BattleAngelKurumi: Well, I'm sure Shinji wants to tie Nimokushi to a chair and beat the shit out of him as well, but could you two wait till after I finish the story? I need an evil villain for the plot.
A/N: I just realized I haven't exactly given readers an idea on how Shinji looks like. So I'll fit a description into this chapter. Again, sorry for my long disappearance. I just haven't had the motivation to write lately. Updated three chapters this time though. Please review.
Oh and, uh. Please don't kill me for the part about Haku's hair. It was totally random and redundant.
Chapter 7
Izumi glanced up at Chihiro as the older woman walked into the room without looking at her. She shifted nervously on her seat.
"I'm sorry." She blurted out. That got Chihiro to turn around and face her. Chihiro raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry for reading your diary," Izumi went on, not wanting to lose any steam. She would be damned if she'd gotten this far and messed up. "I'm sorry for coming here. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions. I'm sorry for taking the poster off your wall. I'm sorry for not being understanding. I'm sorry for being an asshole. I'm sorry for reading your diary. Yes, I know I said that twice. I'm sorry I came to bother you. And I'm sorry I'm being a total pain in the ass by whining and bitching the way I am. I'm so sorry that I'll just shut up now."
She finally stopped and looked up at Chihiro again. Chihiro was staring at her blankly.
"I'll just… Go now…" Izumi said meekly and stood up, grabbing her backpack, trying to hold back tears.
Chihiro walked over to her and drew her into her hug. "I'm not angry at you, 'Zumi-chan."
"You're not?" Izumi blurted out.
"No, I'm not." Chihiro said firmly. "I admit that I was a little pissed when I heard you read my diary, but you're not being a pain in the ass. And I don't see how apologizing can be considered whining and bitching."
When Izumi didn't say anything, she continued. "It's just… Haku's my husband. And I love him." Izumi looked up at her, eyes filled with hurt, and she continued hurriedly, "I love you too. I love my family, friends, Kojin, Miyu. But I'm happy here Izumi, please don't try to take that away."
Izumi nodded, and sniffled. "I don't know what it's like to be in love with someone, but I think I understand." She managed a weak smile. "So… I guess you still want me to leave huh…"
Chihiro hesitated. On one hand, she knew it was dangerous, what with Nimokushi running around doing god-knew-what. On the other hand, she really wanted to spend time with her cousin. Izumi was the first person from the other world she had seen since her disappearance. In the end, the urge to be with her cousin won out, and she pushed the little voice in her head that said it was stupid and dangerous to let Izumi stay here to the back of her mind.
"I suppose it'll be alright if it's only for a while," Chihiro said.
Izumi beamed up at her cousin, before Chihiro said firmly, "A week. No more."
Izumi nodded happily, too excited about spending time with her cousin to care about how long she would be staying.
They sat down in the living room, drinking tea the Zenibaa had brought them. They chatted amiably for what seemed like hours, Chihiro catching up with things that had happened in the Human World, and Izumi staring wide-eyed at Chihiro when Chihiro told her about adventures she had had in the Spirit World.
"So," Chihiro grinned smugly, "Any cute boys in school?"
Izumi blushed, and muttered, "No."
"Come on," Chihiro said, exasperated, "Surely someone's asked you out."
Izumi turned even redder.
"Who?" Chihiro asked curiously.
Izumi shook her head.
"'Zumi-chan… Come on… I'm curious."
"Well there was this one guy…" Izumi said shyly. Chihiro nodded, a signal for her to continue. "We went for a movie together. He was really nice."
Seeing that Izumi wasn't about to continue, Chihiro tried prompting her. "And…?"
Izumi mumbled something so softly that Chihiro only barely heard her.
"You kissed?" Chihiro grinned. "Was it a kiss or a kiss?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Izumi nearly yelled, embarrassed.
"Youngsters these days… Kissing on a first date!" Chihiro shook her head in mock disbelief, and started laughing.
"Well he started it!" Izumi said indignantly. Seeing that Chihiro was still laughing at her, she tried a different tactic. "Don't make me ask what the hell you and Haku do together."
This shut Chihiro up and she stopped laughing, her face flushing slightly. "So, are you two officially a couple?" Chihiro asked, genuinely curious.
Izumi shrugged, regaining some of her dignity, and glad that she found something she could pester Chihiro about in the future. "I haven't seen him since I went out with him."
"Ah," Chihiro said, and winked at Izumi. "Go for it girl."
Izumi, if possible, turned even redder.
"Well, if he doesn't contact you again, there's always Shinji." Chihiro said as-a-matter-of-factly. "You two would look cute together."
Izumi gaped. "Me? And Shinji? Are you out of your mind! Did you see the way we were sniping at each other back there?"
"It's a possibility. And don't worry. Shinji's not an easy person to get along with when you first meet him," Chihiro said calmly, "He kind of looks like a bishounen that has just stepped out of a shoujo manga. He's pretty handsome don't you think?"
Izumi had to admit, Chihiro was right. Shinji did have very fine features. His eyes were a beautiful shade of green. He was also extremely good-looking, even though his long, blonde hair that nearly reached his knees made him look slightly effeminate. She settled for not answering Chihiro's question altogether. "You shouldn't be ogling other guys when you're married, Chihiro-neesan. Much less younger guys. How old is he anyway?"
Chihiro blinked. "I don't ogle. I was just stating a fact. Besides, I don't think Haku minds. I think he likes Shinji's hair. I caught him staring at it a couple of times. Don't tell anyone I said that. Maybe I'll get Haku to grow his hair out once he comes back." If he comes back, a voice in Chihiro's head said. She shook that thought off and steered off the subject of Haku. "I'm not sure about Shinji's age. He never told us. I think he can't remember, with his amnesia and all."
"Ah," Izumi said. She hurriedly took the opportunity to change the topic. "Oh look, it's night already."
Chihiro looked out of the window, and found that it was already dark. "Yeah. I guess we'd better get to sleep." She wondered vaguely how Haku was doing now.
She and Izumi prepared for bed, before they settled on Chihiro and Haku's bed. They had often slept on the same bed during sleepovers before Chihiro disappeared, and it didn't feel unusual to them at all.
"Oyasumi." Izumi muttered sleepily. Chihiro smiled, and turned off the lights.
Shinji woke up and stifled a groan. His head Fucking Hurt. Damn Nimokushi. Damn him and his magical powers. Damn him for forcing his memories back into his head. Just… Damn him.
Right. He would wallow in his misery later. How to get free. He needed to get out of the cave and away from his psychopath. He glanced over at Nimokushi, who was lying near the entrance of the cave, apparently asleep. Shinji squirmed, wincing as pain lanced up his arm through his wrists. Freaking rope-burn. He continued squirming, and managed to wriggle out of the ropes. Ha. Asshole didn't tie those tightly enough. He then went on to untying the ropes around his legs. This was no easy feat, as his hands were trembling, and his fingers kept fumbling clumsily over the rope. Eventually, however, he managed to get the ropes loose enough for him to pull them off.
He got up unsteadily onto his feet, and swayed a little, before walking towards the entrance of the cave, trying to ignore the ache in his ribs, and the ache in, well, practically every other part of his body. Nimokushi had left rather deep slashes on his arms and legs as well. Those were bleeding freely. God alone knew why he would want to slash open an unconscious person, but that bastard had to have done if after Shinji had blacked out, since Shinji remembered nothing about having been cut with anything. It was raining outside. That would make it even more difficult to get to Zenibaa's cottage. Even if it wasn't raining, he didn't know if he had enough strength to make it there without collapsing and bleeding to death in the middle of the road.
Damn his luck.
He was sorely tempted to give Nimokushi a good, hard kick in some place that would really hurt. But he knew he would wake Nimokushi up, and barely refrained from doing so. Instead, he grabbed his dagger, which was lying beside Nimokushi, and pocketed it.
"That's mine," he hissed, before staggering out of the cave. "Fucking bastard."
He didn't see Nimokushi's smirk.
Izumi yawned, as she dragged herself to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She swore under her breath as she realized she didn't know where the cups were kept. Neither did she know where the hell she could get water from. She would be damned if she resorted to drinking rainwater. Muttering obscenities under her breath, she made her way across the living room, planning to go back to sleep. Waking up at two in the morning for a glass of water was not fun in the least.
The door was pounding. Wait. Doors couldn't pound. Or at least, the couldn't pound in the Human world. Maybe someone was pounding at the door. At two in the morning. Yawning again, Izumi went to the door and yanked it open, planning to take her irritation out on whoever was standing there.
"It's about time," Shinji muttered, before fainting. He would have cracked his head open on the floor had Izumi not caught him. Unable to support Shinji's weight while standing up, Izumi collapsed on the floor with Shinji on her lap. This woke her up immediately.
"What the hell are you doing!" She snapped, before realizing that Shinji's wrists were bleeding badly, with one of them hanging at a funny angle, and that he had numerous painful-looking bruises on his face, as well as deep cuts on his arms and legs. His long hair was also matted with grim, dirt and blood.
"Shit!" Izumi lay Shinji down on the floor, not having the strength to drag him all the way to the couch. "Shitshitshitshitshit," she chanted under her breath.
"Chihiro! Zenibaa-san!" She shrieked. She hoped they would hear her over the rain, and decided to play-safe. She yelled for them again, her voice almost hysterical. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She gave Shinji a rough shake. "Damnit Shinji if this is a joke it's not funny."
"Fuck," she swore more vehemently when she realized Shinji had stopped breathing.
I am here with the door open and the rain coming in, soaking wet, with an unconscious person in my hands, who is possibly dead. Great. Just fucking peachy. Izumi thought. She tried to calm herself down, and attempted to remember how to do CPR. She had learnt it during health class in school; she just didn't think she would actually need it. She couldn't remember if each breath should be three or four seconds long, but whatever she did ought to get Shinji's heart beating again.
In the end, she decided to go with four. She pinched the bridge of Shinji's nose, and pressed her lips firmly against his.
