Hey, everyone. Another chapter finished. And not without a lot of effort on my part and lots of late-night role playing against her will with a headache on Anica's part. Hope everyone enjoys this one. I will say I was rather disappointed in the (lack of) reviews on the last chapter. I mean really, people, I typed that thing up twice for you! That was almost twelve pages handwritten, even with my extensive abbreviations. I really don't like asking for reviews, but I am this time. Please, please, PLEASE review! Otherwise I won't have anything to pay my muses with, and they'll go on strike again. I really don't want to have to let them do that, as it means no more updates until they come back, or until I threaten another muse to help me... However, I DID get three reviews on the last chapter, so I'll thank you guys now. (grins)
Hinote Kitsune Nikore Hey, thanks SO SO SOO much for your review; you made my day! Well, I have another chappie up for your enjoyment. Go ahead and lock your door so maybe no one will hear you laugh. (I think it's that funny at least.) No no no no...no maleXmale pairings. The joke is that everyone thinks Kurama and Hiei are together, Hiei's completely oblivious, and poor Kurama can't do anything about it, even though he's fully aware of what's going on. Anica and I got together last night and brainstormed the ending to this fic(don't worry, not for several more chapters still--if I get enough reviews (coughcough) and it's going to deal with everyone realizing what everyone else was thinking. It's going to be funny. Do enjoy the chapter though, we worked hard on it. (grins) See you later!
What2callmyself...Erm...heh heh...perhaps MORE than slight chaos? Lol. Who knows at this point? Very glad you enjoyed the fic so far. Feel free to drop another review! have a good day! (grins)
Miliko01 Wow...talk about a last minute review. (grins) Anica is supposed to post this next chapter later today. Thankies for reviewing; it make me happy! (makes cat face) Um, you won't see Hiei and Kurama acting opposite for at least one more chapter, though. And I'm considering having the next actual play practice focus more on the rest of the team since I've kinda ignored them all so far. Anyway, here's the next chapter as per last minute request; tell me what you think! Thanks.
Anica106 Hey 2face. Thanks again. I'm not sure how well edited this chapter's going to be before it gets to you, though. I may not be feeling quite so enterprising this time. (grins) You should laugh while you're banging your head on your desk at my quote punctuations, though, I can promise that much.. I couldn't stop laughing last night while we were role-playing, and this morning typing it up. BJ got quite irritated with me about it. (s.o.t.) Not that I care, especially since he made me listen to that beyond obnoxious music again when he watched the movie (4 the 3rd time) this morning. Anyways. thanks a bunch, and get ready to proof it. (grins)
Warning: Slightly more ooc-ness in this chapter because I couldn't figure out how to keep it strictly in character for this. You'll understand when you read it. Still not bad, though. Also, this chapter is mainly Hiei dealing with two other characters of my own invention, but they're not main characters. It's all for humor, and I promise it's funny. They think Hiei and Kurama are together, and it's an abusive relationship. Hiei has no idea. They try and give him a "pep talk, man to man."
Shameless review begging spot: Please, everybody? If I make a cute face? I worked hard to get this one out to you guys soon. It's my gift to you all since I'm getting my braces off Monday, and I'm going to need reviews to cheer me up after having some random guy's hands in my mouth prying metal off my teeth for two hours. Enjoy!
((Anica106 again...you know the drill. (sighs) She wasn't joking, by the way; we worked our butts off for several nights and I did have a headache. So please be nice...and as far as I know we don't own YYH.)
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Chapter 4: But it's got a hole in it...
"Hiei, look, I'm sorry. I promise I had no idea it would do that."
"Hn."
"I can't believe you're holding a grudge against me for this."
"Hn!"
"....You're really being very childish about this, you know."
"Hn."
"...If I buy you another one?"
"....hn..."
"Fine. I'll be right back with it." Kurama turned on his heel and walked out. Imagine Hiei of all people pouting because the dog Kurama had gone to pet had eaten his ice cream. Ridiculous! Being in the ningenkai was softening the petulant little fire demon more than he realized. He was really little, though, Kurama reflected. The dog had been nearly as tall as Hiei, a breed called "Great Dame" or something. Some odd breed. It had almost toppled Hiei in its eagerness to eat his ice cream and lick his face. Kurama chuckled. Hiei was too cute for his own good. First Brittany and now that dog--Henri, or something. Everyone just seemed to want to cuddle and drool all over him.
Hiei, meanwhile, sat sulking on the floor of the playhouse where the dog had placed him after their vicious battle for the ice cream cone. If Kurama hadn't confiscated his katana after the "incident last night," as he'd called it, the stupid mutt wouldn't have gotten within ten feet of his precious sweet snow. But he had confiscated his katana, and the sweet snow couldn't move as fast as Hiei could--it fell off the cone. And the idiotic mongrel had taken Hiei's frantic attempts at defending himself as part of the game. What self-defense were you supposed to use on a dog, anyway?! Baka mutt.
Hiei leaned back against the heating unit and continued to sulk. Stupid dogs. If Kurama hadn't insisted on dragging him up to it because he wanted to know what it was.....stupid Kurama.
The Friar shuffled in with a bang--the door wasn't set in its hinges properly--and came over to Hiei, adjusting his robes, wrinkled face concerned. Dude stumbled in after, running into the door frame on his way in and tripping over his feet a short ways away from Hiei. He had an insane grin on his face. Hiei kept a carefully neutral expression on his face and eyed the pair guardedly. They had accompanied the Reikai Tantei to the sweet snow parlor the night before, and had proved to be an interesting couple. Dude was full of random knowledge about anything and everything and possessed a very laid back attitude that sometimes reminded Hiei a little too much of Yusuke when he was in a good mood. Hiei didn't trust anyone who was in a "good mood." If you were "in a good mood," then you were probably up to something. The Friar, on the other hand, he had found out, was a Tibetan monk who raised his own medicinal and holy plants in his basement. Kurama had raised an eyebrow at the descriptions of some of them from Dude, but had said nothing. Hiei did not know what to make of them. So he sat, waiting for someone to say something. It was the Friar who spoke first.
"Hiei. We just overhear conversation of disturbing, uh, how you say? Measures." Hiei raised an eyebrow. The Friar continued. "You and the red hair, you have, erm, interesting relationship, yes?"
Hiei considered this slowly, and from all angles. Maybe the Friar had caught onto the demon thing. It wouldn't have been hard the way Yusuke had been talking about their cases last night. And the Friar claimed to be a holy man, so must be familiar with demons existing. Or maybe he didn't know and was just one of those people who spent his spare time bothering other ningens by being all "kind" and "understanding." Kurama did that a lot. Hn. That must be it.
"Interesting relationship?" he repeated suspiciously. The Friar wrung his hands.
"Oh, is hard to say in this, this Eenglish. Back in Old Tongue, is easy. You, and he, er..."more than friends?'"
Hiei considered this question as well. More than friends? Yes, of course they were "more" than friends. They were fighting partners. Were they "more" than that? He trusted Kurama more than anyone else. Interesting relationship? Kurama had taken to tickling him with his plants as he slept as of late. Something about the smaller demon's reaction seemed to amuse him. But he thought nothing of it. They were constantly thinking of little annoyances to play on each other. Each had its amusements for a time, and was retired as its humor ran out. It kept things interesting over the hundreds of years they were likely to spend in each other's company. Petty annoyances were needed, but Hiei had noticed very few ningen recognized this fact, apart from Yuuske and Kuwabara. Did this mean they had an "interesting relationship," as the Friar put it?
The Friar seemed to take his long silence for denial. "I see you two, in practice and other times. You are, how you say, close. You look at each other very...often. And you help him with his inner demons."
Hiei was instantly on guard, skin prickling. "Kurama has no inner demons," he spat, eyes narrowed.
"No no no no no, all have inner demons. Struggles, past events one must reconcile and live with. Regrets and secret sins, thoughts so dark one buried them away in denial so that none may ever know, not even oneself."
Hiei paused. Perhaps he was a holy man; he certainly talked nonsense like one. "Kurama's different," he said defiantly.
"I see him, and you. He has much difficulty sometimes--he goes silent and makes most horrible expressions. I saw him bang head against wall other day. You go to him, help him in these troubled times," the Friar said with certainty.
Hiei shrugged. "So?" he asked, not sure what this was leading up to. The Friar paused, seeming to hesitate.
"But, you are angered with him now, are you not?"
"He let that dog have my sweet snow!" Hiei exploded, remembering the whole incident he'd quite nearly forgotten all over again. Dude and the Friar seemed taken aback by his outburst.
"Sweet snow?" The Friar wrinkled his brow.
"Dude! That snow stuff's awesome! I get some every DAY after practice!" Dude enthused. A stagehand carrying a cardboard cutout of a tree happened to walk by at that moment and hurried on quickly, with many furtive glances sideways at the trio. They ignored him.
"I was going to eat some, but that creature got it first and Kurama wouldn't let me stop it," Hiei sulked.
"Man, I know how you feel! My ex, she was like, 'no, you don't eat any more of that sugar junk.' Something about it being bad for you. She was a real tofu nut." Dude shook his head sadly. "I was real sorry for her when she went to the hospital with that 'rexia disease. It was sad." Hiei and the Friar looked at him a moment, blank-faced. The Friar attempted to regain control of the conversation.
"But, small dark one, your red-hair, does he deny you this sweet snow often?"
"No. He usually lets me finish his."
"Oh. But he not let you have it this time?" the Friar asked, confused. Maybe he'd misjudged the situation. Maybe they really had a healthy relationship....
"He said not to do anything with people watching," Hiei sniffed, glaring angrily at the memory.
"This, this sweet snow, it is important to your relationship, yes?"
"We always have it after we fight," Hiei said casually.
"...And, do you two....er, fight often?" the Friar asked, looking at Hiei more concernedly than he had a moment ago.
"We fight everyday from six to eight, after Kurama does his homework and whatever it is he does in his garden," Hiei said, smirking. It had taken quite a bit of effort to talk Kurama into two hour training sessions everyday. He'd been reluctant and only agreed after Hiei relented to his demand of helping him finish studying for everything first. And he'd insisted they cut back to an hour only during the end of year tests. The Friar for some reason, paled at this announcement. Hn. Probably scared.
"Everyday?" he asked.
"Awesome! Me and my last girlfriend, we like, fought off and on all day. One time we're like, in the middle of a movie and she starts yelling at me for no reason. You and Kurama just schedule it in all at once and have the whole rest of the day free. It's brilliant!" Dude grinned very enthusiastically at Hiei, who paused. He suspected that they weren't quite talking about the same thing.
"But, but, you not need to fight like that," the Friar interrupted, sounding slightly concerned. "You should enjoy time together, talk about things--watch the plants grow," he added, as a last resort. The short one had mentioned a garden in there somewhere. If they fought daily, things were more worrisome than he'd originally thought.
"Dude, plants are cool," Dude said, nodding sagely. "Like, those mushroom things you've got? That glow in the dark when you turn the basement light off? Totally sweet."
Hiei scowled. "Kurama always makes me look at his plants. He spends hours in his garden talking to them."
"Talking plants. Dude..." Dude swayed slightly and sat back.
"He says they talk. He won't let me touch them. Just because that one convict ambushed me right outside his garden, and it got a little messed up. Most of it wasn't even me. His plants hurt when you touch them." Hiei scowled, remembering when one particularly large youkai had broken out of Koenma's prison and had jumped him. Hiei had just been standing there, watching his friend's plants "dance." He wasn't lying--those plants stung when you touched them. The garden had been destroyed. Hiei had slightly lost his temper when Kurama's prized rose swiped its thorns at him for coming too close and had incinerated the whole thing, as well as the unfortunate youkai. Kurama had still been sore about that a week later, something about five years wasted trying to get that one spot exactly like the rare makai conditions required for that particular rose to grow. Koenma had also been put out over the whole event, as it had transpired that the youkai in question had been wanted for the theft of a valuable sword. Hiei had shrugged it off. He knew for a fact that that particular sword had in fact been a fake, the real one having been stolen by Youko Kurama years ago. Kurama had kept strangely quiet during the whole investigation once the youkai had broken out. The Friar interrupted his thoughts once more, causing Hiei to snarl in annoyance.
"Your red hair, he is very violent?" The Friar peered concernedly at Hiei.
"Only when he's upset, or his plants are involved," Hiei said dryly. The Friar paused, considering.
"You say you fight often. How much time do you spend together not?" Hiei's brow wrinkled as he puzzled this out. Kurama had explained that this was the friar's second language and he wasn't as fluent in it.
"I visit him every night."
"After fighting?"
"We eat sweet snow and then he makes me stay in his room, unless his mom comes in. Then he makes me hide in the closet."
'Aha! A possible solution!' the Friar thought. Dude was still swaying slightly in his seat.
"I like closets. I've spent a lot of time in there hiding from other exes before." Hiei and the Friar looked at him.
"...this girlfriend one who was insane?" the Friar queried.
Dude shook his head easily. "Nah, that was Julie. This is Nadia."
"I thought I tell you, three people bad for holiness."
"Dude! I didn't know who he was! He just lived with her! I thought he was like her protective older brother...or maybe a dad..." Dude said earnestly. The Friar apparently had had enough of this as he turned back to Hiei.
"Whatever. Dark One, why your red-hair make you stay in closet? Does he not want his mother to see you?"
"No," Hiei shrugged. "She doesn't like him having guys over after dark. Said it doesn't look right." He folded his arms and leaned back against the wall. The Friar frowned.
"And what does he say about that?"
"He wants me to visit him. It's almost mandatory now. I come spend the night with him almost every time." Hiei frowned slightly himself now at the thought. Kurama was right; he enjoyed the role-playing they did, but there was such a thing as too much. However, the kitsune was always like this when he found something new to catch his interest. Fox curiosity. He'd play with his new toy until he tired of it, or until it broke. Hiei knew this side of him and reluctantly tolerated Kurama's enthusiasm for the play, knowing things would revert to normal once he'd tired of it. And he was right, much to the koorime's annoyance. Once they got started, it was amazing how fast time passed, and he never regretted it.... And Kurama's bed was more comfortable than his tree, although he never allowed himself to stay in it past day break, even if it was still raining. He dealt with too many other things to hang around the kitsune all day.
"You...see him, every night, after fighting?" The Friar seemed confused about something.
"Yes," Hiei said impatiently, waving it away. "Then, when he's tired of me, he tells me to go away," he added as an afterthought, remembering last night, when Kurama had hit his head on a bookshelf while they'd been mock dueling. Kurama had been teaching him the proper ningen style for that area and time period. He'd grumbled and gotten a "freaking huge headache" from it, and not so politely requested that Hiei leave. Hiei rolled his eyes. Kurama dropped the cover of politeness only when he was around him.
"But, where do you sleep?" The Friar asked, looking at him.
"In his tree."
"What?!" the Friar wailed, wondering what kind of hold Kurama could have over the smaller boy to cause him to need to stay close by, even after being beaten and thrown out. "Small spiky one, what of your own home?" He looked at Hiei with great concern.
"Hn. They threw me out," Hiei muttered. Obviously, the Friar worried, he is pained much still but wishes no one to know it.
"Does your red hair, er, has he...um--" he stammered.
"Kurama knows. Everyone knows. No one is allowed to want to have anything to do with me," Hiei stated, tonelessly. He really was getting quite tired of repeating this. Gods, wasn't it enough that everyone back home and in the Makai knew of his heritage? That they flinched at the very mention of his name? Not that that last one was a bad thing...
The Friar looked sadly at the small boy in black before him. He was, obviously, unloved at home. Perhaps this was why he kept himself in such a destructive relationship--it was all he felt he had.
"But,...you sleep in his tree?" he asked in disbelief.
"Kurama doesn't mind. It's better than his closet, anyway." The Friar blanched. In his home land, monks were punished for sinning by being locked up in closets.
"At least he has a nice closet. The last one I was locked in had rats," Hiei said thoughtfully. not that they had lasted long, or he had been imprisoned in that closet long, he thought, smirking.
"Rats?" Dude and the Friar asked simultaneously, Dude, with interest, the Friar, with horror.
"Kurama doesn't have rats, though. He wouldn't allow anything in there that could mess up his clothes. He's as vain as Youko"
"Dude, I love closets, man. You never know what your gonna find in them. It's like a treasure hunt." Dude paused thoughtfully. "Only, without the like, actual treasure."
"Hn. Kurama's is full of clothes. and his shoes. Doesn't even wear most of them; 'they're for special occasions.'" Hiei shook his head at the memory.
"Dude, like, my last girlfriend's, brother's, littlest sister had some weird stuff in her closet. Like, this whole box of stuff labeled 'thongs'? Man, what's that supposed to mean? A whole box of different colored strings tied together." He shook his head, bewildered, as Hiei and the Friar just stared at him. Neither knew exactly what he was talking about, Hiei having never been informed of the various types of girls' underwear by Kurama, and the Friar because his one and only girlfriend refused to tell him. But both knew instinctively that this was a topic better left alone.
"...Kurama's closet doesn't have those," Hiei finally said.
"But, back to the closets; why does he toss you in there so very often?" the Friar asked, trying desperately to redirect the conversation.
"I told you, his mother doesn't like guys in his room after dark.'' Hiei shrugged, shoulders barely rising an inch to indicate his complete and total lack of interest. "She keeps walking in on us. I told him he's going to have to tell her about me sooner or later, but--"
"She doesn't know?" Dude asked curiously.
"No. So he throws me in there every night when she comes in to check on him.. Last time I left a head shaped dent on the wall. I'd like to see him try and explain that to her." He snorted at this. Kurama had accidentally pushed him too hard, causing Hiei to trip over his shoes, resulting in him smashing head first into the back of the kitsune's closet. Kurama had frantically shushed the cursing fire demon through the door seconds before Shiori had walked in, wondering what the noise had been. The Friar protested Hiei's calm statement violently, hands flying.
"No! He must not treat you like this! You are not a doll-puppet to be picked up and played with everyday and then tossed on the floor or in the closet when he is done! You must fight this! You must--"
Dude, meanwhile, had been looking at the wall in vague fascination, wondering if he could make a head shaped dent in it as well. He now took both Hiei and the Friar by surprise and hurled himself, full-tilt, into said wall. Hiei and the Friar watched in mild interest as he crashed, following him to the floor with their eyes. The Friar sighed and turned back to Hiei. The stagehand scurried back by the trio now carrying a mop and a bucket of water, and looking worried.
"You are more than he has made you!'' the Friar finished. Hiei bristled at this, growling.
"Kurama hasn't made me anything!" he snapped.
"Of course not. This is why you must not let this mistreatment of you control you," the Friar said placatingly.
"I let a camel mistreat me once." Dude's voice came rather uncertainly from his corner. He paused, considering. "Or was that my last girlfriend?" He looked at them both, puzzled. They returned the stare.
"Please, ignore him. He is not well, " the Friar said, sighing.
"I was beginning to suspect as much..."Hiei muttered.
"I tell him, special plants only for divinely inspired, but do he listen?"
Hiei looked at him blankly.
"Of course not!" The Friar finished, throwing his hands up into the air helplessly. "They are my special purification plants, and not to be used--"
"What about those ones you burned last night? Those didn't smell very purifying. Pretty colors though." Dude grinned inanely at them both. The Friar reddened.
"Those are my special medicine plants, used for--"
"They, like, make your whole mind open," Dude nodded appreciatively.
"You were not supposed to use them! They are for special times only!"
"Dude, I'd like some sweet snow," Dude said, not appearing to have heard a word the Friar had just said. Hiei just looked at the two of them. Something wasn't quite adding up here. The Friar seemed pleased to return to topic. He pointed at Hiei.
Hiei ignored him. "Kurama has special plants too, but I'm fairly sure they're not divinely enlightening. He gave them to this girl once...he still doesn't know I saw them."
"I am believing this conversation has strayed from purpose," The Friar said primly. They both ignored him.
"But, Dude, I, like, use your plants all the time!" Dude blinked and stared up at the fuming Friar earnestly.
"Kurama's never let me near his plants since I incinerated the whole garden."
"Oh, cool! I've always wanted to try that!" Dude yelled, enthused by the idea.
"They are HOLY plants, only to be used by us who are accomplished in faith!" the Friar snapped.
"Dude!" Dude said, staring at him in rapt fascination. "You have a god?? What's he look like?" The Friar stared back at him and spluttered.
"Do I...a...you....I'm a monk! Of course I have--" Dude interrupted him, running over the Friar's words in his excitement.
"Do you have to, like, make virgin sacrifices? Cause I dunno, man, that's pretty weird. I mean, all that blood? And how do they know she's a virgin anyway?"
Hiei, who had been watching all this is disbelief, shook his head and muttered loud enough for the Friar to hear, "Youko used to rob monks. Said they were the wealthiest ba-"
"Can we sacrifice an onion bulb instead?" Dude asked seriously. "Cause my other girlfriend's allergic to onions and she didn't tell me and I brought one home....I can't tell if she's crying cause of that or because I smeared mayo all over the rug." The Friar, meanwhile, had been staring at Hiei in disbelief, and now protested his words.
"We are NOT wealthy ba--"he froze, clapped his hand over his mouth, and stared at them both in horror. "Must...purify..." he stumbled over to where the stagehand had left his bucket of water while mopping the floor and dumped the contents over his head. The stagehand stared at him in terror. The Friar wiped his eyes and stumbled back over to Dude and Hiei, wringing out his robes. Hiei raised an eyebrow at him.
"Kurama said Youko got most of his best treasures from the monks because people always tried to bribe their way into whatever afterlife they wanted. And since monks didn't need worldly temptations anyway, everybody won from his deal. Especially him."
"All I wanted was to make her dinner. It was our three month anniversary...I'd never had a three month anniversary before..." Dude sniffled. The Friar looked indignantly at Hiei.
"We do so need worldly temptations! What else are we supposed to purify ourselves from doing?"
"--And then she dumped me and sent me the dry cleaning bill."
"Well, I suppose if you look at it that--" Hiei started to say when Dude, finally catching up on the current conversation, cut him off.
"Dude! Worldly temptations rock!" Hiei and the Friar just looked at him.
"Like, the band? Worldly Temptations?" They mutely shook their heads, Hiei stopping abruptly when he realized what he was doing. "You guys are so out of it. You need to get out more," Dude said, shaking his head at them solemnly.
"...Kurama likes classical," Hiei finally said.
"Man, that's so...classical though," Dude protested.
"Ah! Do you have same interest in music? Music very good tool for relationship." The Friar had brightened perceptibly at this statement.
"I don't see what Kurama finds so exciting about a bunch of dead tight-wearing German men," Hiei said flatly. Dude and the Friar traded glances.
"...Maybe he's gay?" Dude suggested. The Friar bonked him on the head at this.
"Insensitive oyster!"he snapped.
"What's gay?" Hiei asked, confused. Dude and the Friar shared uncomfortable glances.
"It's like...what you and Kurama are...I think..." Dude said uncertainly. The Friar put his head in his hands.
"Alright, small dark one, you will understand what I am saying. Observe this rock. See how it is at peace." He pulled a rock out from somewhere in his robes and handed it to Hiei.
"It's a rock. It can't do anything else," Hiei said blankly.
"Dude! Rocks rock.''
Hiei and the Friar ignored him.
"This is what you must look for in you relationship. This is your goal," the Friar told Hiei, who held it up and examined it.
"It's got a hole in it," he said accusingly.
"...Yyeesss...a hole." The Friar recovered quickly. "You see, the hole means significance. It is you and your red hair's faults. You have them and cannot hide them. However,"--he pulled another, smaller stone from his robes and waved it at Hiei, who looked at it cross-eyed and annoyed--"you can fill the void with trust and understanding and everything falls into place." He attempted to push a smaller rock into the hole. Hiei and Dude watched his increasingly violent movements in silence. Eventually, Hiei grew bored with this and turned to Dude.
"How many girlfriends have you had, exactly?"
"Dunno man, but I can tell you none of them had a hole in them," he said indignantly, staring at the rock in the Friars hands. The Friar threw away the smaller one, hitting the stagehand squarely on the head as he walked by to put the mops and bucket up. The stagehand squeaked and ran by.
"As I say before," the Friar panted. "the hole is your shortcomings. If you and your red hair over come these, small spiky one, then you will be happy. He must learn to control that Youko, and live with both faces, and you must help him. 'A tame horse has room for two,' as they say." He handed the rock to Hiei. "You must meditate for two hours a day on this, to learn what it's secrets be, and to understand them." Hiei took the rock, puzzled.
"But I thought you said--"
"Never mind what I say! Just do it!" the Friar snapped.
"Dude, I wouldn't worry about it." Dude said companionably, clapping Hiei on the shoulder and missing the look of surprised this gesture earned him. "In a thousand years the rock'll be so eroded that the hole won't matter anyway."
The Friar put his head in his hands. "I need my special plants," he muttered. "I should not have to endure this on my own steam..."
"Dude, I can get them for you. Which ones are you wanting?" Dude said helpfully. The Friar didn't look up.
"The ones with the white flowers. And don't drop them this time."
"Dude, I wanna learn to be just like you. You're, like, at peace with the world and stuff. My other girlfriend tried to get me into yoga but I like this better. Flowers rock. Especially when you smoke them," he added as he wandered off. The Friar looked up and turned red.
"...Divine inspiration?" Hiei suggested.
"It is foretold in the scriptures!" he said defensively.
"What religion of monk are you anyway?" Hiei asked curiously. The Friar just shook his head as Dude cam back.
"Dude, I like, couldn't find any flowers like you wanted. I think we had them all last night for dinner. I told you it looked a little weird." He ignored the Friars sudden look of distress. "But don't worry; I brought us this." He held out a bowl of ice cream for the Friar. "It's, like, the fat free kind. My other girlfriend took all the regular stuff. This is all left over from the 'rexia one. Tofu nut." He sat down and nodded.
Hiei looked at the two of them.. He looked at the rock. He figured Kurama was probably waiting for him at his house with HIS sweet snow. He looked at the rock more closely. 'Might as well keep it. He seemed like it meant a lot to him. Maybe Kurama will know something about it.' He shrugged, then turned and walked away, leaving the Friar eating fat-free ice cream and Dude rambling on about his "tofu nut" girlfriend.
A few minutes after he left, Dude looked up. "Dude, he's like, vanished."
The Friar looked up and sighed. "Such is the way of the smallest dragonfly.''
"Whoa, man...that was deep," Dude told him. The Friar nodded tiredly and went back to eating his ice cream. Now he only had to find a way to speak to the red hair about all this. As they said, "never leave any goose ungathered in the spring."
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WOW.....that's all, folks. You have no idea how hard that chapter was to write...I rewrote it like three times...I was so proud of myself, too, because I wrote, like, half of it on trains and buses while I was in Scotland and those are NOT easy things to write in...and I used, maybe three pages of what I wrote then. Sad...anyway, hope you all liked this chapter. I worked really hard on it. Next up: Kurama returns moments after Hiei leaves to give him his new ice cream. What happens when Dude and the Friar give him their little "man to man" talk? And like I said up there, I really don't like asking for reviews, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Plz??? plz, plz, plz, plz, PLZ review? I need divine inspiration that doesn't come from illegal mushrooms. Lol
( For those of you who did not get this, the friar has illegal plants in his basements that are hallucinogens, among others. This is why Kurama raised his eyebrows when he heard the description; he knows what plants they are. Dude is normally a lot smarter than he was in this chapter, but he has been sampling a few of the friar's holy plants and is not quite all here. (grins) ...There was something else...I can't remember....oh, well. That's all, folks! Sky Fire Dragon signing out. (whew...))