UK: Welcome to the latest collaboration between myself and my baby bro, and our newest bestest friend, Dai-chan!
Dai: . . .T.T Yeah...what she said...
Kitsu: Why are we doing this again, Sis?
UK: To introduce the new story.
Dai: Feh...
Dai-chan, why don't you introduce the person who will do the disclaimer?
Dai: MPG...Mysterious Parentheses Guy
Kitsu: Who's that, Sis? I thought we weren't apposed to talk to strangers.
UK: Er...;;
Dai: Kirei
UK: Well, not entirely...Where is MPG, anyway?
(MPG: I AM THE THING! I AM NOT MPG!)
Dai: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DEMON! DIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!
UK: RUN! TAKE COVER!
Kitsu: poke Who're you, Mister?
Dai: -throws water on MPG- DIIIIIIIE!
UK: under a bush Yeah, DIE!
(MPG: Jeez! Can't even take a joke!)
Kitsu: blinks My sister and her friend is weird...
Dai: UK thougt I was on crack last night...-hiccup-
UK: No, I didn't! I thought you were on crack...oh, yeah. Never mind.
Kitsu: Drugs are bad for you. I learned that in DARE.
Dai: Darn hiccups!
Dai: You have dare? We just finished it. XD
Kitsu: I just graduated two weeks ago. Um...weren't we doing a story thing?
UK: Yes! MPG, please, do the disclaimer.
Dai: YEAH! YOU GOT US OFF TRACK, UK!
UK: Eheh...rubs back of head Gomen ne...
Kitsu: whaps her on the head
(MPG: Er...right. In no way do Raven Dai Karasu, Ugly Kitten, or Kitsu (doesn't have his own account) own YYH or Inu-Yasha or characters that someone else have already made up. Raven (Dai) owns Goth, and you'll figure out the rest as you go...I need coffee. I'm going on break, boss!)
Dai: -hits UK on head-
UK: Itai! Stop hitting me!
Kitsu: whaps her again We do own ourselves…namely UK and me, wherever I show up at…and Chris, wherever he is…
Dai: ON WITH THE STORY GUYS!
UK: Oh, yeah...On with the show!
(MPG: Dumbbutts...)
…Keiko…
The faint sounds of a trumpeting elephant and murmuring crowds filled the air around us. I couldn't help but take it all in, even from the steel turnstiles that prevented us from seeing much more than a few bushes. This was where she worked every day, where she felt her true calling was. And I would finally get to meet her.
"Why are we here again?"
I glanced over my shoulder at my boyfriend and his three best friends. My boyfriend, Yusuke Urameshi, couldn't speak much English, though we were currently in the United States of America. To be more exact, the Sedgwick County Zoo, in Wichita, Kansas.
"We are here to visit Keiko-san's pen pal, Yusuke," Kurama said.
I had always found it difficult to speak to Kurama, because he had this way of speaking and of looking at you that just made you freeze. He had long red hair and green eyes and for some reason he always reminded me of the rose that he manipulated into his deadly Rose Whip. He was over a thousand years old, at least. I think he was unnerved about being in a zoo, because he was a fox demon.
"I think it's cool that we get to meet her," Kuwabara said.
Yusuke had known Kuwabara, the only human friend aside from myself that he was truly close to, the longest, also aside from myself. I wouldn't call him ugly, but he certainly wasn't the most handsome boy in the world. Since Yusuke left for Demon world, he had become a scholar like myself. Kurama and he were the only ones aside from me who knew enough English to pass in this country. Kuwabara still had his moments, though.
The last friend that Yusuke had brought along was silent, but I could tell he was a little surprised. Of what, I couldn't be sure. His name is Hiei, and somehow Kurama had forced him into a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt with an evil-looking dragon on the front. I don't really know him that well, but his hair is black as dusk and spiky. It looks like a dark candle flame.
"Well, I'm not the only pen pal she invited along," I said. "And we're not exactly pen pals, we met over the internet on a writing forum. I know the other person, too, but not as well as I know UK."
"What kind of name is UK, anyway? She likes England or something?" Yusuke asked, his arms behind his head and, as always, looking bored. "That is the same thing as the United Kingdom, right?"
"Yes, it is," I said, surprised he even knew what the United Kingdom was. I wondered briefly if he could even point it out on a map. "But UK didn't name herself after the country. It stands for 'Ugly Kitten'."
"Are you sure she's sane?" Yusuke asked. "I mean, she works in a zoo and she calls herself 'ugly'."
"Ohayo! Lil Demon's Girl, is that you?"
I turned at the sound of my writer's name to see a girl about my height with the same hairstyle and color as me. She was chubby and jolly-looking, almost like a female version of Santa Claus. When she came near enough for me to see her eyes, which were almost as small as Kuwabara's, I saw flecks of blue, green, and gold.
"I'm UK," she said, offering a quick bow. "You are Lil Demon's Girl, right?"
"Yeah, that's me," I said in English. "My real name's Keiko. Keiko Yukimura."
"Great!" She grinned, shoving both hands into her pockets. "You can call me UK anyway, most people do even around here. I'm Sarah, but don't let me catch you calling me that."
"What's she saying?" Yusuke asked. Kurama was chuckling softly and Kuwabara was already laughing his head off.
"This is UK," I said to the others. "Kuwabara, please, my name's not that funny."
"Yes, it is!" he shouted.
"What is it?" Yusuke asked.
"Little Demon's Girl," Kuwabara answered. Yusuke fell back on the concrete ground, also laughing. I blushed and turned back to UK.
"Sorry about them, they don't understand much English," I said. "Yusuke and Hiei don't understand any."
"Ah…" she nodded. "I only know a little Japanese, but I know what they're laughing about. Heh, I didn't think it was that funny. It's funny to see people thinking that my name is actually United Kingdom, though."
I decided against mentioning that that's precisely what they had thought.
"Anyway, let's go on inside. Osuwari is already inside."
"I wonder what could prompt a girl to call herself 'sit'," I said.
"I think it's her boyfriend," UK said with a sly grin. "His name's InuYasha. She says she doesn't know his real name. She brought him and her adopted son, Shippou, along."
UK pressed a few buttons on an inconspicuous door off to the side and held it open for us to go first. As soon as we were through, she closed and locked it up again. Inside the office-like room were three people—one black-haired teenage girl, a white-haired teenage boy, and a small burnt-brown haired boy.
"Well, guys, we're all here," UK said, smiling nervously. "So…introduce each other, cause I only know Keiko and Kagome."
Kurama jumped forward. "My name is Shuichi, this is Yusuke and Hiei." He repeated it again in Japanese.
Kagome, or who I supposed was also Osuwari, introduced the white-haired boy as InuYasha, and the small child as Shippou.
"Well," UK said. "Is everyone ready to go see the animals? I can get you inside some places. Let's go to the petting part first, and just go in order from there. Sound good?"
"Great," I said.
"Yeah, wonderful," Kagome said.
She glanced at her boyfriend, InuYasha. He had a bright red hat and all red clothes on. His golden eyes reminded me of Youko Kurama, the fox demon form that Kurama sometimes took. I swear they were slit, just like demon's, but what really got me was that he seemed to be sniffing at the air.
"Um…Keiko, can I talk to you a second?" Yusuke muttered.
"Yusuke wants to see me for a moment, UK, can I just step outside really fast?"
"Sure," UK said. She smiled broadly. "Want a bit more privacy or do you just want to talk?"
I blushed at her insinuations. "Just talk."
I tugged Yusuke out the door, into the zoo rather than back out of it. He pulled me away from it a little further before saying anything.
"Those guys are demons," he said.
"What? How do you know?"
"That white-haired one, he's a dog demon, I can smell it all over him," Yusuke said, glancing back at the door where the others were coming out into the zoo. "The little boy is a fox demon."
"Like Kurama?"
"Yeah. The girl, though…she's human, but…"
"But what?"
"I think she's a miko."
"A priestess? Osuwari?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "We'll have to be on our guard. If that girl touches any of us, we could be purified to death." I gulped at the thought. Yusuke, purified forever out of my life? He'd only just returned a few months ago.
Everything was going fine after we met back up with the others. We went and saw the farm animals and petted some bunnies. InuYasha thought that the horses were kiddie rides and tried to shove Shippou over the railing before UK caught him. I wasn't entirely sure that was the story. It looked more like he was trying to get the horse to kick Shippou rather than let the child ride one.
Like I said, everything was going fine.
Until we met a small boy outside of the snake house. His name was Matt, according to UK, and he was here quite often. I stared at the small boy, no more than six or seven years old. He had dark brown eyes and dark hair, and his khaki pants were hanging from his hips rather than his waist. A pair of pink boxers poked out. He grinned at me. At first, I wasn't sure what had happened.
We entered the snake house, only to find it completely deserted. The small boy followed us inside and locked the glass doors behind him. A large cage was set up inside the hall, with several large tortoises looking out at us.
"What are you doing, Matt, open the door back up," UK said. "You don't work here."
"Of course not," he said. "But you must learn to respect these creatures."
UK blinked at him and reached out her hand to his shoulder. He shrugged her off.
"Matt, understand, I love animals. Why are you saying I have to learn to respect them?"
"Do you think they like being locked up in these cages for their entire lives?" Matt asked, glaring at Kurama, Shippou, and InuYasha in turn. "Would you like it? Don't you enjoy your freedom? Shouldn't the animals get to enjoy it the same way you do?"
"Matt, they don't understand freedom like we do. Some of them do, but we give them illusions that…that…" UK faltered.
"That's just it, isn't it?" Matt glanced at her again. His dark eyes flared red. "The illusion of freedom. But they know it. They know it better than you think."
"Matt…"
"Don't say anything to me," he said, his voice wavering. "Just sleep. Soon, you will be in a new reality. And you'll understand. You'll respect them. Misica worcoro santiago ho! Iluguno shu spelisuroro."
For a minute, all I could see was his face, those dark eyes, flashing red, black, red, black, and then, the world changed to a strange red color. I could no longer distinguish between red and other red. It became hard to breathe, my chest contracted on me, growing heavier. I felt something sharp near both of my arms. And then, the entire world that was once colorful, once red, was now a pitch black.
Is this how Yusuke felt when he died?
It's not so bad.
…
…
…
UK: So, what'd you guys think? Remember, this isn't supposed to be a serious story, but it should at least seem slightly plausible, as opposed to absolute insanity. Read and review! And go check out our other stories. We're Raven Dai Karasu and Ugly Kitten (the one whose account this is under). Don't forget about little Kitsu, either! Ja ne!
