AzureDragoness - Yay! New reviewer! *gives lots of candy* Glad you like it! *puppy dog eyes* I tried to update sooner this time...I don't wanna make anyone cranky...
Tenika Dargan - Yay! Another new reviewer! *gives many plushies* I'm glad you like Becca...I thought I was making her too stuck-up there for awhile...^^;; I hope I can continue to please...I'm starting to have to bang my head on the desk more and more times to get new story ideas...
*stands on ant-hill with binoculars backward* Kiyoshi-neko, where are you? I miss someone telling me their favorite part of the chapter...^.~
NOTE: THIS CHAPTER WAS WRITTEN BEFORE THE CAPTURE OF HUSSEIN. IN FACT, IT WAS WRITTEN NEARLY SIX MONTHS AGO, SO INTERPRET IT AS YOU WILL.
It took us a second to figure out that he was pointing at a temple. When we arrived at it, Yusuke opened the door and beckoned us in. We removed our shoes and seconds later a short old lady arrived in the room. "I see you survived."
"Yeah, well, hardly. Genkai, this is-" I gave him a look, "Becca Wallace. She's-"
"The girl Koenma sent you after. Yes, I see. Nice to meet you, child." She bowed, and I returned it.
"Do you know about the gateways?" Yusuke asked, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"Of course I know, Yusuke. My house lies between them. Try and go to the patio and you just about kill yourself." She paused. "The gateways closed before the girls could get here, so I assume they're at Shizuru's," she continued.
"Where's Yukina?" Hiei growled.
"She went with Keiko to go shopping and got caught in the Human World." Genkai turned to me. 'There's a room upstairs to the left. It is yours until you leave. The shower is accessible and ready for use, if you wish.'
Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder...My eyes widened, but I gave a slight nod. I turned and went up the stairs, found the room, and locked the door. My clothes were quickly gone, and I hopped into the shower. I washed my hair three times, put conditioner in it, brushed it out, washed it twice more, washed me until my skin was raw, put conditioner in my hair, and called it quits. Brushing my butt-long hair was harder than brushing waist-long, and I snarled some pretty words before I got the hang of it. Since blow drying my hair made it dry and fizzy, I let it be.
Wrapping a towel around me, I looked through the fully-stocked cabinets and grabbed a razor. I hopped back into the shower and preformed a much-needed shaving hoedown. Afterwards I used deoderant, hugged the little container, and went back into the room. Going through drawers and closets, I found undergarments that fit better than my old ones (I'd grown and shrunk), flannel pants, and a long T-shirt. Perfect jammie clothes, I decided as I pulled them on.
I wandered back into the bathroom and seized a pair of nail clippers. I cut my toenails down next to nothing, although careful enough not to make myself bleed. I added a nail file to my routine and snipped and filed away at my long finger nails, leaving them long enough for weapons but not breakage. Putting these away, I pulled out a pair of tweezers and carefully looked over my right cheek. A few years ago one of my freckles had began to grow a long, black hair, and now wasn't an exception. I clenched my teeth and pulled, hissing a bit at the stinging sensation. I brushed my teeth five or six times and made my prone-to bottom gums bleed, but I didn't mind.
Feeling clean and bubbly, I waltzed back into the bedroom and went through the drawers again. I grinned cheekily as I found one full of make-up. Well, I wasn't about to indulge in that - there was no occasion. I sniffed some body sprays before finding one I liked and sprayed my neck once. I hated it when people over did perfume. Following that I put on some clear lip-gloss that didn't really have any flavor. I was about to go downstairs when I realized my feet were cold. Hopping around and falling on the bed to do so, I pulled on some socks. A quick glance at my watch told me I'd spent nearly three hours pampering myself. Oh well - I deserve it. There was only one more thing to do.
I walked quietly downstairs, finding the group of five watching TV. I sat down on an armrest on one of the couches and waited for a commercial. As I did, I looked over the group before me. Kurama was faking an interest in the show; he was staring at some point above the television set. Hiei was staring at the floor and glaring death at it. Yusuke and Kuwabara were completely engrossed in the show. Genkai looked like she was meditating, but with the noise of the show, I didn't see how.
Commercial break.
"Is anyone here good at cutting hair?" I asked, playing with my long blonde bangs. Why were they staring at me like they'd never seen me before?
Genkai looked up. "I am." I sighed in relief; Yusuke looked like he was about to say something. "Come with me." I followed her into a bathroom. "What is it you'd like cut?"
"My bangs." I pulled at my ear-length brown bangs, freeing them from behind my ears. "If you could just make them even with my eyebrows, that'd be perfect."
She nodded and had me kneel on the ground. I held a trashcan and closed my eyes as the feeling of scissors cutting hair. Within seconds she was done. "Take a look."
I set the trashcan down and looked into a mirror. "It's perfect. Thanks," I smiled, putting the can back where it belonged.
"You're welcome. We'll be eating dinner in about ten minutes."
"Okay." I smiled again and trotted back up the stairs, washing my now-short bangs and combing them out straight before rubbing them mostly dry with a washcloth. I paused on my way out of the room and glanced at myself in the mirror. Seeing my hair so long was a shock, and I pulled a strand over my shoulder. Instead of falling to my stomach, it fell to my upper thigh. "Hmph," I mused. I hesitated, then slid my clothes off and stared at myself in the mirror. Holy shitauke mushrooms. I look good, I thought in surprise.
The loss of butt inches hadn't affected my hip curves and, if anything, had made them curvier for the lack of leg muscle. My legs themselves were clearly long now, as though I'd grown. I blinked in surprise and retrieved my old jeans. I pulled them on, not bothering to fasten them. Where they'd once dragged the ground by a good three inches they touched the area right above the ball of my ankle. I chuckled in disbelief and took the jeans off. I looked at myself again. My stomach was flat, like I'd always wanted it to be. I turned sideways. Yep. I'd grown in another area too. "Cha-ching," I cheered quietly, donning my pajama clothes again. Puberty rocks.
"You okay? You're not eating much," Yusuke mused as he glanced at my plate.
"I'm not that hungry," I replied honestly.
"You gotta be kidding me."
"Nope. Three months of bread and cheese twice a day'll shrink your appetite."
"True. Did you eat like this in Japan? Or America?"
I smirked. "Sort of. I usually didn't eat any breakfast, had a soda for lunch, ate a big supper, and snacked around that." He stared at me in astonishment. I resumed eating as though what I said wasn't at all unusual. "Of course, that was only during the summer in America. During the school year I ate pop tarts for breakfast, greasy fries for lunch, and a big supper."
He laughed. "You're weird, Becca."
"Thanks."
Needless to say, I finished eating before everyone else. Genkai looked at me. 'You can go watch television if you want.' I flashed her another smile and got up, first turning my attention to a calendar. It was September 21. Seems like yesterday is was June and I was already writing out my birthday list. My eyes flew open. Birthday list?! My birthday was September 17! Bloody hell! I'm sixteen! A squeak escaped my mouth even as I covered it. I can drive!
"Something wrong?" Kuwabara asked.
"I'm sixteen."
"Come again?"
"I'm sixteen. I turned sixteen four days ago."
"You spent your birthday in a Makai prison. That's interesting," Yusuke snorted.
"No joke," I replied before returning to the living room, as I was going to call it. Turning on the television, I was faced with a demon looking like a broadcaster. I bit back a cough and channel-surfed. As I flipped, a suddenly familiar word caught my ear, and I flipped back, frowning.
I'd found an English-speaking channel.
Something's going down, I realized. I walked up to the television and knelt down in front of it. The war! What's happened with the war?! My eyes got huge as I watched and realized what was happening.
"-captured Osama Bin Laden and Sadam Hussein late last night. The young soldier who discovered their where-abouts and first arrived on the scene, Charlie Anderson (1)-"
I lost it.
"Fucking shit!" I yelled, jumping to my feet. "Charlie! You did it! You're alive! You did it! You found them!" I shrieked, hands covering the sides of my mouth as I jumped and danced around like an idiot. By now the other occupants of the temple were in the room, wondering why I was suddenly shrieking and yelling like a banshee. I began laughing. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Yes! Charlie, you're famous! You're okay! You did it! You can come home!" I continued my jumpy-yelling act for at least ten minutes, only half listening to the broadcast. I finally fell to my knees laughing. I eventually got control of myself, but I couldn't wipe a huge smile off my face.
"Um...what's going on?" Yusuke asked, rubbing his head.
It was about that time I realized I'd been yelling in English.
"My friend...he caught Bin Laden and Hussein. We won the war!" I declared happily, settling down to watch the broadcast in its entirety. Iraq and Afghanistan had surrendered...Taliban and al-Qaida turned themselves in...we won...America won...I live in Japan. The thought made my smile die suddenly. I couldn't be a part of the festivities, the celebrations. Not only had I moved to a different country, I was stuck in a different world. I'd never get to see Charlie, tell him how happy I was to see him, how much I'd missed him.
Tears were in my eyes and about ready to escape, but I held them back and watched the entire broadcast three times.
1 - I actually do have a really good friend fighting in Iraq named Charlie, and he's been over there for nearly two years. Anyone who knows anyone fighting over there knows how stressful and frightening it is when you hear about American soldiers getting killed. I miss him terribly, and including him in the story made me feel a bit closer to him. If you find it perposterous or impossible or whatever makes you not like it, I don't give a damn. Someone has to catch those morons; why not him?