Hi, I'm actually back! So sorry I just let this story die! I'm hoping to finish it over the Thanksgiving break. I do have some bad news though. After much debating, I decided to call of the whole stupid be in the story contest thing. Sorry about it, all the characters you guys gave me were great and all, but the thing is that I had the end of this story all planned out and I don't want to re-write it. Also, like I said, I just want it to be finished already, and adding yet more characters would only make it harder to end it all. So, please don't hate me. Having said that...ON WITH THE FIC!!!!
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A bell jingled as the hunter opened the door and stepped into the store.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," the hunter called, slowly starting down the cereal isle.
In the back of the store, Neiko and Yusuke huddled behind a rack of tires with the others crouching in the various isles around them...waiting.
"You can run but you cannot hide, little one," the hunter advised, stopping his slow march in front of a large rack of tires.
"What was that?" Hiei hissed dangerously. The hunter spun around and came face to face with his prey.
"So, there you are..." the hunter muttered, raising his rifle.
"Do you have a permit for that rifle?" a voice called. The hunter spun around to find the owner of the voice and saw Yusuke just as the detective rammed a tire over his head, pinning his arms down and causing him to drop the rifle. Wasting no time, Yusuke pulled his fist back and made bone crushing contact with the hunter's face, sending him crashing through the isles and back to the cash registers at the front of the store.
"Come on!" Yusuke called as he turned, grabbed Keiko's hand, and darted out the back door.
"Yeah, that's what you get!" Kuwabara called back at the hunter as he and the others followed Yusuke. They didn't stop running until they found themselves in a park several blocks away.
"That hunter won't stay down for long," Yusuke pointed out. "We'd better just hurry up and finish this damn thing already." Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Who's turn is it?" Keiko asked.
"Kuwabara's" Kurama answered, turning to look at the orange haired teen beside him.
"Darn it!" Kuwabara muttered, placing the game board on the ground and opening it up.
"Check it out! It's the monkey's again!" Neiko cried, making everyone, except Kuwabara, look up. They all watched in half-amusement as a total of seven monkeys sped past on a fire truck, one holding on for dear life to the hose that had been turned on and was now spraying in every direction. One of them apparently found the switch for the siren because a shrill wail filled the air, making the onlookers cover their ears. They continued to stare after the truck until even the sound of the siren had gone.
"Damn, we'd better fix this mess fast!" Yusuke muttered, half-laughing. There was a sudden cry from behind them and they turned to find Kuwabara staring in disbelief at his hands, which had grown quite hairy.
"What the-?" Yusuke and Neiko exclaimed simultaneously. Kurama bent down to read the message on the board aloud.
"A law of Jumanji has been broken; now you must suffer this remembrance token," he read. "You cheated?"
"No!" Kuwabara cried in defense. "I was only twelve spaces from the end, so I...tried to drop the dice so they'd land on double six."
"Yeah, that would be cheating," Neiko sighed, rolling her eyes. Kuwabara cast his eyes downward. How could he cheat? It went against everything his honor code stood for. He honestly hadn't thought....
His thoughts were cut off as he suddenly doubled over in pain. More hair sprouted from his hands, arms, and the sides of his face. The other's took a step back in shock, staring, not sure what to do. With a final grunt of pain, the seat of Kuwabara's pants split and a long, brown tail was visible.
Kuwabara crouched on the ground, panting for a long moment. There was silence. That is, there was silence until Yusuke broke out into a fit of laughter.
"Man...that game...really....made a monkey outta you!!!" Yusuke cried between fits of laughter, tears sprouting from his eyes.
"Yusuke!" Keiko cried in disgust, but Yusuke was too far gone in his hysterics to notice her death glare.
"I've heard of a monkey's uncle....but this is ridiculous!!!" he cried, falling to his knees as he continued to laugh. The laughter was contagious and soon Neiko was laughing too, and even Hiei was smirking. Kurama tried his best to keep his own amusement at a polite chuckle. Keiko scowled at them all.
Kuwabara was seething, but it didn't feel right to fight back. He had cheated, he had broken his honor code, and this was his punishment. He sighed and stared dejectedly at the ground.
"Just somebody take their damn turn already," he muttered. Kurama, who was still kneeling by the board and was the closest person to Kuwabara, was the only one to hear the words. Almost immediately he felt bad for laughing at his friend.
"Kuwabara..." he started, but Kuwabara held up a hand for him to stop.
"It's alright," Kuwabara smiled sadly, "I must look pretty stupid, huh?" He held out the dice and Kurama took them, returning the smile.
Yusuke, having finally calmed down, sighed and muttered, "Alright, let's see what new hell fox-boy unleashes."
Kurama ignored the comment and rolled the dice. They rolled across the board and landed on a one and a two, totaling to three. His white elephant came to life and moved three spaces. They all waited for the words to appear, like a condemned man waits for the executioner. Slowly, the words swirled into being and Kurama read them.
"A tiny bite can make you itch, make you sneeze, make you twitch." As soon as he'd read it, the air was filled with a buzzing noise.
"Shit, what now?" Yusuke moaned.
"Look up," Neiko said in a weak voice. The group hesitantly raised their heads to find a swarm of insects above them.
"Crap," Kuwabara gulped.
"No one make and sudden moves," Kurama advised, freezing where he knelt. The insects, whatever they were, looked like huge misquotes with two inch bodies and a needle-like appendage at the mouth at least an inch long. Of course, as fate would have it, Keiko picked that moment to sneeze. The buzzing above them amplified to an angry roar.
"RUN!" Kurama cried over the noise. They didn't need to be told twice. As a group, they darted out of the park and tore down the street. Not far from the park they had been in was a bus station and some irresponsible driver had left his bus parked out front...with the keys in the ignition.
"Close all the windows!" Yusuke barked as they half-tripped up the stairs of the greyhound bus. Neiko, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Keiko all hurried to close the few windows that were opened while Yusuke took the driver's seat.
"Crap! How do you close the door?" Yusuke cried in frustration. The bugs were getting closer and the door was still wide opened. Hiei sighed and rolled his eyes. He had never actually been on a human bus before, but even to him it seemed painfully obvious how to close the door. He pulled the lever just as the insects swarmed around the bus, thunking softly against the glass.
"Urameshi, have you ever driven one of these before?" Kuwabara asked, his new tail twisting nervously behind him.
"What do you think?" Yusuke growled, he was in no mood for stupid questions.
"But--" Kuwabara started.
"Sit down, shut up, and hold on!" Yusuke yelled back, pressing the pedal to the floor as a few insects poked their needle-noses through the thin metal of the bus's roof. Everyone not already sitting down was thrown to the floor as the bus rocketed forward.
The poor driver came out of the bus station just in time to see his new, and currently being assaulted by bugs, bus speed off without him.