Disclaimer: I don't own any Yu Yu Hakusho character! It would be really nice to, but I don't! I don't own any of the songs mentioned in this chapter either.
I do own, however, Kairos…she's my character!
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Chapter 4 – Only the Beginning of Kayko's SleepoverKairos repeatedly dodged Yusuke's reach and then was ordered to bring the little game of tag outside the house by Kayko. What surprised Kairos the most was the fact that Yusuke wouldn't give up on trying to catch her. Twice Kairos had taunted Yusuke about how slow he was and then sat in a tree branch.
"Come on, Yusuke!" Kairos taunted from the tree branch. "Try and get me! Don't tell me that you can't climb." Yusuke made a snorting sound and then jumped onto the lowest branch. He swung his legs over the branch, after having to swing it back and forth for a while, and then slowly began to ascend. "You are one slow tree climber, Yusuke," Kairos called out when he was about four feet below her. When he became two feet away from her, she jumped down from the tree and landed directly where Yusuke once stood before he began to climb the tree. "See what I mean? Your slow climbing has bored me, and I'm head back in now," she stated turning around and disappeared in the house. When Yusuke finally got down from the tree, and into the house he heard everyone laughing.
"Hey, what's so funny?" Yusuke asked as he approached the group. Kairos sat a little ways away from them but sat with a slight smirk on her face. She drew her legs closer up to her body and stared off into space. Yusuke approached the group ignoring Kairos completely and looked over Kuwabara's hunched shoulder. He saw a piece of paper with a picture on it. He recognized the basic concept to be his own face, and then noticed that it was greatly exaggerated with anger. "What the hell?!" he shouted at Kairos. "Don't tell me that you drew this shit!" he shouted at her.
"I'm two feet away Yusuke," Kairos stated softly. "Don't yell. Some people's ears can't take all the abuse at once. And yes, I did draw that and all the others beneath that one."
"What others?" he demanded and Kairos lifted her chin back to them. He reached over Kuwabara and pulled out the papers that were in his hands. He flipped through the papers and saw images of them chibi-ized and them normally. "Since when could you draw?" he asked.
"What?" Kairos said offended. "Just because I never tell you guys that I can draw, you guys have to accuse me of being a horrible drawer to begin with?"
"No," Kurama stated. "Yusuke just jumps to conclusions a lot."
"That's nice," Kairos said. "Is there anything that usually happens at one of these sleepovers you people seem to have?"
"Yeah," Botan replied, excitedly. "Loads of things."
"You sound like an overexcited toddler," Kairos said covering her ears. "Geez, you guys abuse other people's ears so often."
"What do you do in your free time, Kairos?" Kayko asked.
"Draw, read, contact the dead, nothing," Kairos listed.
"Whoa," Kuwabara said. "Hold up, contact the dead?"
"Yeah," Kairos replied. "Got a problem with that?"
"So, do you use a Ouija board?" Yusuke asked.
"No," Kairos replied, sounding a bit bored.
"Do you do what you did at Kuwabara's?" Botan asked. Kairos nodded her head and looked at the television screen. "Do you know how dangerous that is?!" she screamed.
"Actually," Kairos began. "At Kuwabara's was involuntary. The spirit 'possessed' me, for lack of better words. Majority of the time I can control the invasion. It's just that I hadn't expected Kuwabara's home to contain tormented spirits like that. Sides, it didn't leave a mark."
"What are you talking about?" Kayko asked. "Your skull was bleeding."
"It was, keyword was. And there isn't a scar at all, and if you don't believe me come and check," Kairos offered. Kayko got up from the couch and walked over to Kairos. She parted Kairos' hair and blinked twice. She dropped the hair and then parted it once more.
"But…" Kayko trailed off. "There…there was blood and a wound…and…and…"
"It's no big deal," Kairos said. "The only spirit to ever possess me and leave a scar was when I was young. When I was thirteen I had become possessed and I got this scar," she said pulling down the right side of her black shirt. She traced the scar with pointer finger and middle. "It was the only scar that I got and I can't even remember the spirit that did it to me. Or at least I suppressed the image, who knows?" she said rearranging her shirt to what it once was.
"Why does it seem like there's more to you than you're telling us?" Kurama asked suddenly.
"I don't know, maybe there is and maybe there isn't," Kairos replied. "I guess you'll find out in due time."
"Hey, what happened to you in the mental institute?" Hiei asked suddenly remembering what she mentioned earlier.
"I got diagnosed by a bunch of shrinks and was practically a lab rat. The only thing that made them think I was mental was the fact that I acted the part," she said looking away from the television screen. "It wasn't my fault exactly, I mean the damn institute was built on a gallows hill!"
"Really?" Hiei asked suddenly intrigued by what she just shouted out.
"Yes, really!" Kairos shot back with a slight anger rising. "There were all these people just asking for my help and then a couple of times at night one or two of them would actually possess me…oh, did I fail to mention that my room was built over one of the gallows themselves?" she asked and got everyone to nod. "Yeah, well, some of them possessed me and they were the ones that got hanged," she said rubbing her neck. "It hurt too, having a noose tied around your neck and then having the floor fly out from under you. Only two people who possessed me actually died from having their necks snap, everyone else suffocated themselves. It was amazing that I came to the next morning," she added.
"How'd you get out?" Yusuke asked. "I mean, if you were that psycho then why in the world did they let you out?"
"They didn't," Kairos stated.
"You're a mental runaway?!" Yusuke shouted. "She was serious earlier! SOMEBODY GET A HOLD OF ANOTHER MENTAL INSTITUTE! WE GOT A RUNAWAY!!!"
"SHUT UP!" Kairos screamed at him suddenly agitated with his stupidity. "I didn't runaway. The building was burnt to the ground."
"Do you have any burnt scars from that?" Hiei asked. Kairos shook her head and Hiei responded, "Why is it that I don't believe you?"
"I personally don't care, whether you believe me or not," Kairos replied. "Can we get off this topic?" she asked suddenly.
"Is anyone hungry?" Kayko asked in response. A chorus of affirmative responses showered Kayko. "Ok, I'll go get something," she said disappearing.
"Why don't I help?" Botan asked rushing after Kayko.
They left me here on purpose. Kairos thought dropping her chin into her right palm. They sat in the living room in utter silence and Kairos walked over to the pile of paper that she was using earlier. She picked up the pencil that sat on the coffee table and plopped down next to Kurama since he was next to her papers. She slowly began to sketch out random images of things that floated through her mind. When she finished, she lifted the pencil up and looked down at the paper. In tiny intricate designs, two words were formed each clear and precise, and she dropped the papers from her grip.
HELP ME
The way the words were formed on the paper told her that it wasn't something that she could have done. Her brother had been able to draw tiny, detailed things like that, and no matter how hard she had tried, Kairos was never able to get that technique down. He's not gone yet. Kairos thought as she looked down at the papers that were now on the floor.
"Kairos? Are you ok?" Kurama asked concerned when he noticed that her expression resembled that of fear and joy. "Hello?" he said waving a hand in front of her face when she didn't respond. He's live! Xantar's alive! Kairos thought and snapped back to reality with Kurama's hand in front of her face.
"What?" she asked him as he continued to wave his hand in front of her.
"I was just wondering if you were ok," Kurama said. "You looked a little bit…out of it," he continued trying to figure out the right words to say.
"What's this?" Yusuke asked as he picked up the papers and set down his cards from a game of goldfish with Kuwabara. Yusuke raised an eyebrow and Kairos looked at him, telling him not to even bother to ask about the paper. Kairos glanced up at the clock mounted on the wall and was surprised to see that it was only 4:20.
"Is there anything to do here?" Kairos asked. "I'm getting a bit bored."
"How about we listen to music?" Kuwabara asked pulling the cards together.
"HEY!" Yusuke shouted. "Why you'd do that?! Just because I was winning doesn't mean you have to go and clean up the moment I turn my back!" he shouted at him as Kuwabara turned on the stereo system by the television.
"What the hell is this shit?" Kairos asked as Toxicity by System of a Down came blasting through the speakers.
"Music," Kuwabara replied
"No, it ain't!" Kairos yelled as the music was pumped louder and louder. "THIS IS THE KIND OF MUSIC WHERE EVERYONE DROPS DEAD AND DIES TO!" Kairos shouted and covered her ears as the loud singers voice came on. "CHANGE IT!" she screeched pressing her hands firmly over her ears. "CHANGE IT!!!" Kurama jumped up from the couch and paused the song.
"When did you put this in?" Kurama asked.
"I left it in there last time I came over to visit," Kuwabara answered.
"Why don't we listen to something where people won't drop dead after three seconds of the song," Kairos asked everyone.
"And what are we supposed to listen to?" Hiei asked with an icy tone.
"Something other than what Kuwabara listens to obviously," Kairos stated watching Hiei with the same icy glare that he was giving her. The fire apparition marched right up to Kairos and continued to look her right in the eye. "Got a problem with it?" she said in a menacing manner as Hiei continued to glare at her.
"Break it up you two," Kurama said playing referee. "We don't need a fight to occur." But the two continued to stare each other down, and Kurama sighed. He walked over to the two and parted them. Kurama turned Kairos around and pushed her onto the couch, then did the same to Hiei. "I don't know why the two of you do this," he spoke aloud to nobody in particular.
"Then stop playing referee, fox," Hiei hissed.
"If we have issues, I think we can solve them in our own ways," Kairos said with venom in her voice. She thought of the times when the shrinks treated her like a child that couldn't do anything and loathed the way that she wasn't allowed to handle anything alone. She gave Hiei one last glare and then turned away. "I'm not a damn child, that needs to be pulled away from everything. I got enough shit like that from the shrinks."
"Drinks, anyone?" Botan asked emerging from the kitchen with bottles of soda in hand. She handed one to everyone and backed out of the room when she noticed the hostility on Kairos and Hiei's faces. Moments later Kayko and Botan both came out, cautiously, with junk food.
Forty minutes later, everyone, except Hiei, was talking a bit more freely the junk food was laid out on the table. Popping another piece of popcorn into her mouth Kairos asked, "Is there anything that you guys do here?"
"Well, we could do some karaoke," Kayko said. "I got a karaoke machine from my dad on my birthday."
"Oh, no," Yusuke groaned.
"What was that, Yusuke?" Kayko asked the way she always did right before she was going to hurt him.
"Nothing," Yusuke replied, sighing. Kayko disappeared down the hall and then came back down carrying a pink box.
"My, god, what is it?" Kairos asked as she poked at the pink box while Kayko plugged it into the TV.
"My karaoke machine," Kayko replied easily.
"Ok, now I'm scared," Kairos said walking back to her seat, shaking. "I get possessed by spirits and I'm fine. Then the moment I see a pink karaoke machine I start to quiver."
"You should have seen Hiei's reaction when he first saw it," Kurama stated, trying to make Kairos feel more comfortable.
"What did he do?" Kairos asked in curiosity with what the short guy did.
"He did more…umm….drastic things than quiver," Kurama said trying to figure out how to explain Hiei with his katana out trying to slash the machine into millions of little pieces.
"He tried to destroy my karaoke machine," Kayko said bluntly in a teary voice.
"Maybe I should do that," Kairos thought aloud, then laughed at the idea and at Kayko who hugged the machine protectively. "Whatever," Kairos said brushing the idea away. "I'm not serious, man, you don't have to hug the karaoke machine. 'Sides, what CDs do you have for it?"
"These," Kayko said releasing her grip around the machine and picked up an armful of CDs. "Why don't you sing first, Kairos? I'll pick the song for you."
"Why do I not like this idea?" Kairos stated walking over and grabbed the microphone attached to the machine. She tried to pull it further away from the television screen but found that the line only went a few feet out. "This sucks," she said resigned with the length and sat down. "What song are you putting on?" Kairos asked eyeing Kayko and Botan giggling as they picked the CD.
"Do you mind singing two songs?" Botan asked. "We can't decide."
"Ok," Kairos said unsure whether that was the best of ideas.
"Here," Kayko said, popping a CD into the machine.
Rain on Me by Ashanti
"I like this song," Kairos said as the text began to fade away. She began to make the continuous humming sound with the music that was there but not put on the lyrics. Then she actually began to sing the song. Almost five minutes later Kairos set down the microphone and opened her eyes. She hadn't known that she had shut her eyes as she sang but turned around and looked. Kairos was surprised, because the others weren't laughing their heads off.
"First, we learn that you can draw, and now we learn that you can sing too," Yusuke said in complete awe.
"I picked it up when I was in the institute. They wanted the patients to do something creative so I took up singing," Kairos said offhandedly.
"You have to sing this one," Botan said in an almost giddy tone.
Shout It Loud by Scudelia Electro
"That's one of my favorite opening anime songs," Kairos stated with a slight cheer in her voice. Everyone stared at her as the beginning of the song began to play from the speakers. "What? Let me guess, you guys don't believe that I listen to this stuff right? Well, I do. I listen to a bunch of things," she said to them before beginning to sing the song. "Taikutsu na yoru ni taikutsu na asa wo matsu koto wa naino sa, ashita wo tobikousu hanetsuki de SHUUZU de isoge hayaku!" she sang with the gang staring at her in disbelief. About five minutes later she sang the last verse of the song, "Asayake no machi miorosu toki kono hitotoki, azayaka naru hi kimi to hashiru, kimi to hashiru." Kairos then handed the microphone over to Kayko who sat to her left. "Your turn," she said almost in a casual whispered voice.
