Part Eight: A Strange Day
Solaris: Here's the last incredibly random chapter, and the last chapter of the origins. Enjoy! Standard disclaimers apply.
Solaris woke up about five minutes after 9 the next morning. She quickly dressed in a mid-thigh length dusty rose-colored pinafore over a cream-colored long-sleeved blouse. For fun, she tied a creamy ribbon with a bell on it around her neck. Slipping on her house shoes, she smiled and went downstairs.
Kurama was sitting at the table, eating a bowl of cereal. "That'd be Solaris," he said as he heard the bell. Hiei emerged from the refrigerator just as the bubbly foxgirl entered the kitchen. "Morning."
"Morning all!" she smiled, then looked over Hiei's shoulder into the container in his hand. "You know, Hiei, what you're eating hasn't been classified by science yet."
"Yeah, well, what your muse is cooking hasn't been classified by science yet either." Hiei said as he started to chow down. Solaris looked over Foxglove's shoulder and grimaced in disgust.
"I see what you mean." she said as she dug out the remnants of the chicken and rice from the previous night.
Later that day, the doorbell rang while Solaris was in the basement. "Could someone get that, please?" she yelled. Kurama set down the newspaper he was reading (hey, Solaris had said she didn't need help, Hiei had gone off somewhere, and Foxglove was sick in her room due to the concoction she had made for breakfast. He had nothing better to do.) and answered the door.
"Is this the Moon residence?" a delivery guy asked.
"Last time I checked, it was. Can I help you?" Kurama asked.
"We're here to deliver a Dance Dance Revolution Extreme machine to a Miss Solaris Moon."
"Wha! Solaris! You ordered a DDR machine!" Kurama yelled in shock.
"Oh, it's here? Bring it around back, guys!" she called from downstairs.
"You heard the lady, move it!" the delivery guy yelled to his team, who did indeed move it. Kurama shut the front door calmly, then ran downstairs to see Solaris opening the door leading to an elevator installed for large downstairs deliveries.
"Solaris, how did you order a DDR machine! Those things are expensive! And I thought you were done decorating!" Kurama hissed.
"Oh, I ordered it the day after I got here. It takes a while for those things to get here though. After all, it was one of those 'wait four to six weeks for delivery' things." She smiled.
"I'll bet Koenma's having a fit over the expenses." Kurama sighed just as the delivery guys wheeled the pad and screen out of the elevator.
"Over there, guys," she grinned. Pretty soon the machine was hooked up and the delivery guys were gone. "All the songs are unlocked already, and if I want to turn it off, I unplug it." she grinned. "Wanna play?"
"Why?" he asked.
"Well, to make sure it's working for one, and to keep from being bored for another," she smiled, pushing a strand of hair out of her face to reveal her human ear. (A/N: Oh, like she's going to stay fox for a delivery by ningen delivery guys? Puh-Leeze.) Kurama sighed.
"I suppose." She plugged it in and pulled the ribbon and bell from her neck. The two played a few rounds, both being surprisingly good. After a while, the two sat down on the dance pad, Solaris getting up just long enough to unplug the machine. Both teens were laughing. A few minutes later, Solaris went upstairs to make lunch. No sooner had it finished cooking than Hiei returned.
"I wouldn't call the muse if I were you. She's asleep." Hiei warned.
"Oh, I've told her not to cook until she learns first! What was she trying to cook, anyway?" Solaris sighed just as Kurama entered the kitchen.
"I don't know, only that it involved chicken, fish, and pancake mix." Hiei sighed in return. All three sighed and sweatdropped.
"You'd think she'd know better." Kurama sighed. The other two nodded.
After lunch, Solaris grabbed her purse and a pair of chocolate brown shoes that almost matched her outfit. "I'm going to get a new sign made for my gate, anyone want to come with?" she asked. Kurama jumped up.
"I'll watch the muse." Hiei said. Solaris and Kurama left the house, Solaris smiling.
"You know, I wish I could walk around in my normal form. It's why I got a nice house with so much land and an attached fence: so I could run around and not scare some little kid." she said a bit wistfully, yet still smiling.
"So what's the sign going to say?" Kurama asked.
"Take a guess."
"Sanctuary, right?"
"Bingo." she grinned. Pretty soon they had arrived at a signmaker's shop and placed the order. They had about an hour to wander around, so they went to the park. It was a lovely day in late spring, and you could already find snow cone vendors. The two wandered around and ate snow cones by the lake, and an hour passed in no time. Solaris had her bronze sign and tools to attach it to her fence. As soon as they got back, she put it up. "There!" she grinned. It looked good.
That night, over dinner, Kurama broke some inevitable news. "Well, Okasan's begun to want me home, and from the looks of it, you're all settled in here, so… I guess what I'm trying to say is that, well, tonight's the last night I'll be spending here for a while. If it's all right, I'll come for dinner or after school sometimes, but I can't keep staying without telling Okasan." he said. Solaris nodded, while Foxglove looked confused.
"Okasan never minded if we stayed gone for days on end." Foxglove blinked.
"The heck she didn't! I've probably still got marks on my neck where she picked me up and shook me as a pup!" Solaris said, scowling.
"I never had an Okasan, so I was lucky in that aspect." Hiei said sagely.
"Well, let's move on to happier topics." Kurama smiled, recalling Hiei's parental situation. So they did.
The next morning, three of the four people in that house left. The two in Meiou High uniforms stood at the bus stop while the redhead wearing a headband and a longish skirt walked on. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day, and as Hiei slept peacefully, Solaris, Foxglove and Kurama all thought that it was another typical day.
OWARISolaris: And thus ends the origins. Watch for the next fic:
PROMO: Konnichiwa, Akachan!
Sometimes, names can have different effects, some good, some bad. Then there are times that the effect of a name can't be told. When a baby is left on Solaris's doorstep for a week, what will happen?