~High Voltage~
. . .
Chapter 9: Hatred And Preparation
. . .
The gentle morning rays of
sunlight were what woke Botan the next morning. Her
eyes opened, and she blinked the sleep from them, recalling the events of the
night before. The demon, Khewew Hem-teh, had been brought back from the dead. They had all
headed back to their hotel rooms minutes after that revelation so that she
could contact Koenma; however, Koenma
had appeared before them sooner than they could reach the hotel. He had a few
things to inform them. Apparently they had two weeks before the demon could be
fully resurrected, which meant two weeks to prepare for battle.
Botan
sat up, pushing back the covers and looking around the room. The first thing
she noticed was the empty bed beside hers. In fact, she seemed to be the only
one in the room at the moment. She really hoped that wherever Teilen had gone off
to, she was planning on coming back. The night before, Botan
had tried and failed to pursuade the lightning demon
to sleep in the other bed. Teilen firmly stated that she had no use for such
things, and sure enough, the bed looked as though it hadn't been touched. Which left Botan wondering where Teilen
had slept, or if she had slept at all.
. . .
The activity going on by the
pyramid was not as visible during the day. The further distance also made
surveillance all the more difficult, but the red of the lightning-like energy
could still be made out quite easily. It was crackling directly above the
pyramid and considerably larger than the night before.
Teilen watched it from her
place on the roof of the hotel. She hadn't slept much; maybe three hours at the
most, but she never got very much sleep anyhow. The carpeting of the hotel room
had just been too comfortable for her liking--it was nothing like the hard
ground that she was used to sleeping on.
She watched the sun as it continued
to rise higher in the sky. Guessing it was around seven
o'clock, Teilen realized that everyone else would be waking up soon
(Hiei and Kurama were probably already awake, but she
wasn't concerned with them). They would wonder where she had gone off to. There
was no doubt in her mind that Botan, who seemed to be
the blabber-mouth of the group, would tell the others that she was missing.
Teilen hated being the center
of attention.
She decided to go back to the
room before they formed a search party.
. . .
Hiei
had been the first one up because he hadn't slept at all that night. He had sat
on the windowsill of the guys' room for a few hours, watching Yusuke, Kuwabara,
and Kurama as they all fell asleep. When he was sure they were all sleeping, he
had snuck out the window and left the hotel.
He hadn't been back since, and
now it was close to seven o'clock. Hiei had gone over to the pyramid to inspect the scene for
himself. It was what he thought everyone else should have done in the first
place, though he had never said anything to them. However, once there, he found
that there had been nothing more of interest to discover anyway. The crackling
red lightning-like energy had been over the pyramid, and the flashing colors seemed
to be coming from what appeared to be a rip in the sky. Finding only this, Hiei had turned back, returning to the city. He hadn't gone
back to the hotel, though. Instead, he had perched on top of a telephone pole,
high up in the air where no human would see him even if there were any awake at
this hour.
It was there that he noticed
Teilen up on the hotel roof across the street. Hiei
didn't know exactly why he didn't like her. He knew that he hated her attitude,
and found it rather annoying. She could be quite arrogant at times, which he
also couldn't stand. Besides, she despised him for her own reasons. Hiei wasn't about to be receptive towards somebody who
hated his guts.
He watched her turn away and
head back down the stairs, probably going back to the hotel room. He thought
that he should head back soon as well. Since Khewew Hem-teh would not arrive for another two
weeks, Hiei figured he would spend that time training
by himself and with Kurama, so the sooner they started, the better.
. . .
Teilen opened the door to the
room she and Botan shared.
"There you are," Botan said cheerfully. She had some clothes in her arms and
was on her way to the bathroom. "I was just about to hop into the
shower."
Teilen tried not to care, but
she was curious. Finally she asked, "What's a 'show-wer'?"
"Oh, it's fantastic!"
Botan answered. "It's what humans use to clean
themselves. You ought to try it sometime, Teilen."
"Huh," she grunted in
reply. What ever happened to a simple bath in a nearby pond?
Botan
shrugged and went into the bathroom, leaving Teilen by herself. She sat down on
the edge of the nearest bed, with absolutely nothing to do. She knew that she
had to start training for the arrival of Khewew Hem-teh as soon as possible, but right
now she just couldn't focus on that. There were too many distractions in the
room for her to ignore. Though she cared little for humans, she was very
intrigued by their strange inventions. Like this 'shower' that Botan spoke of. Teilen wondered how it worked. She listened
to the sound of running water that was coming from the bathroom and wanted to
know what it was like.
Curiosity getting the best of
her yet again, she eventually rose from the bed and walked over to the door
separating the guys' room from hers. After hesitating for a moment, she twisted
the knob and pushed it open.
Teilen entered the room as
Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara looked up at her.
"Whoa, are you actually gonna talk to us?" Yusuke wondered.
"I need to use your 'show-wer'." She told them, ignoring his comment.
"Go ahead, nobody's in
there," he replied with a shrug.
She gave him a slight nod and
went into their bathroom, closing the door behind her. And now
to figure out how to work this human device. She guessed that one was
supposed to stand in the rectangular white tub, and that knob must make the
water come out. Teilen quickly undressed and stepped into the tub, pulling the
curtain shut. She pulled on the knob, and almost instantly water began to pour
onto her head. At first she was shocked to feel it so quickly. The water was
very cold, but she didn't mind. It was no warmer than what she was used to.
Teilen rinsed herself off; then
she became curious and used the soap to clean her skin. Once finished with
that, she noticed a small bottle labeled 'Shampoo' on the corner of the
bathtub. Picking it up and reading the back of it, she realized that humans
used this on their hair. She unscrewed the cap and sniffed. Strange.
It smelled of flowers. She turned it upside down and poured some onto the palm
of her hand. Setting the small bottle back where she had found it, Teilen
rubbed the soapy substance into her hair, and then rinsed it out like the
instructions on the back of the bottle had said. She let the cold water rain
onto her for a minute longer before she pushed the knob backwards, shutting the
water off, and pulled back the curtains.
. . .
Hiei
came into the room in search of Kurama. He wanted to start training with him
right away, and had come to tell him that. But the only one in the room had
been the fool, Kuwabara.
"If you're looking for the
other two, they left a few minutes ago," Kuwabara informed him.
Hiei
just said, "Hn," and turned to the
bathroom, for nature was calling him. The door was cracked open, giving him
reason to believe that there wasn't anybody inside. So, one can certainly
imagine his surprise when he pushed the door open and discovered Teilen
standing in the tub, in the buff. Startled and a little embarrassed, Hiei averted his gaze, but not before she saw him standing
in the doorway.
"BASTARD!"
Hundreds of lightning bolts
went flying at him, as well as a long string of curses in another language, and
Hiei just barely managed to dodge them all. He leaped
out of the room and slammed the door behind him, looking a bit flustered.
Kuwabara was lying on the bed, laughing so hard he was clutching his sides. Hiei glared at him, not knowing what else to do. Then he
quickly left the room, deciding to find Kurama and Yusuke.
Seconds later, the bathroom
door swung open and Teilen, now fully dressed, stormed out. She glared at
Kuwabara, who was still in hysterics on the bed. "Where did he go?"
She demanded.
Kuwabara managed to choke out,
"I dunno," through all his laughter. Teilen
scowled at him, and then turned to leave the room. She would make Hiei pay for that! Nobody walked in on her and got away
with it!
. . .
That evening, Yusuke and Kurama
returned to the hotel along with Hiei after a long,
hard day of training. Yusuke and Kurama had gone out to the desert to find a
spot suitable for sparring, and that's where Hiei had
found them a little while later. Now they were all exhausted and sweaty and in
desperate need of a good shower.
"I call first
shower!" Yusuke called as they entered their room. Kuwabara was doing some
reading on the chair in the corner of the room.
"Hey, guys!" He
looked up at them when they re-entered the room. "Did you know that the
Egyptians liked cats? It's true, they practically worshipped them! Cool,
huh?" He watched Yusuke grab some clothes from his suitcase and disappear
into the bathroom, while Kurama took a seat on one of the beds and Hiei stood by the window.
"Yes," Kurama nodded.
"You know, since Teilen knows so much about Egypt,
you should ask her about it," he said, almost slyly.
"Great
idea." Kuwabara jumped out of the chair and went into the next
room.
"Hn. Are you trying to get the fool killed,
Kurama?" Hiei asked him.
"Not at all, Hiei," he replied. "A bit of friendly
conversation never hurt anyone. It may do her some good to talk a little
more."
. . .
Teilen had given in to all of Botan's nagging and was lying on her back on one of the
double beds. Maybe now that blue-haired freak would leave her alone. She had to
admit, though, the bed was quite comfortable. At the moment, Botan was not in the room. She'd gone down to get some ice
and would return in a few minutes. Teilen didn't mind the silence at all. She
was enjoying this time to herself—that is, until she was rudely interrupted by
the door opening.
She turned her head to view the
intruder. It was the tall red-head, the one who was always yelling at the
Spirit Detective. Teilen regarded him as just another irritating human. He saw
her lying on the bed and opened his mouth to speak.
"Let me guess. You want to
know about cats."
His face fell. "How did
you know?"
"The walls aren't
soundproof." She scowled at him as she sat up on the bed. "Well, what
do you want to know, and make it quick." She made
a mental note to kill Kurama for this later—she hated being put on the spot.
"Well how come they loved
cats so much?"
"Egypt's
original use of cats was to keep the royal granaries of Egypt
vermin free," she reluctantly explained. "The cat's job itself was
not so simple; the vermin bred rapidly and ate excessively well in the masses
of grain. The Pharaoh realized that he needed all the cats he could get, and
being a king-god himself he made the cats demigods."
"Cool," Kuwabara
grinned. "So if they were gods, what happened when one died?"
She gave him a look of
annoyance, but answered the question anyway. "Since cats were not only
demigods but also Pharaoh property, it was a felony to
kill or injure one, even by accident. The consequence sometimes resulted in
death. If a cat died in the normal course of events, the body of the cat was was brought to an embalmer to be mummified."
"Neat! I should have
brought Eikichi..."
Teilen stood up. "Are you
finished with your questions?"
"Sure," he nodded.
"Thanks."
"Huh." She didn't seem
to hear him. "Tell me, where exactly is Hiei?"
"What?" Kuwabara was
surprised that she wanted to know anything concerning Hiei
considering what he had accidentally done earlier that day. "Well, I think
he was next in line for a shower or something. Kurama convinced him--"
"Perfect," she said,
not caring that she had cut him off. She opened the door separating the two
rooms and marched inside.
"Teilen."
Kurama looked up, and Yusuke did as well from where he was trying to stuff his
dirty clothes into a plastic bag that was full. She could hear the shower
running in the next room, and smirked in satisfaction. She turned and made a
beeline for the bathroom door.
"Hey, wait a sec, Hiei's—"
Yusuke began, but she didn't appear to care so he just decided to sit back and
watch the show.
Teilen was able to open the
door and sneak inside without making a sound, using the same expert tactics
she'd used as the Shadow. She saw the fire demon's shadow behind the white
shower curtain, and steam was rising above him. So he'd figured out how to use
the hot water. Grinning rather wickedly at the prospect of what she was about
to do, Teilen slunk closer to the shower area until she was within arm's reach
of the curtain. Then, in one quick motion, her right arm shot forward and
ripped the said curtain clean off, exposing a completely au naturel
and absolutely thunderstruck Hiei.
The look on his face was
positively priceless. At first he didn't seem to know just what to do. He
stared at her for the first few seconds, watching her casually fling the
curtain over her shoulder, before the anger set in. Words came fairly easily
after that:
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU
THINK YOU'RE DOING?"
She looked him up and down real
quick, smirked at him and said, "Now we're even." Then she turned and
left the room, slamming the door once she was out. She went back to her own
room, passing Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara on the way (all of them were
laughing). Once back in her room, she shut the door and jumped back onto the
bed. She was still angry with him for walking in on her, but now she felt a lot
better.
Botan
still wasn't back from her ice-run. Teilen wondered what had happened to her,
but shrugged it off a second later, just as a certain furious fire demon burst
into the room, fully clothed. He saw her lying on the bed, and if looks could
kill, Teilen would have died and gone to Hell right on the spot.
"You think this is
over?" He snapped at her. "I should kill you for that!"
"I should have killed you
for what you did earlier!" She shot back, not moving from her spot. She
continued to lie on the bed as if he weren't a threat to her at all.
"I didn't know you were in
there!"
"Ever heard of
knocking?"
"Well, there was nothing
worth seeing anyhow!"
Teilen fought the urge to snap
every single bone in his body in half right then and there. It was hard.
"I could say the same for you, tiny! Sesep pef!"
He scowled at her. "You're
no better than those human fools."
Teilen slid off the bed and
stood up. "You watch what you say," she sneered at him.
He took a step forward so that
the two were face to face, and found that he was just the slightest bit taller
than she. "I'd like to see you try and stop me."
"Why don't you get the
hell out of my face, Khewew Jeret!"
"What does that
mean?" He growled.
"Wouldn't you like to
know?" She cocked an eyebrow and glared at him.
"You are such an insolent,
obnoxious bitch!"
"Tew se-mer me pe pehawey!" She
shouted back at him. Hiei had no idea what it meant,
but he certainly recognized an insult when he heard one.
"Maybe we could continue
this fight outside," he suggested bitterly.
"Sounds good to me, but
prepare to be beaten," she replied in just as nasty a tone. "Wi ne-sep se-sew."
"Hn. I seem to recall you saying something like that
the last time we fought."
"Shut up!"
"Make me!"
Suddenly the door flew open and
two bodies wedged themselves between the opposing demons. "Hey,
hey, hey!" Yusuke was yelling. "Knock it off, you two!"
"This is not the time for
a dispute," Kurama reminded them.
"That's right. If you're
that pissed at each other, then why don't you both go back and train for a
while?"
"Fine."
Teilen turned and left the room, slamming the door on her way out; so hard, in
fact, that the door fell off its hinges seconds afterwards.
"Ouch," Yusuke
commented. He looked at Hiei. "What'd you do to
get her so pissed off?"
"Hn." Hiei went back
into the guys' room without another word.
. . .
Kurama managed to dodge her
furious punches and kicks, and, flipping to the side, tried to get a good hit
in.
Teilen saw it coming and leapt
backwards. She smirked up at him. "I hope you're not going easy on me
because I'm a woman, Kurama. Because if you are, I will be
forced to kill you."
Kurama just took this comment
with good humor. "Of course not," he replied. It had been a few days
since the 'shower incident' and since Hiei was out
training with Yusuke, Kurama decided to convince Teilen to train with him. She
had reluctantly agreed, telling him he'd better not show her mercy because she
was female, and they had found a spot somewhere out in the desert; far away
from any humans. They had been at it for hours now, and neither was quite ready
to quit. They both knew that a huge battle was only days away, and that being
prepared for it was very crucial.
Teilen jumped at Kurama, making
her Spirit Pole appear in her hand and swinging it at him in a downward motion.
Kurama instantly countered this maneuver by whipping out his Rose Whip,
wrapping it around the Spirit Pole, and throwing it—with Teilen attatched—off to the side. Teilen hit the ground and
quickly rolled to her feet.
"Hm,
well you're much better than I thought," she said, her tone indicating
that she knew full well what Kurama was really capable of and was just teasing
him. She ran at him and began to swing the pole this way and that, trying to
get a hit in any way she could, but Kurama was able to block each attempt.
Teilen flipped over his head and finally connected the Spirit Pole with his
lower back, sending him sprawling to the ground. He was quick to get up,
though, lashing his Rose Whip in her direction. She caught it with her Spirit
Pole, pivoted 180 degrees so that her back was to him, and heaved forward.
Kurama was sent flying over her head, but recovered as he righted himself in
mid-air and landed on his feet.
"Decent move," he
remarked. He was beginning to feel the effects of those long hours of training,
and he knew that she was also but refused to admit it. His gaze went up to the
sky, which was starting to darken. The first stars were already out, and the
full moon was a glowing white orb in the blue empyrean.
"Earth to Kurama, we're
training here," Teilen impatiently reminded him.
"Yes, well I think we've
done enough for today," he said, turning his attention back to her.
"You should get some rest, and we'll continue tomorrow."
"Uh-huh," she
remarked, but made the Spirit Pole disappear anyway. "What do you mean
that I should get some rest? I'm fine."
Kurama shrugged slightly.
"I've noticed that you have not been sleeping much."
She gave him a weird look.
"You've been spying on me?"
"No, of
course not. My hearing just happens to be very acute, and I am able to
hear you leaving the room late at night." Kurama stared at her for a few
seconds, as if pondering something. Finally, he asked, "Tell me, why is it
that you dislike Hiei so much?"
Teilen snorted. "What's to
like?"
"I wish you would give him
another chance."
This surprised her. "Another chance? Kurama, are you blind? This feeling of
loathing is not the least bit one-sided."
"I'm only saying that if
you were friendlier towards him, he would respond in a more positive
manner," Kurama explained.
"And I'm saying 'hell no'
Kurama!" She snapped back. "Why don't we just go back to the
hotel?" She began to walk in the direction of the aforementioned hotel,
not caring if he followed or not, when he said something that made her stop in
her tracks:
"The two of you are more
alike than you know."
Teilen scowled, muttered a few
not-very-nice words under her breath, and stalked off, shaking her head.
"What do you know?"
. . .
Translations:
Sesep pef --
"Take that"
Khewew Jeret --
"Evil Eye"
Tew se-mer me pe pehawey -- Closest I could
get to "You pain in the ass!"
Wi ne-sep se-sew
-- "I never lose"
AN: Aw, poor Hiei! I was so mean to him in
this chapter! *cries* So okay, that was kind of a long chapter. Well, longer than
usual, I think. It's because I decided to combine two chapters, which is
probably for the best. People have been telling me that I don't make chapters
long enough, so I'm going to try to make them longer. The thing is, though, I
just assumed that people were like me and didn't care to read long, long
chapters. I also like to update as soon as possible, which is another reason
the chapters are usually short. But if longer chapters are what the people
want, then longer chapters are what they'll get, although the updates won't be
as frequent. So that's my 2 cents, or whatever. Questions, comments, suggestions,
anything, please review!
Next Chapter: About Teilen
