hallucinating? No, I don't think so."
"Whatever, go investigate your little noises, I'll just sit here and stare off into space or something," Hiei said, staring into the forest. He blinked and squinted at something in the forest. He pointed. "What's that?"
Eclipse's shoe was partly visible from where she sat. Hoping they hadn't noticed her, she held completely still. Then, double thinking it, she pulled her foot close to her and hid. She heard footsteps, and suddenly...
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, ECLIPSE?!"
Kurama and Hiei stood beside her, looking down. Shadow stood on the other side, glaring at Eclipse. The girl looked up at them innocently.
"I'm not here. You're hallucinating," she said calmly, covering her head with her hands. Shadow rolled her eyes.
"Why are you here? On my property? This is MY forest. You'd better explain yourself, or I'll feed you to the weasels!"
"Shadow! Holy God, don't scare her! What good will that do?!" Kurama asked. He paused, waiting for Eclipse to say something. She didn't say anything.
"Seriously, you'd better give us a reason, Eclipse, or I'll have Shadow feed you to her weasels," he said.
Eclipse gave him a look that cannot even be described, but clearly said, 'You are nuts. Yup. You've got something wrong up in your brain, Kurama, and it can never be fixed, sorry to say. Actually, I'm not really sorry, but you know what I mean. You're crazy. Lunatic. LU-NA-TIIIIIIIIIIC!!!'
Yes, all that CAN be communicated in one look. It's pretty cool.
"I'm not a lunatic!" Kurama yelled, reading the look perfectly.
"Yes, you are," Eclipse said, sounding slightly freaked out, but not so much as she had looked. Shadow smiled.
"She is right, thought, Kurama. You've got something wrong with your brain."
"Shut up! It gets that way after a thousand years or so! Oops."
"A THOUSAND YEARS? WHAT ARE YOU? GOD?!" Eclipse asked, jumping up. She had to look up at Kurama, being as she was shorter that Shadow, and Shadow had to look up to Kurama because she wasn't all that much taller than Hiei.
"Actually, exactly the opposite. I'm---"
"SATAN!?"
"No, I'm a fox."
"A fox."
"Yes."
"And why is that the opposite of God?"
"I'm a spirit fox."
"That explains nothing."
"Demon. Spirit fox. Demon. I'm a demon, he's a demon, and she's a half demon, and from what I can tell, you're a half demon too," Kurama said, getting annoyed.
"AND SO WHAT IF I AM?!"
"There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, so don't get mad!" Kurama said.
"Get GLAD!" Shadow added, mocking those annoying commercials on TV.
"Shut up!" Hiei and Kurama said in unison. Shadow sulked. Eclipse laughed.
"Well, you never answered us."
"Why do these two call you Kurama?"
"What? Shut up! Because it's my name. What?! Hey, I'm asking questions! You're confusing me! Just answer the question we asked first!" Kurama said. Hiei gasped.
"GASP! DON'T CONFUSE THE GENIUS!"
"Oh, shutup, Hiei!" Kurama snapped.
"Uh... I forget what you asked," said Eclipse, looking clueless.
The group sweatdropped. "Why. Are. YOU. Here?" Kurama said every word slowly with a pause in between to let it sink in.
"Oh! I was spying on you guys! Cuz I knew as soon as I met you that you weer a bunch of freaks, I just wanted to know what was so special about you that made you freaks. At first I thought you were mass murderers or something, but... What? What's that look for?"
Hiei and Kurama had gotten identical looks at the words 'mass murderers.' Now they looked kind of nervous. "No reason!"
"What?" Eclipse asked again. Shadow smiled and whispered something in her ear. She gasped.
"OH MY GOD!"
"SHUTUP, ECLIPSE, YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSE TO REACT LIKE THAT, BAKA GIRL!" Shadow snapped. Eclipse smiled.
"OOOOooooooppppsssssssss."
"Ugh. Baka."
"Well anyway, now I know that you're a bunch of demons, and that's why you're freaks! I'm happy now, so I'll just be leaving." She turned to walk away, but Hiei caught her by the back of her shirt, deciding that since Shadow had told her he used to be a murderous theif, and still was whenever the opportunity presented itself, he would scare her a bit. He transferred this message to Kurama and Shadow so they wouldn't take him seriously.
"Oh, no, you're not going anywhere, girl. Now that you know the truth, you must never tell anyone," said Hiei, smiling just so perfectly that his fangs were exposed quite nicely. Eclipse stepped back, or at least attempted to, but Hiei was still holding onto her arm.
"Help? You're not really going to kill me, are you?"
Hiei just smiled. Evilly. Eclipse was on the verge of screaming. Rethinking her situation, she kicked Hiei in the crotch and ran. Kurama took off after her while Shadow stayed to check if Hiei was okay.
It was obvious he wasn't quite okay, though he would recover... He was on his knees with his teeth clenched and his eyes closed tightly, managing to keep his dignity and pride by not rolling on the ground screaming in pain.
Kurama caught up with Eclipse in a second and grabbed her arm. She spun around and glared at him, ready to kick him in the crotch too, if need be.
"Eclipse Shinomori! Nobody's killing anybody!" he snapped. "If you kick me, I swear to God Shadow will have your head on a plate."
"Oooh, scary little girl," Eclipse snapped.
"LITTLE?! LITTLE?! I'LL THANK YOU TO TAKE THAT BACK, MISSY!" Shadow screamed. She was standing with one hand on Hiei's back. He was still on the ground, but he was recovering somewhat and had one eye open to glare evilness at Eclipse.
"Scary. Little. Girl," Eclipse retorted. "You're not scary, you're little, and you're a girl. Two out of three isn't bad."
"I'M NOT LITTLE! I'M TALLER THAN YOU, AND I'M TALLER THAN HIEI!"
"NOT MUCH!"
"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!" Hiei screamed suddenly. "HEIGHT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING! GOD! YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT BY NOW!"
"She brought it up," Shadow accused, pointing at Eclipse. Hiei just rolled his eyes and sat back against the tree Eclipse had been hiding behind.
"Let go of me right now," Eclipse said, looking up at Kurama.
"Why? So you can run? So you can go back there and kick Hiei again? I think not," he answered. Eclipse glared.
"Want me to kick you?"
"Is that a trick question?"
"No."
"Are you suicidal?" Shadow asked suddenly.
"What?! No!"
"Oh, good. Kurama, you're safe."
"What?!"
Shadow rolled her eyes. "I hate explaining this. Okay, Eclipse, if you kick Kurama, then I will kill you. So obviously if you kick Kurama, you're just asking to be murdered, and therefore must be suicidal. Ingenius, right?"
"Idiotical, more like," she answered. Shadow glared.
"Is idiotical even a word?"
"No, Shadow, I don't think it is, not at least in this language, but it is in my language, and that's good enough for me," answered Eclipse. She glared at Kurama again. "LET GO, ALREADY, MORON!"
"FINE!" He let go. Eclipse stepped back.
"Now, explain to me again what the deal is with the demons and whatnot?" she said.
"Hiei and I are full blooded demons. Shadow is a half breed fire demon. Lately I've been living with Shadow. Hiei always lives with Shadow, and always has, ever since she got the house. Now explain to me why in the name of anything and everything that you were spying on us," Kurama said.
"Because you're freaks. I knew that from the beginning, but I never expected to find out that you're demons. So I spied on you. How come you can vanish?"
"Vanish? Oh. You saw us sparring? Yeah, we don't vanish, we just go really fast. Normal, untrained eyes can't see us. Shadow can, but obviously you can't."
"WEAKLING!" Shadow taunted.
"SHUTUP!" Eclipse yelled. She turned back to Kurama. "So how many demons live in this city, other than you two and a half?"
"Not counting you... There's one other half demon I know of... Yusuke Urameshi. He's Shadow's age... Fifteen."
"I'm fifteen, too," Eclipse answered.
"Good for you. I'm sixteen."
"I thought you were a thousand?"
"That's the spirit fox."
"I thought that was you??"
"It is."
"Then... what the... I'm so confused!!!"
"Don't worry, it's not confusing. Er... Maybe it is, but I think it's not. But it's me that we're talking about, so of course I'd understand it. Maybe you'd understand better if I told you the whole story, but I prefer not to until I can trust you."
"You can trust me!"
"BULL CRAP! YOU WERE SPYING ON US HALF AN HOUR AGO, NOW WE CAN TRUST YOU?! YOU KICKED HIEI IN THE CROTCH! SURE, WE CAN TRUST YOU JUST FINE! I TRUST YOU ABOUT AS MUCH AS I CAN TRUST THAT STUPID FOX NOT TO STEAL SOMETHING, OR TRUST HIEI NOT TO CATCH SOMETHING ON FIRE!" Shadow screamed. Eclipse about fell over. "DON'T TRUST HER, KURAMA!!!"
"I wasn't going to, baka girl! I barely know her," Kurama said.
"Yes, well you're the trusting type. Remember that Ura Urishima dude at the Dark Tournament? Or how about---"
"Trusting Ura Urishima turned out for the best, though, you have to admit," Kurama answered.
"That depends on whose side you're on."
"Whose side are you on?"
"My side! Not the fox's. The fox is a perverted twit who can't keep proper control of his hormones."
Kurama smiled innocently and sweatdropped at the look on Eclipse's face. Hiei rolled his eyes.
"Well its true, you know. Anyway, could we just send this girl home to hide under her bed and fear the almighty and evil demons like me? And... er... Uh... Why are you staring at me like that?!" Hiei said. Shadow rolled her eyes.
"Fear the almighty and evil demons like you?!"
"Ya. That is what I said, yes it is."
"YOU'RE DILUSIONAL!!! But we can send her home anyway," Shadow said. She turned to Eclipse. "Eclipse, go home. Don't say anything about us being demons, because as far as you know, you don't know that we are, ya know?"
"No," Eclipse answered. Shadow sweatdropped.
"Just go away! OKAY? See you in school tomorrow. Bye. Leave. Now. Okay? Good. Bye! LEAVE! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWAY!!!"
"OKAY, GOOD GOD!!!" Eclipse spun on her heel and stomped out of the forest.
"Well that was interesting," Kurama muttered, staring after her. "Where were we before that little interruption?"
"Little?!"
"We were sparring, genius, and I was winning," Hiei said.
"Actually, from what I could tell, you were equal," Shadow said thoughtfully. Hiei glared.
"Shut your trap, girl! For God's sake, must you?!"
"Yes, I must, and I can't believe you had to ask!"
"Just shut up and leave me alone... I now have more anger than before and if I don't fight something that fights back, then I am going to maul something that doesn't. Like Shadow, for instance. Come on, Kurama," Hiei said. Shadow didn't quite catch on to what he had said before until he had already dragged Kurama back into the clearing and they were about to start fighting again.