CHARLIE'S HOME!! *hip-hip horray!*
Tenika Dargan - Glad I made your day! I like making people happy. ^.^ I actually thought the whole fight thing was pushing the Mary-Sue limits, but then I had her get beat, so I guess it's not so bad...
I don't like this chapter, but...it's here anyway. The end doesn't make much sense, and there's a bit of Yukina-bashing, even though I love her to bits. ("Have fun with birds and bees!") That'll change, though. Later.
"REBECCA WALLACE!!"
I jumped nearly a foot off the bed at the yell. Something dropped out of my grasp, and I saw Fufu hit the ground just before I noticed I was being strangled by two small squares of fabric. I squealed and retrieved my stuffed bunny, removed my nooses and held them tightly, crooning, then looked around. My computer was on a desk, my boom box on a filing cabinet. Remembering what had woken me up, I quickly put my night-time securities on the bed and ran down the stairs, pajamas and all, then out the front door. I ran past a large fence that hadn't been there the night before, and in it...
"Oh my God!" I shrieked. Two heads lifted. "2K! Tomahawk!" A piercing whinny split the air, followed by a low grunting as my mare attempted the sound. I ran to and vaulted over the fence, nearly getting stepped on as the two horses crowded me. I hugged and petted and pampered while noticing what shitty condition they were in.
Both were skinnier than I'd ever seen them, including from when I'd gotten them. "They said they'd take care of you," I whispered, tears stinging my eyes while revenge stirred in my chest. "They promised." It was then I noticed they were clean. 2K had shoes, and Tomahawk's feet were trimmed. Their halters were nice. 2K was wearing her fly mask and fly bands on her legs. They had been taken care of. But why were they so damn thin? I ran my hands over both of them. There wasn't any excessive heat or swellings; they weren't sick.
"Here," Genkai said tightly from my side, shaking me from my reverie and handing me a note.
I smiled cheekily and took it, whispering to myself as I read it over. "Owners tried to take care of them, but they wouldn't eat. Said they missed you. Koenma." I looked up at them. Well, they were alive, at any rate. "You dipshits!" I snapped. "Just because I rescued you doesn't mean you can't live without me!" Tomahawk whickered, and I resigned with a smile. "Fine." I walked quickly to the middle of the corral and looked around. I heard the muffled clopping of hooves, and moments later my horses were right beside me again. But I'd seen enough.
Set further back from the temple was a barn. The corral we were in led to the backs of two stalls. I smiled and walked up to it, both horses following me into the stall I went into. I sighed and shook my head, then left the stall, closing it quickly. I looked around. There were four stalls and two extra rooms. One was filled with grain of all sorts, even kinds I'd never used. Interesting. I looked into the other room and flipped. It contained both my saddles, bridles, and other horse care equipment that I'd had before. That left one thing missing. I went to the last unexplored door and opened it.
"Holy shit."
It was huge, too big for my dimensions to even try to figure. Half of this room was a huge indoor arena. The other large quarter, big enough for a two-story house with a basement, was crammed full with hay. Half was alfalfa, the other grass. The other half of the room was a huge mound of sawdust. "Yes, yes, yes," I whispered, returning to the tack room. I took my black lead rope and tied Tomahawk to the stall they were in, then went in and led 2K to the other stall, tying her to the front of it. I closed 2K's back stall door and went back around to do the same to Tomahawk's, then let them off their leads. I gave them some grass hay, a cup of sweet feed, and filled up their buckets with water.
They ate.
"They're mine, and you were the one who wanted to see them. The white one's Tomahawk and the spotted one's 2K."
"Towarawk?" he echoed dumbly.
I smirked. "Tom. A. Hawk." My short horse whickered, and I laughed. "Sorry, bub..."
"Okay! Now that was not what you just called him!" the boy accused.
"'Bub' is just a nickname for buddy. It's just a nick-name."
He wrinkled his nose. "Right."
I sighed and shook my head, letting myself into Tomahawk's stall and opening the back door. I walked around to 2K's and opened it. The horse nickered and swung her head a few times, hesitating. "Come on. 'S okay," I crooned softly. She stepped towards me, saw she wasn't going to hit the door, and walked out into the pasture.
"What's on her face?" Yusuke called.
"It's a fly mask. She's going blind, and the discharge the disease creates attracts flies," I replied automatically. "Go on. Shoo," I scolded, waving my hands at Tomahawk. The gelding startled, then swung his head around and cantered off, 2K hesitating before following him uncertainly.
"They mean a lot to you," the Detective decided.
I didn't turn around. "They're my life."
"And you're theirs," a new voice said quietly.
I closed my eyes with a smile. "You're never wrong, are you, Kurama?"
Later that same day, I was dozing after lunch when something got my attention. I sighed and sat up, noticing that Kurama was standing and staring out the front window. Suddenly he smiled. "The girls are here."
My heart picked up speed. I didn't want to meet new people.
"Yukina, my love!" Kuwabara shrieked, and my head jerked back ala hoochie-momma style at his squealing tone. He jumped off of the chair he was sitting in and barely remembered he had to open the door before he could run through it. I could hear his ecstatic yelling getting slightly dimmer, and it was about that time I realized my mouth was slightly open.
Kurama looked mortified. Yusuke's hand covered his face, and I swear I heard him growl. "We should...go say hello, guys," Kurama finally managed, and Yusuke and I got up.
The boys slid on their shoes, but I went barefoot, as I had been doing more and more often. A slight breeze blew around us as we walked and conversed. My slightly short white tank top fluttered across my stomach, rolled-up black shorts tickled my upper thighs. It felt so damn good to wear American clothes!
We met a group of four girls and a love-struck Kuwabara halfway up the temple steps. All seven of us stopped walking and talking at the same time. The breeze picked up a bit then, and I could feel the wind picking my hair off of my back and playing with it, but my attention at that moment was focused on the four girls before me.
Before I could finish evaluating, or vise-versa, Yusuke interrupted, completely oblivious to the traditional stare down. "Hey, guys. This is Becca Wallace."
Immediately the shortest girl, one with sea-green hair, started. "Hello! My name is Yukina; it's a pleasure to meet you!" she chirped, giving an enthusiastically bow.
She's the ice demon. I put on a how-cute smile and returned the bow. "It's nice to meet you too, Yukina."
"I'm Keiko," a girl with short brown hair said, also bowing.
I returned it, hoping I didn't fall down the steps. Yusuke's girlfriend. "Nice to meet you, Keiko."
"Shizuru," a tall, cigarette-smoking girl offered before extending her hand.
This time my smile wasn't forced, and I returned it. We nodded at each other.
"Oh, it's wonderful to finally meet you!" the remaining girl squealed. She had blue hair and pink eyes. She grabbed both my hands. "My name's Botan, and I was supposed to take you back to Earth, although that did rather fall through, don't you think? Poor dear, you're probably so homesick!"
My head was spinning. I managed a smile. "No, actually, I'm not."
She went on. "No matter, no matter; we'll have you home in a jiffy!"
Now my eyes widened, and my body tensed.
"She's actually being trained by Genkai right now, Botan," Kurama said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I shot him a wild-eyed glance, and even though he wasn't looking at me, he squeezed my shoulder gently. "Koenma won't let her go back until she's extremely well-trained."
The girl pouted. "That's dreadful!"
"Actually, it's rather fun," I put in. She released my hands but chattered ceaselessly all the way back to the temple.
"Oh!" Yukina gasped and pointed to our right. "What...what's that?"
I smiled. "It's a barn. Koenma gave it to me along with the horses."
"Hors...es," she echoed, then frowned cutely at me. "What's a horses?"
"Horses is plural of the word horse," I said, then whistled sharply. Almost immediately Tomahawk cantered up to the fence, which was a ways back from the walkway we were on. Seconds later, 2K came trotting, running into Tomahawk before the wooden fence. "Those are the horses."
Yukina's eyes were huge. "They're so...big!" She looked up at me. "Can we go closer?"
"Of course." Why not? I walked up to the fence, Yukina following me timidly. Tomahawk nickered, and 2K gave her damnedest to echo it. Yukina whimpered and froze. "It's okay; it's just their way of greeting me. You can pet them." She stared at me incredulously as I walked up to the fence and rubbed Tomahawk's head. He pressed against my hand as I found an itch that needed scratching. I glanced down to my right and saw Yukina, whose hand was centimeters away from 2K's nose. "Two," I crooned gently. Her ears perked, and she stuck her muzzle forward, bumping it into Yukina's hand. They both started, but 2K persisted on being pampered, and she quickly found the hand again even in her blindness. Tomahawk's eyes were closed as I rubbed his forehead, and Yukina was touching my mare's nose uncertainly.
"Do they...have names?"
"This is Toma-hawk. That's 2K," I said, saying their names slowly.
"Toemhawk...Tomahawk. 2K," she said, concentrating heavily on trying to reproduce their names.
I paused in my petting of the gelding to scratch my arm and suddenly found myself on the receiving end of a lick. "Awwgh! Tomahawk!" I gasped, staring at my sticky shoulder in slight disgust. As I stared, he did it again. "Tomahawk, no!" I scolded, wiping at the sticky slobber with my shirt. "You dork!" I added in English, glaring at him. "The hell was that for, huh?" I asked, tapping him on his soft nose.
"What?" Yukina asked uncertainly.
I smiled in embarrassment. "Sorry. Sometimes I lapse into English for no reason."
"I'll say!" Yusuke declared from somewhere behind us.
"Shut up!"
"What are those?"
Either she's a big two year-old or just plain stupid, I thought uncomfortably. "Glasses."
"What are they for?"
"I have poor sight, and they help me see like normal people."
"So, you can't see if you take them off?"
"I can't see very well," I corrected.
"Can I help you?" she asked perkily, kneeling in front of me.
"Uhhh...sure?" I was more than a little confused and more than a little distracted as Yusuke snickered. I threw a throw pillow at him.
"Hold still." Yukina's hands touched the sides of my head near my eyes. Something felt weird, like it was becoming warmed and connected, then...
"Aw, damnit!" I hissed. She dropped her hands, looking concerned. I whipped my glasses off and shoved my thumb and pointer finger into my closed eyes. I shook my head, clearing the snapping pain, then opened my eyes again. I had to do a double-take as everything I saw I saw...perfectly. I glanced down at my glasses, decided against it, and studied a plaque across the room. I could read it. "Wow." This is better than contacts! "Thanks, Yukina."
She beamed, and for some reason, my heart warmed. "Let me see your hands," she chirped.
I set my glasses down and offered them to her uncertainly. She gently grabbed my wrists, and I almost drew them back at the slight pain. The pain was there a lot; it was medium-carpal tunnel from repetitive typing. Warmth seeped through them, and the continuous aching that I'd come to live with stopped. Yukina let go, and I flexed my fingers. It didn't hurt. I stared at her in surprise. "You're good."
Her hands clapped together. "Oh, you're so much fun; I only get this much practice when the boys get into fights! Here!"
As Yukina put her hands on my face again, I swore I'd never seen a person so happy. I wasn't sure what she was after, but I suddenly remembered my allergies. One of her hands touched my chest, right over my heart, and stopped the slight murmur that was the cause of so much interest at hospitals. Air came easier to my lungs, even though I'd never noticed a lack thereof before. Her hands went to my ankles, healing the weakness hidden there. She looked me over critically, then giggled. "There. Good as new!"
I put my hand over my chest. One...two...three...one... There was no half beat. I bent over and hugged the demon-girl. "Thank you."
Hope it didn't stink too bad! Reviews are nice! *hint hint*