Guess what?
THE AUTHORESS SPEAKS!!!
AGAIN!!!
Reviews for Chapter Five, Pulsating Egg Creature
Lovely title for a chapter, isn't it?
KageYoukai- Well, "strange, wrong, and most certainly twisted" pretty much describes my mind. Erm... If I had a mind, that is...O.o
animerocker- How do I come up with it? Even I don't know the answer to that.
xkuroxshinobix- Once again I manage to update the next day. I'm so proud of myself.
Kaoru-the-kitsune- Do you live in the US? Do they even have Wolf's Rain in English for sale in the US yet? Like, in stores? Cuz I looked... I wanna buy the manga, too... If they have that... Anywhere... Cuz I'm collecting manga... Shaman King, Cowboy Bebop, Rurouni Kenshin, and Trigun so far...
Mika Saito- Yes. Ponder. Something I don't do. Ponderingness is bad for my brain. It requires thought. Which is something I don't do. Very often. I never even thought to do my schoolwork... Maybe that's why I almost got a B in math. (And it's probably not surprising Shadow has an egg creature in her fridge because you've read my story(s) and know how screwed up Shadow is.)
CCC- Ah. Much easier to type. Yes, I'll post. Voila. See?
Arrow-Tipped Kestrel- "Almost." You might feel bad for him after this chapter...
kiinu- What, don't you have egg creatures in your fridge?
Name1- You live? That's good. But I don't. See me? I'm dead. Dead. Yup.
Bar-Ohki- Drinking contest, eh? /maniacal laughter/ Possibilities open up in my mind... that I don't have. Possibilities open up in the empty space in my skull where normally a brain would be... Muwaha...
Saeble- Toboe hasn't talked much either. I'll get them in there. Kiba talks a bit in this chapter...
Draikitha- (You mean Tsume is sexy, right? You said Tomoe...) Yeah, the first episode of Wolf's Rain I watched, I thought Toboe was a girl... Eclipse had watched it from the second episode on, I started watching it at episode eight... So I was talking to her and I'm like, "Are any of them girls? Cuz one of them looked like a girl... I thought so, at least..." And she's like, "No, none of them are girls..." Heh heh. Oops.
Starfox- You got your arm run over by a car? Ouch.
Okami Youkai- This chapter is five pages long according to Microsoft Word... using size 10 MS Reference Sans Serif text... I've written longer, though, I think. I usually measure by words. Using MW it says it's 2,335 words... Whatever though.
Kitsune Klepto- I'm not gonna post slower, cuz I got a lot of reviews on this chapter after saying that... Heh heh heh. Odd coincidence, do you think?
Onward!
CHAPTER SIX
"Bonding Time"
"I wonder what Kurama's great idea was," Yusuke said.
"Probably dragging Hiei out the door so Shadow wouldn't kill him," Eclipse said.
"That's a possibility."
"WHO WANTS TO PLAY POKER?!" Shadow hollered suddenly, holding up a deck of cards.
"I will, I will!" Eclipse said. "Without the cheaters around, I might actually have a chance!"
"In your dreams, Blue Eyes!"
"Then I must be dreamin', Red Eyes, cuz I'm gonna win!"
"WANNA BET?"
"Sure!"
Half an hour later, Shadow had a nice pile of Eclipse's possessions, and she was still on a winning streak.
"MUWAHAHA! What was it you were saying about winning, Blue Eyes?"
"I vill be bock," Eclipse said, mocking Arnold Schwarzenegger... or however you spell it. She stood up and walked out of the room. Tsume sat down in her seat.
"You've been cheating the entire time," he said.
"No I haven't. How would you know? Do you even know how to play poker?"
"It's not all that hard to figure out after watching for a bit."
"You were watching?!"
"Don't tell me you didn't notice..."
"I didn't notice."
Tsume groaned. "How can you miss a big gray wolf lying on the couch?"
"I'm blind and stupid," Shadow said dryly. "Hey, wanna play a game?"
"I know all your cheats. I'll beat you."
"I'd like to see you try, there, Mister White-Hair."
And a short time later, Tsume had won all of Eclipse's possessions as well as a few of Shadow's, and everyone else in the house had gathered to watch.
"You should go against Youko," Yusuke suggested. "I'd like to see you beat him, Mister Macho Wolf."
"I bet he could, the stupid furball..." Shadow muttered. Tsume tipped back in his chair, chuckling.
"All right. I'm done humiliating you, Shadow," he said. He got up and turned away.
"Not gonna keep your winnings?" Shadow asked, annoyed.
"I was just winning to humiliate you."
A vessel popped out on Shadow's temple. "You know, we haven't had any good boyfriend-girlfriend bonding time. Come with me."
Shadow pushed him up the stairs.
"I don't think that's good," Yusuke said.
"Bonding time?" Eclipse muttered.
"Tsume can handle himself," Kiba said, smiling. "Even around that psycho."
"Bonding time?" Eclipse repeated again.
"Nobody is safe around that psycho, even if they're kung-fu voodoo class S super demons with the ability to paralyze the body or control the mind," Yusuke said.
"Bonding time..." Eclipse said, nodding. Then she turned around and left.
"I don't really think she's that bad, Urameshi," Kuwabara muttered.
"Well that's cuz you're an IDIOT," Yusuke snapped.
"Hey! Take that back!"
"You're ugly, too," Eclipse said, wandering up the stairs. "Bonding...?"
"Heeyyyyy! They're gangin' up on me!"
"You need it, baka..." Yusuke said. Eclipse got halfway up the stairs, stopped, then came back down.
"I don't wanna interrupt their bonding time if it is what I think it is..."
"What do you mean?" Hige asked.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing," Eclipse said. "She's probably just up there killing him if you can judge by how she was when she dragged him up there..."
"I told you, Tsume can take care of himself," Kiba said.
"I don't know, Kiba. Shadow's something different," Hige said, chuckling. "She's a girl."
"What, are you saying Tsume can't handle himself around women?" Yusuke asked.
"Are you saying Tsume's gay?" Kuwabara asked.
"Wolves can't be gay, stupid!" Eclipse snapped.
"He'd have to be gay to wear that outfit..." Kuwabara muttered.
"Wolves can't be gay, can they Kiba?" Eclipse asked.
"I don't know any gay wolves..." Kiba said.
"What about Tsume?" Kuwabara asked.
"TSUME ISN'T GAY!" Eclipse snapped, hitting him. "If he was, he would have already made a move on Hiei... Or Kurama. Not you. You're too ugly."
"Hey! Well who's to say you're not a lesbian?"
"I'M TO SAY!" Eclipse snapped, kicking Kuwabara in the shin.
"Oww..."
"You know, those two could be upstairs just around the corner listening to us..." Yusuke muttered.
"Shadow probably has every room in this house bugged... With a giant control board in her bedroom closet... So she can listen to whoever, whenever... She could listen to Hiei talking in his sleep... She probably has tiny little cameras everywhere, too, so she can watch Hiei sleep... And the screens are also in her bedroom closet... Or it's all in the room with the weasels... Nobody goes in there... They can't. Not without getting eaten..." Eclipse muttered, making everyone paranoid.
"You mean she could watch us in the shower?" Kuwabara asked.
"Anybody but you, baka..." Eclipse said. "Because you're ugly, and seeing you naked would kill even the most stubborn of bacterias..."
"Are you saying Shadow's a bacteria?" Yusuke asked. He was ignored, however, as Kuwabara glared.
"I doubt Shadow's smart enough to know how to operate all that stuff, anyway."
"You'd be surprised, Baka-Ultimus..." Eclipse said.
"And where would she get the money for it all?" Yusuke asked.
"And have it all installed properly without Hiei knowing?" Kiba pointed out.
"Really! I'm gonna go ask her!"
"And interrupt her 'bonding time?'" Eclipse said.
"I don't care about bonding, you guys got me mad! And when KAZUMA KUWABARA GETS MAD, HE DOESN'T STOP 'TIL HE'S SATISFIED!" He ran off. Eclipse snorted.
"He doesn't stop until somebody knocks him out..." Yusuke muttered, chuckling. "You guys wanna play cards or go for a walk or something? I'm sure nothing interesting will happen for a while..."
"What, and leave Shadow and Tsume alone in the house? Are you nuts?!" Eclipse said.
"Hiei and Kurama will be back soon..."
"No, I'm not going anywhere..." Eclipse said. "No way. Not unless one of those two lovebirds comes with. Preferably Shadow, cuz separate her and Tsume and she'll just victimize Hiei and Kurama when they get back..."
"Both of them?" Yusuke asked. "What do you mean by 'victimize,' anyway? Do you mean 'ra--'"
"Shut up, Yusuke," Eclipse said warningly. The three wolves were staring.
"Right. She doesn't rape. She seduces. My mistake."
Meanwhile, upstairs...
Shadow and Tsume were sitting on her bed having some quality conversation (honestly, that's all they were doing. Talking. TALKING. By saying words! Whatever other definition of the word you may have learned from your friends or parents when you were little, that's not what I mean!) when they heard Kuwabara's voice.
"Hey Shadow!"
You know how Shadow likes to freak out Kuwabara, right? Yes. She does. Usually by insinuating things about her and Hiei. Well Hiei isn't around.
She looked at the partially open door and a plan flashed into her mind. Boom. Just like that.
"Tsume, don't hate me for this."
"For what?"
She pinned him on his back on the bed and kissed him. Half a split second later, Kuwabara pushed open the door the rest of the way and stepped in, already starting a sentence, which he instantly cut off upon seeing the two making out on Shadow's bed.
He moved his mouth wordlessly for a minute, little squeaks coming out instead of words. Shadow pulled back and looked up at Kuwabara with mock-startled...ness.
"Kuwabara! What're you--"
"YOU'RE MAKING OUT WITH A WOLF!!!" the baka screamed. He back up and tore back down the stairs.
Shadow burst out laughing. "Baka... I'm sorry Tsume. Do you hate me now? Cuz I kissed you just to freak him out?"
"No, it was actually rather funny."
"Kuwabara freaks out anytime he sees me kiss anyone... So I do it more when he's around just to freak him out."
"I see."
Who knows what happened with those two after that, because the authoress will let your imagination wander (just not that far... Keep it on a leash... Jeez. Perv.) as she switches to Kuwabara's situation.
"What was that, Kuwabara?" Eclipse asked when he came barreling down the stairs. "She was making out with him?"
Kuwabara nodded frantically.
"Ah... Well then, so she wasn't with Hiei last night..." she said with a smirk. Kuwabara screamed like a girl and ran away.
"What are you talking about?" Hige asked, horrified.
"Tsume slept down here last night," Kiba said.
"I know. She slept alone too. I just felt like saying that to horrify him. Seems like it worked on Hige, too," Eclipse said, smiling. Kiba looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"Since when were you the cruel and sadistic type, Eclipse?"
"Since always!" Eclipse said cheerfully, her smile bigger than ever. Kuwabara ran back into the room.
"She was making out with a wolf!!! A wolf! That's disgusting! That's unsanitary! How could she cheat on Hiei like that?"
"Is Hiei even here right now?" Eclipse asked. "Besides, it's no worse than you making out with a pillow..."
"Yes it is! Pillows don't have mouths! They don't have tongues! They can't kiss ba-- How'd you know about that?!"
"You made out with a pillow?!" Hige asked incredulously.
"Yes he did. Shadow taped it without him knowing," Eclipse said.
"DOESN'T ANYBODY CARE?!" Kuwabara screamed. "SHE WAS LAYING ON TOP OF HIM ON HER BED KISSING HIM! THAT DOESN'T CONCERN ANYONE? YOU DON'T THINK IT MIGHT BE WORTH A LITTLE INTEREST?"
"Nobody gives a rat's ass, baka," Hiei said, walking in the door in time to catch everything from 'that doesn't concern anyone' on.
Eclipse snorted. "You might."
"What? Why?" Hiei said.
"SHE WAS MAKING OUT WITH HIM ON HER BED, HIEI!" Kuwabara screamed.
"... What?"
"Shadow. And Tsume. Were in her room. On her bed. KISSING," Kuwabara explained. He made a gagging noise and ran into the bathroom.
"He's prolly hacking up a hairball from kissing his cat all the time..." Eclipse muttered. "So why did you guys leave for so long?"
"Ask Kurama about it. I'm gonna go talk to Shadow," Hiei said, not the least bit of hostile edge in his voice, nothing but calmness, nothing that might say he was about to rip out somebody's throat...
He walked upstairs.
"You think he's gonna kill her?" Yusuke asked, walking into the room.
"I doubt it. We'll know in a minute," Eclipse said.
"I'm following him," Hige said. A minute later a large brown wolf was walking silently up the stairs.
The door to Shadow's room was closed. Hiei opened it without bothering to knock, following the line of thought that This is my house too and I shouldn't have to knock.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said dryly.
Hige sneaked up and sat just outside the door in human form to listen.
"Interrupting? What would you be interrupting?" Shadow asked, her face plastered to the TV screen as she played Crazy Taxi (practicing to drive, of course. She is nearly sixteen...).
"I dunno."
(For those of your who didn't keep your damned imagination on a leash, you'd better go catch it, cuz it was under five minutes between the time Kuwabara ran screaming down the stairs to the time Hiei went up to Shadow's room. Nothing much can happen in that time...)
"From your mock-casual tone, I'm assuming you talked to that human baka?" Tsume said, stretched out on Shadow's bed.
"Well, yes, he talked to me the second I walked in the door."
"And?" Shadow prompted.
"He says he caught you two making out?"
Shadow chuckled. "Baka. Can't keep his mouth shut... You know I did it just to freak him out. You know how I do that."
"Yes, you do. And it works, too."
"So I'd noticed," Shadow said. "That's why I keep doing it."
"Uh-huh."
Shadow blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry Hiei! Are you jealous?"
"Not--"
Before he could finish his sentence, Shadow planted a big kiss on his lips. Tsume chuckled.
"Happy now?" Shadow asked.
"I was going to say I'm not jealous."
"Are you mad?"
"Not really."
"Jolly good! Just make sure you're the one around so I don't have to kiss wolves anymore. It's an odd experience," Shadow said.
"I can imagine..." Hiei muttered. Tsume got up and walked out of Shadow's room, stopping in the doorway and looking down at Hige.
"What're you doing?" he asked.
"Oh, hi Tsume!" Hige said, jumping up. "I was just... waiting until you guys stopping talking so I could go down the hall. I didn't want you guys to see me pass the door and think I'd been eavesdropping or something, because I wasn't!"
"I'm sure. Get out of here," Tsume said, giving Hige a push in the direction of the stairs.
The two of them arrived in the living room to several pairs of curious eyes.
"I didn't hear any giant fight..." Kuwabara said.
"Because there wasn't one," Hige said, sounding kind of disappointed.
"There wasn't?! But wasn't Hiei mad?!" he asked.
"Nope," Tsume said, chasing Eclipse off the couch so he could lay down.
"Didn't Shadow assign you guys bedrooms? Why should I have to get off the couch just so you can lay down when you have a bedroom?" Eclipse complained, moving anyway.
"Because Tsume says so, and Tsume is always superior and right, didn't you know," Hige said dryly. Tsume opened one eye to glare.
"Shut up, Hige," he said, no real anger in his voice.
"So what was your grand idea, Kurama?" Eclipse asked.
"I'll talk later. Right now, sleep sounds pretty good." And with that, he vanished up the stairs.
"Stupid fox," Eclipse muttered. "I'll just ask Hiei about it later."
"Forget it. Hiei's probably sleeping up in Shadow's room already," Yusuke said. Eclipse shrugged.
"Oh well. I don't particularly care. Good night everybody."
"What time is it, anyway?" Yusuke asked.
"There's clocks all over the house, despite Shadow's hatred for them. Look at one. You can read time, can't you?" Eclipse said.
"Yes I can read time, stupid!"
"Then if you look at the clock you'll see it's already almost midnight," Eclipse said matter-of-factly.
"Midnight?! Oh, crap! I gotta get home," Yusuke said. Him and Kuwabara ran out the door, leaving the wolves to make themselves comfortable wherever they saw fit. And they did, lying on the couch, in chairs, or upstairs in the bedrooms assigned to them (on beds much more comfortable than the floor).
.......... ......... ........ ....... ...... ..... .... ... .. .
Boring, cruddy ending... I'll get into what Kurama's wonderful idea was in the next chapter, maybe, and I suddenly had an idea how a drinking contest could fit into this story, Bar-Ohki... So there's a high probability it'll be there. /hugs/ Thank you for the idea! :)
Oh, you know, if I ever spell anything wrong, like your name, or write the wrong word but it's similar to the one that should be there... Like I noticed I'd written "man" instead of "men" in one chapter... Half the time when I type, a certain combination of letters that's in one word but not the one I'm writing... Like writing "wrote" I wrote "wrong." Right? Heh heh. And sometimes my hands get ahead of my mind... or the other way around, and I write the word my mind is thinking of instead of the word that comes next in the sentence. Right there I was writing "next" but I wrote "in." Jeez. But then I was typing an email to Eclipse and I was typing as fast as I was thinking (really fast. The speed I would have been rambling had I been on the phone, and I can talk fast. I can sing REM's "It's the end of the world as we know it." I nearly memorized it.), and I barely messed up at all...