Disclaimer: heh heh . . . I don't care dude. Wherever the wind blows me is
okay . . . Schweet. Heh, if I claimed I owned Yu Yu Hakusho, I'd be brought
into court. Wait a minute? Court?! I'll probably need a lawyer . . . do I
have to pay for one? How much does it cost to hire a lawyer?! Damn . . .
those pills wear off fast . . .
Quote of the week: "Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together." -random bumper sticker
KKC: Well, let's try to keep this chapter short and sweet, eh?
Grimoire: Good. I think the word count on your last chapter was around 3,362.
KKC: Done moping and complaining? It's about time.
Grimoire: Tut tut, get to work girl. Fictions don't write themselves, you know.
KKC: . . . I think I liked it better when you were silent . . . -_-*
Grimoire: Get going! Type! Let the words flow, goddammit!
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Lyra watched the boys run off to their classes and went downstairs to read, leaving her breakfast tray on her desk. She would wait until her sister woke up before using her laptop to search for the dragon's den, at least, that was what Salvatore had translated to her. Kurama hopped up beside her and read the book over her shoulder, keeping an ear open for the other two girls. Finally, Holly came down, dressed in Khaki cargo pants and a white long-sleeved shirt. Her shoulder-length red hair was tied up in a loose ponytail and she carried her broom over her shoulder.
"Morning! Hi, Kurama, Lyra!" Holly propped her broom by the doorframe and leaned over the back of the armchair. "What 'cha reading?"
"Edgar Allen Poe. How's Lark?" Lyra marked her page and placed the book onto the end table. The witch innocently replied, "Still asleep, I guess."
"And I really needed to use her laptop too." The older sister sighed, getting up from her comfy seat. "Looks like I'll have to go wake her up, then."
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"I trust you all had a nice weekend during the tournament." Ryo was answered by various groans and monosyllable phrases from his class. "I see . . . Yusuke, how are the girls doing? Yusuke?" The boy was passed out at his desk, Justin St. Pierre sitting across from him and doodling on a corner of Yusuke's homework. The elfish teacher sweatdropped, but continued on with his class, but not before giving the other students a quiet warning. "Alright, stay as quiet as you can and don't wake the boy up. I'll deal with him at the end of the period when we go to lunch. Now, I'm gonna pass your test results back . . ."
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"You found it?!" Lyra anxiously leaned on her sister's shoulder as Lark groggily sat in front of her laptop. Lark lethargically nodded and pointed to a list of probable subjects, varying in location from Hawaii to Makai. Holly and Lyra sweatdropped at the long list and Holly tapped her friend on the shoulder. "Um, maybe could you narrow it down a bit? You know, with closer locations and definite proof?"
"You just want to have your cake and eat it too, don't you, Holly?"
"Well I think it's a perfectly reasonable request. We want to get back before Christmas vacation, which ends on January second. A week and a half, Lark. We don't have the time to travel to all these places."
"Can we still visit Hawaii, though?" Lark pouted and looked to her disbelieving friends for help. Kurama rolled his green eyes and sighed in exasperation. This was research? 'we should have just have gone to the library . . .' he thought. Lyra seemed to sense the fox's annoyance and moved her sister from in front of the computer. "Let me see . . . Here's one! It's just past Misery Island and a few leagues away from Galeri bay."
She tapped on a few more keys, bringing up a map of the barrier worlds, and zoomed in on the coordinates. Holly tapped her finger on the screen where the den was rumored to be. "But the map shows nothing there. It's just water. See?"
"Exactly. If you're trying to hide something, why put it on a map?"
"Then why did they put the coordinates on the internet?" Lyra shrugged, signaling her clueless-ness. "Don't ask me! I prefer using books and primary sources compared to the Internet." Lark sipped her glass of orange juice and stared at her sister.
"Of course you would. You're so old-fashioned . . ."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"No offence, but some might just say that you have an 'old soul', Lyra."
"Lark, you've gotta be kidding me."
"How many people listen to Andrew Loyd Webber when they're doing their homework?" Lyra sheepishly shrugged and answered, "Not many . . ?"
"Exactly." Lark snagged her computer back and pulled a cord out from her bag. She plugged it into one of the laptop's ports, then got up and hooked the other end to the printer. "Holly, can you print the coordinates up for me? I'm gonna go get dressed."
"Sure. Oh, I have an idea! We should be able to find an old mythology book or something in town." Lark pulled a pair of jeans and a royal blue sweater from her closet, and then turned to the wind witch. "So . . ?"
"It would be helpful if we brought a map with us that shows where the den itself is." Kurama nodded in agreement to Lyra's conclusion and leaped down from Lark's bed. 'Well, at least they had found a location . . .' he thought.
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"Yusuke . . . oh, Yusuke." Ryo's voice softly pulled Yusuke from his unconscious state. "YUSUKE!!" Yusuke snapped to attention, almost falling out of his chair (he seems to do that often.). The first thing he noticed was that the lights in the tower classroom were out and his noisy classmates were missing. "What the?"
"You're late for class, Yusuke." Yusuke looked around for the location of his teacher's voice. Ryo was communicating with Yusuke through a speakerphone on the teacher's cluttered desk. "SHIT!" The teen shoved his notebooks and pens in his bag, snagging the results paper and looking it over while he ran out of the empty classroom, praying that his mechanics teacher would be sick or missing.
"That was a pretty bad trick Ryo played on Yusuke." Justin said, dropping some ketchup from his burger onto his jeans. Chrysanthemum grimaced at her friend's horrible table manners and held out a napkin. "Did it ever occur to you to use a napkin? Here, take two, they're small." Justin thanked her and wiped the red blob off of his clothes. Lyonell and Jin walked over to the picnic table, both bringing their lunch. The cat demon sat down next to his twin and started unwrapping his tuna salad sandwich. "How much are you willing to bet Yusuke won't fall asleep anytime soon, though?" Justin got out his wallet and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. "Here." He tossed the bill onto the table and looked at Jin and Lyonell, waiting for them to place their own bets. Jin pulled a small gem out of his pocket and flipped it onto the table; Lyonell dug deep into his own wallet and finally pulled out a few silver coins. Chrysanthemum rolled her eyes skyward and got up from between Jin and her brother. "Boys . . ."
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Holly hovered above her friends on her broom. Lyra and Kurama were already ready to go and Lark soon ran out the door, hastily tossing her hairbrush onto the couch behind her. "What're we waiting for? We can catch the trolley if we hurry." Lyra nodded, and made sure that Kurama was securely in her bag before running after her sister and Holly. The witch slowed down her broom enough so the sisters could catch up and looked back. "What's taking you guys so long? I can already see it pulling up to the station now."
"Not everyone can fly, Holly. Maybe could you give us a lift?" Holly dropped down to their level and shrugged. "I don't think this old broom can handle it- Hey! What are you doing?" Lark and Lyra hopped onto the slender broomstick and Lark pointed ahead towards the main campus, where the trolley was slowing down to a stop. "Tally-ho! Off into the wild blue yoooonnndeeerrr!"
"NO SINGING!" Kyuro leaned over Holly's shoulder and hissed at Lark. The water manipulator scooted a little farther down the broomstick to get away from the angry familiar. "Ho-kay then! No singing, gotcha!" Lark flipped him a peace sign and innocently smiled.
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Rogerik hurriedly ran through the dark mansion. His footsteps echoed on the cold stone floor as he took a left. Screeching to a halt, he surveyed the corridor in front of him. A faint humming sound resonated throughout the hall, and the tiny glimmer of a metal surface gave away the location of the security cameras. Rogerik slinked near the walls and kept in the shadows towards the brightly lit safe room up ahead. Using his PK, he flicked out the lights and scurried to the giant lock. Carefully stroking it, he concentrated and the bolts slid into place with a couple faint clicks. Sighing in relief, he swung open the door, only to set off the klaxon alarms.
"Nice try, but you ran out of time." The lights flared and the alarm stopped. Rogerik shielded his eyes from the bright lights with his hand until they slowly adjusted. His teacher, Oikawa, slowly walked out from behind a suit of armor and pointed to a tiny mechanical device Rogerik hadn't noticed in the dark environment. "This little toy threw it all off. It's a Spirit energy sensor. They're becoming quite popular among the higher class as of late, even humans." The blond leaned down and closely observed the tiny machine, painted black so as to hide it from most intruders.
"I see . . ." he murmured. Oikawa sighed and replied, "No you didn't. It was tracking your movements the entire time you were here. You have to take these out as soon as you spot them, or it'll make the job nearly impossible." Rogerik started chuckling under his breath, and his fairly young teacher turned to him. "What's so funny?"
"This is a school founded by Lord Koenma, and I'm taking lessons on how to be a master thief. The real funny part is, that it's perfectly legal for it to be my major."
"Yes, it is slightly ironic . . . however, if you do go into business as a thief for hire, it'll most likely for Koenma himself." Oikawa said, while walking back to his office in the building's west wing. Rogerik mused over Oikawa's words a little longer, then followed his teacher out of the training hall.
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Djornn pulled the red-hot bar of steel out of the fire Hiei was stoking and started to hammer it, twisting it into another curled section of a rapier handle. The two worked in complete silence, as the centaur had given up on talking with his student quite a while ago. Finally, he welded the spiraling sections together and attached it to the fine blade with a stream of liquefying fire. "Who's this sword for, anyways?" The soot-gray centaur jumped a bit, turning his black eyes to the normally quiet Hiei.
"An inventor named Suzuki. He's planning on infusing charms and abilities into the blade."
"Suzuki? I think I met that fool at the Dark Tournament."
"He's no fool. If anything, that demon is a genius." Hiei gave his teacher a three-eyed, disbelieving glare. "Genius? He came dressed as a clown, for crissake." Djornn put the finished handle into a bucket of water to cool down. "Either way, I'm surprised he offered to teach here during the second semester." The short demon sweatdropped, obviously too stunned to say anything, and continued to stoke the raging fire. Suzuki a teacher? Now that was a laugh.
"Suzuki, a teacher?! Now that's a laugh!" Yusuke snickered at what Hiei had just told him, and steadied himself against the brick wall of the main offices. "That's what the centaur said." The demon sullenly replied.
"Maybe he's desperate for money." Kuwabara stated. Jin and Yusuke just stared at him and shared glances, coming to the same conclusion. " He still wouldn't get a job as a teacher even then." Yusuke said, Jin nodding in agreement to his friend's words. "Tha's true. Suzuki can't stand not being paid attention to, we all know that." Rogerik ran up between the four, trying to catch his breath. Cautiously, he looked back over his shoulder and tried to hide behind Jin and Yusuke. "Dude, hide me. They freakin' scare me!"
Kuwabara looked off into the distance, shading his eyes from the bright sun. "Who?" he asked. Rogerik poked his head out from behind Jin and snapped, "Three guesses, first two don't count. Who else has been harassing me for the ten years I've been at this school?"
"Erm . . . Oh, its those losers that beat you up at the tournament."
"Yeah, genius! They've been trying to get at me ever since you guys kicked their asses in the ring! Speaking of which, maybe could you do me a little favor and-" Rogerik hopefully smiled and tried to look as innocent as possible. Hiei drew his katana and stepped forwards. "Well, I have nothing better to do, anyways. You idiots go on ahead to class, I'll deal with them." Rogerik humbly bowed his head to Hiei and hurried after the rest of the guys to his class. "Thank you! Remind me to do your chores when I get back home. Wait a minute . . .what am I saying? See ya!"
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The trolley slowed down to a stop in the middle of the Western downtown plaza, and the three girls hopped off the brightly colored vehicle with relative ease. Lyra stumbled, but soon regained her balance and turned to her friends. "So, where to?"
"Erm, we can try Border's, but I doubt we'll find anything there; its too modern. I suggest that we go to Alexa's." Holly said, surveying the long, crowded downtown area. Lark, energetic as always, was pacing and shifting her weight from foot to foot. "You know, we could always check out that really old and creepy bookstore. What was the name . . . aw crap, I forgot."
Lyra lightly patted her younger sister on the head and pointed down the cobblestone street. "Don't worry, Lark. It'll come to you eventually. However, lets stop wasting time and go to Alexa's."
Oceanview plaza was crowded, as usual. Young children ran and played games of tag on the giant marble fountain, splashing water at each other even in the chilly December air. Kurama and Kyuro ran ahead of the girls, dodging pushcarts, pedestrians, and bikes. Out of the view of most passerby, a small café was hidden between the larger stores, a variety of chairs and sofas visible from the stained glass windows. Holly whistled for the two animals, and they came running back; Kyuro leaping onto Holly's shoulder and Kurama into Lyra's arms. "Ah, good ol' Alexa's! The only coffee house and antique bookstore in all of barrier world!" The cat exclaimed, licking his lips. "It's been so long . . . Holly, I want a caramel expresse latte, extra cream, and two sugars!"
"I'm sure you do, but we're here to look for a map or geography book." The witch answered. Kyuro pleadingly looked into her green eyes and adoringly asked, "Maybe if I help you find the right book can I get one?" Lark sighed, and tweaked the cat's ear as she opened the front door. "We'll see. Lyra, you're paying."
"What?! Why me?"
"I spent all the money dad sent me on upgrading my laptop. It has twenty gigabytes of space now!"
"Oh, like you really needed the extra memory. You're fanfictions don't take up that much space." Lyra held the door open with her foot for Holly, who closed it behind her. Inside, the smell of old lather and gourmet coffee mingled, mixing into a homey aroma. The cashier, Alexa herself, was busy serving some hot chocolate to two other students at the academy, whom the girls recognized as Jay Gilbert and Shane Raby.
"Hi Alexa! It's been awhile." Holly cheerfully waved to the young woman and hopped on a stool next to Shane. Both boys leaned away a little from Lark, who was maliciously smirking at them. Lyra poked her sister in the arm and whispered to her, Lark sighed, but tried to be nice to Jay and Shane. Hey! Jay, I'm surprised you recovered so quickly; that was a pretty bad blow." Jay nervously answered, "Er, yeah. My girlfriend is one of the medical assistants."
"Oh, really? Who?" Lark hopped up on a red leather stool and crossed her legs, adjusting her pleated, short skirt. Jay scooted a little farther away from her, still not trusting Lark and her all-too-innocent smile. "Yumi Saratoshi." Lark brightly smiled, looking somewhat like she was on speed. "That's nice. Hm?" She looked back to Alexa, who was taking their orders. "Sorry, Alexa. I was just talking with Jay- that's funny . . ." she looked back over to the stool, still spinning around from when Jay had ran out of the shop in his attempt to get away from the younger girl. "He's gone. Must've left . . . Oh well. Anyways, I'll have a vanilla chai tea. Two equals, please." Alexa nodded, and turned to the array of coffee pots, grinders, and cappuccino machines. "It'll be right up, girls. Anything else?"
"Oh, yes. We're looking for a map, somewhere between Misery Island and Galeri bay." Lyra said, longingly glancing over at the stuffed bookshelves. Kurama had pulled one out from the bottom shelf and was flipping through the yellowed pages with his delicate muzzle, speedily reading each intricately painted page before moving on. "Over to the far right is where I keep most maps. They should be in alphabetical order, too. That is, if my new employee remembered to fix the shelves after closing last night."
Lyra kneeled down, glancing at the map book titles until she finally came across one that looked fairly promising. Pulling it out from the shelf, she scooped Kurama up and let him lay on her shoulder while she brought the old, leather cover portfolio to the bar. Lyra opened it, flipping through the ancient maps until she found one that showed the ocean currents between Misery Island and Galeri bay. "That's weird," Kyuro said, from his spot on the bar. "It doesn't show anything there, either." Lyra; however, pointed out a long arrow that curved above the uppermost part of the island. "See this? The current turns away and seems to follow an irregular path. But there's nothing that could possibly make it turn that way, unless-"
"Oh, I get it! The island is there, but was never put on a map." Lark said, scooting the anxious Kurama out of the way so she could get a better look. "Here are your coffees, girls." Alexa placed the steaming mugs in front of Lyra, Holly, and Lark; then placed a saucer of cream and coffee in front of Kyuro. The cat pounced upon it and buried his head in the frothy cream, meowing a "Thanks", then coughed as the coffee burned the tip of his sensitive tongue. Lyra placed her mug to her lips and gently sipped the delicious drink, then noticed Kurama looking up at her with his bright, green eyes. Sighing, she poured some coffee into a saucer, poured in three creamers and mixed it before giving it to the tiny kit. Kurama's eyes flashed yellow, and he ran for the drink, but he stopped halfway and, tail tucked between his legs, timidly lapped it up.
"If no one ever marked it, then what happened?" Holly asked. Lark just stared at the witch and sarcastically answered, "What do you think? The dragon toasted 'em. They became human shish-kebobs!" Lyra, Holly, and Kurama just stared, then shuddered at the thought of being roasted alive. "Er, lets move onto a nicer topic. Like, how are we supposed to get there?" Holly asked, helping Lyra clean up the mess of old maps.
"Rent a boat and pray to the goddess that we aren't marauded by pirates, swallowed by giant sea-monsters, attacked by evil sea-monkeys-"
"Wait a minute, are sea-monkeys evil?" Lyra asked her sister, wondering what the hell Alexa had put in Lark's coffee. No, wait, caffeine. Caffeine was Lark's poison. The younger sister grinned and gulped down another swig of the creamy, coffee goodness. "Not that I know of, but there's always a first, right?"
"Yeah, but . . ." Holly said, grimacing at Lark's sudden caffeine rush.
"Exactly! So, our mission is to restore Kurama to his rightful form and be the first people to discover the legendary evil sea-monkeys!"
"Whatever floats your boat, Lark . . ." Lyra said, nonchalantly bringing the map over to the copying machine. She put it down on the flatbed scanner and pressed 'copy'. Holly stared at her friend with wide, scared eyes and muttered, "God, we're screwed." Lark finished her drink in one more gulp and wiped the cream from her lips. "Yeah! We ARE screwed, aren't we? But at least we'll be screwed together!"
Both Kurama and Kyuro stared at the certifiably insane Admarant sister. The cat familiar blinked a few times in silence, then said, " . . . That . . . SO didn't sound right . . ."
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Yusuke tossed his back pack onto the cold, stone floor and collapsed in his seat. Advanced algebra had been a horror; he didn't even know what the hell was going on in that class. Now he had history class. Whoopee, another hour- long period to sit and stare at the ceiling, and totally ignore whatever the dipshit teacher was talking about. Who cared about Demon boycotts or the Great War of 5094 BC? Rogerik and Justin were already half-asleep, and class hadn't even started yet. "Man, I wish I had stayed back and helped Hiei kick those guy's asses." He mumbled. Jin nodded in agreement, too bored to even talk in a complete sentence.
The thick wooden door creaked open, but instead of the elderly, hideous looking, fish-headed Fomorian (a Fomorian is a hideous monster made of human and beast flesh. They originated in Ireland and I'm not making them up. Trust me on this, k?) history teacher, in walked a fairly young man, apparently in his late twenties. Both Yusuke and Jin choked when they noticed the familiar spiky, blond hair and smug smile. On the substitute's shoulder was a small bird-like demon, glowering at the entire class, especially at the two dark-tournament participants.
"Well, I see we're all surprised. I know that you were told I wouldn't start teaching until after winter vacation, But your previous teacher, er . . . had his head eaten off by his wife when he refused to do the dishes. Strange creatures, Fomorians are. Yusuke, Jin, its been awhile." Both students grimly nodded, none too pleased with their current substitute. Suzuki cleared his throat and addressed the class. "So, I've been hired as both your history teacher and mechanics teacher. It doesn't really bother me, as I get paid twice as much."
The bird-demon, obviously Shishiwakamaru in his true form, squawked and scurried down from Suzuki's shoulder. He hopped onto the leather-cushioned perch and contined glaring at the class. The inventor faked a smile and whapped Shishi lightly across the beak, switching on the overhead projector with his other hand. "Well, here are the rules for my class. Number one, no skipping. If you feel tempted to skip history, and I know many of you are," Suzuki shot a meaningful glance at Yusuke, who innocently shrugged. "I have a lovely collection of thumbscrews. I'm not afraid to use them, either."
Most of the students recoiled at the threat, but Justin St.Pierre, obviously in a bad mood, mumbled "Blow it out of your rear, Jack-ass." Suzuki growled something and pulled a cord that lowered from the ceiling, sending Justin falling into a steep pit full of water. The students all stared at the trap-door in the linoleum floor, and scooted their desks back as Justin started screaming obscenities at Suzuki, who pleasantly smiled. "And the second rule is no bad-mouthing the teacher. Now, onto rule three . . ."
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KKC: Well, as an apology for taking so long last week, I'm going to do two chapters this week. Look for the next chappie by Sunday!
Touya: Hey, how come I'm not in yet?
KKC: All in due time, my dear shinobi friend. Anyways, don't you think Suzuki id=s a scary teacher.
Touya: He borders "Scary-beyond-all-reason" and just plain insane.
KKC: I know! ^-^ That's why I put him in as a teacher. Oh, and to all my readers, if you like my fic then review. It only takes a minute and inspires me to write more. So, if you ever want to leave me a message or give some hints to make the story better, just click the little purple button below this text. Buh-bye!
Quote of the week: "Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together." -random bumper sticker
KKC: Well, let's try to keep this chapter short and sweet, eh?
Grimoire: Good. I think the word count on your last chapter was around 3,362.
KKC: Done moping and complaining? It's about time.
Grimoire: Tut tut, get to work girl. Fictions don't write themselves, you know.
KKC: . . . I think I liked it better when you were silent . . . -_-*
Grimoire: Get going! Type! Let the words flow, goddammit!
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Lyra watched the boys run off to their classes and went downstairs to read, leaving her breakfast tray on her desk. She would wait until her sister woke up before using her laptop to search for the dragon's den, at least, that was what Salvatore had translated to her. Kurama hopped up beside her and read the book over her shoulder, keeping an ear open for the other two girls. Finally, Holly came down, dressed in Khaki cargo pants and a white long-sleeved shirt. Her shoulder-length red hair was tied up in a loose ponytail and she carried her broom over her shoulder.
"Morning! Hi, Kurama, Lyra!" Holly propped her broom by the doorframe and leaned over the back of the armchair. "What 'cha reading?"
"Edgar Allen Poe. How's Lark?" Lyra marked her page and placed the book onto the end table. The witch innocently replied, "Still asleep, I guess."
"And I really needed to use her laptop too." The older sister sighed, getting up from her comfy seat. "Looks like I'll have to go wake her up, then."
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"I trust you all had a nice weekend during the tournament." Ryo was answered by various groans and monosyllable phrases from his class. "I see . . . Yusuke, how are the girls doing? Yusuke?" The boy was passed out at his desk, Justin St. Pierre sitting across from him and doodling on a corner of Yusuke's homework. The elfish teacher sweatdropped, but continued on with his class, but not before giving the other students a quiet warning. "Alright, stay as quiet as you can and don't wake the boy up. I'll deal with him at the end of the period when we go to lunch. Now, I'm gonna pass your test results back . . ."
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"You found it?!" Lyra anxiously leaned on her sister's shoulder as Lark groggily sat in front of her laptop. Lark lethargically nodded and pointed to a list of probable subjects, varying in location from Hawaii to Makai. Holly and Lyra sweatdropped at the long list and Holly tapped her friend on the shoulder. "Um, maybe could you narrow it down a bit? You know, with closer locations and definite proof?"
"You just want to have your cake and eat it too, don't you, Holly?"
"Well I think it's a perfectly reasonable request. We want to get back before Christmas vacation, which ends on January second. A week and a half, Lark. We don't have the time to travel to all these places."
"Can we still visit Hawaii, though?" Lark pouted and looked to her disbelieving friends for help. Kurama rolled his green eyes and sighed in exasperation. This was research? 'we should have just have gone to the library . . .' he thought. Lyra seemed to sense the fox's annoyance and moved her sister from in front of the computer. "Let me see . . . Here's one! It's just past Misery Island and a few leagues away from Galeri bay."
She tapped on a few more keys, bringing up a map of the barrier worlds, and zoomed in on the coordinates. Holly tapped her finger on the screen where the den was rumored to be. "But the map shows nothing there. It's just water. See?"
"Exactly. If you're trying to hide something, why put it on a map?"
"Then why did they put the coordinates on the internet?" Lyra shrugged, signaling her clueless-ness. "Don't ask me! I prefer using books and primary sources compared to the Internet." Lark sipped her glass of orange juice and stared at her sister.
"Of course you would. You're so old-fashioned . . ."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"No offence, but some might just say that you have an 'old soul', Lyra."
"Lark, you've gotta be kidding me."
"How many people listen to Andrew Loyd Webber when they're doing their homework?" Lyra sheepishly shrugged and answered, "Not many . . ?"
"Exactly." Lark snagged her computer back and pulled a cord out from her bag. She plugged it into one of the laptop's ports, then got up and hooked the other end to the printer. "Holly, can you print the coordinates up for me? I'm gonna go get dressed."
"Sure. Oh, I have an idea! We should be able to find an old mythology book or something in town." Lark pulled a pair of jeans and a royal blue sweater from her closet, and then turned to the wind witch. "So . . ?"
"It would be helpful if we brought a map with us that shows where the den itself is." Kurama nodded in agreement to Lyra's conclusion and leaped down from Lark's bed. 'Well, at least they had found a location . . .' he thought.
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"Yusuke . . . oh, Yusuke." Ryo's voice softly pulled Yusuke from his unconscious state. "YUSUKE!!" Yusuke snapped to attention, almost falling out of his chair (he seems to do that often.). The first thing he noticed was that the lights in the tower classroom were out and his noisy classmates were missing. "What the?"
"You're late for class, Yusuke." Yusuke looked around for the location of his teacher's voice. Ryo was communicating with Yusuke through a speakerphone on the teacher's cluttered desk. "SHIT!" The teen shoved his notebooks and pens in his bag, snagging the results paper and looking it over while he ran out of the empty classroom, praying that his mechanics teacher would be sick or missing.
"That was a pretty bad trick Ryo played on Yusuke." Justin said, dropping some ketchup from his burger onto his jeans. Chrysanthemum grimaced at her friend's horrible table manners and held out a napkin. "Did it ever occur to you to use a napkin? Here, take two, they're small." Justin thanked her and wiped the red blob off of his clothes. Lyonell and Jin walked over to the picnic table, both bringing their lunch. The cat demon sat down next to his twin and started unwrapping his tuna salad sandwich. "How much are you willing to bet Yusuke won't fall asleep anytime soon, though?" Justin got out his wallet and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. "Here." He tossed the bill onto the table and looked at Jin and Lyonell, waiting for them to place their own bets. Jin pulled a small gem out of his pocket and flipped it onto the table; Lyonell dug deep into his own wallet and finally pulled out a few silver coins. Chrysanthemum rolled her eyes skyward and got up from between Jin and her brother. "Boys . . ."
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Holly hovered above her friends on her broom. Lyra and Kurama were already ready to go and Lark soon ran out the door, hastily tossing her hairbrush onto the couch behind her. "What're we waiting for? We can catch the trolley if we hurry." Lyra nodded, and made sure that Kurama was securely in her bag before running after her sister and Holly. The witch slowed down her broom enough so the sisters could catch up and looked back. "What's taking you guys so long? I can already see it pulling up to the station now."
"Not everyone can fly, Holly. Maybe could you give us a lift?" Holly dropped down to their level and shrugged. "I don't think this old broom can handle it- Hey! What are you doing?" Lark and Lyra hopped onto the slender broomstick and Lark pointed ahead towards the main campus, where the trolley was slowing down to a stop. "Tally-ho! Off into the wild blue yoooonnndeeerrr!"
"NO SINGING!" Kyuro leaned over Holly's shoulder and hissed at Lark. The water manipulator scooted a little farther down the broomstick to get away from the angry familiar. "Ho-kay then! No singing, gotcha!" Lark flipped him a peace sign and innocently smiled.
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Rogerik hurriedly ran through the dark mansion. His footsteps echoed on the cold stone floor as he took a left. Screeching to a halt, he surveyed the corridor in front of him. A faint humming sound resonated throughout the hall, and the tiny glimmer of a metal surface gave away the location of the security cameras. Rogerik slinked near the walls and kept in the shadows towards the brightly lit safe room up ahead. Using his PK, he flicked out the lights and scurried to the giant lock. Carefully stroking it, he concentrated and the bolts slid into place with a couple faint clicks. Sighing in relief, he swung open the door, only to set off the klaxon alarms.
"Nice try, but you ran out of time." The lights flared and the alarm stopped. Rogerik shielded his eyes from the bright lights with his hand until they slowly adjusted. His teacher, Oikawa, slowly walked out from behind a suit of armor and pointed to a tiny mechanical device Rogerik hadn't noticed in the dark environment. "This little toy threw it all off. It's a Spirit energy sensor. They're becoming quite popular among the higher class as of late, even humans." The blond leaned down and closely observed the tiny machine, painted black so as to hide it from most intruders.
"I see . . ." he murmured. Oikawa sighed and replied, "No you didn't. It was tracking your movements the entire time you were here. You have to take these out as soon as you spot them, or it'll make the job nearly impossible." Rogerik started chuckling under his breath, and his fairly young teacher turned to him. "What's so funny?"
"This is a school founded by Lord Koenma, and I'm taking lessons on how to be a master thief. The real funny part is, that it's perfectly legal for it to be my major."
"Yes, it is slightly ironic . . . however, if you do go into business as a thief for hire, it'll most likely for Koenma himself." Oikawa said, while walking back to his office in the building's west wing. Rogerik mused over Oikawa's words a little longer, then followed his teacher out of the training hall.
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Djornn pulled the red-hot bar of steel out of the fire Hiei was stoking and started to hammer it, twisting it into another curled section of a rapier handle. The two worked in complete silence, as the centaur had given up on talking with his student quite a while ago. Finally, he welded the spiraling sections together and attached it to the fine blade with a stream of liquefying fire. "Who's this sword for, anyways?" The soot-gray centaur jumped a bit, turning his black eyes to the normally quiet Hiei.
"An inventor named Suzuki. He's planning on infusing charms and abilities into the blade."
"Suzuki? I think I met that fool at the Dark Tournament."
"He's no fool. If anything, that demon is a genius." Hiei gave his teacher a three-eyed, disbelieving glare. "Genius? He came dressed as a clown, for crissake." Djornn put the finished handle into a bucket of water to cool down. "Either way, I'm surprised he offered to teach here during the second semester." The short demon sweatdropped, obviously too stunned to say anything, and continued to stoke the raging fire. Suzuki a teacher? Now that was a laugh.
"Suzuki, a teacher?! Now that's a laugh!" Yusuke snickered at what Hiei had just told him, and steadied himself against the brick wall of the main offices. "That's what the centaur said." The demon sullenly replied.
"Maybe he's desperate for money." Kuwabara stated. Jin and Yusuke just stared at him and shared glances, coming to the same conclusion. " He still wouldn't get a job as a teacher even then." Yusuke said, Jin nodding in agreement to his friend's words. "Tha's true. Suzuki can't stand not being paid attention to, we all know that." Rogerik ran up between the four, trying to catch his breath. Cautiously, he looked back over his shoulder and tried to hide behind Jin and Yusuke. "Dude, hide me. They freakin' scare me!"
Kuwabara looked off into the distance, shading his eyes from the bright sun. "Who?" he asked. Rogerik poked his head out from behind Jin and snapped, "Three guesses, first two don't count. Who else has been harassing me for the ten years I've been at this school?"
"Erm . . . Oh, its those losers that beat you up at the tournament."
"Yeah, genius! They've been trying to get at me ever since you guys kicked their asses in the ring! Speaking of which, maybe could you do me a little favor and-" Rogerik hopefully smiled and tried to look as innocent as possible. Hiei drew his katana and stepped forwards. "Well, I have nothing better to do, anyways. You idiots go on ahead to class, I'll deal with them." Rogerik humbly bowed his head to Hiei and hurried after the rest of the guys to his class. "Thank you! Remind me to do your chores when I get back home. Wait a minute . . .what am I saying? See ya!"
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The trolley slowed down to a stop in the middle of the Western downtown plaza, and the three girls hopped off the brightly colored vehicle with relative ease. Lyra stumbled, but soon regained her balance and turned to her friends. "So, where to?"
"Erm, we can try Border's, but I doubt we'll find anything there; its too modern. I suggest that we go to Alexa's." Holly said, surveying the long, crowded downtown area. Lark, energetic as always, was pacing and shifting her weight from foot to foot. "You know, we could always check out that really old and creepy bookstore. What was the name . . . aw crap, I forgot."
Lyra lightly patted her younger sister on the head and pointed down the cobblestone street. "Don't worry, Lark. It'll come to you eventually. However, lets stop wasting time and go to Alexa's."
Oceanview plaza was crowded, as usual. Young children ran and played games of tag on the giant marble fountain, splashing water at each other even in the chilly December air. Kurama and Kyuro ran ahead of the girls, dodging pushcarts, pedestrians, and bikes. Out of the view of most passerby, a small café was hidden between the larger stores, a variety of chairs and sofas visible from the stained glass windows. Holly whistled for the two animals, and they came running back; Kyuro leaping onto Holly's shoulder and Kurama into Lyra's arms. "Ah, good ol' Alexa's! The only coffee house and antique bookstore in all of barrier world!" The cat exclaimed, licking his lips. "It's been so long . . . Holly, I want a caramel expresse latte, extra cream, and two sugars!"
"I'm sure you do, but we're here to look for a map or geography book." The witch answered. Kyuro pleadingly looked into her green eyes and adoringly asked, "Maybe if I help you find the right book can I get one?" Lark sighed, and tweaked the cat's ear as she opened the front door. "We'll see. Lyra, you're paying."
"What?! Why me?"
"I spent all the money dad sent me on upgrading my laptop. It has twenty gigabytes of space now!"
"Oh, like you really needed the extra memory. You're fanfictions don't take up that much space." Lyra held the door open with her foot for Holly, who closed it behind her. Inside, the smell of old lather and gourmet coffee mingled, mixing into a homey aroma. The cashier, Alexa herself, was busy serving some hot chocolate to two other students at the academy, whom the girls recognized as Jay Gilbert and Shane Raby.
"Hi Alexa! It's been awhile." Holly cheerfully waved to the young woman and hopped on a stool next to Shane. Both boys leaned away a little from Lark, who was maliciously smirking at them. Lyra poked her sister in the arm and whispered to her, Lark sighed, but tried to be nice to Jay and Shane. Hey! Jay, I'm surprised you recovered so quickly; that was a pretty bad blow." Jay nervously answered, "Er, yeah. My girlfriend is one of the medical assistants."
"Oh, really? Who?" Lark hopped up on a red leather stool and crossed her legs, adjusting her pleated, short skirt. Jay scooted a little farther away from her, still not trusting Lark and her all-too-innocent smile. "Yumi Saratoshi." Lark brightly smiled, looking somewhat like she was on speed. "That's nice. Hm?" She looked back to Alexa, who was taking their orders. "Sorry, Alexa. I was just talking with Jay- that's funny . . ." she looked back over to the stool, still spinning around from when Jay had ran out of the shop in his attempt to get away from the younger girl. "He's gone. Must've left . . . Oh well. Anyways, I'll have a vanilla chai tea. Two equals, please." Alexa nodded, and turned to the array of coffee pots, grinders, and cappuccino machines. "It'll be right up, girls. Anything else?"
"Oh, yes. We're looking for a map, somewhere between Misery Island and Galeri bay." Lyra said, longingly glancing over at the stuffed bookshelves. Kurama had pulled one out from the bottom shelf and was flipping through the yellowed pages with his delicate muzzle, speedily reading each intricately painted page before moving on. "Over to the far right is where I keep most maps. They should be in alphabetical order, too. That is, if my new employee remembered to fix the shelves after closing last night."
Lyra kneeled down, glancing at the map book titles until she finally came across one that looked fairly promising. Pulling it out from the shelf, she scooped Kurama up and let him lay on her shoulder while she brought the old, leather cover portfolio to the bar. Lyra opened it, flipping through the ancient maps until she found one that showed the ocean currents between Misery Island and Galeri bay. "That's weird," Kyuro said, from his spot on the bar. "It doesn't show anything there, either." Lyra; however, pointed out a long arrow that curved above the uppermost part of the island. "See this? The current turns away and seems to follow an irregular path. But there's nothing that could possibly make it turn that way, unless-"
"Oh, I get it! The island is there, but was never put on a map." Lark said, scooting the anxious Kurama out of the way so she could get a better look. "Here are your coffees, girls." Alexa placed the steaming mugs in front of Lyra, Holly, and Lark; then placed a saucer of cream and coffee in front of Kyuro. The cat pounced upon it and buried his head in the frothy cream, meowing a "Thanks", then coughed as the coffee burned the tip of his sensitive tongue. Lyra placed her mug to her lips and gently sipped the delicious drink, then noticed Kurama looking up at her with his bright, green eyes. Sighing, she poured some coffee into a saucer, poured in three creamers and mixed it before giving it to the tiny kit. Kurama's eyes flashed yellow, and he ran for the drink, but he stopped halfway and, tail tucked between his legs, timidly lapped it up.
"If no one ever marked it, then what happened?" Holly asked. Lark just stared at the witch and sarcastically answered, "What do you think? The dragon toasted 'em. They became human shish-kebobs!" Lyra, Holly, and Kurama just stared, then shuddered at the thought of being roasted alive. "Er, lets move onto a nicer topic. Like, how are we supposed to get there?" Holly asked, helping Lyra clean up the mess of old maps.
"Rent a boat and pray to the goddess that we aren't marauded by pirates, swallowed by giant sea-monsters, attacked by evil sea-monkeys-"
"Wait a minute, are sea-monkeys evil?" Lyra asked her sister, wondering what the hell Alexa had put in Lark's coffee. No, wait, caffeine. Caffeine was Lark's poison. The younger sister grinned and gulped down another swig of the creamy, coffee goodness. "Not that I know of, but there's always a first, right?"
"Yeah, but . . ." Holly said, grimacing at Lark's sudden caffeine rush.
"Exactly! So, our mission is to restore Kurama to his rightful form and be the first people to discover the legendary evil sea-monkeys!"
"Whatever floats your boat, Lark . . ." Lyra said, nonchalantly bringing the map over to the copying machine. She put it down on the flatbed scanner and pressed 'copy'. Holly stared at her friend with wide, scared eyes and muttered, "God, we're screwed." Lark finished her drink in one more gulp and wiped the cream from her lips. "Yeah! We ARE screwed, aren't we? But at least we'll be screwed together!"
Both Kurama and Kyuro stared at the certifiably insane Admarant sister. The cat familiar blinked a few times in silence, then said, " . . . That . . . SO didn't sound right . . ."
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Yusuke tossed his back pack onto the cold, stone floor and collapsed in his seat. Advanced algebra had been a horror; he didn't even know what the hell was going on in that class. Now he had history class. Whoopee, another hour- long period to sit and stare at the ceiling, and totally ignore whatever the dipshit teacher was talking about. Who cared about Demon boycotts or the Great War of 5094 BC? Rogerik and Justin were already half-asleep, and class hadn't even started yet. "Man, I wish I had stayed back and helped Hiei kick those guy's asses." He mumbled. Jin nodded in agreement, too bored to even talk in a complete sentence.
The thick wooden door creaked open, but instead of the elderly, hideous looking, fish-headed Fomorian (a Fomorian is a hideous monster made of human and beast flesh. They originated in Ireland and I'm not making them up. Trust me on this, k?) history teacher, in walked a fairly young man, apparently in his late twenties. Both Yusuke and Jin choked when they noticed the familiar spiky, blond hair and smug smile. On the substitute's shoulder was a small bird-like demon, glowering at the entire class, especially at the two dark-tournament participants.
"Well, I see we're all surprised. I know that you were told I wouldn't start teaching until after winter vacation, But your previous teacher, er . . . had his head eaten off by his wife when he refused to do the dishes. Strange creatures, Fomorians are. Yusuke, Jin, its been awhile." Both students grimly nodded, none too pleased with their current substitute. Suzuki cleared his throat and addressed the class. "So, I've been hired as both your history teacher and mechanics teacher. It doesn't really bother me, as I get paid twice as much."
The bird-demon, obviously Shishiwakamaru in his true form, squawked and scurried down from Suzuki's shoulder. He hopped onto the leather-cushioned perch and contined glaring at the class. The inventor faked a smile and whapped Shishi lightly across the beak, switching on the overhead projector with his other hand. "Well, here are the rules for my class. Number one, no skipping. If you feel tempted to skip history, and I know many of you are," Suzuki shot a meaningful glance at Yusuke, who innocently shrugged. "I have a lovely collection of thumbscrews. I'm not afraid to use them, either."
Most of the students recoiled at the threat, but Justin St.Pierre, obviously in a bad mood, mumbled "Blow it out of your rear, Jack-ass." Suzuki growled something and pulled a cord that lowered from the ceiling, sending Justin falling into a steep pit full of water. The students all stared at the trap-door in the linoleum floor, and scooted their desks back as Justin started screaming obscenities at Suzuki, who pleasantly smiled. "And the second rule is no bad-mouthing the teacher. Now, onto rule three . . ."
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KKC: Well, as an apology for taking so long last week, I'm going to do two chapters this week. Look for the next chappie by Sunday!
Touya: Hey, how come I'm not in yet?
KKC: All in due time, my dear shinobi friend. Anyways, don't you think Suzuki id=s a scary teacher.
Touya: He borders "Scary-beyond-all-reason" and just plain insane.
KKC: I know! ^-^ That's why I put him in as a teacher. Oh, and to all my readers, if you like my fic then review. It only takes a minute and inspires me to write more. So, if you ever want to leave me a message or give some hints to make the story better, just click the little purple button below this text. Buh-bye!