(10-15-04) I could either make excuses for why I didn't have this up the day after chapter one, or I could get on with review responses and the story. You don't care for my excuses? That's what I thought. Cuz I could list so many that it'd be as long as the chapter itself. THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! Twenty on chapter one!
Hedi Dracona- Yes, to put it mildly... "Oh my" works well...
Draikitha- Nah, no Kurama/Eclipse romance cuz Eclipse is my best friend's character and I have a feeling if I had her in there making out with Kurama, she'd hurt me... The word 'romance' is actually spoken many times in this chapter in relation to the two fire demons and what they're doing... Don't ask. Just read.
xkuroxshinobix- Yes, Shadow was fifteen. Before she turned sixteen. Did you ever read my first story? She's fourteen then. Therefore, two years after, dat makes her sixteen. I know my stories...
Dark-Shadow-Goddess89- Cool. Thanks. Yay. :falls asleep:
Zephyr Minamino- Yes, well Shadow could have driven without parental permission anyway since her parents went poof... She thinks they faked their death... You can think whatever you want. And I wouldn't know anything about being sixteen cuz I'm 14...
LivingImpared- You frighten me slightly. :makes little space between her finger and thumb and looks through it: Just slightly.
UnicornGirl-DragonLady- Yes, perhaps in about forty years Shadow will have some control over that rock...
Silver Moon Assassin Crystal- STOP THREATENING YOUKO! You hurt Youko, and I'm gonna send angry weasels after you to avenge him... I'm sure he'll appreciate that.
Okami Youkai- I have a feeling that if I had any idea what you said, I'd feel a lot more accomplished in life... Yes? No? Maybe?
Carri- I've actually thought of doing a Halloween fic but I already started another one, and once I'm done or nearly done with that one, I have another one I have to write, and I'm sure by the end or halfway through that one, I'll be starting on this other idea I had... :sigh: Oh dear... The ideas just keep coming...
Risika Karew- Well, like I said, I could make excuses, or you could just be grateful I posted this chapter when I did. BE GRATEFUL, CUZ I DON'T FEEL LIKE WRITING ALL MY EXCUSES! ...IT WAS THE LOCUSTS!
HanyouToni- Poor Hiei... Run for your life!
C.C.C.- That's amazing... Shadow's like... Yeah... She's nuts. She's happy and cheerful and psychoticly morbidly evil all at the same time, and poor Hiei's... Not. And people think they make a good couple.
kiinu- I randomly start laughing for absolutely no reason whatsoever, so how do you think my mother feels? I'll just be sitting there staring off into space and just burst out laughing... For NO reason apparent to ANYONE... Not even me, usually.
Water-Rose- Yes. Shadow and Eclipse are just world domination waiting to happen. They could have the most powerful person in the universe cowering before them... Muwahahaha...
Mari Youma- Yeah, it's October... Magical... Dunno why I picked April for their birthdays. :shrug: No apparent reason, really... If there was a reason, I forgot it.
purplepizzaeatnmonkey- Evil moments are good, don't worry... I like your name for some odd reason.
Saeble- What? I dunno. Potato! Yay! Nevermind. O.O
Shessha's Crazy- I had an opportunity to ride a motorcycle but I didn't want to ride WITH somebody, so now I'm probly never going to be able to cuz he wrecked and he's not getting another one... And if I ever said I wanted to get a motorcycle, my mother would beat the life out of me... Then I'd have been better off getting the thing and wrecking it...
CHAPTER TWO
Black magic, witchcraft, and devil worshipping
"Pull over to the side of the road!"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Shadow glanced over her shoulder at the cops that had just come up behind her, sirens screaming. "Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down, what should I do, what should I do?!?!?!?!"
"What should she do?" Hiei asked Kurama. Kurama debated for a second before he sighed.
"Well, she has no license so... Speed up."
"SPEED UP!" Yusuke screamed out the window. Kurama winced.
"Bakayarou! Now we're... Oh, you stupid..." He spun his car around and went the opposite direction, taking a turn off the main road onto some back country road and zoomed down it in the direction he assumed Shadow would head in.
"Speeding up," Shadow muttered to herself. She sunk low on the bike and shot down the road. "EAT MY DUST, SUCKERS!"
She easily lost them, and ended up at Kurama's predicted coordinates... Namely, the large parking lot behind an abandoned warehouse in a forest, rather hidden from everyone and everything.
"Hey! How'd you know I'd come here?!"
"Because this is where everybody goes when they're running from cops," Kurama said dryly.
"How would YOU know?" Hiei asked.
"I've ridden with Yusuke before."
"And how'd you know I knew about it?" Shadow asked.
"Because you seem to know everything about this city, oddly, even though it seems you never leave your house..."
"I know all... Through the use of black magic and witchcraft... And also with some help from maps, gangs, criminals I house in the basement, and Norman, the blue weasel."
A blue weasel hopped out of nowhere up onto Shadow's shoulder. It was wearing a weasel-sized white T-shirt and sunglasses. Everyone stared.
"Where did you get a blue weasel, Shadow?" Hiei asked. "And why was I not made aware of its pre-- Wait, what criminals are you keeping in the basement?!"
"This is Norman, everybody! He is the supreme weasel minion, because he is blue and wears a shirt," Shadow said proudly, grinning.
"Shadow, would you listen to me? What criminals?!"
"Why is it blue?" Yusuke asked curiously.
"BLUE!" Eclipse screeched, lunging. Shadow dodged and Eclipse went tumbling across the pavement.
"He's blue because he's Norman, the Supreme Weasel Minion of Uncontrollable Amounts of Rabid Man-Eating Weaselly Doom."
Everybody stared until they heard sirens in the distance.
"Shadow, do something with that... that... weasel... We've got to get to Reikai to officialize your existence so you can get a license and end up having it taken away anyhow because of your horrid skills at driving," Kurama said. He got back in his car, everybody piled in after him, Norman the weasel vanished off into the weaselly depths of the direction of Shadow's house, and Shadow jumped on her motorcycle.
"Oh yeah, and wear your helmet!" Hiei snapped, flinging Shadow's helmet out the window at her. It hit her in the head and she fell over. They all stared.
"Good one, Hiei," Yusuke said finally.
"Shut up, baka," Hiei snapped.
"Yes sir."
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
A psycho on a motorcycle went flying down the halls of Koenma's castle in Reikai. Who knows how it's possible, but she was. Four spirit detectives and the psycho's best friend were tearing through halls a few feet behind her.
"Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-hoooooooo!"
Koenma came out of his office to see what the ruckus was, and he was promptly run over. Shadow looked back at the thing that had ker-thumped under her tire, saw Yusuke and Kuwabara kneeling beside a tire tread marked Koenma while Hiei and Kurama stared with sweatdrops at Shadow. They suddenly looked surprised and Shadow's brain made the connection as to why when half a second later she slammed into a wall. Her brain didn't make the connection, of course, until she'd been lying on the ground for five minutes.
"Ow! I just ran into a wall!" she said. Cue anime face fault...
Of course, five minutes is plenty of time for Hiei and Kurama to have explained what the heck she was doing in Reikai with a motorcycle.
"I don't think I should help. I think I should get her thrown in prison," Koenma snapped. "Look! She just RUINED my outfit!"
"Boohoo," Hiei said. "So anyhow, if you don't make it possible for her to get her license, she'll drive without one, get arrested, thrown in prison, go psycho and burn the place down which will be diagnosed as abnormally powerful pyrokinesis, they will capture her, throw her in a loony bin, strap her to a table with all these weird wires on her head, and when they take a blood sample and realize she doesn't have normal human DNA, they'll think she's an alien, send her to the whoever-rules-this-country, and you will, in the end, regret not having granted her official ningenkai existence when you have to send your entire tantei into the government offices to rescue this drugged-up alien demon girl who could have avoided the entire situation completely had you just done one simple thing. See?"
Koenma stared. "Very interesting, Hiei. You're sounding more and more like Shadow each time I hear from you."
"You're imagining it," Hiei said in a cold monotone.
"I don't think I am."
Meanwhile, Shadow was revving up her motorcycle.
"DON'T YOU DARE DRIVE THAT THING IN HERE ANYMORE!" Koenma shouted. Shadow went flying backwards through the hole she'd put in the wall a few minutes previous.
"Well?" Kurama prompted. "Will you?"
"If she ends up getting it taken away or getting arrested, I'll see to it that she never gets it back," Koenma said finally.
"Hear that Shadow?" Yusuke said. "You have to obey LAWS! And in order to that, you have to know what they ARE! So COME WITH ME!" He grabbed her wrist and dragged her away from her motorcycle.
"Well he's sure gung-ho about it," Kuwabara muttered.
"He didn't pass his driver's test. He wants to see if Shadow will," Kurama said.
Shadow, meanwhile, was whining like a baby.
"But I KNOW all the laws! When you hear sirens, speed up; if you see a stop sign, make sure everybody else stops dead when you shoot in front of them; hills are fun to go down faster than everybody else, speed limits are only for vehicles with at least four wheels, bicyclers don't appreciate having mud splattered on them but it may overpower their B.O., trains can't stop very fast so you have to go especially fast to get ahead of them, driving at night is fun because there's more small furry critters to flatten and there's a higher chance of seeing people making out in the park, or perhaps even doing more than that, and you can splash mud on them or throw what's left of your McDonalds burger at them! THE LAWS ARE SIMPLE!"
Everybody had stopped and stared at her about the time she got to the speed limit rule.
"On the other hand..." Koenma said eventually.
"She's kidding!" Kurama and Hiei said in unison.
"Yes, you know her, she's retarded!"
"If she doesn't pass her test than we'll sell the motorcycle. I could use the money for something more productive anyway."
"NO! YOU SHALL NOT SELL THE LORD AND MASTER OF MOTORCYCLES!" Shadow screeched, clawing wildly as Yusuke restrained her.
"Come on, stupid, you've got to study for your driver's test! Your appointment is at noon tomorrow, so you've got under 20 hours," Yusuke told her. "Twenty hours to learn an encyclopedia-sized book of rules."
"I NEED NOT LEARN!" Shadow said, pulling away. "I KNOW ALL!"
Eclipse walked down the hall singing quietly and conducting an unseen band with her index fingers. "...Try not to shove a roll of duct tape up your nose while taking your driver's test..." (A/N: That's a line from Weird Al Yankovic's song "Your Horoscope for Today." Very funny.)
Shadow blinked, watching her walk away and trip over an unseen particle of dust ten feet down the hall. "If I get my license, can I be as stupid as Eclipse?"
"You already ARE as stupid, if not stupider, than Eclipse," Yusuke said. "That's why I'm sure you'll horribly fail your driver's test and be quite unable to show me up."
"But Eclipse passed her driver's test," Kurama reminded him.
"Shutup, fox!"
"Well it's just the truth..."
Shadow, meanwhile, was singing, completely oblivious to anything that happened in the past twenty minutes. "Kaze ga hashiru ore o yobu mugon no hariken. Are wa sain kessen no aizu darou... Sou kono inochi yori a omoi yume o. Kanaeru tame no hi ga kita saa... Kokoro no mama ni tada fighting to dream..."
Hiei and Kurama instantly snapped their heads around and stared at her.
"Why does she always victimize us?" Kurama asked.
"It's usually just me, what with her fondness of rapping my Tasogare song..."
"That's terrible. We pity you," Koenma said sarcastically. "Now, I suppose I'd better get started on that stuff... You know my father gets furious when I do these little unnecessary favors for you guys..."
"Why? We've saved the world on countless occasions!" Yusuke said, exasperated. "Your father's just messed up."
"Go away, Yusuke, and take Shadow with you. If she flunks this driver's test thing, I'll be outraged."
"She won't," Kurama said confidently. They proceeded in removing Shadow from Reikai only when Hiei let her ride the motorcycle out.
They arrived home shortly afterwards. No more cops. No more death, doom, and danger. It was all peaceful in Tokyo...
Shadow shot up into her yard and stopped her motorcycle around the back of the house. Kurama and Eclipse pulled up to the curb and everyone piled out of their cars.
"Tell me, Eclipse, how was it you managed to pass your driver's test?" Yusuke asked sickly, having decided to ride with her.
"MAGICALLY!" Eclipse said. Shadow threw a rock at her head.
"THAT'S MY MAGICAL ANSWER FOR ALL UNANSWERABLE QUESTIONS! THINK OF YOUR OWN!"
"DEVIL WORSHIPPING!" Eclipse cheered. Everybody blinked.
"Indeed," Kurama said dryly. He wandered over to Hiei and dragged him off to the side. Yusuke's attention was drawn to this more than Shadow and Eclipse arguing over worshipping the devil. Shadow said she met the devil and he's not partial to being worshipped, and Eclipse says fine then, I'll steal your magic, and they proceeded to strangle each other. So, Yusuke strolled on over to where Kurama was talking to Hiei.
"Weren't you going to take her to dinner?" Kurama was saying.
"No... That was your idea, and I'm not about to risk taking that lunatic out in public," Hiei said, casting a glance at the two girls rolling around in the dirt.
"It's her sixteenth birthday, Hiei! It's special."
"You're nuts."
"What? You're the closest thing she has to a boyfriend--"
"I'm not her boyfriend."
"Whatever. So anyway, I'm sure she'd appreciate it loads if you took her out to dinner. Somewhere nice."
"Kurama," Hiei groaned. "I don't want to."
"Why not?!"
"Because!"
"That's a second-grader's answer, Hiei," Kurama said patiently. "If you don't have a good reason, you're going."
"Why are you trying to send me and Shadow off on some kind of date, anyway? Is it really that important?"
"Hiei, you're being childish."
"I am not!"
"How about we make it a double date, then?" Yusuke suggested.
"I'M NOT DATING ANYBODY!" Hiei shouted. "Hey, what the hell are you doing listening in?!"
"I was standing right here the entire time. And don't say you aren't dating anybody, from that kiss earlier there's no way you can deny it."
"I'M DENYING IT! Are you going to stop me?" Hiei threatened.
"No, I won't stop you from denying it, but I know it's true, so it doesn't matter how much you whine about it."
"It isn't true!!!" Hiei complained.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Yusuke pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and was about to dial a number. He looked up at Hiei. "Last chance or you're going on a double date with me and Keiko."
"What?!" Hiei yelped. "So it's either I go with Shadow or I go with Shadow, Keiko, and you?"
"Yep! Unless you wanna make it a whole big ol' mob and have Kurama bring along Eclipse as a kind of late birthday date thing. Then Kuwabara would be the only one left out!"
"But... I'm not dating Eclipse..." Kurama said. Yusuke dragged him off.
"We're trying to get Hiei to go with Shadow, it doesn't matter if you're going out with Eclipse!"
"But..."
"Whatcha whisperin' about?!" Shadow said cheerfully, seemingly popping up out of the ground beside them. Both of them jumped back.
"What the...! My god, don't do that!" Yusuke said, his hand on his chest. Kurama just looked at Shadow with a thoughtful look.
"How's this, Hiei?" he said, pulling Shadow over to Hiei by her hand. "I'll take Shadow out to dinner."
"What?!" Hiei yelped. "You guys are evil!"
"Is that a yes, you'll take her alone, or a yes, you'll go on a double date?" Yusuke asked.
"What?! It's not a yes anything!" the little fire demon said.
"I'm confused," Shadow said randomly. She was, as usual, ignored, as Kurama and Yusuke were too busy making poor little Hiei feel cornered.
"But... but... but..." Hiei was sputtering. Kurama and Yusuke had confidently evil smiles on their faces. The little demon sighed. "Fine."
"...Fiiinee...?" Yusuke said, urging him to continue. Hiei squirmed, still thinking.
"Yes, do continue," Kurama said, smiling. Shadow was totally confused, so she just stood there, her hand still in Kurama's from when he'd dragged her over to Hiei. Hiei sighed again and removed her hand from Kurama's and led her back into the house, not exactly answering their question. The boys stared at the door for a minute before Eclipse came dancing over.
"What was all that about?" she asked.
"Yeah, really," Kuwabara said, walking up to them. Yusuke grabbed Kurama's shoulders.
"You tell them," he said. Then he jogged towards Shadow's house.
"Yu-- Never mind," Kurama said as the boy went inside.
"So what was all that?" Kuwabara asked.
"Persuading Hiei to take Shadow out to dinner," Kurama said.
"Did he agree?"
"I don't know, he said fine, then he went inside."
"Oh. Well then I think we'd better go in there and--"
"AHHHHHH!" Yusuke came flying out the door and slammed into the porch, slid off, and rolled down the stairs into the yard. Kurama stared, then walked over with Eclipse and Kuwabara behind him. He looked down at Yusuke's twitching body.
"What'd you do?" he asked.
"I, er, they were having a, uh, discussion," Yusuke said, his eyes looking this way and that as he spoke.
"Did you walk in on them making out?" Kuwabara asked. "Cuz it's about time somebody other than me did!"
"No," Yusuke said, getting up. "I told you, they were having a discussion. Then Hiei tossed me out the door."
"What exactly were they discussing?!" Kurama asked, skeptical that anything Shadow spoke of with Hiei would be deserving of throwing Yusuke out on his ear.
"I don't know..." Yusuke said.
"Well then why'd Hiei toss you out the door?!"
"I dunno."
"You're useless."
"I think he walked in on them making out," Kuwabara said, sounding sure of himself.
"Hiei won't be needing us to go with him, by the way," Yusuke said.
"How are you knowing this?" Kurama asked. The boy pointed. Hiei and Shadow walked out onto the porch in slightly nicer-than-normal clothes. Eclipse blinked, then burst out laughing.
"YOU'RE GOING ON A DATE WITH HIEI! HAHAHAHAHA! That's so unlike you it's the most funniest thing that has ever happened to me!"
"It's their fault," Hiei snapped, pointing at Yusuke and Kurama. They instantly got halos. "Stupid obsessive people wouldn't leave me alone..."
"It's not a bad thing Hiei!" Yusuke taunted. "Think of it as bonding time!"
"I have all the friggin' bonding time I WANT! I LIVE with the girl, for crying out loud!"
"Good point," Yusuke said, nodding.
"Well, I'll drive you, then," Kurama said. "I made reservations. You'll be late."
"You did WHAT?" Hiei shouted. "You mean you made reservations without even knowing if I'd agree to go with her?! You're THAT sure of yourself?!"
"Yup," Kurama said. "Get in the car."
Hiei stood there sputtering and fuming. "I can't believe you'd do that."
"I did. Get in the car, you'll be late."
Hiei sulked across the yard and the first noise he heard from either Yusuke or Kuwabara, he flung a rock at Kuwabara. As it had been Yusuke laughing, he just laughed even harder and got a dirt clod thrown into his big mouth. He sat there spluttering and spitting until Hiei and Shadow were both in the back seat of Kurama's car.
"I can't believe you did that," Hiei grumbled. "Why would you make reservations when you don't even know we'll be going?"
"I knew you'd go, Hiei," Kurama said.
"No you didn't," the little demon pouted.
"So where exactly are you taking us, Kurama?" Shadow asked.
"You'll see."
"You're downright evil, fox," Hiei said.
"I know. But I feel kinda like a limo driver, minus the limo," Kurama said, grinning.
It wasn't long before he pulled up outside a restaurant. Hiei looked at it, then looked at Kurama, then at Shadow, then back at Kurama.
"You are NUTS, Kurama. What is WRONG with you?!"
"Lots. Go inside."
Hiei sighed and opened the door, climbing out and waiting for Shadow to get out the same side. Then he leaned down to talk to Kurama in the passenger's window.
"Are we walking home afterwards?"
"Nope. I'll be here around nine."
"Nine?!"
"Well, you can eat, then go off someplace and do whatever else you might feel like doing, but be back here by nine."
"You planned this all out, didn't you?!" Hiei said.
"With some help from Yusuke. By the way, what was it you threw him out the door for?"
"Walking into Shadow's room when she was changing."
Kurama's eyes widened slightly. "Oh."
"Yeah."
"Well... See you at nine, then," Kurama said.
"Ja mata, baka." Hiei stepped away from the car and went back to where Shadow was standing. They walked into the restaurant and Kurama waited a minute before driving away.
When he arrived back at Shadow's house, he was lunged on by Yusuke.
"Well?!"
"Well what? They got out of the car and walked into the building," Kurama said dryly, then he changed his tone to accusing. "You walked in on Shadow when she was changing?!"
"What?! Who told you that?!" Yusuke said nervously.
"Hiei."
"I didn't mean to."
"Ah."
"But what about, like, I mean, did they seem suspicious?"
"Hiei did."
"Did you tell them you'd get them at nine?"
"Yes."
"And they weren't suspicious about that?"
"Yes, they were."
"I can't wait until they get back... What do you want to bet they'll sleep together?"
"They've slept together before, Yusuke."
"I mean, like, well, you know what I mean!"
"You're sick!"
"What?! You can't say you never thought of it, fox!"
"Thought of what?"
"HI EVERYONE!" Eclipse squealed, popping up out of the ground. They jumped.
"WHY DOES EVERYBODY DO THAT?!"
"It's not everybody. Last time I checked, only I do."
"No, Shadow does too."
"What?! Well! That thieving child!" Eclipse said angrily. She stomped off, got in her car, and drove away.
"Where's she going?"
"Beats me."
"Hey guys!!!" Kuwabara came running out onto the porch. "Where does Shadow keep her lifetime supply of money? I need to pay Youko back for last time I lost poker to him! Quick, while they aren't home!"
Kurama slowly fell over and landed on the ground with a thud. Yusuke and Kuwabara looked down at him.
"Hey, uh, is he okay...?"
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
Hiei glanced around and sighed.
"There are no shadowy corners in romantic places..."
"Yes there is, but if you go in them, you're automatically assumed to be making out."
"Adults have more dignity than to make out in public," Hiei said.
"I'm not an adult, now am I?" She grinned.
"I still can't believe Kurama did this. Stupid fox must have spent a lot of money on this. You'd better appreciate it."
"I appreciate it, I suppose," Shadow said. Hiei snorted.
They got their table and ordered their meal, and Shadow sat there glancing around until the food came.
"I feel really out of place here," she said.
"Then eat and we'll leave."
"But Kurama's not coming until nine o'clock. It's like, seven thirty."
"I dunno. If all else fails, we walk home," Hiei said, shrugging. "It's not as if we'll get mugged or anything."
"True."
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
"Raise, call, or fold, Eclipse."
"Fold."
"Okay, let's see it, fox!"
Kurama laid out a straight flush on the table. Yusuke looked at his cards and glared, then flung down two pairs.
"You're cheating again, aren't you?!"
"Nope. That's Youko that cheats."
"So?! He could be whispering to you in the back of your head!"
"He isn't. Not about poker, at least."
Yusuke blinked. "Well what else would he be whispering about?"
"Stuff," Kurama answered casually. Yusuke sighed.
"You're informative today, aren't you?"
"Yes, quite," the redhead replied.
"I'm hungry," Eclipse said. "I'm gonna raid Shadow's fridge."
"Bring me something," Yusuke said. "See if there's anything in there that isn't alive."
Eclipse (who'd apparently returned from her random 'drive away muttering' earlier) strolled into the kitchen and opened the fridge door. She poked around for a bit before coming back and tossing something wrapped in aluminum foil onto the table in front of Yusuke.
"What is it?"
"Shadow's specialty. Mystery meat."
"Yuck! I'm not eating that! It could be a stir-fried weasel!"
"Be sensible, Yusuke! She wouldn't kill her weasels! They're useful," Kurama said, raising the bets up a good bit. "If the salesman pickings are slim, she feeds them the odd things she didn't remember ever putting in the fridge."
"Oh yeah, forgot about that."
"By the way, you'd better fold while you have the chance," Kurama advised.
"Nope! Cheaters never win!"
Kurama blinked and looked at the heaping pile of poker chips on his corner of the table. "My chips say otherwise."
"Shut up, cheater!"
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
"Have a nice night!"
Shadow and Hiei finally escaped the over-romantic atmosphere of the restaurant. They stood there for a second.
"What time is it?" Hiei asked.
"Uh... Two after eight," Shadow said, looking at her wristwatch.
"An hour... We have an hour in which to do whatever you want."
"Whatever I want?"
"It's your birthday, isn't it?"
"Well about all I feel like doing right now is sleeping, but I don't wanna."
"Huh?"
"Well I don't wanna go home, cuz then there'll be Yusuke and Kuwabara bothering us," Shadow said. "Besides, it's kinda nice being out with you."
Hiei looked at her. "I can say the same about you."
"Really?"
"Well duh, Shadow."
Shadow grinned. "So, where shall we head off to?"
"Hm... C'mon." Hiei headed down the street and Shadow followed.
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
"I'm so freaking bored. What time is it?"
"Quarter after eight."
"Can't you just go pick them up early?"
"No, Yusuke."
"Why not?"
"Because I told them nine o'clock, I'm sure they're done eating by now and are probably sitting under some tree in the park... talking."
"But muggers go through the parks at night preying on happy couples!"
"Do you honestly think Hiei and Shadow would be suitable prey for a mugger?"
"...Good point. I'm going for a walk."
"What the...?"
But Yusuke was already out the door.
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
The fire demons were sitting on the shore of a pond at the edge of the city park. They'd already walked all the way around it, apparently the best version of a moonlit walk on the beach they could get without a beach.
"Y'know, if you want to be, you're a very romantic person, Hiei."
"What do you know about romance, Shadow? You're only sixteen."
"I know all, remember?" She paused. "Besides, I watch a lot of TV."
Hiei chuckled. "If that's the only experience you've had with romance, you're deprived."
"What do you know about romance, Mister Heartless?" Shadow asked, jabbing him in the chest. Hiei got a slightly startled look on his face, only just then realizing what he'd actually said. Then he smiled.
"More than you'd expect." He pulled her close and kissed her.
(A/N: I can't believe I'm writing this... ::sigh::)
Hiei leaned back slightly, breaking the kiss. Shadow stared into his eyes for a second before she leaned on him, putting her head on his shoulder.
"This has been a very good first birthday," she said quietly.
"I'm glad."
"You know if we tell Yusuke about any of this we'll never hear the end of it."
"Then we just won't tell him."
Shadow smiled. "Brilliant solution, Hiei."
They sat there in silence for a while.
"This is like a moonlit beach scene, except those typically end up with two people rolling around in the sand making out," Shadow said randomly.
"There's no sand here," Hiei said plainly.
"I'd noticed. I wouldn't want to roll around in the sand anyway, cuz then I'd be all covered in sand and that's uncomfortable."
Hiei chuckled slightly again. "Are you saying you'd want to make out with me, though?"
"I guess I never said I wouldn't. But I never said I would, either."
"No, you didn't."
Shadow sat up, then pushed Hiei onto his back on the ground and kissed him.
Unbeknownst to either of them, Yusuke had decided the most likely place to find them would be the park.
And at the precise second, he found them.
How very typical. Yet he didn't interrupt. He just stood there watching giddily, suppressing childish giggles at proof that his plot had been successful. When Shadow an Hiei broke off for breath and didn't go back to kissing, he silently slunk back to Shadow's house just as Kurama was getting in his car to go pick them up.
"Hey, Kurama, I don't think they're quite ready to come home," he said through the window as the redhead put the key in the ignition.
"Why's that?"
"I just came from the park."
Kurama blinked. "Are they making out under a tree?"
"Sort of."
"Sort of?"
"Well, they were making out in the park by that pond, y'know...?"
"I see. I'm gonna go pick them up now," Kurama said flatly, starting up the car.
"Can I come?"
"No, Yusuke, you can stay here."
"Why?"
"Because. You'll end up slipping up and mentioning you saw them."
"I will not!"
"Better not risk it. Besides, if you're there, they won't act natural."
"Like they will around you?!"
"Yes, they will, because I won't mention it in order to embarrass them later, as you would. I'll be back shortly."
Yusuke had to jump back as Kurama started away from the curb while he was still leaning on the car.
When Kurama arrived at the designated meeting spot, Hiei and Shadow were just jogging up the street. They didn't get in the car instantly and Kurama shortly realized why. Shadow was soaking wet.
"What exactly were you two doing?" he asked, eyeing up Shadow then looking to Hiei for an answer.
"Y'know the pond in the park?" Hiei asked.
"Yes," Kurama said, already putting it together.
"She fell in."
"You pushed me!" Shadow accused.
"I did not. You fell."
"Yeah, 'cause you pushed me..." Shadow grumbled. Hiei looked at her.
"Those are some of Shadow's more formal, expensive clothes and you pushed her into a dirty pond in them?" the fox asked.
"She FELL!" Hiei said.
"He pushed me."
"Get in the car," Kurama said finally, exasperated.
"But your seats..." Shadow started.
"Who cares. They'll dry. Unless you'd rather walk home?"
Shadow and Hiei exchanged glances, shrugged, and got in.
"So did you have fun? Up to the point where you were ended up sopping wet?" Kurama asked.
"Yeah," they said in unison, grinning. Green eyes focused on their reflection in his rearview mirror as he pulled into the street.
"Glad to hear it... I assume you don't regret me forcing you into it, then?"
"Hmm... Not really," Hiei said.
"Not really?"
"I just don't like that you forced me into something that wasn't my idea in the first place. The rest was okay."
"I see."
"Do you really?" Shadow said mockingly (is that a word?).
"Yes, Shadow, I do."
"How very interesting."
"Kurama," Hiei said, question in his tone.
"Yes?"
"What does Yusuke expect when we get home? I won't tell him what you say."
The redhead couldn't help but smile. "I think he expects you to be all over each other, and probably have mad passionate sex tonight, and tomorrow Shadow will come out with your love mark on her neck."
Hiei snorted. "We go out to dinner and he thinks we suddenly fall head-over-heels for each other?"
"Well it was one of the most romantic restaurants in Tokyo..."
"Pssh. Remind me never to go back."
"Why?"
"It's scary. Some of those couples in there I half expected to start making out, or do worse, in the middle of the dance floor..."
"That's sick, Hiei..."
"What? Shadow saw them!"
"Yeah, Kurama, they were all over each other. It was repulsing."
Kurama chuckled. "Did you two dance?"
"No," the fire demons said.
"Duh, fox," Shadow said. "I may dance all the time at home, but I'm not about to go out in public with this short little guy and act all mushy..."
"Hey!" Hiei said. "I'm not all that much shorter than you."
"Sorry. Would you rather I'd called you a handsome stud or something?"
"Er..."
"See?"
Kurama pulled up outside Shadow's house. They all got out of the car and went back inside. Yusuke and Kuwabara regarded the fire demons with expectant, confused looks.
Hiei didn't seem to notice for a minute, then he looked at them closer. "You guys look like you're a couple of buzzards waiting for something to die..."
"Not quite..."
Kurama just smiled and walked upstairs to his room.
"I need to change," Shadow said. She glared at Yusuke. "And no walking in on me this time!"
Kuwabara gave Yusuke a horrified look. "THAT'S why you came flying out the door?!"
The other boy just chuckled nervously. Shadow went upstairs.
"So did you enjoy your date?" Yusuke asked once she was gone.
"Refrain from calling it a date, please," Hiei said.
"But that's what it was..."
"No it wasn't."
"Whatever it was, did you have fun?"
"I guess so."
"You guess so?! What's that supposed to mean? Did you dance? Did you kiss?"
"No."
"What?!" Yusuke said. "That's a lie, I know you had to have at least kissed!"
"No we didn't. How would you know?"
"Um, my, uh, ESP! That's it!"
Hiei looked at Yusuke suspiciously and went upstairs.
"Hey Kurama!"
The redhead's door opened. "Yeah?"
"Yusuke didn't happen to go for a walk between eight and nine, did he?"
"As a matter of fact--"
Yusuke came flying down the hall and covered up Kurama's mouth. "No!" Kurama pushed his hand away.
"Yes he did," he said quickly. Yusuke gave him a meaningful look. It was a 'shut up, Kurama! He's not supposed to know!' look.
"And I think he went through the p--"
"No I didn't," Yusuke said, covering Kurama's mouth again.
"He didn't even finish his sentence," Hiei said, narrowing his eyes. Kurama grabbed Yusuke's wrist and held it away from his face.
"He went through the park and--" He caught Yusuke's other hand as he tried to cover up his mouth. Yusuke strained to stop the fox. "And he saw you and Shadow."
"KURAMA! SHUT UP!" Yusuke hollered.
"I'm just doing the friend thing," Kurama said, grinning.
"Well sometimes the friend thing isn't the right thing to do!"
Hiei looked thoughtful, then Shadow came walking down the hall in jeans and a t-shirt, her normal attire, and wrapped her arms around Hiei's waist from behind.
"Yes, I suppose there's no hiding it now, Hiei," she said dramatically.
"Huh...?" Yusuke said curiously.
"No, there's no way we can hide it anymore... You see... I'm pregnant," Shadow said.
Yusuke died on the spot. Shadow burst out laughing. She laughed until she collapsed and couldn't breathe.
"My God you're gullible," she said when she finally caught her breath about five minutes later.
"I HATE YOU!" Yusuke screamed, jumping up. "YOU MEAN YOU'RE LYING?"
"Yes I'm lying, stupid! In order for me to be pregnant I'd have had to have had sex at some point in the past nine months and I've never had sex in my life, therefore... I'm not," Shadow said, still grinning.
"I hate you... You mean there's nothing between you and Hiei?"
"Not that I know of..." Shadow said, looking at Hiei.
"No," he confirmed.
"You're so stupid!" Yusuke said. "You make like, a perfect couple! You're adorable together! You should be together!"
"I really don't like being described as adorable," Hiei said.
"But you are!" Yusuke said. Hiei looked at him, horrified. "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! I meant that you and Shadow look cute together! She's so... un-you!"
"Un...me...?"
"Yes! She's all cheerful and stupid and clueless and you're like, not!"
"You sound absolutely retarded," Hiei said. "Just give up on getting us together. If we should ever fall madly in love with each other, you'll know. But she's only sixteen."
"SO?!"
"Forget it," Hiei said, walking down the hall. Shadow remained standing there with her hands clasped behind her back, grinning widely. Yusuke just looked from Hiei to Shadow, sputtered and gestured dumbly for a second, then narrowed his eyes, grumbled something, and sulked down the stairs.
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
I scared the crap out of my best friend when she was reading this... Where Shadow said she was pregnant... Whenever Eclipse reads my stories, if I know something disturbing is coming up, I watch her face for a reaction since she rarely says anything while reading... She just got this indescribable look of horror and I burst out laughing... It was funny. I scared her. I think she believed it... Muwahahahaha...