"Obligation and Duty"

Chapter 6

*****

Rei finished up putting all her new money in the bank and walked to her new 'home'.

.oO{Okay... I know it needs cleaned up on the outside, but what about in?} she thought as she tried to pry open the door. It finally opened and she peeked inside.

"Wow... It actually isn't that bad... just really dusty..." Rei said as she stepped inside. She checked out each room and walked back to the door.

Soon, she had buckets of water, paint, cleaning fluid and just about anything she could get her hands on.

"Humph... It's a good thing I dressed crappy this morning, or these clothes would be totaled..." Rei thought aloud as she was cleaning the windows. She heard a knock at the door and just about fell off her ladder.

.oO{That's nonsense... this shrine couldn't really be haunted... could it?} she thought as she walked to the door. Before she could open it, in bounced Botan. Rei's hand flew to her heart as she tried to calm herself.

"Good Gracious, Botan! If you keep this up, I'll have a heart-attack!"

"Sorry. You need help?" Botan asked. She was in her human form and she was dressed in equally crappy clothes as Rei.

"Sure. It's a good thing you came; I was starting to get a little antsy. And this window is being a bitch."

Botan laughed as she took a rag from the bucket of water. "Have you washed the floor yet?"

"Nope. The only thing I've done are the windows. This is the last one and it just had to be the hardest to clean."

Rei finally got done with the window and she grabbed another rag and helped Botan with the floors.

"So..." Botan began, "If you had to choose, would you sleep with Yusuke before you slept with Kurama?"

Rei stopped washing and threw her rag at Botan. "You just HAD to bring up something about my powers, didn't you?"

Botan gave an innocent little smile, "Inquiring minds just wanted to know," she said as she threw the rag back.

"Alright... neither. I don't know either of them very well."

Botan raised an eyebrow, "I thought if anything you'd say Yusuke."

"Why did you think that?" Rei asked without stopping her cleaning.

"Well," Botan leaned against the wall, "After the other night, I thought you and Yusuke were pretty close."

Rei looked up, "Nah. Not really. We just jumped into everything a bit too quickly."

"Oh, that reminds me. Do you think you could let Kurama live here with you?"

"What? Kurama. Live here. With me? What if he turns bad again?"

"Well, as you saw last night, I took him back to Spirit World and he had his trial. He's a whole different person now."

Rei thought for a second. "I... guess so."

Botan clapped her hands together and started working again.

"I talked to Yusuke this morning," Botan said, keeping up their gossiping.

"And?"

"He's ready to take on Hiei."

"Where did you talk to him?"

"At his school."

Rei stopped for a second. "Y'know, I haven't gone to school for the past three days."

"That's alright. You could always transfer to Yusuke's school. Keiko would be there even if Yusuke wasn't."

"I haven't met Keiko yet. What is she like?" Rei asked as she wrung out her rag.

"Well, she thinks something is going on between Yusuke and I. She's nice, from what I can tell, but she's hot-headed."

Rei laughed. "You and Yusuke? That is too funny."

"Well, the poor girl doesn't know I'm the grim reaper. You can't blame her, I guess."

"Whatever. I still think it's funny," Rei said as she reached for the wood polisher.

"We're done with the floors. What job do you want now?" Rei asked Botan.

Botan thought for a moment. "What time is it first, then I'll choose."

Rei looked at her watch. "It's only 11:30."

"Okay. I'll dust."

Rei and Botan worked for a while, still gossiping the whole time, until they got too hungry. They were sitting on the front porch eating their rice cakes.

"Oomfa. This house is one big dust-ball," Botan sighed as she took a bite out of her rice cake.

"You've got that right. Look at me." Rei was covered in a film of dust, making her a few shades darker.

"Well, look at it this way. We're almost done!"

Rei shook her head. "You are just too hard to be depressed around."

Botan laughed and they finished eating in silence. They quickly finished the other tasks and the shrine was finally clean.

"Now, only for the furniture," Rei said with a little pout.

"I can take care of that," Botan said and she whipped out what looked like a walkie-talkie. She ordered some of Koenma's servants to bring Rei's stuff and they obeyed quickly and quietly.

"What about the people? Can't they see what's happening?" Rei asked with a confused look.

"Nope, nobody can see or hear what's going on."

"So no risk of floating couches?"

Botan laughed, "No. No risk of floating couches. But I must say, it's a good thing you don't have much or it would have been harder to transport."

Rei looked around the room. A couch, coffee table, a few lamps, a dresser, all her clothes and a mattress.

.oO{I guess I don't have much when you look at it...} she thought and then she remembered, "What's Kurama going to do? I have enought rooms, but not enough stuff."

Botan waved the comment away with her hand, "He'll bring his own stuff."

"I wonder if that stove and refridgerator works in here..." Rei mused as she walked into the kitchen. Her fixer-upper attitude was out in full swing and it would take her a little while to get rid of it.

After Rei had checked and re-checked everything in her new house she got a shower in her new bathtub. She scrubbed all the dust off and dried off quickly so Botan could get a bath.

"It's a nice thing that your master bed-room has a bath. How many other baths were there?" Botan asked from behind the closed door.

"Um... two, I think," Rei said, looking through her dresser. She found a slim pair of blue-jeans and a pink shirt to wear and quickly put it on and puller her hair back into a pony-tail. She grabbed a pair of jeans and another shirt for Botan and set them in the bathroom.

"Oh, thanks," Botan said, soaking in bubbles up to her chin. "I also forgot to tell you a few days ago..."

Rei sat down on the commode and listened.

Botan took a deep breath and began again, "First, when I first told you about your power, that would have been the day you started your period. So don't start freaking out if you feel different. Secondly, after you sleep with someone, even your presence can power them up."

Rei nodded, "So, say if I slept with Yusuke I wouldn't have to do it again. I could just be around him?"

"Well, it wouldn't do as much good as sleeping with him, but it does refill his power. Oh, yeah, I can't remember if I already told you, but when you sleep with someone, it gives them more power than what they originally had."

Rei shook her head. "Kami, my life has gotten so weird in one week. First, I find out I'm not totally human, and that I have wenchy powers, then I meet cute guys and jump into things a bit faster than I wanted and now my grandma is dead and I'm going to be living with a fox."

Botan raised her eyebrows. "Congratulations, Rei, I think you've just had your first PMS-ey pity party."

Rei left her room and went to the kitchen as Botan got out of the bath and dressed, when she heard Botan cry.

"Rei! I have to go!" Botan came into the kitchen in a flurry.

"What? What's wrong?" Rei asked as she followed Botan outside.

"It's Hiei. He just sent me a telepathic message. He's got Keiko. We have to find Yusuke," Botan rushed as the ran back to town. They ended up finding Yusuke already on his way to Hiei and Botan explained to him exactly what she had to Rei.

After Yusuke ran back and got the Orb of Baast and the Mirror of UtterDark, they walked to a boat garage.

"Kind of an odd place to meet a yukai..." Botan whispered.

Yusuke turned to Rei, "Go find a place nearby where you'll be safe."

"You seem to forget that I'm half-yukai. I've also been an orphan most of my life. I can take care of myself," Rei argued. Yusuke gave up and let her follow them.

Yusuke opened the doors and called out to Hiei. The same boy that Rei had hit yesterday was standing at the end of the room, with the bandage off his head and a sword in his hand. Rei decided to take Yusuke's advice and she quickly slid behind one of the many boxes in the storage house.

"Humph, any ordinary human would have been taken over by my Jagan by now. I guess those idiots in Spirit World picked well this time," Hiei said.

"Where's Keiko?" Yusuke asked, barely flinching at Hiei's words.

"Did you bring the Artifacts?" Hiei asked. Yusuke pulled them out and Hiei nodded and motioned to a corner of the room. There Keiko was and Yusuke quickly ran to her. Yusuke gave the Artifacts to Hiei on his way over and Botan followed him.

"Heh, even if my plan had a few setbacks, it still worked out," Hiei bragged as he looked at the Artifacts.

"Not so fast, jerk-face. Now that I have Keiko, I owe you a beating," Yusuke said as he stood up. He tried to punch Hiei, but Hiei was too fast. Hiei started hopping from box to box, provoking Yusuke the whole time. Hiei came in for a surprise attack, but Yusuke's eyes could follow him. Yusuke landed a punch right in Hiei's face, startling the yukai a little.

"You should stop heckling, or you'll have to eat your words," Yusuke said.

Hiei looked to Keiko and said, "You should probably look at your girlfriend a little closer. You might have her body, but I have her future."

Yusuke looked at Keiko and noticed a third eye growing on her forehead. Yusuke looked up at Hiei, jumped up to the box Hiei was standing on and landed another punch in his face. Hiei went straight through one of the boxes and said, "Shimatta! You should consider yourself lucky, I've never had to show my true form to a human before."

Hiei threw off his shirt, revealing a muscular chest. He concentrated his energy and Rei saw that he was turning green!

.oO{Hmm... this is going to get a bit crazy...} Rei thought, and she was right. Eyes started popping up on Hiei's body and his real eyes turned yellow.

"Now that I'm in my full demon form, I will be invincible," Hiei said, his voice slightly deeper and raspier than before.

"Bring it on, Ugly," was all Yusuke said.