"Obligation and Duty"

Chapter 26

.oO{I'm in a good mood. You know what I usually say here, but this time, it's different! Ces, Kireau, Kanu are not mine. They are Cassalaine's, Miyu6's and Hiei_Obsessed's, respectively. Ask before using them.}

#Chibodee looks at above statement# Ha! Are you proud of your nation? #peace signs#

#Author nods# Yes, but that's not the reason I'm happy. It only took me 4 hours to write the last chapter--lemon and un. It's actually 3:10 a.m. where I'm at right now, October 03, 2003. #Author thumbs up#

*****

Yusuke and Rei finished another naughty shower and decided they had better head back to the shrine. It was almost 4 o'clock, anyways. Rei grabbed her dirty clothes and Chiba as Yusuke locked up the apartment.

"Mom'll be back tomorrow or so, so I'll just stay at the shrine with you guys," Yusuke smiled. Rei nodded and walked down the steps. They made it to the shrine with no problem and Rei opened the door. Kurama was laying on the couch and Hiei was somewhere.

"Finally! We thought we were going to die of boredom!" Kurama said when Rei entered. Rei was very confused and put Chiba down on the chair.

"Why?"

"I don't know. There's just something about you," Kurama sat up and pet Chiba. Rei shrugged and went to throw her clothes in the washing machine. She walked back into the living room to find Kurama and Yusuke talking. Chiba was lying on the coffee table and Yusuke was petting its stomach as he talked.

"We didn't do much; just sat around. Cleaned my house," Yusuke said. Rei's jaw dropped, but she quickly checked it. .oO{He just lied... but Kurama has good hearing. But why does it matter to them what we do?!}

Rei sat down on the floor and turned on the tv. Nothing good was on so she turned it off.

"I dunno about you guys, but I'm bored," she said, laying down on the carpet.

"Alright, I'll give you something to think about," Yusuke started. "I dare you to go to school tomorrow."

Rei sat straight up and asked, "What?!"

"Yah, I dare you to go to school. You can take Kurama or Hiei with you, I just dare you to go, for the whole day."

Rei thought for a second and nodded, "All right. You have to go to yours, then."

Yusuke nodded. "Yup."

"But you have to stay out of trouble the whole day."

Yusuke's eye twitched a little and he started, "That's easier said than..."

"No, you have to. I DARE you to," Rei held up her hand. Yusuke frowned and agreed.

"Kurama... will you come to school with me tomorrow?" Rei asked sweetly. Kurama nodded at once, so Rei was set. She decided to go and try on her uniform again. She found it buried in her closet and tried to pull it on.

"Hey, Yusuke. I don't think I can go," she called from her bedroom. He came in and looked at her. Her skirt looked like a mini-skirt and the vest barely fit over her chest.

"Nice...." he said. "You need bras, too."

"Holy cheese! What is it with you people!?" Rei asked. Yusuke raised his eyebrow and grinned. Rei glared at him and said, "Yes, I know I used it. You've got a bigger hold on me than you think."

"Well, I wouldn't mind going bra shopping with you," Yusuke cleared his throat. Rei threw a slipper at him and he hopped out of her room just as she closed the door.

***

Nothing happened that night besides Rei wanting to kill Yusuke; Kurama- a little depressed than usual and Hiei- no where to be found. The next morning, Rei dressed in her winter outfit, which still fit, albeit a little tightly. Since her school's uniforms were maroon, Kurama fit right in with his.

"Hmmm... Why do you need me to go, though?" he asked. Rei shrugged, "To fight off jerks, maybe?"

Kurama sighed and followed her like a puppy to her school. She stopped in front of the gates and mumbled, "I used to call these the gates of hell."

Kurama stood beside her, "That bad, huh?"

"Yup." They entered and no one seemed to notice they were there. That is, until lunch. Kurama was sitting at the table with Rei. He was practically being drooled over. All the girls in school were swooning over him as they ate their lunch, but none had the guts to approach him with Rei there. Rei bit into her apple and glared at them. Kurama took no notice, though.

"Ohh... Who's this?" that evil, and ~very~ annoying voice asked.

"A friend," Rei answered Leiko.

"Did you ditch the shorter one?" Leilo curled a tendril of Kurama's red hair around her finger. He stood up and moved over beside Rei. .oO{YES!! Thank you, Kurama!} Rei cheered in her head.

"Not really. He's at home," Rei said, not really caring how it sounded.

"Taking care of the kids, huh?"

"Sure."

Leiko was starting to get annoyed at Rei's short answers, so she did the same thing as last year.

"How about you fight Daichi?"

"Has he gotten any stronger?" Rei asked, not really caring.

"Heck yes. He'll pound you to the ground."

Rei finished her apple and squished her paper bag. "C'mon, Kurama. Let's do what she wants."

***

They were on the familiar playground. Everyone was gathered again, but there were a lot of unfamiliar faces in the crowd. .oO{Man, I really haven't been here for a while, have I?}

Daichi was still the same though. Big, dumb and weak.

"Come on, Dai! You can beat her this time," Leiko screamed from the side-lines. Rei tied back her hair and shrugged to loosen her muscles. Kurama sat there watching; ready to jump in any minute. Daichi charged at Rei just like last time, but he expected her to jump. She didn't.

Rei dodged his path and kicked him in the stomach.

"Dai! Come on! Kill her!" Leiko screamed.

Daichi got up but held his stomach. He charged again and expected Rei to dodge. She jumped. She punched him in the face and he fell to the ground again.

.oO{I would think she would've dumped him by now. This guy's an idiot.}

"DAI!! WHY AREN'T YOU WINNING?!?" Leiko screamed. It seemed one of the spectators had enough.

"Just shut up already!"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKING TO?!?!" Leiko screamed at her. The girl looked at Leiko cooly and punched her with a wicked right hook.

"What's all this racket out here?!" a teacher came out onto the playground. Rei looked at Kurama, who was ready to leave and the girl who smacked Leiko ran past them. Rei followed her quickly and they got out of there before the teacher even noticed they were there at all.

The girl stopped to catch her breath and Rei walked up to her.

"What's your name?" Rei asked. The girl was 5foot with shoulder length brown/blonde hair. Her eyes were a very clear blue and yet her skin was pale. He choice of clothes was a little different, but very cool none-the-less. She had 7 plastic bracelets on her left arm, one bracelet that looked like hematite on her right, a mood ring on her right ring finger, a ball/chain choker and a hematite necklace.

"Ces Tyre. Your's?" even though Ces was wearing the usual uniform, she still spruced it up with what looked like ankle length combat boots.

"Rei Amerasu. Cool clothes," Rei said, hoping to make friends with this person. Ces looked down at herself. "Thanks. Who's he?" she asked, pointing to Kurama.

"Uhh... Shuichi Minamino," Rei answered.

"Hey," Ces acknowledged him.

"Hi. I dunno about you guys, but I think we should get further away from here. They're coming," Kurama said. Rei looked around and motioned for Ces to come with them. They walked up to the shrine and went inside.

"Well, I lost my bet to Yusuke," Rei sighed as she sat down on the couch. Ces stood there, looking around so Rei said, "I hope you don't mind it's a little messy. This was the only place I could think of that no one would find us."

Ces sat down and asked, "You mean Urameshi?" Rei nodded. "You know Urameshi?" Rei nodded again.

"Quite well, actually..." Rei tried not to smile.

"That's pretty cool," Ces said.

"Yah. Where do you live? Is it far from here?" Rei asked. Ces looked down and said, "Not really. Couple blocks from school."

Kurama hadn't said anything since they had run from the teachers, and from the look on his face, something seemed wrong. Rei tried not to think about it though and laughed, "Man, I can't believe you hit Leiko. That was just great."

"You've never hit her?" Ces asked.

"No. I always beat up Daichi. I had a big itch to punch her a few times, though."

Ces nodded, "Yeah. She's really annoying."

"Totally."

Rei stood up and asked, "You hungry?"

"Nah. I'm fine."

Walking into the kitchen, Rei heard Kurama ask Ces something. Rei quickly got herself a grape soda and walked back in.

"Don't want anything to drink?" she asked, holding up the pop.

"Nope. I'm fine."

"All right. How old are you?"

"17. I go to the high school there," Ces answered Rei's question plus another Rei was about to. Ces looked at her watch, "I think I should go now. I have to go to work. But thanks for helping me. And nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too," Rei saw her to the door. As soon as she left, she asked Kurama, "What?"

"She has ESP. From what I could tell, she's a good fighter, too."

"What did you ask her?"

"If she'd lived in the area long."

"I see...." Rei was starting to think things over when Yusuke came in.

"HAH! I knew it! I won!" he said, just as Hiei walked in.

"No. You both lost. You caused a fight, and she didn't stay."

Both Rei and Yusuke frowned. But then Rei remembered what she was going to do with the rest of the day.

"Who wants to go shopping with me?"

"Noo!! You just had to do that today. Keiko is making me go back to school and take a bunch of tests," Yusuke sighed. That left Kurama and Hiei.

"I guess you guys are coming. I hate shopping; I hate shopping alone even more."

***

Rei had somehow managed to get Hiei to come with her and Kurama came just because he's nice. Yusuke headed right off back to school and they headed toward the mall.

"I thought all girls loved shopping," Kurama said.

"Nope. I'm not like all girls, though," Rei answered. She stopped for a second outside a lingerie store, but blushed too bad to even go inside.

"We know that's why you came today. Don't be embarrassed," Kurama whispered in her ear.

"Oh shush. I can't help it," Rei whispered back. She finally went back to the store and bought some bras and {ahem} other things. The guys waited outside across the way at a bookstore. She quickly got out of there and walked over to them.

"Find what you needed?" Kurama asked and Rei blushed all the more.

"Maybe, did you find what you needed in the women's romance novels?"

Kurama blushed almost as red as his hair and said, "I was only browsing through waiting for you."

"Riighhtt..." Rei winked. They got out of the book store when out of the blue, two girls attatched themselves to Hiei and Kurama.

"Hello," Kurama said. He looked down at a pair of very green and very sparkling eyes. She had long brown hair with natural red highlights. Hiei was very ill-at-ease, though. The girl attatched to him had long black hair with red streaks and her red eyes seemed to hint at her being a youkai. A few guys were running down the mall-hallway and stopped when they saw the girls hugging guys. They turned around and headed back up the way they came.

"Oh my goodness! I'm sorry. Thanks for helping us," the one attatched to Hiei said. "I'm Kanu and that's Kireau. Those guys were chasing us for some odd reason," Kanu frowned. They let go of the guys but didn't stop looking at them.

"Ahem. Hi. My name is Rei Amerasu," Rei interjected, hoping to draw their attention away from her guys. .oO{Woah, my guys? Where did that come from?}

"Hi, Rei," Kireau said. She was quiet, but very friendly. Kanu was an inch taller than Rei and dressed in all black, but Kireau was almost as tall as Kurama, and was dressed in very trendy clothes.

"Well, see you guys around," Kanu said, glancing at Kireau to follow. They ran off and left the three by themselves again.

"That was odd," Kurama said, but he looked a little preoccupied. Hiei nodded in agreement and Rei was itching to get home before they ran into anyone else.