This will probably be a relatively short chapter. *grin* Don't worry...I'm still getting into the spirit of this story. And I PROMISE the sequel of Hiruiseki will be up soon! I just have to finish planning it out.
Shishiwakamaru: You haven't even WRITTEN it yet??
Kia: ...Okay, so sue me! I've been busy!
Shishiwakamaru: You sat and cheered for twelve hours and got paid.
Kia: They needed EXTRAS. I was helping my community-whoa, wait. You're jealous!
Shishiwakamaru: Jealous of you? Hardly.
Kia: Dude. You are SO jealous.
Shishiwakamaru: I hate you.
Kia: The feeling's mutual.
Inuki: Woof!
Kia: Inuki-chan's right. I can't sit here and fight with you. I have a chapter to write! FEAR ME, MORTALS!!! *skips off, laughing hysterically*
Inuki: Woof!
Kia: *stops* Oops. Last chapter, Suzuki and Shishiwakamaru abruptly fell ill! Uh-oh...and that little girl...will be introduced in this chapter! Now, let's continue!!
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Aside from a few scratches and turning into a black cat for the rest of the day, Kia suffered no ill effects from the cabinet incident. But Suzuki had also caught the unknown disease. And that wasn't all, not by a long shot. Kelsey had been helping Kia to doctor her bloody injuries when both heard a thud in the hall. Imagine the girls' chagrin when they discovered both Hiei and Touya lying unconscious on the floor. Then Rei caught it. Within two days, Kelsey, Kia, and Kurama, who had been alerted, were the only ones still healthy.
"I think it's just youkai who are catching it," Kuwabara commented. He and his older sister, Shizuru, had come over to help deal with the invalids and relieve the overworked Mirror Holders.
Kelsey and Kia exchanged guilty looks. They still hadn't told anyone...well, Jin and Yusuke knew about Kia, but neither had said anything about it. Kia was only half-human, and Kelsey was 3/4 human. Ashita, the seemingly immortal creator of the Densetsu no Kagami, had told the girls of their pasts. Kia's mother had been a youkai, and Kelsey's youkai grandfather had married a half demon--a hanyou.
"So...what are the symptoms?" Shizuru, who looked nothing at all like her younger brother, tucked a strand of light brown hair behind her right ear, gazing intently at the two girls.
"Umm..." Kia paused thoughtfully. "High fever, lethargy, and...shrinking."
"Shrinking??" Shizuru looked at her sharply. "In what way? Size? Clothing?"
"Size and years," Kia answered wearily. She looked up from studying her bandaged hands as a high-pitched wail filled the living room, followed by another, then another. "...I think Shishi started that one."
Kelsey sighed. "I'll get him." She went into the bedroom and the crying stopped after a moment.
The older Mirror Holder lifted her eyes heavenward. "Sing praises, I get a respite," she said reverently.
"So how old are they?" Kuwabara asked.
"Jin and Rei haven't changed much," Kia told him. "But Touya and Hiei are shorter and more child-like and Suzuki and Shishiwakamaru are about eleven...in ningen terms, anyway."
"The midget's shorter?!" The boy gasped.
"...Kia?" Kelsey returned, carrying Shishiwakamaru on her back.
"The midget's shorter..." Kuwabara seemed to be having trouble getting past that aspect, until he noticed Kelsey had returned. "Hey...he doesn't LOOK eleven...he looks younger." He stared wide-eyed at the samurai.
"He's ten, going on nine," Kelsey explained.
"He keeps getting younger..." Kia bit her lip worriedly. "Just how young is he going to get??"
"You'd better hope he doesn't get much younger," Shizuru pointed out. "He might get TOO young."
Kelsey shuddered. "A Shishi fetus. Ick."
"Kelsey! Kia?" A little voice called hoarsely from the bedroom.
"We're in here, Suzuki!" The dark-haired girl responded.
"Have to talk...NOW!"
A little taken aback at the Inventor's emphatic tone, Kelsey glanced at Kia, who shrugged. Both girls walked into the room, looking expectantly at the bedridden boy.
"What is it?" Kelsey asked.
"This...disease...I remember...from before..." Suzuki tried to sit up, but Kia carefully pushed him back down. It didn't take that much effort; he had the resistance of a limp noodle.
"You remember...you mean, you've seen this before??"
The child started to cough, which prevented him from answering her query right away. Kage padded quietly into the room and up to the bed, nudging Suzuki's right hand until it rested on his ebon head. -Think about your answer. Formulate it in your mind and I will relay it to the girls.-
Suzuki nodded, squeezing his eyes shut in concentration and effort. After a few minutes, he gave a tired sigh and slumped back into repose.
"Kage?" Kia looked at the dog questioningly.
-This disease HAS been seen before. In Makai. It starts off with a high fever, then progresses to age deterioration. Once you reach the physical age of two, it is highly likely that you will cease living. It only affects youkai, and the few that DO survive are then immune to it. It is extremely contagious.- Kage slowly backed out from under Suzuki's sweaty palm.
"I think-" Kia started to say, but they never heard what she thought, because at that moment, there was a cacophony of crashes and yelps that came from one of the bedrooms.
Casting a nervous look at the drowsing Suzuki, Kia dashed off to find out what was going on. Kelsey remained long enough to settle Shishiwakamaru into his own bed before pursuing her friend.
The racket seemed to be issuing from Hiei's room, and Kia inwardly cringed as she flung open the door, not sure what she would find...and not at all sure if she WANTED to find it!
She didn't. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, the dark-haired girl clapped a hand over her mouth to prevent a startled cry from escaping.
The room was in shambles. Pillows had been torn apart, small fluffy feathers still slowly drifting down. The desk had been overturned, the drawers forcefully emptied of their contents and Hiei's katana was imbedded in the mattress, uncomfortably close to Hiei's head. The Jaganshi himself was cocooned in his sheets, whimpering and flailing at his bindings. He was no longer the fierce, cynical fighter that Kia knew and was so wary of. Instead, he was a frightened little boy, and the Mirror Holder's dormant maternal instincts kicked in.
"Oh, Hiei..." Kia approached him, starting to separate him from the sheets. "What happened here?"
"I don't believe it!!"
Kia blinked, finally succeeding in untangling Hiei, and turned.
There was a little girl seated on the edge of the bed, where it had unoccupied only minutes before. When she removed her large sunglasses, tucking them into a pocket of her pink sundress (which no one in their right mind should have been wearing in the winter), Kia couldn't help noticing her unusual eyes-her left one was brown and her right one was cornflower blue.
The Mirror Holder stared at the stranger, plopping down on the bed herself and settling Hiei on her lap. "I...who ARE you?"
The girl paid her no attention, now prattling on in an incredulous tone. "I did this so YOU would get sick, and you're not even in bed!! I KNEW I should've really checked to see if you were there, but the annoying man with the funny hair had to answer it-"
"Kia!" Kelsey finally showed up, looking at her friend, and then noticing the little girl, and the huge mess.
"And YOU'RE healthy too!!" The small intruder wailed.
"No, I'm Kelsey." (A/N: I hate those...x.x) The blonde girl blinked. "And you would be..."
"Kodoma Binetsu, Mistress of Inventions." She hopped off the bed, pigtails flouncing. "Rival of the Beautiful Martial Artist Suzuki."
"YOU'RE Suzuki's rival?!" Kelsey was a bit dubious.
"I didn't even know he HAD a rival," Kia added.
Binetsu nodded. "He did. Since childhood. Only thing is, he grew up and I didn't!" She giggled. "And now he's gonna shrink!"
"Wait a minute..." Kia stared at her suspiciously. "How did you..."
"I know because I did it!" the child said impatiently. "I created the disease and your friends will all be dead in nine days, starting from when they first started youthening! Wheeee!" She did clumsy pirouettes around the room, and Hiei growled in irritation. It was hard to say what annoyed him more-the klutzy ballerina in his room or the fact that the very same person had fated him to die in nine days...or less.
"I wouldn't recommend staying here," Binetsu advised as she spun. "You Mirror Holders will catch it eventually."
"How do they KNOW?" Kelsey asked Kia.
Her friend shrugged. "Maybe we have blinking neon signs above our heads proclaiming our true identities to the world. Or maybe we're like a dog whistle, and the youkai are-" She looked down at Hiei and decided to shut up.
Binetsu stopped dancing long enough to tweak Hiei's nose. "I'll see you in nine days!" She sang out cheerily. "Or not." She winked her blue eye at the bemused Mirror Holders and stepped out the door.
"Hey, hold it!!" Kelsey raced after her-only to discover that Kodoma Binetsu had disappeared quite effectively.
"Shimatta," the girl complained, as Kia approached, carrying Hiei in her arms.
"She got away?" The brunette asked, still trying to soothe the irate Jaganshi. Judging from the guttural growls Hiei was emitting, she wasn't having much success.
"Is everything okay?" Shizuru called from the living room.
"Fine!" Kia replied, forcing herself to sound cheery.
"Liar. I'm psychic, remember?"
"Damn the Kuwabara family," Kelsey whispered.
Kia groaned, hugging Hiei, who stopped growling. "What do we do now? Is there a cure?"
"There is." Kurama had let himself in when no one had answered the door. Small wonder; the girls had been busy dealing with Kodoma Binetsu. And Shizuru had probably been dealing with her brother. The Youko now looked at the Mirror Holders intensely. "Kage told me, but you may encounter a few problems in getting to it."
"Like...?" Kelsey prompted warily.
-It's in Makai, the one who created it will stop at nothing to prevent you from reaching it, and only six beings know of the cure's exact location.- Like Kurama, Kage's arrival had been silent.
Kia frowned. "So if we go...who'd watch everyone here?"
-Shizuru and her brother, Yusuke, and Keiko have volunteered to help,- The dog explained.
"And the location?" Kelsey asked. "If there's only six-"
-Chuu knows. He and Rinku survived the disease, so if you find them, they can most likely lead you to the cure.-
"Chuu," the blonde mumbled. "Who would've thought?"
-Kurama will accompany you.- Kage sighed. -As long as he remains in this form, he will not risk catching the disease.-
Kia and Kelsey exchanged a puzzled look. Just how many forms did the enigmatic Kurama HAVE?
"...It sounds like everything's been decided already," Kia said at last.
"It will be dangerous," Kurama reminded her.
"You think I don't know that?" The girl shook her head, freeing a hank of hair from Hiei's grasp. "But I can't just sit back and watch them DIE!"
"Then if you're decided, you'd all better pack." Shizuru walked up, grinning. "Time waits for no one." She took the miniature Jaganshi from Kia and pointed toward the girls' room. Kelsey and Kia obeyed the silent command, not sure if they were ready for yet another zany adventure, but resigned to it nevertheless.
*OOC*
Okay, maybe this wasn't as short as I thought...o.o Ah, well. Please review and give me inspiration so I will stop being a lazy bum and update faster! Damn school...NEXT CHAPTER!
* Witness Kurama's discomfort as Kia and Kelsey tease him about his "girlfriend"!
* Witness Kelsey and Kia's discomfort when they run into a bunch of youkai!
* Witness Yusuke's discomfort when he has to baby-sit! Whoo...that's a whole lot of discomfort...
And because Shishi is mean, HIEI will be commentating on the author's note with me next chapter. I'm not sure if that's wise...
Shishiwakamaru: You haven't even WRITTEN it yet??
Kia: ...Okay, so sue me! I've been busy!
Shishiwakamaru: You sat and cheered for twelve hours and got paid.
Kia: They needed EXTRAS. I was helping my community-whoa, wait. You're jealous!
Shishiwakamaru: Jealous of you? Hardly.
Kia: Dude. You are SO jealous.
Shishiwakamaru: I hate you.
Kia: The feeling's mutual.
Inuki: Woof!
Kia: Inuki-chan's right. I can't sit here and fight with you. I have a chapter to write! FEAR ME, MORTALS!!! *skips off, laughing hysterically*
Inuki: Woof!
Kia: *stops* Oops. Last chapter, Suzuki and Shishiwakamaru abruptly fell ill! Uh-oh...and that little girl...will be introduced in this chapter! Now, let's continue!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aside from a few scratches and turning into a black cat for the rest of the day, Kia suffered no ill effects from the cabinet incident. But Suzuki had also caught the unknown disease. And that wasn't all, not by a long shot. Kelsey had been helping Kia to doctor her bloody injuries when both heard a thud in the hall. Imagine the girls' chagrin when they discovered both Hiei and Touya lying unconscious on the floor. Then Rei caught it. Within two days, Kelsey, Kia, and Kurama, who had been alerted, were the only ones still healthy.
"I think it's just youkai who are catching it," Kuwabara commented. He and his older sister, Shizuru, had come over to help deal with the invalids and relieve the overworked Mirror Holders.
Kelsey and Kia exchanged guilty looks. They still hadn't told anyone...well, Jin and Yusuke knew about Kia, but neither had said anything about it. Kia was only half-human, and Kelsey was 3/4 human. Ashita, the seemingly immortal creator of the Densetsu no Kagami, had told the girls of their pasts. Kia's mother had been a youkai, and Kelsey's youkai grandfather had married a half demon--a hanyou.
"So...what are the symptoms?" Shizuru, who looked nothing at all like her younger brother, tucked a strand of light brown hair behind her right ear, gazing intently at the two girls.
"Umm..." Kia paused thoughtfully. "High fever, lethargy, and...shrinking."
"Shrinking??" Shizuru looked at her sharply. "In what way? Size? Clothing?"
"Size and years," Kia answered wearily. She looked up from studying her bandaged hands as a high-pitched wail filled the living room, followed by another, then another. "...I think Shishi started that one."
Kelsey sighed. "I'll get him." She went into the bedroom and the crying stopped after a moment.
The older Mirror Holder lifted her eyes heavenward. "Sing praises, I get a respite," she said reverently.
"So how old are they?" Kuwabara asked.
"Jin and Rei haven't changed much," Kia told him. "But Touya and Hiei are shorter and more child-like and Suzuki and Shishiwakamaru are about eleven...in ningen terms, anyway."
"The midget's shorter?!" The boy gasped.
"...Kia?" Kelsey returned, carrying Shishiwakamaru on her back.
"The midget's shorter..." Kuwabara seemed to be having trouble getting past that aspect, until he noticed Kelsey had returned. "Hey...he doesn't LOOK eleven...he looks younger." He stared wide-eyed at the samurai.
"He's ten, going on nine," Kelsey explained.
"He keeps getting younger..." Kia bit her lip worriedly. "Just how young is he going to get??"
"You'd better hope he doesn't get much younger," Shizuru pointed out. "He might get TOO young."
Kelsey shuddered. "A Shishi fetus. Ick."
"Kelsey! Kia?" A little voice called hoarsely from the bedroom.
"We're in here, Suzuki!" The dark-haired girl responded.
"Have to talk...NOW!"
A little taken aback at the Inventor's emphatic tone, Kelsey glanced at Kia, who shrugged. Both girls walked into the room, looking expectantly at the bedridden boy.
"What is it?" Kelsey asked.
"This...disease...I remember...from before..." Suzuki tried to sit up, but Kia carefully pushed him back down. It didn't take that much effort; he had the resistance of a limp noodle.
"You remember...you mean, you've seen this before??"
The child started to cough, which prevented him from answering her query right away. Kage padded quietly into the room and up to the bed, nudging Suzuki's right hand until it rested on his ebon head. -Think about your answer. Formulate it in your mind and I will relay it to the girls.-
Suzuki nodded, squeezing his eyes shut in concentration and effort. After a few minutes, he gave a tired sigh and slumped back into repose.
"Kage?" Kia looked at the dog questioningly.
-This disease HAS been seen before. In Makai. It starts off with a high fever, then progresses to age deterioration. Once you reach the physical age of two, it is highly likely that you will cease living. It only affects youkai, and the few that DO survive are then immune to it. It is extremely contagious.- Kage slowly backed out from under Suzuki's sweaty palm.
"I think-" Kia started to say, but they never heard what she thought, because at that moment, there was a cacophony of crashes and yelps that came from one of the bedrooms.
Casting a nervous look at the drowsing Suzuki, Kia dashed off to find out what was going on. Kelsey remained long enough to settle Shishiwakamaru into his own bed before pursuing her friend.
The racket seemed to be issuing from Hiei's room, and Kia inwardly cringed as she flung open the door, not sure what she would find...and not at all sure if she WANTED to find it!
She didn't. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, the dark-haired girl clapped a hand over her mouth to prevent a startled cry from escaping.
The room was in shambles. Pillows had been torn apart, small fluffy feathers still slowly drifting down. The desk had been overturned, the drawers forcefully emptied of their contents and Hiei's katana was imbedded in the mattress, uncomfortably close to Hiei's head. The Jaganshi himself was cocooned in his sheets, whimpering and flailing at his bindings. He was no longer the fierce, cynical fighter that Kia knew and was so wary of. Instead, he was a frightened little boy, and the Mirror Holder's dormant maternal instincts kicked in.
"Oh, Hiei..." Kia approached him, starting to separate him from the sheets. "What happened here?"
"I don't believe it!!"
Kia blinked, finally succeeding in untangling Hiei, and turned.
There was a little girl seated on the edge of the bed, where it had unoccupied only minutes before. When she removed her large sunglasses, tucking them into a pocket of her pink sundress (which no one in their right mind should have been wearing in the winter), Kia couldn't help noticing her unusual eyes-her left one was brown and her right one was cornflower blue.
The Mirror Holder stared at the stranger, plopping down on the bed herself and settling Hiei on her lap. "I...who ARE you?"
The girl paid her no attention, now prattling on in an incredulous tone. "I did this so YOU would get sick, and you're not even in bed!! I KNEW I should've really checked to see if you were there, but the annoying man with the funny hair had to answer it-"
"Kia!" Kelsey finally showed up, looking at her friend, and then noticing the little girl, and the huge mess.
"And YOU'RE healthy too!!" The small intruder wailed.
"No, I'm Kelsey." (A/N: I hate those...x.x) The blonde girl blinked. "And you would be..."
"Kodoma Binetsu, Mistress of Inventions." She hopped off the bed, pigtails flouncing. "Rival of the Beautiful Martial Artist Suzuki."
"YOU'RE Suzuki's rival?!" Kelsey was a bit dubious.
"I didn't even know he HAD a rival," Kia added.
Binetsu nodded. "He did. Since childhood. Only thing is, he grew up and I didn't!" She giggled. "And now he's gonna shrink!"
"Wait a minute..." Kia stared at her suspiciously. "How did you..."
"I know because I did it!" the child said impatiently. "I created the disease and your friends will all be dead in nine days, starting from when they first started youthening! Wheeee!" She did clumsy pirouettes around the room, and Hiei growled in irritation. It was hard to say what annoyed him more-the klutzy ballerina in his room or the fact that the very same person had fated him to die in nine days...or less.
"I wouldn't recommend staying here," Binetsu advised as she spun. "You Mirror Holders will catch it eventually."
"How do they KNOW?" Kelsey asked Kia.
Her friend shrugged. "Maybe we have blinking neon signs above our heads proclaiming our true identities to the world. Or maybe we're like a dog whistle, and the youkai are-" She looked down at Hiei and decided to shut up.
Binetsu stopped dancing long enough to tweak Hiei's nose. "I'll see you in nine days!" She sang out cheerily. "Or not." She winked her blue eye at the bemused Mirror Holders and stepped out the door.
"Hey, hold it!!" Kelsey raced after her-only to discover that Kodoma Binetsu had disappeared quite effectively.
"Shimatta," the girl complained, as Kia approached, carrying Hiei in her arms.
"She got away?" The brunette asked, still trying to soothe the irate Jaganshi. Judging from the guttural growls Hiei was emitting, she wasn't having much success.
"Is everything okay?" Shizuru called from the living room.
"Fine!" Kia replied, forcing herself to sound cheery.
"Liar. I'm psychic, remember?"
"Damn the Kuwabara family," Kelsey whispered.
Kia groaned, hugging Hiei, who stopped growling. "What do we do now? Is there a cure?"
"There is." Kurama had let himself in when no one had answered the door. Small wonder; the girls had been busy dealing with Kodoma Binetsu. And Shizuru had probably been dealing with her brother. The Youko now looked at the Mirror Holders intensely. "Kage told me, but you may encounter a few problems in getting to it."
"Like...?" Kelsey prompted warily.
-It's in Makai, the one who created it will stop at nothing to prevent you from reaching it, and only six beings know of the cure's exact location.- Like Kurama, Kage's arrival had been silent.
Kia frowned. "So if we go...who'd watch everyone here?"
-Shizuru and her brother, Yusuke, and Keiko have volunteered to help,- The dog explained.
"And the location?" Kelsey asked. "If there's only six-"
-Chuu knows. He and Rinku survived the disease, so if you find them, they can most likely lead you to the cure.-
"Chuu," the blonde mumbled. "Who would've thought?"
-Kurama will accompany you.- Kage sighed. -As long as he remains in this form, he will not risk catching the disease.-
Kia and Kelsey exchanged a puzzled look. Just how many forms did the enigmatic Kurama HAVE?
"...It sounds like everything's been decided already," Kia said at last.
"It will be dangerous," Kurama reminded her.
"You think I don't know that?" The girl shook her head, freeing a hank of hair from Hiei's grasp. "But I can't just sit back and watch them DIE!"
"Then if you're decided, you'd all better pack." Shizuru walked up, grinning. "Time waits for no one." She took the miniature Jaganshi from Kia and pointed toward the girls' room. Kelsey and Kia obeyed the silent command, not sure if they were ready for yet another zany adventure, but resigned to it nevertheless.
*OOC*
Okay, maybe this wasn't as short as I thought...o.o Ah, well. Please review and give me inspiration so I will stop being a lazy bum and update faster! Damn school...NEXT CHAPTER!
* Witness Kurama's discomfort as Kia and Kelsey tease him about his "girlfriend"!
* Witness Kelsey and Kia's discomfort when they run into a bunch of youkai!
* Witness Yusuke's discomfort when he has to baby-sit! Whoo...that's a whole lot of discomfort...
And because Shishi is mean, HIEI will be commentating on the author's note with me next chapter. I'm not sure if that's wise...