Chapter 8! - Emhum! Just to let you know, this fanfic will probably be ending within a couple...or a few...chapters. What I mean to say is that... I'm pretty sure this will end at 10 CHAPTERS TOTAL! But how many times have I been wrong about this stuff...? I thought Don't Ask Me was going to be over by chapter 5... . HA!
IMPORTANT!!!!
Would anyone be interesting in reading a... some what continuation to this story, although not REALLY but it would be related, as its name would be "Or Else", LMAO. I have the idea for it, all the plot... (I'm not trying to make your life hell either, Yukii) and it would have plenty of Kurama/Hiei goodness. Anyway, please tell me!
I don't own YYH.
()()()()()
(Hiei's POV)
I didn't like it....
"That's great, Hiei, I'm sure everything will be alright, now."
I didn't want it to be like this!
"Oh, yes... I need to pack my things. Hiei, would you like to help? You are moving in with me... aren't you?"
I didn't like this relationship. No... I loved Kurama, of that I was sure! I loved all of him....
"Hiei? Hiei are you alright?
I loved him so much. This wasn't the way I wanted things to go. If I was going to be in a relationship with him, I would want it to progress slowly. I wanted to make each moment we spent together not filled with my sadness and lies. I wasn't ready. I had to deal with my own self first. I wanted to be strong for my fox, strong enough so that at least one of us could fix my problems.
"Kurama, here's the key," I said slowly, reaching behind my back, snapping my fingers twice, and then spreading my hand flat. At that point I held it out to Kurama, the key in hand.
"Oh! You found it!" Kurama cried out happily, reaching for my wrist and unlocking the handcuffs.
"Ahh... finally," I moaned. "Five chapters was way too long...." I mumbled.
"What, Hiei?"
"Nothing...."
"Anyway, I really need to start packing... perhaps... emm... perhaps there's something you would..." Kurama stammered, looking thoroughly embarrassed, an odd sight.
"I'm afraid not... I'm perfectly fine as I am," I told him, rubbing my wrist.
"But Hiei, you--!"
"I don't want to," I repeated firmly, glaring at Kurama.
"O... okay, Hiei," he whispered softly, looking down at the floor in thought, probably wondering if there was something he had done wrong.
If there was one thing I missed about the other Kurama, the one with amnesia, it was that he didn't think about anything. He simply went with his gut and jumped to conclusions. It moved things along a lot more quickly.
"Kurama, you know that... I care about you, correct?"
"Of course, Hiei," he replied, instantly perking up and smiling at me.
"And do you promise that you'll at least remember that... always....?"
"I would never forgive myself if I didn't," Kurama answered me, sounding as sweet and innocent as never before. My heart pounded. My chest became filled with warmth and joy. How much I would hate myself later...
"One last time...." I whispered to myself, closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath.
"What....?"
"I'll let you pack, but I'll be back in a little while to help you actually move," I told Kurama, slowly getting up. "You must be excited, fox. You get to start a new life, with a new home... and new memories..." I said, smiling like an insane man about to kill his dog as I hurried and left his room through the window.
I wasn't going to stay in this relationship. I wasn't ready.... But I wouldn't dare hurt Kurama like that. To give him my love and then selfishly take it away!
How would I go about it, you ask? Well, the plan had worked once before...
(Kuwabara's POV)
We simply stood, looking up at the large, tall, and very large building before us.
"Peeps," Yusuke and I stated in unison.
The two of us had gone out in search of jobs to hold up our side of the deal with the girls. We had already applied at the circus, a modeling agency, and as janitors at a high school. But we were rejected each and every time. So, we tried our next in the line of dream jobs.
"Kuwabara, you're not still upset about not being able to be a janitor, are you....?"
"No, no, I'm fine.... I guess making candy would be fun too... I guess."
"ALRIGHTY-O-HO-HO!" he shouted, grabbing my sleeve and charging at the front entrance. It was there that we were stopped by a large, tall and very large security guard.
"ExCUSE me, lads, but you cannot just CHARGE into HERE like THAT! Do you KNOW how many pEople try to ATTACK this buiLDing eveRYday? We simply CANNOT be witHout GOOD security, you know," the guard said, in a very snooty voice.
"C'mon, just let us in!" I said, rolling my eyes.
"...wHat!?" the guard cried. "Are you lads inSANE? Or perhaps just cray-zay!?
I turned to Urameshi. Urameshi turned to me.
"Like a fox," he stated, as I nodded in agreement.
"May I ASK wHat you two aRe DOing Here?" the man asked, glaring at us both.
"We're here to apply for jobs!" I blurted out.
"Oh? Then, please, come Right tHis way...."
(Yukina's POV)
"YOU'RE GOING TO WHAT!?" I screamed, covering my mouth in horror.
"I'm going to give Kurama amnesia again!" Hiei repeated, trying to calm me down.
I sat there in shock. Why would he want to do that? After all the terrible things we went through to get it back!
"But why!? I thought you loved him!" Hiei winced at the word 'love', but then slowly nodded.
"I do, I do," he muttered. "However, I'm not ready to be with him, nor do I want to betray him... well, betray him with him actually knowing about it, anyway. I want to start things over fresh... I just need to be his friend longer."
"I'm sure he would understand...." I whispered, looking away.
"I know he would.... But I'm not after that. When we do finally get together, for the first, real time... I want it to be meaningful. Not an assumption, forcibly, or because there was no other way out! I want it to be so much better than that...."
I smiled. He really cared about his fox....
"Now, Yukina, can you fly a jet?"
"Huh!? Why!?"
"I need to drop the piano from somewhere...."
—Pet Heaven, Part IV—
As you can imagine, I'd already had a very busy day full of death and sadness. I was feeling rather chipper, after my grilled cheese sandwiches had had time to digest. Hiei, on the other hand, couldn't have been feeling too hot, even being the fire demon he is. I mean, how would you feel if your best friend and companion had killed every pet you'd ever had over a course of less than one day? To my surprise, Hiei was actually taking his huge losses well.
"Hiei, are you sure you'll be alright?" I asked as I cleaned the grilled fur from the pan.
"All in due time, Kurama, all in due time."
Ten minutes later, Hiei came out of his room and announced that he was ready to go back to the Pet'n'Park Place to get himself another pet.
"Are you sure you're ready to replace your old pet with a new one so soon?" I asked Hiei, bending down to look at him at eye level.
"No. I'll never be able to replace any of my pets, may they rest in peace. No, I will never be able to replace the way my little yellow bird, Robert, used to sing happily in his little bird cage one warm mornings. No, I will never be able to replace the way Hernandez the fish used to swing his little tail fin to and fro as he circled his aquarium-like fish bowl. No, I will never be able to replace the Jack the Ferret who used to make friends with the cardboard sales clerk at the miniature super market or how he would rest his soft head on the little pillow in the cave I made him. No, I will never be able to replace something that gave me such joy. But I can ease the pain in my own heart by trying my luck with love once again," Hiei said, putting his hand over his heart.
"Well okay, Hiei. Let's go."
Once we arrived at the Pet'n'Park Place, Hiei rushed in with almost as much excitement as he had the other three times. I calmly followed, my watchful eyes never losing their concentration. The store clerk came out form behind the counter.
"You again?!" he said, in utter surprise.
"Yes, it appears we just can't get enough of your store," I answered, looking at the young man with a playful glee in my left eye.
"Is there something I can help you with?"
"Oh no, we're just looking around. We need to find another pet," I said, shifting my playful glee to my right eye.
"What happened the ferret I sold you?" the man asked suspiciously.
"Oh, nothing out of the ordinary. You know how it gets when one must feed aspirin to fury creatures and then burn them on a skillet. But there was no harm done!"
"Listen—" The man started to say when Hiei came rushing up to me and pulling my arm to come and look at something.
"Kurama, I have found the next love of my life," Hiei said, leading me to a small glass tank.
At first I saw nothing but the brown woodchips and a brown water dish. Upon closer inspection, however, I noticed that something in the woodchips had eyes that were looking right at me. I then noticed that the eyes were attached to a head, and the head to a body, and the body had legs, eight legs, to be exact. Yes, Hiei wanted to get a pink toed tarantula.
"Just look at her, Kurama! Isn't she the cutest?" Hiei asked me when we arrived at the apartment.
"No, I will not look at that disgusting looking thing," I replied, clenching my eyes shut.
"She's not a THING, Kurama. She's a girl. Her name is Betty, Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula. But you can call her BB, for short," Hiei said with pride as her took BB out of her box and placed her atop his head.
"What are you doing?!" I cried out, starting to have a panic attack for fear of Hiei's life.
"Don't worry. BB won't bite me, her first true love. We're soul mates."
"You and that spider are soul mates?" I asked, feeling something I hadn't felt for a while. It wasn't something I was accustom to feeling, even though it was familiar to me only from the present day. I was unable to put a name on the feeling, and still to this day I have a hard time pinning it down. One thing I do remember, and remember well, was my unhealthy desire to smash that spider as I had never smashed any spider before it.
"Hey, Kurama? In light of the earlier events of the day, would you mind keeping a close eye on Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula for me? I want to go and get some pink nail polish so we can match," he said, taking BB from his head and putting her on mine.
"WHAT?! NO!" I said, suddenly freezing up as I felt the prickly fur of the many legs of the spider crawl all over my head.
"Kurama, don't worry. I'll be back soon, and Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula won't bite you."
"What about her cage?!" I squealed.
"Oh, I've decided I don't believe in cages anymore. They're too constricting. I'll see you shortly my love," Hiei said, walking out the door, and then popping his head back in to add, "Oh, and you too, Kurama."
As you can probably picture, I wasn't too thrilled with Hiei's latest pet. Not only was it a disgusting spider, but it was also on my head. I immediately ran to the bathroom, grabbing the salad tongs on the way. While looking in the mirror, I carefully took the tongs and grabbed the little arachnid out of my hair.
"I got you, my little ball of spiny fur and eyes so tiny that you could kill a man my looking at them." It was then that I decided to look into BB's eyes. Maybe it would reveal some inner peace, or maybe it would make me feel sorry for the thing. One thing is certain, and that was that I shouldn't have looked into those eight black eyes, because what I felt was something so strong and so evil that the devil himself could have been living in my body at that moment. After the long three seconds of my staring into BB's eyes, I quickly blinked and the feeling was gone, but it took me by surprise. Not knowing what to do, I decided that I felt dirty and would take a shower.
"Now while I'm in the shower I'm going to put you in the sink, alright BB? You stay right there. I wouldn't want anything to happen to my beloved Hiei's soul mate." So I placed BB in the sink and stripped off my clothes, throwing them aside. I carefully climbed into the shower and closed the curtain.
As I was waiting for the water to warm, I decided to turn on the In-Shower- Radio so I would have something to listen to while I washed. To my surprise and delight, my favorite on-air psychologist was on air, taking calls from people who called in.
"Dr. Phil, I just don't know what to do about my partner," A worried sounding lady said to Dr. Phil. "He keeps collecting more and more bottle caps. He spends more time with them than he does with me! Of course I've tried everything to get him to notice me; I've sold his bottle caps, I've 'accidentally' thrown them out, I've even taken the pliers and bent them to shreds, but he keeps on getting more. What's wrong with him?"
"You've got to take control of your life. First you must understand that the reason your partner is collecting so many bottle caps is because he is lacking the confidence in your support of him. So he's looking for support in other places. The reason you are 'killing' his bottle caps is because you are clearly jealous of the time he spends with his caps, and there for resent them," Dr. Phil responded.
"How can people be so silly about such little things?" I asked as I stepped into the line of water that was now falling down through my hair. I peeked my head out of the shower curtain and looked over at the sink. There, huddled up amongst her own legs was BB just lying at the bottom of the sink. I took my head back in for some reason or another I found myself singing.
"The itsy bitsy spi-der went up the water spout. Down came the rain, and WASHED the spider out. Up came the sun and dried up all the wa-ter, and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again . . ." I said, my eyes glazing over in a sort of trance.
"No, I don't like that version very much. Why don't I try again? The itsy bitsy spi-der went up the water spout. Down came the rain, and WASHED the spider out. Up came the sun and dried out all the wa-ter, but the itsy bitsy spider was washed down in the drain. AH! Much better. Don't you think so, BB?" I asked, looking out of the curtain again. Before I knew what even happened, I had gotten out of the shower and taken BB into my hands and was bringing her into the shower with me.
"Have you ever had a bath before, BB?" I asked the tarantula, who was squirming in my hands. "You don't have to be frightened." I said, bringing my hands closer and closer to the water. "The itsy bitsy spi-der," I could see the beads of water accumulate on the spiders rough fur. "Went up the water spout. Down came the rain and," I sang as I opened my eyes wide and saw the stream of water pour onto the innocent creature. Then, for some reason, I awoke from my zombie like trance and realized that not only was I maliciously torturing Hiei's pet, but I was also actually holding a pink toed tarantula. I screamed in terror, launching the spider over the shower curtain. I heard nothing but a loud clunk. Then a poosh. And then a splash combined with a crunch. I closed my eyes, dreading what it was I was about to look at. Alas, I knew I must have to look.
I opened the curtain, the water still pouring from the shower head. Down, on the floor, was Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula, her fury head lodged between a glass flower vase; water was flooding out of it, depriving the arachnid of oxygen.
"Washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the water . . ." I said, slowly approaching the spider. "And the itsy bitsy spider waskilledbytheflowervase . . . again." It was then, nearly five minutes after I had seen the monstrous images that I finally removed the jagged edges of the broken glass away from the spider's damaged head. Although there was no blood, the spider was clearly deceased. I was able to assess this immediately due to the lack of any connection between the head and the body. I had no idea what I was going to do. I sat down on the rug to try and gather my thoughts.
"To summarize," I thought. "I have just killed Hiei's forth pet. First I used the ancient Chinese water torture technique, and then I threw it over a curtain, knocking over a flower vase and decapitating it. Hiei will be thrilled."
Almost on cue, I heard a sound that sounded like Hiei walking through the front door. I didn't know what to do! If Hiei saw me with his dead spider I would be done for! I tried frantically to think of something, but it was too late. A knock came at the door to the bathroom. It was Hiei.
"Kurama, I'm back! I know you're in the shower, I can hear it. I just wanted to check in and see how Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula was doing. You will just love the nail polish I got! We will math perfectly." It was then that the door was opened. I froze in fear as a deer does when he knows he's going to be hit by a car. When he came through the door and saw me sitting next to his dead spider, a look of confusion and pain came across his face. He didn't say anything at first. He just stood there for a moment, looking down at the space between BB's head and BB's body, a space that would not be filled in. Finally, he spoke.
"Kurama, what did you do to Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula?" He asked, cocking his head sideways, thinking that maybe if he was looking at the situation from a different angle it wouldn't look so bad.
"Uh . . ." I didn't know what to say. I didn't even know what really happened. It was as if a force took over my body, and my mind, for that matter. So I said the first thing that came to mind. "Nothing."
This seemed to aggravate poor Hiei, for he opened his eyes wide, and narrowed them down. He looked at me as he had never looked before. Eyes that almost said, 'I hate you', but not quite. Like he couldn't make up his mind on what he felt for me. This, in turn made me feel extremely angry, and I was about to lash out at him, but Hiei started first.
"I can't believe what I'm seeing. You are sitting there, on the bathroom floor, naked, with a flower vase on top of my beloved tarantula's head. Why, Kurama? Why? And why are you naked? And why are you lying to me? Do you honestly think I am that stupid, that ignorant, and that human-like to fall for such a response? Answer me, Kurama. I deserve to know what happened."
"I'm sorry, Hiei. That's all I can say. Are you truly going to make me relive this terrifying experience all over again? Have I not suffered enough? If you cared you wouldn't make me tell you what happened." I felt bad enough as it was, and I really didn't feel like bursting into tears for the fourth time. Besides, I couldn't say that I was truly sorry, and felt that if I was to try and tell Hiei what happened, it might give me a certain feeling of satisfaction, and that scared me.
It was a long while before either of us said anything. Finally, Hiei bowed his head and threw me a towel.
"Here, finish your shower. I can't look at BB right now."
"Okay, Hiei."
After my shower I wrapped BB's mangled body into a hand towel and walked out to see what Hiei was doing. He was looking through a photo album of pictures he had collected over the minutes that he'd known BB. When he saw me he quickly put the album away and whipped a tear from his face.
"Are you ready, Hiei?" I asked, handing him the towel.
"Yes."
We both slowly walked to the outside of our apartment building, neither of us saying anything. Finally, we arrived at the monumental fountain, water spouting from the top of it . . .spout . . .hehehehe . . .
I grabbed Hiei's hand as he lifted the towel into the air over the fountain's base. He let go and we watched as the mangled body fell into the water, making a loud PLUNK. Then, to our surprise another sound came from the water. It said, "BLLAAAARRRGGGGIIINNNGGGCHHHHOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYPLLLUUNNKK . . . .GULP." A fish had been living in the pond, and apparently hadn't been fed in a very long time. Hiei closed his eyes and I tried to comfort him.
"Don't worry, Hiei. The itsy bitsy spider will go up the spout again."
—Pet Heaven Part IV, end—
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............ Umm... WOO! Please review! And tell me if you'd like to read another part to this story (Or Else) when Who I Am wraps up at chapter 10! OH! And by the way, my sis is fully aware that those are not the words to the spider song.... It's what I like to call a comical mistake.
IMPORTANT!!!!
Would anyone be interesting in reading a... some what continuation to this story, although not REALLY but it would be related, as its name would be "Or Else", LMAO. I have the idea for it, all the plot... (I'm not trying to make your life hell either, Yukii) and it would have plenty of Kurama/Hiei goodness. Anyway, please tell me!
I don't own YYH.
()()()()()
(Hiei's POV)
I didn't like it....
"That's great, Hiei, I'm sure everything will be alright, now."
I didn't want it to be like this!
"Oh, yes... I need to pack my things. Hiei, would you like to help? You are moving in with me... aren't you?"
I didn't like this relationship. No... I loved Kurama, of that I was sure! I loved all of him....
"Hiei? Hiei are you alright?
I loved him so much. This wasn't the way I wanted things to go. If I was going to be in a relationship with him, I would want it to progress slowly. I wanted to make each moment we spent together not filled with my sadness and lies. I wasn't ready. I had to deal with my own self first. I wanted to be strong for my fox, strong enough so that at least one of us could fix my problems.
"Kurama, here's the key," I said slowly, reaching behind my back, snapping my fingers twice, and then spreading my hand flat. At that point I held it out to Kurama, the key in hand.
"Oh! You found it!" Kurama cried out happily, reaching for my wrist and unlocking the handcuffs.
"Ahh... finally," I moaned. "Five chapters was way too long...." I mumbled.
"What, Hiei?"
"Nothing...."
"Anyway, I really need to start packing... perhaps... emm... perhaps there's something you would..." Kurama stammered, looking thoroughly embarrassed, an odd sight.
"I'm afraid not... I'm perfectly fine as I am," I told him, rubbing my wrist.
"But Hiei, you--!"
"I don't want to," I repeated firmly, glaring at Kurama.
"O... okay, Hiei," he whispered softly, looking down at the floor in thought, probably wondering if there was something he had done wrong.
If there was one thing I missed about the other Kurama, the one with amnesia, it was that he didn't think about anything. He simply went with his gut and jumped to conclusions. It moved things along a lot more quickly.
"Kurama, you know that... I care about you, correct?"
"Of course, Hiei," he replied, instantly perking up and smiling at me.
"And do you promise that you'll at least remember that... always....?"
"I would never forgive myself if I didn't," Kurama answered me, sounding as sweet and innocent as never before. My heart pounded. My chest became filled with warmth and joy. How much I would hate myself later...
"One last time...." I whispered to myself, closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath.
"What....?"
"I'll let you pack, but I'll be back in a little while to help you actually move," I told Kurama, slowly getting up. "You must be excited, fox. You get to start a new life, with a new home... and new memories..." I said, smiling like an insane man about to kill his dog as I hurried and left his room through the window.
I wasn't going to stay in this relationship. I wasn't ready.... But I wouldn't dare hurt Kurama like that. To give him my love and then selfishly take it away!
How would I go about it, you ask? Well, the plan had worked once before...
(Kuwabara's POV)
We simply stood, looking up at the large, tall, and very large building before us.
"Peeps," Yusuke and I stated in unison.
The two of us had gone out in search of jobs to hold up our side of the deal with the girls. We had already applied at the circus, a modeling agency, and as janitors at a high school. But we were rejected each and every time. So, we tried our next in the line of dream jobs.
"Kuwabara, you're not still upset about not being able to be a janitor, are you....?"
"No, no, I'm fine.... I guess making candy would be fun too... I guess."
"ALRIGHTY-O-HO-HO!" he shouted, grabbing my sleeve and charging at the front entrance. It was there that we were stopped by a large, tall and very large security guard.
"ExCUSE me, lads, but you cannot just CHARGE into HERE like THAT! Do you KNOW how many pEople try to ATTACK this buiLDing eveRYday? We simply CANNOT be witHout GOOD security, you know," the guard said, in a very snooty voice.
"C'mon, just let us in!" I said, rolling my eyes.
"...wHat!?" the guard cried. "Are you lads inSANE? Or perhaps just cray-zay!?
I turned to Urameshi. Urameshi turned to me.
"Like a fox," he stated, as I nodded in agreement.
"May I ASK wHat you two aRe DOing Here?" the man asked, glaring at us both.
"We're here to apply for jobs!" I blurted out.
"Oh? Then, please, come Right tHis way...."
(Yukina's POV)
"YOU'RE GOING TO WHAT!?" I screamed, covering my mouth in horror.
"I'm going to give Kurama amnesia again!" Hiei repeated, trying to calm me down.
I sat there in shock. Why would he want to do that? After all the terrible things we went through to get it back!
"But why!? I thought you loved him!" Hiei winced at the word 'love', but then slowly nodded.
"I do, I do," he muttered. "However, I'm not ready to be with him, nor do I want to betray him... well, betray him with him actually knowing about it, anyway. I want to start things over fresh... I just need to be his friend longer."
"I'm sure he would understand...." I whispered, looking away.
"I know he would.... But I'm not after that. When we do finally get together, for the first, real time... I want it to be meaningful. Not an assumption, forcibly, or because there was no other way out! I want it to be so much better than that...."
I smiled. He really cared about his fox....
"Now, Yukina, can you fly a jet?"
"Huh!? Why!?"
"I need to drop the piano from somewhere...."
—Pet Heaven, Part IV—
As you can imagine, I'd already had a very busy day full of death and sadness. I was feeling rather chipper, after my grilled cheese sandwiches had had time to digest. Hiei, on the other hand, couldn't have been feeling too hot, even being the fire demon he is. I mean, how would you feel if your best friend and companion had killed every pet you'd ever had over a course of less than one day? To my surprise, Hiei was actually taking his huge losses well.
"Hiei, are you sure you'll be alright?" I asked as I cleaned the grilled fur from the pan.
"All in due time, Kurama, all in due time."
Ten minutes later, Hiei came out of his room and announced that he was ready to go back to the Pet'n'Park Place to get himself another pet.
"Are you sure you're ready to replace your old pet with a new one so soon?" I asked Hiei, bending down to look at him at eye level.
"No. I'll never be able to replace any of my pets, may they rest in peace. No, I will never be able to replace the way my little yellow bird, Robert, used to sing happily in his little bird cage one warm mornings. No, I will never be able to replace the way Hernandez the fish used to swing his little tail fin to and fro as he circled his aquarium-like fish bowl. No, I will never be able to replace the Jack the Ferret who used to make friends with the cardboard sales clerk at the miniature super market or how he would rest his soft head on the little pillow in the cave I made him. No, I will never be able to replace something that gave me such joy. But I can ease the pain in my own heart by trying my luck with love once again," Hiei said, putting his hand over his heart.
"Well okay, Hiei. Let's go."
Once we arrived at the Pet'n'Park Place, Hiei rushed in with almost as much excitement as he had the other three times. I calmly followed, my watchful eyes never losing their concentration. The store clerk came out form behind the counter.
"You again?!" he said, in utter surprise.
"Yes, it appears we just can't get enough of your store," I answered, looking at the young man with a playful glee in my left eye.
"Is there something I can help you with?"
"Oh no, we're just looking around. We need to find another pet," I said, shifting my playful glee to my right eye.
"What happened the ferret I sold you?" the man asked suspiciously.
"Oh, nothing out of the ordinary. You know how it gets when one must feed aspirin to fury creatures and then burn them on a skillet. But there was no harm done!"
"Listen—" The man started to say when Hiei came rushing up to me and pulling my arm to come and look at something.
"Kurama, I have found the next love of my life," Hiei said, leading me to a small glass tank.
At first I saw nothing but the brown woodchips and a brown water dish. Upon closer inspection, however, I noticed that something in the woodchips had eyes that were looking right at me. I then noticed that the eyes were attached to a head, and the head to a body, and the body had legs, eight legs, to be exact. Yes, Hiei wanted to get a pink toed tarantula.
"Just look at her, Kurama! Isn't she the cutest?" Hiei asked me when we arrived at the apartment.
"No, I will not look at that disgusting looking thing," I replied, clenching my eyes shut.
"She's not a THING, Kurama. She's a girl. Her name is Betty, Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula. But you can call her BB, for short," Hiei said with pride as her took BB out of her box and placed her atop his head.
"What are you doing?!" I cried out, starting to have a panic attack for fear of Hiei's life.
"Don't worry. BB won't bite me, her first true love. We're soul mates."
"You and that spider are soul mates?" I asked, feeling something I hadn't felt for a while. It wasn't something I was accustom to feeling, even though it was familiar to me only from the present day. I was unable to put a name on the feeling, and still to this day I have a hard time pinning it down. One thing I do remember, and remember well, was my unhealthy desire to smash that spider as I had never smashed any spider before it.
"Hey, Kurama? In light of the earlier events of the day, would you mind keeping a close eye on Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula for me? I want to go and get some pink nail polish so we can match," he said, taking BB from his head and putting her on mine.
"WHAT?! NO!" I said, suddenly freezing up as I felt the prickly fur of the many legs of the spider crawl all over my head.
"Kurama, don't worry. I'll be back soon, and Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula won't bite you."
"What about her cage?!" I squealed.
"Oh, I've decided I don't believe in cages anymore. They're too constricting. I'll see you shortly my love," Hiei said, walking out the door, and then popping his head back in to add, "Oh, and you too, Kurama."
As you can probably picture, I wasn't too thrilled with Hiei's latest pet. Not only was it a disgusting spider, but it was also on my head. I immediately ran to the bathroom, grabbing the salad tongs on the way. While looking in the mirror, I carefully took the tongs and grabbed the little arachnid out of my hair.
"I got you, my little ball of spiny fur and eyes so tiny that you could kill a man my looking at them." It was then that I decided to look into BB's eyes. Maybe it would reveal some inner peace, or maybe it would make me feel sorry for the thing. One thing is certain, and that was that I shouldn't have looked into those eight black eyes, because what I felt was something so strong and so evil that the devil himself could have been living in my body at that moment. After the long three seconds of my staring into BB's eyes, I quickly blinked and the feeling was gone, but it took me by surprise. Not knowing what to do, I decided that I felt dirty and would take a shower.
"Now while I'm in the shower I'm going to put you in the sink, alright BB? You stay right there. I wouldn't want anything to happen to my beloved Hiei's soul mate." So I placed BB in the sink and stripped off my clothes, throwing them aside. I carefully climbed into the shower and closed the curtain.
As I was waiting for the water to warm, I decided to turn on the In-Shower- Radio so I would have something to listen to while I washed. To my surprise and delight, my favorite on-air psychologist was on air, taking calls from people who called in.
"Dr. Phil, I just don't know what to do about my partner," A worried sounding lady said to Dr. Phil. "He keeps collecting more and more bottle caps. He spends more time with them than he does with me! Of course I've tried everything to get him to notice me; I've sold his bottle caps, I've 'accidentally' thrown them out, I've even taken the pliers and bent them to shreds, but he keeps on getting more. What's wrong with him?"
"You've got to take control of your life. First you must understand that the reason your partner is collecting so many bottle caps is because he is lacking the confidence in your support of him. So he's looking for support in other places. The reason you are 'killing' his bottle caps is because you are clearly jealous of the time he spends with his caps, and there for resent them," Dr. Phil responded.
"How can people be so silly about such little things?" I asked as I stepped into the line of water that was now falling down through my hair. I peeked my head out of the shower curtain and looked over at the sink. There, huddled up amongst her own legs was BB just lying at the bottom of the sink. I took my head back in for some reason or another I found myself singing.
"The itsy bitsy spi-der went up the water spout. Down came the rain, and WASHED the spider out. Up came the sun and dried up all the wa-ter, and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again . . ." I said, my eyes glazing over in a sort of trance.
"No, I don't like that version very much. Why don't I try again? The itsy bitsy spi-der went up the water spout. Down came the rain, and WASHED the spider out. Up came the sun and dried out all the wa-ter, but the itsy bitsy spider was washed down in the drain. AH! Much better. Don't you think so, BB?" I asked, looking out of the curtain again. Before I knew what even happened, I had gotten out of the shower and taken BB into my hands and was bringing her into the shower with me.
"Have you ever had a bath before, BB?" I asked the tarantula, who was squirming in my hands. "You don't have to be frightened." I said, bringing my hands closer and closer to the water. "The itsy bitsy spi-der," I could see the beads of water accumulate on the spiders rough fur. "Went up the water spout. Down came the rain and," I sang as I opened my eyes wide and saw the stream of water pour onto the innocent creature. Then, for some reason, I awoke from my zombie like trance and realized that not only was I maliciously torturing Hiei's pet, but I was also actually holding a pink toed tarantula. I screamed in terror, launching the spider over the shower curtain. I heard nothing but a loud clunk. Then a poosh. And then a splash combined with a crunch. I closed my eyes, dreading what it was I was about to look at. Alas, I knew I must have to look.
I opened the curtain, the water still pouring from the shower head. Down, on the floor, was Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula, her fury head lodged between a glass flower vase; water was flooding out of it, depriving the arachnid of oxygen.
"Washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the water . . ." I said, slowly approaching the spider. "And the itsy bitsy spider waskilledbytheflowervase . . . again." It was then, nearly five minutes after I had seen the monstrous images that I finally removed the jagged edges of the broken glass away from the spider's damaged head. Although there was no blood, the spider was clearly deceased. I was able to assess this immediately due to the lack of any connection between the head and the body. I had no idea what I was going to do. I sat down on the rug to try and gather my thoughts.
"To summarize," I thought. "I have just killed Hiei's forth pet. First I used the ancient Chinese water torture technique, and then I threw it over a curtain, knocking over a flower vase and decapitating it. Hiei will be thrilled."
Almost on cue, I heard a sound that sounded like Hiei walking through the front door. I didn't know what to do! If Hiei saw me with his dead spider I would be done for! I tried frantically to think of something, but it was too late. A knock came at the door to the bathroom. It was Hiei.
"Kurama, I'm back! I know you're in the shower, I can hear it. I just wanted to check in and see how Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula was doing. You will just love the nail polish I got! We will math perfectly." It was then that the door was opened. I froze in fear as a deer does when he knows he's going to be hit by a car. When he came through the door and saw me sitting next to his dead spider, a look of confusion and pain came across his face. He didn't say anything at first. He just stood there for a moment, looking down at the space between BB's head and BB's body, a space that would not be filled in. Finally, he spoke.
"Kurama, what did you do to Betty the Beautiful Pink Toed Tarantula?" He asked, cocking his head sideways, thinking that maybe if he was looking at the situation from a different angle it wouldn't look so bad.
"Uh . . ." I didn't know what to say. I didn't even know what really happened. It was as if a force took over my body, and my mind, for that matter. So I said the first thing that came to mind. "Nothing."
This seemed to aggravate poor Hiei, for he opened his eyes wide, and narrowed them down. He looked at me as he had never looked before. Eyes that almost said, 'I hate you', but not quite. Like he couldn't make up his mind on what he felt for me. This, in turn made me feel extremely angry, and I was about to lash out at him, but Hiei started first.
"I can't believe what I'm seeing. You are sitting there, on the bathroom floor, naked, with a flower vase on top of my beloved tarantula's head. Why, Kurama? Why? And why are you naked? And why are you lying to me? Do you honestly think I am that stupid, that ignorant, and that human-like to fall for such a response? Answer me, Kurama. I deserve to know what happened."
"I'm sorry, Hiei. That's all I can say. Are you truly going to make me relive this terrifying experience all over again? Have I not suffered enough? If you cared you wouldn't make me tell you what happened." I felt bad enough as it was, and I really didn't feel like bursting into tears for the fourth time. Besides, I couldn't say that I was truly sorry, and felt that if I was to try and tell Hiei what happened, it might give me a certain feeling of satisfaction, and that scared me.
It was a long while before either of us said anything. Finally, Hiei bowed his head and threw me a towel.
"Here, finish your shower. I can't look at BB right now."
"Okay, Hiei."
After my shower I wrapped BB's mangled body into a hand towel and walked out to see what Hiei was doing. He was looking through a photo album of pictures he had collected over the minutes that he'd known BB. When he saw me he quickly put the album away and whipped a tear from his face.
"Are you ready, Hiei?" I asked, handing him the towel.
"Yes."
We both slowly walked to the outside of our apartment building, neither of us saying anything. Finally, we arrived at the monumental fountain, water spouting from the top of it . . .spout . . .hehehehe . . .
I grabbed Hiei's hand as he lifted the towel into the air over the fountain's base. He let go and we watched as the mangled body fell into the water, making a loud PLUNK. Then, to our surprise another sound came from the water. It said, "BLLAAAARRRGGGGIIINNNGGGCHHHHOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYPLLLUUNNKK . . . .GULP." A fish had been living in the pond, and apparently hadn't been fed in a very long time. Hiei closed his eyes and I tried to comfort him.
"Don't worry, Hiei. The itsy bitsy spider will go up the spout again."
—Pet Heaven Part IV, end—
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............ Umm... WOO! Please review! And tell me if you'd like to read another part to this story (Or Else) when Who I Am wraps up at chapter 10! OH! And by the way, my sis is fully aware that those are not the words to the spider song.... It's what I like to call a comical mistake.