Don't own YYH...
Chapt. 12
Iowa for a Vacation?
One week later.
The tournament was steadily drawing nearer. Everybody was on edge. The guys had been in a similar tournament two years ago, the Ankoku Bujutsukai (Dark Tournament). I was the only inexperienced fighter here. Not inexperienced as in I've never fought before, inexperienced as in I've never been in a life or death tournament of this caliber. Well, I've never been in a tournament at all for that matter.
"You ok?" a voice says as a hand is placed on my shoulder.
I tense up and jump slightly.
"Take it easy Darkfire, it's just me," comes the calm speech of Kurama.
I loosen up and turn to face his chest; that's my eye level. I look up into his vibrant eyes. "I'm fine."
"You seem a bit jumpy. You sure you're ok?" he inquires with concern.
"Perfectly fine. Just thinking about the Urabutosatsujin is all," I tell him calmly, turning back to the balcony over looking Cupid's garden. I named it Cupid's because the fountain was in the middle of it all.
"Don't worry so much, you'll do great," he comforts.
"Thanks Kurama." I stare towards the flaming gold of the sun as it slowly sets upon the land. The shadows slowly grew longer and the sky darker. The bright green trees became a dark forest green. Cupid slowly became a cold, hard, icy statue upon darkened waters. The bloomed flowers begin to close up for the night, sleeping in the darkness only to wake up to the sunrise. I give a small yawn.
"You've had a hard week, you should get some sleep," Kurama offers.
I turn to his gently smiling face. "Don't you ever worry about yourself?" I ask, returning his smile with one of my own.
"Only when there aren't others to think about."
I give a small laugh. "You're weird Kurama, I suppose that's why we're friends." I give him a gentle hug. "Tell the others I said good night." With that said, I teleport to the garden outside.
I walk along the flower lined, gravel path. The warm summer breeze caresses my face. I breathe in the smells of the flowers and trees about me. Kurama has done a wonderful job. I slowly come upon Cupid's pedestal fountain. I gaze into its angelic, stone face. I take a breath and sigh, sitting on the fountain's edge.
I dip my fingers in the cold water and make more ripples on the moving surface.
"Leaving without saying anything?" comes a well-known voice.
I look up and see Yusuke walking up to me, glad in pajama pants and a white tee. "That was the plan," I answer quietly.
He smiles broadly and sits beside me. "That's not very nice you know," he lectures.
"I know, but I didn't plan on stopping here."
"Then why did you?"
"It has a perfect view of the sky," I tell him, turning my face to the starry sky. The stars shown brilliantly against the black sky. And the moon, oh the moon, it glowed marvelously in its full state. Not a cloud in the sky tonight, it was perfect.
"I see what you mean," Yusuke sighs in awe after a while.
I simply smile and turn back to the view in front of me. "Did you want something Yusuke?"
"Huh? Oh, no. Not really." He stares into my eyes. "Just...you're a pretty good fighter."
"Thanks. You're fair too."
"You're just saying that cuz I'm the team captain."
"No, I'm serious. If you didn't act like an idiot all the time, you might actually be able to beat Hiei sometimes."
"Still wouldn't be able to beat you," he laughs, ruffling me ears.
I give a small laugh and pull away. "I gotta go Yusuke, see you tomorrow." I salute him and teleport away to my room. I instantly lie down on my bed and fall asleep.
Beep. Beep. BEEP! "Stupid alarm," I grumble sleepily and flip the stupid switch that turns off the stupid alarm. I grumble some more and walk to the bathroom. "Why'd I get up this early...can't I just play sick?" I sigh.
"I know why I'm up, why are you?"
I nearly jump out of my skin. I turn towards the voice and see Osadyro leaning against the doorframe.
"Damn it, don't do that!" I yell, trying to slow my heart down.
She just smirks in satisfactory.
"What do you mean 'why are you'? It's Monday."
"Yes, in June," she says smartly, pushing off the doorframe and walking over to me. She puts her hand on my head. "You see, we don't have school today." She ruffles my ears like Yusuke did last night.
I sigh angrily.
"What?"
"I finally finish training and can concentrate on school, only to remember that we don't have any," I explain.
"You passed with an A, chill."
I push her hand off my head and walk back to my room.
"Where you goin'?" she asks, following me.
"Back to bed," I answer in annoyance.
"Why?"
"Cuz I can."
"Since you're up..."
"No." I lie down and pull the comforter tightly around my shoulders.
"You don't even know what I was gunna ask."
Nothing from me.
"Please just listen," she whines.
"I'll listen, but that don't mean the answer will be 'yes'," I tell her, sitting up and facing her.
She plops down on the bed and starts talking about some elaborate scheme and how it has to work this time. I'm not completely sure what she said because I blocked most of it out.
"On with point!" I demand, wanting to go back to bed.
"Alright, alright, geez. I'm going to kidnap you for the week," she finishes, finally.
"Where we goin'?" I question skeptically, but interested all the same.
"Iowa," she answers cautiously.
"Iowa hm? For the week. If you can get my mom to say yes, I don't give a shit," I tell her frankly; letting gravity pull my head back to its pillow. I don't see her, but I swear she jumped with delight before disappearing into the shadows. I sigh and fall into a peaceful slumber.
"Fire? Rkfire? Darkfire?!"
I groan sleepily and pull the covers over my head.
"You lazy ass! Get up damn it!" barks an angry voice.
I mumble something...or I just mumble.
The person in my room growls and the covers are ripped from my body.
"Eek!" I scream as I jump up.
"What?" the voice asks, unconcerned.
"It's cold," I mumble, stealing my comforter back and wrapping it around me. "What do you want Hiei?"
"How'd you know, you haven't opened your eyes since I came in here yesterday?"
"I'm a wolf, remember?" I mock. "Yesterday?"
"Yea, you've been out since 7:30 yesterday. At least, that's what time it was when I came in," he explains. The bed shifts weight.
"What time is it now?" I ask before a big yawn escapes my mouth.
"6:30...pm."
"WHAT?!" I exclaim, jumping off the bed and dashing insanely about the room grabbing clothes and what not.
"What are you doing onna?"
I don't answer. Suddenly, my face meets the floor and my forehead almost meets the dresser. I push myself into a sitting position and rub my rug-burned chin.
"What are you doing?" Hiei repeats, looking at me like I'm an idiot.
I stay silent for a moment. "I...don't remember."
He practically falls off the edge of the bed. "Baka."
"Am not!"
"Yes, you are."
"Maybe I am, but you don't have to tell me that!"
"I just don't want you to forget it."
I growl menacingly at him; he just kinda sits there. I lunge at him and pin him to the bed. He does some real fast move thingy and I find myself on my back. We kinda fight like this for a bit.
"Hello...Hiei? And Darkfire?"
Hiei and I stop; I've got him in a choke hold and he has me by the ears.
"She's gunna bite yer head off y' know," Osa warns Hiei.
He just pulls harder. I move and bite into his arm. He doesn't do anything so I bite harder and feel blood run down my arm. He punches me to the side and looks at his arm, then at me.
"Every time I see you guys, you're fighting over something."
"Yell at Hiei not me," I say, licking my bleeding arm. "He's the one who watches people sleep for 23 hours non-stop." His glare narrows on me.
"That's sick dude," Osa says.
His glare turns to her, but doesn't stay there long. "Why do you insist on hurting people when it's you who feels the damage?"
"Cuz I can. Got a problem with that?" I snarl.
"Just a little."
"Why? It's like getting your revenge without having to lift a finger...or blade."
"Exactly," he answers, leaning towards me slightly with an evil smirk on his face.
"A-hem," comes Osadyro after staying silent during our bickering.
"What?" I snap, still glaring at Hiei.
"I just thought that we could go now."
"Right, the others were waiting for Sleeping Beauty here to wake up," he says, turning to her and pointing his thumb back to me.
"Uh, go where?" I ask, forgetting that Hiei just called me a sleeping beauty. Beauty is what got me.
"On our trip. Your mom was easy to convince," she explains, an evil smile upon her face.
"What does he mean by 'the others'?" I ask skeptically.
"It was their idea, but I got the short straw and had to ask you."
"So I have to spend another week with those nuts? When do we start?"
"Ten hours ago. But since I couldn't get you up, we've been waiting," Hiei replies snidely.
"Well excuse me for being tired. You people put me through hell and back again."
"No, you did that yourself. You beat us up, but you got the damage."
I about stuck my tongue out at him, but quickly stop when I remember that he'd cut it off. And I had no doubt that he would too.
"Good wolf, now go pack," he orders.
"I'm not a dog," I growl.
"I know that, that's why I called you a wolf. Now, pack!"
I jump slightly and start dashing about the room again. Clothes, pencils, notebooks and other junk fly across the room into my suitcase. Hiei and Osa follow my speeding moves with interest...I guess that's what you'd call it. I mean, geez, they had popcorn.
I finally plop down beside my packed suitcase. "Done," I pant.
"Good, let's go." Hiei stands up and walks towards the portal.
"Why're we goin' on a week vacation in Iowa?"
"To get a little fun in before the tournament," Osa says carelessly, resting her arm on my shoulder.
"In Iowa?" I state in criticism, pushing her arm off.
"Close and cheap."
"Whatever, let's go." I walk by Hiei towards the portal. He grabs my arm and yanks me over to him. "Hey!"
We're going a different way.
What other way is there?
The others have already left. Thanks to you, we were left here to wait for you to come from your slumber. Osadyro is going to take us there.
You coulda just told me that; you didn't have to try to rip my arm off.
Hn.
"Will you guys stop bickering and come here," Osa growls irritably, stamping her foot slightly on my carpeted floor.
I glare at Hiei, which he returns, and then turn to Osadyro. "Coming." I rip my arm from Hiei's grasp and walk over to her. "How 'bout you Hiei?"
He snorts and walks to the other side of Osa. "Let's go already."
"Right." A black light engulfs us (and my suitcase) and disappears in the blink of an eye. I look out upon the endless field of corn growing before us.
"This is where we're staying?" I ask in a 'you have to be joking' way.
"Yup. Like I said, cheap."
"A corn field wasn't what I thought you had in mind."
"Shut up and come on," Hiei growls and vanishes into the corn. Osa follows shortly and I'm left standing. I sigh, shrug, and trot after them. I catch up quickly and it seems like we're walking forever before we finally see a small clearing in the corn.
"Damn."
"We found it yesterday, we're lucky," Osa says, stepping next to me. Kuwabara looks over to us, noticing we were there. His face brightens and he bounds clumsily over to us.
"Hey guys! Have a good rest Darkfire? Hope Hiei didn't hurt ya tryin' to wake ya up," he says, glaring down at Hiei.
"Shut up, I didn't do anything," Hiei growls, stepping away from him and coming to the opposite side of me.
"He's right Kazuma," I explain. "Unless you count calling me a lazy ass and sleeping beauty, he did ok."
"See, Hiei can be nice when he wants," Yusuke chimes, grinning stupidly and elbowing Hiei slightly. Hiei growls, causing Yusuke to move over to Kuwabara's side.
"I did push her off the bed a few times to try to wake her up, but it didn't work," he says casually, smirking at me.
"You do know I would have scratched your head off if I'd woken up don't you?" I snarl, flexing my fingers.
"That's why I kept my katana close."
