Disclaimer: Keep tellin' myself that it won't take long till I'm free of my disease…it's this disclaimer that has infected me. Watch out! The I-Don't-Own-Yu-Yu-Hakusho-itus will catch quickly! Too late…T.T
Chapter 20: Bri's Boyfriend
…Bri…
The final scene of the final act.
"No, no, the drink, the drink—O my dear Hamlet—The drink, the drink!" Koko cried out into the stadium. "I am poison'd!" She slumped over the makeshift "throne", a horrible reminder that she had once died in my arms by our mother's hand, and now she played my mother dead. How ironic was that?
"O, villainy!" I cried. "Ho! Let the door be lock'd. Treachery. Seek it out!"
Botan collapsed at my feet, Laertes overacted as a man in a woman's body. "It is here, Hamlet! Hamlet, thou art slain! No medicine in this world can do thee good. In thee there is not half an hour of life."
Half an hour of life. I forgot for a moment where I was, what I was doing. If I had only half an hour left to live, what would I do with it? Would I confess to Kurama at last that I was in love with him? Would I? I sighed inwardly and fazed back in.
"…I can no more! The king, the king's to blame."
I stared at the sword in my hand, the one that "Laertes" had "traded" with me when he wounded my shoulder. "The point envenom'd too! Then venom to thy work."
I rushed at Yusuke, beside Koko's fallen form, and jabbed the bit of metal against his chest, "killing" him.
The others shouted. "Treason! Treason!"
"O, yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt," Yusuke said, holding up what I supposed was to be a nonchalant gesture.
"Here, thou, incestuous, murderous, danged Dane. Drink off this poison. Is thy union here? Follow my mother." I took the cup of "poisoned wine" from Koko's lax hands and shoved it into Yusuke's face, probably a bit harder than I thought I'd intended. He choked on the cup before collapsing, "dead", in his seat.
The scene continued, but I barely paid attention to the words any more, even the ones that I spoke. What would I do if I had to tell Kurama that I truly loved him, with only a few minutes left of life? He had had those few precious seconds of life once to stare at me, comfort me. Back when he had died in the other time, the time I'd constantly been reminding myself didn't exist.
What would I do, were I in his position?
"O, I die, Horatio," I stage-whispered to Kurama. He held me in his arms, just as he had the night my mother had died. "The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit. I cannot live to hear the news from England. But I do prophesy the election lights on Fortinbras: he has my dying voice; So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less, which have solicited. The rest is silence."
And I "died" in Kurama's arms.
"Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! Why does the drum come hither?"
His voice soothed me, like a poet's timber voice. Shakespeare wrote good poetry sometimes…I was so tired…so tired….
I fell asleep there from exhaustion.
…
The room was dark, that's all I knew when I came to. I was in a bed. My bed, I could tell because my blankets were there. I dared not open my eyes. The silence was as deadly as any bout with Toki could ever be. Finally, I could stand it no longer. I glanced over my blanket, letting my eyes clear.
Twelve or more pairs of eyes all stared back at me curiously. Kurama and Kuronue were the nearest, though I could tell almost no one was absent. I didn't think there were, really, now that I could see straight. I blinked, swallowing at my dry throat.
"Um…hi, guys," I said hoarsely. "What's going on? Are we having a slumber party?"
"You passed out," Kuronue said bluntly. He handed me a glass of water, which I drank slowly. Nervous balls of furred fury beat against my stomach lining. There were too many people here for my liking. The fact that I knew them all didn't seem to matter much, just that they were there. They were here, so something must be wrong. Or right. I never know any more.
"Who are we going against tomorrow?" I asked the inevitable.
"We aren't," Yusuke smirked. Yume was sound asleep in his arms. I'd never pictured Yusuke much of a father back in the old time period. "We won. Hands down."
"The other teams weren't up to par," Koko said, grinning. Hiei was against the wall, Jun curled up on the couch in my room. Poor kids. "You blew 'em away with that act. No one's going to forget Bri Wolf as Hamlet."
"Aw, you're just saying that," I said. I could feel the blush coloring my cheeks.
"No, we're not," Gun Wa said. Was he wearing one of his lab coats? Why was I suddenly noticing all of these little details? "There are still some demons hanging around to see if you're all right, even. The Matsu team even dropped by." He pointed to the wall, where several piles of flowers sat. Gun Wa knew what that would mean to me. I would have to remember to thank him for thinking of that. "Yomi is still here. The judges wanted to wait to give us our 'prize' till you woke up."
I blinked away another wave of dizziness. "How long's it been?"
"A day," Kuronue said. "We were worried about you."
I scoffed. "And here I thought you knew me, Okuro."
He grinned. "Good to have my sister back."
Kurama glanced at the others, his acid green gaze falling on each person. One by one they trickled out of the room, all saying they would see me later. Kuronue was the last, and he kissed my forehead as he left. I swear I heard Kurama growl, but that may have been his stomach. He must not have eaten.
I could swear Kurama was waiting for something, wanting to say something. I waited for a minute, the tension closing round my throat like a boa constrictor. It was worse than a million miles of gravel shoved into my throat, like someone's driveway was crammed in there. I tried to be nonchalant, stretching each muscle in what I hoped was the cat-like movements Kurama had become accustomed to. I climbed out of the bed, running my fingers through my mussed hair.
"Can I get dressed?" I asked playfully, showing one of my canines with my grin. "Cause it has been a day since then and—"
He finally found his voice and cut me off.
"It's me, isn't it."
I stopped short, mid-stretch. "Wh-What?"
"It's me. Isn't it."
Kurama's gaze was leveled straight at me, though I refused to look him in the eye. I wouldn't look. It wouldn't be so hard to lie if I didn't look. I stood back nonchalantly against the wall, though my stomach felt as if it were some infernal critter were devouring me from the inside out.
"What are you talki—"
Sheetrock crumbled around his fingers, his palms stuck in the wall on either side of my head. I hadn't even seen him move. I was trapped, trapped like a fox in a one-way-out den. The hunter was waiting.
His voice was soft, but firm. Like one of those foam mattresses covered with shark skin coverlets. "Do not play with me, Bridget. Who is he?"
I felt the tears rising, though I fought them off with iron will. Iron likes to rust, in case you've forgotten. Kurama waited patiently, but I knew that it was wearing thin. If I tried to dodge him again, what would he do? He was Youko Kurama. He had on more than one occasion slipped information from creatures not willing to give it. I knew him well. Well enough to know that I didn't want to test his wrath.
I whispered my deepest secret to the one I had never planned to tell.
"You."
The sheetrock landed on the ground beside my feet. The crash was deafening in the silence that followed my one-word response. Kurama had backed away, staring at me with eyes unreadable. I looked at them now. For the second time since I had begun to live this life again. I wasn't caught, like I was before. No. This time, I saw the conflict in his eyes, the thoughts flitting in and out. I dared not turn up my Empathe skills to discern his thoughts.
"Bri—"
"Don't talk," I whispered again. His mouth closed. I swallowed hard. "I know it's wrong, okay? You don't have to tell me even once."
Without another word, I ran out of the room, and out of his life forever.
…
…
…
I am so evil, aren't I? Well, at the time I am typing this in, it is 12:01 in the morning. It is Thursday. I didn't promise Thursday, but I am doing it anyway.
Okay, another drawing announcement: I have done yet another fan art for this fic. It is of Kurama and Bri kissing, okay? It's at uglykitten (dot) deviantart (dot) com.
I'm sorry it's so short, but I wanted to cut it off there cause I just wanted to be evil like that. Sorry! I'm weird, ya don't have to rub it in…
Kuramafan: I know you're not…not many people are. But I love Hamlet and it just seemed so perfect for the Talent portion of the tournament. So what do you think of this little development? Eh?
WindRacer: I was really worried people would be confused by this chapter, that's why I gave the little "run down" on Hamlet's plot. I know Shakespeare is difficult to understand (Unless you've seen the movie Renaissance Man Danny Devito and figured out how to understand it better in lamen's terms). I had to MEMORIZE Bri's speech for my senior class. I can still do it. I did that part from memory. LOL. And no problem at all. I love helping out other people—it's just what I'd want them to do for me.
Sillylittlenothing: (sweatdrop major) Wonders of my writing? Eh? I'm confused. I'm not that great. Kirei is great. I'm not. Okay, I read it wrong…But you'll just have to wait a bit more, eh?
Sonya: I was beginning to wonder about my favorite little redheaded fox.
Lucifer: Yeah, that's the plan for me, but we have to find out if Bri actually gets away. She might do an Ophelia and drown herself!
Peeka-chan: (still rolling on the floor laughing my butt off) Mom: She's still laughing about this. I don't understand what she's laughing about. Every time she opens this account, she stares at the screen and starts laughing. (looks at review herself. Starts laughing. Joins her daughter on the floor) UK: (finally gets up, panting) Okay…okay…I've seen several stories where Yomi is gay, and he's gone all those thousand years without a girlfriend, too, ya know. And Bri isn't mad anymore…I think she's gonna pull an Ophelia. Run, Kurama, run! Go rescue Bri! (Note: Ophelia is Hamlet's girlfriend. She commits suicide by drowning herself after Hamlet starts ignoring her.)
SilverDragon: As I suggested otherwise, definitely look up Danny Devito's movie Renaissance Man. I thought he'd never figure it out, too. But what's Bri gonna do? Girl's got a plan…
Rayne-chan: (tackles Kurama for her) FINALLY! You are so blind, you nitwit! Okay, okay, I will admit, this is a little out of character for Kurama. But, as Kuronue said (says?), there are ways to be blind that even Yomi could not understand.
Seeyu: Well, I figured even the smartest guy out there has got to still be a guy. Check out my response to Rayne-chan for more info on that. (grins)
Bookworm: Well, I thought Hamlet could provide an interesting twist to an already interesting story (and I happened to be watching Renaissance Man with Danny Devito that night, too….). Um, since your SN says you're a bookworm, I have a suggested read for ya. It's called "Dating Hamlet" (dunno the author). It's from Ophelia's POV, but it twists everything around so that it only appears that she dies and…well, I'll let you look into it. I am an official WalMart associate now, yup yup. I have my badge and smock and everythin'. Just gotta go through the training now. Oo It's gonna be a rough couple of months yet….