Hello again! Remember how last chapter I was listening to the spice girls? Well my partially insane friend and I were discussing the possibility of the boys walking in on the girls why they were listening to the spice girls, and I ended up writing it into the second chapter. So bear with me, the insanity will be over soon (yeah, right)! I don't know when/if Kurama started to hear Youko's thoughts, but I think it's funny so Youko's thoughts will be present. Also, I apologize if anyone seems out-of-character, but sometimes I needed them to do certain stuff for the story.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. If I did, I would be too busy dancing for joy to write this fic. Why do we have to write these anyway? Okay, from now on, I DO NOT OWN YU YU HAKUSHO!! That goes for the entire story.
Um, I don't own any of the musical groups listed in the fanfic, either.
- blah – Hiei
= blah = Sanura
((blah)) Kali
:: blah :: Kurama
[blah.] Youko
The rest of the girls, aside from Botan, had long retired to their beds when Botan shoved the boys out of her hotel room so she could get some sleep. Kuwabara went off to bed, as did Yusuke, and Kurama and Hiei decided to go walking for a bit. Halfway down the hall both boys heard a rather odd sound coming from one of the rooms, and could not help but see what it was.
"Hey, what CDs did you bring?" Sanura plugged her stereo into the outlet and produced a bottle of 1969 Merlot with a flick of her wrist. There had been a point in time when she hated stealing like that, but she had long since gotten over it.
"Um...I don't know, here." Kali tossed the other girl her CD case and went back to packing. They were leaving for California the next morning; Koenma had already managed to line up a mission for them. The two girls had decided that they should take the packing time to celebrate the boys' victory. Not that they would have needed an excuse anyway, but at least this way they had something to tell Koenma.
"Why do you of all people have a Brittney Spears CD?" Sanura asked with a frown on her face.
"Lord knows. What else is in there?"
"TATU, Offspring, Good Charlotte, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Postal Service, Led Zeppelin, Spice Girls-"
Kali looked up to see a devilish grin all over her best friend's face. "Spice Girls? Not a chance. You'll have to get me drunk first." The both of them were fans of old 90's pop, but that was a stretch.
Sanura laughed and put the disc in the stereo anyway, turning it to the second song and pouring them both a glass of wine. "That can be arranged." Kali snorted and took a sip of the sugary alcohol as 'Wannabe' started up.
"You know...I forgot how much I liked this."
"I know. Excellent year, hm? I always thought I had good taste in wine." Sanura took her first sip and turned the music up, then started to shut the door. She thought better of it and left it open just a few inches, thinking that it would turn out to be quite an amusing night.
"I wasn't talking about the wine. Speaking of, you think maybe we can forgo the glasses?" Kali suggested, holding up her empty wine glass. Sanura looked at hers, which was also nearly empty, and nodded. They set the glasses on the TV stand and started passing the bottle instead as the next song started. The girls grinned widely at each other and simultaneously started singing, Kali automatically taking up the melody and Sanura dropping into the harmony with ease.
Kurama suddenly found Hiei's arm blocking his path. "What is it?"
"Sh, listen," the fire apparition hushed him. Both demons heard it then; the unmistakable cheery beat of 90's pop music drifting happily down the hall. The kitsune's curiosity got the better of him, and he was soon sneaking around the corner with Hiei in tow. He stepped as quietly as he could toward the slightly opened door, and almost burst into laughter at what met his eyes. The other demon soon followed, and even he was hard- pressed to keep from laughing.
The two girls had clothes strewn all over the floor, though some articles had made it into their suitcases, with a stereo playing 'my boy lollypop' just loud enough for a human to consider it soft, though it was loud enough for a demon. Kali's corset lay discarded on the opposite side of the room along with her jacket, boots and pants. In place of them she was wearing a pair of skintight red shorts with the same gauzy shirt she had been wearing earlier. Hiei could not help but notice that, without the corset over it, the shirt draped over her curves and flowed with her movements as she danced in the most inviting way. He immediately reprimanded himself and reminded himself of the fact that she was human.
With that reestablished, he tried to understand what had possessed them to do whatever it was they were doing; then he saw the wine bottle in the other girl's hand and asked Kurama, "Are they drunk?" Upon looking up he discovered that the redhead's eyes were wide and watching the other woman.
She was wearing a pastel green tank-top and the shortest pair of navy blue shorts imaginable. Ironically, they left very little to the imagination. Sanura was dancing around the room, bottle of Merlot in hand, swaying her hips on beat and singing soft harmony.
my boy lollypop
you make my heart go giddy-up
you are as sweet as candy
you're my sugar dandy
whoa-oh, my boy lollypop
you'll never ever leave me
because it would grieve me,
my heart told me so
I love you I love you, I love you so
but I don't want you to know
I need you I need you, I need you so
and I'll never let you go-oh
my boy lollypop
you make my heart go giddy-up
you set the world on fire
you are my one desire
whoa-oh my lollypop
[I don't believe she realizes how suggestive that song is.]
= I believe she does. = A voice Kurama did not recognize echoed in his mind. Hiei, however, did recognize it.
The song ended and Kali laughed, "Do you know how long it's been since I've heard that song?"
"Tell me about it. God, I love that song." Sanura took a swig of Merlot and sighed.
"So..."
"So." Sanura repeated.
"Whad'you think of the fox?" she waved her hand at the other girl.
Sanura passed the bottle to her and answered thoughtfully, "I think he's gay."
Kurama almost fell over. :: What?! ::
- Are you really that surprised? At least she knows you're male. That's more than either of us can say for a lot of people. -
"That doesn't make him any less hot." Kali stated matter-of-factly.
Sanura giggled in a rather perverted way. "Agreed. He's so innocent, though."
Kali grinned back, "Even better," and passed the bottle over.
Sanura laughed again, this time suggestively. "Oh, the things I could do to him..." She looked at her 'human' friend with amused eyes if Kali had ever seen them.
"Indeed," she agreed, "I still like the short one."
"You ARE the short one."
"Is he using the same wind we are using?" Kali replied, recognizing the reference to 'The Princess Bride.' They laughed at the inside joke while the two demons outside looked on in confusion. "In all seriousness, he is pretty cute."
- Cute, am I? – he narrowed his eyes at the human.
The cat girl smiled, letting her fangs show. "He's adorable. But you haven't a chance in hell as long as he thinks you're human," she informed her, smiling sweetly.
Kali frowned. "Yeah, about that...can I let my wings back out? You know they start to get sore if I keep them in too long."
"Sure," she answered, knowing full well that Hiei was listening to their every word.
"Oh, thank God," Kali muttered, stretching her arms back. She wore that shirt for one excellent reason: it was scooped in the back as well as the front, so her wings were able to fold in and out as she pleased. The tiny black nubs lengthened and unfolded to become a huge set of leathery dragon wings. They stretched to touch the walls of the hotel room, flapped a few times, and folded up to rest at Kali's back.
She then dropped her human scent, let her fangs, ears and claws grow out and breathed in her demon-god scent joyfully.
:: Something tells me she's not human, Hiei. ::
- She's not a demon, either. –
Kurama turned all of his senses on the woman and realized what the Jaganshi meant. Her thought process was faster than a demon's, and she smelled better too.
"Now..." Kali continued, this time with a slightly fuller voice, "about the things you could do to the redhead?"
Kurama's eyes widened.
"Hm-m." Sanura swallowed her wine. "I believe we were discussing how positively adorable your little fire demon is."
"Oh he's mine how, is he?"
"Hm...well, why not?" Sanura smirked; she could hear Hiei growling outside.
"Can't think of a reason. Ugh, I hate this song." Kali got up and skipped a few tracks on the CD until it came to 'beautiful' by Sevendust.
"Sevendust? Why do you have Sevendust on a Spice Girls CD?"
"I burned this CD at two in the morning. I must have done it alphabetically. Give me the wine."
"We drank the wine."
"So make more."
"I knew that. You know, it's a good thing we can hold our liquor, 'cause we drink this stuff like water." She flicked her wrist and the bottle was full again. "This is the third bottle tonight."
Kali just shrugged, "it's like juice to me. I hardly ever get drunk anymore."
- So they aren't drunk –
[you say that like it's a good thing.]
:: must everything have a double meaning with you? ::
"Okay, we need to actually start packing." Kali was always the first to be realistic.
"Right. I can't believe we already have to leave. I love L.A. and all, but the tournament just ended."
"Tell it to Koenma. Is this yours?" Kali produced half of a black string bikini and threw it at Sanura.
"Oh, yeah, thanks for finding that." She stuffed the garment into her suitcase and resumed the task of gathering her clothes off the floor. In a few more minutes she was packed, though Kali was still having trouble with her many zippers. Sanura laughed at her friend's antics; the demon-god had never been good with suitcases.
Kali felt fire building up inside of her. Damned zipper, it just did not want to cooperate. Sanura ended up sitting on the bag for her so she could zip it closed at last. "I need to burn something. You want to come?" She stretched her wings again, nearly knocking the TV over, and walked towards the window.
"No, I'm going to catch up on my reading."
"Suit yourself. Leave the window open, 'kay?"
Sanura nodded and watched her partner dive out the open window. Kali waited until the last moment to unfurl her wings, just like always, and it still made Sanura nervous to watch her freefalling into the dark sky. She turned the music down and listened for any sounds coming from the other side of the door. Much to her amusement, the three demons were having a telepathic argument. She could not waste an opportunity like that, so she snuck up to the door and then swung it open as fast as could, yelling 'hi!'
Hiei had drawn his sword before any of them could think, and Kurama jumped about a foot in the air. She erupted into a fit of laughter and bent over where she stood, gasping for air. When she finally straightened up she managed to say, "good Lord...that was hilarious!"
Hiei growled at her while the redhead beside him looked utterly confused. "I'm glad that it's so amusing to you." He walked past her and marched promptly to the window, then hopped into the night.
"What's his problem?"
"Don't mind my friend; he's a bit antisocial." Kurama smiled at her.
"Okay, well I'm going to go to bed now, so...good night." She smiled back in spite of herself. Kurama bid her a good night as well, and as soon as she shut the door she flopped onto her bed and pulled her reading book out of the air.
After reading for roughly two hours Sanura heard a 'whoosh' outside and Kali landed expertly on the window sill, wisps of steam curling from her lips as she exhaled smoke. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail, a few loose strands hanging in her face, and she was sweating. Kali muttered curses under her breath and sauntered across the room, flopped into bed, and proceeded to fall asleep. Sanura was left utterly perplexed as to why her friend was so angry. Normally after burning something, Kali was calm and uncharacteristically serene.
Sanura left her questions for the morning and walked over to the window, setting her book on the bedside table. She looked back at Kali, who was already out cold, and turned back to the crescent moon outside. She had always loved the crescent moon, even more so than the full. Being a cat goddess came with a certain fixation with the moon, like an addiction. Seeing it so clear in the midnight blue sky made her eyes shine and her heart rush, and she decided to make use of the rise in power that the moon gave her.
She pushed off the edge of the window and enjoyed the rush of air in her face as the ground came rushing up to her waiting feet. She landed like the cat she was, graceful and balanced, and used the rebound energy to launch into a string of back handsprings and flips. When she was firmly on the ground and standing still she let her hair down from its ponytail and walked to the edge of the cliff that the hotel was built on. The beach stretched out below her, the moon reflecting off of it as if the sand were crystal. Sanura could barely contain her excitement. After a few moments of enjoying the breeze she slipped eagerly into her favored form and took off to explore the island. There was not enough time to have any real fun before she left, but she could at least play around a bit.
Wind raced past Kali's face and tugged urgently at her wings as she dove uncontrollably downward. She loved the rush that came with flight, even if it was only several stories of falling. When there were only a few stories between her and the ground Kali let her wings tilt up with the wind, pulling up at the last possible moment and soaring cleanly into the velvet sky. She rose a few hundred feet above the hotel and leveled out, riding invisible currents while she scouted out a good dry tree.
She found a fairly parched oak, circled around it a few times to be sure there was no active life or anything of the sort, then urged the flames in her to swell up. She breathed in deeply while hot, liquid fire sprang forward in her throat; her slow exhale tickled the fire in her throat and dared it to follow.
That fire was raw and in its purest fluid form when it grew in the dragon's belly, and so in order to ignite it fully all Kali had to do was breathe. But it was unbelievably complicated; if she were to breathe out too quickly it would only create heat and a tickle in her throat, which usually resulted in severe coughing. If she failed to exhale fast enough the fire would backtrack down her throat and that most often ended with choking. She blew out just swiftly and gently enough to catch a flame, then breathed harder as it reached the end of her tongue.
Flames leapt eagerly out of Kali's mouth and flew swiftly to the oak in front of her, capturing the fresh leaves in a blazing firestorm that spread too slowly for her liking. She swooped down and rolled over in the air so that she was looking up at the dense canopy of leaves, and let white- hot flames pour smoothly from her lips. The jet of fire hit the branches with an audible 'whoosh' and within minutes half the tree was burned. Kali was preparing another assault on the dilapidated oak when she heard someone curse rather loudly at her and drop down from the branches.
"Gah! Damn it, woman!" The figure called from the ground.
Kali burst out laughing at the sight. There, standing up in the flickering light of the fire, was an angered and unpleasantly surprised Hiei. (AN: the spell check wanted to turn 'Hiei' into 'Heidi!' Ha!) He was, at present, still cursing loudly at her, and this only served to amuse her more. However, in light of her previous intentions, laughing was definitely not something she needed to be doing. Fire, in its liquid form as well as flames, came pouring out the sides of her mouth as smoke furled out of her nose. She immediately regretted her laughter, and began to cough as she sank to her knees and bent over. Patches of grass flared up and burnt out as the fire dripped from her lips.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Kali turned the remaining fire to ash with a wipe of her hand, stood up, and crossed her arms. "Riding my bike, you asshole, there's a lovely breeze tonight," she replied sarcastically.
"Making me mad is not a good idea," He growled.
Kali blew a smoke ring at him, which he swiped out of the air, and grinned. "I'm shaking in my boots." She shifted her footing slightly to better her center of gravity and let her hands fall to her sides. It was an open invitation on her part, and she had been waiting for this fight since the tournament started.
"Fine. I gave you a warning."
She had just enough time to dodge his sword – he seemed faster in person. Kali wrapped her legs around a thick branch and hung upside down, waiting for him to attack her. When his sword was in mid-swing she let loose a huge mouthful of fire at once and curled up before the blade could slice her in two. He dodged easily and came at her from behind, only to cut through air. She reappeared to his right, a gush of fire streaming from her open mouth. It hit him square in the chest and his cloak burst into flame without delay. The next thing he felt was a burst of heat behind him, soon followed by an intense heat coming from his ankles. Upon glancing down the apparition discovered two growing flames near the end of his pants. He cursed and looked around for the vile woman who had set his pants on fire.
Kali flipped over in the air and let her smoke-streaked laughter ring out through the night sky. When she had stopped laughing, her opponent's eyes were fixed on her. Though he had managed to discard the cloak and put the latter flames out, his legs were bare from the knee down. Kali giggled at the sight of him, yet again. "I love doing that. You really shouldn't have put that out, though; pity it couldn't go up further." She grinned and looked upward as if imagining, well, something.
That was more than Hiei was willing to put up with. He flew at her with one arm ready to punch her as hard as he could, and tumbled over in the air a few times when he missed his target. She was flapping her great black wings just a few feet away, smiling sweetly at him. It made it all the more enjoyable when he finally hit her – hard. The little apparition could not help but smile when she doubled over and white-hot fire spurted from her mouth along with blood. Her wings swept forward on instinct and curled around her, inevitably covering him as well and trapping him next to her coughing form. Blood and fire continued splattering against her wings, the blood dripping down the leathery surface while the fire flared upon contact and burned miniscule holes in the skin.
Kali choked for a moment and a flame the size of a golf ball shot out of her throat, flared up to the size of her head and burned a gaping hole in the flesh of both her wings. Hiei looked on in mild shock as the girl cried out in pain and opened her wings too quickly for the other demon to see. She sprang upward, letting Hiei fall to the ground on his own, and flew to her open window. Her ash gray eyes were beginning to water with the wave of pain that washed over her as air ripped through the holes and tore at her skin. Kali's pain quickly turned to anger just like every other emotion she encountered. Sanura looked rather surprised to see her, but the dragon cared little at the moment. She would talk later; at the moment she needed sleep more than anything else.
Okay everyone! Review! Sorry it's been taking so amazingly long to update all my fics, but computers have been few and far between lately. I just got back from texas a couple days ago, so I'll update this story as soon as I get another chapter up on my InuYasha fic! See you guys later...