Bara no Jigoku

Chapter Two: Playing God Has Its Downfalls

By Otaku Freak Kiken

As the teens made their way outside, Kurama calmed down a bit and took charge. He started to describe the plant. "It had four different blooms on it... Each separate colors. It grew quite quickly overnight, and... maybe it could be dangerous." He glanced around and sighed. "I was experimenting with some highly unstable and some rare substances..." He walked around to where his mother said she put the plant and gasped. "I can't believe it!... My yard's ruined!!!"

Before the team was a large crater with a long, wide trail leading from it. They all stared at Kurama with curious expressions. None could believe that a simple rose shrub could make such a huge hole in the ground. He did say it was "highly evolved", though...

"What did you experiment with?!" Hiei's eyes grew wide with terror. "If this thing is dangerous, it's all your fault if we die! You can't just play God, Kurama!" He walked up to the edge of the crater and peered down into it. "This could be another Godzilla movie, you know!"

Yusuke whispered over to Kuwabara, "He knows what Godzilla is?"

Kurama laughed. "He watched some of the movies with me... Well, if you must know what I used, I'll tell you... I used: nitroglycerin, (blah blah blah blah...) liquid spirit energy, DNA from all of us, hormones, and... sugar. Because plants love sugar." He smiled and walked over towards the crater, next to Hiei.

Yusuke timidly followed him. "I know I'll probably regret asking this, but just HOW did you gather DNA from each of us?" He looked over at Kuwabara with a worried stare, hoping to find SOME kind of comfort, but his friend only returned the expression. Yusuke gulped and glanced at the other red head.

Kurama chuckled. "It was at different times... The first one I gathered from was you, Yusuke. You and the others came over to visit when my mother was away, and I remember Kuwabara instigating a fight with you... You were the only one who drew blood because you hit your head on the corner of my table desk. When I was cleaning you up, I took a small sample of your blood and saved it."

Yusuke's eyes squinted from being disturbed. "I was wondering why you were so eager to help me out... as soon as my head hit it you ran and got a first aid kit! I shoulda known you were gonna do somethin' strange with it..."

Hiei looked up at Kurama. "So, who was next?" He didn't want to admit it, but he was actually curious.

Kurama pointed to Kuwabara. "Him... You, Kuwabara, were next. It was a week later from the day I got Yusuke's. Remember the small mission Koenma sent us all on? When you and I split off from the other two, we almost got lost. You were so anxious to fight somebody that you started to... well... Sneeze? I didn't understand it..."

Kuwabara laughed. "Yeah, sometimes that happens when I'm coming down with somethin'... I remember it now! I WAS getting sick!"

"So I offered you my hankie and you..." He cringed. "You coated the whole thing with your discolored mucus..." He covered his mouth in disgust and carried on with his explanation. "I removed a small portion of it when I returned home. I used great caution and many, many layers of gloves and antibiotics. It was the most disgusting sample I had ever taken." Kurama shuddered and looked over at the small demon beside him. "Surprisingly enough, you were the easiest to gather from, Hiei."

Hiei blushed and his eyes did shifty glances as he stared off to the side. "I do not recall you ever taking any of this 'DNA' from me..." He continued to look away.

Kurama laughed. "It was late at night, about three days ago. You had to see me for some reason, and so I opened my widow. You didn't look quite right, so I asked you what the matter was. You told me that someone had offered you a drink and you thought it would be water when you drank it... I'm just surprised that you even accepted it!"

Hiei turned to scowl at Kurama. "I was thirsty, okay?!" His face was still flushed with a bright red color, and his eyes were piercing.

Kurama pathetically laughed. "Well... uh... Heh heh... Needless to say, Hiei was still REALLY thirsty after the FIRST drink... Or was he just liking the feeling of being drunk?" He shot a sly, fox-like smirk at his small friend.

Hiei scowled. "Hn!" He flitted off to the other side of the crater, crossing his arms and still scowling. "Baka kitsune..." he mumbled to himself. 'Yet again, he thinks he so funny!' he thought.

Yusuke and Kuwabara dropped to the ground in a roaring laughter.

Kurama only chuckled, knowing the best part was yet to come. "That's not all! When I tried sitting him down on my chair, he staggered over and missed the chair COMPLETELY!" Kurama could tell he was about to die of laughter. "And after I helped him onto the chair, I turned for one second! ONE SECOND! Before I could even blink, Hiei was jumping on my bed, singing something that I couldn't understand... He was so drunk that his speech was slurred. I think he was trying to sing 'Twinkle Twinkle'... But I'm not too sure. It could've been 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' or 'I'm A Little Teapot'..." Kurama, while trying to hold in laughter, glanced over at his very enraged and quite embarrassed Koorime Fire Demon hybrid friend.

Hiei was holding his katana to his stomach. "Hara-kiri!!!" Just as he was about to thrust the katana right through his torso, the whole group yelled "Wait!!! DON'T DO IT!!!" Hiei sighed in disappointment as he sheathed his sword. 'Why must they torment me SO?!' He let out a low growl and faced away from them all. 'One of these days, kitsune... ONE OF THESE DAYS...'

Yusuke cautiously looked up at Kurama, still chuckling. "So, how'd you get his DNA?!"

Kurama sighed. "Hiei asked me to pluck his eyebrows."

Kuwabara and Yusuke were rolling on the ground, still laughing as hard as they could... then they suddenly stopped. "So, you... did...?" Curiosity was written all over their faces.

Kurama nodded solemnly. "...Affirmative..."

Kuwabara worriedly asked, "...And just HOW do you KNOW how to PLUCK EYEBROWS?"

Kurama was about to speak, but somehow Yusuke's hand managed to place itself over Kurama's mouth. Kurama groaned and frowned. Yusuke sighed in relief.

"Maybe we shouldn't know... we might just wanna keep it a mystery..." Yusuke motioned Kuwabara over to the side of the crater. "So, Kurama... What do we do NOW? We got a mutant plant on the loose, in Tokyo (of all places, go figure! Like Hiei said, it COULD be another Godzilla movie!), and a suicidal and very upset half fire demon, half pyro-maniac teammate who wants to kill us. Your yard's ruined, your mother's really creepy for some odd reason, you were experimenting with HORMONES and NITROGLYCERINE for reasons unknown to me, and... you seem a little mad..."

Kurama's eyes closed and his brow twitched in aggravation again. "I think you left out the part where I was trying to help you all out!"

Hiei timidly, like an injured or starving animal (not that he IS one!), slinked back over to the group. "Are you done HUMILIATING me, Kurama?" He kept a stern and agitated glare as he crossed his arms.

Kurama opened his eyes and smiled. "Yes, quite done."

Kuwabara poked Hiei on the shoulder with a snort-like snicker. "Te-he-he-he-he!!! You got DRUNK!!!" He slapped his knee in utter amusement. "Hiei got drunk!!! The Shrimp!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Hiei turned to Kurama with a smirk. "May I?"

Kurama nodded. "You may. Just don't kill him."

Hiei SMILED as a large fireball followed by a gigantic mushroom cloud MAGICALLY appeared behind him. "Ah, I feel MUCH better..."

Yusuke shook his head. "Hiei, what are we gonna do with ya? Ya always gotta blow him up or set his hair on fire, don'tcha?"

"Actually... I did both..." Hiei pointed to a running Kuwabara. "See?"

Kuwabara ran past them, hair ablaze. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Put it out!!! PUT IT OUT!!!"

Yusuke shrugged. "My bad..."

Just then, after Kuwabara's 16th lap around the crater and jump over the trail, a loud rumbling and tremor engulfed the teens.

All stood silent after it was over. Raising their heads in unison, all saw the same scene and gasped at once. "NO WAY!!!"

HAH!!! Cliffhanger!!! Now you GOTTA read the next chapter!!! I WIN!!!

Okay, here's some vocab for the clueless...

1. Bara: "rose" 2. No: "of" 3. Jigoku: "Hell" (Hence- "Bara no Jigoku", or "Rose of Hell")
4. Baka: "idiot" 5. Kitsune: "fox" 6. Hara-kiri: "belly cutting", a form of suicide used, by many samurai, when overcome by defeat

Cool, ne? Oh! Hold on!

7. Ja: "See" 8. Ne:"ya" (Hence- "Ja-ne", or "See ya")

Well, you better review!!! PLEASE!!! Then I'll be VEDDY VEDDY happy! And if I'm happy, whatever I write turns out MUCH better!!! SO THERE! If ya wanna read good stuff, MAKE ME HAPPY!!!

Ja-ne!

-Otaku Freak Kiken