Well, I told 'ya I'd update sooner this time around. And, to bring us back
from the positive weirdness of the academy's February antics, I was
thinking of answering some reviews, which I haven't done in like... um...
twenty-six or so chapters. ^ ^;; Eh, oh well.
To Ryu-sama: Yeah, I know it was weird. Mind you, after deciding not to worry about the deadline, I took some time off to work out a few kinks in the story line and put in quality effort to the finished chapter; however, I soon found myself three weeks overdue and with only a page and a half of the actual 30th chapter. Resolving to do something, I took a full two days to type out the finished 20-page chapter, and by then I was running on empty since my supply of caffeine chewing gum ran out. Therefore, the spelling errors and holes come into play. Sorry 'bout that. ^ ^;; My sister was just as tired as I was on Sunday evening, so she didn't do that good of a job proofreading it. To straighten things out for you, and everyone else out there, the monster is a bit of a rat demon/sea serpent thing; Remember that head that first came out of Lark's cooking pot, with four glowing eyes and a scream that would make you curl up on the floor and cradle your bleeding ears? That's it. He... ~grew~ a bit during his four-hour run through the city sewers. Hint: Don't ever shove off the myth that there are twelve- foot-long crocs in the sewers; either you haven't played the futurama game for PS2, or you live in town where the sewerage isn't more radioactive than Plutonium.
To Ryuu no Furui Yami: Same excuse for weirdness applies, Ryuu-chan. But, I was truly out of ideas for a humorous end until I went down to the willows with my dad and stepbrothers. Hungry gulls are scary, which is why its fun to bait them with Chinese chicken wings, make them perform a dazzling array of aerial maneuvers, and sell tickets for admittance to gullible little children. *smirks evilly* Don't worry, I use this only as a last resort when I need quarters for the arcade. Oh, and Rogerik and Lark made it back alright, although the gulls hung around for a good hour, until Yusuke came home and proceeded to try and shoot every single one out of the sky with his Rei gun. If it were for Yusuke, maybe that movie "The Birds" might have ended differently.
In other news, I'm looking for some characters if you folks wanna send in any. Just look below at the bottom of this chapter.
Also, if the spelling and grammar seems to be a bit off, it's because I'm typing one-handed. I apparently pissed off Atauro, and he took it out on my left hand, which is now wrapped in a gel ice pack to numb the excruciating pain; At least I can still draw.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Stop reminding me.
Quote of the Week: "And you - well, you scare me most of all." -Mr. K, in Algebra, trying to explain y = mx + b to Ian. Good times...
Oh, and feel the power of my new border. It's all border-y. (It's also looks kinda like plaid. Scaaary...)
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That damn brace. At least the cast was off, but his wrist was still immobilized by a tightly wrapped gel and fabric brace that Kurama had insisted he wear. 'Damn fox. Curse him and that baka horse.' The demon silently swore in his head, watching the other students from his high perch in an ancient sycamore tree that shaded the brick path, which wound its way down to the main offices and many of the other classrooms.
Students passed by below, blissfully unaware of the frustrated time bomb above them, chatting and fooling around between classes. Two of these students, which the three-eyed demon regretted knowing, were whispering among themselves and fooling around with a small box. Deciding he had nothing better to do, the skilled fighter disappeared from his old perch and appeared behind the two students with a silent sneer.
"What are you two bakas doing this time?"
Both the cat-demon and blond-haired teen jumped in surprise, the former's tail puffing up to a nearly unseen-of size, and Justin replied hotly, "Get out of here Hiei." The Jaganshi glared at them, and laid his eyes upon the package that Justin had hastily stowed in his bag. He disappeared once again, only to reappear in front of them with the package in hand. Reading the label, Hiei grimaced and tossed it over his shoulder, leaving the two students to fumble for it.
"What are you planning to do with that shit?" The demon finally asked, after they had walked a bit. Lyonell nervously chuckled and scratched the back of his tawny head, but Justin's eyes seemed to flare up. "Oh, it'll be some very deep shit, indeed. Suzuka is gonna have to sit down for this, and he won't be getting up in a very long time."
"...You're sick. I don't know why those idiots I live with even bother to deal with you."
"Hey, you get what's coming to you. A few tablets in the bastard's coffee, and he won't be the wiser until its too late." Justin smirked at Hiei's retreating the back, and Lyonell smacked his forehead in exasperation at his two friends. Grabbing onto his classmate's arm, the cat twin forcefully dragged Justin away from the Jaganshi and they stalked off to their History teacher's classroom.
Over the two or so months, Suzuka had finally managed to transport most of his junk to the classroom, of which its bookshelves were already bulging with masses of written material, many by the vain inventor himself, and a lovely collection of random mechanical pieces were piled in one of the far corners of the large room. Thankfully, the teacher was nowhere in sight. Lyonell stood outside the wooden door, tricking other students away as Justin performed his dirty deed, and it was indeed dirty, before Suzuka came back.
The blond man's coffee mug stood on the cluttered desk, acting as a paperweight for a huge stack of manuscripts; taking a few individually- wrapped pouches out of the small cardboard box that was stowed in his backpack, Justin unwrapped three of them and dropped them in the still steaming coffee, stirring them in with a coffee-stained teaspoon that had been left in the pencil holder on Suzuka's desk. The door in the back began to creak as the brass knob turned of its own accord, and Justin hastily tossed the empty wrappers in the trash before scampering out into the main hall of the brick building that hosted many of the classrooms. 'No more dunkings for me, today,' was all that went through the youth's head, and the two students pretended to patiently wait for the rest of their classmates to show up.
"Justin, Lyonell, what are you doing here so early?" Rogerik squeezed his way up the wooden stairs, staying just ahead of Yusuke, and managed to avoid a swipe from an angry female student; no doubt one he had been harassing in the halls. More nervous laughter from the green-eyed cat, but Justin merely faked a glare and bored holes into their heads. "None of your business." Taking on a lighter tone, he smiled and asked, "How are those birds doing?"
"Don't even mention the damned birds."
"What; I thought you wanted a bunch of chicks after you."
"Yes, but preferably without feathers!" The thief glared daggers at his friend, only to accidentally be whacked over the head with a rather heavy book bag as Elaine used her wings to fly over the crowd of academy students. Yusuke wasn't too far behind, and managed to erect a shield of electrified spirit energy if anyone got too close to him, thereby cutting himself a path through.
"Well, I leave Japan because it's too congested, and what do I get? A horde of over two-thousand students crowded in one hallway."
"Face it Yusuke; you just can't win."
"Aww, Rogerik, don't be such a pessimist. If his luck was as bad as you say it is, he'd be dead by now." Replied Justin with a grin.
"You know, I just love when you idiots talk like I'm not even here." The spirit detective pushed his way past a throng of younger students, and finally reached the front door of Suzuka's class. Noticing something was wrong, Yusuke looked worriedly at his companions. "Is it just me, or is Justin excessively happy for this time of day?"
"Hey, maybe he's finally getting used to having Suzuka as a teacher," Lyonell said, shrugging his shoulders and slipping in the door, just as the blond inventor was coming up the stairs with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. By the time Suzuka was in the classroom, his students were all in their respective seats; putting the bag down by his overly-cluttered desk, the demon picked up the coffee mug and took a brief sip, then placed it back down so it could continue to serve its duty as a paperweight.
"Well, I trust that you all finished the five-page research paper that I assigned." He took another sip of coffee, and Yusuke was surprised to see a smile - no, a malicious sneer - appear upon Justin's face. Whatever had the teen in such a good mood, the spirit detective knew he definitely wanted no part in it; of course, things were never that simple.
With a few scattered complaints from around the spacious classroom, the papers were passed up, and the history teacher collected them, rifling through the reports to check he had all of the papers. He flipped through a second time, and gave Yusuke what seemed to be a cross between of a glare and a smirk. "Yusuke, where's yours?"
"I forgot it. No big deal, I'll pass it in next class." The tantei leaned back in his desk, folding his hands behind his head and glaring back at the demon.
"You said that about the homework assignment I gave you two weeks ago, also. It's either in my mailbox by midnight tonight or you get a zero." He put the reports in a manilla folder, then tossed the folder on his desk until he could correct them later that day. Crossing his arms, the tall man leaned against his desk and, in a rather annoyed voice, said, "Anyways, I'm sure you're all thrilled to hear that we have a quiz today. Due to that simpleton of a headmaster, I'm forced to follow a curriculum and totally ignore all of your own personal opinions on the matter. Now doesn't that sound fun?"
More groans. At this, Suzuka smiled.
"I thought so." He faked a cheerful attitude while surveying his somber students, and continued. "Meaning, we have to finish the rest of this section instead of entertaining ourselves by whatever pathetic means we can; that means to stop dissecting that security alarm in the back corner, Rogerik. Reconnect those wires this minute and put the casing back on before I give you a detention slip."
The thief sheepishly shrugged, and proceeded to put the alarm back together, ignoring the glances from other students; Suzuka forcefully slapped his fist down on the desk of a gossiping female students, startling his other charges from the blond psychic's workings. "Trust me, it's a very tempting prospect; I bet Shikyo and Ryo close to twenty dollars that I would have the detention hall filled by one o'clock this afternoon." Many of the teens recoiled away from Suzuka, a look of fear on their faces at the prospect of detention, but Yusuke stood his ground, watching Justin out of the corner of his eye.
It seemed like he was waiting for something. Scary; scary indeed.
The inventor unzipped his duffel bag and took out a dark brown folder, flipping it open and handing out a large pile of four-page packets to pass around the class. "These tests have to be done by the end of this period, otherwise we won't be able to take those notes about the Netherworld's rebellion against Reikai." There was a murmur throughout the class, and Yusuke's brown eyes held a faint bit of recognition of the name. The Netherworld... why did something tell the detective that the former demon's hell wasn't in the curriculum? Suzuka leaned back on his desk and, noticing his charges were still gossiping instead of doing their work, glared angrily at them.
"Stop chattering and get writing. Now."
Elaine "eep"-ed, once again hiding behind the gleefully waiting Justin, her translucent wings shimmering in the pale late-winter light, and immediately started scribbling down the answers. There was something wrong, however, and most of the students seemed to notice this as they filled out the tests. Suzuka, once mirthfully glaring at anyone who slacked, was now looking a bit sick; his face unusually pale and his eyes held a slightly pained look to them. With a sudden stroke of realization, Yusuke noticed this must have been what Justin had been waiting for, because the boy's face was practically split in two by a demonic, maniacal grin.
Enma help Suzuka, the poor bastard.
Of course, Enma probably couldn't have interfered with Suzuka's current stockpile of bad karma, because the teacher silently left the classroom in a rush. He didn't come back in; even as the final bell for the period rang, the inventor remained missing. Instead, a rather perturbed cat-demon stepped in; his green eyes barely slits and black tail thrashing angrily behind him. Lyonell, from his seat by Rogerik, took one long stare at the young man, put two and two together from the descriptions his twin had given him about the newest teacher at the academy, and came with a final answer.
"Shikyo."
Justin nodded his head, still grinning like a fool at his "poor" teacher's sudden illness to notice that the feline's dark eyes were staring straight at him, and seemed to hold a mirthful look as his sharp canine teeth showed up brilliantly against his ebony hair and fur in a small smile.
"Lyonell Aurata, Justin St.Pierre; I do believe Suzuka would like a word with the two of you." When neither teen moved, the cat sighed in exhasperation and grabbed Justin by the shoulder and Lyonell by the tip of one of his tawny, furred ears. "He meant within the next twenty-five minutes, so I suggest you get a move on before he suspends you for being tardy. He's being held in the infirmary down by the main offices." Pushing them out the door, Shikyo watched them hurry down the cramped hall before turning to the rest of the class. "Leave your tests on his...desk..." His dark eyes noticed the pile of paperwork and schoolwork that had piled up on the piece of furniture, blocking any view of it's once wooden body, and sweatdropped. "Scratch that, I'll just collect them once you're gone."
* * *
She couldn't believe it.
After all those weeks of searching and spending the night at the cheap inn down by the harbor, she finally had her own home. Truthfully, it wasn't much to look at, as most run-down houses are, but it was hers and it was home. Despite the multiple holes in the roof, broken windows, and crumbling chimney, it definitely beat an apartment.
Yukimi was finally a homeowner.
Even when she had studied with her own teacher, she had never really owned any of the books or equipment, which had made it all the easier to pick up and leave, but now she had her own house. Reon, curled up into a gray, snoozing ball of fur, yawned and opened his green eyes, only to stop in mid- yawn and stare in wonder. In the neglected, dilapidated old gardens, robins and blue jays fluttered from branch to branch of the old oak tree that shaded the western corner of the yard, and a small flock of sparrows were clustered on the ground, searching for any early-spring insects, while a small field-mouse stood hunched over on a jagged chunk of concrete cinderblock, busily gnawing away at an acorn.
With merely a pleased meow, the young cat jumped from his owner's arms and prowled through his new yard at a healthy trot, leaving Yukimi to explore (and clean) the old house on her own. Of course, some people just had to spoil an occasion such as this.
"Yukimi, didn't you check out the house before you bought it?" The icemaster stood behind the black-haired dragon specialist, his frosty eyes narrowed in suspicion at the abandoned building. Yukimi sighed, and dragged Touya past the picket fence and into the yard, paying mind to the fact that maybe she should have had a proper walk-through of the building first. Still, she was in no mood for pessimism. "Of course I did, Touya. I knew it was a crap-box; but that means I can rebuild it to my liking. Besides, the property taxes are nearly nothing, along with the water bill, electric bill, sewerage."
"That could be because it hasn't been inhabited since the 1890's, and your drinking water comes from an old well in the backyard."
"But, it's all mine, and that's all that matters."
Silence, then, "I hope you know what you're setting yourself up for, Yukimi."
"Of course! If worse comes to worse, I can always hire a few students; and I know you, Chuu, Rinku, and the rest of the guys would love to help restore the place."
"...Maybe you should just knock it down and build the house from scratch?" Touya cautiously walked down the stone pathway, freezing solid a host of nasty-looking weeds that had mysteriously seemed to latch onto his ankles. Yukimi cheerily followed, and patted the porch railing affectionately. "I'm sure there's no need for that. In fact, this house is very sturdy and safe."
Of course, that was when the entire front porch chose that moment to collapse upon itself. The two of them finally managed to stop choking from the overwhelming dust, and Touya merely gave the young woman a cold stare.
"Um... that wasn't supposed to happen."
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Kurama: *takes off ice-pack and checks KKC's hand* Good, its doing better.
KKC: Hm? *looks at bite marks* Oh, yeah... it isn't as green now.
Grimoire: Yes... now its more purplish.
Stephanie: What? What's purple? *walks over, and gasps at KKC's hand* A flesh wound!
Kurama: *comfortingly* Don't worry, Stephanie-san; it's not that bad.
Stephanie:*pokes KKC's wounded hand* I want to poke it. *pokes hand again*
KKC: Hey! Stop that! The ice is wearing off and I can feel it now. OW! *slaps Stephanie's hand away* That hurt, dammit!
Stephanie: *whining* But I wanna poke it! Pleeeaaassseee?
KKC: No! Go'way! *runs away from Stephanie, who chases after her*
Stephanie: Come back! Let me poke your mangled hand!
Grimoire: -_- *anime sigh* And yet again...
Kurama: Well, at least they can't cause too much trouble, right? ^ ^;;
Oh, and just because I'm being chased by my uncompassionate friend doesn't mean that I can't take in OCs. Here's the basic info I need:
Name- (Um... I really don't think I need to explain this for you guys - except it'd be nice to give your character a last name.) Age- (The age of the character. It often determines what level classes they take or if they're a student, teacher, or staff member) Gender- (I'm hoping I don't need to explain this either.) Race- (Human, demon, fairy, faun, elf, centaur, evil-swamp-thing-from-the- dimension-Xyquusil; whatever pleases you.) Appearance- (what you look like, eye color, hair, clothing, accessories, any other things such as height or weight [or what build the character has] or instinctive feature.) Personality- (How your character acts around others or in general. For instance, Lark is high-strung around some of the guys [Rogerik is a good example], but is fairly laid back when around her sister and her female friends.) Other- (any classes or relationships they might share with existing characters, jobs, abilities they might have, their majors, familiars or family, and whether they live in a dorm or commute between the academy and Meuca.)
Yep, that about fits it. Unfortunately, I can' t guarantee to pair up an OC with an existing character (although Shishiwakamaru is free, as well as some of my OCs - like Justin, Lyonell, and... um... Shane [?].); if you want to talk to me so I can portray your character correctly in the story, or try and force a few sneak previews out of the author, feel free to e- mail or IM me. I'm usually on IM between 4 & 6 Pm (Eastern time) on weekdays; but please tell me your author name if you do, so I don't freak out and accidentally block you out. It's happened more than once, but, thankfully, the program will allow me to talk with Eddie now that he's stopped trying to hack into my computer.
Erm... either way, have fun creating your OC. No, really, have fun. As Shikyo and Ryuu no Furui Yami already know, I take great liberties with said reader-sent characters, so don't be too hurt if they end up in a few unfortunate mishaps (Mostly small stuff. If it's anything major, I'll e- mail you).
Oh, and a special thanks if anyone guesses what Justin did to Suzuka-san's coffee. In fact, whoever gets it right gets to pick the next wheel-of- torture victim. (If it's more than one person, I'll pick the name randomly through some form of lots.) So, until next time, Ciao.
To Ryu-sama: Yeah, I know it was weird. Mind you, after deciding not to worry about the deadline, I took some time off to work out a few kinks in the story line and put in quality effort to the finished chapter; however, I soon found myself three weeks overdue and with only a page and a half of the actual 30th chapter. Resolving to do something, I took a full two days to type out the finished 20-page chapter, and by then I was running on empty since my supply of caffeine chewing gum ran out. Therefore, the spelling errors and holes come into play. Sorry 'bout that. ^ ^;; My sister was just as tired as I was on Sunday evening, so she didn't do that good of a job proofreading it. To straighten things out for you, and everyone else out there, the monster is a bit of a rat demon/sea serpent thing; Remember that head that first came out of Lark's cooking pot, with four glowing eyes and a scream that would make you curl up on the floor and cradle your bleeding ears? That's it. He... ~grew~ a bit during his four-hour run through the city sewers. Hint: Don't ever shove off the myth that there are twelve- foot-long crocs in the sewers; either you haven't played the futurama game for PS2, or you live in town where the sewerage isn't more radioactive than Plutonium.
To Ryuu no Furui Yami: Same excuse for weirdness applies, Ryuu-chan. But, I was truly out of ideas for a humorous end until I went down to the willows with my dad and stepbrothers. Hungry gulls are scary, which is why its fun to bait them with Chinese chicken wings, make them perform a dazzling array of aerial maneuvers, and sell tickets for admittance to gullible little children. *smirks evilly* Don't worry, I use this only as a last resort when I need quarters for the arcade. Oh, and Rogerik and Lark made it back alright, although the gulls hung around for a good hour, until Yusuke came home and proceeded to try and shoot every single one out of the sky with his Rei gun. If it were for Yusuke, maybe that movie "The Birds" might have ended differently.
In other news, I'm looking for some characters if you folks wanna send in any. Just look below at the bottom of this chapter.
Also, if the spelling and grammar seems to be a bit off, it's because I'm typing one-handed. I apparently pissed off Atauro, and he took it out on my left hand, which is now wrapped in a gel ice pack to numb the excruciating pain; At least I can still draw.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Stop reminding me.
Quote of the Week: "And you - well, you scare me most of all." -Mr. K, in Algebra, trying to explain y = mx + b to Ian. Good times...
Oh, and feel the power of my new border. It's all border-y. (It's also looks kinda like plaid. Scaaary...)
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That damn brace. At least the cast was off, but his wrist was still immobilized by a tightly wrapped gel and fabric brace that Kurama had insisted he wear. 'Damn fox. Curse him and that baka horse.' The demon silently swore in his head, watching the other students from his high perch in an ancient sycamore tree that shaded the brick path, which wound its way down to the main offices and many of the other classrooms.
Students passed by below, blissfully unaware of the frustrated time bomb above them, chatting and fooling around between classes. Two of these students, which the three-eyed demon regretted knowing, were whispering among themselves and fooling around with a small box. Deciding he had nothing better to do, the skilled fighter disappeared from his old perch and appeared behind the two students with a silent sneer.
"What are you two bakas doing this time?"
Both the cat-demon and blond-haired teen jumped in surprise, the former's tail puffing up to a nearly unseen-of size, and Justin replied hotly, "Get out of here Hiei." The Jaganshi glared at them, and laid his eyes upon the package that Justin had hastily stowed in his bag. He disappeared once again, only to reappear in front of them with the package in hand. Reading the label, Hiei grimaced and tossed it over his shoulder, leaving the two students to fumble for it.
"What are you planning to do with that shit?" The demon finally asked, after they had walked a bit. Lyonell nervously chuckled and scratched the back of his tawny head, but Justin's eyes seemed to flare up. "Oh, it'll be some very deep shit, indeed. Suzuka is gonna have to sit down for this, and he won't be getting up in a very long time."
"...You're sick. I don't know why those idiots I live with even bother to deal with you."
"Hey, you get what's coming to you. A few tablets in the bastard's coffee, and he won't be the wiser until its too late." Justin smirked at Hiei's retreating the back, and Lyonell smacked his forehead in exasperation at his two friends. Grabbing onto his classmate's arm, the cat twin forcefully dragged Justin away from the Jaganshi and they stalked off to their History teacher's classroom.
Over the two or so months, Suzuka had finally managed to transport most of his junk to the classroom, of which its bookshelves were already bulging with masses of written material, many by the vain inventor himself, and a lovely collection of random mechanical pieces were piled in one of the far corners of the large room. Thankfully, the teacher was nowhere in sight. Lyonell stood outside the wooden door, tricking other students away as Justin performed his dirty deed, and it was indeed dirty, before Suzuka came back.
The blond man's coffee mug stood on the cluttered desk, acting as a paperweight for a huge stack of manuscripts; taking a few individually- wrapped pouches out of the small cardboard box that was stowed in his backpack, Justin unwrapped three of them and dropped them in the still steaming coffee, stirring them in with a coffee-stained teaspoon that had been left in the pencil holder on Suzuka's desk. The door in the back began to creak as the brass knob turned of its own accord, and Justin hastily tossed the empty wrappers in the trash before scampering out into the main hall of the brick building that hosted many of the classrooms. 'No more dunkings for me, today,' was all that went through the youth's head, and the two students pretended to patiently wait for the rest of their classmates to show up.
"Justin, Lyonell, what are you doing here so early?" Rogerik squeezed his way up the wooden stairs, staying just ahead of Yusuke, and managed to avoid a swipe from an angry female student; no doubt one he had been harassing in the halls. More nervous laughter from the green-eyed cat, but Justin merely faked a glare and bored holes into their heads. "None of your business." Taking on a lighter tone, he smiled and asked, "How are those birds doing?"
"Don't even mention the damned birds."
"What; I thought you wanted a bunch of chicks after you."
"Yes, but preferably without feathers!" The thief glared daggers at his friend, only to accidentally be whacked over the head with a rather heavy book bag as Elaine used her wings to fly over the crowd of academy students. Yusuke wasn't too far behind, and managed to erect a shield of electrified spirit energy if anyone got too close to him, thereby cutting himself a path through.
"Well, I leave Japan because it's too congested, and what do I get? A horde of over two-thousand students crowded in one hallway."
"Face it Yusuke; you just can't win."
"Aww, Rogerik, don't be such a pessimist. If his luck was as bad as you say it is, he'd be dead by now." Replied Justin with a grin.
"You know, I just love when you idiots talk like I'm not even here." The spirit detective pushed his way past a throng of younger students, and finally reached the front door of Suzuka's class. Noticing something was wrong, Yusuke looked worriedly at his companions. "Is it just me, or is Justin excessively happy for this time of day?"
"Hey, maybe he's finally getting used to having Suzuka as a teacher," Lyonell said, shrugging his shoulders and slipping in the door, just as the blond inventor was coming up the stairs with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. By the time Suzuka was in the classroom, his students were all in their respective seats; putting the bag down by his overly-cluttered desk, the demon picked up the coffee mug and took a brief sip, then placed it back down so it could continue to serve its duty as a paperweight.
"Well, I trust that you all finished the five-page research paper that I assigned." He took another sip of coffee, and Yusuke was surprised to see a smile - no, a malicious sneer - appear upon Justin's face. Whatever had the teen in such a good mood, the spirit detective knew he definitely wanted no part in it; of course, things were never that simple.
With a few scattered complaints from around the spacious classroom, the papers were passed up, and the history teacher collected them, rifling through the reports to check he had all of the papers. He flipped through a second time, and gave Yusuke what seemed to be a cross between of a glare and a smirk. "Yusuke, where's yours?"
"I forgot it. No big deal, I'll pass it in next class." The tantei leaned back in his desk, folding his hands behind his head and glaring back at the demon.
"You said that about the homework assignment I gave you two weeks ago, also. It's either in my mailbox by midnight tonight or you get a zero." He put the reports in a manilla folder, then tossed the folder on his desk until he could correct them later that day. Crossing his arms, the tall man leaned against his desk and, in a rather annoyed voice, said, "Anyways, I'm sure you're all thrilled to hear that we have a quiz today. Due to that simpleton of a headmaster, I'm forced to follow a curriculum and totally ignore all of your own personal opinions on the matter. Now doesn't that sound fun?"
More groans. At this, Suzuka smiled.
"I thought so." He faked a cheerful attitude while surveying his somber students, and continued. "Meaning, we have to finish the rest of this section instead of entertaining ourselves by whatever pathetic means we can; that means to stop dissecting that security alarm in the back corner, Rogerik. Reconnect those wires this minute and put the casing back on before I give you a detention slip."
The thief sheepishly shrugged, and proceeded to put the alarm back together, ignoring the glances from other students; Suzuka forcefully slapped his fist down on the desk of a gossiping female students, startling his other charges from the blond psychic's workings. "Trust me, it's a very tempting prospect; I bet Shikyo and Ryo close to twenty dollars that I would have the detention hall filled by one o'clock this afternoon." Many of the teens recoiled away from Suzuka, a look of fear on their faces at the prospect of detention, but Yusuke stood his ground, watching Justin out of the corner of his eye.
It seemed like he was waiting for something. Scary; scary indeed.
The inventor unzipped his duffel bag and took out a dark brown folder, flipping it open and handing out a large pile of four-page packets to pass around the class. "These tests have to be done by the end of this period, otherwise we won't be able to take those notes about the Netherworld's rebellion against Reikai." There was a murmur throughout the class, and Yusuke's brown eyes held a faint bit of recognition of the name. The Netherworld... why did something tell the detective that the former demon's hell wasn't in the curriculum? Suzuka leaned back on his desk and, noticing his charges were still gossiping instead of doing their work, glared angrily at them.
"Stop chattering and get writing. Now."
Elaine "eep"-ed, once again hiding behind the gleefully waiting Justin, her translucent wings shimmering in the pale late-winter light, and immediately started scribbling down the answers. There was something wrong, however, and most of the students seemed to notice this as they filled out the tests. Suzuka, once mirthfully glaring at anyone who slacked, was now looking a bit sick; his face unusually pale and his eyes held a slightly pained look to them. With a sudden stroke of realization, Yusuke noticed this must have been what Justin had been waiting for, because the boy's face was practically split in two by a demonic, maniacal grin.
Enma help Suzuka, the poor bastard.
Of course, Enma probably couldn't have interfered with Suzuka's current stockpile of bad karma, because the teacher silently left the classroom in a rush. He didn't come back in; even as the final bell for the period rang, the inventor remained missing. Instead, a rather perturbed cat-demon stepped in; his green eyes barely slits and black tail thrashing angrily behind him. Lyonell, from his seat by Rogerik, took one long stare at the young man, put two and two together from the descriptions his twin had given him about the newest teacher at the academy, and came with a final answer.
"Shikyo."
Justin nodded his head, still grinning like a fool at his "poor" teacher's sudden illness to notice that the feline's dark eyes were staring straight at him, and seemed to hold a mirthful look as his sharp canine teeth showed up brilliantly against his ebony hair and fur in a small smile.
"Lyonell Aurata, Justin St.Pierre; I do believe Suzuka would like a word with the two of you." When neither teen moved, the cat sighed in exhasperation and grabbed Justin by the shoulder and Lyonell by the tip of one of his tawny, furred ears. "He meant within the next twenty-five minutes, so I suggest you get a move on before he suspends you for being tardy. He's being held in the infirmary down by the main offices." Pushing them out the door, Shikyo watched them hurry down the cramped hall before turning to the rest of the class. "Leave your tests on his...desk..." His dark eyes noticed the pile of paperwork and schoolwork that had piled up on the piece of furniture, blocking any view of it's once wooden body, and sweatdropped. "Scratch that, I'll just collect them once you're gone."
* * *
She couldn't believe it.
After all those weeks of searching and spending the night at the cheap inn down by the harbor, she finally had her own home. Truthfully, it wasn't much to look at, as most run-down houses are, but it was hers and it was home. Despite the multiple holes in the roof, broken windows, and crumbling chimney, it definitely beat an apartment.
Yukimi was finally a homeowner.
Even when she had studied with her own teacher, she had never really owned any of the books or equipment, which had made it all the easier to pick up and leave, but now she had her own house. Reon, curled up into a gray, snoozing ball of fur, yawned and opened his green eyes, only to stop in mid- yawn and stare in wonder. In the neglected, dilapidated old gardens, robins and blue jays fluttered from branch to branch of the old oak tree that shaded the western corner of the yard, and a small flock of sparrows were clustered on the ground, searching for any early-spring insects, while a small field-mouse stood hunched over on a jagged chunk of concrete cinderblock, busily gnawing away at an acorn.
With merely a pleased meow, the young cat jumped from his owner's arms and prowled through his new yard at a healthy trot, leaving Yukimi to explore (and clean) the old house on her own. Of course, some people just had to spoil an occasion such as this.
"Yukimi, didn't you check out the house before you bought it?" The icemaster stood behind the black-haired dragon specialist, his frosty eyes narrowed in suspicion at the abandoned building. Yukimi sighed, and dragged Touya past the picket fence and into the yard, paying mind to the fact that maybe she should have had a proper walk-through of the building first. Still, she was in no mood for pessimism. "Of course I did, Touya. I knew it was a crap-box; but that means I can rebuild it to my liking. Besides, the property taxes are nearly nothing, along with the water bill, electric bill, sewerage."
"That could be because it hasn't been inhabited since the 1890's, and your drinking water comes from an old well in the backyard."
"But, it's all mine, and that's all that matters."
Silence, then, "I hope you know what you're setting yourself up for, Yukimi."
"Of course! If worse comes to worse, I can always hire a few students; and I know you, Chuu, Rinku, and the rest of the guys would love to help restore the place."
"...Maybe you should just knock it down and build the house from scratch?" Touya cautiously walked down the stone pathway, freezing solid a host of nasty-looking weeds that had mysteriously seemed to latch onto his ankles. Yukimi cheerily followed, and patted the porch railing affectionately. "I'm sure there's no need for that. In fact, this house is very sturdy and safe."
Of course, that was when the entire front porch chose that moment to collapse upon itself. The two of them finally managed to stop choking from the overwhelming dust, and Touya merely gave the young woman a cold stare.
"Um... that wasn't supposed to happen."
########################################################################
Kurama: *takes off ice-pack and checks KKC's hand* Good, its doing better.
KKC: Hm? *looks at bite marks* Oh, yeah... it isn't as green now.
Grimoire: Yes... now its more purplish.
Stephanie: What? What's purple? *walks over, and gasps at KKC's hand* A flesh wound!
Kurama: *comfortingly* Don't worry, Stephanie-san; it's not that bad.
Stephanie:*pokes KKC's wounded hand* I want to poke it. *pokes hand again*
KKC: Hey! Stop that! The ice is wearing off and I can feel it now. OW! *slaps Stephanie's hand away* That hurt, dammit!
Stephanie: *whining* But I wanna poke it! Pleeeaaassseee?
KKC: No! Go'way! *runs away from Stephanie, who chases after her*
Stephanie: Come back! Let me poke your mangled hand!
Grimoire: -_- *anime sigh* And yet again...
Kurama: Well, at least they can't cause too much trouble, right? ^ ^;;
Oh, and just because I'm being chased by my uncompassionate friend doesn't mean that I can't take in OCs. Here's the basic info I need:
Name- (Um... I really don't think I need to explain this for you guys - except it'd be nice to give your character a last name.) Age- (The age of the character. It often determines what level classes they take or if they're a student, teacher, or staff member) Gender- (I'm hoping I don't need to explain this either.) Race- (Human, demon, fairy, faun, elf, centaur, evil-swamp-thing-from-the- dimension-Xyquusil; whatever pleases you.) Appearance- (what you look like, eye color, hair, clothing, accessories, any other things such as height or weight [or what build the character has] or instinctive feature.) Personality- (How your character acts around others or in general. For instance, Lark is high-strung around some of the guys [Rogerik is a good example], but is fairly laid back when around her sister and her female friends.) Other- (any classes or relationships they might share with existing characters, jobs, abilities they might have, their majors, familiars or family, and whether they live in a dorm or commute between the academy and Meuca.)
Yep, that about fits it. Unfortunately, I can' t guarantee to pair up an OC with an existing character (although Shishiwakamaru is free, as well as some of my OCs - like Justin, Lyonell, and... um... Shane [?].); if you want to talk to me so I can portray your character correctly in the story, or try and force a few sneak previews out of the author, feel free to e- mail or IM me. I'm usually on IM between 4 & 6 Pm (Eastern time) on weekdays; but please tell me your author name if you do, so I don't freak out and accidentally block you out. It's happened more than once, but, thankfully, the program will allow me to talk with Eddie now that he's stopped trying to hack into my computer.
Erm... either way, have fun creating your OC. No, really, have fun. As Shikyo and Ryuu no Furui Yami already know, I take great liberties with said reader-sent characters, so don't be too hurt if they end up in a few unfortunate mishaps (Mostly small stuff. If it's anything major, I'll e- mail you).
Oh, and a special thanks if anyone guesses what Justin did to Suzuka-san's coffee. In fact, whoever gets it right gets to pick the next wheel-of- torture victim. (If it's more than one person, I'll pick the name randomly through some form of lots.) So, until next time, Ciao.